The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean Podcast By Sam Kean Bleav cover art

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

By: Sam Kean Bleav
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About this listen

 A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.Copyright 2020 All rights reserved. Art Literary History & Criticism World
Episodes
  • Hotter than the Dickens

    Hotter than the Dickens
    May 20 2025

    When Charles Dickens published Bleak House in 1852, he included a scene where one character spontaneously combusts. 🔥 🔥 🔥 Readers loved it, but one of Dickens’s good friends—a former scientist—blasted Dickens for his scientific ignorance. It ignited one of the strangest controversies in literary history.

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    19 mins
  • Jake Leg Blues

    Jake Leg Blues
    May 13 2025

    It was one the largest epidemics in American history: 30,000 people paralyzed over a few months in 1930. A dogged epidemiologist eventually traced the cause to adulterated bottles of an illegal liquor/medicine called “jake.” Yet the epidemic is almost completely forgotten. About the only place it survived was in blues songs...

    preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”. This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so take advantage today!
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    20 mins
  • The Worst of Times, the Asbestos Times

    The Worst of Times, the Asbestos Times
    May 6 2025

    Asbestos was once considered a miracle substance—a wonder of the modern age, due to its role in stopping the fires that once plagued every major city. Unfortunately, it also shreds people’s lungs. Most countries were willing to live with that trade-off, until a crusading doctor named Irving Selikoff made it his life's mission to get asbestos banned.

    preorder hardcover copies of MY NEW BOOK, Dinner with King Tut, for a 20 percent discount at this link only: bit.ly/dinnerwithkingtut. Use offer code “spoon”. This offer will EXPIRE SOON, so take advantage today!
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    18 mins
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The content is interesting, entertaining, and makes you eager to learn more. It is a great podcast!

The content is amazing

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Stories are interesting to listen to. short and well read.

Each short episode has an ad in the middle, ad for his other books and his patreon, and an ad at the end for the science and history institute, all of which are said to be necessary in making the podcast happen. I'd rather pay.
There are few weak episodes such as the cancer episode with wild speculation that is outright not how cancer research works.

it's interesting. so many ads

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love the stories.. commercials are extremely annoying. the podcast itself is very well done and much entertaining

great stories.. commercials are annoying

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Interesting topics along with excellent narration/presentation. I am enjoying these stories very much. Definitely recommend.

Things that make you go hmmm 🤔

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