The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean cover image

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

Latest episodes

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Oct 26, 2021 • 18min

Real Life Zombies

What a bizarre psychological disorder can teach us about memory, human nature, and our sense of who we areAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Oct 19, 2021 • 19min

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?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Oct 12, 2021 • 19min

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...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Oct 5, 2021 • 19min

Kangaroo (and Pig and Monkey and Dog and Donkey) Courts

The long, wacky, and surprisingly thought-provoking history of trying animals in human courts...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Jul 13, 2021 • 19min

Icepick Surgeon audiobook excerpt

The prologue and introduction to the book The Icepick Surgeon. Written by Sam Kean, read by Ben Sullivan.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Jun 1, 2021 • 17min

The Anatomy Riots

How early anatomists provoked some of the strangest riots in history, over stolen corpses (plus, bonus preview of my new book, The Icepick Surgeon!)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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May 25, 2021 • 16min

When a Hole in the Head Is Good for You

How a rogue archaeologist in Peru—and a stolen skull—provided the first real evidence that ancient people practiced neurosurgery...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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May 18, 2021 • 17min

When Mosquitos Cured Insanity

How one doctor in the early 1900s risked the lives of patients by pitting one ancient scourge (malaria) against another (syphilis)—and won a Nobel Prize in the process...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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May 11, 2021 • 20min

The Death of the Lord God Bird

How greed, and a group of Nazi prisoners, killed off one of the most iconic birds in American history, the ivory-billed woodpecker...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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May 4, 2021 • 18min

Chewing it Over—and Over and Over and Over

How a weird “scientific” diet fad conquered America in the early 1900s—and easily could have lost World War One for the Allies...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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