#public-health
72 episodes
#3900: Why Zero-Side-Effect Drugs Are Impossible
Side effects aren’t design flaws—they’re physics. Here’s why no drug can ever be perfectly safe for everyone.
#3886: The Nurse Who Noticed: Catching a Poisoning Cluster
How a nurse's "that's strange" caught a baby food poisoning cluster in Jerusalem before it grew.
#3881: Baby Food Tampering in Jerusalem: What Parents Need to Know
Infants collapsed from benzodiazepine-laced baby food in Jerusalem. Here's what happened, the history, and how tamper-evident packaging works.
#3823: How Cities Can Enforce Construction Noise with Real-Time Data
Can cities actually enforce noise limits with real-time sound data? We explore the tech, the gaps, and who's doing it right.
#3758: Singulair's Black Box Warning: What's the Real Risk?
What the FDA's strongest warning actually means for asthma patients — and how to monitor safely.
#3733: What Number Do You Call When It's Not an Emergency?
CAHOOTS, STAR, and the fragmented landscape of mobile crisis teams that fill the gap between 911 and doing nothing.
#3727: What to Do When Someone Is Down in the Street
A step-by-step guide on what to do if you find an unresponsive person in public — and why "he's always like that" doesn't change the protocol.
#3710: The Scent You Can't Escape: Olfactory Branding's Quiet Takeover
Hotels, gyms, and luxury apartments are pumping custom fragrances into their air. But what happens when you can't opt out of breathing the lobby?
#3706: Is Hookup Culture Real? What the Data Actually Says
Median partner counts haven't budged in decades. So why are STD rates soaring and religious norms crumbling?
#3686: How to Spot a Gas Building Before You Buy or Rent
Spotting gas infrastructure in Israeli apartment buildings is harder than you think. Here's what to look for.
#3662: Why UV Mosquito Traps Fail (And What Works)
UV traps mostly catch harmless bugs. Here’s what actually stops mosquitoes without harming your lungs.
#3600: How Do We Heal Trauma at Societal Scale?
Exploring complex PTSD, treatment options from EMDR to MDMA, and how to scale healing beyond the therapist's office.
#3540: The Atopic March: Why It Stays on the Skin-Lung-Nose Track
Why does eczema lead to asthma, not arthritis? The immune system’s two highways explained.
#3508: Kitchen Dangers: What to Keep Away from Kids
Soy sauce, salt, and vanilla extract can be more dangerous than you think. Here's what parents need to know.
#3369: Why Viruses Are So Hard to Treat
Bacteria have unique targets. Viruses hijack your cells. That changes everything about treatment.
#3368: Can Antibiotics Ever Beat Evolution?
Bacteria share resistance genes across species. Can we design drugs that make resistance self-defeating?
#3367: Why Colds Follow a Predictable Script
Sneezing, then aches, then a runny nose — your cold follows a script written by evolution, not the virus.
#3259: How 3 Rs Shape Lab Animal Ethics Today
The three Rs—Replacement, Reduction, Refinement—guide lab animal ethics. But do they go far enough?
#3254: When a Single Patient Changes Medicine: Case Reports That Matter
Why do doctors write case reports for free? And how have single-patient observations sparked drug approvals?
#3175: How Territorial Compression Triggers a Biological Chain Reaction in Gaza
Tracing the three specific mechanisms that turn territorial compression into disease outbreaks and rat infestations.
#3165: A Floor That Holds: Housing, Food, and Job Guarantees Explained
What happens when nobody can fall through the floor? The evidence from real experiments might surprise you.
#3160: The Five Pathways to Homelessness (You’re Wrong About One)
26,000 people tracked across 50 cities. Five distinct pathways. One surprising number: 40-50% are employed.
#3150: Can Life Skills Prevent Crime Before It Starts?
The evidence is decades old — why aren't we teaching life skills before people offend?
#3148: What Vaping Does to Your Lungs Beyond Nicotine
Formaldehyde, heavy metals, and popcorn lung — the real chemistry of vaping vs. smoking.