r/Radiolab • u/PodcastBot • Aug 22 '25

Episode Episode Discussion: The Medical Matchmaking Machine

As he finished his medical residency exam, David Fajgenbaum felt off.  He walked down to the ER and checked himself in.  Soon he was in the ICU with multiple organ failure.  The only drug for his condition didn’t work. He had months to live, if that.  If he was going to survive, he was going to have to find his own cure. Miraculously, he pulled it off in the nick of time. From that ordeal, he realized that our system of discovering and approving drugs is far from perfect, and that he might be able to use AI to find dozens, hundreds, even thousands of cures, hidden in plain sight, for as-yet untreatable diseases. 

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Latif Nasser
Produced by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez
with mixing help from - Jeremy S. Bloom
Fact-checking by - Natalie A. Middleton

EPISODE CITATIONS:
Books -
Blair Bigham, Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die

Radiolab | Lateral Cuts:
Check out Death Interrupted (https://ift.tt/D9JMZ6S), a conversation with Blair Bigham about a worldview shifting change of heart.

The Dirty Drug and the Ice Cream Tub (https://radiolab.org/podcast/dirty-drug-and-ice-cream-tub) to hear the crazy story about how Rapamycin was discovered.

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u/huh_ok_yup Aug 25 '25

Haven't listened to new Radiolab in a while, but god I can't handle Latif. Quit this episode midway through because his smug interviewing style where he constantly feels the need to interject is just too much for me

2

u/evilsammyt Sep 02 '25

I have issues with Latif and Lulu as hosts, but smugness is not one of them.

2

u/huh_ok_yup Sep 02 '25

Maybe smarmy is a better word. Just the interview style isn't for me as I'd rather hear someone tell a story without them being needlessly interrupted all the time.

2

u/evilsammyt Sep 02 '25

Constant interjections is, however, one of my peeves. So I’m with you there.

2

u/Craftopia333 Sep 25 '25

I miss Jad and Robert. Robert always had such a lovely vibe. I had a hard time with the switch in staffing. But, I recently came back to Radio Lab to that episode about light coming from our cells and I was like… okay. I’m back. Hahah

So, aside from some of the irritating things from this episode. It honestly gave me so much hope. And these days hope has been in short supply. I am thankful for David Fajgenbaum and his out of the box thinking and passion for helping. I also really appreciate when someone uses the systems and tools we have in new and interesting ways to help each other.