The Disappearing Spoon podcast
The Winter When People Ate Tulips
It’s the 80th anniversary of the Dutch Hongerwinter during World War II, which led to widespread starvation and an inadvertent breakthrough in treating deadly celiac disease.
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.
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.
Albert Einstein and the Worst Prediction in the History of Science
Learn about the physicist’s biggest-blunder-turned-greatest success.
How To Be Smarter Than Isaac Newton
Discover 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
How cataracts nearly ruined the impressionist painter’s career—and then revived it by giving him an insect-like superpower.
The Unsung Heroes of Darwin’s Evolution
Learn how an obsession with crustaceans guided the naturalist toward his most consequential insights.
Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius as Written by Our Genetic Code
An interview with Sam Kean about his book ‘The Violinist’s Thumb.’
The Sinister Angel Singers of Rome
How a simple operation—castrating little boys—produced the greatest singers the world has ever known.
The Murderous Origins of the American Medical Association
How a bloody gun duel between two doctors in Transylvania sparked a frenzy of outrage—and helped create the American Medical Association.
The Big ‘What If’ of Cancer
How a feisty, suicidal Nobel laureate infuriated both Hitler and Stalin, and stalled cancer research for 50 years along the way.
The Harvard Medical School Janitor Who Solved a Murder
In a building full of dead bodies, how can you tell a murder victim from an unlucky stiff?
Burn After Watching
The world’s first plastic made Hollywood possible—and killed thousands of people along the way.
History’s First Car Crash Victim
How a steam-powered automobile in 1869 snuffed out the life of the brilliant naturalist and astronomer Mary Ward.
Real-Life Zombies
What a bizarre psychological disorder can teach us about memory, human nature, and our sense of who we are.
How Climate Change Will Remake the Human Body
Scientists know how other animals’ bodies will change in warmer climates, but how will human beings respond?
The ‘Mary Poppins’ Cancer
The life of chimney sweeps was nasty, poor, brutish, filthy dirty, and usually short, thanks to a rare cancer of the genitals.
Kangaroo (and Pig and Monkey and Dog and Donkey) Courts
The long, wacky, and surprisingly thought-provoking history of trying animals in human courts.
The Anatomy Riots
How early anatomists provoked some of the strangest riots in history by stealing the dead bodies of the poor.