After several long, cold, months baseball season has finally begun! From Philadelphia, the home of 2008 World Series Champions, we bring you a show straight from the ballpark. We’ll take a look at the preservatives that make a classic hot dog last and last, and we’ll explore the chemistry behind performance-enhancing drugs. Producer Ari Daniel Shapiro wraps up the show with a piece on how baseball bats are making use of nanotechnology. Chemical Agent: Anabolic steriods.  (For more on the science of sport, check out Episode 26 and Episode 59.)

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Show Clock

00:00 Opening Credits
00:32 Introduction
01:02 Chemical Agent: Anabolic Steriods
03:24 Chemistry in Your Cupboard: Hot Dogs
06:04 Feature: Is That Nanotechnology in Your Bat?
10:40 Closing Credits

Credits

This show was written and researched by Jennifer Dionisio.

Our theme music is composed by Dave Kaufman. Additional music from the PodSafe Music Network and archive.org. Additional music includes  ”Hot Doggin,” by Deerfoot (PodSafe) and “Who Cares,” by Bob Thorp (archive.org).

This week’s image is “There are 108 Stitches in a Baseball,” uploaded to flickr.com by B Tal.