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Big Picture Science

Think­ing small can some­times achieve big things. A new gen­er­a­tion of diminu­tive robots can enter our bod­ies and deal with med­ical prob­lems such as intesti­nal block­ages. But do we real­ly want them swim­ming inside us, even if they’re promis­ing to help? You might change your mind when you hear what else is cruis­ing through our blood­stream: microplastics! 

We take a trip into the human body, begin­ning with the sto­ry of those who first dared to open it up for med­ical pur­pos­es. But were the first sur­geons real­ly cavemen?

Guests:

  • Ira Rutkow – Sur­geon and writer, and author of Empire of the Scalpel: The His­to­ry of Surgery
  • Dick Vethaak – Emer­i­tus pro­fes­sor of eco­tox­i­col­o­gy, water qual­i­ty and health at the Vri­je Uni­ver­siteit Ams­ter­dam (Free Uni­ver­si­ty, Ams­ter­dam) in The Netherlands 
  • Li Zhang – Pro­fes­sor in the Depart­ment of Mechan­i­cal and Automa­tion Engi­neer­ing, The Chi­nese Uni­ver­si­ty of Hong Kong 
  • Michael LaBar­bera — Pro­fes­sor in organ­is­mal biol­o­gy, anato­my and geo­phys­i­cal sci­ences, Uni­ver­si­ty of Chicago