This Week in Science – The Kickass Science Podcast · Dr. Kirsten Sanford Science Media

Science Unplugged

·2 hr 3 min·5 clips

"Science is not a brand," comes first. The episode opens with Twiss housekeeping, the episode number, the September 3rd, 2025 recording date, Patreon thanks, and a pointed reminder that science is a process. Dr. Kiki quickly turns that into a political argument: a historically science-based health agency stops being science-based when it stops using science to guide public work. Then the chemistry takes the mic. The pain story centers on Adriana, an oral treatment with a long chemical name and a friendlier nickname. Adriana works on the alpha 2 adrenergic system by antagonizing alpha 2b receptors, which the host translates as turning off their signal. That matters because the drug appears to raise alpha 2a receptor activity through an indirect loop instead of directly stimulating the pathway tied to cardiac trouble. The animal results sound encouraging. Researchers gave Adriana orally to mice and non-human primates, and the excerpt says they saw analgesia without cardiovascular effects. They checked the receptor link, too: when alpha 2b receptors were removed, Adriana no longer dulled pain. The opioid comparison stays in the room. The excerpt raises the possibility of pain relief without addiction, then immediately worries about how hard that point was pushed. Very Twiss: interested, a little suspicious, and still asking what was measured, what was emphasized, and what needs proof. The close returns to show business with questions, topic ideas, interview suggestions, and the science-method outro song.

As heard by us

A brisk, skeptical science chat that moves from public-health framing to pain research.

Science Unplugged is Twiss at its sharpest. It starts with the idea that science is a process, not a brand, and carries that thought into the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where science can stop feeling like science once it is filtered through human bias.

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Why you'd press play

For science talk that swings from health policy critique to an oral pain-drug story.

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