- #163 -27Geschichte
- #136beste Platzierung
- wöchentlichErscheinungsrhythmus
- 18 mintypische Länge
- vor 5 Tagenletzte Folge
Folgenzu den neuesten
If Indiana Jones Were a Swindler
James Mellaart discovered one of the most important archaeological sites ever, Çatalhöyük in Turkey. But his lust for treasure—and a penchant for fraud—led him to throw it all away... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "
The British Tobacco Empire
He helped launch the British Empire and spawned a public-health epidemic that killed hundreds of millions of people. Blame him for the lost colony of Roanoke, too. Thomas Harriot has a lot to answer for... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenRe
"Moldy Mary," The Forgotten Mother of Penicillin
She helped discover arguably the most important drug in history. And she got zero credit. They called her Moldy Mary—but she turned that insult into triumph... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal:
The Most Exclusive Club in the World
As recent submersible tragedies reveal, it’s harder to reach extreme ocean depths than the Moon. Meet the people who got there first—and barely lived to tell to the tale... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for
Death-Defying Science at 75,000 Feet
You wouldn’t think a lanky, awkward balloon geek would inspire Hollywood. But the death-defying Auguste Piccard was a worthy namesake for Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek fame... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" fo
Proving Einstein Right
Albert Einstein’s relativity was just another theory at first, speculative and unproven—until Arthur Eddington and a special eclipse. Meet the weirdo scientist who made Einstein into *Einstein*... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and
Einstein's Golden Moment
It was the most powerful emotional moment of Albert Einstein’s life—the instant he knew he was a genius. But in confirming his theory of relativity, it also opened him up to attacks, sometimes rather vicious, from around the world... Our Sp
Everything You Know About Phineas Gage Is Wrong
Despite what you’ve heard, neuroscience’s most famous patient did not turn into a lying, drunken psychopath. He’s actually an amazing example of resiliency and overcoming trauma... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spo
Why Do We Obsess Over Charles Darwin’s Health?
Is it serious historical work? Respectable gossip? Blatantly prying into people’s lives? Retro-diagnosing historical celebrities like Darwin and Lincoln and Hitler and Poe is all of the above and more... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenRead
The Seeds of Starvation
During the Nazi invasion of Russia during World War II, nine Soviet scientists starved to death surrounded by millions of delicious fruits, seeds, and nuts. Were they mad? No. They wanted to save humankind from doomsday... Our Sponsors: * C
When Scientific Brilliance Isn’t Enough
William Halford thought he had a surefire vaccine to stop herpes. And he wasn’t going to let anything—laws, ethics, his patients’ well-being—stop him from saving the world... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" fo
The Curse of Knowing Too Much
Paul Stoutenburgh knew more atomic secrets than anyone on Earth. So was that why he killed himself? And if not, why was the government (seemingly) so uninterested in getting to the bottom of his death? Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader
The Enigmas of Foreign Accent Syndrome
Can you really collapse and wake up speaking a totally new language? Not quite. But “foreign accent syndrome” is a real, frightening—and bizarre—neurological disorder... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a g
The World’s Only Natural Nuclear Reactor
What a bizarre site in Africa—a 1.7-billion-year-old, completely natural nuclear reactor—says about the future of energy production on planet Earth... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal: https://
How New DNA Sleuthing Can Expose Dangerous Killers—and You
Genetic genealogy can catch brutal killers. It can also unmask affairs, secret adoptions, and other dark secrets. As well as expose you—yes, you—to the unholy alliance of Big Tech and shady police work... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenRea
The Real Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer
He coulda would shoulda been the next Einstein. Instead, Robert Oppenheimer fritted away his talents on trendy science and political gamesmanship—and it burned him deep in his soul... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "
The Brilliant, Groundbreaking, and Wildly Overrated Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was brilliant, groundbreaking—and especially with regard to his science—wildly overrated. All because he lacked one all-important quality: sitzfleisch... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a
Spring update and "Innate" trailer
An update on the spring season of Disappearing Spoon (early episodes for Patreon subscribers!), plus a trailer for the new "Innate" series from the great people behind the Science History Institute's "Distillations podcast" Our Sponsors: *
Death Squared
The “mouse utopia” experiment showed just how quickly animal heaven can turn into animal hell—and revealed how eager human beings are to interpret science through the lens of extremist politics... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and
Death by Nutrition
Polar explorer Douglas Mawson made several mistakes on his harrowing journey across Antarctica. But the biggest blunder involved eating animal livers oversaturated with vitamin A, a sure death sentence... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenRea
The Roadside Apocalypse
Automobiles kill several million animals every single day. Scientists are still coming to grips with the carnage... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal: https://elevenreader.io Advertising Inquiri
The Blind Visionary
Thomas Schall was first blind member of Congress. There, he envisioned a better, smarter, more efficient world—brought about by his radical new calendar. Too bad the rest of us couldn’t see the future as clearly as he did... Our Sponsors: *
The Scariest Paradise on Earth
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea is a place of guns and heartache and anger—and also one of the most thriving natural wildlife habitats on Earth... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal: https:
The Naked Shibboleth
Naked mole-rats are medical marvels—impervious to cancer and immune to old age. Too bad they’re also vicious murderers... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal: https://elevenreader.io Advertising I
The Debaucherous Legacy of Johnny Appleseed
The Johnny Appleseed of Disney fame was complete bunk. He brought not wholesome apples to people, but liquor—and lots of it, all thanks to the bizarre biology of this misunderstood fruit... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my
The Most Evil Molecule
It fueled slavery, as well as the Nazi death machine. It kills millions of people every year through cancer and heart disease. And you almost certainly have some in your home. That’s the legacy of sugar... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenRe
The Life-Saving Rat Poison
Warfarin was the best rat poison in history. It’s also, now, one of the most important, life-saving—and freakishly unlikely—drugs in the history of medicine... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal:
The Making of a Lobotomist
Dr. Walter Freeman blamed himself for the death of his favorite son. But instead of reflecting or growing personally, he used that death to become the most notorious lobotomist in the history of medicine... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenR
Icepick Surgeon bonus excerpt on the making of the Unabomber
A bonus excerpt from my book The Icepick Surgeon on the making of the Unabomber, through a cruel, unethical psychology experiment at Harvard University... Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great deal: http
The Murderer Who Made Movies Possible
Like Leonardo and Albrecht Dürer before him, photographer Eadweard Muybridge was a legendary pioneer in both art and science. He was also a cold-blooded murderer. Our Sponsors: * Check out ElevenReader and use my code "Spoon" for a great de
