More than 100,000 people die every year from snake bites. Snake venom can have up to 200 different toxins inside it and each toxin has a different horrible effect to your body. Some attack your muscles, while others attack your nerves. And sometimes two different toxins can work together to form an even more sinister combination. Part of the reason people are dying is because they're not getting antivenom - the medicine required to fight these horrible toxins - fast enough. The system we have to create snake antivenom is a time- consuming and inefficient process that basically hasn't changed …
Tags: urban, arts, sanfrancisco, radiotopia, publicradio, design, architecture, prx, radiolab, npr
Older Episodes
Intervening to try to mitigate the negative effects of the human interventions of the past
Back in the early 1990s, movie theaters weren't that great. The auditoriums were cramped and narrow, and the screen was dim. But in 1995, the AMC Grand 24 in Dallas changed everything.
When Idaho put a slogan on their license plates in 1928 it started a trend across all states and this would prove surprisingly contentious
A story of data visualization and coercion that centers on a person not particularly well known for either one of these things: The founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale
A tale of bats and bridges and how the built environment and the natural environment don’t need to be at odds with one another.
The 12 bronze zodiac heads that are at the center of a fight over the repatriation of Chinese cultural heritage
A new podcast series from the 99% Invisible team! The real story of how Fred Hampton became The Chairman, as told by the makers of the film and the people who knew him
There's a huge amount of subterranean space that we're not aware of around us all the time. For those of us who live in suburban and rural areas, it's not unlikely that one of your neighbors has a bunker underneath their house that you don't know about.
Teaser for the new podcast from Proximity Media and 99pi
The fight between historic preservation and allowing a city to evolve to house the working class and native population
In the Twin Cities there are vast networks of climate-controlled pedestrian bridges that reach over the streets and connect adjacent buildings
Overheating, Lenin or Bust, Music Games
Sea Sheep, Space Pens, Ice Forests, Circular Design
Movie novelizations, Central Park lampposts, Swiss defensive design, and ABBA
Roman talks to Jesse Thorn
If homelessness is the problem, housing is the solution. But it’s not always that simple.
The secrets of the list that determines who gets what kind of assistance
Sam Tsemberis radically rethinks how to solve homelessness
Katie spends a day in the 211 call center