Best Hosted by Dan Egan Podcasts (2025)

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Special Episode: Wendy Chin-Tanner & King of the Armadillos 56:21

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1d ago56:21

56:21

We’ve got a very special episode of the TPWKY book club this week! We’re featuring our very first fiction book: King of the Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner. This novel tells the story of a young man named Victor, who is sent from his home in New York City to a federal treatment facility in Carville, Louisiana after a diagnosis of Hansen’s disease (…

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Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum, The [LAST] Steward of Decentralisation 39:19

7d ago39:19

39:19

The tradition of Epicenter x Vitalik Buterin continued this year as well at EthCC[8], where we got the chance of picking his brain about recent research, interests and Ethereum Foundation’s direction going forward. Join us for a fascinating discussion on biotech and how Vitalik’s Shiba ended up funding it, the utility of blockchains in nowadays soc…

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Ep 181 PCOS: Beyond the cysts 1:26:36

8d ago1:26:36

1:26:36

What’s in a name? What can you really tell from a label like “polycystic ovarian syndrome”? And how much of that is more misconception than truth? The answer, as it turns out, is the former. In this episode, we delve into the world of PCOS, a world that shows us how preconceived notions of health and disease, gender and sexuality can do far more ha…

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Stripe: The Stablecoin (R)Evolution - John Egan 1:05:36

15d ago1:05:36

1:05:36

Stripe has established itself as a leading payment solution for both enterprises as well as startups and individual sellers. By abstracting away all the complexities of traditional payment rails through simple plug-and-play APIs, Stripe created a facile route for cross-border payments, simplifying e-commerce. Similarly, Stripe’s recent integration …

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Ep 180 Food Dyes: It’s all marketing 1:25:32

15d ago1:25:32

1:25:32

This episode, we aren’t asking you to taste the rainbow, but we are scrutinizing the artificial dyes that give it its color. When you’re munching on brightly colored candies or dipping a french fry in purple ketchup, what exactly is it you’re tasting? In this episode, we take you through the story of food dyes, from their serendipitous discovery to…

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t1 Protocol: Unifying Ethereum's L2 Liquidity Through Real-Time Proving - Can Kisagun 1:01:41

19d ago1:01:41

1:01:41

While L2 rollups did help scale Ethereum, they also created siloed ecosystems, all fighting over the same liquidity, users and devs. t1 Protocol is building layer-2 infrastructure to achieve seamless cross-rollup interoperability through real-time proving, powered by TEEs. t1's low-latency with 1-second block times provides faster preconfirmations,…

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Special Episode: Professor Steven Mithen & The Language Puzzle 49:29

22d ago49:29

49:29

From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of humanity’s most powerful tools. It allows us to connect, create, conspire, control, console, catch up, and so much more. How did we come to have this uniquely human trait? What anatomical changes or cu…

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DappCon 25: The Ticker Is $ETH - Jerome de Tychey, Joshua Dávila & Nixorokish 1:12:32

26d ago1:12:32

1:12:32

As the summer tour of European crypto conferences landed in Berlin, one of crypto’s cradles, we couldn’t miss DappCon 25, where we got to sit with Jerome de Tychey, Nixorokish & Joshua Dávila to discuss Ethereum’s restructure and whether its culture is still relevant to the wider crypto community. Join us for a fascinating discussion on the impact …

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Ep 179 Fluoride 2: Fighting tooth and nail 1:03:56

29d ago1:03:56

1:03:56

In last week’s episode, we traced the history of fluoridation (and the anti-fluoridation movement) to its roots in the early 20th century, but we left you wondering whether there’s anything to back up the health claims that anti-fluoridationists make. Today, we get deep into the weeds of the fluoride literature, explaining how this mineral works, t…

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Lombard: Unlocking Bitcoin DeFi Through Liquid, Yield-Bearing LBTC - Jacob Phillips 1:11:09

1M ago1:11:09

1:11:09

Bitcoin remains an untapped source of net-new liquidity that could be injected into DeFi. This would completely reshape Bitcoin’s utilization from a mere store of value to a liquid asset that can be ported cross-chain and traded like a liquid staking derivative. Lombard’s LBTC builds upon Babylon’s Bitcoin staking primitive and aims to unlock new y…

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Ep 178 Fluoride 1: The real tooth fairy 1:02:39

1M ago1:02:39

1:02:39

Is it just us, or does it seem like every other week there’s a new headline about some state or town banning water fluoridation? As it turns out, this has been going on for decades, basically since fluoride was first introduced. Why are some people opposed to fluoride? Is there any basis to their fears? What does fluoride actually do? And how the h…

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Staking Rewards: Is Crypto Staking Killing Decentralisation? - Mirko Schmiedl & Tobias Jung 54:55

1M ago54:55

54:55

Apart from incentivising market participants to secure the network through inflationary rewards, many consider staking as an equivalent of stock dividend yield. As a result, although Bitcoin is regarded as digital gold, protocols are looking for ways to increase its utilisation in DeFi and, ultimately, generate yield. Nowadays, while newer networks…

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Special Episode: Dr. Wendy Kline & Exposed 56:56

1M ago56:56

56:56

For many of us, pelvic exams are a routine part of our healthcare. Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t await them with some dread or anxiety; naturally, these exams evoke a wide range of emotions. But they are a cornerstone in gynecological preventative care - a relatively new one at that. In this TPWKY book club episode, we sit down with Dr. Wen…

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Preserving History: New Hampshire's Covered Bridges with Kim Varney Chandler 35:38

1M ago35:38

35:38

Join Dan Egan on the 603podcast as he interviews author and historian Kim Varney Chandler, who takes us through the history of New Hampshire's covered bridges, and her new book covering all the details of the state's beloved architecture. Chandler reveals the practical reason these bridges were covered and explains why communities have invested so …

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ETHPrague: ETH Renaissance - Austin Griffith, Brenda Loya, Joseph Schweitzer, Marek Olszewski 1:00:25

1M ago1:00:25

1:00:25

After a decade of existence, Ethereum has gone a long way from its initial whitepaper, yet many efforts in scaling and finding product-market-fit have been severely criticized for falling short of their promise. However, despite numerous other ‘Ethereum killers’ being launched over the years, none has managed to attract so many developers and liqui…

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Ep 177 Toxic Shock Syndrome: A shock to the system 1:25:20

2M ago1:25:20

1:25:20

If you’ve ever read the little instructions pamphlet included in a box of tampons, you probably came across a paragraph calling attention to a condition called toxic shock syndrome (TSS). It describes the association between TSS and tampon use, symptoms of TSS, and guidance on how to reduce risk. This legally mandated warning label has formed an in…

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The Multi-Chain Avalanche - Emin Gün Sirer 31:52

2M ago31:52

31:52

We couldn’t miss the Avalanche Summit where we sat down with Emin Gün Sirer, co-founder & CEO of Ava Labs, to discuss the evolution of Avalanche’s ecosystem and how HyperSDK ushers in a scalable, interoperable, multi-chain future. Join us for a fascinating discussion on Avalanche’s approach to decentralisation, scalability & interoperability, and l…

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Ep 176 Strychnine: The WD-40 of Victorian Medicine 1:19:33

2M ago1:19:33

1:19:33

This week, we’re coming at you with a classic TPWKY episode on one of the most notorious poisons out there: strychnine. Although strychnine might not flash across too many headlines these days, it was once imported by the ton in certain regions of the world. What did people want with so much strychnine? Depends on who you ask. Maybe it was for a re…

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Initia: Incentively Aligned Appchains - Ezaan Mangalji, Anil Lulla & Jose Maria Macedo 1:02:08

2M ago1:02:08

1:02:08

Blockchain architecture is constantly being forced to adapt to new technologies, as well as to meet new demands from users and builders. While the idea of apps building their own chains was first explored by Cosmos, it lacked the support and tooling to see it succeed. Later on, rollups also took the centerstage of Ethereum’s scaling roadmap, but du…

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Special Episode: Dr. Adam Ratner & Booster Shots 52:32

2M ago52:32

52:32

For the past few months, measles has been in regular rotation in the news cycle here in the US, with outbreaks occurring across the country in regions with low vaccine uptake. These outbreaks represent a worrying trend in the rejection of scientific and medical expertise, with long-term consequences not only for those individuals refusing vaccines …

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Ethereum Foundation: Humanity’s Shared World Computer - Hsiao-Wei Wang & Tomasz Stańczak 1:10:21

2M ago1:10:21

1:10:21

As society evolves, so do its values and principles, but is that desirable for technology that seeks to build the most reliable, trustless and censorship resistant global settlement layer? Ever since the rise in popularity of Solana with its inflow of retail capital in a memecoin gold rush, Ethereum became even more criticized for sticking true to …

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Taiko: Scaling Ethereum in a Decentralised Manner - Joaquin Mendes 1:08:05

2M ago1:08:05

1:08:05

Taiko is a decentralized, Ethereum-equivalent (type I) rollup scaling solution which uses ZK technology. Taiko's goal is to scale Ethereum efficiently while maintaining security and decentralization. Being a type I zkEVM, Taiko retains full Ethereum equivalence, which creates a seamless DevEx, although this comes at the expense of UX as slower proo…

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Ep 175 What’s the deal with raw milk: Part 2 1:00:27

2M ago1:00:27

1:00:27

Last week, we started this two-parter with a big picture view of pasteurization and the raw milk movement. In this episode, we address the alleged health claims made by proponents of raw milk and dive into the very real risks carried by its consumption. Is raw milk actually better for you? Does it have more vitamins or prevent allergies? What deadl…

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SIX03 Endurance: Trail Running in New Hampshire 32:25

3M ago32:25

32:25

Join Dan Egan on the 603podcast as he interviews Founder of SIX03 Endurance, Tom Hooper. Hooper takes us through the remarkable evolution of a New Hampshire statewide running group with hundreds of members, nine major events, and pub runs in cities throughout the Granite State. "Nobody likes doing things alone," Hooper explains, revealing how the s…

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Mysten Labs: How Sui Leverages Move to Build the Composable Web3nternet - Adeniyi Abiodun 1:03:09

3M ago1:03:09

1:03:09

Founded by former Meta Diem team members, Sui is a high-performance, layer-1 blockchain designed for horizontal scaling and low-latency transactions. It uses an object-centric data model and the Move programming language to enable transaction parallelization which can handle >200,000 txs/s. Sui’s goal is to combine the benefits of blockchains with …

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Ep 174 What’s the deal with raw milk: Part 1 1:09:33

3M ago1:09:33

1:09:33

Seriously, what’s the deal? Lately, it seems like raw milk has started to pop up more and more frequently in our feeds, with influencers touting the alleged health benefits of raw milk over pasteurized milk. In this and next week’s episode, we explore the raw milk phenomenon as it has grown over the past few decades. We start this two-parter with a…

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Maple Finance: On-Chain Institutional Yield & Lending Markets - Sidney Powell 54:49

3M ago54:49

54:49

With an extensive experience in traditional money markets, Maple Finance was envisioned as an institutional capital marketplace which combines the transparency & capital efficiency of blockchains with the regulatory framework of TradFi. Unlike many DeFi protocols that require over-collateralized loans (e.g. Aave), Maple also specializes in under-co…

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Special Episode: John Green & Everything Is Tuberculosis 56:46

3M ago56:46

56:46

Tuberculosis, or consumption as it was once known, might conjure up images of huge sanitoriums or writers and artists from the late 1800s (Moulin Rouge, anyone?). But this deadly disease is far from an illness of the past. In many parts of the world, tuberculosis remains an insidious killer, despite the fact that we’ve had effective drugs to treat …

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Tally: The Software Layer for Tokenized Organizations - Dennison Bertram 1:01:21

3M ago1:01:21

1:01:21

Tally is a software platform designed to support tokenized organizations, particularly Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and crypto communities. It provides tools for launching tokens, governing protocols, and enabling staking to foster community participation and growth. Tally facilitates onchain governance, allowing transparent and de…

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Ep 173 Childhood Vaccine Schedule 2: Who’s making the call? 57:12

3M ago57:12

57:12

After last week’s episode, we all know about each of the diseases that we’re protected against thanks to our childhood vaccine schedule here in the US. And after this week’s episode, we’ll understand more about the schedule itself - why it might look different from other schedules around the world, how it gets made, and who makes the recommendation…

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ENS V2 Cross-Chain Domains & Namechain - Nick Johnson 48:42

3M ago48:42

48:42

Namechain is an L2 developed by ENS Labs, to enhance the scalability and efficiency of managing decentralized identities on Ethereum. It is designed to work in tandem with ENS V2, which introduced a hierarchical registry system for more efficient subdomain management and custom resolvers. A key vision for Namechain is to unify multi-chain user iden…

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Ep 172 Childhood Vaccine Schedule 1: Let’s give it a shot 1:07:43

3M ago1:07:43

1:07:43

We’re already back with our first episode of season 8! This week and next, we’re exploring childhood vaccine schedules - what diseases they protect us from, how the schedule is arranged, and who decides on the vaccines to include and the timing of vaccinations. In this first episode, we start with a refresher on how vaccines work before running thr…

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Lido V3: Ushering in Institutional Staking Through stVaults - Hasu 1:19:32

4M ago1:19:32

1:19:32

Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake created a unique set of conditions (i.e. lack of protocol-level delegation, 32 ETH requirement, long exit queues, etc.) that led to Lido’s liquid staking model to gain huge traction, significantly eclipsing other LSD providers on native PoS chains. stETH added on-demand liquidity, bypassing…

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Ep 171 Pregnancy: Act 4 1:57:33

4M ago1:57:33

1:57:33

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. We close out our pregnancy series with a big picture view of how the childbirth experience has changed over the pas…

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Ronin: How Axie Infinity Kickstarted the Blockchain Gaming Revolution - Jeff Zirlin 54:34

4M ago54:34

54:34

While DeFi’s ultimate goal is to provide an alternative for TradFi, blockchain gaming caters to retail masses, onboarding millions of users to crypto through incentives and fun gameplay. The greatest success story in Web3 gaming thus far has been, without a doubt, Axie Infinity. Apart from creating an engaged community whose early adopters also exp…

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Ep 170 Pregnancy: Act 3 1:55:06

4M ago1:55:06

1:55:06

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. In Act 3 of our pregnancy series, we arrive at the big moment: childbirth. We begin the episode with a closer look …

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Hannah Kearney: The Granite State's Mogul Queen 39:26

4M ago39:26

39:26

Hannah Kearney's gold medal-winning run at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics wasn't just a display of athletic brilliance—it was the culmination of a journey marked by failure, resilience, and transformation. As the New Hampshire local tells host Dan Egan, her path to Olympic glory started in the most humble circumstances: skiing Jay Peak's challenging g…

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Ep 169 Pregnancy: Act 2 1:46:07

4M ago1:46:07

1:46:07

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. The second episode in our pregnancy series kicks off with a tribute to one of the most amazing organs: the placenta…

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Solana: From On-Chain Nasdaq to the Pump Fun Craze - Anatoly Yakovenko 1:18:28

4M ago1:18:28

1:18:28

Solana needs no introduction. Ever since its inception, it pushed throughput scaling on a single chain, without the need of sharding or rollups. Despite its ups and downs that culminated at the bottom of the bear market after the FTX crash, it managed to not only survive, but build a vibrant community around crypto's (arguably) most prominent PMF (…

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Ep 168 Pregnancy: Act 1 1:38:15

4M ago1:38:15

1:38:15

Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. With this and the next three episodes, we’re delivering a four-part series on pregnancy, trimester by trimester. We…

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Build on Bitcoin: Combining Bitcoin's Security With Ethereum's Versatility - Alexei Zamyatin 1:10:10

4M ago1:10:10

1:10:10

Bitcoin’s security and reliability as a store of value are undeniable. However, its liquidity remained untapped for too long due to a lack of trustless bridges and native smart contract capabilities. As BTC is only native to Bitcoin’s L1, any attempt to include it in DeFi relies on the trust assumptions of third party custodians that wrap it. Build…

1151
Special Episode: Rachel Gross & Vagina Obscura 48:48

4M ago48:48

48:48

For much of history, female reproductive anatomy has been studied only in the context of or in comparison to male reproductive anatomy. This shows in clinical trial design, in healthcare disparities, in the research questions we ask (or fail to ask), it’s even apparent in our language - the word “vagina” means “sheath”, as if vaginas only exist to …

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Puja Ohlhaver: Why Community Currencies Are Crucial for Governance in DeSoc 1:04:42

5M ago1:04:42

1:04:42

In the digital networked age, people’s attention often overlooks local problems in favour of global ones, which don’t necessarily impact them in their daily lives, or over which they don’t have a say due to the skewed Pareto distribution of power in modern day societies. Puja Ohlhaver, in her recent research paper ‘Community currencies’, proposes a…

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Nevermined: Payment System for the AI Agentic Economy - Don Gossen 1:04:38

5M ago1:04:38

1:04:38

Even though current LLM providers usually charge flat rates regardless if the subscriber is a ‘power user’ or not, as AI agents become the workhorses of the online economy, a dynamic AI-to-AI payments infrastructure would prove crucial for proper remuneration. Nevermined proposes a blockchain-agnostic, AI-agnostic credit system, that each builder c…

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Ep 167 Viagra/Sildenafil: Raising the bar 1:13:51

5M ago1:13:51

1:13:51

Has a name brand prescription medication ever shot to notoriety as quickly as Viagra did? Within a few months of its arrival on the market, it seems like everyone knew about the little blue pill, whether through commercials featuring celebrity spokespeople or from endless jokes on late night talk shows. But while everyone understood that this medic…

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Ep 166 Amanita poisoning: Death Cap-tivating 1:10:27

5M ago1:10:27

1:10:27

In forests, in lawns, in city parks across the world lurks a small, pale, unassuming mushroom whose inconspicuous appearance belies its deadly nature. For within this mushroom dwelsl one of the deadliest poisons known to humans: amatoxin. It’s because of this toxin that the aptly-named ‘death cap mushroom’ (Amanita phalloides) is responsible for th…

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Turtle Club: Helping Web3 Users Monetize Their On-Chain Activity - Esfandiar Lagevardi 1:09:25

5M ago1:09:25

1:09:25

As more and more protocols compete for marketshare, user acquisition represents one of the most important elements of the GTM strategy. Web3 projects, through their governance tokens, can incentivise users directly to participate in meaningful activities for each protocol, subsidising their revenue generation through vested upside in the project. T…

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Ep 165 Fish Tongue Parasite: Parasite Appreciation Hour 1:02:31

5M ago1:02:31

1:02:31

Okay everyone, think about your tongue. Maybe move it around a bit, check in with it, consider what it means to you. Now imagine that your tongue suddenly shriveled up and fell off and that in its place is a tongue-sized isopod aka rollie pollie aka pillbug. Just there, hanging out, forever. How are you feeling? Horrified? Disgusted? Hey, we get it…

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Story Protocol: Tokenizing Intelligence Into Programmable IP Assets - Jason Zhao 58:54

5M ago58:54

58:54

As online content becomes predominantly AI-driven, intellectual property (IP) rights should not be neglected as (human) creators will heavily rely on them. While the main use cases for blockchains revolve around financial applications, one could argue that our everyday lives constantly intersect IPs in different forms. Although the legal framework …

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Ep 164 Rift Valley Fever: Ruminating on ruminants 1:15:27

5M ago1:15:27

1:15:27

Hemorrhagic virus? Check. Deadly disease? Check. Mosquito-borne? Check. Affected by animal movement, human activity, and environmental change? Check. Rift Valley Fever has all the markings of a classic TPWKY episode. This week, we’re doing a deep dive on this deadly virus, taking a One Health approach to explore the intricate relationships between …

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