What happens when you combine an axe-wielding microbiologist and a disease-obsessed historian? A strange brew that's hard to resist, even for a modern day microbe.
In the war on devilish microbes, our weapons are starting to fail us. The antibiotics we once wielded like miraculous flaming swords seem more like lukewarm butter knives.
But today we follow an odd couple to a storied land of elves and dragons. There, they uncover a 1000-year-old secret that makes us reconsider our most basic assumptions about human progress and wonder: What if the only way forward is backward?
Reported by Latif Nasser. Produced by Matt Kielty and Soren Wheeler.
Special thanks to Steve Diggle, Professor Roberta Frank, Alexandra Reider and Justin Park (our Old English readers), Gene Murrow from Gotham Early Music Scene, Marcia Young for her performance on the medieval harp and Collin Monro of Tadcaster and the rest of the Barony of Iron Bog.
Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!
Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.
Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.
Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The Internet Dilemma
Right to be Forgotten
Little Black Holes Everywhere
The Right Stuff
The Fellowship of the Tree Rings
Man Against Horse
The Cataclysm Sentence
Americanish
Beware the Sand Striker
Eye in the Sky
The Seagulls
On the Edge
Family People
The War on Our Shore
Ologies: Dark Matters
The Golden Rule
Corpse Demon
Abortion Pills, Take Two
The Library of Alexandra
The Good Samaritan
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
This American Life
Planet Money
99% Invisible
Freakonomics Radio
The Indicator from Planet Money