Podcasts
Our Distillations podcast takes a deep dive into a moment of science-related history that sheds light on the present, while The Disappearing Spoon series tells topsy-turvy tales from our scientific past.
Death Squared
People

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon explores scientist John Calhoun’s mouse utopia and what it can tell us about the ways we impose lessons for society onto lab experiments.
Death by Nutrition
Health

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon explores how an antarctic scientific expedition turned deadly thanks to an unlikely source: dog liver. 
The Roadside Apocalypse
Environment

We all know how much the automobile changed the world for people. This episode of The Disappearing Spoon explores how drastically it changed—and harmed—wildlife.
The Blind Visionary
Culture

The Disappearing Spoon tells the story of Thomas Schall, a U.S. Congressman who dedicated himself to one idea above all—reforming our messy, lopsided, archaic, and maddingly inconsistent monthly calendar.

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Distillations

Our new season on race and science is coming soon!

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The Disappearing Spoon

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Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and the Irish Giant
Environment

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon explores how the daring heist of an anatomical wonder forever sullied the reputation of a great scientist.
The Screwiest—and Perhaps Most Original—Idea of the 20th Century
Environment

An entomologist from Texas supposedly came up with ‘the single most original idea’ to eradicate screwworms. The Disappearing Spoon has the story.
The Bird with Four Sexes
Environment

Find out what a strange little sparrow can teach us about love, sex, and human biology in this episode of The Disappearing Spoon. 
When the Brain Deceives Itself
Health

Learn what two famous neurological traumas—one involving a U.S. president, the other a Supreme Court justice—can teach us about how our own brains perceive reality in this episode of The Disappearing Spoon.
Stephen Hawking and the Mistake That Made His Career
People

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon is the third in a three-part series on legendary physicists and their dumbest mistakes.
Albert Einstein and the Worst Prediction in the History of Science 
People

Learn about the physicist’s biggest-blunder-turned-greatest success in this episode of The Disappearing Spoon.
How To Be Smarter Than Isaac Newton
People

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon explores why the iconic physicist made an unbelievable error while hunting down criminals, and how you can avoid the same dumb mistake.
Claude Monet and Bee Purple
Culture

This episode of The Disappearing Spoon explores how cataracts nearly ruined the impressionist painter’s career—and then revived it by giving him an insect-like superpower.