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Podcast Profile: The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

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102 episodes
2019 to 2024
Median: 19 minutes
Collection: Science


Description (podcaster-provided):

A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.


Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ Historical science stories • Unusual scientific discoveries • Overlooked historical figures • Scientific controversies • Impact of science on history • Eccentric scientists and experiments • Intersection of science and society

This podcast, "The Disappearing Spoon," delves into unconventional stories within science history, presenting curious narratives that often remain absent from mainstream historical accounts. Hosted by Sam Kean, the podcast seeks to explore those riveting, lesser-known events that highlight the intriguing intersections of science with history, politics, and society. Across various episodes, a recurring focus is placed on individuals—both renowned and obscure—whose lives and discoveries have unfolded amid unexpected circumstances, ranging from the life-saving role of CPR dummies modeled after an unknown drowned woman, to the peculiar early tests of evolutionary theory using Egyptian mummies in Europe.

Human ingenuity, often during times of adversity or ethical controversy, is a prominent theme. For example, stories include the influence of science in crucial historical events like the D-Day landings and the curious case of a Nobel Prize idea's unfortunate fate. The podcast frequently concentrates on the surprising and sometimes dark sides of scientific advancements, such as the controversial prison-prevention plastic surgeries, tragic outcomes linked to famous scientific figures, and how historical mass psychoses have rooted themselves in food science.

Episodes explore the consequences of scientific missteps and the peculiar affairs of those who contributed to major scientific and technological advancements, such as those who partake in phenomena as broad as nutritional controversies or the origins of iconic scientific ideas and instruments. The series aims to unravel complex narratives, sometimes touching upon themes of morality, unintended consequences, and the dynamic nature of scientific discovery. Through its stories, the podcast paints a picture of a world where the footnotes of history reveal pivotal, and often unanticipated, impacts on the modern world.


Episodes:
Episode Image The Doom Lurking inside Trees
2024-Nov-04
17 minutes
Episode Image The Mona Lisa of the Seine
2024-Oct-29
18 minutes
Episode Image Savant Idiots
2024-Oct-22
17 minutes
Episode Image When Mummymania Swept the World
2024-Oct-15
17 minutes
Episode Image The Sadder Side of the Nobel Prizes
2024-Oct-08
18 minutes
Episode Image The Scientific Way to Fool a Nazi
2024-Sep-30
19 minutes
Episode Image The Mysterious Mote
2024-Jun-26
18 minutes
Episode Image The Science of D-Day
2024-May-14
19 minutes
Episode Image Can Plastic Surgery Keep You out of Prison?
2024-May-07
20 minutes
Episode Image The Russian Roswell
2024-Apr-30
21 minutes
Episode Image When Tenure Means Life and Death
2024-Apr-23
20 minutes
Episode Image A Deadly Soup for Babies
2024-Apr-16
20 minutes
Episode Image How the “Worst Serial Killer in Holland’s History” Went Free
2024-Apr-09
20 minutes
Episode Image The Eclipse that Killed a King
2024-Apr-02
19 minutes
Episode Image When Generosity Turns Pathological
2024-Mar-26
18 minutes
Episode Image The Sex-Cult “Antichrist” Who Rocketed Us to Space (part 2)
2024-Mar-19
21 minutes
Episode Image The Sex-Cult “Antichrist” Who Rocketed Us to Space (part 1)
2024-Mar-12
19 minutes
Episode Image Don't Drink the Milk bonus episode - Milk: From mutations to mustaches
2024-Jan-16
42 minutes
Was Darwin a Murderer?
2023-Nov-14
20 minutes
Mass Psychosis in Food Science
2023-Nov-07
19 minutes
Accounting for Taste
2023-Oct-31
18 minutes
If Indiana Jones Were a Swindler
2023-Oct-24
19 minutes
Episode Image The British Tobacco Empire
2023-Oct-17
19 minutes
Episode Image "Moldy Mary," The Forgotten Mother of Penicillin
2023-Oct-10
21 minutes
Episode Image The Most Exclusive Club in the World
2023-Oct-03
19 minutes
Death-Defying Science at 75,000 Feet
2023-Sep-26
20 minutes
Episode Image Proving Einstein Right
2023-Sep-20
19 minutes
Episode Image Einstein's Golden Moment
2023-Sep-12
20 minutes
Episode Image Everything You Know About Phineas Gage Is Wrong
2023-Jul-11
19 minutes
Why Do We Obsess Over Charles Darwin’s Health?
2023-Jun-27
20 minutes
The Seeds of Starvation
2023-Jun-20
21 minutes
When Scientific Brilliance Isn’t Enough
2023-Jun-13
19 minutes
The Curse of Knowing Too Much
2023-Jun-06
19 minutes
The Enigmas of Foreign Accent Syndrome
2023-May-30
18 minutes
Episode Image The World’s Only Natural Nuclear Reactor
2023-May-23
21 minutes
Episode Image How New DNA Sleuthing Can Expose Dangerous Killers—and You
2023-May-16
20 minutes
Episode Image The Real Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer
2023-May-09
20 minutes
Episode Image The Brilliant, Groundbreaking, and Wildly Overrated Leonardo da Vinci
2023-May-02
20 minutes
Spring update and "Innate" trailer
2023-Feb-06
4 minutes
Death Squared
2022-Nov-29
20 minutes
Episode Image Death by Nutrition
2022-Nov-22
20 minutes
Episode Image The Roadside Apocalypse
2022-Nov-15
20 minutes
Episode Image The Blind Visionary
2022-Nov-08
21 minutes
Episode Image The Scariest Paradise on Earth
2022-Nov-01
18 minutes
Episode Image The Naked Shibboleth
2022-Oct-25
20 minutes
Episode Image The Debaucherous Legacy of Johnny Appleseed
2022-Oct-18
21 minutes
Episode Image The Most Evil Molecule
2022-Oct-11
18 minutes
Episode Image The Life-Saving Rat Poison
2022-Oct-04
21 minutes
Episode Image The Making of a Lobotomist
2022-Sep-27
18 minutes
Episode Image Icepick Surgeon bonus excerpt on the making of the Unabomber
2022-Jul-12
20 minutes
Episode Image The Murderer Who Made Movies Possible
2022-May-10
21 minutes
Episode Image Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, and the Irish Giant
2022-May-03
18 minutes
Episode Image The Screwiest—and Perhaps Most Original—Idea of the 20th Century
2022-Apr-26
20 minutes
Episode Image The Bird with Four Sexes
2022-Apr-19
19 minutes
Episode Image When the Brain Deceives Itself
2022-Apr-12
18 minutes
Episode Image Stephen Hawking and the Black Hole Mistake that Made His Career
2022-Apr-05
20 minutes
Episode Image Albert Einstein and the Worst Prediction in the History of Science
2022-Mar-29
18 minutes
Episode Image How to Be Smarter than Isaac Newton
2022-Mar-22
17 minutes
Episode Image Claude Monet and Bee Purple
2022-Mar-15
19 minutes
Episode Image The Unsung Heroes of Darwin’s Evolution
2022-Mar-08
20 minutes
The Sinister Angel Singers of Rome
2021-Dec-07
18 minutes
The Murderous Origins of the American Medical Association
2021-Nov-30
20 minutes
Episode Image The Big ‘What If’ of Cancer
2021-Nov-23
20 minutes
The Harvard Medical School Janitor Who Solved a Murder
2021-Nov-16
21 minutes
Episode Image Burn After Watching
2021-Nov-09
20 minutes
History’s First Car Crash Victim
2021-Nov-02
14 minutes
Real Life Zombies
2021-Oct-26
17 minutes
How Climate Change Will Remake the Human Body
2021-Oct-19
19 minutes
The ‘Mary Poppins’ Cancer
2021-Oct-12
18 minutes
Kangaroo (and Pig and Monkey and Dog and Donkey) Courts
2021-Oct-05
19 minutes
Episode Image Icepick Surgeon audiobook excerpt
2021-Jul-13
18 minutes
The Anatomy Riots
2021-Jun-01
17 minutes
When a Hole in the Head Is Good for You
2021-May-25
16 minutes
When Mosquitos Cured Insanity
2021-May-18
17 minutes
The Death of the Lord God Bird
2021-May-11
19 minutes
Chewing it Over—and Over and Over and Over
2021-May-04
17 minutes
What's the Longest Word in the English Language?
2021-Apr-27
18 minutes
Why Don't We Have a Male Birth Control Pill Yet?
2021-Apr-20
17 minutes
Bonus interview with WNYC's Science Diction
2021-Apr-16
26 minutes
Marie Curie's (Nearly Disastrous) Trip to America
2021-Apr-13
17 minutes
The Most Important Lost Fossils in History
2021-Apr-06
19 minutes
Episode Image The World’s First Global Vaccine Supply Chain Was Orphan Children
2021-Mar-30
20 minutes
Episode Image The Joys, and Pains, of Operating on Yourself
2020-Nov-30
17 minutes
Episode Image A School Shooting for Science
2020-Nov-13
18 minutes
Episode Image Star Wars, Death Rays, and Donald Trump
2020-Oct-15
19 minutes
Episode Image Vitamin G
2020-Oct-01
19 minutes
Episode Image The CIA’s Drug-Fueled Orgies and You
2020-Sep-15
18 minutes
Episode Image From Siberia with (Manipulative) Love
2020-Sep-01
19 minutes
Episode Image The Man Who Couldn’t Read Numbers
2020-Aug-17
14 minutes
Episode Image The Teflon Bomb
2020-Aug-06
19 minutes
Episode Image Chocolate Cake & Atomic Bombs
2020-Aug-01
19 minutes
Episode Image The Ice Island Murder
2020-Jul-14
19 minutes
Episode Image Our Slimy Nazi Saviors
2020-Jul-07
16 minutes
Episode Image Are Braces a Health Disaster?
2020-Jun-23
19 minutes
Episode Image The Science Immigrants Who Saved Millions
2020-Jun-09
19 minutes
Episode Image Tyrannosaurus sex
2020-Jun-02
18 minutes
Episode Image The Lost Dinosaurs of Central Park
2020-May-22
18 minutes
Episode Image Exposing Nazi Medical Atrocities
2020-May-11
19 minutes
Episode Image Glove at First Sight
2020-Apr-27
18 minutes
Episode Image Galileo and Art, part 2
2020-Apr-20
17 minutes
Episode Image Galileo and Art, part 1
2020-Apr-20
19 minutes
Episode Image Tea Test Tempest
2019-Oct-26
13 minutes