Radiolab believes your ears are a portal to another world. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. Big questions are investigated, tinkered with, and encouraged to grow. Bring your curiosity, and we'll feed it with possibility.
@Nathaly Alvarado --
"... to finish it off the cruelty of poachers"
My reaction was that the poachers who shot Lucy delivered the kindest exit from a tortured existence -- unknowing, and unintentional to be sure -- the people who rip wild animals from their evolutionary niches and attempt to "force-fit" them into a social structure and organization which they are not evolved for are the worse criminals -- mirrors of those who actively destroy the habitats of the animals. If you think about it, Lucy was living a quite tortured existence at that point, and doubtless approached the poacher with the chimp analog of hope in her heart, and that's how she died. Far better than withering away in depression and terror. There oughta be a law.
Let the dissenters commence.
@Joseph -- plenty responsive for me as well. I suggest trying (at the risk of igniting the tall grasses in the web-space) a flash-suppression plugin. See if that doesn't make the essentials pop out at least twice as fast as they currently do for you.
Nice job as always, folks. Like L above, I had a few reservations regarding the episode afterwards, less to do with the actual content and more a little bit worried that the science content will be more soft in the future. However, I had the same feeling after the War of the Worlds episode, which I loved as well, and it definitely didn't signal some grand trend, but rather another facet of the Radiolab experience. So, loved it again, and keep surprising me.
How do you know your mother is really your mother? It’s simple, right? You look at her, you recognize her, enough said. Well, maybe not. It turns out that recognizing people, even the people we know the best, is more about how they make us feel than what we see in front of our eyes. And when your feelings about someone get jumbled, it can be disorienting, even traumatic. In this the podcast we talk to Dr. Carol Berman and Dr. V.S. Ramachandran to explore the psychology and neurology behind a rare but disturbing delusional disorder called Capgras.
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Chimps. Bonobos. Humans. We’re all great apes. This hour we take a look at what happens when we all try to live together. Our main story is about a chimp named Lucy. When Lucy was only two days old she was adopted by a psychologist and his wife who wondered: if given the right environment, how human could Lucy become? This story and other tales of radical sharing between humans and the creatures on earth most like us. Be sure to watch the slide show through to the end to see the image of the hug between Janis and Lucy. Read more –>
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We received an email today that we’d like to share in the hopes that it can help others.
Dear Radiolab,
I have just declared my workshop a Radiolab Free area. No one is allowed to listen to Radiolab there. Especially not me. I think you must warn the public about the dangers of listening to Radiolab while trying to do other things. I’m a 54 year old carpenter with my own woodworking shop. I’ve always been able to listen to music and NPR news while I’m working in the shop. Several years ago with the advent of the iPod I was able to listen even while running power tools. Table saws, routers, band saws, etc. have the annoying effect of interrupting the music or news. So with noise-canceling headphones and an iPod I was now able to listen to music uninterrupted. So far so good. Then I figured out how to put podcasts on my iPod. Radiolab was at the top of my list for podcast downloads.
After 30 years as a full time carpenter and woodworker I’m very fortunate to have all my fingers. Many of my colleagues are missing fingers or parts of fingers. I’ve had some close calls but felt pretty confidant around my machinery. Then came Radiolab. I don’t think it was the first time I was listening to Radiolab in my shop that I took a big saw kerf out of my left thumb with the table saw. So I didn’t put two and two together right away. Two weeks later I cut 1/3 of the way through my middle finger with the band saw while I was listening to another Radiolab podcast. I was merely trying to combine my love for woodwork with my love for Radiolab. When trying to figure out how I had gone all those years without any serious cuts and then within a couple of weeks receiving two it suddenly occurred to me what I had been doing. The common denominator was Radiolab. In retrospect it was quite stupid. Listening to Radiolab is so overwhelmingly attention grabbing it should be done while strapped down in a comfy chair with all sharp objects placed safely out of reach. No doubt the vast majority of your listeners are much smarter than me in this respect but in case I can save someone else the pain and embarrasment of a Radiolab influenced injury I hope this warning will prove its worth.
Thank you,
Paul Tucker
In light of the aforementioned consumer feedback, we are now recommending that one avoid operating heavy machinery while under the influence of Radiolab. Also, watch out for traffic while walking and listening to Radiolab. (We’ve had a few reports of near misses there, too.) With greater public awareness about the dangers of listening to Radiolab, we hope to avoid issuing a product safety recall. Be safe out there, folks.
Comment on Lucy by constantnormal
@Nathaly Alvarado -- "... to finish it off the cruelty of poachers" My reaction was that the poachers who shot Lucy delivered the kindest exit from a tortured existence -- unknowing, and unintentional to be sure -- the people who rip wild animals from their evolutionary niches and attempt to "force-fit" them into a social structure and organization which they are not evolved for are the worse criminals -- mirrors of those who actively destroy the habitats of the animals. If you think about it, Lucy was living a quite tortured existence at that point, and doubtless approached the poacher with the chimp analog of hope in her heart, and that's how she died. Far better than withering away in depression and terror. There oughta be a law. Let the dissenters commence.more