It’s been years since our first (and, until now, only) vitamin-centric episode on scurvy, and we’re thrilled to be dipping our toes back into these nutritious waters with this episode on folate. Have you ever wondered why folate is important or what the difference is between folate and folic acid? Or maybe you’re curious about this vitamin’s discovery and the impact that fortification programs have had around the world. Look no further - this episode has got all the folate facts you could desire...
Jun 07, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our snake venom episode last week took us down some fascinating roads, from the pathophysiological effects of these compounds to the snake detection hypothesis and from the development of antivenom to the incidence of snakebite around the world today. But how did we make it through that whole episode without discussing how and why these venoms evolved in the first place? It’s because we were saving it for this one, where we enlisted the expert help of Professor Nick Casewell , Professor of Tropi...
May 31, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast How do you feel about snakes? Intrigued or terrified? In awe or creeped out? Of course, those aren’t the only options; the sight or thought of a snake can evoke many different emotions, but chances are indifference isn’t one of them. And is it any wonder? Some snakes can produce incredibly potent venoms that can seriously harm or even kill you, a characteristic that likely helped earn them their prominent role in many cultures and religions as a creature or god to be respected, if not feared. In...
May 24, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our tapeworm episode last week mentioned the remarkable finding of tapeworm eggs in a 270 million-year old shark coprolite , that is, fossilized feces. And this certainly wasn’t the first time coprolites have come up on the podcast; we’ve referenced them several times before, mostly when discussing early histories of parasitic worms. But there is so much more to the world of coprolites than just which parasites were found and when. To help us explore all that coprolites can teach us is the world...
May 17, 2022•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast We can probably all agree that the thought of a tapeworm hiding out in your gut is not a pleasant one. Nor is the image of tapeworm larvae forming cysts in your muscles, organs, and even your brain. So listening to an entire episode on these parasitic worms? We understand why that may seem like a bit much. But trust us, the world of these worms is too fascinating and important to be missed. In this episode, we break down the biology of the tapeworm species that commonly infect humans and discuss...
May 10, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast The classic tale of epidemiology almost always begins with public health hero John Snow traipsing all over London to track down the source of the 1854 cholera epidemic, ultimately identified as the Broad Street Pump. While Snow’s famous endeavor earned him the title “the father of field epidemiology”, it turns out, as it so often does, that the real story is more complicated. In this bonus episode, we look beyond John Snow to explore the deeper roots of epidemiology with Dr. Jim Downs , Gilder L...
May 03, 2022•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast [CW: Firsthand account includes description of the death of an infant. Skip approximately first 3 min to avoid.] What comes to mind when you hear the word tetanus? For many people, it’s probably the horrible thought of stepping on a rusty nail or the every-so-often Tdap booster you get at your doctor’s office. Thanks to the wide availability of this incredibly effective vaccine, not many of us have an image of what an infection with tetanus actually looks like or how deadly it can be. But that’s...
Apr 26, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chlamydia trachomatis may have stolen the show in our last episode, but there are many other Chlamydiae that deserve some time under the spotlight. In this bonus episode, Dr. Martina Jelocnik ( @MartinaJelocnik ) and Dr. Sam Phillips ( @Sam_Phillips_83 ) from the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, join us to chat about some of these other Chlamydia species and the effects they have on wildlife and domestic animals. Curious about koalas and chlamydia? This episode will bri...
Apr 19, 2022•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast With this episode, you’re getting much more than you probably bargained for, thanks to the quirks of Chlamydia trachomatis . This small but mighty bacterium can cause a number of different conditions throughout your body, most notably in your eyes and your genital tract, and the resulting infections, if left untreated, can lead to substantial and permanent damage. In this episode, we focus on the two most common forms of chlamydia infection, trachoma (eyes) and chlamydia (genital tract), and dis...
Apr 19, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast [This episode is a re-release of Ep 27 Vaccines Part 2: Have you thanked your immune system lately?, originally published May 21, 2019] Were you stoked about the history and biology of vaccines we covered in part 1, but left with even more questions? Were you really hoping to hear us talk about anti-vaccine sentiment and address misconceptions about vaccines in detail? Did you want even more expert guest insight?! Well then do we have the episode for you! Today, we delve into the history of the ...
Apr 12, 2022•2 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast [This episode is a re-release of Ep 26 Vaccines Part 1: Let's hear it for Maurice, originally published May 14, 2019] The wait is finally over: this week we are very excited to bring you the episode we’ve been teasing for weeks: vaccines! This week and next (you don’t have to wait a full two weeks for the next episode!), we are presenting a two-part series on vaccines. In today’s episode, we dive deep into the biology of vaccines, from how they stimulate your (amazing) immune system to protect y...
Apr 05, 2022•2 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast While last week’s episode covered ample ground when it came to lightning strikes, there is so much more to the world of electricity left to explore. Fortunately, there’s a bonus episode for that! This week, we’re joined by a familiar voice, Dr. Timothy Jorgensen , whose previous appearance on the podcast (see Ep 53 Radiation: X-Ray Marks the Spot ) helped to lay out the basics of radiation. In this bonus episode, Dr. Jorgensen, Professor of Radiation Medicine and Director of the Health Physics G...
Mar 29, 2022•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lightning strikes have an aura of myth and legend around them, and their mystical reputation is inflated by stories that tell of people who, after having been hit by lightning, are suddenly able to speak a new language or play the piano expertly. However, such embellished stories often fail to distinguish truth from fiction and rarely acknowledge the devastating toll that getting struck by lightning can have on your body and mind. Which is where TPWKY hopes to set the record straight. In this ep...
Mar 22, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast In last week’s episode, we explored the mysterious world of multiple sclerosis (MS) and the ongoing quest to determine what causes this autoimmune disease. While it’s likely that no one single factor leads to the development of MS, the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has long been suspected to play a role in this and many other autoimmune diseases and has also been shown to be involved in several cancers. But why? How is this virus implicated in so many diseases? How does it infect us? What does it do ...
Mar 15, 2022•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Like many autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis so clearly illustrates how detection and description of a disease only gets us so far when it comes to prevention, treatment, and cure. In the over 150 years since the first comprehensive description of multiple sclerosis, a great deal of progress has been made to understand the what and how of this disease, but many mysteries still abound, especially surrounding the why. In this episode, we explore what we do know about how this disease works, i...
Mar 08, 2022•2 hr 35 min•Transcript available on Metacast We ended our myxoma virus episode on a bit of a cliffhanger, briefly alluding to the emergence of another deadly rabbit virus on the global scene. In this follow-up bonus episode, we take a closer look at this recent arrival, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), and what its rapid spread around the world has meant for both invasive European rabbits in Australia as well as native rabbit species around the world. Dr. Robyn Hall ( @Virologica ), veterinary virologist, epidemiologist, and Team L...
Mar 01, 2022•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Invasive rabbits so numerous they form a “gray blanket” across the land. A killer virus, intentionally released to keep the bunnies at bay. An ensuing evolutionary arms race with no end in sight. It sounds more like the premise of a bad sci fi movie rather than a textbook case of biocontrol. But truth, especially in this case, is stranger and even more fascinating than fiction. If this is the first you’re hearing about myxoma virus and its place in the long history of European rabbits in Austral...
Feb 22, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our episode last week ended on a hopeful note, a rare occurrence for this podcast, and it was due in large part to the incredible decline in reported cases of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) over the past decade. In this bonus episode, we explore one of the major reasons behind this drop in HAT: the new medication fexinidazole , developed through a partnership between the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DND i ) , a non-profit organization dedicated to developing new treatments for n...
Feb 15, 2022•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here on the podcast, we’re no strangers to multi-host parasites with complicated life cycles, intricate ecologies and dense human histories. But human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) might require the most unpacking yet. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the tsetse fly-transmitted HAT, whose other name, sleeping sickness, doesn’t quite capture just how deadly this parasitic infection can be. First, we ask how these two trypanosomes cause the signs and symptoms they do, especially the strange...
Feb 08, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Blood tests and liver function results can only tell us part of the story when it comes to the impact that hepatitis B has on people living with the virus. Far too often overlooked is how stigma and discrimination, which we only briefly touched upon in our last episode, contribute to the substantial global burden of disease. In this bonus episode, Dr. Chari Cohen , Senior Vice President of the Hepatitis B Foundation , comes on the pod to chat about the different forms stigma and discrimination c...
Feb 01, 2022•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, we’re dipping a toe back into the vast waters of hepatitis viruses, this time with a focus on hepatitis B. The hepatitis B virus, though second to be named, was first to be discovered, and effective vaccines and treatments have been available for decades. Yet the global prevalence of this virus remains staggering, with nearly 300 million people chronically infected and 1.5 million new infections annually. So what’s going on? In this episode, we weave our way through the complicated bi...
Jan 25, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Chances are you know someone with endometriosis, or perhaps you’re affected yourself. But despite its incredibly high prevalence, endo remains almost criminally understudied, undertreated, and underacknowledged. In this episode, we aim to shed light on many aspects of endometriosis, first by examining the “what” and “how” of this disease: what’s actually going on inside your body with endometriosis and how does it cause the symptoms that it does? Then we turn our sights to the why, exploring not...
Jan 11, 2022•2 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this week’s episode, we cover a bacterium whose recent emergence and rapid spread has been largely an epidemic of our own making. Clostridium difficile isn’t your typical pathogen - in many cases it’s not even considered a pathogen, just a normal member of our gut microbiota. But when something disrupts our gut microbiota, like antibiotics, C. difficile is given the freedom to spread its wings, wreaking deadly havoc on our bodies especially when it refuses to leave. We explore the characteris...
Dec 28, 2021•2 hr 52 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re back with our first episode of Season 5, and we’re starting off with a bang! Epidemic typhus, that friend of war and famine, may have caused more wartime deaths than all battles combined, and though it may seem like a disease relegated to the past, typhus only needs a minor disruption to turn it into a scourge of the present. In this epic season opener, we turn our sights to the louse-transmitted Rickettsia prowazekii, first diving into the strange and terrible biology of this bacterium be...
Dec 14, 2021•2 hr 49 min•Transcript available on Metacast To say that alcohol is a part of human culture is a bit of an understatement. The relationship our species has with alcohol can be traced so far back that we see evidence of it in our DNA, in the way that humans, somewhat unique among mammals, gained the ability to more efficiently metabolize dietary ethanol. But while many of us have personal experience with the effects (and unpleasant aftereffects) that alcohol has on our body, how much do we know about why it makes us feel the way it does? Wh...
Nov 02, 2021•2 hr 49 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the summer of 1999 in New York City, and everyone's looking towards the future, towards millennium parties and potential Y2K catastrophes. But if they turned their eyes to the streets around and skies above, they might have seen something else on the horizon, something much more real and alarming than a Y2K glitch: the arrival of West Nile virus. In this episode, we take a close look at the virus whose recent emergence in the Western Hemisphere serves as a crucial reminder of how pathogens ...
Oct 19, 2021•2 hr 46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Almost everyone is familiar with diabetes mellitus in some way. Whether we know family or friends that have been diagnosed with the condition or we’re directly impacted ourselves, diabetes mellitus has become a household name. And this is perhaps not surprising given its extremely high prevalence - nearly 9% of adults around the globe are estimated to live with the disease. But although we may know someone with diabetes, how much do we know about diabetes itself? How does it work? Why does it ca...
Oct 05, 2021•2 hr 52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Twenty years ago this month, letters containing Bacillus anthracis spores were mailed to various politicians and news media offices in the US, resulting in illness, death, and a widespread fear that transformed anthrax from an agricultural disease or occupational hazard into a potential weapon of bioterrorism. In this episode, we explore the many dimensions of anthrax, from the different ways B. anthracis can cause disease to the incredibly long and varied history of the pathogen, a history of w...
Sep 21, 2021•2 hr 54 min•Transcript available on Metacast A nighttime “kiss” from a bug that casts a curse on its recipient in the form of a lifelong, and possibly fatal, illness. No, this isn’t some half-remembered fairy tale. It’s the true story of Chagas disease, caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi and transmitted by many species of triatomines (aka kissing bugs). In this episode, we take you through the utterly complicated biology of Chagas disease in its acute and chronic forms, the surprising evolutionary and historical background of this pa...
Sep 07, 2021•2 hr 49 min•Transcript available on Metacast While many of us know how deadly dysentery can be from playing countless hours of The Oregon Trail, there’s only so much that the classic game covered regarding this multifaceted disease. For instance, did you know that it can be caused by multiple pathogenic microbes? Or that it is and always has been closely associated with warfare and armies? Or that it remains one of the leading causes of death globally for children under five? In this episode all about dysentery, we pick up where The Oregon...
Aug 24, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
