Medical Media Mixer: The Perfect Cocktail

This week we're mixing up The Reanimator — a jet-black, charcoal-stained cocktail that turns electric green before your eyes — while we dig into Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning 2025 adaptation of Frankenstein, streaming now on Netflix, and the classic Mary Shelley novel and 1931 Boris Karloff film that inspired it. Then we bring it back to real medicine with a deep dive into face and limb transplants: what vascularized composite allotransplantation actually involves, who qualifies, why rejection is the field's biggest hurdle, and what the data says about the risks and life-changing rewards for the small number of patients who undergo it.
This episode contains discussion of trauma, chronic illness, and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text.
Sources
Frankenstein (2025 film) — IMDb
Frankenstein (2025 film) — Wikipedia
Frankenstein (novel) — Wikipedia
Frankenstein (1931 film) — IMDb
Frankenstein (1931 film) — Wikipedia
https://d1pv6k8x0ig2x3.cloudfront.net/worlds-first-face-double-hand-transplant/
https://projects.nj.com/stranger/
Siminoff LA, et al. "Vascularized composite allotransplantation: Knowledge and attitudes of a national sample of organ procurement organization professionals." Clinical Transplantation. 2020. doi:10.1111/ctr.14071
Khalifian S, et al. "Facial Transplantation: The First 9 Years." Lancet. 2014. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62632-X
Hernandez JA, et al. "OPTN/SRTR 2024 Annual Data Report: Vascularized Composite Allograft." American Journal of Transplantation. 2026. doi:10.1016/j.ajt.2026.05.726
Cavaliere A, et al. "Long-Term Outcomes and Future Challenges in Face Transplantation." JPRAS. 2024. doi:10.1016/j.bjps.2024.02.064
Shores JT, et al. "Hand and Upper Extremity Transplantation: An Update of Outcomes in the Worldwide Experience." Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 2015. doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000000892
Wells MW, et al. "Two Decades of Hand Transplantation: A Systematic Review of Outcomes." Annals of Plastic Surgery. 2022. doi:10.1097/SAP.0000000000003056
Laspro M, et al. "Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation of the Hand: A Systematic Review of Eligibility Criteria." Annals of Plastic Surgery. 2023. doi:10.1097/SAP.0000000000003659
Lantieri L, et al. "First Human Facial Retransplantation: 30-Month Follow-Up." Lancet. 2020. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32438-7
Knoedler L, et al. "A Systematic Review of Treatment Strategies to Combat Acute and Chronic Rejection Episodes in VCA." Frontiers in Immunology. 2026. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2026.1733221
Tchiloemba B, et al. "Long-Term Outcomes After Facial Allotransplantation." Transplantation. 2021. doi:10.1097/TP.0000000000003513
Diaz-Siso JR, et al. "Initial Experience of Dual Maintenance Immunosuppression With Steroid Withdrawal in VCA." American Journal of Transplantation. 2015. doi:10.1111/ajt.13103
Lemogne C, et al. "Psychological and Psychiatric Aspects of Face Transplantation." Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2019. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2019.02.006
Tasigiorgos S, et al. "Five-Year Follow-up after Face Transplantation." NEJM. 2019. doi:10.1056/NEJMc1810468
Blankenstein AP, et al. "Psychological Outcomes of Facial Transplantation." Annals of Plastic Surgery. 2025. doi:10.1097/SAP.0000000000004487
Leonard DA, et al. "The United Kingdom Hand and Upper Limb Transplantation Service: First Twelve Years." JPRAS. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.bjps.2025.05.001
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

On Oct. 16, 2010, Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LeGrand made a kickoff-coverage tackle against Army and didn't get up. He'd fractured his C3 and C4 vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down, and his mother was told he had a 0% to 5% chance of walking again. The next day, he mouthed three words to her: "I'll be back." This week, over a Cold Fashioned — a coffee-forward Old Fashioned that nods to LeGrand Coffee House and his Kentucky straight bourbon — we trace his story from the field to the ventilator to the sideline, then go deep on spinal cord injury itself: why "C3, 4, 5 keeps the diaphragm alive," the autonomic complications most people have never heard of, what the ASIA scale really predicts, and how rehab and neuroplasticity shift the odds. We close with the research horizon, from riluzole and anti-Nogo-A antibodies to epidural spinal cord stimulation that has helped completely paralyzed patients stand and step again.
Tonight's Cocktail
The Cold Fashioned — Mr Black recipe
Media Referenced This Episode
Believe: My Faith and the Tackle That Changed My Life — Amazon
Believe: The Victorious Story of Eric LeGrand (Young Readers' Edition) — Amazon
State of Play: Broken (HBO Sports, 2014)
Mission Possible with Eric LeGrand — IMDb
Mission Possible with Eric LeGrand — full YouTube playlist
Building LeGrand — YouTube
A Cup of Believe — podcast
Eric LeGrand
Eric LeGrand — Wikipedia
LeGrand Coffee House
Eric LeGrand Bourbon
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Eric LeGrand on X
Medical References
Li M, et al. Peer-Supported Interventions for People With Spinal Cord Injury. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024.
McDonald JW, Sadowsky C. Spinal-Cord Injury. Lancet. 2002.
GBD Spinal Cord Injuries Collaborators. Global, Regional, and National Burden of Spinal Cord Injury, 1990–2019. Lancet Neurol. 2023.
Schroeder GD, Vaccaro AR, Welch WC, et al. Best Practices Guidelines: Spine Injury. American College of Surgeons. 2022.
Ropper AE, Ropper AH. Acute Spinal Cord Compression. N Engl J Med. 2017.
Chiles BW, Cooper PR. Acute Spinal Injury. N Engl J Med. 1996.
Rupp R, et al. International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury: Revised 2019. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2021.
Yelamarthy PKK, et al. Radiological Protocol in Spinal Trauma. Eur Spine J. 2020.
Freund P, et al. MRI in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Lancet Neurol. 2019.
Picetti E, et al. Early Management of Adult Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury in Patients With Polytrauma. World J Emerg Surg. 2024.
Hassankhani A, et al. ACR Appropriateness Criteria: Acute Spinal Trauma, 2024 Update. J Am Coll Radiol. 2025.
Krueckel J, et al. Clinical Recommendations for the Acute Care of Patients With Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2025.
Zeller SL, et al. Critical Care of Spinal Cord Injury. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2024.
Baroudi M, et al. Management of Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Current Concepts Review. Injury. 2024.
Lambrechts MJ, et al. Updates in the Early Management of Acute Spinal Cord Injury. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2023.
Failli V, et al. Experimental Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury: What You Should Know. Top Spinal Cord Inj Rehabil. 2021.
Zipser CM, et al. Cell-Based and Stem-Cell-Based Treatments for Spinal Cord Injury. Lancet Neurol. 2022.
Kirshblum S, et al. Characterizing Natural Recovery After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. J Neurotrauma. 2021.
Khorasanizadeh M, et al. Neurological Recovery Following Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Neurosurg Spine. 2019.
Stenimahitis V, et al. Long-Term Outcome and Predictors of Neurological Recovery in Cervical Spinal Cord Injury. Sci Rep. 2024.
Zadra A, et al. Life Expectancy and Long-Term Survival After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2024.
Emerging Therapies and Neuromodulation
Pedro KM, et al. Riluzole as a Pharmacological Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury. Curr Opin Neurol. 2025.
Zhou LY, et al. Riluzole Promotes Neurological Function Recovery in Rats Following Spinal Cord Injury: A Meta-Analysis. J Neurochem. 2019.
Zarei H, et al. The Neuroprotective Role of Riluzole in Spinal Cord Injury. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2025.
Fehlings MG, et al. Safety and Efficacy of Riluzole in Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study (RISCIS). J Neurotrauma. 2023.
Fehlings MG, et al. Riluzole Improves Outcome After Acute Spinal Cord Injury: RISCIS Reanalysis. EBioMedicine. 2025.
Fehlings MG, et al. A Randomized Controlled Trial of Local Delivery of a Rho Inhibitor (VX-210). J Neurotrauma. 2021.
Forgione N, Fehlings MG. Rho-ROCK Inhibition in the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury. World Neurosurg. 2014.
Fehlings MG, et al. A Phase I/IIa Clinical Trial of a Recombinant Rho Protein Antagonist in Acute Spinal Cord Injury. J Neurotrauma. 2011.
Khavandegar A, et al. RhoA/ROCK Inhibition and Locomotor Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury. Spinal Cord. 2025.
Watzlawick R, et al. Effect and Reporting Bias of RhoA/ROCK-Blockade Intervention. JAMA Neurol. 2014.
Weidner N, et al. Intrathecal Antibodies to Nogo-A in Acute Cervical Spinal Cord Injury (NISCI). Lancet Neurol. 2025.
Scheuren PS, et al. Enhanced Clinical Trial Stratification in Spinal Cord Injury: The Value of Electrophysiology. Brain. 2026.
Maynard G, et al. Soluble Nogo-Receptor-Fc Decoy (AXER-204) in Chronic Cervical Spinal Cord Injury. Lancet Neurol. 2023.
Hachmann JT, et al. Epidural Spinal Cord Stimulation for Motor Recovery After Motor Complete Spinal Cord Injury. J Neurophysiol. 2021.
Rowald A, et al. Activity-Dependent Spinal Cord Neuromodulation Rapidly Restores Trunk and Leg Motor Functions After Complete Paralysis. Nat Med. 2022.
Chalif JI, et al. Epidural Spinal Cord Stimulation for Spinal Cord Injury in Humans: A Systematic Review. J Clin Med. 2024.
Mansour NM, et al. Advances in Epidural Spinal Cord Stimulation to Restore Function After Spinal Cord Injury. J Neurotrauma. 2022.
James ND, et al. Neuromodulation in the Restoration of Function After Spinal Cord Injury. Lancet Neurol. 2018.
Tajali S, et al. Modulations in Neural Pathways Excitability Post Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation. Front Neurosci. 2024.
Benavides FD, et al. Cortical and Subcortical Effects of Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation in Tetraplegia. J Neurosci. 2020.
Alawieh H, et al. Spinal Cord Stimulation Accelerates Brain-Computer Interface Skill Learning. PNAS. 2025.
Ribeiro BF, et al. Cell Therapies for Spinal Cord Injury: A Review of the Clinical Trials. Brain. 2023.
Ahuja CS, et al. Emerging Neuroprotective and Neuroregenerative Cell-Based Therapies for Spinal Cord Injury. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2020.
Mu Z, et al. Stem Cells and Epidural Electrical Stimulation in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation. Sci Rep. 2024.
Ralph PC, et al. Regenerative Medicine Approaches for Spinal Cord Injuries. Acta Biomater. 2024.
Fischer G, et al. Advancements in Neuroregenerative and Neuroprotective Therapies for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Front Neurosci. 2024.
Hejrati N, Fehlings MG. Emerging Neuroprotective and Neuroregenerative Therapies in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2021.
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

In 2019, Olympic dressage trainer Michael Barisone shot his student Lauren Kanarek at his Hawthorne Hill farm in Long Valley, New Jersey. In 2022, a jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Inspired by Netflix's "Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill," Tara and Nicole explain what the insanity defense actually means medically and legally. They cover how states define legal insanity, why the defense succeeds far less often than people think, and why "not guilty" doesn't mean walking free. The hosts also revisit the cases that shaped public perception: Lorena Bobbitt, John Hinckley Jr. and Andrea Yates. They also touch on Lindsay Clancy, whose postpartum psychosis defense ended in a mistrial last month. Grab a Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity cocktail and join us for this one.
Sources:
Untold: The Shooting at Hawthorne Hill – Netflix
Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity – US Law Explained
Insanity Defense – Wikipedia
Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity – Psychology Today
Michael Barisone and Lauren Kanarek Tell Their Sides – People
5 Unsettling Details About the Attempted Murder of Lauren Kanarek – Primetimer
Famous Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Cases – Legal Clarity
Cases Where Insanity Defenses Have Been Successful in the US – New York Post
Lindsay Clancy Trial: How the Insanity Defense Differs in Mass. – Northeastern Global News
Judge Declares Mistrial in Lindsay Clancy's Murder Case – NPR
 
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

This week, we're pouring "The Ebola" — a five-spirit pitcher pour that's not for the faint of heart — and revisiting Wolfgang Petersen's 1995 thriller Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, as our jumping-off point for a real deep dive into Ebola virus disease. We trace the virus from its 1976 discovery near the Ebola River through the devastating 2013–2016 West Africa outbreak, and walk through how it actually spreads, what it does to the body, how it's diagnosed, and the treatments and vaccine that have genuinely changed the odds of survival in the last decade. We also round up a few other Ebola-adjacent films and documentaries worth knowing about — including one we went looking for and simply couldn't find streaming in the U.S.
Sources & further reading
Outbreak (1995) — Wikipedia
Outbreak (1995) — IMDb
Orphans of Ebola — TMDB
E-bola (2015) — IMDb
Movies About Ebola & Disease History — Borgen Project
Duke Global Health — Ebola Film Series
The Ebola cocktail recipe — Cocktail Builder
About Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
Medical & scientific references
Malvy D, McElroy AK, de Clerck H, Günther S, van Griensven J. "Ebola Virus Disease." The Lancet, 2019.
Moso MA, Lim CK, Williams E, et al. "Prevention and Post-Exposure Management of Occupational Exposure to Ebola Virus." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2024.
Letafati A, Salahi Ardekani O, Karami H, Soleimani M. "Ebola Virus Disease: A Narrative Review." Microbial Pathogenesis, 2023.
Umar SK, Diggle MA. "The Ebola Virus — Going Beyond the Bleeding Edge." Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2025.
Meakin S, Nsio J, Camacho A, et al. "Effectiveness of rVSV-ZEBOV Vaccination During the 2018–20 Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Retrospective Test-Negative Study." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2024.
Feldmann H, Sprecher A, Geisbert TW. "Ebola." The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020.
Kuehn R, Ryan H, Okwaraeke KC, et al. "Vaccines for Preventing Ebola Virus Disease." The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2024.
Choi MJ, Cossaboom CM, Whitesell AN, et al. "Use of Ebola Vaccine: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, United States, 2020." MMWR Recommendations and Reports, 2021.
Mukadi-Bamuleka D, Bulabula-Penge J, De Weggheleire A, et al. "Field Performance of Three Ebola Rapid Diagnostic Tests Used During the 2018–20 Outbreak in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2022.
Wonderly B, Jones S, Gatton ML, et al. "Comparative Performance of Four Rapid Ebola Antigen-Detection Lateral Flow Immunoassays During the 2014–2016 Ebola Epidemic in West Africa." PLoS One, 2018.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Clinical Guidance for Ebola Disease." 2026.
El Ayoubi LW, Mahmoud O, Zakhour J, Kanj SS. "Recent Advances in the Treatment of Ebola Disease: A Brief Overview." PLoS Pathogens, 2024.
Rojek A, Fieggen J, Apiyo P, et al. "Ebola Disease: Bridging Scientific Discoveries and Clinical Application." The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2025.
Bahadir Z, Narayan P, Wolters R, et al. "Monoclonal Antibodies for Pediatric Viral Disease Prevention and Treatment." Pediatrics, 2025.
Kallay R, Doshi RH, Muhoza P, et al. "Use of Ebola Vaccines — Worldwide, 2021–2023." MMWR, 2024.
Muyembe JJ, Pan H, Peto R, et al. "Ebola Outbreak Response in the DRC with rVSV-ZEBOV-GP Ring Vaccination." The New England Journal of Medicine, 2024.
 
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

This week, Tara and Nicole dig into the psychology of stalking — starting with the Hulu docuseries Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror, which follows a woman held captive in a soundproof box by the man who pursued her for more than a decadebefore she found a way to escape and had to decide whether to pursue lesser charges or fight for full justice against her captor. They trace the same fixation across pop culture — Netflix's Baby Reindeer, the 2007 documentary Crazy Love, Netflix's You, and the 2025 film Obsession — before pulling back to the clinical picture: what stalking actually looks like, how often it happens, and why it's so often minimized. On the medical side, they break down the CDC's data on stalking as a public health issue, including how common covert surveillance tactics like tracking and monitoring really are, and the mental health toll on survivors — PTSD, hopelessness, anxiety. They also revisit the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, whose case helped create the first U.S. anti-stalking laws, and close with the real story behind Baby Reindeer as told by creator Richard Gadd. Cocktail this week: The Celery Stalker. hulu
Sources & further reading:
Stalking Samantha: 13 Years of Terror (Hulu)
Stalking Samantha (Disney+)
Baby Reindeer — Wikipedia
Crazy Love (2007 film) — Wikipedia
Obsession (2025 film) — Wikipedia
The True Story Behind Baby Reindeer — People
Stalking — Office for Victims of Crime
Stalking — CDC Intimate Partner Violence Prevention
Stalking — Psychology Today
Eva LaRue on Surviving Stalking
Rebecca Schaeffer — Wikipedia
Rebecca Schaeffer's Murder — All That's Interesting
Celery Stalker cocktail inspiration — Epicurious
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

 
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and this week on Medical Media Mixer, Tara and Nicole are raising a glass — and raising awareness — with a deep dive into one of the most extraordinary stories in modern medicine. Anchored to physician assistant, astronaut, and osteosarcoma survivor Hayley Arceneaux's memoir Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships, this episode covers Hayley's diagnosis at age 10, the year of chemotherapy and bone-replacement surgery that followed, and the life-changing decision she made from her hospital bed at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: to come back someday and take care of kids like her. She kept that promise, became a PA at St. Jude, and then — in January 2021 — got a call that would take her further than she ever imagined. This week, Tara and Nicole unpack the data behind childhood cancer, break down osteosarcoma from a clinical perspective, and explore what it means to survive, to thrive, and to orbit the Earth at 357 miles up with a metal rod in your leg. And yes — there's a cocktail.
 
Sources & Further Reading
THE BOOK
Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships — Hayley Arceneaux (Convergent Books, 2022)
Wild Ride Adapted for Young Readers (2023)
Astronaut Hayley's Brave Adventure — Picture Book (2025)
 
THE DOCUMENTARY
Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space — Netflix (2021)
 
HAYLEY ARCENEAUX
hayleyarceneaux.com
@hayleyarc on Instagram
AAPA: Reaching New Heights — From Cancer Survivor to the First PA in Space (2021)
St. Jude: Women Who Inspire — Hayley Arceneaux
 
CHILDHOOD CANCER STATISTICS
Cancer Statistics, 2025. Siegel RL et al. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2025;75(1):10-45.
Global Burden of Cancer in Children and Adolescents, 1990–2023. GBD 2023 Childhood Cancer Collaborators. The Lancet. 2026;407(10536):1360-1373.
Trends in Childhood and Adolescent Cancer Incidence, 2001–2022. Shiels MS et al. Cancer Discovery. 2026;16(4):686-696.
 
SURVIVORSHIP & LATE EFFECTS
Clinical Care for People Who Survive Childhood Cancer: A Review. Bhatia S et al. JAMA. 2023;330(12):1175-1186.
Cardiovascular Toxicity in Patients Treated for Childhood Cancer. Ryan TD et al. Circulation. 2025;151(15):e926-e943.
Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics, 2025. Wagle NS et al. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2025;75(4):308-340.
 
OSTEOSARCOMA
Osteosarcoma Survivor Story — Hayley Arceneaux (Osteosarcoma Institute)
NCCN Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Guidelines
 
SUPPORT & RESOURCES
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital — stjude.org
American Childhood Cancer Organization — acco.org
Children's Oncology Group — childrensoncologygroup.org
 
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

We're revisiting Episode 12 with fresh, urgent context: On Sept. 10, 2026, the CDC issued a Health Alert Network advisory warning of a nationwide increase in rabies exposures and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) administration errors. Rabies vaccine use is up an estimated 33% year-over-year and rabies immunoglobulin use is up 76%, with at least eight state health departments reporting mistakes in how PEP is being given — including wrong injection sites and missed or unnecessary immunoglobulin doses. We also cover a real-world example of exactly this kind of mass-exposure event: In late August, North Carolina health officials confirmed rabies in four baby goats from Farm Adventures, a mobile petting zoo that visited 10 public events across six counties, including a back-to-school bash and an assisted living facility, before the exposure was caught.
Rabies is nearly 100% fatal once symptoms appear but fully preventable with timely, correctly administered PEP — which is why we're topping off this episode with what's changed.
Sources:
CDC HAN Advisory: Nationwide Increase in Reported Human Rabies Exposures
NCDHHS: Rabies Confirmed at Mobile Petting Zoo
NCDHHS: Additional Exposure Details, Mobile Petting Zoo
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

Show Notes
In 1964, a New York Times headline claimed 38 witnesses watched Kitty Genovese be stabbed to death in Kew Gardens, Queens, and did nothing — a story so shocking it launched decades of research into what psychologists now call the bystander effect. This week, Tara and Nicole dig into how much of that famous account was actually true. The 2015 documentary The Witness, directed by James Solomon and narrated by Kitty's brother Bill Genovese, dismantles the "38 witnesses" myth: there weren't 38 eyewitnesses, there were two attacks rather than three, at least one call to police was made during the assault, and a neighbor, Sophie Farrar, rushed to hold Kitty as she was dying. From there, the episode traces the real science Darley and Latané built off the (exaggerated) case — diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, and why groups notice and react to emergencies more slowly than individuals do — plus how the effect shows up in later cases like the death of Wang Yue in China and ABC's What Would You Do? Along the way: Good Samaritan laws, what altruism research says actually predicts who helps, and why a story doesn't have to be fully accurate to change an entire field of psychology.
Sources & further reading:
The Witness (2015 documentary) — Wikipedia
Bystander effect — Wikipedia
Death of Wang Yue — Wikipedia
Good Samaritan law — Wikipedia
Altruism — Wikipedia
What Would You Do? (2008 TV program) — Wikipedia
The Kitty Genovese Case — All That's Interesting
The Witness Exposes the Myths of Kitty Genovese's Murder — NPR
Original cocktail inspiration: Innocent Bystander Moscato Mojito — Two Loves Studio
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

This week, we're leaving the ER and heading upstairs — to the NICU. We're joined by Tara’s sister Kristin, doctorally prepared neonatal nurse practitioner, to break down ER Season 10, Episode 12 and Grey's Anatomy's NICU storylines, then get into the real clinical science behind what those shows depict. We cover congenital heart disease and coarctation of the aorta, extreme prematurity, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and therapeutic hypothermia, and what it actually looks like when a family decides to let go. The cocktail is The Tiny Fighter — gin, lemon, simple syrup, and bitters. Small but mighty, just like the patients.
Sources
ER S10E12 "NICU" — Apple TV
Grey's Anatomy NICU — Grey's Anatomy Universe Wiki
Congenital Heart Disease — CDC
Critical CHD Newborn Screening — CDC
Coarctation of the Aorta — American Heart Association
Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy — PMC Review 2024
Premature Birth — March of Dimes
CHD Epidemiology 1990–2021 — Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
HIE Outcomes — BONBID Dataset, Harvard/Boston Children's
NICU Ethics and Withdrawal of Care — Asian Bioethics Review
Current Practice Management Guidelines in Neonates and Infants with Isolated Coarctation of the Aorta — Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

This week we're diving into the unsettling world of parasomnias — sleep paralysis, night terrors, sleepwalking, sexsomnia, sleep eating, and sleep talking — using Inception and the 2015 documentary The Nightmare as our jumping-off point. We break down what's actually happening in the brain during these episodes, why sleep paralysis so often comes paired with terrifying hallucinations (hello, incubus and succubus folklore), and how conditions like exploding head syndrome, hypnic jerks, and nightmare disorder differ from garden-variety bad dreams. Pour yourself a Hypnagogic Highball and settle in — just maybe don't listen to this one right before bed.
Sources:
Inception (Wikipedia)
The Nightmare (2015 film) (Wikipedia)
Sleep Paralysis (Wikipedia)
Night Terror (Wikipedia)
Exploding Head Syndrome (Wikipedia)
Hypnic Jerk (Wikipedia)
Nightmare Disorder (Wikipedia)
Incubus (Wikipedia)
Succubus (Wikipedia)
Movies About Sleep-Wake Disorders (TherapyRoute)
Related video
Episodes every Monday ⭐️ Subscribe, Rate and Review!🍸 Recipes drop on socials Discounts: 15% off Comfrt apparel Purple Carrot: 40% off your first boxClassPass: 2 weeks free15% off non-alcoholic spirits at The Zero Proof💳 Support us on Patreon | ☕️ Buy Me a Coffee Contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.