Hello, everyone, and welcome to talk nerdy. Today is Monday, July 14th, 2025, and I'm the host of the show, Dr. Kara, Santa Maria.

And as always, before we dive into this week's episode, I want to thank those of you who make

talk nerdy possible. Remember, this podcast is and will always be 100% free to download.

Even today on episode number, what is it? 559.

The way that we keep going and the way that I'm able to pay both my incredible producer and assistant, Noel, and also my editing service, is by relying on the support from

individuals just like you.

Similar to the PBS and NPR model, you can pledge your support on an episodic basis.

All you've got to do is visit patreon.com slash talk nerdy.

And that's a special thank you for those of you who are my top contributors

making the podcast accessible to so many people.

I do give a shout out here at the top of the hour. So this week I want

to thank Anu Badovaj, Chuck Blell, Daniel Lang, David J. E. Smith, Joseph Lamore, Mary Niva,

Ryan Holden, David Compton, Gabrielle F. Harmeo, Joe Wilkinson, Pesquale Jolati, and Ulrika

Hagman. Thank you all so very much.

All right. As always, we've got a new one, a fascinating one. Let's get into it. This week,

I had the opportunity to speak with Rachel Frazen. She is a journalist who currently reports for The Hill. She historically wrote for

The Daily Beast, the Chicago Sun Times, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Palm Beach Post,

and she covers energy and environment politics for the Hill out of Washington, D.C. She co-wrote

this book. It's her first book called Poisoning the Well,

How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America, an important and interesting chat with Rachel

Fraser. Here we go. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for having me.

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