A backpack floats in brown water. The ward is a tent. The air is forty degrees. And still, patients keep coming. We open the year with Dr Lakshmi Jain of Médecins Sans Frontières, who takes us from NHS corridors to a flooded field hospital in South Sudan, where logistics, infection control and compassion collide in the harshest conditions. With planes grounded and supplies tight, she shows how medicine adapts when the plan dissolves, and how a team holds the line when a hospital turns into a lake.

We trace Lakshmi’s journey into humanitarian medicine: the early pull of travel and justice, the discipline of mastering HIV and TB in the UK, and a humbling first mission in Kenya amid strikes and neglected TB wards. She shares the nuts and bolts of fieldwork—running out of supplies, living in tents, waking at dawn, mentoring local clinicians—and the mindset shift from textbook certainty to on-the-ground pragmatism. The story of a child with a snakebite, waiting seven days for a runway to dry, becomes a lesson in making the most of a hard ceiling of care without losing heart.

Lakshmi also brings us to Bihar, India, where advanced HIV intersects with visceral leishmaniasis and devastating stigma. Here, science meets dignity: undetectable equals untransmissible becomes a lifeline, carried by mental health teams and quiet conversations at the bedside. We talk about hope, family, and what people everywhere want—safety, health and a future—along with clear advice for aspiring humanitarians across roles: doctors, nurses, logisticians, epidemiologists and communicators.

If this story moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick five-star rating or review. Your support keeps the feed ad-free and helps us bring more voices from the front lines of healthcare to your ears.

Links:

https://www.msf.org/

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DHlZjZCCAQk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lakshmi-jain-3a5b32366/

https://scienceportal.msf.org/api/assets/7846/download/14086

For more information visit Lakshmi's episode page here - https://www.noordinarymonday.com/ep021-lakshmi-jain-msf-doctor

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What are the 3 most dangerous countries to visit for a backpacking trip? And how can you get in? Former CIA Counter-Terrorism Analyst Brent Giannotta joins the show to share his expertise. Carl and Ben also pepper him with every CIA movie reference and conspiracy theory they can muster.

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Some of the Topics Covered:

-Most Dangerous Places to Backpack

-Life or Death Backpacking Situations

-CIA Conspiracy Theories

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Our Favorite Gear

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If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a five-star rating and review, and tell a friend about the show.

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A storm hits ten hours after the helicopter drop, tents bow under the wind, and the generators choke on spindrift—yet the drill keeps turning. That’s the edge-of-the-map reality behind a rare ship‑to‑helicopter ice core mission to West Antarctica, where we joined glaciologist Dr Peter Neff to chase air bubbles that hold the clearest record of our past atmosphere.

We dig into why tiny pockets of ancient air are such powerful climate evidence, how methane and CO2 stayed largely steady for thousands of years before spiking with industrialisation, and why that rate of change matters for heat, oceans, and sea level. Peter breaks down Antarctica’s “three buckets” of science, the stakes at Thwaites Glacier, and what coastal cores can reveal about storms, snowfall, and tipping‑point dynamics that satellites alone can’t capture. From improvising a hand‑controlled generator throttle to coordinating 15 sling loads back to a Korean icebreaker, this is science as endurance, logistics and teamwork.

Beyond the tent walls, we talk about trust: why posting raw field clips on TikTok and Instagram connects new audiences to public‑funded research, and how open communication strengthens policy conversations. We explore what new high‑resolution methane records add to climate models, why the biggest uncertainty is human choice, and how leadership across government and business can turn risk into opportunity. For students and career‑changers, Peter offers practical advice on joining the polar workforce and building skills that matter in the field and the lab.

Subscribe for more unfiltered stories from extreme jobs, share this episode with someone who loves science and adventure, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. What part of the mission surprised you most?

Research:

https://swac.umn.edu/people/peter-neff

https://peterneff.weebly.com/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f--szIYAAAAJ&hl=en

Socials:

https://www.tiktok.com/@icy_pete

https://www.instagram.com/icy_pete

https://www.youtube.com/@icy_pete

linkedin.com/in/dr-peter-neff-6a4b7429

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If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a five-star rating and review, and tell a friend about the show.

WANT TO BE A GUEST? You can submit your own career story through our website at noordinarymonday.com, email us at hello@noordinarymonday.com, or send a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/176029491486798797fb4df61