The Necessity of Patient Zero

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses the monstrous wolf Gmork from Michael Ende’s 1979 novel “The Neverending Story” and its 1984 film adaptation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

In this classic episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe discuss the iconic 1931 Universal Pictures adaptation of “Dracula,” directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi in his most iconic performance. (originally published 1/31/2025)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ... Show More

In this invention-themed episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss the origins of the humble dog biscuit or “scooby snack,” from discussions of dog bread in Ancient Rome to the Victorian origin of dog cake.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

<p>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.</p><p> </p> Learn more abou ... Show More

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

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

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

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. 

<p>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.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad- ... Show More

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

<p>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.</p ... Show More

<p>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 he ... Show More

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