Your Body Thinks It's Protecting You. What If It's Wrong?

Unlikely Collaborators Hosts Medical Anthropologist and Author Theresa MacPhail, PhD

Exploring the Hidden Dialogue Between Our Bodies and Our Environment

LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- From pollen and peanuts to dust and dander, allergies are on the rise around the world. What was once relatively rare has become increasingly common, leaving scientists, doctors, and patients asking a pressing question: why is the body reacting so strongly to what should be harmless?

Like our minds, our bodies are shaped by past experiences, the environments we inhabit, and by systems constantly making meaning, often outside of our awareness. What we react to is not always just what is in front of us, but what our systems have learned to see.

On Tuesday, April 7 at 7:00 p.m. PT, Unlikely Collaborators will host medical anthropologist and author Theresa MacPhail, PhD for a Spark Salon titled:

Allergic: When the Body Misreads the World

Drawing from her book Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World, MacPhail explores the growing prevalence of allergic disease and what it reveals about the complex relationship between our bodies and the environments we inhabit. Through a blend of science, history, and anthropology, she examines how and why the immune system sometimes misidentifies harmless substances as threats.

At its core, an allergic reaction is a kind of misreading… a moment when the body interprets the world incorrectly. Understanding allergies, then, requires understanding how the body makes sense of its surroundings:

• What determines what the body sees as safe or dangerous?
• Why are these systems becoming more sensitive over time?
• And what does this reveal about the environments we live in and how they are changing?

By exploring the mystery of allergies, MacPhail offers a compelling lens into how our bodies interpret signals from the world around us and how those interpretations shape our health in ways we are only beginning to understand.

The evening will take place in person at Unlikely Collaborators' Santa Monica headquarters and will also be livestreamed online. In-person attendees will receive a complimentary copy of MacPhail's book Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World.

Event Schedule
6:00 p.m. — Doors open and reception
7:00 p.m. — Program begins promptly (late entry not permitted)
8:00 p.m. — Book signing and reception

Cost: Free (registration required)

Register to Attend in person

Register to join live online

About Theresa MacPhail

Theresa MacPhail is a medical anthropologist, former journalist, and Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Stevens Institute of Technology. Her work explores the complex relationships between human bodies, environments, and systems of knowledge, drawing from global health, biomedicine, and the social sciences.

In her book Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World, MacPhail investigates the dramatic rise in allergies over the past half century, tracing their history from early medical descriptions to contemporary scientific theories. Her research reveals surprising connections between allergies, climate change, pollution, and the environments we inhabit.

MacPhail's work also explores broader themes of uncertainty, failure, and "unknowledge" in science, examining how both scientists and the public grapple with what remains unknown. In her teaching and public speaking, she addresses topics ranging from global health to the importance of failure, helping audiences better understand the role of uncertainty in scientific inquiry and in everyday life.

She holds PhDs from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco, and her writing has appeared in Slate and the Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as in academic publications including Public Culture and Limn. She is currently working on a new book exploring aging and the mind-body relationship. MacPhail lives in Brooklyn, New York.

About Spark Salons

Spark Salons are a signature program of Unlikely Collaborators, the nonprofit founded by Elizabeth R. Koch. These gatherings bring together grantees, researchers, artists, and collaborators for conversations that challenge perspectives and deepen connections. Past Spark Salon speakers have included illusionist Harris III, psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman, PhD, nutrition therapist Kim Shapira, MS, RD, mythologist John Bucher, Harvard Business School professor and author Michael Norton, PhD, visionary violinist Vijay Gupta, chef and entrepreneur Ellen Bennett, artist Candy Chang, digital workplace expert and author Alexandra Samuel, PhD, grief experts Brennan Wood and Dr. Donna L. Schuurman, neuroscientist and best-selling author Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, neuroscientist and NYU Dean Wendy Suzuki, PhD, futures designer Nick Foster, RDI, sleep psychologist Jade Wu, PhD, broadcaster and author Krista Tippett, and on Thursday, April 2, will have a Spark Salon with journalist and author Eliot Stein.

Watch the Spark Salons Trailer

About Unlikely Collaborators

Unlikely Collaborators is a nonprofit dedicated to helping people see themselves and the world more clearly. Founded by Elizabeth R. Koch, the organization is built on the Perception Box™ framework, the understanding that our experiences, beliefs, fears, and physiology shape the lens through which we interpret reality. By becoming aware of that lens, we create more space for reflection, flexibility, and meaningful change.

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