Origins of The Ick: The Protective Function of Disgust

Send us Fan Mail Why would a monkey refuse a free grape? In this Heliox deep dive, we explore a Royal Society Open Science study of macaques at a Texas sanctuary showing that disgust, our instinctive “ew,” works like an ancient behavioral immune system. Researchers coated monkey feces in clear epoxy to remove smell and germs, then watched the monkeys choose. Troop-raised macaques avoided the food; many former pets did not. After a deadly retrovirus outbreak, even uninfected survivors became markedly more cautious. We connect these findings to toddlers, wildlife rehabilitation, and our own COVID-19 behavior, with an optimistic message: what is learned can be relearned. References Early-life experience and disease exposure affect pathogen avoidance behaviour in macaques 📖 Read: https://helioxpodcast.substack.com 🎥 YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd5BbCEeC3Z6dp-nNjWRbBw 🎙️ Available for Broadcast: https://exchange.prx.org/group_accounts/253118-heliox_where_evidence_meets_empathy This is Heliox: Where Evidence Meets Empathy Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas. Support the show Disclosure: This podcast uses AI-generated synthetic voices for a material portion of the audio content, in line with Apple Podcasts guidelines. We make rigorous science accessible, accurate, and unforgettable. Produced by Michelle Bruecker and Scott Bleackley, it features reviews of emerging research and ideas from leading thinkers, curated under our creative direction with AI assistance for voice, imagery, and composition. Systemic voices and illustrative images of people are representative tools, not depictions of specific individuals. We dive deep into peer-reviewed research, pre-prints, and major scientific works—then bring them to life through the stories of the researchers themselves. Complex ideas become clear. Obscure discoveries become conversation starters. And you walk away understanding not just what scientists discovered, but why it matters and how they got there. Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe Easy, we go deep and lightly surface the big ideas. Spoken word, short and sweet, with rhythm and a catchy beat. http://tinyurl.com/stonefolksongs