Can you recommend a Medical History podcast?

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The history of medicine is equal parts miracle and nightmare. These episodes prove it.

Ep 98 - The Never-ending Story: Henrietta Lacks

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  • Her cancer cells were taken without her consent and became the most important cell line in medical research—changing science forever.

Ep 135 - Useless Harbinger of Death?: The Appendix

  • A tiny organ with no clear purpose… except when it tries to kill you. We explore its strange history and evolutionary mystery.

Ep 141 - Look for The Helpers: Thalidomide Babies

  • A “miracle drug” for morning sickness turns into a global tragedy, leaving thousands of children with severe birth defects.

​​Ep 146 - Fatal Insomnia: New Fear Unlocked

  • A rare genetic disorder where you stop sleeping—ever—until it kills you. New fear: unlocked.

Ep 158: Frostbite and Forceps - Self Surgery in Antarctica

  • A Soviet doctor gets appendicitis at the South Pole. The only available surgeon? Himself.

Ep 162: Sugar Cubes for the Masses - The Polio Vaccine

  • From iron lungs to sugar cubes, how science took on one of the 20th century’s most feared diseases.

BONUS: Real Life Stories - Getting the Polio Vaccine with Taylor's Dad, Mark!

  • A first-hand account from someone who was there when the sugar cube arrived.

Ep 198: I'll take one of those! - Organ Transplants pt 1

  • The early days of transplant surgery—full of bold experiments, ethical dilemmas, and plenty of failures.

Ep 201: The Living Market - Organ Transplants Pt 2

  • From black markets to life-saving breakthroughs, the complicated story of organ donation today.

🎧 Listen now—just maybe not while eating lunch.

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Ep 214: Terror for Peace - The Firebombing of Tokyo