- All articles

All articles

- Episode 218 The Lowdown on Statins: 2026 Aug 4

- Episode 217 The High Stakes of Cholesterol: 2026 Jul 28

- Episode 216 Cyclospora: Explosive Diarrhea Everywhere: 2026 Jul 21

- Special Episode: Alev Scott & Cash Cow: 2026 Jul 14

- Episode 215 The Hidden Depths of Earwax: 2026 Jul 10

- Episode 214 Boogers: Digging for treasure: 2026 Jul 10

- Special Episode: Dr. Carl Elliott & The Occasional Human Sacrifice: 2026 Jul 10

- Episode 213 Burns Part 2: It’s like sci-fi but real: 2026 Jul 10

- Episode 212 Burns Part 1: The first million or so years: 2026 Jul 10

- Special Episode: Alexandra Sifferlin & The Elusive Body: 2026 Jul 10

AUG 4, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 218 The Lowdown on Statins

Last week, we set the stage by breaking down the science behind cholesterol: how it moves through our body, why it causes disease, and when we discovered the link between LDL and atherosclerosis. This week, armed with that knowledge, we’re asking the big question: what do we do about high cholesterol? Statins emerged as a highly effective intervention but one that is not without its share of controversy and misinformation. We delve into the story and science of statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs, from their brilliant discovery to early promising trials, from barriers preventing their use to the heaps of misinformation abounding on the internet. How do statins actually work? What does penicillin have to do with their discovery? What’s the deal with side effects? Tune in for all this and more.

History

- Al-Dalakta, Astefanos, et al. “Inaccurate information regarding cardiovascular disease prevention enabled by generative artificial intelligence.” American Journal of Preventive Cardiology 25 (2026): 101404.

- Bhandari, Buna, et al. “Misinformation on cardiovascular disease spreads through social networks: a scoping review.” BMJ Public Health 4.1 (2026).

- Chester, Adrian, and Ahmed El Guindy. “From Fleming to Endo: The discovery of statins.” Global cardiology science & practice 2021.4 (2021): e202132.

- Reith, Christina, et al. “Effect of statin therapy on muscle symptoms: an individual participant data meta-analysis of large-scale, randomised, double-blind trials.” The Lancet 400.10355 (2022): 832-845.

- Endo, Akira. “A gift from nature: the birth of the statins.” Nature medicine 14.10 (2008): 1050-1052.

- Endo, Akira. “A historical perspective on the discovery of statins.” Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B 86.5 (2010): 484-493.

- Johnson, Heather M. “The impact of health misinformation and health literacy on the management of dyslipidemia.” American Journal of Preventive Cardiology (2025): 101289.

- Ju, Angela, et al. “Patient beliefs and attitudes to taking statins: systematic review of qualitative studies.” British Journal of General Practice (2018).

- Klimov, Anatoli N., and Vladimir A. Nagornev. “Evolution of cholesterol concept of atherogenesis from Anitchkov to our days.” Pediatric Pathology & Molecular Medicine 21.3 (2002): 307-320.

- Nelson, Adam J., Rishi Puri, and Steven E. Nissen. “Statins in a distorted mirror of media.” Current atherosclerosis reports 22.8 (2020): 37.

- Pedro-Botet, Juan, and Juan Rubiés-Prat. “Statin-associated muscle symptoms: beware of the nocebo effect.” The Lancet 389.10088 (2017): 2445-2446.

- Penson, Peter E., et al. “Introducing the ‘Drucebo’effect in statin therapy: a systematic review of studies comparing reported rates of statin‐associated muscle symptoms, under blinded and open‐label conditions.” Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle 9.6 (2018): 1023-1033.

- Rea, Philip A. “Statins: From Fungus to Pharma: The curiosity of biochemists, mixed with some obvious economic incentives, created a family of powerful cardiovascular drugs.” American Scientist 96.5 (2008): 408-415.

- Schekman, Randy. “Discovery of the cellular and molecular basis of cholesterol control.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.37 (2013): 14833-14836.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “The cholesterol controversy is over. Why did it take so long?.” Circulation 80.4 (1989): 1070-1078.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy: part I.” Journal of lipid research 45.9 (2004): 1583-1593.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy: part II: the early evidence linking hypercholesterolemia to coronary disease in humans.” Journal of lipid research 46.2 (2005): 179-190.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part III: mechanistically defining the role of hyperlipidemia.” J Lipid Res 46.10 (2005): 2037-2051.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: The Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part IV: The 1984 Coronary Primary Prevention Trial ends it—almost1.” Journal of Lipid Research 47.1 (2006): 1-14.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part V: the discovery of the statins and the end of the controversy.” Journal of lipid research 47.7 (2006): 1339-1351.

- Stossel, Thomas P. “The discovery of statins.” Cell 134.6 (2008): 903-905.

- Tabas, Ira. “Cholesterol in health and disease.” The Journal of clinical investigation 110.5 (2002): 583-590.

- Xie, Minjia, Seth S. Martin, and Alexander Turchin. “Reasons for non-acceptance of statin therapy by patients at high cardiovascular risk.” Scientific reports 15.1 (2025): 17014.

Biology

- Biology

- Silverman, M.G., Ference, B.A., Im, K., Wiviott, S.D., Giugliano, R.P., Grundy, S.M., Braunwald, E. and Sabatine, M.S., 2016. Association between lowering LDL-C and cardiovascular risk reduction among different therapeutic interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Jama, 316(12), pp.1289-1297.

- Blumenthal, R.S., Morris, P.B., Gaudino, M., Johnson, H.M., Anderson, T.S., Bittner, V.A., Blankstein, R., Brewer, L.C., Cho, L., de Ferranti, S.D. and Gianos, E., 2026. 2026 ACC/AHA/AACVPR/ABC/ACPM/ADA/AGS/APhA/ASPC/NLA/PCNA guideline on the management of dyslipidemia: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Joint Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines. JACC.

- Global Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases and Risks 2023 Collaborators, 2025. Global, regional, and national burden of cardiovascular diseases and risk factors in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2023. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 86(22), pp.2167-2243.

- Reith, C., Baigent, C., Blackwell, L., Emberson, J., Spata, E., Davies, K., Halls, H., Holland, L., Wilson, K., Armitage, J. and Harper, C., 2022. Effect of statin therapy on muscle symptoms: an individual participant data meta-analysis of large-scale, randomised, double-blind trials. The Lancet, 400(10355), pp.832-845.

- Domanski, M.J., Tian, X., Wu, C.O., Reis, J.P., Dey, A.K., Gu, Y., Zhao, L., Bae, S., Liu, K., Hasan, A.A. and Zimrin, D., 2020. Time course of LDL cholesterol exposure and cardiovascular disease event risk. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 76(13), pp.1507-1516.

- Duncan, M.S., Vasan, R.S. and Xanthakis, V., 2019. Trajectories of blood lipid concentrations over the adult life course and risk of cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality: observations from the Framingham study over 35 years. Journal of the American Heart Association, 8(11), p.e011433.

- Yusuf, S., Lonn, E., Pais, P., Bosch, J., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Zhu, J., Xavier, D., Avezum, A., Leiter, L.A., Piegas, L.S. and Parkhomenko, A., 2016. Blood-pressure and cholesterol lowering in persons without cardiovascular disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(21), pp.2032-2043.

- Kirkpatrick, C.F., Sikand, G., Petersen, K.S., Anderson, C.A., Aspry, K.E., Bolick, J.P., Kris-Etherton, P.M. and Maki, K.C., 2023. Nutrition interventions for adults with dyslipidemia: a clinical perspective from the National Lipid Association. Journal of clinical lipidology, 17(4), pp.428-451.

- Carter, S., Hill, A.M., Yandell, C., Wood, L., Coates, A.M. and Buckley, J.D., 2025. Impact of dietary cholesterol from eggs and saturated fat on LDL cholesterol levels: a randomized cross-over study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 122(1), pp.83-91.

- Hu, F.B. and Willett, W.C., 2002. Optimal diets for prevention of coronary heart disease. Jama, 288(20), pp.2569-2578.

- US Preventive Services Task Force, Mangione, C.M., Barry, M.J., Nicholson, W.K., Cabana, M., Chelmow, D., Coker, T.R., Davis, E.M., Donahue, K.E., Jaén, C.R. and Kubik, M., 2022. Statin use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults: US preventive services task force recommendation statement. Jama, 328(8), pp.746-753.

- Rehberger Likozar, A., Zavrtanik, M. and Šebeštjen, M., 2020. Lipoprotein (a) in atherosclerosis: from pathophysiology to clinical relevance and treatment options. Annals of medicine, 52(5), pp.162-177.

- Berger, S., Raman, G., Vishwanathan, R., Jacques, P.F. and Johnson, E.J., 2015. Dietary cholesterol and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 102(2), pp.276-294.

- Jeong, S.M., Choi, S., Kim, K., Kim, S.M., Lee, G., Park, S.Y., Kim, Y.Y., Son, J.S., Yun, J.M. and Park, S.M., 2018. Effect of change in total cholesterol levels on cardiovascular disease among young adults. Journal of the American Heart Association, 7(12), p.e008819.

- Wadhera, R.K., Steen, D.L., Khan, I., Giugliano, R.P. and Foody, J.M., 2016. A review of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, treatment strategies, and its impact on cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. Journal of clinical lipidology, 10(3), pp.472-489.

- Yusuf, S., Bosch, J., Dagenais, G., Zhu, J., Xavier, D., Liu, L., Pais, P., López-Jaramillo, P., Leiter, L.A., Dans, A. and Avezum, A., 2016. Cholesterol lowering in intermediate-risk persons without cardiovascular disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(21), pp.2021-2031.

- Chen, L., Chen, S., Bai, X., Su, M., He, L., Li, G., He, G., Yang, Y., Zhang, X., Cui, J. and Xu, W., 2024. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, cardiovascular disease risk, and mortality in China. JAMA network open, 7(7), p.e2422558.

- Townsend, N., Kazakiewicz, D., Lucy Wright, F., Timmis, A., Huculeci, R., Torbica, A., Gale, C.P., Achenbach, S., Weidinger, F. and Vardas, P., 2022. Epidemiology of cardiovascular disease in Europe. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 19(2), pp.133-143.

- Marcus, M.E., Manne-Goehler, J., Theilmann, M., Farzadfar, F., Moghaddam, S.S., Keykhaei, M., Hajebi, A., Tschida, S., Lemp, J.M., Aryal, K.K. and Dunn, M., 2022. Use of statins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in 41 low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study of nationally representative, individual-level data. The Lancet Global Health, 10(3), pp.e369-e379.

- Chobufo, M.D., Regner, S.R., Zeb, I., Lacoste, J.L., Virani, S.S. and Balla, S., 2022. Burden and predictors of statin use in primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic vascular disease in the US: from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017–2020. European journal of preventive cardiology, 29(14), pp.1830-1838.

- Global Cardiovascular Risk Consortium, 2023. Global effect of modifiable risk factors on cardiovascular disease and mortality. New England Journal of Medicine, 389(14), pp.1273-1285.

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!

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JUL 28, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 217 The High Stakes of Cholesterol

So your latest blood test results have come in, and you see a couple of numbers for cholesterol. What do those numbers mean, and why do we care about them? In this first part of our cholesterol miniseries, we break down the science behind this compound and trace how we made the link between certain types of cholesterol and heart disease. First, we follow the path that cholesterol takes in our bodies and what LDL and HDL mean in the context of heart disease. Then we delve into the history of this compound, which involves an over 2 billion year journey back in time, fascinating experiments that revealed the stubborn nature of medicine, and a terrible – but hopefully memorable – baseball analogy. Tune in for the low down on cholesterol.

History

- Bloch, Konrad. “The biological synthesis of cholesterol.” Science 150.3692 (1965): 19-28.

- Bloch, Konrad. “Cholesterol: evolution of structure and function.” New comprehensive biochemistry. Vol. 20. Elsevier, 1991. 363-381.

- Brown, Andrew J., and Anne M. Galea. “Cholesterol as an evolutionary response to living with oxygen.” Evolution 64.7 (2010): 2179-2183.

- Chaudhuri, Arunima, and Deepak Anand. “Cholesterol: Revisiting its fluorescent journey on 200th anniversary of Chevruel’s “cholesterine”.” Biomedical Spectroscopy and Imaging 6.1-2 (2017): 1-24.

- Galea, Anne M., and Andrew J. Brown. “Special relationship between sterols and oxygen: were sterols an adaptation to aerobic life?.” Free Radical Biology and Medicine 47.6 (2009): 880-889.

- Goldstein, Joseph L., and Michael S. Brown. “The LDL receptor.” Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology 29.4 (2009): 431-438.

- Klimov, Anatoli N., and Vladimir A. Nagornev. “Evolution of cholesterol concept of atherogenesis from Anitchkov to our days.” Pediatric Pathology & Molecular Medicine 21.3 (2002): 307-320.

- Laufs, Ulrich, et al. “Why is hypercholesterolaemia so prevalent? A view from evolutionary medicine.” European Heart Journal 40.33 (2019): 2825-2830.

- Luna-Reyes, Ismael, et al. “Cholesterol: an ancient ally or modern menace?.” Royal Society Open Science 13.3 (2026).

- Mouritsen, Ole G., and Martin J. Zuckermann. “What’s so special about cholesterol?.” Lipids 39.11 (2004): 1101-1113.

- Olson, Robert E. “Discovery of the lipoproteins, their role in fat transport and their significance as risk factors.” The Journal of nutrition 128.2 (1998): 439S-443S.

- Schekman, Randy. “Discovery of the cellular and molecular basis of cholesterol control.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.37 (2013): 14833-14836.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “The cholesterol controversy is over. Why did it take so long?.” Circulation 80.4 (1989): 1070-1078.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy: part I.” Journal of lipid research 45.9 (2004): 1583-1593.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy: part II: the early evidence linking hypercholesterolemia to coronary disease in humans.” Journal of lipid research 46.2 (2005): 179-190.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part III: mechanistically defining the role of hyperlipidemia.” J Lipid Res 46.10 (2005): 2037-2051.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: The Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part IV: The 1984 Coronary Primary Prevention Trial ends it—almost1.” Journal of Lipid Research 47.1 (2006): 1-14.

- Steinberg, Daniel. “Thematic review series: the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. An interpretive history of the cholesterol controversy, part V: the discovery of the statins and the end of the controversy.” Journal of lipid research 47.7 (2006): 1339-1351.

- Tabas, Ira. “Cholesterol in health and disease.” The Journal of clinical investigation 110.5 (2002): 583-590.

- Zetterström, Rolf. “The 1964 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the biosynthesis of cholesterol.” Acta paediatrica 98.7 (2009).

- Zhang, Tingting, et al. “Evolution of the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway in animals.” Molecular Biology and Evolution 36.11 (2019): 2548-2556.

- Zuniga-Hertz, Juan Pablo, and Hemal H. Patel. “The evolution of cholesterol-rich membrane in oxygen adaption: the respiratory system as a model.” Frontiers in Physiology 10 (2019): 1340.

Biology

- Biology

- Luo, J., Yang, H. and Song, B.L., 2020. Mechanisms and regulation of cholesterol homeostasis. Nature reviews Molecular cell biology, 21(4), pp.225-245.

- Maxfield, F.R. and Tabas, I., 2005. Role of cholesterol and lipid organization in disease. Nature, 438(7068), pp.612-621.

- Simons, K. and Ikonen, E., 2000. How cells handle cholesterol. Science, 290(5497), pp.1721-1726.

- Holmes, M.V. and Ala-Korpela, M., 2019. What is ‘LDL cholesterol’?. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 16(4), pp.197-198.

- Cortes, V.A., Busso, D., Maiz, A., Arteaga, A., Nervi, F. and Rigotti, A., 2014. Physiological and pathological implications of cholesterol. Front Biosci (Landmark Ed), 19(3), pp.416-28.

- Duran, E.K., Aday, A.W., Cook, N.R., Buring, J.E., Ridker, P.M. and Pradhan, A.D., 2020. Triglyceride-rich lipoprotein cholesterol, small dense LDL cholesterol, and incident cardiovascular disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 75(17), pp.2122-2135.

- Tabas, I., 2002. Cholesterol in health and disease. The Journal of clinical investigation, 110(5), pp.583-590.

- Castañer, O., Pintó, X., Subirana, I., Amor, A.J., Ros, E., Hernáez, Á., Martínez-González, M.Á., Corella, D., Salas-Salvadó, J., Estruch, R. and Lapetra, J., 2020. Remnant cholesterol, not LDL cholesterol, is associated with incident cardiovascular disease. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 76(23), pp.2712-2724.

- Sniderman, A.D., Glavinovic, T. and Thanassoulis, G., 2022. Key questions about familial hypercholesterolemia: JACC review topic of the week. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 79(10), pp.1023-1031.

- Frąk, W., Wojtasińska, A., Lisińska, W., Młynarska, E., Franczyk, B. and Rysz, J., 2022. Pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases: new insights into molecular mechanisms of atherosclerosis, arterial hypertension, and coronary artery disease. Biomedicines, 10(8), p.1938.

- Ajoolabady, A., Pratico, D., Lin, L., Mantzoros, C.S., Bahijri, S., Tuomilehto, J. and Ren, J., 2024. Inflammation in atherosclerosis: pathophysiology and mechanisms. Cell death & disease, 15(11), p.817.

- Song, Y., Liu, J., Zhao, K., Gao, L. and Zhao, J., 2021. Cholesterol-induced toxicity: an integrated view of the role of cholesterol in multiple diseases. Cell metabolism, 33(10), pp.1911-1925.

- Shobab, L.A., Hsiung, G.Y.R. and Feldman, H.H., 2005. Cholesterol in Alzheimer’s disease. The Lancet Neurology, 4(12), pp.841-852.

- Libby, P., Ridker, P.M., Hansson, G.K. and Leducq Transatlantic Network on Atherothrombosis, 2009. Inflammation in atherosclerosis: from pathophysiology to practice. Journal of the American college of cardiology, 54(23), pp.2129-2138.

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!

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JUL 21, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 216 Cyclospora: Explosive Diarrhea Everywhere

You’ve seen the headlines: a food-borne parasite is infecting people across the US, leaving them chained to the toilet sometimes for weeks on end, as they are ravaged by wave after wave of gastrointestinal upset. What the heck is cyclosporiasis and where did it come from? How scared should we be of our raspberries or lettuce or cilantro? To dish out the answers as fast we could, we put together this fact-filled episode about the biology of Cyclospora cayetanensis, how this parasite makes you sick, when we first learned about it (more recently than you might think), and what we know about this current outbreak (or outbreaks). We also probe how recent changes to foodborne pathogen surveillance on a national scale are contributing to the challenges in understanding the scope and origin of outbreaks such as this. You don’t want to miss this one!

History

- Ashford, R. W. “Occurrence of an undescribed coccidian in man in Papua New Guinea.” Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology 73.5 (1979): 497-500.

- Brown, Gigi H., and John C. Rotschafer. “Cyclospora: review of an emerging parasite.” Pharmacotherapy: The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy 19.1 (1999): 70-75.

- Connor, B. A. “Cyclospora infection: a review.” ANNALS-ACADEMY OF MEDICINE SINGAPORE 26 (1997): 632-636.

- Curry, A., and H. V. Smith. “Emerging pathogens: Isospora, Cyclospora and microsporidia.” Parasitology 117.7 (1999): 143-159.

- Hadjilouka, Agni, and Dimitris Tsaltas. “Cyclospora cayetanensis—Major outbreaks from ready to eat fresh fruits and vegetables.” Foods 9.11 (2020): 1703.

- Henao, Olga L., et al. “Foodborne diseases active surveillance network—2 decades of achievements, 1996–2015.” Emerging infectious diseases 21.9 (2015): 1529.

- Strausbaugh, Larry J., and Barbara L. Herwaldt. “Cyclospora cayetanensis: a review, focusing on the outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in the 1990s.” Clinical Infectious Diseases 31.4 (2000): 1040-1057.

- Herwaldt, Barbara L., Marta-Louise Ackers, and Cyclospora Working Group. “An outbreak in 1996 of cyclosporiasis associated with imported raspberries.” New England Journal of Medicine 336.22 (1997): 1548-1556.

- Huang, Philip, et al. “The first reported outbreak of diarrheal illness associated with Cyclospora in the United States.” Annals of Internal Medicine 123.6 (1995): 409-414.

- Li, Junqiang, et al. “Cyclospora cayetanensis infection in humans: Biological characteristics, clinical features, epidemiology, detection method and treatment.” Parasitology 147.2 (2020): 160-170.

- Ortega, Ynes R., et al. “Cyclospora species–a new protozoan pathogen of humans.” New England Journal of Medicine 328.18 (1993): 1308-1312.

- Relman, David A. “Cyclospora: whence and where to?.” Emerging infections 2 (1998): 185-194.

- Wurtz, Rebecca. “Cyclospora: a newly identified intestinal pathogen of humans.” Clinical infectious diseases 18.4 (1994): 620-623.

- https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/foodborne-disease/cdc-cuts-back-foodborne-illness-surveillance-program

- https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cyclospora/us-cyclospora-cases-mount-cdc-lags-tracking

- https://www.cdc.gov/foodnet/about/timeline.html

Biology

- CDC Cyclosporiasis Surveillance. July 10th, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/php/surveillance/index.html

- Michigan Infectious Diseases Outbreaks: https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/keep-mi-healthy/infectious-diseases/infectious-disease-outbreaks

- Lucas County Health: https://lucascountyhealth.com/cyclo/

- CDC NNDSS weekly statistics: https://stacks.cdc.gov/cbrowse?parentId=cdc%3A49375&terms=&subject_topic%5B0%5D=Cyclosporiasis&start=0

- Giangaspero, A. and Gasser, R.B., 2019. Human cyclosporiasis. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 19(7), pp.e226-e236.

- Mansfield, L.S. and Gajadhar, A.A., 2004. Cyclospora cayetanensis, a food-and waterborne coccidian parasite. Veterinary parasitology

- Ortega, Y.R., Sterling, C.R., Gilman, R.H., Cama, V.A. and Diaz, F., 1993. Cyclospora species–a new protozoan pathogen of humans. New England Journal of Medicine, 328(18), pp.1308-1312.

- Soave, R., 1996. Cyclospora: an overview. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 23(3), pp.429-435.

- Hadjilouka, A. and Tsaltas, D., 2020. Cyclospora cayetanensis—Major outbreaks from ready to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. Foods, 9(11), p.1703.

- Barratt, J.L., Park, S., Nascimento, F.S., Hofstetter, J., Plucinski, M., Casillas, S., Bradbury, R.S., Arrowood, M.J., Qvarnstrom, Y. and Talundzic, E., 2019. Genotyping genetically heterogeneous Cyclospora cayetanensis infections to complement epidemiological case linkage. Parasitology, 146(10), pp.1275-1283.

- Morton, V., Janicki, R., Dumoulin, D., Dixon, B. and Guy, R., 2025. Epidemiology of Cyclospora cayetanensis infections in Canada: 2000–2022. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease.

- Kahler, A.M., Hofstetter, J., Arrowood, M., Peterson, A., Jacobson, D., Barratt, J., da Silva, A.L.B.R., Rodrigues, C. and Mattioli, M.C., 2024. Sources and prevalence of Cyclospora cayetanensis in southeastern US growing environments. Journal of food protection, 87(7), p.100309.

- Casillas, S.M., Hall, R.L. and Herwaldt, B.L., 2019. Cyclosporiasis surveillance—United States, 2011–2015. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 68.

- Markon, A.O., Karasick, A., Punzalan, C., da Silva, A.J. and Wolpert, B., 2024. Evaluating Foodborne Cyclosporiasis Using Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network and Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System Data, 2015–2019. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 112(2), p.319.

- Rehme, P., 2023. Notes from the field: doubling of cyclosporiasis cases partially attributable to a Salad Kit—Florida, 2021–2022. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 72.

- Shen, J., Cama, V.A., Jacobson, D., Barratt, J. and Straily, A., 2025. Cyclospora Genotypic Variations and Associated Epidemiologic Characteristics, United States, 2018–2021. Emerging infectious diseases, 31(2), p.256.

- Chacín-Bonilla, L., 2010. Epidemiology of Cyclospora cayetanensis: A review focusing in endemic areas. Acta tropica, 115(3), pp.181-193.

- Ortega, Y.R. and Sanchez, R., 2010. Update on Cyclospora cayetanensis, a food-borne and waterborne parasite. Clinical microbiology reviews, 23(1), pp.218-234.

- Prabhukhot, G., 2025. Regulatory responses to foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States and their implications for food safety. Frontiers in Nutrition, 12, p.1717980.

- Hepatology, T.L.G., 2025. Foodborne pathogen surveillance cut by the CDC. The lancet. Gastroenterology & hepatology, 10(11), p.963.\

- Henao, O.L., Jones, T.F., Vugia, D.J. and Griffin, P.M., 2015. Foodborne diseases active surveillance network—2 decades of achievements, 1996–2015. Emerging infectious diseases, 21(9), p.1529.

- CDC National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. July 4, 2026. Cyclosporiasis (week 26) Weekly cases* of notifiable diseases, United States, US territories, and Non-US Residents week ending July 4th, 2026. CDC Stacks. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258011

- CDC NNDSS Annual Summary Data 2016-2023 Cyclosporiasis. https://wonder.cdc.gov/nndss-annual-summary.html

- Yang, M. 17 Apr 2025. FDA to suspend quality-control program for food testing due to staff cuts. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/17/fda-suspends-quality-control-food-testing-staff-cuts

- Semuels, A. 8 Apr 2025. Food Safety Was Slipping in the US. Then Came Mass Layoffs. Time. https://time.com/7275746/food-safety-fda-layoffs/

- Sun, L. 10 July 2026. Why we don’t know what food is spreading the parasite sickening thousands. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/07/10/why-we-dont-know-what-food-is-spreading-parasite-sickening-thousands/

- Stobbe, M. 9 July 2026. Outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite grows to more than 1,000 cases. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/cyclospora-outbreak-michigan-31e5e0034d39e85c844065a2bd593ecb

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JUL 14, 2026, 3:00 AM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Alev Scott & Cash Cow

Social media ads for egg freezing. A craigslist-like site for breast milk. Fertility fairs featuring IVF clinics alongside shamanic nutritionists. Surrogacy contracts offering a discount for multiple embryos. The rapidly-growing global fertility industry promises hope, fulfillment, and control, as long as you can afford it. Participating in this industry can be empowering. All parts of reproduction are commodified these days, so why not use your free will to take advantage of that, whether through selling breast milk or freezing your eggs? But the global fertility industry is also blatantly exploitative, preying on those who are desperate and vulnerable in order to maximize profits. In Cash Cow: How the Maternal Body Became a Global Commodity – and the Hidden Costs for Women, author and journalist Alev Scott explores that blurred line between empowerment and exploitation in this globally varied industry. Her reporting takes her through the underbelly of the breast milk market, the complicated world of fertility tourism, and the legal and emotional turmoil of surrogacy. As she describes, the morality, legality, and expenses of different procedures are a moving target across the globe, reflecting the struggle to attach moral judgment when science and circumstances change so rapidly. Tune in for a truly fascinating conversation.

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 Aug 10, 2026 at 4:24 AM EDT.

JUL 10, 2026, 8:41 PM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 215 The Hidden Depths of Earwax

In keeping with last week’s theme of “bodily excretions that are kinda gross that you don’t really think about but are actually really important”, we’re devoting this episode to earwax, aka cerumen. In one hour, we somehow manage to weave together stories of earwax impaction, misadventures in ear candling, glimpses of earwax in art history, and a whale of a tale as revealed by cetacean cerumen. The biology and history of earwax proves to be surprisingly rich and revealing and will have you second-guessing yourself as you reach for that cotton swab. Armed with this week’s episode on earwax and last week’s on boogers, you’ll be ready to take on even the most daunting office icebreaker.

History

- Beaudry, Mary C. “Bodkin biographies.” The materiality of individuality: archaeological studies of individual lives. New York, NY: Springer US, 2009. 95-108.

- Decamp, Eleanor. “‘Thou art like a punie-Barber (new come to the trade) thou pick’st our eares too deepe’: Barbery, Ear Wax, and Snip-snaps.” The Senses in Early Modern England, 1558 1660 (2020): 74-90.

- Dedo, Herbert H. “Observations on a set of Greco‐Roman eye, ear, nose, and throat surgical instruments.” The Laryngoscope 127.2 (2017): 354-358.

- Hanger, H. C., and G. P. Mulley. “Cerumen: its fascination and clinical importance: a review.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 85.6 (1992): 346.

- Ibraimov, A. I. “Brief communication: Cerumen phenotypes in certain populations of Eurasia and Africa.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 84.2 (1991): 209-211.

- Ketten, Darlene R. “Structure and function in whale ears.” Bioacoustics 8.1-2 (1997): 103-135.

- Ketten, Darlene R. “Cetacean ears.” Hearing by whales and dolphins. New York, NY: Springer New York, 2000. 43-108.

- Matsunaga, E. “The dimorphism in human normal cerumen.” Annals of human genetics 25.4 (1962): 273-286.

- Mitchell, T. E. “A Brief History of Otology from Its Infancy to the Present Time.” Atlanta Medical and Surgical Journal (1884) 13.2 (1896): 73.

- Miura, Kiyonori, et al. “A strong association between human earwax-type and apocrine colostrum secretion from the mammary gland.” Human genetics 121.5 (2007): 631-633.

- Ohashi, Jun, Izumi Naka, and Naoyuki Tsuchiya. “The impact of natural selection on an ABCC11 SNP determining earwax type.” Molecular biology and evolution 28.1 (2011): 849-857.

- Petrakis, Nicholas L. “Earmarks of art history: cerumen and medieval art.” Otology & Neurotology 21.1 (2000): 5-8.

- Prokop-Prigge, Katharine A., et al. “Identification of volatile organic compounds in human cerumen.” Journal of Chromatography B 953 (2014): 48-52.

- Purves, Peter Ernest, and Malcolm David Mountford. Ear plug laminations in relation to the age composition of a population of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus). British Museum (Natural History), 1959.

- Shokry, Engy, et al. “Earwax: an innovative tool for assessment of tobacco use or exposure. A pilot study in young adults.” Forensic Toxicology 35.2 (2017): 389-398.

- Straube, Beverly A. “The Geoff Egan Memorial Lecture 2012: Surprises from the Soil: Archaeological Discoveries from England’s First Successful Transatlantic Colony at Jamestown.” Post-Medieval Archaeol 47.2 (2013): 263-80.

- Trumble, Stephen J., et al. “Blue whale earplug reveals lifetime contaminant exposure and hormone profiles.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.42 (2013): 16922-16926.

- Trumble, Stephen J., et al. “Baleen whale cortisol levels reveal a physiological response to 20th century whaling.” Nature communications 9.1 (2018): 4587.

- Verwaal, Ruben E. “Fluid deafness: earwax and hardness of hearing in early modern Europe.” Medical History 65.4 (2021): 366-383.

- Vickers, T. Winston, et al. “Pathology and epidemiology of ceruminous gland tumors among endangered Santa Catalina Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) in the Channel Islands, USA.” PLoS One 10.11 (2015): e0143211.

- Wang, Jun, et al. “Comparative study of the external auditory canal in humans and large mammals.” The Anatomical Record 305.2 (2022): 436-445.

- Yoshiura, Koh-ichiro, et al. “A SNP in the ABCC11 gene is the determinant of human earwax type.” Nature genetics 38.3 (2006): 324-330.

- Child, Lydia Marie Frances. “The American Frugal Housewife, Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of economy.” Women’s Economic Writing in the Nineteenth Century. Routledge, 2023. 125-128.

Biology

- Biology

- Roeser, R.J. and Ballachanda, B.B., 1997. Physiology, pathophysiology, and anthropology/epidemiology of human earcanal secretions. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 8(6).

- Alberti, P.W.R.M., 1964. Epithelial migration on the tympanic membrane. The Journal of Laryngology & Otology, 78(9), pp.808-830.

- Guest, J.F., Greener, M.J., Robinson, A.C. and Smith, A.F., 2004. Impacted cerumen: composition, production, epidemiology and management. Qjm, 97(8), pp.477-488.

- Robinson, A.C., Hawke, M. and Naiberg, J., 1990. Impacted cerumen: a disorder of keratinocyte separation in the superficial external ear canal?. The Journal of Otolaryngology, 19(2), pp.86-90.

- olan, M.M., Choi, J.S., Tibesar, M.T. and Adams, M.E., 2024. Cerumen impaction: Prevalence and associated factors in the United States population. Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology, 9(2), p.e1228.

- Horton, G.A., Simpson, M.T., Beyea, M.M. and Beyea, J.A., 2020. Cerumen management: an updated clinical review and evidence-based approach for primary care physicians. Journal of primary care & community health, 11, p.2150132720904181.

- Michaudet, C. and Malaty, J., 2018. Cerumen impaction: diagnosis and management. American family physician, 98(8), pp.525-529.

- Balkany, T.J. and Brown, K.D., 2017. The ear book: a complete guide to ear disorders and health. Johns Hopkins University Press.

- Stoeckelhuber, M., Matthias, C., Andratschke, M., Stoeckelhuber, B.M., Koehler, C., Herzmann, S., Sulz, A. and Welsch, U. 2006. Human ceruminous gland: Ultrastructure and histochemical analysis of antimicrobial and cytoskeletal components. The Anatomical Record.  288A: 877-884.

- Rafferty, J., Tsikoudas, A. and Davis, B.C., 2007. Ear candling: should general practitioners recommend it?. Canadian family physician, 53(12), pp.2121-2122.

- Seely, D.R., Quigley, S.M. and Langman, A.W., 1996. Ear candles‐efficacy and safety. The Laryngoscope, 106(10), pp.1226-1229.

- Nee, S.T. and Athar, P.P., Ear Candling: A Non-Proven Method for Benefits. Clin Surg. 2016; 1, 1088.

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JUL 10, 2026, 8:40 PM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 214 Boogers: Digging for treasure

Hard and crusty. Green and gloopy. Clear and watery. Boogers come in a veritable rainbow of colors and a full spectrum of textures from liquid to solid. They’re really quite impressive if you think about it. Which, of course, few of us do, besides adding tissues to our shopping list or cursing the dagger-like boogers that emerge during a trip to a particularly dry locale. But boogers deserve a lot more credit, and this episode is our attempt at righting that wrong. What are boogers, and what purpose do they serve? How long have handkerchiefs been around, and when did mucus evolve? How many of us are nose-pickers, and how do other species deal with their boogers? More stuffed with snot facts than a nose during flu season, this episode has all the best tidbits to share at your next dinner party.

History

- Bakshani, Cassie R., et al. “Evolutionary conservation of the antimicrobial function of mucus: a first defence against infection.” npj Biofilms and Microbiomes 4.1 (2018): 14.

- Balzer, Wolfgang, and Anastassia Eleftheriadis. “A reconstruction of the hippocratic humoral theory of health.” Journal for General Philosophy of Science 22.2 (1991): 207-227.

- Bergey, Elizabeth A., et al. “Messages in the mucus: Selection of land snail resting sites based on the presence of mucus from conspecifics and other species.” Invertebrate Biology 142.2 (2023): e12407.

- Curtis, Valerie. “Hygiene: how myths, monsters, and mothers-in-law can promote behaviour change.” Journal of Infection 43.1 (2001): 75-79.

- Curtis, Valerie. “Why disgust matters.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366.1583 (2011): 3478-3490.

- Fabre, A‐C., et al. “A review of nose picking in primates with new evidence of its occurrence in Daubentonia madagascariensis.” Journal of Zoology 319.2 (2023): 91-98.

- Fudge, Douglas S., et al. “Composition, morphology and mechanics of hagfish slime.” Journal of Experimental Biology 208.24 (2005): 4613-4625.

- Hamer, Sarah A., et al. “Coincident tick infestations in the nostrils of wild chimpanzees and a human in Uganda.” The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 89.5 (2013): 924.

- Haslam, Michael, and Tiago Falótico. “Nasal probe and toothpick tool use by a wild female bearded capuchin (Sapajus libidinosus).” Primates 56.3 (2015): 211-214.

- Jefferson, James W., and Trent D. Thompson. “Rhinotillexomania: psychiatric disorder or habit?.” The Journal of clinical psychiatry 56.2 (1995): 56-59.

- Jordan, John O. “The purloined handkerchief.” Dickens Studies Annual 18 (1989): 1-17.

- Jung, Yeonsu, et al. “Avian mud nest architecture by self-secreted saliva.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.3 (2021): e2018509118.

- Mandel, Barrett John. “Bogey.” (1965): 15-29.

- Mirabella, Bella. “Embellishing Herself with a Cloth: The Contradictory Life of the Handkerchief.” Ornamentalism: The Art of Renaissance Accessories (2011): 59-82.

- Nishida, Toshisada, and Miho Nakamura. “Chimpanzee tool use to clear a blocked nasal passage.” Folia primatologica (1993).

- Pajic, Petar, et al. “A mechanism of gene evolution generating mucin function.” Science advances 8.34 (2022): eabm8757.

- Phelan, C. A. “NASAL CATARRH.” California State Journal of Medicine 19.2 (1921): 81.

- Portalatín, María Jesús. “15. EATING SNOT.” Consuming the Inedible: Neglected Dimensions of Food Choice 5 (2007): 177.

- Proctor, Donald F. “The nose, ambient air, and airway mucosa. A pathway in physiology.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 48.3 (1974): 352-376.

- Reverter, Miriam, et al. “Biological and ecological roles of external fish mucus: a review.” Fishes 3.4 (2018): 41.

- Seltzer, Albert P. “Nose picking.” Journal of the National Medical Association 55.5 (1963): 451.

- Sepahi, Ali, and Irene Salinas. “The evolution of nasal immune systems in vertebrates.” Molecular Immunology 69 (2016): 131-138.

- Shephard, Kerry L. “Functions for fish mucus.” Reviews in fish biology and fisheries 4.4 (1994): 401-429.

- Stow, George B. “Richard II and the Invention of the Pocket Handkerchief.” Albion 27.2 (1995): 221-235.

- Tacchi, Luca, et al. “Nasal immunity is an ancient arm of the mucosal immune system of vertebrates.” Nature communications 5.1 (2014): 5205.

- Taylor, Miles. “The origin and functions of nasal mucus.” The Laryngoscope 84.4 (1974): 612-636.

- Walton, Gerald A. “A tick infesting the nostrils of man.” Nature 188.4756 (1960): 1131-1132.

- https://www.kleenex.com/en-us/about-us/our-history

Biology

- Biology

- Fahy, J.V. and Dickey, B.F., 2010. Airway mucus function and dysfunction. New England journal of medicine, 363(23), pp.2233-2247.

- Sahin-Yilmaz, A. and Naclerio, R.M., 2011. Anatomy and physiology of the upper airway. Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society, 8(1), pp.31-39.

- Beule, A.G., 2010. Physiology and pathophysiology of respiratory mucosa of the nose and the paranasal sinuses. GMS current topics in otorhinolaryngology, head and neck surgery, 9, pp.Doc07-Doc07.

- Hill, D.B., Button, B., Rubinstein, M. and Boucher, R.C., 2022. Physiology and pathophysiology of human airway mucus. Physiological Reviews, 102(4), pp.1757-1836.

- Bateman Jr, M.T., Brunton, S. and Wright, W.L., 2025. Guaifenesin and dextromethorphan for management of cough and mucus-related cold symptoms in adults: a narrative literature review. Postgraduate Medicine, 137(8), pp.741-755.

- Parra-Ferro, M., Justice, J.M., Lobo, B.C., Munger, S.D., Schlosser, R.J. and Mulligan, J.K., 2022. Utilization of nasal mucus to investigate the pathophysiology of chronic rhinosinusitis. American Journal of Rhinology & Allergy, 36(6), pp.872-883.

- Andrade, C. and Srihari, B.S., 2001. A preliminary survey of rhinotillexomania in an adolescent sample. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 62(6), pp.426-431.

- Wertheim, H.F., Van Kleef, M., Vos, M.C., Ott, A., Verbrugh, H.A. and Fokkens, W., 2006. Nose picking and nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 27(8), pp.863-867.

- Lavell, A.A., Tijdink, J., Buis, D.T., Smulders, Y.M., Bomers, M.K. and Sikkens, J.J., 2023. Why not to pick your nose: Association between nose picking and SARS-CoV-2 incidence, a cohort study in hospital health care workers. Plos one, 18(8), p.e0288352.

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JUL 10, 2026, 8:35 PM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Dr. Carl Elliott & The Occasional Human Sacrifice

Stories of unethical medical experimentation often center around the individuals who spearheaded such atrocities or highlight how patient protection laws were changed in response to the studies. But rarely do they focus on the people who fought to bring these harms to light: the whistleblower. What does it take to blow the whistle, and what does it cost? Are we all capable of blowing the whistle or is there a “whistleblower type”? What happens when there’s no one left to hear the whistle being blown? These are just some of the questions we explore in this week’s TPWKY book club episode, where I’m joined by Dr. Carl Elliott, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, to discuss his latest book The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No. In this profound and personal work, Dr. Elliott reflects on the drivers and consequences of blowing the whistle, interviewing whistleblowers in past scandals as well as drawing from his own experience. We may all think we’d do the right thing, but how many of us are prepared for the cost? Tune in for an enlightening conversation about medical ethics and human nature.

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This article was downloaded on Aug 10, 2026 at 4:24 AM EDT.

JUL 10, 2026, 8:33 PM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 213 Burns Part 2: It’s like sci-fi but real

At the turn of the 20th century, a severe burn was often a death sentence. Today, that is no longer the case. Over the past eighty years, burn care has undergone a profound transformation thanks to crucial advances across diverse areas of medicine, such as skin grafting, antiseptic technique, and fluid balance. In this episode, we trace how those pieces of the puzzle were integrated to bring new hope to those with severe burn injuries. But this revolution in burn care is far from over. As we discover, thrilling research in this area is blurring the lines between science and science fiction. Bioengineered skin? 3D-printed skin scaffolding? Nanoparticles? Tune in for all the exciting details!

History

- Artz, Curtis P. “Historical aspects of burn management.” Surgical Clinics of North America 50.6 (1970): 1193-1200.

- Barrow, Robert E., and David N. Herndon. “History of treatments of burns.” Total burn care 3 (2007): 1-8.

- Blocker, Virginia, and T. G. Blocker Jr. “The Texas City disaster: a survey of 3,000 casualties.” The American Journal of Surgery 78.5 (1949): 756-771.

- Branski, Ludwik K., David N. Herndon, and Robert E. Barrow. “A brief history of acute burn care management.” Total burn care. Elsevier, 2018. 1-7.

- Brigham, Peter A., and Alan R. Dimick. “The evolution of burn care facilities in the United States.” Journal of burn care & research 29.1 (2008): 248-256.

- Brown, Kyle S., et al. “Fire as an engineering tool of early modern humans.” Science 325.5942 (2009): 859-862.

- Cope, Oliver. “Care of the victims of the Coconut Grove fire at the Massachusetts General Hospital.” New England Journal of Medicine 229.4 (1943): 138-147.

- Davis, Rob, et al. “Earliest evidence of making fire.” Nature (2025): 1-7.

- Glikson, Andrew. “Fire and human evolution: The deep-time blueprints of the Anthropocene.” Anthropocene 3 (2013): 89-92.

- Gowlett, John AJ. “The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371.1696 (2016).

- Hussain, Amer, and Fouzia Choukairi. “To cool or not to cool: evolution of the treatment of burns in the 18th century.” International Journal of Surgery 11.7 (2013): 503-506.

- Jackson, D. M. “The evolution of burn treatment in the last 50 years.” Burns 17.4 (1991): 329-334.

- Kohlhauser, Michael, et al. “Historical evolution of skin grafting—a journey through time.” Medicina 57.4 (2021): 348.

- Lee, Kwang Chear, Kavita Joory, and Naiem S. Moiemen. “History of burns: the past, present and the future.” Burns & trauma 2.4 (2014): 2321-3868.

- Lee, Nara, et al. “Global, regional, and national burden of burn injury by total body surface area (TBSA) involvement from 1990 to 2021, with projections of prevalence to 2050.” Healthcare. Vol. 13. No. 16. MDPI, 2025.

- Mooney, Eric K. “Daniel Drake’s account of his own hand burns (1830).” Plastic and reconstructive surgery 102.5 (1998): 1748-1754.

- Moore, Francis D. “Then and now: treatment volume, wound coverage, lung injury, and antibiotics: a capsule history of burn treatment at mid-century.” Burns 25.8 (1999): 733-737.

- Murray, J. F. “The history of analgesia in burns.” Postgraduate Medical Journal 48.557 (1972): 124.

- Ozhathil, Deepak K., et al. “A narrative review of the history of skin grafting in burn care.” Medicina 57.4 (2021): 380.

- Pećanac, Marija, et al. “Burns treatment in ancient times.” Medical Review/Medicinski Pregled 66 (2013).

- Pinnegar, Melba D., and Fred C. Pinnegar III. “History of burn care: A survey of important changes in the topical treatment of thermal injuries.” Burns 12.7 (1986): 508-517.

- Stephens, Hugh W. “The Texas city disaster: a re-examination.” Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly 7.3 (1993): 189-204.

- Thomsen, Mogens. “Historical landmarks in the treatment of burns.” British journal of plastic surgery 30.3 (1977): 212-217.

- Van Hee, R. “From fat of old pigs to fenestrated skin grafts: a fascinating history of burn’s treatment (1).” Acta Chirurgica Belgica 107.4 (2007): 481-482.

Biology

- Biology

- Jeschke, M.G., van Baar, M.E., Choudhry, M.A., Chung, K.K., Gibran, N.S. and Logsetty, S., 2020. Burn injury. Nature reviews Disease primers, 6(1), p.11.

- Rossella, E., Giulio, M. and Michele, M., 2022. Burns: classification and treatment. In Textbook of plastic and reconstructive surgery: basic principles and new perspectives (pp. 285-301). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

- Nielson, C.B., Duethman, N.C., Howard, J.M., Moncure, M. and Wood, J.G., 2017. Burns: pathophysiology of systemic complications and current management. Journal of Burn Care & Research, 38(1), pp.e469-e481.

- Porter, C., Tompkins, R.G., Finnerty, C.C., Sidossis, L.S., Suman, O.E. and Herndon, D.N., 2016. The metabolic stress response to burn trauma: current understanding and therapies. The Lancet, 388(10052), pp.1417-1426.

- Kaddoura, I., Abu-Sittah, G., Ibrahim, A., Karamanoukian, R. and Papazian, N., 2017. Burn injury: review of pathophysiology and therapeutic modalities in major burns. Annals of burns and Fire Disasters, 30(2), p.95.

- Sharma, S., Alfonso, A.R., Gordon, A.J., Kwong, J., Lin, L.J. and Chiu, E.S., 2022. Second-degree burns and Aloe vera: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Advances in skin & wound care, 35(11), pp.1-9.

- McGwin Jr, G., George, R.L., Cross, J.M. and Rue, L.W., 2008. Improving the ability to predict mortality among burn patients. Burns, 34(3), pp.320-327.

- Lee, S., Rahul, Ye, H., Chittajallu, D., Kruger, U., Boyko, T., Lukan, J.K., Enquobahrie, A., Norfleet, J. and De, S., 2020. Real-time burn classification using ultrasound imaging. Scientific reports, 10(1), p.5829.

- Evers, L.H., Bhavsar, D. and Mailänder, P., 2010. The biology of burn injury. Experimental dermatology, 19(9), pp.777-783.

- Souto, E.B., Ribeiro, A.F., Ferreira, M.I., Teixeira, M.C., Shimojo, A.A., Soriano, J.L., Naveros, B.C., Durazzo, A., Lucarini, M., Souto, S.B. and Santini, A., 2020. New nanotechnologies for the treatment and repair of skin burns infections. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(2), p.393.

- Richards, H.S., Staruch, R.M., Kinsella, S., Savovic, J., Qureshi, R., Elliott, D., Rooshenas, L., King, A., Acton, A., Bayuo, J. and Booth, S., 2025. Top ten research priorities in global burns care: findings from the James Lind Alliance Global Burns Research Priority Setting Partnership. The Lancet Global Health, 13(6), pp.e1140-e1150.

- Radzikowska-Büchner, E., Łopuszyńska, I., Flieger, W., Tobiasz, M., Maciejewski, R. and Flieger, J., 2023. An overview of recent developments in the management of burn injuries. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(22), p.16357.

- Finnerty, C.C., Jeschke, M.G., Branski, L.K., Barret, J.P., Dziewulski, P. and Herndon, D.N., 2016. Hypertrophic scarring: the greatest unmet challenge after burn injury. The Lancet, 388(10052), pp.1427-1436.

- Markiewicz-Gospodarek, A., Kozioł, M., Tobiasz, M., Baj, J., Radzikowska-Büchner, E. and Przekora, A., 2022. Burn wound healing: clinical complications, medical care, treatment, and dressing types: the current state of knowledge for clinical practice. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), p.1338.

- Brusselaers, N., Monstrey, S., Vogelaers, D., Hoste, E. and Blot, S., 2010. Severe burn injury in Europe: a systematic review of the incidence, etiology, morbidity, and mortality. Critical care, 14(5), p.R188.

- Romanowski, K.S., Carson, J., Pape, K., Bernal, E., Sharar, S., Wiechman, S., Carter, D., Liu, Y.M., Nitzschke, S., Bhalla, P. and Litt, J., 2020. American Burn Association guidelines on the management of acute pain in the adult burn patient: a review of the literature, a compilation of expert opinion, and next steps. Journal of Burn Care & Research, 41(6), pp.1129-1151.

- Cuttle, L., Fear, M., Wood, F.M., Kimble, R.M. and Holland, A.J., 2022. Management of non-severe burn wounds in children and adolescents: optimising outcomes through all stages of the patient journey. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 6(4), pp.269-278.

- Dhar, S., Chrisman, T. and Simman, R., 2023. Clinical indications of cultured epithelial autografts. Annals of plastic surgery, 91(4), pp.433-440.

- Yadav, A.K., Verma, D., Thakkar, S., Rana, Y., Banerjee, J., Bhatia, D. and Banerjee, S., 2025. Pioneering 3D and 4D bioprinting strategies for advanced wound management: from design to healing. Small, 21(41), p.e06259.

- Nycz, M., Litwinska-Inglot, I., Partyka, M., Snopek-Mista, C. and Waniczek, D., 2025. Advancing Burn Care: The Role of 3D Printing in Advanced Dressing Development. Dermatologic Surgery, 51(7), pp.e22-e31.

- World Health Organization. Oct 2023. Burns fact sheet. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/burns

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JUL 10, 2026, 8:32 PM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Episode 212 Burns Part 1: The first million or so years

Burns have been a part of the human experience since our hominin relatives began controlling fire 1.5 million years ago. Until very recently, we’ve been limited in our ability to manage burn wounds with any success, having instead to rely on our body’s innate healing responses. In this episode, we delve into those repair responses, explore what makes burns different from other types of injuries, and examine how we categorize burns based on severity. On the history side of things, we take a tour through humanity’s quest to alleviate the pain and suffering caused by the near-universal experience of getting burned. Ever wondered what Hippocrates would have recommended for a burn? Or what distinguishes a second- from third-degree burn? Tune in to find out.

History

- Artz, Curtis P. “Historical aspects of burn management.” Surgical Clinics of North America 50.6 (1970): 1193-1200.

- Barrow, Robert E., and David N. Herndon. “History of treatments of burns.” Total burn care 3 (2007): 1-8.

- Blocker, Virginia, and T. G. Blocker Jr. “The Texas City disaster: a survey of 3,000 casualties.” The American Journal of Surgery 78.5 (1949): 756-771.

- Branski, Ludwik K., David N. Herndon, and Robert E. Barrow. “A brief history of acute burn care management.” Total burn care. Elsevier, 2018. 1-7.

- Brigham, Peter A., and Alan R. Dimick. “The evolution of burn care facilities in the United States.” Journal of burn care & research 29.1 (2008): 248-256.

- Brown, Kyle S., et al. “Fire as an engineering tool of early modern humans.” Science 325.5942 (2009): 859-862.

- Cope, Oliver. “Care of the victims of the Coconut Grove fire at the Massachusetts General Hospital.” New England Journal of Medicine 229.4 (1943): 138-147.

- Davis, Rob, et al. “Earliest evidence of making fire.” Nature (2025): 1-7.

- Glikson, Andrew. “Fire and human evolution: The deep-time blueprints of the Anthropocene.” Anthropocene 3 (2013): 89-92.

- Gowlett, John AJ. “The discovery of fire by humans: a long and convoluted process.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371.1696 (2016).

- Hussain, Amer, and Fouzia Choukairi. “To cool or not to cool: evolution of the treatment of burns in the 18th century.” International Journal of Surgery 11.7 (2013): 503-506.

- Jackson, D. M. “The evolution of burn treatment in the last 50 years.” Burns 17.4 (1991): 329-334.

- Kohlhauser, Michael, et al. “Historical evolution of skin grafting—a journey through time.” Medicina 57.4 (2021): 348.

- Lee, Kwang Chear, Kavita Joory, and Naiem S. Moiemen. “History of burns: the past, present and the future.” Burns & trauma 2.4 (2014): 2321-3868.

- Lee, Nara, et al. “Global, regional, and national burden of burn injury by total body surface area (TBSA) involvement from 1990 to 2021, with projections of prevalence to 2050.” Healthcare. Vol. 13. No. 16. MDPI, 2025.

- Mooney, Eric K. “Daniel Drake’s account of his own hand burns (1830).” Plastic and reconstructive surgery 102.5 (1998): 1748-1754.

- Moore, Francis D. “Then and now: treatment volume, wound coverage, lung injury, and antibiotics: a capsule history of burn treatment at mid-century.” Burns 25.8 (1999): 733-737.

- Murray, J. F. “The history of analgesia in burns.” Postgraduate Medical Journal 48.557 (1972): 124.

- Ozhathil, Deepak K., et al. “A narrative review of the history of skin grafting in burn care.” Medicina 57.4 (2021): 380.

- Pećanac, Marija, et al. “Burns treatment in ancient times.” Medical Review/Medicinski Pregled 66 (2013).

- Pinnegar, Melba D., and Fred C. Pinnegar III. “History of burn care: A survey of important changes in the topical treatment of thermal injuries.” Burns 12.7 (1986): 508-517.

- Stephens, Hugh W. “The Texas city disaster: a re-examination.” Industrial & Environmental Crisis Quarterly 7.3 (1993): 189-204.

- Thomsen, Mogens. “Historical landmarks in the treatment of burns.” British journal of plastic surgery 30.3 (1977): 212-217.

- Van Hee, R. “From fat of old pigs to fenestrated skin grafts: a fascinating history of burn’s treatment (1).” Acta Chirurgica Belgica 107.4 (2007): 481-482.

Biology

- Biology

- Jeschke, M.G., van Baar, M.E., Choudhry, M.A., Chung, K.K., Gibran, N.S. and Logsetty, S., 2020. Burn injury. Nature reviews Disease primers, 6(1), p.11.

- Rossella, E., Giulio, M. and Michele, M., 2022. Burns: classification and treatment. In Textbook of plastic and reconstructive surgery: basic principles and new perspectives (pp. 285-301). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

- Nielson, C.B., Duethman, N.C., Howard, J.M., Moncure, M. and Wood, J.G., 2017. Burns: pathophysiology of systemic complications and current management. Journal of Burn Care & Research, 38(1), pp.e469-e481.

- Porter, C., Tompkins, R.G., Finnerty, C.C., Sidossis, L.S., Suman, O.E. and Herndon, D.N., 2016. The metabolic stress response to burn trauma: current understanding and therapies. The Lancet, 388(10052), pp.1417-1426.

- Kaddoura, I., Abu-Sittah, G., Ibrahim, A., Karamanoukian, R. and Papazian, N., 2017. Burn injury: review of pathophysiology and therapeutic modalities in major burns. Annals of burns and Fire Disasters, 30(2), p.95.

- Sharma, S., Alfonso, A.R., Gordon, A.J., Kwong, J., Lin, L.J. and Chiu, E.S., 2022. Second-degree burns and Aloe vera: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Advances in skin & wound care, 35(11), pp.1-9.

- McGwin Jr, G., George, R.L., Cross, J.M. and Rue, L.W., 2008. Improving the ability to predict mortality among burn patients. Burns, 34(3), pp.320-327.

- Lee, S., Rahul, Ye, H., Chittajallu, D., Kruger, U., Boyko, T., Lukan, J.K., Enquobahrie, A., Norfleet, J. and De, S., 2020. Real-time burn classification using ultrasound imaging. Scientific reports, 10(1), p.5829.

- Evers, L.H., Bhavsar, D. and Mailänder, P., 2010. The biology of burn injury. Experimental dermatology, 19(9), pp.777-783.

- Souto, E.B., Ribeiro, A.F., Ferreira, M.I., Teixeira, M.C., Shimojo, A.A., Soriano, J.L., Naveros, B.C., Durazzo, A., Lucarini, M., Souto, S.B. and Santini, A., 2020. New nanotechnologies for the treatment and repair of skin burns infections. International journal of molecular sciences, 21(2), p.393.

- Richards, H.S., Staruch, R.M., Kinsella, S., Savovic, J., Qureshi, R., Elliott, D., Rooshenas, L., King, A., Acton, A., Bayuo, J. and Booth, S., 2025. Top ten research priorities in global burns care: findings from the James Lind Alliance Global Burns Research Priority Setting Partnership. The Lancet Global Health, 13(6), pp.e1140-e1150.

- Radzikowska-Büchner, E., Łopuszyńska, I., Flieger, W., Tobiasz, M., Maciejewski, R. and Flieger, J., 2023. An overview of recent developments in the management of burn injuries. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(22), p.16357.

- Finnerty, C.C., Jeschke, M.G., Branski, L.K., Barret, J.P., Dziewulski, P. and Herndon, D.N., 2016. Hypertrophic scarring: the greatest unmet challenge after burn injury. The Lancet, 388(10052), pp.1427-1436.

- Markiewicz-Gospodarek, A., Kozioł, M., Tobiasz, M., Baj, J., Radzikowska-Büchner, E. and Przekora, A., 2022. Burn wound healing: clinical complications, medical care, treatment, and dressing types: the current state of knowledge for clinical practice. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(3), p.1338.

- Brusselaers, N., Monstrey, S., Vogelaers, D., Hoste, E. and Blot, S., 2010. Severe burn injury in Europe: a systematic review of the incidence, etiology, morbidity, and mortality. Critical care, 14(5), p.R188.

- Romanowski, K.S., Carson, J., Pape, K., Bernal, E., Sharar, S., Wiechman, S., Carter, D., Liu, Y.M., Nitzschke, S., Bhalla, P. and Litt, J., 2020. American Burn Association guidelines on the management of acute pain in the adult burn patient: a review of the literature, a compilation of expert opinion, and next steps. Journal of Burn Care & Research, 41(6), pp.1129-1151.

- Cuttle, L., Fear, M., Wood, F.M., Kimble, R.M. and Holland, A.J., 2022. Management of non-severe burn wounds in children and adolescents: optimising outcomes through all stages of the patient journey. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 6(4), pp.269-278.

- Dhar, S., Chrisman, T. and Simman, R., 2023. Clinical indications of cultured epithelial autografts. Annals of plastic surgery, 91(4), pp.433-440.

- Yadav, A.K., Verma, D., Thakkar, S., Rana, Y., Banerjee, J., Bhatia, D. and Banerjee, S., 2025. Pioneering 3D and 4D bioprinting strategies for advanced wound management: from design to healing. Small, 21(41), p.e06259.

- Nycz, M., Litwinska-Inglot, I., Partyka, M., Snopek-Mista, C. and Waniczek, D., 2025. Advancing Burn Care: The Role of 3D Printing in Advanced Dressing Development. Dermatologic Surgery, 51(7), pp.e22-e31.

- World Health Organization. Oct 2023. Burns fact sheet. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/burns

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This article was downloaded on Aug 10, 2026 at 4:24 AM EDT.

JUL 10, 2026, 8:25 PM EDT | PODCAST | EPISODE PAGE

Special Episode: Alexandra Sifferlin & The Elusive Body

An accurate diagnosis can give us so much. It can give us a path forward. It can give us answers to long-standing questions. And it can give us much-needed hope. Yet many people around the world wait years to receive an accurate diagnosis, which can take a profound physical and emotional toll. What underlies these missed or incorrect diagnoses, and what can we do about it? In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, health journalist Alexandra Sifferlin joins me to discuss The Elusive Body: Doctors, Patients, and the Diagnosis Crisis. Her compassionate and sweeping exploration of this topic takes readers across the US as she connects with patients, doctors, and researchers that are deeply impacted by the diagnosis crisis. While plumbing the depths of this pervasive issue, Sifferlin also encounters many people who have dedicated their careers to addressing the diagnosis crisis and bringing people the answers they need and deserve. Tune in for a fascinating conversation on a subject that has affected so many of us.

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 Aug 10, 2026 at 4:24 AM EDT.

Table of Contents

This Podcast Will Kill You: 2026 Aug 4

All articles

Episode 218 The Lowdown on Statins: 2026 Aug 4

Episode 217 The High Stakes of Cholesterol: 2026 Jul 28

Episode 216 Cyclospora: Explosive Diarrhea Everywhere: 2026 Jul 21

Special Episode: Alev Scott & Cash Cow: 2026 Jul 14

Episode 215 The Hidden Depths of Earwax: 2026 Jul 10

Episode 214 Boogers: Digging for treasure: 2026 Jul 10

Special Episode: Dr. Carl Elliott & The Occasional Human Sacrifice: 2026 Jul 10

Episode 213 Burns Part 2: It’s like sci-fi but real: 2026 Jul 10

Episode 212 Burns Part 1: The first million or so years: 2026 Jul 10

Special Episode: Alexandra Sifferlin & The Elusive Body: 2026 Jul 10