Special Episode: Deborah Blum & The Poison Squad

Special Episode: Deborah Blum & The Poison Squad

Oh, to taste the food of the past. Strawberry jam made from farm-fresh strawberries. Milk straight from the cow. Cookies baked with freshly churned butter and brown sugar. Because that’s how it was, right? Everything used to be fresher, more pure, unadulterated by preservatives or additives, right? Our latest TPWKY book club pick shows us just how wrong that notion is. Science journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Deborah Blum joins us this week to chat about her book, The Poison Squad, which tells the story of the fight for food safety regulation in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. In our conversation, Blum rips off those rose-tinted nostalgia glasses and reveals that strawberry jam rarely contained strawberries, milk could include a mix of formaldehyde and pond water, butter had borax, and brown sugar was mostly ground up insects. Until one man, chemist Harvey Wiley, stepped up and spearheaded the campaign for food safety legislation, all of these horrific practices of food adulteration were entirely legal. Tune in to learn what Wiley was up against and some of the tactics used in his struggle, including the wild story of the experiment that gave this book its title.

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Ep 222 Vitamin K: Calling the shots

Ep 222 Vitamin K: Calling the shots

Shortly after birth, many newborns are given vitamin K to help their blood clot properly and reduce the chances of hemorrhage. Increasingly, especially here in the US, parents are refusing this life-s...

22 Syys 1h 6min

Special Episode: Dr. Alanna Skuse & The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack

Special Episode: Dr. Alanna Skuse & The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack

Imagine yourself as a 17th century English peasant or merchant or noble. Let’s say you’re dealing with some intense stomach pain or a cut on your leg that won’t heal. Where do you turn to for help? To...

15 Syys 52min

Ep 221 Electroconvulsive Therapy Part 2: A current conversation

Ep 221 Electroconvulsive Therapy Part 2: A current conversation

This week, we’re picking up where we left off last episode in our exploration of ECT by examining how this therapy is administered, which conditions it’s used for, and what we know about why it works....

8 Syys 58min

Ep 220 Electroconvulsive Therapy Part 1: A charged history

Ep 220 Electroconvulsive Therapy Part 1: A charged history

For many, a mention of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) conjures images of torture or mind control from popular media like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Requiem for a Dream. Comparatively few know...

1 Syys 50min

Special Episode: Clayton Page Aldern & The Weight of Nature

Special Episode: Clayton Page Aldern & The Weight of Nature

Already this summer, heatwaves are causing thousands of deaths across the world, catastrophic flooding threatens millions, wildfires rage across enormous swathes of the globe, many regions face extrem...

25 Elo 44min

Ep 219 The Brown Recluse: Fearsome foe or slandered spider?

Ep 219 The Brown Recluse: Fearsome foe or slandered spider?

Few spiders hold the dubious honor of name recognition among the general public. Most that do, like black widows, Australian funnel-web, the Goliath birdeater, are renowned not for their cute colors o...

18 Elo 58min

Special Episode: Deborah Cohen & Bad Influence

Special Episode: Deborah Cohen & Bad Influence

If you have a medical question, where do you turn? How often is google or social media your first stop? As you sift through the AI overview and countless reels professing to have the answers, it becom...

11 Elo 51min

Ep 218 The Lowdown on Statins

Ep 218 The Lowdown on Statins

Last week, we set the stage by breaking down the science behind cholesterol: how it moves through our body, why it causes disease, and when we discovered the link between LDL and atherosclerosis. This...

4 Elo 1h 10min

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