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Feb. 6, 2026 - Skeptoid
16:07
Mic'd Up: Brian's Blood Donation Interview

Brian gets questioned while giving blood. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Time Text
Debunking Blood Donation Myths 00:06:37
Hi, I'm Alex Goldman.
You may know me as the host of Reply All, but I'm done with that.
I'm doing something else now.
I started a new podcast called Hyperfixed.
On every episode of HyperFixed, listeners write in with their problems and I try to solve them.
Some massive and life-altering, and some so minuscule it'll boggle your mind.
No matter the problem, no matter the size, I'm here for you.
That's HyperFixed, the new podcast from Radiotopia.
Find it wherever you listen to podcasts or at hyperfixedpod.com.
Last month, Skeptoid did an episode dedicated to the myths and misconceptions surrounding blood donation.
And then a few weeks later, the Skeptoid crew made a trip to the Vancouver, Washington location of Bloodworks Northwest to make our own donation.
Bloodworks also has a great podcast, which you may have heard me mention before, called Bloodworks 101.
Well, during our donation in Vancouver, they decided to put a microphone in my face as I gave my pint.
They actually made an episode out of it, and we thought we'd go ahead and share that episode with you.
So, without further ado, here's my interview with John Yeager from Bloodworks 101.
As they draw blood from me, that will, as they assured me, help save a life.
Brian, my name is Ella.
I'll be helping you out today, so we're going to head down to screening room three.
Come on with me.
Okay.
Hi, I'm John Yeager, and this is Bloodworks 101, the podcast designed by your friends here at Bloodworks Northwest, in hopes that it'll inspire you to donate either time, money, or blood.
The voices you heard right there belong to one of our best phlebotomists, Eller Ross, at our Vancouver, Washington Donor Center.
And the donor Eller was working with is Brian Dunning, the host of one of my favorite podcasts, Skeptoid.
Brian digs into the true science behind our most popular urban legends.
They describe Skeptoid this way.
Skeptoid has you covered from the sublime to the startling.
No topic is sacred.
Recently, Brian and his crew devoted an entire episode to blood donation myths.
It's fascinating.
It also mentions Bloodworks Northwest, but what happened after that was nothing short of life-saving.
Because on Friday, January 16th at our Vancouver Donor Center, Brian Dunning and a couple of folks on their staff walked the talk and donated blood.
I was there.
All right, let's get back to that donation.
All right, one more time.
Please tell me your name.
Brian Dunning.
And you are here to donate Whole Blood Corrects.
Whatever you take out is what I'm donating.
Excellent.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
I'm going to go grab my stuff.
I'll be right back for you, okay?
Cool.
Thank you.
You're a regular donor, aren't you?
Not as regular as I should be, but it's always fun.
I need to make time to do it more often.
Well, it literally does save a life.
I mean, it's in your episode talking about the, you know, debunking the myths.
I didn't know that the cancer treatment percentage was that high.
I learned something, listen to that podcast.
Doing the researching this stuff for the podcast is incredibly educational for me as well.
But of course, this one was written by Will McCandless, our production manager.
So he did all the real research on the blood donation episode.
So what are you in here to do today?
I am here to donate blood.
Is there more?
So tell me a little bit about Skeptoid.
Yeah, so Skeptoid is the podcast I started in 2006.
And it's not really about debunking, but that's Timber, the easiest way to describe it.
It's finding stories in pop culture where there is some popular pseudoscience, maybe some false history that is widely believed.
And so we try to set the record straight on finding the true history, true science behind urban legends, conspiracy theories, all kinds of weird beliefs that are out there.
It's a lot of fun.
I think about the Area 51 episode.
Everybody's got this theory about what goes on there, and then you sort of tore it apart and said, this is what's real, this is what's not.
And what I find so interesting is that what's real is always more interesting than the stories that are out there that are wrong.
And so that's how I try to frame everything.
It's not a negative process of breaking down false claims and false beliefs, taking away people's favorite beliefs.
Instead, it's a positive process of adding to your knowledge.
Here's what's actually going on with this.
Here's what the real history is.
And you learn something, and your new view of things is actually going to be correct as well as being more interesting.
There's always conspiracy theories.
I mean, I think they're sometimes easier to believe than the real thing.
It's, oh yeah, I've heard this.
I heard this once.
There's something on YouTube about this.
It's got to be true.
Conspiracy theories on YouTube?
Surely you just.
Yeah, the interesting thing about conspiracy theories is the people who research these things, who do huge numbers of surveys, not just in the U.S., but around the world, and sort of grouping beliefs together and seeing, if you believe in this one weird thing, you're more likely to believe in these other weird things.
And there is no demographic that's safe from us.
Most people tend to think it's everyone else that believes conspiracy theories.
The stuff I believe is true.
I'm immune from that.
And the data just shows that that's simply not true.
You probably believe a different set of conspiracy theories, but everyone has them.
And so, I mean, I love doing the show because it helps me find the ones that I believe that turn out not to be true.
I am keenly aware that we live in an age when somebody can send you something and you've got to share the link before even reading it.
That's what we do nowadays.
Yeah, that's...
And it's always been the case since there have been humans.
Misinformation has spread.
It's just faster and easier now.
And a lot of times people ask me, does the internet make it easier for this bad information to spread?
Well, yes, it does, but it also makes it easier for good information to spread.
So I use the analogy of a rising tide raises all the boats equally.
So I don't think that things are necessarily worse.
I think it gives us an opportunity to do science communication more effectively than we ever could before to offset the spread of misinformation.
The Reality of Blood Units 00:08:16
So I'm going to do a 30-second scrub followed by a 30-second dry time and then we'll get you going, okay?
All right.
All right.
The actual donation takes about six minutes.
You know, between eight and ten, we tell people.
What's the entertainment during the six to ten minutes?
Especially for people that donate platelets that take a long time.
Binge watch.
They'll binge watch a show.
Everybody's got their story about what they watch.
Is platelets where it comes out and it gets put back in?
Okay, I couldn't do that.
I tried to donate that, but I guess they said my veins are too thin or something.
There's not some problems.
They just have not worked.
Since this is your first time with us, I was actually going to ask how your donation...
Like since you have a pretty decent vein, I was going to ask if I could take a platelet count just in case.
We do like to collect as many platelets and whole blood as possible just because we are in that downward spiral right now.
But platelets, they only have a shelf life of about five days after we process them.
Oh, really?
Whereas whole blood, after we process it, has 42 days, which side knows the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
It is true.
It is true.
It's everywhere you go, it's the answer.
But would it be okay with you if I took an extra little platelet count and I can let you know more about that?
Yeah, knock yourself out.
Perfect.
Thank you.
Kristen?
Well, don't literally.
Purple tube?
I won't.
I won't.
That would be weird.
Wait till I'm gone.
I will.
Okay, I'm going to grab my tape and then we'll get you going.
Okie-dokie.
All right.
All right.
He's putting tape on his own clothing right now, which is somewhat mysterious to me.
Thank you.
And I'm wondering how that benefits the process.
So we use tape to attach, I guess, attach the tubing and the needle to your arm so it doesn't go anywhere.
And it's just easier to grab when it's on my sleeve.
Okay.
Somewhere different, too.
So I'm going to pump up your cuff.
I want you to give me three good squeezes, hold that last fist.
Just like Hans Mundfranz.
Yes, three good squeezes.
Hold that last fist.
And if you don't want to watch, now is the time to look away.
I'll look away.
Okay.
I'm definitely a look away kind of guy.
Looking is not for everybody.
Oh, and you're videoing it.
Oh, thank you.
I'm not.
You're welcome to if you wish.
All right, relax that fist.
I find that I'm satisfied not looking at it, though.
Well, it's in there.
He just did it.
He barely felt it.
I did not even know.
I'm not even kidding.
I didn't even know you did it.
So we just filled up your sample pouch.
That's how I collect all of your tubes that the lab in Renton, who does the processing, that's how they test everything and make sure we're good to go.
Now, you said you were going to test for platelet count?
Yes.
Is that done at the same time as this or with the same blood?
Sort of.
A little bit of both.
Okay, I took all my tape.
So I'm going to take an extra little test.
You didn't put enough tape on his clothes.
So you said you're doing the pint of whole blood, which is what I'm donating.
And then in addition, you're filling those and those are all just strictly for testing?
Correct.
Okay.
Yeah.
But your unit of blood will go someplace.
It's not for testing.
It'll go to a hospital.
It'll go to what you said in the episode.
It'll go to cancer treatment.
It'll go to a gunshot victim.
It'll go to someplace.
Somebody you don't even know right now is going to get it.
How much blood ends up not going anywhere?
Going anywhere useful.
Well, we're not in the only three people out of 100 donate, so this is precious.
It doesn't get wasted.
I mean, is there like enough of a surplus that some hits its shelf life without being metered?
Wow.
Okay.
We need every drop.
All right.
Well, I'm here for you.
Thank you.
Well, sadly, what Douglas Starr said in his book, Blood, was that after 9-1-1, there were so many people that donated blood, Brian.
Oh, yeah.
There was a glut, and hundreds of thousands of units had to be thrown away because everybody was moved by that thing that happened, but we had too much then.
So when something happens, we need stuff that's on the shelves already.
You can't don't, I mean, we love it when people donate based on an emergency that comes in, it's on the news.
But the stuff that gets used has to be on the shelves already.
So if there's a big disaster today and everyone goes to donate, it's already too late for that emergency.
But what happens, a couple of years ago, we had a thing called State Blood Donor Day in Washington.
It was on the 18th.
Amtrak 501 went off the rails.
Three people dead, dozens injured.
Okay.
The line around the block at the Olympia Donor Center was around the block.
That blood had to be on the shelves.
But what was great about that is that all the blood that was given got us through Christmas and got us through the low times every year.
So it was used, but on occasions like this, 9-11, so much of it got wasted.
So there's really no such thing as a time of year when there's plenty and you don't need to go.
You are just over halfway done.
How are you feeling?
Oh, fine.
Excellent.
Can I get you rescheduled for another appointment in two months?
I'll say yes for the podcast.
I live three and a half hours away.
So probably.
We have mobile units.
They live in Ben, so we have mobile units out of the Eugene.
We do.
Well, then I'll answer the question again.
Yes, absolutely.
Put me on the list for sure.
All right, excellent.
I will go over that with you in a little bit.
For now, you're almost done.
What color wrap would you like?
Well, let's see.
You got to match my shirt.
I have a teal.
It's not exactly the same color.
No, it's going to clash, so we can't do that.
What compliments teal?
You see, I didn't know all the different skill sets that go into blood donations.
Dark blue?
It does go kind of with my long sleeve.
Okay, we'll go with the dark blue.
Yeah, we did a study a couple of months ago, and we asked, you know, our numbers guy said, tell me what the average donation time for our donors is.
And he said, six minutes and 15 seconds.
So you got to be close to that.
We are at, you are all done.
Your time is four minutes and 56 seconds.
The time flew.
I had no idea.
Yeah.
That was really fast.
Yeah, that's a pretty decent donation.
Yeah.
All right.
I'm a speed donor.
All right.
So I apologize for the waxing you're going to get with this tape here.
And then there will be a slight pinch when I take this needle out.
So you're clamping everything off and then you pull out the needle.
Yep.
We want to close out so there's no air contamination.
This is a usable unit.
So right now I want you to put two fingers of pressure right here for me.
Raise this arm straight up in the air like you're asking a question.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
But I don't have a question.
That's okay.
We're still going to answer you.
What if someone calls on me?
Oh, that was fast.
I want you to keep your eyes.
Yeah, and I honestly, I never felt any part of it.
Excellent.
Which was strange, but cool.
The best part about blood donation, I think, is there aren't that many.
There's not a lot of nerve endings in the middle of your elbow where we do the poke, so you don't typically feel it.
Okay.
But you keep your arm up for about a minute or so and we'll get you wrapped up.
All right.
All right.
Thank you so much for coming in today.
Thank you.
That was Brian Dunning, the host of the award-winning podcast, Skeptoid, making his four-minute and 56-second donation.
I want to thank Brian for his donation, Eller Ross for handling everything so smoothly, and Will McCandless, who also donated and serves as production manager for Skeptoid.
We're going to include a link to that Skeptoid episode on Blood Donation Myths in the show notes.
And that just about wraps it up for this edition of Blood Works 101.
I'm your host, John Yeager.
Wrapping Up Blood Works 101 00:01:13
See you next time.
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