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Distillations

Using stories from science’s past to understand our world

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The Rotten Science That Set Off the MSG Scare
Health

How one doctor’s letter and a string of dodgy studies spurred a public health panic.

The Vampire Project
People

Episode 4 from the ‘Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race’ series.

Keepers of the Flame
People

Episode 3 from the ‘Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race’ series.

Calamity in Philadelphia
Health

Episode 2 from the ‘Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race’ series.

Origin Stories
Culture

Episode 1 from the ‘Innate: How Science Invented the Myth of Race’ series.

The Murky Ethics of Wastewater Surveillance
Water

By monitoring sewage, scientists can track disease outbreaks in near real time. But will the technology leave long-term privacy risks in its wake?

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The Dark Stars of Marietta Blau
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A scientist pitted hard work and ingenuity against the constraints she faced as a Jewish woman.
Searching for Isabel Morgan
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Reconsidering the fate of an overlooked polio fighter.
Crowdfunding Radium
People
When American women bought Marie Curie a vital gram of the element.
The Sun Queen and the Skeptic: Building the World’s First Solar Houses
Environment
In the mid-20th century, colleagues-turned-rivals Maria Telkes and Hoyt Hottel engineered new ways of heating American homes.
The Nurse Who Introduced Gloves to the Operating Room
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 Caroline Hampton and the forgotten origins of the first personal protective equipment.
Dr. Butler and the Quest for the Philosophers’ Stone
Early Science & Alchemy
How searching for alchemy’s secrets helped create modern science.
Lou Henry Hoover, Lost in Translation
People
Though often celebrated, the adventurous First Lady never received full credit for her scientific accomplishments.
Ruth Patrick’s Lovely Creatures
Water
The groundbreaking ecologist showed that the biological diversity within a stream can be used to diagnose its health.
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