An entire generation probably first learned the word “mesothelioma” and its link to asbestos from those ubiquitous commercials in the 1990s and 2000s. You know the one: “if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma you may be entitled to financial compensation.” These commercials made it seem like mesothelioma suddenly came out of nowhere. Was this a newly discovered disease? Wasn’t asbestos banned? How did asbestos cause mesothelioma? Heck, what even was asbestos? By seeking to answer all those questions and more, this episode picks up where those commercials left off. We detail how teeny tiny asbestos fibers can wreak immense devastation, untangle the long human history of asbestos products, and assess the current status of this fibrous mineral, which is disappointingly far from banned worldwide. No story of asbestos would be complete without a spotlight on the town of Libby, Montana, where brave crusaders continue to fight against a company whose callous negligence led to injury, death, and widespread environmental contamination. Tune in to find out where salamanders, The Wizard of Oz, Charlemagne, and The River Wild fit into the story of asbestos.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Where can you find banana-stealing macaques, dumpster-diving bears, flower-destroying gulls, and dangerously-exploding trees all in the same place? In a book by Mary Roach, of course. In this TPWKY book club episode, we’re joined by world’s funniest science writer and award-winning author to chat about her latest book Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, a rollicking tour of the many ways that humans and wildlife clash and the varied attempts to mitigate this conflict. Our conversation carries us across the globe as we discuss why “man-eating cat” is a misnomer and how the Vatican takes pest control very seriously, and through time as we contemplate the changing nature of conservation and the hopeful future of human-wildlife conflict. If you’ve ever wondered about the forensics of wildlife attacks (in other words, what’s going on in the Ponderosa Room?) or whether scarecrows work like they’re supposed to (spoilers, they don’t), then this is the episode for you.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This just might be our itchiest episode yet, and for that we sincerely apologize. But it might also be one of our most fascinating and fun episodes yet, and for that we are proud. Whether or not you have personal experience with bedbugs, the mere mention of these vampiric critters is often enough to inspire skin-crawling horror in us all. But in this episode, we also make a case for their appreciation. How can you not admire (from a distance, of course), their incredible ability to go for months or even a year without feeding? Or that their saliva contains all kinds of proteins that slow blood clotting or dilate our blood vessels? Or that the ubiquity of these bugs during the Industrial Revolution drove massive changes in furniture design? From the biology of a bedbug bite to the impressively long history of these blood-feeding arthropods, we present the story of bedbugs in more detail than you ever knew you wanted (and trust us, you do).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Menstruation. Is there any other biological process that is so widely experienced yet is still discussed in hushed tones or with an air of disgust? Period product commercials that never mention menstruation (and what’s with the blue liquid?), sex education classes covering what periods are without advising how to manage them, the endless list of menstruation euphemisms, prominent evolutionary hypotheses dismissing periods as maladaptive, even proposed laws forbidding the discussion of periods in school (looking at you, Florida) - these are just a few examples of the ways that we have been taught to be ashamed or grossed out by a natural biological process. In this TPWKY book club episode, we chat with Dr. Kate Clancy, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, about her recently published book Period: The Real Story of Menstruation, a compelling must-read that examines both scientific and societal perceptions of periods. Our conversation with Dr. Clancy takes us through the origins of period stigma, the leading hypotheses as to why we get periods, the observed link between the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and menstruation, the hopeful period future, and so much more. Tune in to learn where a uterus pancake fits into this discussion and stay to have all of your period myths busted.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Even if you haven’t watched the TV show House MD, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “it’s never lupus”. But have you stopped to consider why it’s never lupus? Or why lupus is so often suspected in the first case? Well, dear listeners, this episode aims to get at the heart of those questions, which is easier said than done. Like many other autoimmune diseases, lupus erythematosus continues to baffle, but we know a lot more now than we used to. In this episode, we take you through that knowledge as best we can and then trace the steps of how we came to first recognize, then describe, and then treat lupus, a journey that takes us through how we learned about autoimmunity in the first place. If you’ve ever been curious about how lupus got its name (wolf bite, anyone?) or what the pregnancy compensation hypothesis could mean for this and other autoimmune diseases, then this is the episode for you.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.