Toxic History!
History Podcasts
Toxic History! is a narrative medicine lecture series where medical experts tell you stories from the history of poison. Human beings have known about poison – substances that harm and even kill– for thousands of years. Poisons have been seen as mysterious, supernatural, and enigmatic. What are these plants, mixtures, and elements with such powerful properties? It is only in the past century that science has begun to demystify these chemicals and explain how they work. Still, the impact they have on the world – from cultish mass suicides to chemical attacks to a single case of homicide – can be profound. Toxic History! explores the impact on society, culture, and science behind poisonous events in history.
Location:
United States
Description:
Toxic History! is a narrative medicine lecture series where medical experts tell you stories from the history of poison. Human beings have known about poison – substances that harm and even kill– for thousands of years. Poisons have been seen as mysterious, supernatural, and enigmatic. What are these plants, mixtures, and elements with such powerful properties? It is only in the past century that science has begun to demystify these chemicals and explain how they work. Still, the impact they have on the world – from cultish mass suicides to chemical attacks to a single case of homicide – can be profound. Toxic History! explores the impact on society, culture, and science behind poisonous events in history.
Language:
English
Episodes
A Stable Head with a Broken Heart
5/21/2024
Drinkers asked for a bigger and more stable head and the brewers came up with a novel solution. The heaviest drinkers that couldn’t even afford a cup to pour their beer into and see a head started to mysteriously die of heart failure. An investigation begins!
Duration:00:16:48
The Thalidomide Tragedy and a Path to Safer Drugs
4/25/2024
As one of the largest man made disasters in public health history, the discovery and realization of the disastrous effects of thalidomide in pregnant patients has paved a way to safe medication discovery and utilization. From this tragedy in modern medicine led new regulatory pathways, transparency in drug development, and expanded procedures to ensure therapeutic medication supply is not only effective, but safe.
Duration:00:16:30
Botulinum Antitoxin
3/27/2024
Our long history of attempting to find a treatment for botulism is a winding road of discovery, setbacks, and the constant challenge of balancing risk and benefit. Through major outbreaks that seized the nation’s attention and the disruption of major wars, however, the spirit of science and humanity prevailed, bringing us a therapy to help us in our ongoing fight.
Duration:00:17:57
Beyond Bicycle Day: The Story of Albert Hofmann and the Discovery of LSD
2/14/2024
This talk will describe the early career of Albert Hofmann, his accidental discovery of the hallucinogenic properties of LSD-25, his legendary bicycle ride home from work during an LSD trip, and the legacy of his discovery.
Duration:00:18:11
Did psychedelics fuel the space race? Counter culture, the occult, and mind-altering before LSD
1/16/2024
The discovery of LSD and the subsequent psychedelic renaissance of the mid-20th century hold ample space in history books, but Albert Hofmann didn’t discover the first mind-altering chemical. At the turn of the 20th century, natural psychedelics’ ancient power crossed continents to shape both cultural and technological development.
Duration:00:14:05
The Elixir of Death
12/22/2023
Want to know what toxic medicine has killed thousands of people? Why outbreaks keep happening? And how it started the modern FDA? Listen Dr. Prosser's Toxic History episode to find out!
Duration:00:18:34
Radithor Radioactive Water
11/3/2023
In the 1920s and 1930s, radium was an exciting new material. It was used to illuminate watch dials in the dark, treat tumors, and also as a primary ingredient in quack medical remedies. This is the story of Radithor, a fake medicine containing radium.
Duration:00:47:07
The Salem Witch Trials and the Ergot Hypothesis
10/19/2023
The Salem witch trials of the early 1690s were the most notorious and lethal witch hunt in American history. At the heart of the trials, the Village of Salem was a town at its boiling point, but the complex political and social factors at play still seem insufficient to explain the happenings that ultimately transpired. Could it be that the affliction at the heart of Salem, the proximate cause of all the death and despair, was caused by a fungus?
Duration:00:19:40
Bringing Deadly Sleepe: A Review of Selected Pre-1900s Toxicology Literature
9/22/2023
Toxicology is full of treatments which are poorly supported by literature. Many of those treatments originated over 100 years ago. If you think data are bad now, we invite you to see what treatments were like in the past – drawn from the pages of multiple historical toxicology textbooks.
Duration:00:23:14
Dioxin and the Poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko
9/22/2023
Dioxins are a category of persistent organic pollutant (POP), with a long history of human exposure and serious adverse health and environmental effects. Where did this forever chemical come from, and how did it end up in the dinner of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in 2004? Join us as we discuss the long-lasting legacy of this class of compounds that was banned in 2001, but remains forever in our hearts (and lipid tissues, and ecosystem).
Duration:00:18:52
Twisted Sister, a Widow's Intrigue
7/21/2023
Springtime at the turn of the 20th century promised rebirth, hope, and prosperity in America. But in northern Michigan, a twisted nightmare was consuming an idyllic community. An infant was found deceased in a crib, the mother succumbing within the next hour, and the father only days later. Some feared a curse, others speculated a contagion. An intrepid duo of sheriff and attorney left no stone unturned, with suspicions centering around a widow in a black dress.
Duration:00:16:19
The Birds and The Brains: Domoic Acid Poisoning
6/23/2023
Join Dr. Marlis Gnirke on a “trip” to 1960s California discussing a different kind of acid, one at the intersection of human toxicology, veterinary toxicology, and classic cinema.
Duration:00:17:38
Counting Sheep in Skull Valley
5/12/2023
Dr. Sukhi Atti discusses the history of the release of nerve agent VX in Skull Valley, Utah.
Duration:00:18:23
The Ordeal Bean
3/28/2023
Dr. Laurén Murphy discusses the history of physostigmine - from bean to medicine.
Duration:00:28:42
The mysterious intermittent history of the fentanyl epidemics
2/17/2023
Dr. Stephanie Weiss describes the history of the fentanyl epidemics in the USA.
Duration:00:16:47
Toxic Grains
1/20/2023
Dr. Peter Akpunonu discusses the history of the toxic grain disaster in Iraq.
Duration:00:21:28
The Chicago Tylenol Murders
12/31/2022
Dr. Alan Woolf discusses the toxicological history of the Chicago Tylenol Murders.
Duration:00:17:28
The Toxic Woman
11/12/2022
Dr. Alex Harding describes the history of "The Toxic Woman."
Duration:00:14:25
Toxicology and Classical Music
9/26/2022
Dr. Sing-Yi Feng discusses the toxic history of classical music with guest host Dr. Keahi Horowitz.
Duration:00:34:12
Birds, Brains, and Beri Beri
8/15/2022
Dr. Joshua Bloom tells the history of the Nobel-prize winning research that led to the cure for Beri Beri.
Duration:00:16:00