Emily Dickinson is one of those writers whose life is as famous as her writing: after she died, having spent much of her life writing at home, her sister found nearly two thousand poems in her bureau. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," Dickinson’s fantasy of getting picked up by the grim reaper ...

Why do so many end-of-life patients get care that is ineffective? Radiolab Jad Abumrad on the show's recent story.

We turn to doctors to save our lives -- to heal us, repair us, and keep us healthy. But when it comes to the critical question of what to do when death is at hand, there seems to be a gap between what we want doctors to do for us, and what doctors want done for themselves.

Mel Blanc was known as "the man of 1,000 voices" (Bugs Bunny, Tweety, & tons more). Sean Cole shares some photos from Mel's mountain home in Big Bear Lake, where he interviewed Mel's son Noel for our new short What's Up, Doc?

Mel Blanc was known as "the man of 1,000 voices," but the actual number may have been closer to 1,500. Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety, Barney Rubble -- all Mel. His characters made him one of the most beloved men in America. And in 1961, when a car crash left him in a coma, these characters may have saved him.

To get things started, Jad ris fascinated by the first paragraph of an article by Mary Roach, in which she makes a bold claim about a daring attempt to provide proof that there is life after death. She tells us the story of Thomas Lynn Bradford and his journey ...

Jad and Robert wonder if maybe they could add to their color pallet. Jay Neitz wondered the same thing, sort of. Take a monkey that can't see red, for example. Couldn't you just give them the red cones they were missing? So he took the human gene for red cones, ...

In our latest short, The Turing Problem, we described the importance of a wholly imaginary invention--Alan Turing's theoretical "universal machine." But thanks to a listener, we found out that someone actually figured out a way to build one! And there's video.

Sean Cole tries to square the idea that the fallout from a war between teensy organisms and teensier viruses can be seen from space. Luckily, he finds a perspective-shaking demo built by two 14-year-old boys that helps him get his bearings. Read more, and play with the demo, here.

In the mid-1950's, a blind seven-year-old boy named Joe Engressia Jr. made a discovery that changed his own life and many others. While idly dialing information on the family telephone, he heard a high-pitched tone in the background and started whistling along with it. Slowly, he learned to recognize all ...

After hearing our Death Mask podcast, a listener writes in with another sighting of l'inconnue--and includes some pictures.

Near the end of the 19th century, a mysterious young woman with a beguiling smile turned up in Paris. She became a huge sensation. She also happened to be dead. You'd probably recognize her face yourself. You might have even touched it.

The New York City Parks Department would probably want me to start this way: North Brother Island is a ruin. It hasn’t been occupied, nor used for anything by anyone except nesting herons, since the early 70’s. Thus, it’s dangerous.

In 1906, a rich family vacationing in Oyster Bay, NY started to get sick. Very sick. It turns out they'd come down with typhoid, a disease forever associated with one woman: Typhoid Mary. You think you know this story, and we thought we knew this story too. But as producer ...

Phreak

intr.v.
phreaked, phreak·ing, phreaks

To manipulate a telephone system illicitly to allow one to make calls without paying for them.

ETYMOLOGY:
Alteration of freak¹ (influenced by phone)

You can’t always trust the dictionary.

How did Emily Dickinson's unusual poem about death become standard high school curriculum? Studio 360 takes a closer reading at a literary masterpiece.

American poetry is due for a new movement. The frontrunner is “Flarf.” Google and the internet overload make Flarf possible, because the poem's content must be a collage of search returns. It’s experimental, but also a pretty good way to liven up a poetry reading. Sean Cole has ...

It's got nudity, sex and love triangles, but Young American Bodies isn’t porn. It’s a soap opera posted on Nerve.com, complete with strong characters and twisty plot-lines. And it paints a pretty bright future for the video entertainment on the web, according to its newest fan, Sean ...

We consume paper by the ton, but most of us never think about where all that paper really comes from. Just how do trees turn into printer paper? We sent reporter Sean Cole on a mission to find out.

What separates humans from animals? It used to be tools - and then we found out some animals are pretty handy. But what about art? There may be nothing prettier than birdsong, but each species sings pretty much the same tune. Are animals ever really creative? WBUR's