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Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode and follow it to see what it reveals.

Welcome to Field Notes After Dark, where I take one idea from the episode and follow it where it leads.

Field Notes is where I take one idea from the episode and follow it to see what it reveals.

Explore the hidden microbial world of freshwater lakes, including swimmer's itch, harmful algal blooms, Naegleria fowleri, and how scientists monitor water quality.

Step inside a 1920s speakeasy to explore medicinal whiskey, Prohibition, and the surprising history of medicine before antibiotics.

Summary For centuries, hospitals were places where patients often acquired deadly infections instead of recovering from illness. In this final installment of our Turning Points in Infectious Disease series, we trace the remarkable transformation that changed that reality. From Ignaz Semmelweis's controversial handwashing campaign in a Vienna maternity ward to Louis Pasteur's germ theory, Joseph Lister's antiseptic surgery, and Florence Nightingale's vision for cleaner, health

Outbreak Watch: Get the latest updates on Ebola, New World screwworm, U.S. cyclosporiasis, H5 avian influenza, and why disease surveillance matters.

Why are vaccines easy for some diseases and elusive for others? Explore how pathogens like influenza, HIV, and malaria challenge prevention in different ways.

Discover how Edward Jenner's bold experiment transformed medicine, launched the science of vaccination, and helped eradicate smallpox in this episode of Infectious Dose exploring one of history's greatest public health turning points.

What military outbreaks reveal about infectious disease, crowded environments, and the hidden design choices that shape health and vulnerability.

Discover how infectious disease transformed military history in Holding the Line: How Prevention Became Military Strategy. From George Washington and Florence Nightingale to Walter Reed, military vaccination, COVID aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and today's influenza outbreaks, explore the history of force health protection and preventive medicine.

Discover how wounds become chemical signals that attract parasites, predators, microbes, and other organisms. Plus the latest Ebola, Marburg, hantavirus, and New World screwworm outbreak updates.

Field Notes #11: Nightfall explores why dusk is one of nature's busiest transitions, from mosquitoes and bats to owls and moths, plus the latest updates on Ebola, hantavirus, and New World screwworm.

Podcast episode on New World screwworm: how sterile insect releases eradicated a flesh‑eating parasite from North America, why Texas is seeing new screwworm cases in 2026, and what this outbreak reveals about prevention and the consequences of disabling the public health infrastructure that protects us.

Why do mosquito bites itch? In this Outbreak After Dark episode, explore how mosquitoes find hosts, take blood meals, spread disease, and trigger the immune response—all from the perspective of a Gulf Coast summer night.

Outbreak Watch: Line of Sight examines the growing Ebola outbreak in the DRC, the Hondius hantavirus response, and emerging screwworm detections in the U.S., exploring how surveillance, visibility, and uncertainty shape outbreak response.

Petrichor feels deeply human, but the smell of rain may not be for us at all. A look at geosmin, animal behavior, and the ecological signals hidden in summer storms.

Why can we smell rain? Explore the science of petrichor, geosmin, soil microbes, and the memories connected to summer storms in this immersive podcast episode.

What follows us home from a walk in the woods? This issue of Field Notes explores summer ecosystems and the unseen exchanges between people and nature.

How can a tick bite make someone allergic to red meat months later? Explore the mystery, science, diagnosis, and history of alpha-gal syndrome in this episode of Infectious Dose.