SYSK Selects: How Lobotomies Work

In the late 1800s, white supremacists in Wilmington, NC staged a coup and bloody massacre of its black citizens in order to stem the tide of black progress and stifle the vote. This is that story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Weather balloons are the workhorse of the meteorological world, which is why they’ve been used daily around the world for most of a century. Let’s salute these unsung heroes of weather prediction by getting to know them better. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Have you ever wondered what makes your ticker tick? Josh and Chuck take you back to high school biology for a stroll through the ins and outs of the little pump that keeps everything from your lowly pinky toe to your mighty brain going strong.See omnystudio.com/listener for priva ... Show More

<p>On the conclusion to our series on the history of lobotomies, we explore just how the procedure became the most popular mental health treatment of the forties, despite the horrific and unpredictable side effects that came with shoving an ice pick up through an eye socket and w ... Show More

What do the Kennedy’s (yes, those Kennedy’s), ice picks and depression all have in common? The lobotomy. Decades ago, this terrifying procedure was seen as the miracle solution to dozens of psychological problems. Today, Bailey digs into the dark history of lobotomies and how one ... Show More

<p>On the first of a two part series, we cover one of the strangest medical procedures of the 20th century: lobotomies. Join us as we explore the life of the man who popularized the procedure and just how the medical community came to think that it was a good idea in the first pl ... Show More

<p>Trepanation is an ancient surgical procedure and we've found the millennia-aged skulls to prove it - each punctured and gouged to relieve inner-pressure and inner-madness. But is such cranial perforation truly a relic of a primitive age or do modern trepanation advocates have ... Show More

In the 1940s, Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz received the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking new treatment: the prefrontal lobotomy. His procedure was adopted by hospitals all over the world—but the treatment was controversial, and came to be known as one of medicine’s ... Show More

With Dr. Walter Freeman’s invention in the 1940s, psychologists could perform a transorbital lobotomy from the comfort of their office… with an ice pick through the eye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 

Why was a transfusion of lamb’s blood believed to cure epilepsy? What surgical procedures could you get in ancient Egypt? And were medieval surgical practitioners really a help to patients – or a hindrance? Speaking with Emily Briffett, Paul Craddock unravels the long history of ... Show More

This week, the gals get the inside scoop on a very controversial medical practice. Topics include a forgotten Kennedy, some gross sound effects, and a speed demon surgeon. Grab a glass of Tooth & Nail Stasis Aglianico, shine up your leucotome, and tune in for Lobotomy Crimes. For ... Show More

Psychiatry: Laurie Taylor explores the social history of modern psychiatric practice. He's joined by Andrew Scull, Emeritus Professor in Sociology at the University of California and author of a magisterial study which asks if we are any closer to solving serious mental illness t ... Show More