I’m bringing you the first episode of a series I’m doing called “Just Keep Swimming.” It’s a Non-Toxic miniseries about male infertility and chemical exposure, exploring how chemicals in our environment (or chemicals we choose to inject into our bodies) can have an enormous impact on our individual health and even the future of humanity.

This episode is a conversation that I had with the Dutch looksmaxxer, Felix van der Heiden, when I was visiting the offices of the biotech startup, Sperm Racing. For the full story there, you can read my article in The New York Times Magazine about the week I spent with those boys. Felix, I thought, was a super interesting character, and he shows up in the piece, but I didn't really get to go as deep in the article as I wanted to. I had some amazing tape that just was sitting around, and I thought, “People need to really hear his full story.”

What follows is a selection from the scene when Felix first looked at his sperm under a microscope with his friend Manu, and then a conversation that Felix and I had afterwards, where he talks to me a bit about the different enhancements that he’s using and his thoughts about the effects on his fertility and why he’s decided to pursue chemical enhancement at such a young age. I think you’ll enjoy it.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe