history
Hosted by Adam Blumenberg MD · history · EN
Toxic History! is a narrative medicine lecture series where medical experts tell you stories from the history of poison. Human beings have known about poison – substances that harm and even kill– for thousands of years. Poisons have been seen as mysterious, supernatural, and enigmatic. What are these plants, mixtures, and elements with such powerful properties? It is only in the past century that science has begun to demystify these chemicals and explain how they work. Still, the impact they have on the world – from cultish mass suicides to chemical attacks to a single case of homicide – can be profound. Toxic History! explores the impact on society, culture, and science behind poisonous events in history.
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
33%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchToxic History! is a narrative medicine lecture series where medical experts tell you stories from the history of poison. Human beings have known about poison, substances that harm and even kill, for thousands of years. Poisons have been seen as mysterious, supernatural, and enigmatic. What are these plants, mixtures, and elements with such powerful properties?
Toxic History! is hosted by Adam Blumenberg MD. The show has published 57 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "What Paracelsus has to Teach Toxicologists" (13 October 2026, 22 minutes), "Flooding vs Friction: History Lessons on What Causes Drug Crises, and How to End Them" (13 September 2026, 29 minutes), and "Love Medical Mysteries? Listen to The Consulting Toxicologist!" (24 July 2026, 1 minute).
Toxic History! publishes roughly monthly, with episodes averaging 21 minutes across 57 episodes.
Booking probability for Toxic History! is 33%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Toxic History! requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Toxic History!'s contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for Toxic History! are Health & Wellness Services and Scientific Research & Development. Toxic History! has a history audience.
Adam Blumenberg MD hosts Toxic History!, a history podcast with 57 episodes published.
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Episode #56
We all know “the dose makes the poison;” we feature the saying in our professional associations, our merch and our inside jokes. What if that is actually not what Paracelsus said, and what does this 16th century...
This talk draws lessons about drug policy from the history of what Professor Herzberg calls “white markets,” i.e., legal psychoactive pharmaceuticals. America is famous for its drug wars, but from Bayer’s Heroin to...
Introducing The Consulting Toxicologist —a brand-new monthly fiction podcast where classic detective stories meet real medical toxicology. Imagine Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Joan Watson in modern-day New York City. Holmes...
Edgar Allan Poe built a legacy on poems and short stories that delved into the mysterious and the macabre--but the events surrounding his own death remain disturbingly unclear. Found confused and disoriented on Election...
Episode #52
If you were to make a list of the people who have most shaped the world as we know it, Thomas Midgley, Jr. probably wouldn’t crack the top 50. Yet his influence has directly and indirectly touched the lives of billions...
Episode #51
Watching fireflies on a summer evening is one of the joys of the season. However, a fireflies light harbors a secret, and that secret can kill.
Episode #50
Conspiracy theory….or conspiracy fact? MK Ultra was one of the most controversial government programs that engaged in mind blowing atrocities. Let’s go down the rabbit hole together and explore what is known about the...
Dr. Robert Buchanan’s murder trial captivated the public with its shocking details and gruesome display. Take a deep dive into the tragic story of this physician, where, not one, but two innocent lives were caught in...
From controlling libido to epilepsy, bromides surged in popularity but experienced an equally precipitous decline in 19th century medicine. As the paradigm of disease explanation progressed from humors to pathology...
Episode #47
There is a long, perhaps to be forgotten, history of clinicians performing observational n=1 studies upon themselves to “prove” their safety and efficacy of the proposed therapy. The talk is to describe...
Episode #46
The episode traces how the FDA evolved from a modest watchdog born of early 20th-century drug tragedies into a powerful regulatory agency, highlighting key reforms that reshaped American medicine. It then unpacks the...
Episode #45
Dr. William Palmer, surgeon, gambler, toxic murderer. The historical account of Dr Palmer and the events that made him a notorious serial killer.
Episode #44
Karen Wetterhahn, a super star organic chemist at Dartmouth College who worked on heavy metal toxicity, presented to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Memorial Hospital on January, 20th 1997. She was profoundly ill, and shortly...
Episode #43
Methylene blue is a vividly blue dye that holds the distinction of being the first fully synthetic medication to be given to human beings, and played a major part in the scientific advances of the late 19th century. Its...
Episode #42
Apples have been associated being forbidden fruit and source of nefarious poisonings all throughout folklore. This presentation delves into whether there is any historical legitimacy to these tales, and if we have...
Episode #41
Join us as we discuss the history of the radium craze in the early 1900s and how its early popularity led to the tragic demise of many young women who worked as radium dial painters. Their story helped establish the...
Episode #40
The goal of bringing the full color spectrum onto the canvas is important to artists but many of the early compounds had significant toxicity. The talk will discuss the adverse effects from some of the heavy metals...
Arsenic, known since antiquity as the ‘king of poisons’, gained infamy among nobility and the bourgeoisie as a public menace. Synonymous with crimes of ‘fashion’, arsenic poisoning was the silent killer and a nearly...
Episode #38
This presentation delves into the toxicological roots of the infamous Witch Trials and other historical confessions of witchcraft and lycanthropy. Discover how the use of plants like belladonna and datura contributed to...
The German bombing of Bari, Italy in December 1943 had disastrous consequences for the Allies. Learn more about the mysterious cargo in the port that day, the Allied cover-up that followed, and the diligent detective...
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