Distillations | Science History Institute

Have you noticed any antlered rabbits mounted on the wall of your local coffee shop? Or maybe some geese with butterfly wings? That's because taxidermy has made a comeback. Our producer, Mariel Carr , wanted to know why, so she spent a few months exploring the alternative—or rogue—taxidermy scene in Philadelphia. Rogue taxidermy takes an artistic approach to the traditional craft. It combines mate...

We're guessing you know who Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton are, and maybe you're even familiar with Linus Pauling or Roald Hoffmann. But it turns out that a lot of people can't name a single female scientist besides Marie Curie. Exasperated by this fact, radio producer Poncie Rutsch made a podcast she titled Babes of Science . The show profiles accomplished scientists from history who also happe...

When you bite into a taco, quesadilla, or anything else involving a traditionally made corn tortilla, your taste buds get to experience the results of an ancient chemical process called nixtamalization . The technique dates to around 1500 BCE and involves cooking corn kernels with an alkaline substance, like lime or wood ash, which makes the dough softer, tastier, and much more nutritious. Only in...

Everyone knows blood is powerful. The ancient Greeks realized it, Jesus understood it, Dracula certainly recognized it, and your doctor still knows it today. And everybody knows, says hematologist and historian of medicine Jacalyn Duffin , that if we lose a lot of blood, we’re going to die. Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs have led them to refuse blood transfusions—to the consternation of many inside...

Scientists experimented with skin and organ transplants for a long time before they finally met with success in the mid-20th century. Now surgeons are expert at performing transplants. The only problem? There aren’t enough organs to go around, which creates some serious ethical dilemmas. First, reporter Dalia Mortada takes us to Tel Aviv, Israel, where a dialysis patient waiting for a new kidney i...

Americans have had a long, complicated relationship with the pesticide DDT, or dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, if you want to get fancy. First we loved it, then we hated it, then we realized it might not be as bad as we thought. But we’ll never restore it to its former glory. And couldn’t you say the same about America’s once-favorite pop star? We had a hunch that the usual narrative about DDT’...

2015 was a good year for outer space. Star Wars: Episode VII came out, NASA started hiring astronauts again, SpaceX successfully launched and returned a rocket, and the U.S. Congress passed the SPACE Act of 2015—a bill that gives any American who extracts resources from an asteroid legal rights to the bounty they reap. Since no one has yet mined an asteroid this legislation might seem premature, b...

Several years ago historian of medicine Alice Dreger found herself in a room full of intersexed people, individuals with reproductive or sexual anatomy that is neither typically female nor male. Dreger noticed something strange: many of them had teeth that were in bad shape. She soon learned that many of them had endured such traumatic experiences with doctors that they wouldn't go near anyone in...

Hackers. Spies. Secrets. This is the menacing language of industrial espionage. But how easy is it to plunder a company for its ideas? Not very, says our guest, Douglas O’Reagan , a historian of science and technology. Throughout history, O’Reagan argues, stealing trade secrets has proven more complicated than lifting a blueprint or section of computer code. What makes a company successful is usua...

Celebrities, politicians, and scientists have fiercely debated the safety of using genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, in food. It remains to be seen whether GMO labeling becomes mandatory in the United States, but there’s no doubt that the “GMO-free” sticker is garnering the prestige and premium prices already reaped by the labels “organic” and “gluten-free.” But what’s the big fuss? And how...

Ten years ago Hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore into the Gulf Coast and displaced more than one million residents. For many of these people, trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency became their homes. But many of the new occupants soon found it hard to breathe, suffering flulike symptoms, stinging eyes, and nosebleeds. The culprit was formaldehyde, which emanated from the hasti...

Most of us are familiar with the achievements of Galileo and Newton, but who were their peers? And what was it like to practice science in the 16th and 17th centuries? Come geek out with us as we travel back in time and explore what the world was like when science and the supernatural were not so far apart. We talk to two historians of science, Deborah Harkness  and James Voelkel . Harkness is the...

This is Distillations ’s 200th episode, and we’re celebrating! We pored through hundreds of shows and pieced together some of the funniest, grossest, and most surprising moments in Distillations history. Still chuckling from episode 166, "Alchemy After Dark," where CHF’s rare book curator Jim Voelkel cries from laughter while reading a steamy alchemical passage from yesteryear? Still trying to for...

Mother Nature can do a lot of damage. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and droughts destroy landscapes and ruin lives. But what happens when humans are the ones creating these disasters? This episode of Distillations explores the many ways humans have provoked nature’s destructive forces purposefully and inadvertently through history. Our journey begins in Oklahoma, a state that now has more earthqu...

The early days of neuroscience relied on tragedy to strike—a rabies infection, a botched lobotomy—before doctors could peek inside the brains of humans. Today advanced technology, such as the functional MRI, helps scientists study brains (and healthy ones at that) far more easily. The revelations they’re making call into question conventional ideas of maturity and our capacity for free will. The s...

In 2014 the United States had 650 reported cases of measles, a disease made preventable by a vaccine introduced 30 years ago. The majority of these measles victims were children whose parents chose not to vaccinate them.  Meanwhile at least 85,000 dietary supplements line the shelves of GNC and other “big box” chains, as well as smaller health food stores. Even though the FDA cannot assure the saf...

Some technologies flash in the pan so quickly they hardly leave a trace (Google Glass anyone?); while others seem to stick around long past their use by date. And still other creations appear to be gone for good, only to make a comeback within a niche—and likely nostalgic—community. We set out to explore the rhymes and reasons behind these ebbs and flows of technological innovation and obsolescenc...

In case you hadn’t noticed, during our short time on Earth we humans have created a lot of stuff. Some of it is life-altering, like the device you’re looking at right now, and some of it is pretty silly, like those plastic, banana-shaped containers made for holding bananas. Regardless of their value, these objects all have one thing in common: one day they will become trash. For all the time we sp...

Thirty years ago an HIV diagnosis was a death sentence. Today, sophisticated drug cocktails known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART, have dramatically changed the fates of people with the disease. They can now live with a chronic manageable disease instead of dying from a fatal one. Yet in many ways we’re treading water: each year the U.S. sees around 50,000 new HIV cases, and esti...

At the beginning of the 19th century women in the United States had an average of seven or eight children. By 1900 they had only three or four, and today 35% of Americans have exactly two children. How did this happen? This episode of Distillations explores the role technology has played in reproduction, and how it has affected the ethical and moral landscape that surrounds it. First, reporter All...

Chemical weapons have played a chilling role in human history, ever since they were first used in World War I.  As reports of more recent use continue to cycle through the news, we decided to take a deeper look.  We wanted to understand why chemical weapons were created in the first place, the ethical dilemmas inherent in their use, and the complicated process of getting rid of them. The story beg...

If you asked people which of their senses they most feared losing, they'd probably say sight or hearing. But what about the ability to smell? This episode of Distillations examines what is perhaps our most underrated sense, and ponders what life would be like without it. We hit the streets of South Philadelphia to understand how a pervasive odor troubled neighborhood residents in the summer of 201...

Where can you find a teacup, the molar of a goat, and an arrowhead all in one place? At an urban archaeology site, that’s where. This episode of Distillations goes underground, and reveals the fascinating worlds beneath our city shoes. First, we visit an artifact processing lab where volunteers are dusting off thousands of objects from a historic street in Philadelphia. Then we stop in on an excav...

This show takes on the frothy subject of beer, and explores the science, culture, and history behind the suds. First, Bob and Michal go back to school--beer school--and they learn a few things about what makes beer so tasy.  Then we talk to Patrick E. McGovern, a beer and wine archaeologist, and Roger Barth, a  chemist, professor, and home brewer. They discuss the science behind beer, how modern c...

This episode explores the colorful (and sometimes risk-filled) history of pigments and painters, and the conservators who save paintings from the ravages of time and accidental chemistry. First we take an art field trip around Philadelphia as art historian and CHF fellow Elisabeth Berry Drago tries to paint like it's 1699. We visit a butcher shop, a tile store, and an art supply store to try to ge...