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 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.
Jun 1, 2021 • 21min
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!)
May 25, 2021 • 20min
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...
May 18, 2021 • 22min
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...
May 11, 2021 • 23min
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...
