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- Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!: 2025 Oct 28

- Episode 191 Famine: More than starvation: 2025 Oct 28

- Episode 190 Starvation: More than hunger: 2025 Oct 14

- Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness: 2025 Oct 7

- Episode 189 Newborn screening: The future is here: 2025 Oct 7

- Episode 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere: 2025 Sep 23

- Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You: 2025 Sep 16

- Episode 187 Hypothermia Part 2: How it helps: 2025 Sep 9

- Episode 186 Hypothermia Part 1: How it hurts: 2025 Sep 2

- Special Episode: Lina Zeldovich & The Living Medicine: 2025 Aug 28

OCT 28, 2025, 9:50 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

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 they tried, we forget two things: 1) those failures helped us get where we are today and 2) a hundred years from now, people will probably be laughing at the “cutting edge” medical knowledge of today! In this week’s book club episode, Erin and I chat with two of our all-time favorite science communicators, Dr. Lindsey Fithzarris and Adrian Teal to discuss their newest book Dead Ends!: Flukes, Flops & Failures That Sparked Medical Marvels. This hilarious and insightful book, geared towards middle-school readers (but enjoyable for all ages!), frolicks through some of the strangest stories in the history of medicine, accompanied by delightfully grotesque illustrations. There’s learning, there’s laughter, but most importantly, there’s a lesson: failure is okay. Not just okay but a necessary part of science. Tune in for all this and more!

This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

OCT 28, 2025, 9:47 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 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 scale. This week, we’re picking up where we left off last episode to explore the definitions, drivers, and many dimensions of famine. We trace famines throughout human history, asking how they have changed either in their incidence, severity, or cause. No two famines are exactly alike, but taking a bird’s eye view of patterns in famine over time gives us insight, especially into the famines of the past 100 years. We conclude the episode with a discussion of the ongoing famine in Gaza and other food insecurity crises in other regions of the world. Tune in for a broad overview of this heavy but incredibly important topic.

History

- Applebaum, Anne. Red famine: Stalin’s war on Ukraine. Vintage, 2017.

- De Waal, Alex. Mass starvation: The history and future of famine. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.

- Gráda, Cormac Ó. Famine: A Short History. Princeton University Press, 2009.

- Sen, Amartya. Poverty and famines: an essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford university press, 1982.

- Woodham-smith, Cecil. The Great Hunger. (1962): 385-pp.

- Conley, Bridget, and Alex De Waal. “The purposes of starvation: Historical and contemporary uses.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 17.4 (2019): 699-722.

- de Waal, Alex. “The history and future of famine.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies. 2024.

- Heijmans, Bastiaan T., et al. “Persistent epigenetic differences associated with prenatal exposure to famine in humans.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.44 (2008): 17046-17049.

- Howe, Paul, and Stephen Devereux. “Famine intensity and magnitude scales: a proposal for an instrumental definition of famine.” Disasters 28.4 (2004): 353-372.

- Shirinian, George N. “Starvation and its political use in the Armenian Genocide.” Genocide Studies International 11.1 (2017): 8-37.

- Tezanos‐Vázquez, Sergio. “Why do famines still occur in the 21st Century? A review on the causes of extreme food insecurity.” Journal of Economic Surveys 39.4 (2025): 1433-1461.

- Vaiserman, Alexander, and Oleh Lushchak. “Prenatal famine exposure and adult health outcomes: an epigenetic link.” Environmental Epigenetics 7.1 (2021): dvab013.

- Vanhaute, Eric. “From famine to food crisis: what history can teach us about local and global subsistence crises.” The Journal of peasant studies 38.1 (2011): 47-65.

- Zimmet, Paul, et al. “Epidemic T2DM, early development and epigenetics: implications of the Chinese Famine.” Nature Reviews Endocrinology 14.12 (2018): 738-746.

- Integrated Food Security Phase Classification

- IPC Famine Fact Sheet

- IPC GAZA STRIP: Famine confirmed in Gaza Governorate, projected to expand | 1 July – 30 September 2025 Published on 22 August 2025

Biology

- Firsthand excerpted from: “Too hungry to think, too weak to sit upright, concentration slips away: the struggle to stay focuses as an academic in Gaza” by Ahmed Kamal Junina published in The Guardian on August 19, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/aug/19/too-hungry-to-think-too-weak-to-sit-upright-concentration-slips-away-the-struggle-to-stay-focussed-as-an-academic-in-gaza

- Famine Review Committee: Gaza Strip, August 2025. Conclusions and Recommendations. IPC https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_Gaza_Aug2025.pdf

- Famine Review Committee: Sudan, December 2024. Conclusions and recommendations IPC. https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_Sudan_Dec2024.pdf

- Hassoun, A., Hamad, A., Iriqat, D., Nijim, M., Bouchikh, Y., Buheji, M. and Aldahdouh, T.Z., 2025. The implications of the ongoing war on Gaza for food sustainability. Sustainable Futures, p.100473.

- IPC analysis portal. Sudan: acute food insecurity situation – updated projections and FRC conflusions for October 2024 to May 2025. https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1159433/

- WHO. Public health situation analysis: May 5,2025. Crisis in Upper Nile State, South sudan. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/public-health-situation-analysis—upper-nile-state–south-sudan

- WHO Sudan Conflict and refugee crisis: multi-country external situation report no 10, March- April 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/sudan-conflict-and-refugee-crisis–multi-country-external-situation-report–10–covering-the-reporting-period-march-april-2025

- WHO  Public health situation analysis: March 10, 2025. Sudan Conflict. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/public-health-situation-analysis–sudan-conflict-(10-march-2025)

- WHO Public health situation analysis: September 10,2025 – Hostilities in the occupied Palestinian territory. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/public-health-situation-analysis—occupied-palestinian-territory-September

- UN News. August 5, 2025 Children are ‘skin and bones’ as Sudan marks a grim milestone. UN News Global perspective Human stories. https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/08/1165580

- Botty and Chothia, July 4 2025. Sudan war: a simple guide to what is happening. BBC news: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjel2nn22z9o

- August 8, 2025 Israel and the Palestinians: History of the conflict explained. BBC news: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgr71z0jp4o

- Graham-Harrison. July 31,2025. The mathematics of starvation: how Israel caused a famine in Gaza. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/31/the-mathematics-of-starvation-how-israel-caused-a-famine-in-gaza

- WFP. Emergency – Sudan. https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/sudan

- Philips. Oct 17,2023 . Gaza strip size compared to major world cities in maps. https://www.newsweek.com/gaza-strip-size-compared-world-cities-maps-1835267

- Burke. Sept 6, 2025. More than 7,000 under-fives in Gaza put in malnutrition recovery in two-week period. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/06/unicef-under-5s-recovery-programmes-acute-malnutrition-gaza

- Khatib, R., McKee, M. and Yusuf, S., 2024. Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential. The Lancet, 404(10449), pp.237-238.

- Dardona, Z., Amane, M., Dardona, A. and Boussaa, S., 2025. Health and environmental impacts of Gaza conflict (2023-2024): A review. One Health Bulletin, 5(1), pp.1-12.

- Boukari, Y., Kadir, A., Waterston, T., Jarrett, P., Harkensee, C., Dexter, E., Cinar, E.N., Blackett, K., Nacer, H., Stevens, A. and Devakumar, D., 2024. Gaza, armed conflict and child health. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 8(1), p.e002407.

- Elamin, A., Abdullah, S., ElAbbadi, A., Abdellah, A., Hakim, A., Wagiallah, N. and Ansah, J.P., 2024. Sudan: from a forgotten war to an abandoned healthcare system. BMJ Global Health, 9(10), p.e016406.

- Venkatesan, P., 2025. Burden of infectious diseases in Sudan. The Lancet Microbe, 6(1).

- Reed, R., and Reed, B. 2013. Technical notes on drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies. Prepared for WHO by WEDC. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/wash-documents/who-tn-09-how-much-water-is-needed.pdf

- Herschander, Sept 9, 2025. The US stopped showing up to disasters. The results are horrifying. Vox Future Perfect. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/460550/emergency-response-afghanistan-sudan-usaid-foreign-aid

- WHO/FAO Jount news release. July 28,2025. Global hunger declines, but rises in Africa and western Asia: UN report. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-07-2025-global-hunger-declines-but-rises-in-africa-and-western-asia-un-report

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

OCT 14, 2025, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 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, even our thoughts shift to adjust to this period of scarcity. This response is evolutionarily engrained, following a variable but fairly prescribed path. In this episode, we trace that path, exploring what happens when our bodies are not given the energy stores they need, how patterns of metabolism alter, leading our bodies to consume themselves, and the profound consequences this has on every part of our physiology and psychology. We also tell the story of how we came to learn about these outcomes, chiefly through a WWII-era study called the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. This is the first of two episodes centered around malnutrition, starvation, and famine. Next week, we’ll explore the broad topic of famine, of which starvation is merely one component.

History

- Cannon, Geoffrey. “The rise and fall of dietetics and of nutrition science, 4000 BCE–2000 CE.” Public Health Nutrition 8.6a (2005): 701-705.

- Carpenter, Kenneth J. “A short history of nutritional science: Part 1 (1785–1885).” The Journal of nutrition 133.3 (2003): 638-645.

- Carpenter, Kenneth J. “A short history of nutritional science: part 2 (1885–1912).” The Journal of Nutrition 133.4 (2003): 975-984.

- Carpenter, Kenneth J. “A short history of nutritional science: part 3 (1912–1944).” The Journal of nutrition 133.10 (2003): 3023-3032.

- Eckert, Elke D., et al. “A 57-year follow-up investigation and review of the Minnesota study on human starvation and its relevance to eating disorders.” Archives of Psychology 2.3 (2018).

- Guetzkow, Harold Steere, and Paul Hoover Bowman. “Men and hunger: A psychological manual for relief workers.” (1946).

- Kalm, Leah M., and Richard D. Semba. “They starved so that others be better fed: remembering Ancel Keys and the Minnesota experiment.” The Journal of nutrition 135.6 (2005): 1347-1352.

- Perrin, Carleton E. “The chemical revolution.” Companion to the history of modern science. Routledge, 2020. 264-277.

- Ridgway, Ella, et al. “Historical developments and paradigm shifts in public health nutrition science, guidance and policy actions: a narrative review.” Nutrients 11.3 (2019): 531.

- Russell, Sharman Apt. “The hunger experiment.” The Wilson Quarterly (1976-) 29.3 (2005): 66-82.

- Solomon, S. M., and D. F. Kirby. “The refeeding syndrome: a review.” Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition 14.1 (1990): 90-97.

- Firsthand: The Minnesota semi-starvation experiment, University Publications, Archives & Special Collections, Colorado State University https://hdl.handle.net/10217/02.0036381

Biology

- Butterly, J.R. and Shepherd, J., 2010. Hunger: the biology and politics of starvation. UPNE.

- Bhutta, Z.A., Berkley, J.A., Bandsma, R.H., Kerac, M., Trehan, I. and Briend, A., 2017. Severe childhood malnutrition. Nature reviews Disease primers, 3(1), pp.1-18.

- Wang, T., Hung, C.C. and Randall, D.J., 2006. The comparative physiology of food deprivation: from feast to famine. Annu. Rev. Physiol., 68(1), pp.223-251.

- Trehan, I. and Manary, M.J., 2015. Management of severe acute malnutrition in low-income and middle-income countries. Archives of disease in childhood, 100(3), pp.283-287.

- Bahwere, P., 2014. Severe acute malnutrition during emergencies: burden, management, and gaps. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 35(2_suppl1), pp.S47-S51.

- Jones, K.D. and Berkley, J.A., 2014. Severe acute malnutrition and infection. Paediatrics and international child health, 34(sup1), pp.S1-S29.

- Otiti, M.I. and Allen, S.J., 2021. Severe acute malnutrition in low-and middle-income countries. Paediatrics and Child Health, 31(8), pp.301-307.

- Alou, M.T., Golden, M.H., Million, M. and Raoult, D., 2021. Difference between kwashiorkor and marasmus: Comparative meta-analysis of pathogenic characteristics and implications for treatment. Microbial pathogenesis, 150, p.104702.

- May, T., de la Haye, B., Nord, G., Klatt, K., Stephenson, K., Adams, S., Bollinger, L., Hanchard, N., Arning, E., Bottiglieri, T. and Maleta, K., 2022. One-carbon metabolism in children with marasmus and kwashiorkor. EBioMedicine, 75.

- May, T., Babirekere-Iriso, E., Traoré, M., Berbain, E., Ahmed, M., Amadi, B., Briend, A., Manary, M., Koroma, A.S., Hanchard, N. and Olsen, M.F., 2023. The neglect of kwashiorkor. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 7(11), pp.751-753.

- Fasano, A., 2025. The physiology of hunger. New England Journal of Medicine, 392(4), pp.372-381.

- Burnett, C.J., Li, C., Webber, E., Tsaousidou, E., Xue, S.Y., Brüning, J.C. and Krashes, M.J., 2016. Hunger-driven motivational state competition. Neuron, 92(1), pp.187-201.

- Cahill Jr, G.F., 1970. Starvation in man. New England Journal of Medicine, 282(12), pp.668-675.

- Spettigue, W., Drouin, S., Isserlin, L., Palmert, S., Roscoe, C., Harrison, M., Kanbur, N., Bishop, J. and Norris, M.L., 2025. The Psychological, Cognitive, and Behavioural Effects of Starvation in Humans: A Scoping Review. European Eating Disorders Review, 33(4), pp.666-690.

- Collins, S., 2001. Changing the way we address severe malnutrition during famine. The Lancet, 358(9280), pp.498-501.

- Grey, K., Gonzales, G.B., Abera, M., Lelijveld, N., Thompson, D., Berhane, M., Abdissa, A., Girma, T. and Kerac, M., 2021. Severe malnutrition or famine exposure in childhood and cardiometabolic non-communicable disease later in life: a systematic review. BMJ global health, 6(3).

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

OCT 7, 2025, 11:48 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

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 out of reach of so many due to a myriad of factors: unaffordability, stigma, shame, and racism, to name a few, leaving enormous gaps in mental health equity. The roots of these inequities can be traced back decades, to the earliest psychiatric hospitals founded on harmful racist notions of mental illness. In Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum, author and award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton explores the story of Crownsville Hospital, a segregated asylum in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, built in 1911 by its first patients: twelve Black men. Over the course of the 20th century, the shifting perspectives of race and mental illness played out in the overcrowded and understaffed Crownsville Hospital, with powerful implications for understanding our current failing to deliver adequate care to all in need. Madness is a powerful and necessary book that sheds much-needed light on the intersections between race, racism, and mental illness.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

OCT 7, 2025, 11:42 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 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 what it gives is profound: potentially life-saving information. The advent of newborn screening is one of the greatest public achievements of the 20th century; since their earliest implementation, screening programs have diagnosed hundreds of thousands of babies early enough for medical intervention. And the life-saving potential they hold continues to grow with the development of genomic sequencing technology, which will increase the number of screenable conditions by an order of magnitude. In this episode, we explore the serendipitous origins of newborn screening, what the process looks like from a parent’s perspective, and how cutting-edge technology could revolutionize these programs. To help us navigate the exciting future of newborn screening, Dr. Joshua Milner, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Allergy Immunology and Rheumatology at Columbia University Medical Center joins us to discuss an ambitious research program at NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals titled the GUARDIAN study, or Genomic Uniform-screening Against Rare Disease in All Newborns. Tune in for a truly thrilling episode!

For more on the GUARDIAN study, the groundbreaking research program using genomic sequencing technology to screen newborns at NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals for hundreds of conditions, check out the Advances in Care podcast episode titled “Newborn Gene Sequencing: Expanding Early Detection of Treatable Diseases.”

History

- Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children Charter

- 2025 Current Fiscal Year Report: Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children

- Cohen, Leslie. “The de‐coders: A historical perspective of the genetic counseling profession.” Birth Defects Research 112.4 (2020): 307-315.

- El-Hattab, Ayman W., Mohammed Almannai, and V. Reid Sutton. “Newborn screening: history, current status, and future directions.” Pediatric Clinics 65.2 (2018): 389-405.

- Gaviglio, Amy, et al. “Infants with congenital diseases identified through newborn screening—United States, 2018–2020.” International Journal of Neonatal Screening 9.2 (2023): 23.

- Guthrie, Robert. “Blood screening for phenylketonuria.” Jama 178.8 (1961): 863-863.

- Guthrie, R., and H. Bickel. “The introduction of newborn screening for phenylketonuria: A personal history.” European journal of pediatrics 155.Suppl 1 (1996): S4-S5.

- Promoting Safe and Effective Genetic Testing in the United States Final Report of the Task Force on Genetic Testing. Eds Neil A. Holtzman, Michael S. Watson. 1997

- King, Jovanka R., and Lennart Hammarström. “Newborn screening for primary immunodeficiency diseases: history, current and future practice.” Journal of clinical immunology 38.1 (2018): 56-66.

- Levy, Harvey L. “A life in newborn screening.” International Journal of Neonatal Screening 2.4 (2016): 14.

- Levy, Harvey L. “Robert Guthrie and the trials and tribulations of newborn screening.” International journal of neonatal screening 7.1 (2021): 5.

- McCandless, Shawn E., and Erica J. Wright. “Mandatory newborn screening in the United States: History, current status, and existential challenges.” Birth defects research 112.4 (2020): 350-366.

- Penrose, Lionel, and Juda Hirsch Quastel. “Metabolic studies in phenylketonuria.” Biochemical Journal 31.2 (1937): 266.

- Resta, Robert G. “What have we been trying to do and have we been any good at it? A history of measuring the success of genetic counseling.” European Journal of Medical Genetics 62.5 (2019): 300-307.

- Sontag, Marci K. “Infants with congenital disorders identified through newborn screening—United States, 2015–2017.” MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report 69 (2020).

- Tarini, Beth A. “The current revolution in newborn screening: new technology, old controversies.” Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine 161.8 (2007): 767-772.

- Tluczek, Audrey, Anne L. Ersig, and Shinhyo Lee. “Psychosocial issues related to newborn screening: a systematic review and synthesis.” International Journal of Neonatal Screening 8.4 (2022): 53.

- Wilcken, Bridget, and Veronica Wiley. “Fifty years of newborn screening.” Journal of paediatrics and child health 51.1 (2015): 103-107.

- Woolf, Louis I., and John Adams. “The early history of PKU.” International journal of neonatal screening 6.3 (2020): 59.

Biology

- Levy, P.A., 2010. An overview of newborn screening. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 31(7), pp.622-631.

- Berry, S.A., 2015. Newborn screening. Clinics in Perinatology, 42(2), pp.441-53.

- Ziegler, A., Koval-Burt, C., Kay, D.M., Suchy, S.F., Begtrup, A., Langley, K.G., Hernan, R., Amendola, L.M., Boyd, B.M., Bradley, J. and Brandt, T., 2025. Expanded newborn screening using genome sequencing for early actionable conditions. jama, 333(3), pp.232-240.

- Andermann, A., Blancquaert, I., Beauchamp, S. and Déry, V., 2008. Revisiting Wilson and Jungner in the genomic age: a review of screening criteria over the past 40 years. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 86(4), pp.317-319.

- Andermann, A., Blancquaert, I., Beauchamp, S. and Costea, I., 2010. Guiding policy decisions for genetic screening: developing a systematic and transparent approach. Public Health Genomics, 14(1), pp.9-16.

- “Newborn Screening Information for Families: Laboratory Testing Overview-Minnesota Dept. of Health.” (2014). https://www.health.state.mn.us/people/newbornscreening/families/testing.html

- Baby’s First Test interactive state by state map: https://babysfirsttest.org/newborn-screening/rusp-conditions

- HRSA: About Newborn screening. Rev March 2025. https://newbornscreening.hrsa.gov/about-newborn-screening

- NORD CEO statement on the Termination of the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children. April 4,2025. https://rarediseases.org/ceo-statement-on-termination-of-achdnc/

- Gaviglio, A., McKasson, S., Singh, S. and Ojodu, J., 2023. Infants with congenital diseases identified through newborn screening—United States, 2018–2020. International Journal of Neonatal Screening, 9(2), p.23.

- Tam, P.Y.I., Padilla, C.D., Zlotkin, S., Ayede, A.I., Banu, T., Kayita, J., Khanna, R., Rao, S.P., Siddeeg, K., Walani, S. and de Costa, A., 2024. The 77th World Health Assembly resolution calling for newborn screening, diagnosis, and management of birth defects: moving towards action in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet Global Health, 12(11), pp.e1754-e1755.

- World Health Organization, 2024. Universal newborn screening implementation guidance. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789290211389

- NHS: Newborn Screening. https://www.nhs.uk/baby/newborn-screening/

- Tluczek, A., Ersig, A.L. and Lee, S., 2022. Psychosocial issues related to newborn screening: a systematic review and synthesis. International Journal of Neonatal Screening, 8(4), p.53.

- Farrell, M.H., Certain, L.K. and Farrell, P.M., 2001. Genetic counseling and risk communication services of newborn screening programs. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 155(2), pp.120-126.

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission which helps us keep things running. Thanks!

This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

SEP 23, 2025, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 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, and beyond. For the most part, we live in harmony with these critters, never giving them a second thought. But occasionally, they may grow a bit too friendly, taking advantage of our hospitality to grow and spread with abandon. Candida yeasts are especially fond of this tactic, leading to millions of infections around the globe each year, many of which can cause significant illness or even death. In this episode, we explore the characteristics of these yeasts that make them so prone to overgrowth, how severe infections can develop, and why one of medicine’s greatest achievements may have helped usher in this new fungal era.

History

- Rippon, John Willard. Medical mycology; the pathogenic fungi and the pathogenic actinomycetes. 1982.

- Homei, Aya, and Michael Worboys. “Fungal disease in britain and the united states 1850-2000: Mycoses and modernity.” (2013).

- Anderson, John A., et al. “Candidiasis hypersensitivity syndrome: approved by the executive committee of the American academy of allergy and immunology.” Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 78.2 (1986): 271-273.

- Dismukes, William E., et al. “A randomized, double-blind trial of nystatin therapy for the candidiasis hypersensitivity syndrome.” New England Journal of Medicine 323.25 (1990): 1717-1723.

- Drummond, Rebecca A., et al. “Long-term antibiotic exposure promotes mortality after systemic fungal infection by driving lymphocyte dysfunction and systemic escape of commensal bacteria.” Cell host & microbe 30.7 (2022): 1020-1033.

- Peroumal, Doureradjou, et al. “Commensal fungus Candida albicans maintains a long-term mutualistic relationship with the host to modulate gut microbiota and metabolism.” Microbiology Spectrum 10.5 (2022): e02462-22.

Biology

- Lass-Flörl, C., Kanj, S.S., Govender, N.P., Thompson III, G.R., Ostrosky-Zeichner, L. and Govrins, M.A., 2024. Invasive candidiasis. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 10(1), p.20.

- Lopes, J.P. and Lionakis, M.S., 2022. Pathogenesis and virulence of Candida albicans. Virulence, 13(1), pp.89-121.

- Daneshnia, F., de Almeida Júnior, J.N., Ilkit, M., Lombardi, L., Perry, A.M., Gao, M., Nobile, C.J., Egger, M., Perlin, D.S., Zhai, B. and Hohl, T.M., 2023. Worldwide emergence of fluconazole-resistant Candida parapsilosis: current framework and future research roadmap. The Lancet Microbe, 4(6), pp.e470-e480.

- Ratner, J.C., Wilson, J., Roberts, K., Armitage, C. and Barton, R.C., 2025. Increasing rate of non-Candida albicans yeasts and fluconazole resistance in yeast isolates from women with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis in Leeds, United Kingdom. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 101(1), pp.21-26.

- Chow, N.A., Gade, L., Tsay, S.V., Forsberg, K., Greenko, J.A., Southwick, K.L., Barrett, P.M., Kerins, J.L., Lockhart, S.R., Chiller, T.M. and Litvintseva, A.P., 2018. Multiple introductions and subsequent transmission of multidrug-resistant Candida auris in the USA: a molecular epidemiological survey. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 18(12), pp.1377-1384.

- Denning, D.W., Kneale, M., Sobel, J.D. and Rautemaa-Richardson, R., 2018. Global burden of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis: a systematic review. The Lancet infectious diseases, 18(11), pp.e339-e347.

- San Juan Galán, J., Poliquin, V. and Gerstein, A.C., 2023. Insights and advances in recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis. PLOS pathogens, 19(11), p.e1011684.

- Thompson, G.R., Soriano, A., Honore, P.M., Bassetti, M., Cornely, O.A., Kollef, M., Kullberg, B.J., Pullman, J., Hites, M., Fortún, J. and Horcajada, J.P., 2024. Efficacy and safety of rezafungin and caspofungin in candidaemia and invasive candidiasis: pooled data from two prospective randomised controlled trials. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 24(3), pp.319-328.

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This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

SEP 16, 2025, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

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: the human body. For centuries, scientists have grappled with making or transplanting suitable replacements for nearly every body part, from hearts to hair and from legs to lungs. We’ve come quite a long way in that quest, so that at times, it feels as though we’re living in a sci-fi novel, where skin cells are printed and we can grow a customized heart. Yet we still have further to go, thanks to our magnificent immune system, who proves to be quite a worthy opponent. Here to tell you all about the weird and wonderful world of regenerative medicine is the one and only Mary Roach, who joins us this week to chat about her latest book Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy. As with any Mary Roach production, this is the perfect combination of informative, fascinating, and fun. Tune in today!

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This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

SEP 9, 2025, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 187 Hypothermia Part 2: How it helps

Last week, we took you through all the ways that cold can harm us and the harrowing history of humans perishing at its icy hands. Ending the story there would be skipping over the parts where cold gets to play the hero, rather than the villain. In the second installment of this frosty miniseries, we explore the situations in which we might use cold to protect us and how it actually works. We also delve into the surprisingly long (and unsurprisingly grim) history of therapeutic hypothermia, a journey that wouldn’t be complete without a debate over sea cloaks, a reconsideration of the plot of Titanic, and a brief jaunt into cryonics.

History

- Jaekl, Phil. Out Cold: A Chilling Descent Into the Macabre, Controversial, Lifesaving History of Hypothermia. PublicAffairs, 2021.

- Alzaga, Ana G., Gloria A. Salazar, and Joseph Varon. “Breaking the thermal barrier: Dr. Temple Fay.” Resuscitation 69.3 (2006): 359-364.

- Alzaga, Ana G., Mario Cerdan, and Joseph Varon. “Therapeutic hypothermia.” Resuscitation 70.3 (2006): 369-380.

- Berger, Robert L. “Nazi science—the Dachau hypothermia experiments.” New England journal of medicine 322.20 (1990): 1435-1440.

- Carlson, Robert, et al. “Fifty-three years of follow-up of an infant with neonatal encephalopathy treated with therapeutic hypothermia.” Pediatric Research 89.5 (2021): 1117-1118.

- Chalak, Lina. “Historical perspectives for therapeutic hypothermia in the newborn: a life worth saving.” Pediatric Research 89.5 (2021): 1057-1058.

- Currie, James. “X. An account of the remarkable effects of a shipwreck on the mariners; with experiments and observations on the influence of immersion in fresh and salt water, hot and cold, on the powers of the living body.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 82 (1792): 199-224.

- Gunn, Alistair J., et al. “Therapeutic hypothermia translates from ancient history in to practice.” Pediatric research 81.1 (2017): 202-209.

- Kochanek, Patrick M., Tomas Drabek, and Samuel A. Tisherman. “Therapeutic hypothermia: the Safar vision.” Journal of neurotrauma 26.3 (2009): 417-420.

- Remba, Salomon Jasqui, et al. “Dominique-Jean Larrey: the effects of therapeutic hypothermia and the first ambulance.” Resuscitation 81.3 (2010): 268-271.

- Sessler, Daniel I. “Thermoregulatory defense mechanisms.” Critical care medicine 37.7 (2009): S203-S210.

- Forrester, John M. “The origins and fate of James Currie’s cold water treatment for fever.” Medical history 44.1 (2000): 57-74.

- Clint, Edward, and Daniel MT Fessler. “Insurmountable heat: the evolution and persistence of defensive hyperthermia.” The Quarterly review of biology 91.1 (2016): 25-46.

Biology

- Varon, J. and Acosta, P., 2008. Therapeutic hypothermia. Chest, 133(5), pp.1267-1274.

- Perman, S.M., Goyal, M., Neumar, R.W., Topjian, A.A. and Gaieski, D.F., 2014. Clinical applications of targeted temperature management. Chest, 145(2), pp.386-393.

- Faix, R.G., Laptook, A.R., Shankaran, S., Eggleston, B., Chowdhury, D., Heyne, R.J., Das, A., Pedroza, C., Tyson, J.E., Wusthoff, C. and Bonifacio, S.L., 2025. Whole-body hypothermia for neonatal encephalopathy in preterm infants 33 to 35 weeks’ gestation: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA pediatrics, 179(4), pp.396-406.

- Abate, B.B., Bimerew, M., Gebremichael, B., Mengesha Kassie, A., Kassaw, M., Gebremeskel, T. and Bayih, W.A., 2021. Effects of therapeutic hypothermia on death among asphyxiated neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized control trials. PloS one, 16(2), p.e0247229.

- Dankiewicz, J., Cronberg, T., Lilja, G., Jakobsen, J.C., Levin, H., Ullén, S., Rylander, C., Wise, M.P., Oddo, M., Cariou, A. and Bělohlávek, J., 2021. Hypothermia versus normothermia after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. New England Journal of Medicine, 384(24), pp.2283-2294.

- Bernard, S.A., Gray, T.W., Buist, M.D., Jones, B.M., Silvester, W., Gutteridge, G. and Smith, K., 2002. Treatment of comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with induced hypothermia. New England journal of medicine, 346(8), pp.557-563.

- Lascarrou, J.B., Merdji, H., Le Gouge, A., Colin, G., Grillet, G., Girardie, P., Coupez, E., Dequin, P.F., Cariou, A., Boulain, T. and Brule, N., 2019. Targeted temperature management for cardiac arrest with nonshockable rhythm. New England Journal of Medicine, 381(24), pp.2327-2337.

- Nielsen, N., Wetterslev, J., Cronberg, T., Erlinge, D., Gasche, Y., Hassager, C., Horn, J., Hovdenes, J., Kjaergaard, J., Kuiper, M. and Pellis, T., 2013. Targeted temperature management at 33 C versus 36 C after cardiac arrest. New England journal of medicine, 369(23), pp.2197-2206.

- Nielsen, N., Friberg, H., Gluud, C., Herlitz, J. and Wetterslev, J., 2011. Hypothermia after cardiac arrest should be further evaluated—a systematic review of randomised trials with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis. International journal of cardiology, 151(3), pp.333-341.

- Perman, S.M., Elmer, J., Maciel, C.B., Uzendu, A., May, T., Mumma, B.E., Bartos, J.A., Rodriguez, A.J., Kurz, M.C., Panchal, A.R. and Rittenberger, J.C., 2024. 2023 American Heart Association focused update on adult advanced cardiovascular life support: an update to the American Heart Association guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care. Circulation, 149(5), pp.e254-e273.

- Sessler, D.I., Pei, L., Li, K., Cui, S., Chan, M.T., Huang, Y., Wu, J., He, X., Bajracharya, G.R., Rivas, E. and Lam, C.K., 2022. Aggressive intraoperative warming versus routine thermal management during non-cardiac surgery (PROTECT): a multicentre, parallel group, superiority trial. The Lancet, 399(10337), pp.1799-1808.

- Kwiecien, S.Y. and McHugh, M.P., 2021. The cold truth: the role of cryotherapy in the treatment of injury and recovery from exercise. European journal of applied physiology, 121(8), pp.2125-2142.

- Greenberg, S.M., Ziai, W.C., Cordonnier, C., Dowlatshahi, D., Francis, B., Goldstein, J.N., Hemphill III, J.C., Johnson, R., Keigher, K.M., Mack, W.J. and Mocco, J., 2022. 2022 guideline for the management of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage: a guideline from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke, 53(7), pp.e282-e361.

- Hoh, B.L., Ko, N.U., Amin-Hanjani, S., Chou, S.H.Y., Cruz-Flores, S., Dangayach, N.S., Derdeyn, C.P., Du, R., Hänggi, D., Hetts, S.W. and Ifejika, N.L., 2023. 2023 guideline for the management of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a guideline from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke, 54(7), pp.e314-e370.

- Powers, W.J., Rabinstein, A.A., Ackerson, T., Adeoye, O.M., Bambakidis, N.C., Becker, K., Biller, J., Brown, M., Demaerschalk, B.M., Hoh, B. and Jauch, E.C., 2019. Guidelines for the early management of patients with acute ischemic stroke: 2019 update to the 2018 guidelines for the early management of acute ischemic stroke: a guideline for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke.

- Gocoł, R., Hudziak, D., Bis, J., Mendrala, K., Morkisz, Ł., Podsiadło, P., Kosiński, S., Piątek, J. and Darocha, T., 2021. The role of deep hypothermia in cardiac surgery. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(13), p.7061.

- Abbasciano, R.G., Koulouroudias, M., Chad, T., Mohamed, W., Leeman, I., Pellowe, C., Kunst, G., Klein, A. and Murphy, G.J., 2022. Role of hypothermia in adult cardiac surgery patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, 36(7), pp.1883-1890.

- Rong, L.Q. and Gaudino, M., 2022. Hypothermia, Meta-Analyses and Reporting Bias: Nothing New Under the Sun. Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, 36(7), pp.1891-1892.

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This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

SEP 2, 2025, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 186 Hypothermia Part 1: How it hurts

For all our wondrous adaptations as a species – our big brains, our capacity for language, our opposable thumbs – we humans are not well-equipped to deal with the cold. Take us out of our insulated dwellings, take away our winter clothes, and things can get dicey fast. From frostbite to hypothermia, the cold can settle into our bones, leading us down a path where injury or death are possible outcomes. In this episode, we explore that path: how our meager cold-survival adaptations are vastly outshone by other animal species, the long and grim history of hypothermia in war, and what exactly is happening inside your body when your temperature drops. Tune in to this unexpectedly strange grab-bag of an episode.

History

- Jaekl, Phil. Out Cold: A Chilling Descent Into the Macabre, Controversial, Lifesaving History of Hypothermia. PublicAffairs, 2021.

- Auteri, Giorgia G. “A conceptual framework to integrate cold-survival strategies: Torpor, resistance and seasonal migration.” Biology Letters 18.5 (2022): 20220050.

- Blix, Arnoldus Schytte. “Adaptations to polar life in mammals and birds.” Journal of Experimental Biology 219.8 (2016): 1093-1105.

- Davis, P. R., and M. Byers. “Accidental hypothermia.” BMJ Military Health 151.4 (2005): 223-233.

- Gilbert, Mads, et al. “Resuscitation from accidental hypothermia of 13· 7 C with circulatory arrest.” The Lancet 355.9201 (2000): 375-376.

- Guly, Henry. “History of accidental hypothermia.” Resuscitation 82.1 (2011): 122-125.

- Lankford, Harvey V. “Dull brains and frozen feet: a historical essay on cold.” Wilderness & Environmental Medicine 27.4 (2016): 526-532.

- Larson, Don J., et al. “Wood frog adaptations to overwintering in Alaska: new limits to freezing tolerance.” Journal of Experimental Biology 217.12 (2014): 2193-2200.

- Mylopotamitaki, Dorothea, et al. “Homo sapiens reached the higher latitudes of Europe by 45,000 years ago.” Nature 626.7998 (2024): 341-346.

- O’Sullivan, S. T., M. O’Shaughnessy, and T. P. F. O’Connor. “Baron Larrey and cold injury during the campaigns of Napoleon.” Annals of plastic surgery 34.4 (1995): 446-449.

- Paton, Bruce C. “Cold, casualties, and conquests: the effects of cold on warfare.” Medical aspects of harsh environments 1 (2001): 313-349.

- Pavlov, Pavel, John Inge Svendsen, and Svein Indrelid. “Human presence in the European Arctic nearly 40,000 years ago.” Nature 413.6851 (2001): 64-67.

- Schieber, Alexandria M. Palaferri, and Janelle S. Ayres. “Thermoregulation as a disease tolerance defense strategy.” Pathogens and disease 74.9 (2016): ftw106.

- Storey, Kenneth B., and Janet M. Storey. “Natural freeze tolerance in ectothermic vertebrates.” Annual review of physiology 54.1 (1992): 619-637.

- Voituron, Yann, et al. “To freeze or not to freeze? An evolutionary perspective on the cold-hardiness strategies of overwintering ectotherms.” The American Naturalist 160.2 (2002): 255-270.

Biology

- Kuht, J. and Farmery, A.D., 2021. Body temperature and its regulation. Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, 22(10), pp.657-662.

- Turk, E.E., 2010. Hypothermia. Forensic science, medicine, and pathology, 6(2), pp.106-115.

- Danzl, D.F. and Pozos, R.S., 1994. Accidental hypothermia. New England Journal of Medicine, 331(26), pp.1756-1760.

- Paal, P., Pasquier, M., Darocha, T., Lechner, R., Kosinski, S., Wallner, B., Zafren, K. and Brugger, H., 2022. Accidental hypothermia: 2021 update. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(1), p.501.

- McCullough, L. and Arora, S., 2004. Diagnosis and treatment of hypothermia. American family physician, 70(12), pp.2325-2332.

- Sheridan, R.L., Goverman, J.M. and Walker, T.G., 2022. Diagnosis and treatment of frostbite. New England Journal of Medicine, 386(23), pp.2213-2220.

- Regli, I.B., Oberhammer, R., Zafren, K., Brugger, H. and Strapazzon, G., 2023. Frostbite treatment: a systematic review with meta-analyses. Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine, 31(1), p.96.

- Persitz, J., Essa, A., Ner, E.B., Assaraf, E. and Avisar, E., 2022. Frostbite of the extremities–recognition, evaluation and treatment. Injury, 53(10), pp.3088-3093.

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This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

AUG 28, 2025, 9:43 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Lina Zeldovich & The Living Medicine

The development of antibiotics was one of the greatest turning points in the history of medicine. Bacterial infections that were once death sentences were cured within a matter of days after administration of these lifesaving compounds. But the honeymoon didn’t last long, as resistant bacterial strains emerged and spread. Now, antimicrobial resistance poses one of the greatest threats to global health; frankly, we can’t invent new antibiotics faster than resistance develops. Fortunately, there may be a solution, one that has existed even before antibiotics came on the scene: phage therapy, the use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. In The Living Medicine: How a Lifesaving Cure Was Nearly Lost—and Why It Will Rescue Us When Antibiotics Fail, author Lina Zeldovich takes readers through the incredible and long-forgotten story of phage therapy and the doctors who developed it. Tune in to learn how phage therapy, after almost being relegated to a footnote in the history of medicine, is reemerging as a possible solution to the deadly problem of antimicrobial resistance.

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This article was downloaded on Oct 31, 2025 at 3:26 AM EDT.

Table of Contents

This Podcast Will Kill You: 2025 Oct 28

All articles

Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!: 2025 Oct 28

Episode 191 Famine: More than starvation: 2025 Oct 28

Episode 190 Starvation: More than hunger: 2025 Oct 14

Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness: 2025 Oct 7

Episode 189 Newborn screening: The future is here: 2025 Oct 7

Episode 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere: 2025 Sep 23

Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You: 2025 Sep 16

Episode 187 Hypothermia Part 2: How it helps: 2025 Sep 9

Episode 186 Hypothermia Part 1: How it hurts: 2025 Sep 2

Special Episode: Lina Zeldovich & The Living Medicine: 2025 Aug 28