The Disappearing Spoon podcast
Machiavellian Microbes
Parasites can force animals to do nefarious things by manipulating their minds—including, uncomfortably, the minds of human beings.
The Disappearing Spoon is Distillations’ sister podcast, hosted by best-selling author Sam Kean. The show examines overlooked stories from our past, such as the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and many more moments that never made the history books. When the footnote becomes the real story, small moments become surprisingly powerful.
The Real Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer
Sam Kean examines the dark, restless side of the father of the atomic bomb.
The Brilliant, Groundbreaking, and Wildly Overrated Leonardo da Vinci
Revisit the reputation of the renowned Renaissance man with host Sam Kean.
Death Squared
Explore 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
How an antarctic scientific expedition turned deadly thanks to an unlikely source: dog liver.
The Roadside Apocalypse
We all know how much the automobile changed the world for people. This episode explores how drastically it changed—and harmed—wildlife.
The Blind Visionary
The story of Thomas Schall, a U.S. Congressman dedicated to reforming our messy, lopsided, archaic, and maddingly inconsistent monthly calendar.
The Scariest Paradise on Earth
Explore the contradictions of Korea’s biggest natural wildlife refuge: the war-ravaged border between the North and South known as the DMZ.
The Naked Shibboleth
Naked mole-rats are blind, yet they can still recognize—and kill—outsiders. How? And what does it have to do with the Old Testament?
The Debaucherous Legacy of Johnny Appleseed
Sam Kean explores how the legendary gardener’s reputation as the patron saint of the American wilderness ignores his boozy origins.
Sugar: The Most Evil Molecule
Trace how such a sweet treat has caused so much harm—from slavery to the Nazi death machine.
The Lifesaving Rat Poison
Follow blood thinner warfarin’s unlikely journey from moldy clover and cow killer to lifesaving drug.
The Making of a Lobotomist
The story behind notorious surgeon Walter Freeman’s contempt for his father, failures with his sons, and obsession with lobotomies.
The Murderer Who Made Movies Possible
When horses gallop, do all four hooves ever leave the ground at once? This episode recounts the saga that led to the answer.
Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and the Irish Giant
Learn 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
An entomologist from Texas supposedly came up with ‘the single most original idea’ to eradicate screwworms.
The Bird with Four Sexes
Find out what a strange little sparrow can teach us about love, sex, and human biology.
When the Brain Deceives Itself
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.
Stephen Hawking and the Mistake That Made His Career
The third episode in a three-part series on legendary physicists and their dumbest mistakes.