Listen up, you lot, we have excellent news.

Have you started listening to Shorthand yet?

It's red-handed sexy little sister show hosted by even sexier us.

She's short, at a snappy 20 minutes an episode, but she's smart,

covering everything from marine catastrophes like the Byford Dolphin,

where an entire diving crew were quite literally liquefied,

or what will happen if Yellowstone ever erupts,

and how rabies destroys the human brain.

Not to mention our rundown on the Black Death,

that Gwyneth Paltrow Ski accident that turned into a musical,

and lost civilizations like that of Glebeckley-Tepi

to name just a few topics to get you all excited.

And because we love you all so very much this year,

we are going to be releasing two episodes of Shorthand every single week into your feed.

You heard that right, and you can thank us later, but you can also thank us now

by going immediately to listen to Shorthand

and doing so every single week, twice, for free, wherever you get your podcasts,

and also please share those episodes far and wide. Thank you. Hello, hello, and welcome to your Valentine's Day special short hand.

It is, of course, Valentine's Day, and we thought, what better time than to take a look at this

particular topic. Because from ancient civilizations to the Renaissance, humanity has thrown

some seriously creative curveballs into the quest to outsmart that pesky little stalk.

From ancient pesseries to questionable potions, in this shorthand, we'll be diving into the bizarre history of contraception.

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