Advertise on podcast: The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean
Rating
4from
This podcast has
138 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Sam Kean, BleavExplicit
No
Date created
2020/04/08
Latest episode
2026/09/11
Average duration
19 min.
Release period
22 days
Description
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.
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Podcast episodes
Check latest episodes from The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean podcast
The Museum of Lost Things
2026/09/11
An audio excerpt from my new book, The Museum of Long Things. Available now!
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NASA’s Unmentionable(s) Adventure
2026/06/09
In the 1960s, NASA needed a better spacesuit. So they turned to the one firm on earth capable of meeting their strict standards—the Playtex underwear company. Episode below!
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The Pioneers and Vestiges of Evolution
2026/06/02
His book on evolution rocked 1800s England. Not Charles Darwin. Robert Chambers, whose infamous tome both horrified Darwin, yet paved the way for him.
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The Angel of the Concentration Camp
2026/05/26
Nurse Laura Cobb saved more lives than Clara Barton or Florence Nightingale, and under far worse conditions—in a brutal World War II concentration camp. So why did the world forget her?
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The Battery Dope
2026/05/19
In the 1950s, scientists hated politics. Then one Allen Astin got fired. After that, scientists knew they had to play politics—or face professional annihilation.
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The Making of the “Flat Earth” Myth
2026/05/12
No one in Columbus’s time believed the world was flat. So why did so many children learn this bogus “fact” in school? It all goes back to Rip van Winkle...
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Forensic Pseudoscience
2026/05/05
When the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre, the two most scientific detectives in the world took on the case. But they overlooked the real enemy—their own petty prejudice.
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Manhattan Project Propaganda
2026/04/28
The Smyth Report is the strangest book ever written on atomic bombs—as well as highly effective science propaganda, warping our view of everything from the Manhattan Project to Robert Oppenheimer.
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Back-Breaking Science
2026/04/21
When a British sub sank with all hands, JBS Haldane volunteered to investigate by experimenting on himself—even if it meant losing his own life in the process. (Part 2 of 2.)
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The Canaries in the Submarine
2026/04/14
There’s only one thing Dr. John Haldane loved more than running dangerous experiments on himself—running them on his son Jack. But the duo would revolutionize our understanding of the human body.
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Charles Lindbergh, Lab Rat
2026/04/07
When Charles Lindbergh's sister-in-law developed heart trouble, he teamed up with a Nobel-Prize-winning doctor to save her. He had no idea the dark paths his work would lead him down, including Nazi politics and eugenics...
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The Publicity Stunt that Sparked the Scopes Monkey Trial
2025/12/16
Exactly a century ago, teacher John Scopes was charged with the “crime” of teaching evolution. But Scopes was hardly a defiant Galileo, nobly standing up for truth. In fact, he never even taught evolution. (Really.) But despite the unseemly origins of the Monkey Trial, Scopes proved himself a genuine hero...
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The Great Balloon Escape
2025/12/09
Astronomer Jules Janssen was desperate to escape the siege of Paris in 1870 and observe an eclipse in Africa—work that he hoped would confirm his discovery of a brand new element in the Sun, helium. So he devised a plan to escape the city in a hot-air balloon, despite promises by the German army to shoot him as a spy if he dared try...
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The Corny, Cringy, Very Bad Television Show that Just Might Save Your Life
2025/12/02
In the 1970s, paramedic units were illegal in the United States. One (very bad) television show, Emergency!, set out to change that—and saved tens of thousands of lives in the process.
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Bringing an Extinct Owl Back to Life
2025/11/18
The work of Richard Meinertzhagen helped convince biologists that the Forest Owlet of India had gone extinct. But after Meinertzhagen’s frauds were exposed, one biologist grew obsessed with finding out whether it just might be alive still. (Part 2 of 2)
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Podcast reviews
Read The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean podcast reviews
GA8989 2026/07/15
Disgusting Ads
I love the content of this podcast but I can barely listen to it. ICE and CIA ads? How can someone so devoted to science and science history promote t...
This Ken 2026/05/27
Just another sufferer of TDS
The host like most leftist allows Trump Derangement Syndrome to warp his brain
sfmn15 2025/12/10
Good content
Bad narrator has an anxious delivery that sounds like he’s counting down to an explosion.
R.A.M.P. 2025/09/07
Not very accurate
I am very well-read on one of the covered topics. The episode was riddled with inaccuracies.
Hbauttttttttttt 2025/08/19
Always interesting
I’ve listened for years and am always entertained. I just listened to the audiobook of Sam’s new book Dinner With King Tut. It was unlike anything I’v...
I like games 837 2025/05/19
The sound effects are horrible!
The concept of this show is great, but it’s too short and has too many commercials. But the worst part is the sound effects.
EricLouis5 2025/01/14
Great show
Welcome aboard!
sigma the 12374 2024/11/26
It’s ok
Good podcast but too many adds
Magen N 2024/09/24
Love!!
My initial thought after listening to my first episode was ‘I WANT MORE’ and said episode wasn’t long enough! But no, I quickly realized this could be...
Poledance Cat 2024/08/19
Misophonia Nightmare
I like the research and content, but have had to stop listening due to the production choices to use sound effects and foley, especially the eating an...
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