042 - Childbirth and Crowdfunding Quackery

It’s Two Men and a Baby as Jonathan realizes that Chris takes odd bets and ends up with an infant to care for. Has childbirth been over- or under-medicalized? Ada talks to clueless university students about the miracle of life. Do epidurals make mothers too “chill”? The boys discuss maternal mortality rates, what can go wrong while giving birth, and water births (wait! how does the baby not drown?). Also: how can crowdfunding platforms identify appeals for quack cancer treatments, and the difference between primary and secondary prevention when it comes to “an aspirin a day”. It’s episode 42, meaning it contains the answer to life, the universe, and everything. And there’s a special guest star who’s totally not the boyfriend of one of our contributors.   Vox pop by Ada McVean of the McGill Office for Science and Society.   Jingle by Joseph Hackl.   Additional music by Seth Donnelly and Kevin MacLeod.   Theme music: "Troll of the Mountain Swing" by the Underscore Orkestra.   To contribute to The Body of Evidence, go to our Patreon page at: http://www.patreon.com/thebodyofevidence/.