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This Podcast Will Kill You

This Podcast Will Kill You

By: Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
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This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to. Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more. Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita. Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program. This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia Hygiene & Healthy Living Science
Episodes
  • Special Episode: Adam Kucharski & Proof
    Apr 21 2026

    Why do we believe what we believe? Is what we believe the truth? How can we convince others of our beliefs? If you’ve ever found yourself pondering these questions, you know that the answers are rarely clear-cut. We need to form beliefs in order to navigate the world, but how skilled are we at evaluating evidence for those beliefs or weighing new data that contradicts them? In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Adam Kucharski, Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine joins me to discuss latest book, Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty. With this book, Dr. Kucharski presents a compelling and thoughtful examination of the concept of proof, delving into topics ranging from the justice system (what’s a reasonable doubt?) to infectious disease, clinical design to the founding of this country. And he leaves us with a powerful lesson: what convinced you of something might not convince someone else. Tune in for a fascinating conversation!

    Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    50 mins
  • Ep 207 Tear Gas: How can a chemical weapon be “humane”?
    Apr 14 2026

    Tear gas is an expected, normalized part of protests today. But its use in international war is banned. How can that be? That’s just one of the questions we investigate in this episode. First, we take you through the long history of tear gas and its emergence alongside deadlier chemical weapons before discussing how its use became routine, fueled by industry interests. Then we delve into what’s in tear gas that causes the painful physical reaction and consider whether claims of non-toxicity are backed up by research (spoilers: not really). This is an info-packed episode that will leave you with many questions answered, but not all of those answers will be satisfying.

    Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Ep 206 Oropouche Virus: More than a smidge worrisome
    Apr 7 2026

    Though discovered relatively recently, Oropouche virus has been making headlines as an emerging vector-borne infectious disease on the rise. Not transmitted by the usual suspects (like ticks and mosquitoes), this virus is instead spread through the bites of midges or no-see-ums. Since these arthropods are already widely distributed and their range is growing thanks to climate change, this is a recipe for potential disaster. In this episode, we take you through the story of Oropouche virus, from how it makes us sick to what the construction of a highway has to do with its discovery, from surprising prevalence statistics to the history of One Health. Tune in for the full scoop on this midge and the virus it carries.

    Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    1 hr and 13 mins
All stars
Most relevant
How do they do it? Really, this should be a horrifying subject, disturbing (and it can be at times) and yet the two podcasters here deal with the medical, the historical and the social impact, control and treatment of diseases (and other things that can kill you) with easy charm, humour where appropriate and their own, obvious, fascination with the subject matter, making this an enthralling and addictive podcast. Fascinating stuff, highly recommend

Making horrific subjects curiously fascinating

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Loved this podcast even before I considered going into medicine. Now a med student and its so good at explaining diseases.

Always a great listen

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love this podcast, the Erins have it down!
favourite episode was the legionnaires disease one.
congrats on getting to 100 episodes and here's to 100 more

my favorite

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very informative for understanding diseases, vaccines and much more. Love that the Erin's call out unethical practices, uncomfortable histories, racism, sexism etc

My favourite Podcast

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