This Podcast Will Kill You

Ep 198 Sleep Part 1: Sleeping with one eye open

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Sleep is a universal experience. It’s not just the lion that sleeps tonight - it’s also the butterfly, the chicken, the jellyfish, the dog...

Special Episode: Daniel Stone & American Poison

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The widespread use of leaded gasoline in the 20th century led to one of the world’s biggest public health and environmental disasters, the effec...

Ep 197 Detox: Enemas for everyone

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Ah, the new year. After the last month and a half of indulgent food and drink, disrupted schedules, and laying around the house, who doesn’t fee...

From the Vault - Endometriosis: Menstrual Backwash (Ep 88)

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode originally aired on January 11th, 2022. Chances are you know someone with endometriosis, or perhaps you’re affected yourself. But d...

From the Vault - Hepatitis B: Hepatiti, Take 2 (Ep 89)

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode originally aired on January 25th, 2022. In light of the recent changes by RFK jr’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (AC...

Ep 196 Health Myths: Fact or fiction?

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Did your grandma ever warn you against going out in the cold with wet hair because “you’ll catch your death”? Or have you ever tosse...

Special Episode: Dr. Homer Venters & Outbreak Behind Bars

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

[Content warning: self-harm, suicide, violence] In this day and age, we are equipped with an abundance of tools and knowledge to fight the spread of d...

Ep 195 Salt Part 2: The Substance

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We ended last week’s episode on a bit of a cliffhanger: is salt actually bad for us and if so, why does there still seem to be a debate? This we...

Ep 194 Salt Part 1: The Seasoning

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever thrown a pinch of spilled salt over your left shoulder? Or said to someone “well, take his opinion with a grain of salt”? Or...

Special Episode: Gabriel Weston & Alive

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In an anatomy and physiology class, you may learn how the different heart valves work to circulate your blood, how the structure of your kidney helps ...

Ep 193 Necrotizing Fasciitis: A strange beast

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you were asked to describe necrotizing fasciitis in three words, you might choose: rapid, deadly, and rare. The third of those adjectives may provi...

Ep 192 New World Screwworm: Oh-oh here they come

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. A fly lands on an open wound and lays hundreds of eggs, from which hatch countless ravenous maggots. Ther...

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

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 out...

Ep 191 Famine: More than starvation

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 fo...

Ep 190 Starvation: More than hunger

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 cha...

Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 i...

Ep 189 Newborn screening: The future is here

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Ep 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 trac...

Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 c...

Ep 187 Hypothermia Part 2: How it helps

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 the...

Ep 186 Hypothermia Part 1: How it hurts

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 d...

Special Episode: Lina Zeldovich & The Living Medicine

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The development of antibiotics was one of the greatest turning points in the history of medicine. Bacterial infections that were once death sentences ...

Ep 185 The Great Smog of London: “Thick, drab, yellow, disgusting”

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some things just go together: peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, milk and cereal, London and smog. Or at least, that’s the way things used...

Ep 184 The Gallbladder: Humor us

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For most of us, there probably hasn’t been a good reason for you to think about your gallbladder. Ever. Much of the time, it sits there, silentl...

Special Episode: Carl Zimmer & Airborne

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the first years of the COVID pandemic, a debate raged: was the virus transmitted via respiratory droplets, or was it airborne? For some, this disti...

Ep 183 SSRIs Part 2: Action

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, we took you on a journey of discovery and innovation, and this week we’re gonna tell you how the heck it all works. That means a deep...

Ep 182 SSRIs Part 1: Origin

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since first hitting the shelves nearly 40 years ago, SSRIs have become one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antidepressants around the world...

Special Episode: Wendy Chin-Tanner & King of the Armadillos

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve got a very special episode of the TPWKY book club this week! We’re featuring our very first fiction book: King of the Armadillo...

Ep 181 PCOS: Beyond the cysts

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What’s in a name? What can you really tell from a label like “polycystic ovarian syndrome”? And how much of that is more misconcepti...

Ep 180 Food Dyes: It’s all marketing

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode, we aren’t asking you to taste the rainbow, but we are scrutinizing the artificial dyes that give it its color. When you’re m...

Special Episode: Professor Steven Mithen & The Language Puzzle

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of h...

Ep 179 Fluoride 2: Fighting tooth and nail

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In last week’s episode, we traced the history of fluoridation (and the anti-fluoridation movement) to its roots in the early 20th century, but w...

Ep 178 Fluoride 1: The real tooth fairy

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is it just us, or does it seem like every other week there’s a new headline about some state or town banning water fluoridation? As it turns out...

Special Episode: Dr. Wendy Kline & Exposed

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For many of us, pelvic exams are a routine part of our healthcare. Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t await them with some dread or anx...

Ep 177 Toxic Shock Syndrome: A shock to the system

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever read the little instructions pamphlet included in a box of tampons, you probably came across a paragraph calling attention to a c...

Ep 176 Strychnine: The WD-40 of Victorian Medicine

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we’re coming at you with a classic TPWKY episode on one of the most notorious poisons out there: strychnine. Although strychnine migh...

Special Episode: Dr. Adam Ratner & Booster Shots

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the past few months, measles has been in regular rotation in the news cycle here in the US, with outbreaks occurring across the country in regions...

Ep 175 What’s the deal with raw milk: Part 2

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, we started this two-parter with a big picture view of pasteurization and the raw milk movement. In this episode, we address the alleged hea...

Ep 174 What’s the deal with raw milk: Part 1

29 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Seriously, what’s the deal? Lately, it seems like raw milk has started to pop up more and more frequently in our feeds, with influencers touting...

Special Episode: John Green & Everything Is Tuberculosis

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tuberculosis, or consumption as it was once known, might conjure up images of huge sanitoriums or writers and artists from the late 1800s (Moulin Roug...

Ep 173 Childhood Vaccine Schedule 2: Who’s making the call?

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After last week’s episode, we all know about each of the diseases that we’re protected against thanks to our childhood vaccine schedule he...

Ep 172 Childhood Vaccine Schedule 1: Let’s give it a shot

08 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’re already back with our first episode of season 8! This week and next, we’re exploring childhood vaccine schedules - what diseases the...

Ep 171 Pregnancy: Act 4

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potent...

Ep 170 Pregnancy: Act 3

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potent...

Ep 169 Pregnancy: Act 2

18 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potent...

Ep 168 Pregnancy: Act 1

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potent...

Special Episode: Rachel Gross & Vagina Obscura

04 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For much of history, female reproductive anatomy has been studied only in the context of or in comparison to male reproductive anatomy. This shows in ...

Ep 167 Viagra/Sildenafil: Raising the bar

25 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Has a name brand prescription medication ever shot to notoriety as quickly as Viagra did? Within a few months of its arrival on the market, it seems l...

Ep 166 Amanita poisoning: Death Cap-tivating

18 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In forests, in lawns, in city parks across the world lurks a small, pale, unassuming mushroom whose inconspicuous appearance belies its deadly nature....

Ep 165 Fish Tongue Parasite: Parasite Appreciation Hour

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Okay everyone, think about your tongue. Maybe move it around a bit, check in with it, consider what it means to you. Now imagine that your tongue sudd...

Ep 164 Rift Valley Fever: Ruminating on ruminants

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hemorrhagic virus? Check. Deadly disease? Check. Mosquito-borne? Check. Affected by animal movement, human activity, and environmental change? Check. ...

Ep 163 Circadian Rhythm: Live from Perth, Australia

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We are coming at you with our very first live episode from Perth, Australia! Here at the 2024 Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists Annual...

Special Episode: Robert Alpert, Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai & Diseased Cinema

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone’s got a favorite disease movie. What’s yours? Does it feature zombies like 28 Days Later (2002), or is it more grounded in realit...

Ep 162 Allergies Part 2: Shots, pills, & pens

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Yes, the world may be out to get us with allergens around every corner, but we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve to help us cope. Our allergy tre...

Ep 161 Allergies Part 1: Pollens, nuts, & bugs

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes it seems like the world is out to get us: bees in our garden, pollen in the air, nuts in our brownies, any number of other things that could...

Special Episode: Philip Eil & Prescription for Pain

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In February 2012, Paul Volkman was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life imprisonment for his role in illegally prescribing and dispensing pain ...

Ep 160 Appendicitis: Don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone?

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, it seemed like the appendix would go the way of 8-track players, pagers, and the phonograph. Outdated, obsolete, not worth keeping around...

Ep 159 Scabies: Tiny but Mite-y

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Among the many conditions that creep under your skin and make scratching irresistible, scabies alone holds the honor of being called simply “The...

Ep 158 Scarlet Fever: You’ve changed

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A mere 150 years ago, uttering the words “scarlet fever” was enough to strike fear into the hearts of many, especially parents of young ch...

Special Episode: Dr. Emily Monosson & Blight

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We really don’t give fungi the credit they deserve. Over the years of this podcast, we’ve covered only a handful of fungal pathogens, and ...

Ep 157 Retinoids Part 2: …how it’s going

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

That same little bottle of retinol serum sitting on your bathroom counter - how does it work? Does it actually work? Those are the questions we’...

Ep 156 Retinoids Part 1: How it started…

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

That little bottle of retinol serum sitting on your bathroom counter - what do you know about its history? This week, we’re digging deep into th...

Special Episode: Kate Zernike & The Exceptions

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology admitted in 1999 that they had discriminated against women on its faculty, it sent shockwaves throughou...

Ep 155 Stiff Person Syndrome: A rare disease in the spotlight

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Stiff person syndrome, like many rare diseases, does not get nearly the same amount of screen time or name recognition that other, more common disease...

Ep 154 Ask The Erins (Again!)

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Five years ago, we asked you all to ask us anything, and you delivered. We answered dozens of listener questions, like how we first met, our favorite ...

Special Episode: Dr. Charan Ranganath & Why We Remember

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How is it that we can’t remember where we put our keys or the name of the person we just met, but we can recall in excruciating detail the embarrass...

Ep 153 Alpha-Gal Syndrome: A tick bite gone bad

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One day, you’re enjoying a beautiful hike through the tall grass. A few months later, you find yourself in anaphylaxis from a post-hike hamburger. T...

Ep 152 Hemochromatosis: Ironing out the details

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For life on this planet, iron is not optional. It is essential. When our iron levels are low, we can get sick, and when they get really really low, we...

Special Episode: Dan Egan & The Devil’s Element

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Phosphorus is an element that wears many faces. Its overuse as a fertilizer has polluted freshwater ecosystems, transforming rivers and lakes from thr...

Ep 151 Stethoscope: Lub dub

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The stethoscope. It’s iconic. You’re playing Pictionary and you pull the “doctor” card? Easy - sketch a stethoscope. Need a last-minute Hallow...

Ep 150 Norovirus: Tip of the poop iceberg

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

“Is it gonna be poop or is it gonna be barf?” It’s the question we all fear during a bout of food poisoning when time is of the essence and a de...

Special Episode: Maria Smilios & The Black Angels

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the pre-antibiotic era, tuberculosis was one of the biggest killers humanity ever faced. The specter of the ‘great white plague’ hung over town...

Ep 149 Poison Control Part 2: Call me maybe

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In last week’s episode/love song to poison control centers, we journeyed through the history of these centers, from idea to institution. This week, ...

Ep 148 Poison Control Part 1: Who you gonna call?

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever called poison control, you probably already have a deep appreciation for the voice on the other end of the line who provides solid an...

Special Episode: Ben Goldfarb & Crossings

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Roads are essential to our modern lives, so much so that they largely exist in the background of our minds. When we do think of roads, we’re either ...

Ep 147 Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease: Sympathy for the Devil

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Think of an infectious disease. What comes to mind? A viral infection like influenza? Or a bacterial illness like cholera? Maybe some of you thought o...

Ep 146 Celiac Disease: Rootin tootin gluten

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

CW: discussion of disordered eating, eating disordersDid the word gluten manifest in everyone’s consciousness one day in 2010? Suddenly, grocery sto...

Special Episode: Dr. Rageshri Dhairyawan & Unheard

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Going to the doctor is probably not at the top of anyone’s list of enjoyable activities, but when we do go, we expect and deserve to be heard, to ha...

Ep 145 IVF, Part 3: Industry

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

CW: mentions of infertility, pregnancy loss, body-shamingThe third and final installment of our series on IVF surveys the current and potential future...

Ep 144 IVF, Part 2: Invention

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

CW: mentions of infertility, pregnancy loss, suicideIn the second part of our three-part series on IVF, we’re picking up where we left off last week...

Ep 143 IVF, Part 1: Infertility

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Content Warning: mentions of infertility, pregnancy lossWe’re coming at you with not one, not two, but THREE whole episodes on IVF (in vitro fertili...

Special Episode: Dr. Noah Whiteman & Most Delicious Poison

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The word “poison” is much more subjective than it may first appear. It’s likely you’ve come across the phrase, “the dose makes the poison”...

Ep 142 Leeches: It’s more powerful than magic, it’s nature

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Did our episode on maggots leave you wanting more squirmy wormy yet oh so cool content? You’re in luck. Because this week, we’re following up our ...

Special Episode: Dr. Paul Offit & Tell Me When It’s Over

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The COVID-19 pandemic started with a bang - lockdowns, grocery store shelves cleared of their goods, toilet paper shortages, and a pervasive sense of ...

Ep 141 Maggots: Such noble work

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Just reading the title of this episode may have been enough to make you feel grossed out and creepy crawly. And now we’re asking you to listen to a ...

Ep 140 Nipah virus: Of Fruit and Bats

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What does it take to make the WHO’s list of high priority pathogens of pandemic potential? Ask Nipah virus. Extremely deadly with a wide host range ...

Special Episode: Dr. Sara Manning Peskin & A Molecule Away from Madness

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We live on the edge. Whether we fail to acknowledge it or try not to think of it, that fact remains true for most of us. A chemical shift, a rogue pro...

Ep 139 Supplements: “This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA”

07 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Does it seem like the supplement section of your grocery store gets bigger every time you go in? Or that all television commercials these days seem to...

Ep 138 Fever: Take it to the limit

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A dull pounding headache. Body aches that come and go. Chills that set your teeth to chattering and have you reaching for the fluffiest blankets to wa...

Special Episode: Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens & Medical Bondage

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The TPWKY book club is back in action, and we’re thrilled to be starting this season’s reading journey with Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens, reproductiv...

Ep 137 ME/CFS: What’s in a name? (A lot, actually)

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In many ways, this week’s episode on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a companion piece to last week’s episode on Lo...

Ep 136 Long Covid: A long time coming

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We’re back with our season 7 premiere, and we’re kicking things off with a topic that we’ve wanted to cover for a long time, even if the topic i...

Ep 135 Menopause is whatever you want it to be

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For our season 6 finale, we’re spending some time with menopause. How many nicknames can you think of for menstruation? Quite a few, I’m sure. “...

Ep 134 Tonsils: Underestimated and underappreciated

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Raise your hand if you or someone you know has had their tonsils removed. If your hand is sky-high, there’s a pretty good chance that you (or that p...

Ep 133 Parvoviruses: Who let the dogs (and their viruses) out?

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This one’s not just for the dogs. It’s also for the cats, the raccoons, the wax moths, the birds, the mice, and so many other critters. Oh, and of...

Ep 132 Osteogenesis Imperfecta: All bones about it

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Often, the more we learn about a disease, the more we learn about ourselves and the world around us. The story of the genetic disorder osteogenesis im...

Ep 131 Parkinson’s Disease: Dopamine & discoveries

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Parkinson’s is a disease of many dimensions. On the shelves of any bookstore or library you’ll find at least a handful of titles exploring the top...

Ep 130 Cocoliztli: We do love a salty dish

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 16th century, a series of deadly epidemics swept through much of the region of Mesoamerica known as the Aztec Empire, killing untold millions. ...

Ep 129 Lymphatic Filariasis: Hiding in plain sight

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With a history extending back millennia, with a biology that leads to permanent disability for tens of millions of people globally, and with a bacteri...

Ep 128 Skin Cancer: We love and fear the sun

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For every article about the risks of sun exposure or a guide to sunscreens, you don’t have to look far to find one about the health benefits of suns...