This Podcast Will Kill You

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Ep 215 The Hidden Depths of Earwax

7/7/2026 • 54 min

In keeping with last week’s theme of “bodily excretions that are kinda gross that you don’t really think about but are actually really important”, we’re devoting this episode to earwax, aka cerumen. In one hour, we somehow manage to weave together stories of earwax impaction, misadventures in ear candling, glimpses of earwax in art history, and a whale of a tale… Play episode

Ep 214 Boogers: Digging for treasure
Special Episode: Dr. Carl Elliott & The Occasional Human Sacrifice
Ep 213 Burns Part 2: It’s like sci-fi but real
Ep 212 Burns Part 1: The first million or so years
Special Episode: Alexandra Sifferlin & The Elusive Body
Ep 211 Motion Sickness: It comes in waves
Ep 210 Histoplasmosis: Bats, birds, and budding yeast
Special Episode: Dr. Olivia Weisser & The Dreaded Pox
Ep 209 Dietary Guidelines Part 2: Why is there protein in everything?
Ep 208 Dietary Guidelines Part 1: Who’s behind these guidelines?
Special Episode: Adam Kucharski & Proof
Ep 207 Tear Gas: How can a chemical weapon be “humane”?
Ep 206 Oropouche Virus: More than a smidge worrisome
Ep 205 Cancer Part 4: Where do things stand today?
Ep 204 Cancer Part 3: How do we treat it?
Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance
Ep 203 Cancer Part 2: Why does it happen?
Ep 202 Cancer Part 1: What is it?
Special Episode: Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden & Rat City
Ep 201 Poop Part 2: Flushed away
Ep 200 Poop Part 1: How the sausage gets made
Special Episode: Nicola Twilley & Frostbite
Ep 199 Sleep Part 2: Predictably unpredictable
Ep 198 Sleep Part 1: Sleeping with one eye open
Special Episode: Daniel Stone & American Poison
Ep 197 Detox: Enemas for everyone
From the Vault - Endometriosis: Menstrual Backwash (Ep 88)
From the Vault - Hepatitis B: Hepatiti, Take 2 (Ep 89)
Ep 196 Health Myths: Fact or fiction?
Special Episode: Dr. Homer Venters & Outbreak Behind Bars
Ep 195 Salt Part 2: The Substance
Ep 194 Salt Part 1: The Seasoning
Special Episode: Gabriel Weston & Alive
Ep 193 Necrotizing Fasciitis: A strange beast
Ep 192 New World Screwworm: Oh-oh here they come
Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!
Ep 191 Famine: More than starvation
Ep 190 Starvation: More than hunger
Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness
Ep 189 Newborn screening: The future is here
Ep 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere
Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You
Ep 187 Hypothermia Part 2: How it helps
Ep 186 Hypothermia Part 1: How it hurts
Special Episode: Lina Zeldovich & The Living Medicine
Ep 185 The Great Smog of London: “Thick, drab, yellow, disgusting”
Ep 184 The Gallbladder: Humor us
Special Episode: Carl Zimmer & Airborne
Ep 183 SSRIs Part 2: Action

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