Podcast
The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
Hosted by Sam Kean · EN
A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.
19episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Pioneers and Vestiges of Evolution
2w ago00:18:28Tap to summarizeHis book on evolution rocked 1800s England. Not Charles Darwin. Robert Chambers, whose infamous tome both horrified Darwin, yet paved the way for him.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →The Angel of the Concentration Camp
3w ago00:17:29Tap to summarizeNurse Laura Cobb saved more lives than Clara Barton or Florence Nightingale, and under far worse conditions—in a brutal World War II concentration camp. So why did the world forget her?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →The Battery Dope
4w ago00:18:52Tap to summarizeIn the 1950s, scientists hated politics. Then one Allen Astin got fired. After that, scientists knew they had to play politics—or face professional annihilation.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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The Making of the “Flat Earth” Myth
May 1200:17:21Tap to summarizeNo one in Columbus’s time believed the world was flat. So why did so many children learn this bogus “fact” in school? It all goes back to Rip van Winkle...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →Forensic Pseudoscience
May 500:18:24Tap to summarizeWhen the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, the two most scientific detectives in the world took on the case. But they overlooked the real enemy—their own petty prejudice.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →Manhattan Project Propaganda
Apr 2800:17:46Tap to summarizeThe Smyth Report is the strangest book ever written on atomic bombs—as well as highly effective science propaganda, warping our view of everything from the Manhattan Project to Robert Oppenheimer. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →Back-Breaking Science
Apr 2100:18:05Tap to summarizeWhen a British sub sank with all hands, JBS Haldane volunteered to investigate by experimenting on himself—even if it meant losing his own life in the process. (Part 2 of 2.)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →The Canaries in the Submarine
Apr 1400:17:13Tap to summarizeThere’s only one thing Dr. John Haldane loved more than running dangerous experiments on himself—running them on his son Jack. But the duo would revolutionize our understanding of the human body.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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Charles Lindbergh, Lab Rat
Apr 700:19:10Tap to summarizeWhen Charles Lindbergh's sister-in-law developed heart trouble, he teamed up with a Nobel-Prize-winning doctor to save her. He had no idea the dark paths his work would lead him down, including Nazi politics and eugenics...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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The Publicity Stunt that Sparked the Scopes Monkey Trial
Dec 1600:18:59Tap to summarizeExactly a century ago, teacher John Scopes was charged with the “crime” of teaching evolution. But Scopes was hardly a defiant Galileo, nobly standing up for truth. In fact, he never even taught evolution. (Really.) But despite the unseemly origins of the Monkey Trial, Scopes proved himself a genuine hero...Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
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