Episode notes
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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playing god?
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics · Tech & Science · English
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
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7 Jul 2026 · 25 min
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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 ,…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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:…
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