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Sperm Tales

Mon, Oct 6

Our new season is just a little over a month away, so we decided to give everyone a teaser of what’s to come. This season, we devote a whole hour to the topic of “Sperm” … And if you think you learned all there is to know about sperm from that junior high school filmstrip, think again. In today’s podcast, we give you two short pieces that hint at the new ideas and amazing stories we came across once we started following the trail of this wriggly little cell. First, in a twisted tale of...

Chasing Bugs

Tue, Sep 23

Remember the first time you ever saw an ant hill? The parade of black insects pouring in and out of a small sand mound. Most of us stopped, looked and then moved on to other parts of the playground. E. O. Wilson is the kid who never took his eyes off the mound. He grew up to revolutionize the fields of entomology, sociobiology and conservationist thought. E. O. (E is for Edward, O is for Osborne) got a nod from Time Magazine on their list of the 25 Most Influential People in America and...

Making the Hippo Dance

Mon, Sep 8

robdownunder Earlier this year, Jad and Robert visited the Koshland Center in Washington D.C. to give listeners a behind-the-scenes look at Radiolab. The question here is just how far can you go in the name of making an idea clear? Whats allowed? Is music allowed? Are sound effects allowed? What helps? What hurts? We play some never-released tape from the vault, and reveal a bit about what techniques we used to try and make it sing. Please weigh in on the blog. Also, if you enjoyed this...

Quantum Cello

Mon, Aug 25

Photo by Lane Hartwell Zoe Keating is the cellist from our live show, War of the Worlds. She used to play with the band Rasputina and now solos and records music for films, such as horror flick, The Devils Chair (coming out September 30th) and a PBS documentary on Lincolns assassination. Her music process reminded us a bit of ours (looping and layering sound) so she and Jad sat down together in San Francisco to talk shop and listen to some unreleased stuff off her new album (as of yet...

The (Multi) Universe(s)

Mon, Aug 11

Flickr/cayusa Have you wondered if there is another you out there? Somewhere? Sitting in the same chair, reading the same blog post, wearing the same clothes and thinking the same thoughts? Well, Brian Greene says there must be one. Or two. Or lots and lots and lots and lots and Why? You ask, well listen to Greenes argument in this weeks podcast. We are still furiously working on Season 5, so while you wait we bring you todays podcast of a conversation between Robert Krulwich and Brian...

Tell Me A Story

Mon, Jul 28

This spring, Robert Krulwich gave the commencement speech at California Institute of Technology. He called it Tell Me a Story. And commencement speech it may be, it gets at the heart of what we do here at Radiolab. Its a treat to hear his passion. We enjoyed it. And we thought you might too. If you do not see flash audio player please install the latest flash player. Download MP3

Emergence

Mon, Jul 14

What happens when there is no leader? Starlings, bees, and ants manage just fine. In fact, they form staggeringly complicated societies, all without a Toscanini to conduct them into harmony. How? That’s our question this hour. We gaze down at the bottom-up logic of cities, Google, even our very own brains. Featured: author Steven Johnson, fire-flyologists John and Elizabeth Buck, biologist E.O. Wilson, Ant expert Debra Gordon, mathematician Steve Strogatz, economist James Surowiecki, and...

City X

Mon, Jun 30

This week, a piece from one of our favorite radio-makers, Jonathan Mitchell. City X is a history of the modern shopping mall through perspectives of people living in a real, yet unnamed, city. Using a sound rich audio mosaic of observations and ruminations, all scored to Muzak, the universal mall experience comes to life, for better or for worse. City X was commissioned by Hearing Voices with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. If you do not see flash audio player please...

Earworms

Mon, Jun 16

First, we asked you to tell us what song gets stuck in your head. Then, we asked you how you got it out. Finally, we made a podcast. Thank you to everyone who called in, shared their secret techniques, and sang without shame. Your suggestions ranged from the hilarious (Darth Vader breathing) to the malicious (give it to some one else) to the oddly-aligned (multiple people called in suggesting Girl from Ipanema as a cure-all earworm). And now, we release your wisdom to the masses. We hope that...

Wordless Music

Tue, Jun 3

On this weeks 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 weeks selection, Jad waxes googly-eyed fan when he gets to talk about one of his favorite bands, Stars of the Lid. If you do not see flash audio player please install the...

Open Outcry

Mon, May 19

On this weeks podcast, Jad presents a piece by one of his favorite producers: Ben Rubin. Rubin created this audio portrait called Open Outcry as a part of a sound installation called Sonic Garden commissioned to celebrate the reopening of the Winter Garden, an atrium space within the World Financial Center, after 9/11. The trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange may look and sound chaotic to the uninitiated, with circles of hundreds of traders shouting unintelligible phonic...

Jad and Robert: The Early Years

Mon, May 5

Ever wonder how Jad and Robert met? Well it all began with an everyday encounter where they discovered they both went to the same small liberal arts college in Ohio. For this weeks podcast, the guys go on stage at Oberlin College to tell the tale of their meeting and how they started tinkering around with tape to come up with the Radiolab you know today. Vintage Radiolab alert! Youll hear the very first piece Jad and Robert made together. Its an audio-experiment called Flag Day that they...

Pop Music

Mon, Apr 21

Why do some songs mercilessly stick in our heads and repeat themselves over and over? What makes these hooks so hooky? And how does a songwriter will a song forth from the ether? In this episode, nightmarish stories of musical hallucinations, songs that transcend language, and the triumphant return of the Elvis of Afghanistan. If you do not see flash audio player please install the latest flash player. Download MP3

(So-Called) Life

Mon, Apr 7

What are the consequences when humans start playing with life? The human imagination has always dreamed up fantastic creatures, but now biotechnology is making it easier and easier for us to actually create forms of life that have never existed before. In this episode Radio Lab looks at the uneasy marriage between biology and engineering, and asks what counts as natural? If you do not see flash audio player please install the latest flash player. Download MP3

War of the Worlds

Mon, Mar 24

An examination of the power of mass media to create panic. In Radio Labs 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. If you do not see flash audio player please install the latest...

Deception

Mon, Mar 10

We look at lies, liars, and lie catchers, and ask: can you lead a life without deception? In this episode, we consult a cast of characters, from pathological liars to lying snakes to drunken psychiatrists, to try and understand the dark trait of deception. If you do not see flash audio player please install the latest flash player. Download MP3

Laughter

Mon, Feb 25

amanda/ flickr We all laugh. But why? If you look closely, youll find that humor has very little to do with it. In this episode, we explore the power of laughter to calm us, bond us to one another, or to spread like a virus. Along the way, we tickle some rats, listen in on a babys first laugh, talk to a group of professional laughers, and travel to Tanzania to investigate an outbreak of contagious laughter. If you do not see flash audio player please install the latest flash player. Download MP3

Our Podcast comes in all shapes and sizes

Mon, Feb 11

Big and Small Tuesday is Podcast Day. Weve been getting some emails from some of you who are confused about the varying lengths of our podcasts Some are long. Some are short. Fear not! Theres nothing wrong with your download. Thats the way it should be. Sometimes we podcast an entire hour-long episode. Sometimes we podcast a shorter piece that may only be 8 minutes or so. Thats just how we roll. Up this week, Jad plays one of his favorite pieces of all time, IF by Sherre DeLys. You can sign...

Salle Des Departs (Radio Lab)

Tue, Jan 29

Imagine that you're a composer. Imagine getting this commission: “Please write us a song that will allow family members to face the death of a loved one…” Well, composer David Lang had to do just that when a hospital in Garches, France, asked him to write music for their morgue, or "Salle Des Departs." What do you do? What should death sound like? Producer Jocelyn Gonzales brings us this piece about David Lang and his commission for the “Salle Des Departs.”

Zoo Keeper's Dilemma (Radio Lab)

Tue, Jan 15

You've heard of the tortured artist. The tortured poet. Did you ever think about the tortured zoo director? It's tough work being the steward of animals while at the same time being their captor. David Hancocks, a former zoo director, tells us about the paradoxes he encounters in the zoo world and his dream for a future zoo.

The Ring and I (Radio Lab)

Tue, Jan 1

On this Radio Lab/ WNYC Special, we explore the impact and influence of Wagner's Ring Cycle on the Metropolitan Opera's 2004 Presentation. It might seem hyperbole to claim, as many Wagnerites do, that The Ring Cycle is "The Greatest Work of Art Ever." But the grandeur and power of this monumental work have permeated our culture from Star Wars to Bugs Bunny to J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Wright Brothers (Radio Lab)

Tue, Dec 18

104 years ago this week, Wilbur and Orville Wright managed to coax their spruce biplane off the North Carolina sand for twelve seconds, and those twelve seconds started a revolution in flight. We examine the human desire to fly, and how getting flight... changed us.

Contact (Radio Lab)

Tue, Dec 4

This week we take a look at the different ways that people connect to each other and how they act once they’re together. NOTE: This episode contains EXPLICIT language about sex.

Space Capsules (Radio Lab)

Tue, Nov 20

How would you describe life on Earth to an alien? In 1977, the Voyager spacecraft launched into space. And with it, went the Golden Record-- a sort time capsule, a collection of sounds and images that would describe life on Earth to whomever or whatever might find it. Imagine trying to sum up existence on Earth into one little record... for an alien or humans of the far-off future. What sounds would you use? What music? What images? We put this charge to a bunch of artists, and asked what...

Making Radio Lab (Radio Lab)

Fri, Nov 9

In spring of 2006, Jad and Robert took the stage at the SoHo Apple Store to talk about the making of Radio Lab. Jad geeks out on the nitty-gritty of digital sound editing, and Robert discusses the editorial questions raised in creating imaginative soundscapes. Film-editor Walter Murch weighs in on the components of storytelling. If you can't see the video click here var so2 = new SWFObject("http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miVdF_WjF78", "mymovie2", "390", "321", "7",...

Space (Radio Lab)

Tue, Oct 23

In the 60’s, space exploration was an American obsession. But the growing reality of space has turned the romance to cynicism. We chart the path from then to now. We begin with Ann Druyan, widow of Carl Sagan, with a story about the Voyager expedition, true love, and golden record that travels through space. For a dose of reality, astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson explains the Coepernican Principle and just how insignificant we are.

Where Am I? (Radio Lab)

Tue, Oct 9

OK. Maybe you're in your desk chair. You're in your office. You're in New York, or Detroit, or Timbuktu. You're on planet Earth. But where are you, really? This week Radio Lab tries to find out where you are. This hour: stories of people whose brains and bodies have lost each other. We ask how does your brain keep track of your body? We'll examine the bond between brain and body and look at what happens when it breaks. We begin with a century-old mystery: why do many amputees still feel their...

Musical Language (Radio Lab)

Tue, Sep 25

What is music? How does it work? Why does it move us? Why are some people better at it than others? In this hour, we examine the line between language and music, how the brain processes sound, and we meet a composer who uses computers to capture the musical DNA of dead composers in order to create new work. We also re-imagine the disastrous 1913 debut of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring…through the lens of modern neurology.

Detective Stories (Radio Lab)

Tue, Sep 11

Forensics, archeology, genealogy, and genetics are devoted to figuring out what really happened. In this hour, we hear surprising stories of playing detective, and find that what really happened in the past is not always what you'd expect. We start at a trash dump in Egypt, where we find Jesus, Satan, sissies, and porn. Next, the mystery of how hundreds of old letters written to the same woman were discovered on the side of Route 101. And lastly, a blood sampling tour of Asia reveals a...

This is Your Brain On Love (Radio Lab)

Tue, Aug 28

Radio Lab is given the charge to put on a Singles Night. That's right. "Jad," they said, "stand on a stage and make strangers fall in love! Or, at least, you know, exchange a few phone numbers with each other." So obviously, we turned to science. Jad consults a few experts on the chemistry of a "brain on love."

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