Science

Unhealthy Curiosity

by Dr Sarah Holper

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Latest episodes

The 3 Things Weirdly Absent from Your Dreams

October 20, 2026 · 17 min

You can fly, turn invisible or ride a giraffe through an airport in your dreams. But there are three perfectly ordinary activities that almost never make an appearance. This episode explores a bizarre peculiarity of dreaming, what it might…
Why Pain Is Good For You

October 2, 2026 · 19 min

Pain is miserable, but living without it is considerably worse. This episode explores the extraordinary lives of people born unable to feel pain, from a 1930s vaudeville performer (the "Human Pincushion") to a man who had both legs…
Are You Actually Asleep Right Now?

September 20, 2026 · 15 min

How do you know whether you’re actually asleep? People with paradoxical insomnia can spend the night convinced they’re wide awake, while their brainwaves insist otherwise. This episode explores what happens when your experience of sleep…
How to Turn Your Skin Any Colour of the Rainbow

September 8, 2026 · 16 min

This episode explores how drugs, foods, poisons, cosmetics and assorted bodily malfunctions can produce human skin in all 7 colours of the rainbow (and how Isaac Newton is to blame for us thinking a rainbow has 7 colours in the first…
Why Muscles Cramp (And What to Do About It)

August 27, 2026 · 15 min

Dehydration. Too much water. Too much exercise. Not enough exercise. Apparently almost anything can cause a muscle cramp. This episode explores why your muscles occasionally seize without permission, what your nervous system has to do with…

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How Does Your Tongue Know What Things Taste Like?

August 12, 2026 · 20 min

How can the hunk of meat in your mouth ‘know’ what the food smeared over it tastes like? This episode explores what actually makes something sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami, and what maggot-infested cheese, antifreeze and a poisoned…
Can a Nosebleed Kill You?

August 3, 2026 · 16 min

Spoiler alert: yes. A nosebleed may have finished off one of history's most feared warlords. This episode explores why noses bleed so dramatically, the ingenious anatomy hidden inside your nostrils, exactly what to do the next time your…
Why Your Bruises Change Colour

July 26, 2026 · 15 min

Your blood is always red. So why the bruise rainbow? This episode explores the colourful chemistry of bruises, from love bites and cupping to creatures with blue, green and yellow blood - and what Tiffany & Co.'s famous turquoise packaging…
What Does Your Belly Button Say About You?

July 20, 2026 · 13 min

This episode explores the history hidden inside your belly button, from Renaissance arguments over whether Adam had a navel, to the doctor who classified sixty different types of belly button, to the German students who deliberately…
Why Modern Marathons Are So Easy

July 13, 2026 · 13 min

The marathon wasn't designed by sports scientists. It was shaped by an ancient legend, a royal whim, and one spectacularly bad Olympic experiment involving purposeful dehydration, brandy, and rat poison.
How to Map Your Taste Buds

July 3, 2026 · 12 min

A famous biology textbook diagram. A Harvard psychologist called Edwin Boring. And somehow... netball. This episode explores the mad history of the tongue map, and why taste exists in the first place.
So You Think You Want a Six-Pack?

June 24, 2026 · 13 min

If you thought doing sit-ups would give you a six-pack, think again. This episode explores the gruelling reality of competitive bodybuilding, and how a 19th century circus strongman used a tape measure, Greek statues, and a little…

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About the show

Neurologist, author and science communicator Dr Sarah Holper explores the fascinating science behind the human body's strangest features, flaws and quirks. Using medicine, history and curious case studies, she explains why we work the way we do, one wonderfully weird question at a time. From sweating blood to voice transplants, each episode explores a curious corner of medicine and biology. Learn more at drsarahholper.com.