Ep 86 Typhus: Another lousy episode

Ep 86 Typhus: Another lousy episode

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 before exploring the deep history of this tiny but mighty pathogen. The vast story of typhus takes us on a journey on a ‘coffin ship’ of the Great Irish Famine, through musings of the origins of human body and head lice, to German-occupied Poland during WWII with tales of vaccine sabotage and lice feeding, and finally to the present day, where we discuss the very real threat that epidemic typhus continues to pose. Check out this episode for all you ever wanted to know about epidemic typhus and more!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episoder(282)

Ep 192 New World Screwworm: Oh-oh here they come

Ep 192 New World Screwworm: Oh-oh here they come

It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. A fly lands on an open wound and lays hundreds of eggs, from which hatch countless ravenous maggots. There they writhe, devouring flesh, insatiable and relentles...

4 Nov 20251h 10min

Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!

Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!

Science doesn’t always get it right the first time (or the second, or the third, or even the ninety-ninth!). And while we may chuckle at the outlandish things people believed or the goofy experiments ...

28 Okt 202554min

Ep 191 Famine: More than starvation

Ep 191 Famine: More than starvation

As we learned last week, starvation extends far beyond hunger and what a lack of food does to the human body. Similarly, famine is much more than a food shortage and starvation on a population-level s...

21 Okt 20251h 10min

Ep 190 Starvation: More than hunger

Ep 190 Starvation: More than hunger

Deprived of food, our bodies do the best they can to keep us alive and functioning as long as possible. As the days pass, the rhythms of our lives change: our metabolism, our heartbeats, our hormones,...

14 Okt 20251h 4min

Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness

Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness

The United States is in the midst of a monumental mental health crisis, with one in four people predicted to experience mental illness at some point in their lives. Adequate mental health care remains...

7 Okt 202556min

Ep 189 Newborn screening: The future is here

Ep 189 Newborn screening: The future is here

Every year, millions of babies around the world are screened for dozens of treatable conditions within the first day or two of life. What it takes is a few drops of blood on some filter paper, and wha...

30 Sep 20251h 18min

Ep 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere

Ep 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere

None of us are ever truly alone. Our bodies are home to untold numbers of microbes, chilling on our skin, in our guts, throughout our respiratory tract, inside our bellybuttons, under our fingernails,...

23 Sep 20251h 17min

Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You

Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You

When your car breaks down or your fridge goes on the fritz, you can order a replacement part and get things back up and running in no time. The same cannot always be said for another intricate machine...

16 Sep 202548min

Populært innen Vitenskap

fastlegen
jss
tingenes-tilstand
rekommandert
sinnsyn
forskningno
liberal-halvtime
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
rss-paradigmepodden
rss-nysgjerrige-norge
villmarksliv
kvinnehelsepodden
fjellsportpodden
nevropodden
nordnorsk-historie
rss-overskuddsliv
rss-rekommandert
diagnose
rss-bondevennen
psykopoden