The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.
Latest episodes
Nov 30, 2021 • 22min
The Murderous Origins of the American Medical Association
How a bloody gun duel between two doctors in Transylvania sparked a frenzy of outrage—as well as the American Medical Association...
Nov 23, 2021 • 22min
The Big ‘What If’ of Cancer
How a feisty, suicidal Nobel laureate infuriated both Hitler and Stalin, and stalled cancer research for fifty years along the way...
Nov 16, 2021 • 25min
The Harvard Medical School Janitor Who Solved a Murder
In a building full of dead bodies, how can you tell a murder victim from an unlucky stiff?
Nov 9, 2021 • 24min
Burn After Watching
The world’s first plastic made Hollywood possible—and killed thousands of people along the way...
Nov 2, 2021 • 19min
History’s First Car Crash Victim
How a steam-powered automobile in 1869 snuffed out the life of the brilliant female naturalist and astronomer Mary Ward...
Oct 26, 2021 • 22min
Real Life Zombies
What a bizarre psychological disorder can teach us about memory, human nature, and our sense of who we are
Oct 19, 2021 • 23min
How Climate Change Will Remake the Human Body
Scientists know how other animals’ bodies will change in warmer climates, but how will human beings respond?
Oct 12, 2021 • 23min
The ‘Mary Poppins’ Cancer
The life of chimneysweeps was nasty, poor, brutish, filthy dirty, and usually short, thanks to a rare cancer of the genitals...
Oct 5, 2021 • 21min
Kangaroo (and Pig and Monkey and Dog and Donkey) Courts
The long, wacky, and surprisingly thought-provoking history of trying animals in human courts...
Jul 13, 2021 • 22min
Icepick Surgeon audiobook excerpt
The prologue and introduction to the book The Icepick Surgeon. Written by Sam Kean, read by Ben Sullivan.
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