{"podcast":{"title":"The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean","slug":"the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean-550844","podcast_index_feed_id":550844,"rss_url":"https://feeds.redcircle.com/2d0e7d24-b3a2-4dfc-a54c-fefdbedbf2b8","website_url":"https://redcircle.com/shows/the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean","image_url":"https://media.redcircle.com/images/2026/3/25/16/8acc36e9-3d93-4fce-94e0-f752e6eeabe1_62-6aaa0908-655f-4559-a05d-430cc696c652-shrunk.jpg","author":"Sam Kean","episode_count":135,"summary":"A topsy-turvy science-y history podcast by Sam Kean. I examine overlooked stories from our past: the dental superiority of hunter-gatherers, the crooked Nazis who saved thousands of American lives, the American immigrants who developed the most successful cancer screening tool in history, the sex lives of dinosaurs, and much, much more. These are charming little tales that never made the history books, but these small moments can be surprisingly powerful. These are the cases where history gets inverted, where the footnote becomes the real story.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean-550844"},"episode":{"title":"Human Photosynthesis","slug":"human-photosynthesis","published_at":"2025-04-29T13:07:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean-550844/human-photosynthesis","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean-550844","url":"https://samkean.com/podcast/","audio_url":"https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/c0e171cb-1023-4310-9e28-0a7f85d0fce9/stream.mp3","summary":"Rickets was once a devastating disease: up to 90 percent of the children showed symptoms in some cities, including bent spines and bowed legs, and it resulted in many women dying during childbirth. The search for the cause of rickets took decades, and ended with a startling discovery—that much like plants, human beings had the ability to photosynthesize. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy","meta_description":"Rickets was once a devastating disease: up to 90 percent of the children showed symptoms in some cities, including bent spines and bowed legs, and it resu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1135,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean-550844/episodes/human-photosynthesis/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-disappearing-spoon-a-science-history-podcast-with-sam-kean-550844/human-photosynthesis.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}