On Demand
There Is No Lord Of The (Fire)Flies
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
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Comments
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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
I just relistened to this story because I just got back from a camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I found it funny that the first sentence or so of this story the guys says, "this doesn't happen here, but it does in Thailand." Well, I want to point out that there is a spot in the GSMNP called Elkmont where the fireflies synchronize. I, along with thousands, witnessed this. There are tours in the first 3 weeks of June to the Elkmont area where you can see the fireflies. It is truly amazing. So, thought your listners might want to know about this.
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