Hi, I'm Sam Keem, and this is the Disappearing Spoon, a show about little-known stories from

our scientific past.

I've been working on this podcast for a year now, and I've got big news.

I'm joining forces with another awesome History of Science podcast, Distillations.

Distillations is produced by the Science History Institute in Philadelphia, and hosted

by Alexis Pedrick and Lisa Berry-Dregum.

I'm thrilled to join their podcast family.

Hey, Sam.

We're glad to have you, and we're super excited for all of your episodes this season.

Well, I'm thrilled to be here.

Thanks for having me.

The Science History Institute is going to be releasing the Disappearing Spoon and Distillations

on alternating schedules, so you'll never lack for history of science content.

You can keep finding my show here and your feed and on my website, but my next 10 episodes

will also be featured in the Distillations podcast feed.

You can find out more at distillations.org, now on to the episode.

Amid all the logistical headaches of delivering a coronavirus vaccine, one big challenge involves

the cold chain.

That is, the need to keep vaccine doses at consistently cold temperatures to keep them viable.

But the more I heard about the cold chain, the more I started wondering about something else.

The very first vaccines produced all the way back in 1796 for smallpox.

That was long before refrigerators and dry ice machines.

...