HISTORY This Week returns with new episodes starting September 16th! In the meantime, listen to a favorite classic from the archives.
August 27, 1900. Dr. Jesse Lazear, a U.S. Army surgeon, walks into Las Animas Hospital Yellow Fever ward in Havana, Cuba, toting a brood of mosquitos. He has the system down: remove the cotton stopper that keeps the mosquito ... Show More
Today
A Meteorite Hits Ann Hodges
November 30, 1954. At about 12:45 in the afternoon, a space rock comes plummeting through the roof of a house in Sylacauga, Alabama. It bounces off a stand-up radio, ricochets around the living room, and collides with the thigh of Mrs. Ann Hodges, who’s been napping on the couch. ... Show More
37m 23s
Nov 17
Ken Burns Reimagines the American Revolution | A Conversation with Ken Burns & Sarah Botstein
November 16, 1776. George Washington rows toward Manhattan to inspect the fort that bears his name, only to meet a full-scale British assault already underway. By afternoon, Fort Washington has fallen, and General Washington is forced to abandon New York City.
The Continental A ... Show More
38m 45s
Nov 10
The Grinnell 14 Take On the Bomb (feat. Peter Coyote)
November 16, 1961. Fourteen college students from Iowa have driven nearly a thousand miles to the White House. They’re fasting, protesting, and calling for an end to nuclear bomb testing. These students, later known as the Grinnell 14, will help ignite the student peace movement ... Show More
27m 56s
Oct 2022
Pee and Seagrass, Heart Sound Maps, Modified Mosquitos
Today we talk about how crystallizing human urine can help save seagrass, a new AI program that can detect early signs of heart disease, and how mosquitos can be used to vaccinate against malaria. Pee and Seagrass “Human Pee Might Just Be the Key to Saving Seagrass” by Jesse Kath ... Show More
13m 36s
Aug 22
The Medical Matchmaking Machine
<p>As he finished his medical school exam, David Fajgenbaum felt off. He walked down to the ER and checked himself in. Soon he was in the ICU with multiple organ failure. The only drug for his condition didn’t work. He had months to live, if that. If he was going to survive, ... Show More
1h 1m
Jul 2025
Typhoid Mary | Cook, Carrier, Captive | 3
<p>In 1906, a New York health department investigation into an outbreak of typhoid fever led to the discovery that a cook, Mary Mallon, was an unsuspecting ""healthy carrier"" of the deadly bacteria. This discovery forever altered Mallon’s life, thrusting her into a national spot ... Show More
41m 2s
Jul 2024
Hippocrates: The Father Of Medicine
<p>Around 460 BCE, a man was born in Ancient Greece who would change medicine forever. He invented a new scientific approach to medicine that recognised disease as a natural phenomenon, rather than the will of the gods. Or at least, that's what we're told.</p><br><p>Matt Lewis jo ... Show More
41m 41s
Jan 2025
Dr. Fauci on How Diseases Have Shaped the Course of History
<p>Diseases have defined eras, from the Antonine Plague during Marcus Aurelius’ reign to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Fauci, a public health leader and advisor to seven Presidents, talks with Ryan about the importance of social responsibility, his influential contributions d ... Show More
58m 46s