David Epstein: Holographic Supplements
The Story Collider
Story Collider, Inc.
4.4 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2015
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sports writer David Epstein tracks down some surprising health claims circulating in the football world. David Epstein is author of the recent New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene, an exploration of the genetic basis of athleticism. He is currently an investigative reporter at the non-profit ProPublica. Up until September, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He has been a crime reporter at the New York Daily News, and an education reporter at Inside Higher Ed. In his past life, David was a geology grad student. He has lived in the Sonoran Desert, on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, in the Arctic in Alaska, and -- like every other writer -- in Brooklyn.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A science story, huh? |
| 0:04.0 | Is NYU a scientist? |
| 0:06.0 | I felt it. |
| 0:07.0 | And I just thought, well. |
| 0:10.0 | It was that golden moment. |
| 0:12.0 | Because science was on my side. |
| 0:15.0 | Everyone. Hey, everyone, I'm Ben Lilly, and welcome to The Story Collider, where we bring you true personal stories about science. |
| 0:30.2 | This episode of The Story Collider is brought to you by Harry's. |
| 0:33.2 | For guys who want a great shave experience, for a fraction of what you're paying now, go to harries.com. |
| 0:38.0 | And this year, for Valentine's Day, give the gift of Harry's. |
| 0:40.3 | Get $5 off your first purchase by entering the code Collider at checkout. |
| 0:45.4 | We have shows coming up in New York City, a special event March 3rd with Springer, and March 18th is our annual Brain Awareness Week show. |
| 0:53.7 | More info at storycollider.org. |
| 0:56.6 | This week's story is from David Epstein. It was recorded in August 2014 at Littlefield in Brooklyn. |
| 1:10.2 | So it was late 2012, and I found myself in Alabama, covered in stickers with holograms on them, |
| 1:19.9 | my forehead burning from wearing a skull cap that had been doused in some icy hot-like substance |
| 1:25.5 | and given to me by a former male stripper who had become |
| 1:28.3 | a self-styled scientist. Now this story actually started with a linebacker on the St. Louis Rams, |
| 1:35.9 | a guy named David Vibora, and Vibora had failed a drug test for the steroid-methel testosterone |
| 1:40.2 | and decided to sue a supplement company that he said was responsible for his positive drug test. |
| 1:46.0 | And I was reading through the lawsuit. |
| 1:48.0 | I'd done a lot of reporting on the dietary supplement industry, and I knew it could be pretty shady. |
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