How scientists discovered that animals are doctors, too

2026-09-11 · 13 min · episode 1550 · 13 entities

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concepts 11

mentioned Science concept

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mentioned Life Sciences concept

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mentioned Daily News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
mentioned Nature concept

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evidence rules-v5
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mentioned Astronomy concept

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evidence rules-v5
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discusses News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: News
discusses Science concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Science
discusses Life Sciences concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Life Sciences
discusses Daily News concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Daily News
discusses Nature concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Nature
discusses Astronomy concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Astronomy

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hosted by NPR company

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Episode description as stored

When people are sick, we seek out medications and treatments to help heal. For a long time, scientists thought that was a uniquely human ability. But it turns out, many other animals do a version of it too! And since the late 1980s, western researchers have been trying to get a peek behind the curtain. And aside from just cataloguing all the cool examples just to know, there’s a real hope that studying animals’ medical cabinets may be the most promising way to expand our own. We get into the weeds with freelance science journalist Mandy Nguyen . Interested in more animal stories? Email us your ideas and questions to explore at shortwave@npr.org . They may become a future episode! Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy