logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2017
55m 16s

The Necessity of Patient Zero

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode

Patient zero looms large in our collective consciousness. Through carelessness, impropriety or sheer twisted luck, they introduce highly contagious pathogens into new human populations -- if not the human species itself. But where does the science end and the game of scapegoating and othering begin? In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian explore the concept of patient zero in science, history and myth.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Yesterday
The Monstrefact: Monster Mantas of Chilean Folklore
In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses a pair of creatures from Chilean folklore that may connect to observations of the manta ray…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
5m 54s
Jul 8
The Manta Ray, Part 2
In this series of episodes from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the majestic manta ray. In this episode, learn all about manta ray reproduction and accounts of their pulling boats around by their anchors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 
38m 26s
Jul 7
Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Shocking Dark
In this classic episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss the shameless 1989 “Aliens” knock-off “Shocking Dark,” directed by Bruno Mattei and written by “Troll 2” scribes Rossella Drudi and Claudio Fragasso. (originally published 8/2/2024)See omnystudio.com/listener for p ... Show More
1h 18m
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2021
Research Bias: Sort It Out, Science
There’s a sticky issue scientists have to deal with – science is carried out by humans. We humans have flaws (and how) and they can end up in our work. Fortunately, science is waking up to research bias. In the meantime, here’s what to look out for. Learn more about your ad-choic ... Show More
53m 2s
Nov 2018
Biotechnology
Natural viruses and bacteria can be deadly enough; the 1918 Spanish Flu killed 50 million people in four months. But risky new research, carried out in an unknown number of labs around the world, are creating even more dangerous humanmade pathogens. (Original score by Point Lobo. ... Show More
57m 13s
Apr 2023
The New Science of Consciousness || Anil Seth
Today we welcome Dr. Anil Seth. He is the Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, where he is also Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science. His research has been supported by the European Research Council, the Wellcom ... Show More
1h 34m
Oct 2018
Would You Really Stay Conscious After Being Decapitated?
For everything we know about the human brain, consciousness is still mysterious. Could reports of people remaining conscious after being executed by decapitation be true? Learn what science has to say in this episode of BrainStuff.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www ... Show More
6m 55s
Sep 2020
Introducing ... Patient Zero
Patient Zero is a new podcast from ABC Science and RN that tells the stories of disease outbreaks: where they begin, why they happen and how we found ourselves in the middle of a really big one. 
5m 7s
Mar 2015
How Anesthesia Works
The use of general anesthesia is less than 200 years old. Before doctors were able to cause unconsciousness in patients, surgery was brutal for all involved. But despite this advancement in medicine, science still has no idea how it works. Learn more about your ad-choices at http ... Show More
51m 55s
Aug 2023
Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist
What links conscious experience of pain, joy, color, and smell to bioelectrical activity in the brain? How can anything physical give rise to nonphysical, subjective, conscious states? Christof Koch has devoted much of his career to bridging the seemingly unbridgeable gap between ... Show More
17m 12s
May 2014
How the Human Microbiome Project Works
If it was possible to take a full scan of all of the DNA of every cell in and on your body the results would be startling: Only 1 percent would be human. The other 99 percent comprises all of the bacteria, fungi, viruses and other microbes you literally cannot live without. Learn ... Show More
30m 13s
Sep 2017
SYSK Selects: Fecal Transplants: You Gonna Drink That Poop?
In this week's SYSK Select episode, there's an emerging field in health care called medical ecology that's concerned with understanding how the 100 trillion microbes living inside us keep us healthy. The field's first breakthrough is the fecal transplant, taking poop from a healt ... Show More
33m 33s
Nov 2022
Killer Proteins: The Science Of Prions
Prions are biological anomalies – self-replicating, not-alive little particles that can misfold into an unstoppable juggernaut of fatal disease. Prions don't contain genes, and yet they make more of themselves. That has forced scientists to rethink the "central dogma" of molecula ... Show More
13m 7s