Episode #1078

Item #1 Fiction
It was standard practice to dispose of waste in the streets or in piles of hay, with the first municipal sanitation systems or regulations not appearing in Europe until the Renaissance. https://www.medievalists.net/2025/04/medieval-city-sanitation-system/
Item #2 Science
Chronic infestation with fleas and lice was more the norm than the exception, and was considered just a part of daily life. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26597073/
Item #3 Science
It was a common and widespread practice to divide sleep into two shifts, first sleep and second sleep, with 1-3 hours of activity in between, the practice not ending until the industrial revolution. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep

“It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.” -Carl Sagan