This Podcast Will Kill You

That little bottle of retinol serum sitting on your bathroom counter - what do you know about its history? This week, we’re digging deep into the man behind the medicine, renowned dermatologist Dr. Albert Kligman, and the unethical research he conducted at Holmesburg Prison in the mid-20th century. Kligman’s research program at Holmesburg spanned decades, involved dozens of experiments (including tretinoin) and thousands of individuals, received ample funding from public universities and many pharmaceutical companies, and was generally praised until it all came crashing down in the early 1970s. But, as we’ll discover, the unethical behavior persisted even after the program’s closure as Kligman fought to get tretinoin to market. The murky history of retinoids might be a bit too long to include on the label, but this episode forces us to consider the human cost of a household product and the importance of acknowledging that history. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu [https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology admitted in 1999 that they had discriminated against women on its faculty, it sent shockwaves throughout institutions of higher learning across the country. In this TPWKY book club episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kate Zernike [https://www.katezernike.net/] joins us to discuss her book The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science [https://bookshop.org/a/3175/9781982131838], which details the sequence of events that led sixteen scientists to demand the equality that had been denied to them for so long. Zernike, who was one of the reporters to break the story in 1999, centers this story on molecular biologist Dr. Nancy Hopkins, who, armed with a tape measure, brought this history of marginalization to light. Simultaneously personal and panoramic, The Exceptions carefully illustrates the sexism entrenched in higher education and academia and sends an important message: this problem is far from solved. Tune in for a fascinating discussion about an infuriating topic. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu [https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Stiff person syndrome, like many rare diseases, does not get nearly the same amount of screen time or name recognition that other, more common diseases do. For many people, Celine Dion’s announcement of her diagnosis with the condition in 2022 marked the first time they had heard of it. This limited awareness surrounding stiff person syndrome marks just one of the many challenges keeping this disease and other rare disorders in the dark. In this episode, we attempt to shed some light on stiff person syndrome, exploring the complex biology, frustrating history, and hopeful future of this disease. Because while the field of stiff person syndrome research faces many hurdles, there are also so many individuals - researchers, patients, advocates - and organizations that fight to bring this and other rare disorders into the light. Tune in today! Links: National Organization for Rare Diseases [https://rarediseases.org/] Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center [https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/] Johns Hopkins Stiff Person Syndrome Center [https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology-neurosurgery/specialty-areas/stiff-person-syndrome] Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu [https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Five years ago, we asked you all to ask us anything, and you delivered. We answered dozens of listener questions, like how we first met, our favorite quarantinis, where we were in our career journeys, and so many more. But in the years since that first “ask us anything”, a lot has changed for both of us! So we’re coming back to you with the answers to more of your probing questions, like “what disease names would make good person names?”, “where are you in the world these days?”, “if you could have only one sandwich for the rest of your life, what would it be?” and a million more, ranging from serious to silly and everywhere in between. Tune in for a non-stop, self-indulgent Ask the Erins! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu [https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

How is it that we can’t remember where we put our keys or the name of the person we just met, but we can recall in excruciating detail the embarrassing interaction we had at the grocery store ten years ago? Sometimes it seems like our memory works against us more than it does for us. But, as it turns out, this aspect of our memory is more a feature than a bug, and the key to understanding the difference may lie in our evolutionary history. Dr. Charan Ranganath [https://charanranganath.com/], Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience [https://psychology.ucdavis.edu/people/charan-ranganath] and Director of the Dynamic Memory Lab [https://dml.ucdavis.edu/] at the University of California at Davis, joins us today to discuss his book Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters [https://bookshop.org/a/3175/9780385548632]. Dr. Ranganath deftly guides readers through not only the “how” of memory formation but also the “why”, helping us to understand why we remember certain things and forget others. Tune in for a fascinating discussion ranging from the importance of context (like smell) in memory to the different types of memory, from decision-making to memory competitions, and so much more! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu [https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]