This hour, Radiolab embraces randomness.
Stochasticity (a wonderfully slippery and smarty-pants word for randomness), may be at the very foundation of our lives. To understand how big a role it plays, we look at chance and patterns in sports, lottery tickets, and even the cells in our own body. Along the way, we talk to a woman suddenly consumed by a frenzied gambling addiction, meet two friends whose meeting seems to defy pure chance, and take a close look at some very noisy bacteria.
Deep in the middle of a Siberian winter, a frozen bird fell from the sky. Then another. Not what you expect while ice fishing in the Russian wilderness.
Tagged with npr morning edition robert krulwich radiolab science flamingo
While I was working on the pigeon piece for the Lost & Found show, fellow Radiolab contributor Douglas Q. Smith took me out to Bushwick to meet George Martin, a man who flies pigeons from a factory roof. This is brief look into his world.
This hour, Radiolab goes to the frontlines with men and women who are battling against time—or at least the common sense view of time.
The "mind" and "self" were formerly the domain of philosophers and priests. Today, it’s neurologists who, armed with giant magnets, are asking the big questions, like "How does the brain make me?" We stare into the mirror with Dr. Julian Keenan, reflect on the illusion of self-hood with British neurologist Paul Broks, contemplate the evolution of consciousness with Dr. V. S. Ramachandran. Also, the story of woman who one day woke up as a completely different person.
I spotted other Huffduffers linking to Radiolab and it reminded me of this episode from March 2008. War of the Worlds is one of my all time favourite stories, and I always remember listening to the spoof radio broadcast and thinking how clever it was. So I was very pleased to see this:
"An examination of the power of mass media to create panic. In Radio Lab’s very first live hour, we take a deep dive into one of the most controversial moments in broadcasting history - Orson Welles’ 1938 radio play about Martians invading New Jersey. And we ask: Why did it fool people then? And why has it continued to fool people since? From Santiago, Chile to Buffalo, New York to a particularly disastrous evening in Quito, Ecuador."
Why so many sperm? We turn to the animal kingdom to answer that question, which lands us on a tour of sperm battles in ducks, flying pig sperm, and promiscuous whippoorwills. We ponder the necessity of males in a world where sperm can be frozen and kept for all eternity. And we sit quietly in a stark sonic space with a widow struggling to keep some essence of her
Jorge Luis Borges wrote, "Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire," and it’s as close a definition as we have. But maybe if we slow time down enough, or speed it up enough, we can unlock its secrets. On this week’s Radio Lab, we’re using our hour to try and do just that. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/07/15
On this week’s podcast, we share an excerpt from Wordless Music on WNYC, a 4-part music program hosted by Jad, exploring the boundaries between classical and pop music. The series pairs rock and electronic musicians with more traditional chamber and new music performers, to create an entirely new concert experience. On this week’s selection, Jad waxes googly-eyed fan when he gets to talk about one of his favorite bands, Stars of the Lid.
Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich are the host/producer and co-host (respectively) of the brilliant public radio program RadioLab. The show is a long-form investigation of life’s Big Ideas, through the lens of science. It has won plaudits not only for its insightful and utterly comprehensible explanations of scientific principles, but also for its emotionally engaging narratives and bold production style. This American Life producer Ira Glass has said that when he heard RadioLab, he knew immediately that "there’s a new sheriff in town." ~30:00 http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2008/02/podcast-radiolabs-jad-abumrad-and.html
Tagged with radiolab sound of young america ♥
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