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There Is No Lord Of The (Fire)Flies

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

We begin in Thailand, watching fireflies glow in glorious synchrony, lighting up miles of mangrove trees like Christmas trees. Next...it’s off to Stanford University to contemplate the bottomless mystery of ants, a mystery which culminates in New York City’s flower market (ever wondered what ants can teach us about human cities? A lot!). We round out this segment with a beekeeper's tragic tale of insect royalty.

Slideshows:
» Firefly images
» Images of ants

Steven Strogatz’s Book: Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order
More about Fireflies
Deborah Gordon’s Book: Ants At Work: How An Insect Society Is Organized
Read about Deborah's research
Steven's Johnson's Book: Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
Read about Iain Couzin’s research

  • "Duoon"   Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Vrioon - Raster-Noton
  • "Suite 1- Allemande"   Yo-Yo Ma - The Cello Suites- Inspired By Bach - Sony Classical
  • "My Very Empty Mouth"   David Lang - Child - Cantelope Records
  • "Today It Can't Be Far Away/Somewhere God is Crying"   Armando Trovaioli - Themes For Marcello Mastroianni - C.A.M. Original Soundtracks
  • "Sparkwood and 21"   Aix Em Klemm - Aix Em Klemm - Kranky
  • "Every Tub"   The Count Basie Orchestra - Count Basie's Finest Hour - Universal Music Group
  • "An Ending (Ascent) "   Brian Eno - Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks - Astralwerks

Comments

  • [1] Brian August 17, 2007 - 09:43PM

    I just listened to 'Emergence' on the train ride home. I read any article, book, or essay on this topic because it is so interesting. You folks at Radio Lab did such an excellent job of capturing the fascination.

    I might listen to it again right now!

    p.s. you should do a show on the related topic of self-organization

This thread is closed.


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