The topic of heredity is central to understanding the podcast episodes provided, as they both explore the complexities and implications of how medical conditions and genetic disorders are inherited within families.

In Ep. 39 | Family Ties, the focus is on how a mysterious disease is passed down through multiple generations of the Linder family, highlighting the role of heredity in the development and spread of rare and unexplained medical conditions.

Similarly, The History of Bad Ideas: Eugenics delves into the history of eugenics, which was built on flawed understandings of heredity and Mendelian inheritance, leading to the misguided and unethical attempts to control human reproduction and genetics.