How PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Are Harming Our Health, with Linda Birnbaum
Big Brains16 Nov 2023

How PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Are Harming Our Health, with Linda Birnbaum

By now, you've probably heard about the dangers of PFAS “forever chemicals.” These chemicals are all around us—they're in waterproof hiking boots, electronics, nonstick pans and even our drinking water—but there's no way for them to break down in our environment. Epidemiological studies have linked to these chemicals to numerous diseases—from kidney cancer, liver cancer, obesity, decreased fertility and more.

American toxicologist Linda Birnbaum has been sounding the alarms about how PFAS are harming our health for the last few decades. She was previously the director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences at the NIH and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She explains that while we cannot completely avoid PFAS, there are steps we can take to limit our exposure.

Subscribe to Big Brains on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(216)

What Makes Music Go Viral—From AI to Taylor Swift

What Makes Music Go Viral—From AI to Taylor Swift

The internet and social media have transformed the way in which we hear and understand music today—and online communities and platforms from YouTube to TikTok have changed how music circulates and ult...

11 Des 202535min

How Wearable Tech Will Heighten Our Senses and Abilities, with Pedro Lopes

How Wearable Tech Will Heighten Our Senses and Abilities, with Pedro Lopes

Can you imagine a world in which a wearable device, like a smartwatch, could move your fingers to strum the guitar or play the drums? That kind of technology is part of the innovative research coming ...

24 Nov 202538min

Why Are More Women Saying No To Having Kids? With Peggy O'Donnell Heffington

Why Are More Women Saying No To Having Kids? With Peggy O'Donnell Heffington

More and more women in the United States are saying no to motherhood. In 2023, the U.S. fertility rate reached the lowest number on record. But the idea of non-motherhood is actually not a new phenome...

13 Nov 202532min

How Full-Body MRIs Could Predict Your Long-Term Health, with Daniel Sodickson

How Full-Body MRIs Could Predict Your Long-Term Health, with Daniel Sodickson

What does it mean to see beneath the surface — of the human body, the brain, or even the universe itself? In his new book, The Future of Seeing: How Imaging Is Changing Our World, Prof. Daniel Sodicks...

30 Okt 202534min

Is There Such A Thing As A Psychopath?

Is There Such A Thing As A Psychopath?

Few ideas have gripped the public imagination quite like the idea of the “psychopath.” From Hollywood thrillers to true-crime podcasts, popular culture has led us to believe that psychopaths are dange...

16 Okt 202535min

Why We Haven’t Solved Brain Disorders—And How To Fix It, with Nicole Rust

Why We Haven’t Solved Brain Disorders—And How To Fix It, with Nicole Rust

For decades, neuroscience has promised breakthroughs in treating conditions like depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s. Yet despite powerful technologies and billions invested, progress has been ...

2 Okt 202536min

Life On Mars: Is It Possible For Humans? with Edwin Kite

Life On Mars: Is It Possible For Humans? with Edwin Kite

Billions of years ago, Mars may have looked less like the barren red desert we know today and more like Earth—with a blue sky, flowing rivers, and even seas. What happened to turn a once-habitable wor...

19 Sep 202530min

How To Use Nature To Restore Your Focus, with Marc Berman

How To Use Nature To Restore Your Focus, with Marc Berman

We’re living in an attention economy—and most of us are broke. But what if the secret to restoring your focus, improving your mental health, and even reducing crime rates wasn’t found in an app or a p...

4 Sep 202532min

Populært innen Fakta

mikkels-paskenotter
fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
foreldreradet
treningspodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
jakt-og-fiskepodden
sinnsyn
rss-kunsten-a-leve
hverdagspsyken
fryktlos
rss-kull
rss-bisarr-historie
gravid-uke-for-uke
hagespiren-podcast
rss-var-forste-kaffe
rss-sunn-okonomi
lederskap-nhhs-podkast-om-ledelse
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf