It's hard to read the news these days without asking yourself, how did we get here?

Fiasco is a history podcast for the co-creators of Slow Burn.

In our first season, Bush v. Gore, we examine an unmistakable turning point in American politics,

the 2000 election, which resulted in a high-stakes stalemate, ended with one of the most controversial rulings in Supreme Court history.

So if you're trying to make sense at the present moment, check out Fiasco, Bush v. Gore.

Listen on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

So, Mary, what is the most embarrassing situation you've ever been in as part of your book research?

That's an easy one.

That one, not surprisingly, was for Bonk.

The subtitle of that book is The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.

So that is a book about the delightful awkwardness of taking sex,

arousal, orgasm, all of that, all the physiological components of it, and putting it in a laboratory

setting with, you know, a couple doing things, and then somebody in a white coat taking notes.

And so I wanted to get at that central awkwardness of what I just described.

And I found this researcher in London who's doing something with four-dimensional ultrasound,

so 3D movies basically, in ultrasound.

It was a diagnostic tool.

And he wanted to do one that was actually a penis and a vagina interacting.

And I said, well, I would like to be there when you do that to observe.

And he wrote back, well, if your organization can provide some volunteers, then I'd be happy to do that.

So my organization asked its husband.

If you want to hear the rest of that story,

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