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.
273 episodes transcribedThis just might be our itchiest episode yet, and for that we sincerely apologize. But it might also be one of our most fascinating and fun episodes ye...
Menstruation. Is there any other biological process that is so widely experienced yet is still discussed in hushed tones or with an air of disgust? Pe...
Even if you haven’t watched the TV show House MD, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “it’s never lupus”. But have you stopped to consider why it...
In our episode on the bends, you joined us as we explored how low we can go. Now we’re back with a similar invitation: come along to learn how high we...
Listeners of this podcast are likely no strangers to the horrifying history of eugenics, a topic that has made an appearance in our episodes on epilep...
For many of us, our encounters with listeria may not go beyond reading the occasional headline about an outbreak from contaminated hot dogs or listeni...
You may be wondering if there’s a typo in this week’s TPWKY book club selection - The Joy of Sweat? Are we supposed to find joy in this secretion? Sho...
There is no shortage of ailments that vitamin D has been claimed to prevent or cure - various types of cancers, heart disease, COVID-19, diabetes, an...
What do you get when you combine a love of reading with an interest in biology/public health/medical history and a background in podcasting? The TPWKY...
Only our second episode of the season and we’re already getting in over (and inside) our heads with one of the biggest topics we’ve taken on yet: epil...
We’re kicking off our sixth season in the same way we ended our fifth: with another headline-making respiratory virus. But as our listeners know, not...
Ep 110 Influenza, Take 2: Sitting Ducks; Fowl PlayOver five years ago, on October 31, 2017, the very first episode of This Podcast Will Kill You premi...
Somehow it’s taken us until the penultimate episode to cover this season’s first mosquito-borne virus. But we assure you, this episode is well-worth t...
Although today we tend to think about diseases in terms of signs and symptoms, tests and treatments, that hasn’t always been the case. For much of his...
Over the years of the podcast, we have often struggled with questions of why: why pathogens act the way they do, why certain people get sick while oth...
Are you in the mood to chat chromosomes, specifically the X chromosome? If so, have we got the perfect episode for you! You may have come across the d...
We’ve covered measles, we’ve taken on rubella, and now we’re finishing up the classic MMR vaccine by exploring the other M: mumps. To some listeners,...
Don your wetsuit, grab your oxygen tank, and securely fasten your mask, because this week we’re going on our deepest dive yet. In this episode, we’re...
The story of leptospirosis is chock full of variety. In terms of biology, any number of different Leptospira species and serovars can play a role in i...
“The king of poisons,” “the poison of kings,” “inheritance powder.” As its various nicknames suggest, arsenic’s notoriety largely stems from its use a...
