13 episodes
My Favorite Malady: A Mütter Museum Podcast Mike VanHelder & Nancy Hill
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- Health & Fitness
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4.4 • 29 Ratings
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Join science goths Mike and Nancy from the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, as they talk about their favorite historical medical maladies, mysteries, people and events. Prepare to be disturbingly informed!
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Minijawn Seven
A quick check-in this week, with some feedback on our SUDS episode courtesy of our favorite local medical examiner, and where we are (figuratively but also literally) with our newest museum exhibition, Unseen. Also, we're hiring a digital content intern! Come play with us...
Our newest exhibit, Unseen, is opening next Friday, 5 February 2021! Come check it out! -
Episode 7: Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome & Arsenic Wallpaper
In this exciting episode, Nancy and Mike talk night hags, why monsters are sexist, babies that don't love hookah, Nancy's sister (a different one this time) and how she treats her gentleman callers, rebuilding your deck, dancing yourself to death, and Ireland, for some reason.
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Minijawn Five
WE ATEN'T DEAD and if you got that reference, congrats, you are also a giant nerd. We check in very quickly to let you know where we've been, and when the museum is reopening! Plus, a brief discussion of the Philadelphia accent, men yelling at or at least near Nancy, and our friends over at the Science History Institute and a really cool outdoor exhibit that they have up.
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Episode 6: Tuberculosis and Beauty & The Lazarevich Diaphanoscope
In this fortnight's exciting episode we talk about how having a terminal lung disease makes you sexy, and also a very early, really extremely uncomfortable imaging technology, with special guest Hannah Polasky, MSc of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Also, we talk about salad tongs for babies, really unhappy places to get burned, hair dye, makeup, more hair dye, Tombstone, e-girls, and why you might want to learn the tensile strength of the human placenta.
Also, RIP to Horatio/Horatia, the last Mütter Museum leech. -
Minijawn Four
Another mini episode with corrections, updates, and events. We talk about our impending COVID-related shutdown, an upcoming event where Nancy gets electrocuted, our friend Jill Knapp's amazing rendition of that song that's stuck in my head forever now, and a few other things.
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Episode 5: Chimney Sweep's S*****m & Donating Your Body to (Goth) Science
In this fortnight's exciting episode, we talk chimney sweep's s*****m (and a bonus malady, mule spinner's s*****m!), and how you can donate your body to us or other cool places after you die. This week we welcome special guest Rhiannon Watson, forensic toxicologist, formerly of the body farm at *CENSORED*.
We also discuss Swiss-German home invasions, the origins of common everyday expressions, arsenic poultices, bodily autonomy, bonus scrotal trauma, corpse catapults, and a bunch of other things.
Oh, if you don't normally listen through to the end of these episodes... maybe stick with this one all the way through.
Thanks to Dr. Melissa Dunphy, Dr. Alyson Light, and Dr. George Wohlreich for their help with this episode.
Customer Reviews
Hosts are not the best.
I really wanted to like this podcast, but the hosts make it hard to. I feel like someone on the board of the Mutter Museum said that they needed to have a podcast, and the two hosts selected the short straws to actually take on the project. The guy is reasonably prepared and affable, but the lady seems like she’s really uncomfortable and unenthusiastic about it.
From a fellow museum worker goth
As someone who also works In a museum I very much enjoy the infotainment and dark humor provided by this podcast.
When I read on Facebook that my favorite museum now has a podcast I was very excited and downloaded it immediately.
I can genuinely say I have not been disappointed at all by this podcast and hope they eventually take listener requests/ suggestions in the future.
Keep up the good work!
Gleefully morbid
I have sent this podcast to all my fellow weirdo and goth friends, and went so far as to play the first episode in the car with my dad on a long ride. Hell, I’ve recommended it to my therapist (it’s very much her thing). The combination of inclusive language right out the gate, medical history, funny banter, and laidback vibe makes it highly enjoyable. And yes, the odd cat meowing in the background is amusing, but also gives a moment of lighthearted grounding amidst what is sometimes pretty gnarly stuff. Just listened to this week’s episode with a little tuxedo kitty curled up in bed with me, myself. I sense a listening ritual in the making.