Episode 1: That's Not How Stem Cells Work | E1 & E2 of The Flash

Photo by Nikolas Noonan on Unsplash

It’s the origin story of our favorite red speedster, the Flash! First, we talk about the real-life effects of lightning strikes on the body (spoiler: you probably won’t get superpowers, but you might get psychic powers?) and tornadogenesis. Then we discuss the fascinating field of therapeutic organ cloning, as well as the less fascinating field of employment contracts.

Article links:

Lightning strikes

• Great NYTimes piece with audio from a survivor's 911 call

• NOAA website on lightning safety

  • Medical aspects of lightning

  • Self-reported symptoms

  • 5 ways you can get hit by lightning

• Lightning strike and electrical shock survivors group

• Top lightning strike survivor researcher

Tornadoes

• How Tornadoes Form and Why They’re So Unpredictable

Therapeutic cloning

• Therapeutic Cloning and Stem Cell Research

• Info on adult stem cells from the NIH

• Popular Science article on transplantable human hearts grown with stem cells