Surprisingly Brilliant

The man who changed our understanding of disorders of the brain was a man who couldn't recognize faces himself. He was a man who saw music as a therapeutic tool, who broke all the existing rules for how to talk to and about patients, and who made us all feel a little more human. Maren tells Greg the amazing true story of Oliver Sacks. This episode is made possible thanks to HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. ‘Oliver Sacks: His Own Life’ is available to stream on PBS for a limited time: https://to.pbs.org/3xngwPJ Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

Vaccines. They're a big topic of conversation right now. But who discovered them? Who gave the first one? And what was the rather effective method around for hundreds of years before them?? Greg tells Maren a (rather gross) story of pus, pox parties, and… cuckoos? It's a tale that travels from China, through Turkey, to a small town in Gloucestershire, and asks if the ‘father of immunology’ - Edward Jenner - really earned that title. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

A story in three parts: The discovery of a revolutionary biotechnology that’s used every day by countless scientists. How that works. And the dangerous ideas (& behaviour) of the man who won a Nobel Prize for its invention. Greg tells Maren about Kary Mullis and PCR. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

Greg tells Maren about a chemist who develops hit product after hit product, from revolutionising whisky production to developing ‘the first wonder drug'… a man who was once the most famous Japanese person in America but was soon forgotten. This is the story of Takamine Jōkichi. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

This week Greg tells Maren about shovel-faced reptiles, giant ferns, land bridges, and classified war-time research. This is the story of how we worked out what shaped - and shapes - our planet. The story of an idea that's said to be as big a deal to Earth Sciences as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is to the Life Sciences. Yet the idea was ignored for 50 years... Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

Chess... Poker... Rock Paper Scissors... Your daily commute..? Nuclear war..? AND your Social Media?? Turns out you can form a winning strategy for all of these using 'Game Theory' - and in this episode Greg not only tells Maren how, but also untangles the story of its development. It’s the story of two Johns - von Neumann & Nash - and separates fact from fiction in the film ‘A Beautiful Mind’. [*Winning not guaranteed. Sorry] Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

This is the story of not just one set of brothers, but three: the Wrights, the Montgolfiers & the Lilienthals. It’s a story that does pre-flight checks in Italy, takes off in France, and soars to the US, with a quick layover in Brazil. Along the way Greg tells Maren about the contenders who some claim really flew first, and their journey ends at a surprise destination: the Moon. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

We kick off Season 2 with the story of your most requested person: Rosalind Franklin. But it’s not the story we should be remembering her for either. Greg tells Maren the tale of how the structure of DNA was unravelled, but the twist leads us somewhere else entirely. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

Meet the ‘Rope Mother’ - the lady whose code, weaved into copper wire and magnetic rings, saved the Apollo 11 mission to the moon… Greg tells Maren the story of an incredible person who has not only been called The Fourth Astronaut, but who also pioneered, and coined the term for, ‘Software Engineering’; Margaret Hamilton. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

What do a children’s birthday party, an accidental discovery, a shoe shop gadget, and Marie Curie have in common?? Have a listen to find out, as Greg tells Maren the amazing origin story of one of the most important pieces of medical tech ever developed: X-rays. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

Greg tells Maren a true crime science history story about a famous chef who served her entrees with a special side... of death! This is the story of Mary Mallon, aka “Typhoid Mary”. Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

Greg tells Maren about the discovery of one of medicine’s biggest breakthroughs -a drug that has saved millions of lives: Insulin. It’s a story about drug development & testing, a dog called Marjorie… and a missing person? Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant