Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance
17/03/2026 | 45 mins.
For centuries, physicians noticed that cancer sometimes ran in families, but until the 1960s, an answer to this mystery remained out of reach. Only then were scientists beginning to unlock the cellular dynamics underlying cancer, and what they found finally allowed grief-stricken families to put a name and explanation to their experience. It wasn’t simply bad luck. It was genetics: a heritable mutation in a key tumor suppressor gene that greatly increases the risk of developing cancer in your lifetime, a condition known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. Journalist Lawrence Ingrassia belongs to one of those families; he has lost his mother, three siblings, and a nephew to cancer. In this TPWKY book club episode, Ingrassia joins me to discuss his book A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery, where he weaves together his family’s story with that of the scientists who sought to uncover the cellular drivers of cancer. Tune in for a heartbreaking and inspiring journey. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ep 203 Cancer Part 2: Why does it happen?
10/03/2026 | 1h 18 mins.
Each of our cells can become cancerous. It’s an uncomfortable, yet unavoidable truth. Nor is it a truth restricted to our species - cancer is a consequence of complex life. The features that make a cell cancerous are those that, under other circumstances, are beneficial, essential even, for an individual’s growth and survival. How is that possible? In the second installment in our series, we’re putting cancer under the microscope to consider the qualities that underlie a cancer cell’s success in our body. By placing cancer in an evolutionary framework, we can not only understand why cancer is so darn prevalent, but we can also leverage that knowledge to devise new approaches to treatment - working with evolution rather than against it. If you’ve ever wondered why we haven’t come up with a cure for all cancer or why some animals get cancer more than others, this is the episode for you. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ep 202 Cancer Part 1: What is it?
03/03/2026 | 1h 36 mins.
Cancer has touched every one of us in some capacity, and learning of a diagnosis inspires many more questions than it answers. In this four-part series on cancer, we aim to lay a foundation of knowledge that will help make sense of this multifaceted disease. We begin our four-part series on cancer by asking a deceptively simple question: what is cancer? As we’ll discover over the course of these episodes, there is not one answer but many. After all, cancer is not one disease but many. In this first episode, we examine the clinical definitions of cancer - when someone receives a cancer diagnosis, how is that determined, and what does that mean? Viewing that question through a historical lens reveals our changing understanding of cancer and how that knowledge filters into the public perception of this disease. With cancer diagnoses on the rise, it’s tempting to label cancer a disease of the 20th or 21st centuries. But is that the case? Tune in to find out. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Special Episode: Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden & Rat City
24/02/2026 | 56 mins.
What happens if you put a bunch of rats in an enclosure and provision them with unlimited food and water? Researcher John B. Calhoun was committed to finding out. Results from Calhoun’s “rat utopia” experiments from the mid-20th century revealed a behavioral dark side that emerged as space grew increasingly limited, ultimately leading to complete population collapse. As headlines conveyed dire warnings about global overpopulation, Calhoun’s work served to reinforce those fears and shape our understanding of the importance of personal space. In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden join me to discuss their book, Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B. Calhoun. Tune in for a fascinating a tour through Calhoun’s bizarre and influential research, which even inspired a beloved (if a little creepy) children’s book and movie, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ep 201 Poop Part 2: Flushed away
17/02/2026 | 1h 21 mins.
Poop is an incredibly valuable and massively underutilized resource. However, most of us don’t see it that way because of our evolutionarily ingrained disgust towards poop. Flush toilets and intricate sewer systems have revolutionized health and hygiene by whisking our poop far away where we don’t have to think about it. But that poop has gotta go somewhere, and eventually, not thinking about it isn’t going to be an option. Similarly, not thinking about our individual poop is asking for disaster, since what we produce can reveal a great deal about our gut and overall health. In this episode, we explore the problems that poop can cause on both the individual and population level. From constipation to fiber, and the Great Stink to communal poop sponges, we’re continuing our journey into the curiously fascinating world of poop. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to.
Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.
Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita.
Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program.
This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.
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