medical research — Bunk History

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Illustration of six books on the topic of pandemics

COVID-19 and the Outbreak Narrative

Outbreak narratives from past diseases can be influential in the way we think about the COVID pandemic.

by Priscilla Wald, Kym Weed via Southern Cultures on April 2, 2020

The Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia, PA.

An American Outbreak of Death and Panic

On the eve of America’s Bicentennial, a mysterious illness terrifies the country and sends disease detectives racing the clock to find answers.

by Alexandra Coria via Medium on March 30, 2020

Keep it Clean: The Surprising 130-Year History of Handwashing

Until the mid-1800s, doctors didn’t bother washing their hands. Then a Hungarian medic made an essential, much-resisted breakthrough.

by Amy Fleming via The Guardian on March 18, 2020

How the 1957 Flu Pandemic Was Stopped Early in Its Path

Dr. Maurice Hilleman caught the 1957 flu when even the military and WHO couldn't.

by Becky Little via HISTORY on March 18, 2020

The Coronavirus Is No 1918 Pandemic

The differences between the global response to the Great Flu Pandemic and today’s COVID-19 outbreak could not be more striking.

by Jeremy Brown via The Atlantic on March 3, 2020

How Fear of the Measles Vaccine Took Hold

We’re still dealing with the repercussions of a discredited 1998 study that sowed fear and skepticism about vaccines.

via Retro Report on October 15, 2019

Herd Immunity

Can the social contract be protected from a measles outbreak?

by Ann Neumann via The Baffler on October 7, 2019

From Mind Control to Murder? How a Deadly Fall Revealed the CIA’s Darkest Secrets

Frank Olson died in 1953, but it took decades for his family to get closer to the truth.

by Stephen Kinzer via The Guardian on September 6, 2019

A Brief History of American Pharma: From Snake Oil to Big Money

The dark side of the medical industrial complex.

by Mike Magee via Literary Hub on September 5, 2019

A Brief and Awful History of the Lobotomy

Groundbreaking discoveries... but at what cost?

by Andrew Scull via Literary Hub on July 30, 2019

Resistance to Immunity

A review of three recent books that delve into the history and science of vaccines and immunity, and the anxieties that accompany them.

by Gavin Francis via New York Review of Books on May 23, 2019

Nurse administering electroshock therapy to a patient.

The Troubled History of Psychiatry

Challenges to the legitimacy of the profession have forced it to examine itself. What, exactly, constitutes a mental disorder?

by Jerome Groopman via The New Yorker on May 20, 2019

Our Twisted DNA

A review of "She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity."

by Tim Flannery via New York Review of Books on February 22, 2019

Detail from a painting of David Hosack’s "Elgin Garden," ca. 1815.

Flower Power: Hamilton's Doctor and the Healing Power of Nature

In the early 1800s, David Hosack created one of the nation's first botanical gardens to further his pioneering medical research.

by Rebecca Rego Barry via The Public Domain Review on January 24, 2019

French elites at an eighteenth-century erotic seance.

Mesmerising Science: The Franklin Commission and the Modern Clinical Trial

Benjamin Franklin, magnetic trees, and erotically-charged séances.

by Urte Laukaityte via The Public Domain Review on November 20, 2018

Finding Hope: A Woman’s Place is in the Lab

A previously unnamed scientist finally gets her due.

by Ashley Bowen via Circulating Now on September 6, 2018

U.S. Senators Bob Dole and Birch Bayh shaking hands.

How Big Pharma Was Captured by the One Percent

The industry's price-gouging economic model was engineered by Wall Street and its political enablers—and only Washington can fix it.

by Alexander Zaitchik via The New Republic on June 28, 2018

Dystopian Bodies

In her newest book, Barbara Ehrenreich attacks the "epidemic" of wellness.

by Niko Maragos via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 7, 2018

Black Subjectivity and the Origins of American Gynecology

A review of Deirdre Cooper Owens' "Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology."

by Rachel Zellars via Black Perspectives on May 31, 2018

Henrietta Lacks, Immortalized

Henrietta Lacks's "immortal" cell line, called "HeLa," is used in everything from cancer treatments to vaccines.

by Allison C. Meier via JSTOR Daily on May 17, 2018

NYC Will Move—But Not Remove—Statue of Gynecologist Who Experimented on Slaves

Some say the decision to move the statue of Dr. J. Marion Sims from Central Park to a Brooklyn cemetery is a "slap in the face."

by Kimberly Lawson via Broadly on April 16, 2018

The Accidental Poison That Founded the Modern FDA

Elixir Sulfanilamide was a breakthrough antibiotic—until it killed more than 100 people.

by Julian G. West via The Atlantic on January 16, 2018

The Flu Pandemic of 1918, as Reported in 1918

The pandemic was the most lethal global disease outbreak since the Black Death. What were people thinking at the time?

by Matthew Wills via JSTOR Daily on January 15, 2018

Americans Don't Really Understand Gun Violence

Why? Because there's very little known about the thousands of victims who survive deadly shootings.

by David S. Bernstein via The Atlantic on December 14, 2017

The US Medical System is Still Haunted by Slavery

Medicine’s dark history helps explain why black mothers are dying at alarming rates.

by Ranjani Chakraborty via Vox on December 7, 2017

What The Industry Knew About Sugar's Health Effects, But Didn't Tell Us

A new report says the sugar industry pulled the plug on evidence linking sugar consumption to heart disease.

by Allison Aubrey via NPR on November 21, 2017

For New Mexico Families, Connecting the Dots of an Ancestral Disease

A genetic mutation in some New Mexico communities can be traced to a common ancestor who came to the area more than 400 years ago.

by Sara Van Note via UnDark on October 10, 2017

The Eye at War: American Eye Prosthetics During the World Wars

How the U.S. military handled a shortage of prosthetic eyes for injured soldiers.

by Evan P. Sullivan via Nursing Clio on September 25, 2017

Nature's Disastrous ‘Whitewashing’ Editorial

Science's ethos of self-correction should apply to how it thinks about its own history, too.

by Ross Andersen via The Atlantic on September 6, 2017

How a Frog Became the First Mainstream Pregnancy Test

In the 1950s, if a woman wanted to know if she was pregnant, she needed to get her urine injected into a frog.

by Ed Yong via The Atlantic on May 4, 2017

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