Episode Details

President Trump has declared that Tylenol should not be used during pregnancy. On this week’s On the Media, how funding cuts and disputed claims linking the drug to autism have sent scientists reeling. Plus, how the religious right are processing the death of Charlie Kirk.

[01:00]  Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with John Tuthill, neurobiology and biophysics professor at the University of Washington, describes the state of scientific research under Donald Trump, and how it feels to review grant proposals “while the system is burning.”

[15:52] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Josh Keating, senior correspondent at Vox, on how the Trump administration is combining the “war on terror” with the “war on drugs.” 

[33:48] Host Brooke Gladstone talks with Matthew D. Taylor, senior Christian scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, about how Charlie Kirk has been memorialized as a saint and a martyr by the religious right, and what it means.

Further reading / listening:

• “Fear and loathing on study section: Reviewing grant proposals while the system is burning,” by John Tuthill
• “What happens when Trump combines the war on drugs with the war on terror,” by Josh Keating
• “Inside Charlie Kirk's Memorial: A Deep Dive into Christian Nationalism and Political Polarization,” by Bradley Onishi, Straight White American Jesus Podcast

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