In Infectious Dose, Heather McSharry, PhD, virologist-turned-science-writer, brings her blog to the airwaves to help bridge the dangerous gap between the science of infectious diseases and public misperception. On the podcast website, infectiousdose.com, all episodes have corresponding blog posts with the information contained in the episode along with links or PDFs for all sources used. To prevent unwelcome surprises, episodes with limited, mild profanity are marked as explicit.
*Podcast intro and outro music are adapted from Heather Nova’s song, I Miss My Sky. Used with permission.
All content for Infectious Dose is the property of Infectious Dose and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
In Infectious Dose, Heather McSharry, PhD, virologist-turned-science-writer, brings her blog to the airwaves to help bridge the dangerous gap between the science of infectious diseases and public misperception. On the podcast website, infectiousdose.com, all episodes have corresponding blog posts with the information contained in the episode along with links or PDFs for all sources used. To prevent unwelcome surprises, episodes with limited, mild profanity are marked as explicit.
*Podcast intro and outro music are adapted from Heather Nova’s song, I Miss My Sky. Used with permission.
In this special Month of the Macabre episode, Infectious Dose steps into gothic territory with a haunting reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven—rewritten for the age of science denial.
The R@VN follows a man who built his fame on rejecting vaccines and mistrusting public health—until a disease he dismissed returns to claim him. As paralysis sets in, his smart-home AI, the Rational Autonomous Virtual Nexus (R@VN), becomes both witness and judge, speaking in clinical tones that sound increasingly like prophecy.
What begins as denial ends as digital haunting—a parable for the consequences of rejecting science.
It’s fiction… but the danger is real. Listen to the end for a post-credits scene.
🪶 Listen for:– A modern retelling of The Raven with Poe’s original rhythm and rhyme– The intersection of technology, hubris, and health– How polio still haunts us—and why vaccine denial makes it rise again
💉 Related episode: A Plague Returned
Note: R@VN is a fictional artificial intelligence system created for storytelling purposes. Any resemblance to actual products, companies, or technologies is purely coincidental.
The R@VN is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1845), now in the public domain.
Infectious Dose
In Infectious Dose, Heather McSharry, PhD, virologist-turned-science-writer, brings her blog to the airwaves to help bridge the dangerous gap between the science of infectious diseases and public misperception. On the podcast website, infectiousdose.com, all episodes have corresponding blog posts with the information contained in the episode along with links or PDFs for all sources used. To prevent unwelcome surprises, episodes with limited, mild profanity are marked as explicit.
*Podcast intro and outro music are adapted from Heather Nova’s song, I Miss My Sky. Used with permission.
