Distillations | Science History Institute

Latest Episodes:

Humans and Monsters: An Interview with Surekha Davies Sep 09, 2025

Show notes

The fears about genetic engineering were stoked when experiments took off in the 1970s. From lab leaks to disease epidemics to the ability to make "Frankenstein creations," many of those fears are still with us today. We talk to author Surekha Davies about her latest book, why she thinks of monsters as category breakers and why blurring boundaries can be so terrifying for us, but maybe doesn't have to be.

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Samia Bouzid Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

Davies, Surekha. Humans: A Monstrous History. University of California Press: 2025.

IVF: An Interview with Robin Marantz Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

Our producer Rigoberto Hernandez spoke with Robin Marantz, the author of Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution. She tells us about the history of IVF, from the first known artificial insemination by donor produced in Philadelphia in the 19th century to the scientific race in the 1960s and 1970s that resulted in the first so-called "test-tube baby."

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Samia Bouzid Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

Henig, Robin Marantz. Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2006.

Gene Therapy's Families Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

When Rebekah and Evan Lockard's daughter, Naomi, was diagnosed with a devastating ultra-rare genetic disease, they didn't know where to turn. Then they found Terry Pirovolakis, an IT professional who had made a gene therapy for his son with the same disease. But the process of getting Naomi treated has been an uphill battle, full of financial and logistical obstacles. The Lockard's story flips the question we've been asking all season on its head. Instead of wondering, "if we could do something, should we," we're now asking, "if we can do something that helps patients, should we do it at any cost?" And this question isn't for scientists or researchers, it's for the rest of us.

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Samia Bouzid Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

Mast, Jason. "A dad built a gene therapy for his son. Can he save other kids, too?" STAT News.

Elpida Therapeutics.

"Battling SPG50 and changing the world." August 17, 2022. The Jackson Laboratory.

Brent, Jonathan R. and Deng, Han-Xiang. "Paving a way to treat spastic paraplegia 50."

"AAV gene therapy for hereditary spastic paraplegia type 50: a phase 1 trial in a single patient." June 28, 2004.

"Colorado family pushes for more funding, awareness around rare neurological disorder." August 12, 2024. CBS News Colorado.

Naomi's Corner.

Gene Therapy's Dark Ages Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

Gene therapy is based on a simple-sounding, yet deceptively complicated premise: adding or replacing faulty genes to fix medical problems. A compelling idea that came out of breakthroughs in DNA research, the field grew lightning fast. But the death of teenager Jesse Gelsinger after a gene therapy clinical trial left the public and scientists questioning the field's promise.

Why did researchers push ahead with clinical trials despite gene therapy still being in its infancy? What does the Jesse Gelsinger story tell us about the personal risk behind medical breakthroughs?

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Samia Bouzid Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

American Experience: The Boy in the Bubble. PBS.

Begley, Sharon. "Out of Prison, the 'Father of Gene Therapy' Faces a Harsh Reality: a Tarnished Legacy and an Ankle Monitor." STAT News, July 23, 2018.

Cobb, Matthew. As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age. New York: Basic Books, 2022.

"C‑SPAN: Paul Gelsinge r." C‑SPAN. Gelsinger, Paul L. "Jesse's Intent." Circare.

ABC Evening News. Vanderbilt Television News Archive, December 8, 1999.

CBS Evening News. Vanderbilt Television News Archive, May 28, 1999.

NBC Nightly News Broadcast. Vanderbilt Television News Archive, December 8, 1999.

"Report and Recommendations of the Panel to Assess the NIH Investment in Research on Gene Therapy." Georgetown University Library.

Rinde, Meir. "The Death of Jesse Gelsinger, 20 Years Later." Science History Institute, June 4, 2019.

Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. "The Biotech Death of Jesse Gelsinger." New York Times Magazine, November 28, 1999.

"Teen Dies Undergoing Experimental Gene Therapy." Washington Post, September 29, 1999.

"The Glimmering Promise of Gene Therapy." MIT Technology Review, November 1, 2006.

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 1999-12-08. NewsHour Productions. American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC.

Wilson, James . "Lessons learned from the gene therapy trial for ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency."

'The Andromeda Strain': An Interview with Luis Campos Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

Producer Mariel Carr talks to historian of science and former Science History Institute fellow, Luis Campos, about his article "Strains of Andromeda: The Cosmic Potential Hazards of Genetic Engineering." He shares how Michael Crichton's first novel and the subsequent film influenced the conversation and controversy around recombinant DNA research in the 1970s.

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Samia Bouzid Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

The Andromeda Strain. IMDb.

Campos, Luis A. "Strains of Andromeda: The Cosmic Potential Hazards of Genetic Engineering."

The People vs. Recombinant DNA Aug 05, 2025

Show notes

In 1976, Harvard University wanted to build a specialized lab for recombinant DNA research. But first, it had to get permission from the city of Cambridge. The resulting city council hearings drew TV stations and captured the attention of the whole country. At the center of the controversy? A wise-talking mayor, a young outspoken molecular biologist, and an important question: in scientific research, how much say should the public have?

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Samia Bouzid

Resource List

Cobb, Matthew. As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age. New York: Basic Books, 2021.

Krimsky, Sheldon. Genetic Alchemy: A Social History of the Recombinant DNA Controversy. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1984.

Rogers, Michael. "Biohazard."

Nova: The Gene Engineers. Dailymotion.

"Cambridge DNA Hearings, 1976." Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oral History Program, oral history collection on the recombinant DNA controversy.

"Cambridge RDNA hearings, volume 1, 1976." Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oral History Program, oral history collection on the recombinant DNA controversy.

"National Academy of Sciences. Forum. Washington, DC, 1977 March 7–9." Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oral History Program, oral history collection on the recombinant DNA controversy.

"The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: Genetic Engineering." American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

From Controversy to Cure: Inside the Cambridge Biotech Boom. MIT Video Productions.

"Pantechnicon; Dna, 1976." WGBH.

The Andromeda Strain. IMDb.

Jurassic Park. IMDb.

CBS News – 04.06.1977

NBC News – 05.24.1977

Science, Interrupted: Part 2 Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

Genetic engineering breakthroughs in the late 1960s and early 1970s came with a lot of promise—and peril too. Fears about what could happen with recombinant DNA experiments put scientists in the middle of a moral dilemma. Did they have a responsibility to consider how others might use their work? Or was their place simply to be on the lab bench? In this two-part episode, we'll share the story about the first time scientists stopped and considered the ramifications of their work, with a self-imposed moratorium. And we'll explore all the controversy that led to the historic pivotal meeting at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in 1975 to determine the future of genetic engineering.

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Senior Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Jonathan Pfeffer Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

A Deep Conversation with Jon Beckwith: A History of Scientific and Social Activism. University of California Television. YouTube.

Berg, Paul. "Paul Berg Letter." Wellcome Collection. Chemical Heritage Foundation: The Emergence of Biotechnology. Science History Institute.

Cobb, Matthew. As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age. New York: Basic Books, 2021. Cohen, Stanley N. Science, Biotechnology, and Recombinant DNA: A Personal History. UC Berkeley. DNA Learning Center. "Asilomar Meeting."

Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares. BBC. Fredrickson, Donald S. Asilomar and Recombinant DNA: The End of the Beginning.

DNA: The Secret of Life. IMDb.

Jurassic Park. IMDb. Late 1960s-Early 1970s Anti-War Marches. YouTube.

"Letter from Maxine Singer and Dieter Söll to Philip Handler." Lear, John. Recombinant DNA: The Untold Story. Goodreads. Mukherjee, Siddhartha. The Gene: An Intimate History. Simon & Schuster. McElheny, Victor. Attempting the Impossible at Asilomar. McElheny, Victor. Gene Transplants Seen Helping Farmers and Doctors. The New York Times, May 20, 1974. Nova: The Gene Engineers. Dailymotion. Protein Synthesis: An Epic on the Cellular Level. YouTube.

Rejection of Science Worries American Scientists. The New York Times, April 5, 1970. Rogers, Michael. The Pandora's Box Congress. Rolling Stone.

The Gene: PBS. PBS Learning Media. "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: Genetic Engineering." American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

Science, Interrupted: Part 1 Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Senior Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Jonathan Pfeffer Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Resource List

A Deep Conversation with Jon Beckwith: A History of Scientific and Social Activism. University of California Television. YouTube.

Berg, Paul. "Paul Berg Letter." Wellcome Collection. Chemical Heritage Foundation: The Emergence of Biotechnology. Science History Institute.

Genetic Dreams, Genetic Nightmares. BBC. Fredrickson, Donald S. Asilomar and Recombinant DNA: The End of the Beginning.

DNA: The Secret of Life. IMDb.

Jurassic Park. IMDb. Late 1960s-Early 1970s Anti-War Marches. YouTube.

Rejection of Science Worries American Scientists. The New York Times, April 5, 1970. Rogers, Michael. The Pandora's Box Congress. Rolling Stone.

The Gene: PBS. PBS Learning Media. "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report: Genetic Engineering." American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

New Season Trailer! Coming August 5th. Jul 25, 2025

Show notes

Check out our new season, dropping weekly on Tuesdays, starting August 5th.

The History of the School Lunch May 29, 2025

Show notes

Feeding kids a healthy lunch every school day is a feat of science and logistics. Molded into shape by nutrition scientists who wanted to optimize children's health, the school lunch has endured war, economic depression, and even a global pandemic. Some might say it's all the stronger for it. So how did all these crises shape school lunch? And is there any room to give our rectangle pizzas and frozen chicken patties a little grace?

Credits

Host: Alexis Pedrick Executive Producer: Mariel Carr Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez Associate Producer: Sarah Kaplan Audio Engineer: Jonathan Pfeffer Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Resource List

1930s Farmer Talks About the Great Depression and Poverty. YouTube video. 1:54. Posted by Timeless Footage, March 10, 2020.

ABC Evening News. May 14, 1969. Vanderbilt Television News Archive.

CBS News. CBS Evening News. September 4, 1981. Vanderbilt Television News Archive.

CBS News. September 25, 1981. Vanderbilt Television News Archive.

C-SPAN. House Session, Part 1.

Daily School Meals During Coronavirus Closures. YouTube video. 4:59. CBS Sacramento.

Great Depression, Film Archives NYC. YouTube video. 6:46. Posted by Reel America, October 30, 2020.

Hunger in America. CBS News. "Hunger in America: The 1968 CBS Documentary That Shocked America."

Levine, Susan. School Lunch Politics: The Surprising History of America's Favorite Welfare Program. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Lunch Line. Directed by Michael Graziano and Ernie Park. Uji Films, 2010.

Mitman, Greg. YouTube video. 2:44. Posted January 13, 2023.

Mrs. Croft talks to parents about the need to provide hot lunch to students at a school in Pittsford, Vermont. Critical Past.

NBC News. December 21, 1981. Vanderbilt Television News Archive.

Nixon Addresses Hunger, 1969. YouTube video. 3:02. Posted by AP Archive, November 5, 2015.

Poppendieck, Janet. Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.

"Ronald Reagan on Big Government: 'Government is the Problem.'" YouTube video, 0:15.

Ruis, Andrew R. Eating to Learn, Learning to Eat: The Origins of School Lunch in the United States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017.

"The Twisted History of School Lunch, Part 1." Pressure Cooker. Podcast audio, 35:17. Hosted by Jane Black and Liz Dunn. Omny Studio, February 6, 2024.

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