Dr Sarah Holper

Neurologist. Host of Unhealthy Curiosity — a science podcast about the human body’s features and flaws. Author of What’s Wrong With You?

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

The human body has a number of flaws.

Your brain, for example, is balanced on two stilts about six feet in the air. On a planet with gravity.

My podcast explores the body’s features — and its more questionable design choices.

🎧 Unhealthy Curiosity: https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

So You Think You Want a Six-Pack? This episode explores the gruelling reality of competitive bodybuilding, and how a 19th century circus strongman used a tape measure, Greek statues, and a little maths to define the ‘perfect’ physique (do you measure up?) https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

🎙️How Long Can You Stay Awake?🥱In one experiment, a man who didn't sleep for a week ended up sobbing about an imaginary gorilla. Discover what science has uncovered about the effects of sleep deprivation, and whether the brain recovers afterwards. Listen: https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

🎙️Corn Flakes Will Never Taste the Same 🌽 The inventor of Corn Flakes believed cinnamon was morally suspicious and flavour was a threat to virtue. On John Harvey Kellogg, and why evolution made flavour far too appealing for his crusade to succeed. https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

In 1980, flight attendants began apparently sweating blood on flights between New York and Florida. The explanation was not what anyone expected. Also featuring the only diagnostic dilemma ever solved by a dermatologist ringing a snack-food manufacturer. https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

The Itchy & Scratchy Show🎙️
The biology of itching, including NASA’s emergency Velcro patches, exploding lice in World War I trenches, contagious scratching, amphetamites, mosquito mouth-javelins, and the imaginary insects produced by the brain itself. https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

What Does Your Urine Say About You? Including ancient Egyptian pregnancy tests, beetroot-induced panic, blue urine pranks, and why IKEA once asked women to wee on their catalogue. Listen here: https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

🎙️The Strange Science of Sneezing 🤧
This episode examines the odd biology and even odder rituals surrounding sneezing. Including sunlight sneezes, chocolate sneezes, and why on earth we feel compelled to bless them. Listen here: https://t.co/L9iVQZo8rq🤧

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

🎙️Doctor, Or Piss Prophet?🎙️ For thousands of years, doctors believed urine revealed the hidden workings of the body. By peering at a patient’s wee, they diagnosed everything from epilepsy to death — sometimes without even meeting the patient. Listen here: https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

🎙️DNA, Twins, and the Serial Killer Who Never Existed🎙️
This episode explores what happens when DNA evidence meets identical twins, and why one of Europe’s most feared serial killers turned out to be much stranger than anyone expected. https://t.co/5ropFKy18j

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

@JamesHarkin May I make a cheeky request for the details of that 1920s piece advising against kissing freckled girls on the cheek? I love reading these eccentric old medical articles.

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

@zach_london @JohnJeddore @Teleneurology @sindhura96 @JoshuaBudhu @UKYSTART @OligoclonalBand @IsaacLamb01 @ASouthStrokeDoc @EmilySchorrMD @synapse2000 @MissRoshni @RGottliebSmith @UMICHNeuroRes

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

Parakinesia brachialis oscitans: the involuntary movement of an otherwise paralysed arm during yawning. https://t.co/hoL1o8WAYi

[Wavesound Australia @WavesoundAUS]

Huge congratulations to Rupert Degas who has become one of only 38 authors EVER to be inducted as an @AudioFileMag Golden Voice! He joins the illustrious company of Juliet Stevenson & Adjoa Andoh.
https://t.co/aF1t1lKlFx
Here's some of the epic titles he has narrated for us:

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

Physiotherapy students learn to massage on a knead to know basis.

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

Don’t dismiss the possibility of performing your own post-mortem. Autop-see for yourself.

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

Did you hear about the surgeon who was fired for botching a vasectomy? He just didn't cut it.

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

@rodonnabhain Ulcer is an anagram of cruel, but also lucre. So it could go either way. Chancres really are worth a chancre.

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

My eczema relapsed after I stopped applying preventative cream. I had to start from scratch.

[Dr Sarah Holper @SarahHolper]

After inventing bursting ammo in 1784, Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel’s career didn’t go to pieces, but did explode (he was promoted to Lieutenant General).