Podcast · Tech & Science

playing god?

by Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics · English · Tech & Science

Life-and-death decisions. Difficult tradeoffs. playing god? explores ethical dilemmas in health and medicine through the first-person stories of people who have lived them. Recognized with three 2024 Signal Awards. Brought to you by the Dracopoulos-Bloomberg iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berm

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 26 min
Latest: 13 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026 · 24 minNew

Gut Strings

playing god? presents… "Gut Strings, " a musician’s experience with uncertainty around an unexpected colon cancer diagnosis. Loren Ludwig, previously protected by confidence in his ability to learn his way past personal obstacles, must now grapple with medical uncertainty. Bioethicist Gail Geller draws on 35 years of research on uncertainty in medicine to reflect on the profound impact of what we don’t know and understand. Gut Strings is an original production by the iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics . Written and produced by Simon Adler. This production features:…

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Earlier episodes 20 most recent

7 Jul 2026 · 25 min
A World Without Nurses
playing god? presents… "A World Without Nurses "—it’s a future no one wants to imagine, but doing so brings into sharp focus just how essential nurses are today. Prepare to be transported into this dystopian scenario through innovative storytelling and immersive sound design, ultimately serving as a call to action. Want to help make an impact? Explore our listening session facilitation guide: nursing.jhu.edu/faculty-research/research/centers/r3/a-world-without-nurses/ " A World Without Nurses " is an original production by the iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics ,…
30 Jun 2026 · 2 min
playing god? presents...
The iDeas Lab team is hard at work on playing god? Season 3, but we have some special things to share with you in the meantime. Listen for a preview of what’s coming next in the feed. And we’re opening a voicemail box! Call us at 410-417-9860 to tell us your questions, reactions, and stories. We look forward to hearing from you.
S2 · E6 · 23 Jun 2026 · 24 min
Two Bodies, One Prescription
When Ashley Womble decides she wants to start a family, she worries she'll need to stop taking her antidepressant medication. Instead of finding clear guidance, she runs head-first into a troubling reality: many of the questions pregnant women and their physicians face about medication safety remain difficult to answer because pregnant women have historically been excluded from medical research. This episode looks at the ethical trade offs of leaving pregnant women out of medical research—and what happens when they and their doctors must make high stakes healthcare decisions without high…
S2 · E5 · 16 Jun 2026 · 26 min
A Shot at Weight Loss: Should I Take It?
Rebecca Morrison is healthy by many measures. But like millions of people today, she finds herself wondering whether or not she should be taking a GLP-1 drug. What's the right thing to do? This episode explores how this new class of weight loss drugs is reshaping our healthcare choices, and the landscape in which we make them. You can read more about Rebecca Morrison’s story in her novel, The Blue Dress , released March 2026. This episode features: Rebecca K. Morrison : Writer. Mara Gordon, MD : Primary Care Physician at Cooper University Hospital and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine…
S2 · E4 · 9 Jun 2026 · 29 min
How Far Would You Go to Have a Healthy Baby?
After losing their son Noahto to mitochondrial disease, Kristelle and Evan Shulman are determined that his death will not be in vain, holding fast to their dream of having healthy, biologically-related children. This search leads them abroad in pursuit of an emerging reproductive technology, one filled with scientific promise, but also ethical questions, financial strain, and profound uncertainty. This episode explores how families and physicians make decisions when novel approaches can reduce risk, but never eliminate it. (Part 2 of 2.) This episode features: Kristelle and Evan Shulman:…
S2 · E3 · 2 Jun 2026 · 25 min
Losing Noah
When Kristelle and Evan Shulman lose their young son Noah to a rare mitochondrial disease, they are told they may never be able to have a healthy biologically related child. Then they discover mitochondrial replacement technology, or MRT, a controversial procedure that could prevent the disease from being passed on to future generations. This episode explores how families, clinicians, and policymakers grapple with the ethics of novel reproductive technologies that offer extraordinary hope amid profound uncertainty. (Part 1 of 2.) This episode features: Kristelle and Evan Shulman: Parents…
S2 · E2 · 26 May 2026 · 25 min
To Infinity and Beyond—At What Cost?
Humanity is actively working towards a mission to Mars. When astronauts like Bernard Harris leave Earth, they accept risk as part of the mission. But a journey to Mars would push that risk into entirely new territory—where help is unreachable, uncertainty is unavoidable, and coming home may not be an option. This episode explores how space agencies, astronauts, and all of us need to grapple with how much risk is ethically acceptable for individuals to take on in pursuit of societal benefit, and who gets to decide. This episode features: Bernard A. Harris Jr., MD : former NASA astronaut.…
S2 · E1 · 19 May 2026 · 29 min
I Need You To Help Me Die
When journalist Esmé Deprez receives a text from her father, Ron Deprez, asking for help to die, she enters one of the most ethically fraught spaces in modern medicine: Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). This episode explores what it means to assist a loved one’s death under MAiD law—and how personal compassion collides with professional and societal ethics. This episode features: Esmé E. Deprez : Writer and investigative journalist. Jeffrey Kahn, PhD, MPH : Andreas C. Dracopoulos Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Jennifer Eitingon, MD : Medical Director of Monument…
S2 · E1 · 12 May 2026 · 2 min
Coming soon: playing god? Season 2
Life and death decisions. Difficult tradeoffs. “ playing god?” explores ethical dilemmas in health and medicine through the first-person stories of people who have lived them. Brought to you by the Dracopoulos-Bloomberg iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. New episodes weekly starting May 19.
S1 · E10 · 12 Dec 2023 · 21 min
Prequel: The God Squad
Back in the 1960s, a committee of seven Seattle residents met regularly to decide which patients with chronic kidney disease were “worthy” of life-saving dialysis. Whoever wasn’t selected by the committee would likely die within months. An exposé of this so-called “God Squad” helped spark the formation of a new field: bioethics. In this prequel to playing god? , we’ll find out how this committee made life-and-death decisions, and why something like it is unlikely to happen again. Show Notes: This episode features interviews with: Richard M. Mizelle, Jr. , Associate Professor of History,…
S1 · E9 · 5 Dec 2023 · 34 min
The Future of Baby-Making
In this episode we head into the future to learn about a controversial technology that could change the face of reproduction. Researchers are developing a technology called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), which can reprogram human cells–like a skin cell–to become eggs or sperm. With IVG we could reach a future where anyone could produce either eggs or sperm, in potentially limitless quantities. This could open up a whole world of new options for how humans reproduce. Startup companies are working to bring this science to the public in ways that bypass the usual research routes for new…
S1 · E8 · 28 Nov 2023 · 32 min
Miracle Drugs, Million Dollar Price Tags
Cheryl Yoder’s son Jase, was born with an incurable rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which meant he was unlikely to live beyond two years old. Jase managed to get a spot in a clinical trial for an experimental drug. It halted the disease and allowed him to grow up as an active little boy–a miracle cure. A growing list of uniquely tailored drugs can treat, and even cure, some debilitating and fatal diseases. But often these so-called “miracle drugs” can cost a fortune. In this episode: why miracle drugs cost so much, why it’s so hard to do anything about the costs and how…
S1 · E7 · 21 Nov 2023 · 28 min
An Off Switch For Depression?
For years Brandy Ellis had tried everything to treat depression but nothing worked. Then one day she heard about something called deep brain stimulation, a brain implant that treats some neurological conditions. This technological intervention–that changed her life–also raises ethics questions. Because brain implants have the potential to change our personalities and our performance– where do we draw the line? Are we giving such devices too much control over who we are by using them to alter fundamental human traits like our emotions? Note: This episode contains references to suicide. If you…
S1 · E6 · 14 Nov 2023 · 29 min
Creating One Life to Save Another
When Laurie Strongin’s son Henry was born with the rare, often fatal disease of Fanconi anemia, doctors told her that the best way to save his life was with an umbilical cord blood transplant from a genetically matched sibling. But Henry had no matching siblings. Laurie and her husband then got a call from a doctor with a novel idea of combining three technologies to create a child who was guaranteed to be a genetic match, raising the question: is it ethical to create a life in order to save another? Show Notes: In addition to Laurie Strongin, this episode features interviews with: John…
S1 · E5 · 7 Nov 2023 · 35 min
A Womb of One’s Own?
Jen Dingle yearned to get pregnant and have children, but there was one problem: she was born without a uterus. So when she was ready to have children she was desperate to find a way to do it. That’s when she learned that a local research hospital was starting up a uterus transplant program – one of the first in the U.S. Jen shares her personal experience and we explore the risks, financial costs and ethical issues of this new combination of organ transplant and reproductive technology. Show Notes: In addition to Jen Dingle, this episode features interviews with: Ruth Farrell , Vice Chair of…
S1 · E4 · 31 Oct 2023 · 25 min
Why Can’t I Buy a Kidney?
It can take years to get to the top of the waiting list for a donated kidney in the U.S. So when Sally Satel found out she’d need a kidney transplant, she wondered why she couldn’t just buy one. We’ll hear from a behavioral economist and a bioethicist who shed light on the ban on organ sales and whether it’s possible to create an ethical compensation program for organs. Show notes: In addition to Sally Satel, this episode features interviews with: Jeffrey Kahn , Andreas C. Dracopolous Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics Mario Macis , Professor of Economic, Johns…
S1 · E3 · 24 Oct 2023 · 30 min
Need a new Liver? Drinkers to the back of the Line.
One day, when she was only 39, bar manager Jamie Imhof collapsed. While she lay in a coma, doctors told her family that they knew how to save her life: she needed an immediate liver transplant. But, transplant centers follow an informal “rule” when it comes to patients whose livers fail due to heavy alcohol use. Jamie would not be eligible for a new liver for six months. For a case as severe as Jamie’s, waiting six months would be a death sentence. We hear about the “six month rule” for liver transplants and why one Johns Hopkins surgeon says it’s a practice based on stigma, not science.…
S1 · E2 · 17 Oct 2023 · 34 min
The Girl Who Died Twice
When a 13 year-old girl from Oakland named Jahi McMath was pronounced brain dead after a surgical complication in 2013, California issued her a death certificate. Five years later, she received a second death certificate in New Jersey. How could one person die twice? In this episode, we learn that the line between life and death isn’t always as clear as you might think. Show notes: This episode features interviews with: Yolonda Wilson , Associate Professor at the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University Jeffrey Kahn , Andreas C. Dracopolous Director of the Johns…
S1 · E1 · 10 Oct 2023 · 28 min
I Would’ve Let You Die, Too
While Andrea Rubin lay unconscious and severely burned after a car fire, her father told doctors to do everything they could to keep her alive. She would need many surgeries. Her quality of life wouldn’t be the same. Her friends were outraged. They told doctors that Andrea would not want to live that way. While Andrea was being kept alive on a ventilator, her loved ones fought about what would be best for her. In this episode, we explore how medical decisions are made for patients who are incapable of deciding for themselves. Show notes: In addition to Andrea Rubin, this episode features…
S1 · E1 · 26 Sep 2023 · 3 min
Introducing: playing god?
A new podcast about the complex ethical questions that get raised with groundbreaking medical innovations. Brought to you by Pushkin Industries and the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. New episodes weekly starting October 10.

About playing god?

playing god? is a English tech & science podcast from Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 26 min
Latest episode: 13 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1706337131
Rights: 2026 Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as…

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