328 | Mary Roach on Replacing Parts of Our Bodies

328 | Mary Roach on Replacing Parts of Our Bodies

Like any machine, bodies occasionally break down, and it's natural to go in search of a replacement part. Ancient societies featured simple prosthetics for teeth, noses, and limbs, while modern medicine pursues more advanced ways of replacing internal organs and microbiomes. But what is striking is not just the impressive ingenuity of our attempts to replicate human anatomy, but the surprising level of difficulty involved in doing it well. I talk with author Mary Roach about the many ways in which humans have chosen to replace bits of themselves, as told in her recent book Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/15/328-mary-roach-on-replacing-parts-of-our-bodies/

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Mary Roach received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. Her books include multiple New York Times bestsellers and have appeared on numerous best-of lists. She was a guest editor in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series, and received the Rushdie Award from the Harvard Secular Society.


Jaksot(417)

136 | Roderick Graham on Cyberspace, Race, and Cultural Conservatism

136 | Roderick Graham on Cyberspace, Race, and Cultural Conservatism

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1 Maalis 20211h 23min

135 | Shadi Bartsch on Plato, Vergil, Confucius, and Modernity

135 | Shadi Bartsch on Plato, Vergil, Confucius, and Modernity

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22 Helmi 20211h 20min

AMA | February 2021

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17 Helmi 20212h 53min

134 | Robert Sapolsky on Why We Behave the Way We Do

134 | Robert Sapolsky on Why We Behave the Way We Do

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15 Helmi 20211h 28min

133 | Ziya Tong on Realities We Don't See

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It's a truism that what we see about the world is a small fraction of all that exists. At the simplest level of physics and biology, our senses are drastically limited; we only see a narrow spectrum o...

8 Helmi 20211h 37min

Bonus | AIP Oral History Interview

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4 Helmi 20214h 1min

132 | Michael Levin on Growth, Form, Information, and the Self

132 | Michael Levin on Growth, Form, Information, and the Self

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1 Helmi 20211h 21min

131 | Avi Loeb on Taking Aliens Seriously

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