‘Common Side Effects’ And An All-Healing Mushroom | The Unique Smell Of Snow

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.5 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In "Common Side Effects," the starring scientist finds a mushroom that can heal any ailment. But powerful people will do anything to stop him from cultivating it. And, a combination of environmental factors and the way our bodies function play a role in how we perceive the smell of snow.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Listener supported WNYC Studios.
0:12.0	This is Science Friday. I'm Flora Lixman.
0:14.7	Today in the podcast, why does snow smell the way it does?
0:18.5	But first, a new animated TV show makes fungi the star.
0:22.9	If there were a medicine that could cure almost anything, what would that look like? And
0:27.6	mushroom seemed exciting from a storytelling perspective.
0:32.5	In the new adult swim show, common side effects, an eccentric scientist has a secret.
0:38.7	He's discovered a strange mushroom that can cure any illness or injury, and he wants to get it to the people in need.
0:45.3	The only problem is that a pharmaceutical company doesn't want that secret to get out and will do anything to make sure he's stopped.
0:53.0	The show is pioneering a brand new genre that I hope will dominate my algorithm,
0:58.2	the mycological thriller.
1:00.7	This might look like individual fungi, but what you're seeing is a single intelligence.
1:06.0	The blue angel mushrooms could have effects 100 times anything we've ever seen.
1:12.0	They want to nipped in the butt.
1:13.2	I'll call the DEA right now, whatever it takes.
1:18.6	Joining me now to talk about this fungal drama are the show's creators Steve Healey and Joe Bennett.
1:24.8	Steve was a writer for 30 Rock and Veep and Joe is creator of the animated
1:28.6	sci-fi show Scavenger's Rain on Max. Welcome to Science Friday. A pleasure to be here.
1:34.6	Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Okay, so this story revolves around a magical mushroom.
1:40.5	Are either of you fungi freaks? We're both enthusiasts of mushrooms as insane phenomena.
1:51.3	It's hard not to be interested in mushrooms, and the more you learn about them, the more
1:54.9	interesting they become.
	...

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