Distillations podcast

The Thermo Fisher Scientific executive tells us what it took for his instrumentation company to design a diagnostic test for the novel coronavirus.

The longtime biotech executive talks to us about how CRISPR can be used to make a faster diagnostic test for COVID-19 and how she’s advising a hospital in creating a vaccine. 

The scientist, entrepreneur, and author has lived through three epidemics. He tells us how this pandemic compares with his earlier experiences: “It is a tragedy that never needed to happen.”

The University of Pennsylvania microbiology professor talks about her 40 years of experience researching coronaviruses.

The former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recalls the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the Ebola pandemic: “Early pandemic science is filled with uncertainty.”

The former CEO of Gilead Sciences tells us about remdesivir, an older drug showing promise in the fight against COVID-19.

Mütter Museum historical curator Jane E. Boyd discusses the parallels between the 1918–1919 flu pandemic and the coronavirus.

The virus that made America talk about abortion.

Thirty years of research have failed to solve the Alzheimer’s riddle. Is the problem a blind embrace of scientific dogma?

We know migraines have afflicted people for at least three thousand years. Still, the condition continues to mystify us today.

Part 3: Searching for Meaning in Kensington.

Part 2: Synanon and the Tunnel Back to the Human Race.

Part 1: The Narcotic Farm and the Promise of Salvation.

Using 21st-century medicine to maintain a 300-year-old way of life.

The unnatural history of a carbonated drink.

Once upon a time all births were natural. A lot has happened since then.

Blood is powerful, but it can also be dangerous.

From antibiotics to chemotherapy, modern pharmaceuticals transformed the experience of illness in the 20th century.