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Science

Inside the Breakthrough - How Science Comes to Life

by SciMar with Dan Riskin

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Latest episodes

  • Give it All Away (Best of for 2025)

    February 20, 2025 · 25 min

    The discovery of insulin and building of the first Jeep. Two stories to explain why innovation and capitalism have a complicated relationship. Voted best episode from season 1. Originally published May 3rd, 2021. Learn more about SciMar…

  • Seeing it Firsthand (Best of for 2025)

    February 13, 2025 · 24 min

    The story of Antarctic Explorer Roald Amundsen, and a giant squid. What do they have in common? Listen to find out. Reprised from season 1. Originally published May 31st, 2021. Learn more about SciMar at https://scimar.ca/

  • Money Matters (Best of for 2025)

    February 6, 2025 · 28 min

    The Nazi scientist that powered NASA’s moonshot and the Roman emperor who built the Colosseum have more in common than you think. To find the connection, follow the money. Our most controversial episode from season 2. Originally published…

  • Ooops! That’s a Big Mistake (Best of for 2025)

    January 30, 2025 · 24 min

    A man gets a lobotomy to cure his epilepsy, and the government tries to rid India of cobras. Neither of those efforts go as planned. Dan Riskin’s favourite episode from season 2 Originally published November 29th, 2021. Learn more about…

  • Clinical Trials Gone Bad (Best of for 2025)

    January 23, 2025 · 24 min

    Scurvy was a bigger threat to the Royal Navy than the French were, meanwhile the biggest threat to six men in a British hospital was their medicine! The connection explains how clinical trials are run. A landmark episode from season…

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  • What is Snake Oil? (Best of for 2025)

    January 16, 2025 · 21 min

    What is really in ‘snake oil’ and why did an innocent man go to prison for murder. What’s the connection? Listen to find out. This is one of our favourite episodes from season 1. Originally published April 5th, 2021. Learn more about…

  • Spreading the News

    February 14, 2022 · 24 min

    Science communication has impacted our lives more than we ever thought it would. Getting complicated scientific and medical information out to a large number of people is crucial to our public health. And it is not easy. We will look at…

  • Guinea Pigs

    January 31, 2022 · 21 min

    Let’s talk about the use of animals in medical research. It’s not a subject that people are very comfortable discussing, but we are going to do it anyway. We will start with an incredible story of a fire in Bar Harbor Maine that impacted…

  • Follow the Money

    January 17, 2022 · 28 min

    The relationship between researchers and funders is complicated. Some people think that researchers should be left to their own direction and that all financial support should be ‘no-strings attached.’ But is that possible? Is it…

  • Old Meets New

    January 3, 2022 · 27 min

    The Amish community in Pennsylvania is heavily impacted by genetic diseases. You might think that their resistance to modern technology would make it difficult to treat these conditions. But actually their philosophies around family and…

  • Too Much or Too Little?

    December 13, 2021 · 26 min

    We often complain about having too little of something: Too little time, too little money. But today in first world countries a lot of our problems come from having too much of something: Too much sugar, too much technology. We point this…

  • Unintended Consequences

    November 29, 2021 · 24 min

    We’ve all heard the saying about “the best laid plans….” but there is a caveat to that. Not all unexpected consequences are bad. Sometimes something really amazing occurs unexpectedly. This episode tells the story of Henry Molaison, better…

Full episode archive on Apple Podcasts →

About the show

In Season 2 of the series we will share a new collection of surprising and unusual stories from the history of science. In each episode we will feature two seemingly unrelated stories from the past. Then, Dan Riskin will connect the dots between those stories and offer insight into how that history impacts modern medical research. We are learning from the past so we can understand the present, and inform the future. Along the way we will learn how a professor at Stanford turned mild mannered young men into cruel vicious prison guards, and how the Irish Potato Famine really had nothing to do with potatoes. We will ask questions such as: “Did we learn the wrong lesson from the sinking of the Titanic?” “How many people did Orson Wells actually fool?” and “What exactly is Maple Syrup Urine Disease?” In these ten episodes we will also follow along with SciMar as they take their breakthrough science into the testing phase. Will the things they discovered in a row of test tubes in the lab be repeatable in real people? And will that prove to be the final cure for type 2 diabetes? So, if you are intrigued by science, get excited about the process of discovery, and want to have the best stories at your next dinner party, this is the show for you. We promise a season full of guinea pigs, Corona beer, shipwrecks, and cobras. -- The series is produced by SciMar, a medical research company developing a new way to detect, treat and cure type 2 diabetes. Rather than insulin from the pancreas, they are focused on hepatalin, a hormone that comes from the liver. We will use historical stories to shine a light on where this modern company is headed.