Why Is It So Hard to Get Rid of Lice?!
Part-Time Genius
iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 16 September 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For a tiny insect, lice sure can cause big problems! Today Mango and producer Mary—both veterans of the head lice wars—dive into the ancient history of this itchy critter (including mummies with lice!), explore bizarre superstitions and home remedies you shouldn’t try (please don’t dunk your head in kerosene!), and finally, talk to some experts about treatments that do work… and why you might want to take a moment to appreciate your lice before you destroy them.
- Check out Dale Clayton’s Clayton & Bush Lab at the University of Utah.
- Learn more about Dale’s AirAlle device.
- Watch Laurie Moyer’s videos on YouTube and TikTok, or visit Lice Centers of Wisconsin.
- Learn more about Ian Burgess’s work at Insect Research & Development.
Got a question you’d like us to answer? A rabbit hole you think we should explore? Email higeniuses@gmail.com or leave us a message at (302) 405-5925.
Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social!
“Hunting for Lice” (1652) by Gerard ter Borch, via Wikimedia Commons.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
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| 0:36.9 | about Benghazi. Nine times out of 10, |
| 0:40.5 | they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why? Benghazi, the truth became a web of |
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| 0:54.1 | What difference at this point does it make? Listen to and Pushkin Industries, this is Fiasco, Benghazi. |
| 0:56.8 | What difference at this point does it make? |
| 1:13.4 | Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to Collidescope. |
| 1:20.9 | You're listening to Part-Time Genius, |
| 1:23.9 | a production of kaleidoscope and I-heart radio. Guess what, Mango? What's that, Mary? The oldest known sentence Heart Radio. |
| 1:28.9 | Guess what, Mango? |
| 1:29.9 | What's that, Mary? |
| 1:33.9 | The oldest known sentence written in an alphabet is about lice. |
| 1:37.1 | One, I don't know how that is possible. |
| 1:41.6 | And two, just saying the words lice is already making me itch. |
| 1:43.0 | This is completely true. |
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