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From Wondry, I'm Lindsey Graham and this is American Scandal.

Today we're wrapping up our series on Walter Freeman, a doctor who earned the nickname, the Ice Pick Surgeon.

In the 1930s, Freeman was looking for a cure for mental illness. When he discovered the lobotomy, he believed he'd found a silver bullet.

The procedure involved severing physical connections in the brain and Freeman was convinced that he could cure a variety of diseases from depression to addiction.

Freeman traveled the country, performing lobotomies. He went on to lobotomize about 4,000 patients, including men, women, and children.

In the process, Freeman became one of the most famous doctors in America, and with his influence on the medical field, he helped turn the lobotomy into a widespread treatment.

Today, historians view Freeman as a cautionary tale about the dangers of experimental medicine.

And while the lobotomy is now widely seen as barbaric, in modern medicine, there are still echoes of Freeman's work.

My guest today is Chris Cannelli. She's a journalist and the author of books including The Invisible History of the Human Race.

In a recent article for The New Yorker, Cannelli looked at a technology known as neural implants. These high-tech devices are placed inside human brains.

And while they can effectively treat some disorders, their expanding use is also raising alarms. In our conversation, we'll discuss the benefits of neural implants.

And the reasons why business leaders like Mark Zuckerberg are celebrating the devices. We'll also look at the unintended consequences of placing technology inside the human brain.

Our conversation is next.

Hi there, Wondry listeners. Hannah and Sruti here from TrueCram Podcast Redhanded. Your favourite podcast redhanded.

We just wanted to say how excited we are to be included in Amazon Music and Wondry's best podcasts of the year as chosen by their listeners, which is you.

So thank you so much to everyone who listened to us voted for us, all the things you do for us.

Any of you out there who haven't checked out redhanded, what are you doing? What are you waiting for? It's a weekly show where we deep dive into the most talked about cases like the Delphi murders.

And also those you might never have heard of like the Nehtari Child sacrifices in Delhi.

Go listen to Redhanded right now on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

Whitney Houston's voice was in a class all its own. Her talent defined a generation.

But privately she struggled to be the woman she wanted to be. In our new series Whitney Houston, Destiny of Adiva, we'll tell you how her public success hit a deeply private pain.

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