Medieval World
105 episodes
#6079: Why Cupping Shows Up in Five Ancient Traditions
From Phelps's purple shoulders to Yiddish "bankes" — why the same suction technique was reinvented by five medical traditions.
#6061: MARPE, Tirzepatide, and AI on CBCT: Sleep Apnea's New Tools
MARPE's bone share, the first real MARPE sleep apnea trial, and what tirzepatide did to oral appliances — plus AI reading sutures on CBCT.
#5983: Inside the Barcelona Breathing Cure for APD
Four versions of one treatment for abdominophrenic dyssynergia — and almost nobody outside Barcelona offers it.
#5891: Four Ways Humanity Kept Records for 1,200 Years
The Shōsōin never burned. The Vatican lost a third of its archive. The Geniza kept 400,000 fragments by accident. Four preservation strategies.
#5802: The Mamluks: From Slave Market to Sultan's Throne
How did enslaved soldiers become the rulers of Egypt and the Levant for 267 years? The Mamluk system explained.
#5787: Inside the Two Steel Industries
Steel is really two industries wearing one word — and the health and carbon ledgers land in different places.
#5719: When Bile Burns Your Stomach Lining
Bile gastritis after gallbladder removal: why fasting makes it worse, what the evidence says about supplements, and how to eat.
#5702: Psychosis Isn't One Thing: The 5 Domains Explained
The formal definition of psychosis is narrower than the slang — and the severity label built on top of it misses the disorder that kills the most p...
#5694: Prokinetics When the Emptying Test Is Normal
A negative gastric emptying study doesn't close the door on prokinetics — because the drugs may not work the way we assumed.
#5693: Head-of-Bed Elevation for Nighttime Reflux
Five trials, 228 patients, and a wedge pillow that was never actually studied. What the evidence really says about sleeping on an incline.
#5588: Anchorites: Dead to the World, at the Center of It
Sealed into a church wall, declared dead to the world — and then consulted by kings. The strange, true story of the anchorite.
#5580: Before the Word Spy Existed: Venice's Intelligence Machine
Venice ran a centralised spy service with an archive, a spy network, and a counterintelligence body — in the 1400s.
#5566: Venice: The City That Was a Supply Chain
Venice wasn't romantic — it was a logistics problem with a paint job. How a lagoon empire survived 1,100 years.
#5474: Why Tardive Dyskinesia Becomes Permanent
One in five antipsychotic patients develops TD. Why does it stick around after the drug stops — and how much do newer drugs help?
#5452: Why Fasting Makes Bile Reflux Worse
Stomach bug recovery advice is being retired — and if you've had your gallbladder out, fasting hits differently.
#5364: The Emergency Note You Hope You Never Need
Penicillin in Bangkok, paracetamol in London, Adderall at customs. What actually goes in the note on your phone?
#5335: The Hidden History of Toilets and Sanitation
From Indus Valley flush drains to Roman sponge sticks to gong farmers — the surprising, gross, and brilliant story of human waste.
#5212: What Happens in Your Brain During a Migraine Aura?
A shimmering wave rolls across your visual cortex at 3mm per minute—and you can watch it happen. Here's the neuroscience behind migraine aura.
#5189: One Puff, Five Breaths: Spacer Technique That Works
Fire one puff, breathe within five seconds, keep the seal — why loading five puffs at once wastes the drug.
#5168: Ten Inventors You've Never Heard Of
From the yellow traffic light to the geoid model behind GPS — ten inventors whose quiet work reshaped daily life, and why we forgot them.
#5167: The Stethoscope Isn't Dead, It's Getting AI Ears
Two centuries of the stethoscope — and why AI is now making it more useful than ever, not obsolete.
#5159: Why Your Rescue Inhaler Still Shakes (and What Changed)
Albuterol hasn't changed in decades—but rescue itself just did. Here's why the blue canister still shakes, and what Airsupra fixes.
#5150: Gaza's Hunger Numbers: What the Data Actually Shows
Famine classification fights obscure simpler questions: how many children are acutely malnourished, and what does the data actually show?
#5144: What Medieval Peasants Actually Ate From the Pot
A cauldron on a chain, a fire that never quite goes out, and the real Tuesday of perpetual pottage — minus the four-hundred-year broth myth.