SEASON 2, EPISODE 10
Spreading the News
Science communication has impacted our lives more than we ever thought it would. Getting complicated scientific and medical information out to a large number of people is crucial to our public health. And it is not easy. We will look at how stories can help spread and preserve information. We start with the oldest true […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 9
Guinea Pigs
Let’s talk about the use of animals in medical research. It’s not a subject that people are very comfortable discussing, but we are going to do it anyway. We will start with an incredible story of a fire in Bar Harbor Maine that impacted the health of people all over the world for years, even […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 8
Follow the Money
The relationship between researchers and funders is complicated. Some people think that researchers should be left to their own direction and that all financial support should be ‘no-strings attached.’ But is that possible? Is it desirable? We look at how the Roman Coliseum was funded, and ask ‘what impact did that have on its design […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 7
Old Meets New
The Amish community in Pennsylvania is heavily impacted by genetic diseases. You might think that their resistance to modern technology would make it difficult to treat these conditions. But actually their philosophies around family and community make it easier to manage these diseases. John Franklin’s ships were lost to the world for more than a […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 6
Too Much or Too Little?
We often complain about having too little of something: Too little time, too little money. But today in first world countries a lot of our problems come from having too much of something: Too much sugar, too much technology. We point this lens at a pair of historical stories to better understand if tragedies and […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 5
Unintended Consequences
We’ve all heard the saying about “the best laid plans….” but there is a caveat to that. Not all unexpected consequences are bad. Sometimes something really amazing occurs unexpectedly. This episode tells the story of Henry Molaison, better known as Patient HM, or “the most important brain in the history of neuroscience.” Henry didn’t set […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 4
Double Blind
Join us for a wild ride through Vienna and Paris. We will hang out with Mozart, Marie Antoinette, and the incredible Dr Mesmer. We will drink cocktails and stay up way too late. All in an effort to answer the question: Is it possible that being blinded could help you see new things? I’m not […]
SEASON 2, EPISODE 3
Tools for Testing
Sometimes great discoveries have to wait for the creation of the perfect tool. From screwdrivers to clocks to powdered meal kits, we look at what is possible when you have the right tool. What is the best screw ever invented? If you said the Phillips, you are wrong. The Phillips is the most popular screw […]
Season 2, Episode 2
The Trouble with Trials
Every medical drug, product, or procedure needs to be thoroughly tested before it is used on the general public. But what are you testing for: To see if it works? or to see if it does harm? Ten years ago, in a hospital in London England a drug company conducted a clinical trial. That trial […]
Season 2, Episode 1
What’s in a Name?
Kick back and enjoy a cold Corona beer as we tell stories about the importance of names. From cameras to resumes to hormones, names matter. George Eastman decided to name his company Kodak after playing a game of Anagrams with his mother. But the choice wasn’t an accident. It was a deliberately constructed name with […]
Bonus Episode
Bonus Episode – How We Got Here
SciMar does more than produce a podcast. They are a real medical research company doing really amazing work in the field of type 2 diabetes. This episode tells the story of how they got here. ‘Here’ being: on the verge of a transformational breakthrough in metabolic health. It starts with a Eureka moment in a […]
Season 1: Episode 10
Seeing It With Your Own Eyes
We made it! This is the final episode in season one… and it is a huge day for the medical research group SciMar. Some scientific discoveries are exciting because they reveal something that was previously unknown. But a lot of ‘discoveries’ are actually visual confirmation of a proven fact. Roald Amundsen already knew the South […]
Season 1: Episode 9
Going back to Square One
Starting a story at the beginning makes sense… but what if there is a mistake in that first sentence? Does it invalidate the rest of the story? What if your experiment is based on an assumption that later turns out to be false? And how can you protect your tower of discoveries from tumbling down? […]
Season 1: Episode 8
Why Giving it All Away doesn’t always work
You’ve probably heard that Banting and Best gave away the patent for Insulin for one dollar. But why did they do that? And did it achieve what they wanted? We often associate being successful with being profitable. And for a lot of enterprises that is true. But what if your goal is to win the […]
Season 1: Episode 7
Generations: What Newton taught Einstein
How many astronomers does it take to discover a planet that doesn’t exist? The Answer: Generations. Depending on where you live, (and a thousand other variables) your life expectancy is probably between 75 and 85 years. Even at the high end, that’s not enough to solve all the world’s problems. That’s why most big questions […]
Season 1: Episode 6
When Snake Oil enters the Courtroom
What do you think of when you hear the term Snake Oil? Do you think of miracle vitamins with outlandish claims? Do you think of sneaky sales people trying to separate you from your money? Or do you think of actual snakes? The truth is, those are all true. Snake Oil is a complicated concept […]
Season 1: Episode 5
Diversity, Leaded Gasoline, and Carjacking
The answers to life’s biggest questions will vary widely based on one simple variable: who you ask. If you do an experiment on men, you might get a different result than when you do it on women. Rich, poor, black, white, young, old… people are diverse and you learn more when you ask your questions […]
Season 1: Episode 4
Why Unpopular Science is Good Science
When someone tells you “that is a stupid idea,” how do you react? Do you reconsider your position? Do you dig your heels in and get defensive? Do you quit, or work harder? Being unpopular is a regular state of affairs for scientists. The nature of the work requires you to disrupt paradigms and make […]
Season 1: Episode 3
Ross Geller and Marie Curie are Outsiders
The TV show Friends was king of primetime for a decade and while all six characters were ‘friends’ one of them was not like the others: Ross. We look at why he was such a poor fit with this group and what that means for real life scientists. Marie Curie studied at the Sorbonne. She […]
Season 1: episode 2
How Bad Timing Killed the Electric Car
There was a time that the battle between Electric, Gasoline, and Steam powered cars was a dead heat. So why did gas win? Was it price? Or power? Speed, noise, marketing, or political influence? Or was it just Bad Timing? Reader’s Digest magazine told us about the invention of the LED 60 years ago. But […]
Season 1: Episode 1
Eureka! Before and After
When we tell science stories they usually have a long complicated build up, and finish with someone yelling Eureka. But is Eureka really the end? What if we look at it as the beginning? Or the middle? In this first episode, we meet Archimedes – a brilliant scientist from ancient Greece that is credited with […]
