Can you recommend a Medical History podcast?
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.