Viral

Public health is meant to protect us—but history shows it can also be used to control us. In the 20th century, tens of thousands of people, mostly women, were forcibly sterilized. In this podcast, we dig into the unsettling history of forced sterilization in the United States. From historical eugenics laws to the current realities of reproductive justice, we’ll explore how public health policies crossed the line, and why understanding this history still matters today. Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Life is wild these days, but personal resilience is the juice that keeps us going. Join us as we talk with Nicole Waters of 525 Coaching about how to stay unbreakable and unstoppable—because when life gives us lemons...we add some sugar and stay sweet y'all. Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Let's shed our mortal coils and talk about the history of death in public health. Megan and Linsey talk about religious contexts around death, how we use death to understand disease, and some famous plagues. Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Take a bite of some lemon meringue pie and listen to our episode about how home economics became a vehicle for women to enter the workforce and academia. Megan and Linsey talk about The Secret History of Home Economics and how it has impacted public health. Book: The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Did you know your brain likes to take shortcuts when it comes to logic? Megan and Linsey talk about logical fallacies (aka the backbone of social media) and cognitive bias in public health! Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Despite what you may hear, public health happens in Florida! We dive into the history of public health in Florida and the unique challenges the Sunshine State faces. Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Ice, Ice, baby! We're talking about how ice changed the world and public health! References: Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks -- A Cool History of a Hot Commodity Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

An opinion piece in the New York Times caught our eye: A Paper That Says Science Should Be Impartial Was Rejected By Major Journals. You Can't Make This Up. by Pamela Paul. Can science be impartial and how do we address bias? The reference article can be found here. Other show notes: Citation Justice: https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/citation-justice References: Abbot, D.; Bikfalvi, A.; Bleske-Rechek, A.; Bodmer, W.; Boghossian, P.; Carvalho, C.; Ciccolini, J.; Coyne, J.; Gauss, J.; Gill, P.; Jitomirskaya, S.; Jussim, L.; Krylov, A.; Loury, G.; Maroja, L.; McWhorter, J.; Moosavi, S.; Schwerdtle, P.N.; Pearl, J.; Quintanilla-Tornel, M.; III, H.S.; Schreiner, P.; Schwerdtfeger, P.; Shechtman, D.; Shifman, M.; Tanzman, J.; Trout, B.; Warshel, A.; West, J. In Defense of Merit in Science. Controversial_Ideas 2023, 3, 1. Paul, P. (2023, May 4). A Paper That Says Science Should Be Impartial Was Rejected by Major Journals. You Can’t Make This Up. The New York Times. Sjoding, M. W., Dickson, R. P., Iwashyna, T. J., Gay, S. E., Valley, T. Sl. (2020). Racial bias in pulse oximetry measurement. New England Journal of Medicine, 383: 2477-2478. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2029240 Obermeyer, Z., Powers, B., Vogeli, C., Mullainathan, S. (2019). Dissecting racial bias in an algorithm used to manage the health of populations. Science 366: 447-453. Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

Megan and Linsey talk about their personal and professional experiences with anti-fat bias and stigma. If you struggle with disordered eating, please be aware that we will be discussing this and eating disorders. This is the first of a series of episodes where we talk about weight discrimination, anti-fat bias, and how public health has contributed to this phenomenon. References: Belly of the Beast: the Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da'Shaun L. Harrison Maintenance Phase Podcast Sabrina Strings The Body is Not An Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor Economist Article: New drugs could spell the end to the world's obesity epidemic Engineered by Dreamstate Productions Music by Michael Conrad

If you've been paying attention to anything over the past 15 years, you have probably noticed that vape pens, or e-cigarettes, have become increasingly more popular in the United States. But did you know the first prototype dates back to the 1800s? Learn about this and more as we discuss the history and current science (and controversy) regarding e-cigarettes!

One recurring theme of this show is that people throughout history have used religion and storytelling to explain what was then unexplainable. In today’s episode, Linsey and Quinn discuss Shapona, the Yoruba god of smallpox, and Endovelicus, the god of public health and safety in pre-Roman Lusitania (modern-day Portugal). 2019 is a big year for Viral – stay tuned for some re-releases of popular episodes and a bunch of new topics! Intro/Outro Music: “Take Your Medicine” by The Quick & Easy Boys

Public Health deserves a gold star for vaccinations--and an asterisk acknowledging the dark history around its development. We dive into the history of measles and talk about the anti-vaccination movement and how it's bringing this vintage disease back like hipsters and handlebar mustaches. Sources: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/measles-back-vengeance-anti-vaccination-movement-blame/ http://pinellas.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2018/08/measles-cases-8-28-2018.html https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements Viral is written and produced by Linsey Grove and Quinn Lundquist. Our theme is “Take Your Medicine” by the Quick and Easy Boys.Visit us at www.viral-pod.com for more information.