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PODCAST

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

Sam Kean, Bleav

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

history books

All Episodes

00:18:17

John James Fraudubon

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/10/28

The eagle that made John James Audubon famous, the Bird of Washington was nothing but an elaborate lie. Fawning biographers have suppressed this fact for years, but careful historical work has unraveled the Audubon legend, and shown that much of his life, and work, was built on deceit. (Part 2 of 2) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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00:18:41

The Bird that Made John James Audubon a Legend

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/10/21

After several heartbreaking setbacks, John James Audubon’s career was in ruins—until he hatched a desperate plan to win new patrons. It involved a rare American eagle, the Bird of Washington. And when the gamble paid off, it made Audubon the most famous ornithologist in history... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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00:18:27

The Dignity of the Ig Nobel Prizes

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/10/14

The Ig Nobel Prize is the bizarro cousin of the Nobel Prize—awarded for odd or unusual research “that first makes you laugh, then makes you think.” Some scientists hate them, and have refused to accept the award. But they’ve grown into a beloved institution—and one with some surprising benefits to science. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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00:18:00

The Nobel Disease

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/10/06

Winning a Nobel Prize is a good thing—mostly. But surprisingly often, Nobel laureates go kooky and start promoting bizarre things like homeopathy, ESP, AIDS denialism, and worse. Psychologists are starting to understand why... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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00:27:47

Dinner with King Tut audiobook preview

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/06/24

preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”.This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so take advantage today!

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00:21:19

Why Doctors and Scientists Embraced the Nazis

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/05/27

preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”.This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so take advantage today! Nazism was a society-wide catastrophe for Germany, but some professions deserve more blame than others. In particular, there was a surprisingly large percentage of doctors and engineers among the Nazis. Sociologists and historians have now worked out why.

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00:18:40

Hotter than the Dickens

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/05/20

When Charles Dickens published Bleak House in 1852, he included a scene where one character spontaneously combusts. 🔥 🔥 🔥 Readers loved it, but one of Dickens’s good friends—a former scientist—blasted Dickens for his scientific ignorance. It ignited one of the strangest controversies in literary history.preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”. This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so

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00:20:20

Jake Leg Blues

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/05/13

It was one the largest epidemics in American history: 30,000 people paralyzed over a few months in 1930. A dogged epidemiologist eventually traced the cause to adulterated bottles of an illegal liquor/medicine called “jake.” Yet the epidemic is almost completely forgotten. About the only place it survived was in blues songs...preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”. This offer

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00:17:47

The Worst of Times, the Asbestos Times

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/05/06

Asbestos was once considered a miracle substance—a wonder of the modern age, due to its role in stopping the fires that once plagued every major city. Unfortunately, it also shreds people’s lungs. Most countries were willing to live with that trade-off, until a crusading doctor named Irving Selikoff made it his life's mission to get asbestos banned.preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code

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00:18:56

Human Photosynthesis

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/04/29

Rickets was once a devastating disease: up to 90 percent of the children showed symptoms in some cities, including bent spines and bowed legs, and it resulted in many women dying during childbirth. The search for the cause of rickets took decades, and ended with a startling discovery—that much like plants, human beings had the ability to photosynthesize.preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer

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00:18:30

The Sad Story of Darwin’s Self-Procleimed “Stupidest”...

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/04/22

Leonard Darwin had a lot to live up to. He was the son of the legendary Charles, and several siblings proved to be brilliant scientists as well. But Leonard never quite measured up as a mediocre military officer and two-bit politician. In his fifties, he pronounced his life a “failure.” But in his sixties, he finally found his calling—the dark pseudoscience of eugenics, a field he embraced in part to prove that he wasn’t the failure he imagined.preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with

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00:18:33

The Birds and the Bees and the Frogs

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/04/15

A young woman in the mid-1900s couldn’t take an at-home pregnancy test. Instead, she sent a vial of urine to a clinic, where a technician would, of all things, inject it into a frog, and hormones in the urine would cause the frog to lay eggs. This frog-based test was far faster, easier, and cleaner than any pregnancy test before, and it shifted power for family planning from doctors to women themselves. preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this

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00:18:44

The Would-Be Saint's Battle over Down Syndrome

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/04/08

After scientists had a handle on how many chromosomes humans have, other researchers began exploring whether certain ailments might be caused by chromosomal abnormalities. To this end, a French cardiologist discovered that Down syndrome was caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in humans. But a colleague stole credit for her work, and the battle over their legacies continues to this day, in part because the colleague is on track to become a certified Catholic saint.preorder hardcover copies

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00:18:52

The Battle over Human Chromosomes

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/04/01

It seems like a simple question: how many chromosomes do human beings have? But getting an accurate count proved surprisingly hard for much of last century. In fact, virtually every textbook once cited an incorrect number, until in 1956, a fiery Indonesian scientist finally determined the true count—and had to battle his boss over who would receive credit for this legacy-making discovery.preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only:

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00:20:32

The Halley's Comet Panic

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2025/03/25

The 1910 return of Halley’s comet was greeted with rapture around the world—at least at first. Due to irresponsible speculation by scientists about the theoretical dangers of a close encounter with a comet, many people grew terrified of Halley’s approach and took drastic measures. They fled their homes, hid out in wells or caves, even committed suicide. It’s a grave reminder of scientific communication gone very wrong.preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent

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19:30

The Winter when People Ate Tulips

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2024/12/10

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. Podcast season finale below:Our Sponsors:* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOONAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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17:09

Why Keep a Diary of a Toxic Snakebite?

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2024/12/03

After 40 years of studying snakes, Karl Schmidt finally suffered his first bite. And when he did, he kept a gruesome diary to document the suffering and danger—right up to the edge of death...Our Sponsors:* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOONAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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18:38

Machiavellian Microbes

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2024/11/19

Parasites can force animals to do nefarious things by manipulating their minds—including, uncomfortably, the minds of human beings.Our Sponsors:* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOONAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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19:15

The Woman Who “Turned Back a Plague of Old Testament...

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2024/11/12

In refusing to approve the drug thalidomide, FDA scientist Frances Oldham Kelsey spared thousands of babies from deadly birth defects and revolutionized drug research. But was her legacy all good? Our Sponsors:* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOONAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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17:51

The Doom Lurking inside Trees

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast... ·

2024/11/04

Japanese physicist Fusa Miyake has sparked a revolution in archaeology by studying radioactive tree rings—work that also terrifies astronomers, who fear it foretells doom for our civilization.Our Sponsors:* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOONAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

en

121 results

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