Caution! The holiday season is upon us. Terrible holiday jingles blast out of every speaker and get stuck in your head, there’s so much to do before the end of the year, and then we’ll be stress-eating and washing it all down with alcohol. All that while promising ourselves that we’ll definitely change things in the new year (though we likely won’t). In this special episode, we explore the science of what makes this time of year so…special.

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The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/Libo. Visit our website: https://libolibo.me/

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Contact us: nakedmolerat@libolibo.me

This episode was produced by Andrey Borzenko, Ilya Marritz, Danil Astapov, Anastasia Medvedeva and Lika Kremer. Our sound editor is Ildar Fattakhov.

In the late 19th century, a deadly illness spread across Asia and into Europe, infecting millions, and prompting what may have been the world’s first “infodemic” — with news (and rumors) about the infection traveling in realtime, via telegram. A teenaged Winston Churchill even wrote a poem about it. Sometimes called “Russian flu” or “American fever” the illness rarely affected children, but caused adults to lose their sense of taste and smell. Is it just possible that “Russian flu” was a coronavirus?

The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/Libo. Visit our website: https://libolibo.me/

Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications

Contact us: nakedmolerat@libolibo.me

This episode was produced by Andrey Borzenko, Ilya Marritz, Danil Astapov, Anastasia Medvedeva and Lika Kremer. Our sound editor is Ildar Fattakhov.

Ukraine is a country that produces a lot of talented math and programming students, and Yuliya Zdanovska was among the most promising. But it was the choices she made about how to live her life that really set her apart. After graduating university, Yuliya dedicated herself to teaching ordinary students at a rural school. Then, when Russia invaded Ukraine, she went to Kharkiv, close to the front-lines, to defend her hometown. That is where she died in 2022.

The Naked Mole Rat is a podcast by Libo/Libo. Visit our website: https://libolibo.me/

Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications.

Contact us: nakedmolerat@libolibo.me

This episode was produced by Andrey Borzenko and Ilya Marritz.