Headache symptoms can strike sufferers without warning, disabling them for even days at a time.

There have been nearly 4,000 years of documented headache disorders — and virtually everyone has had headaches — yet their underlying neurological cause is still unknown.

This hour, a look at the long history of headaches and the current science around and treatments for headaches. Plus: headaches in our literature and popular culture.

GUESTS:

• Kathleen O’Shea: The editor of So Much More Than a Headache: Understanding Migraine Through Literature
• Tom Zeller Jr.: The author of The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Condition and the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Undark

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

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Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.

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They're in the books we read, the shows we watch, and the art we hang on our walls. They conjure notions of might, magic, romance, and more. Castles, perhaps as much as any other architectural structure in history, define the landscape of our fantasy and imagination.

But is our imagination an accurate lens through which to view these fortresses of ol'? And why, after hundreds of years, does our culture's fascination with these structures seem to be on the rise? This hour, we speak with experts and enthusiasts about the reality and mystique of castles.

GUESTS:

• Marc Morris: Medieval historian and author of books including Castles: Their History and Evolution in Medieval Britain

• Victor Lodato: Playwright, poet, and novelist whose books include Edgar and Lucy

• Edward Town: Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art

• Brent Bruns II: - Star of the hit National Geographic reality TV show "Doomsday Castle"

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired on May 18, 2017.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we're doing another one.

Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.