Radio Lab

Radio Lab: Season One 2005

Who Am I?

The "mind" and "self" were formerly the domain of philosophers and priests. Today, it's neurologists who, armed with giant magnets, are asking the big questions, like "How does the brain make me?" We stare into the mirror with Dr. Julian Keenan, reflect on the illusion of self-hood with British neurologist Paul Broks, contemplate the evolution of consciousness with Dr. V. S. Ramachandran. Also: the story of woman who one day woke up as a completely different person.

Stress

The body has a system for getting out of trouble. Back when trouble meant being chased by a tiger, that system gave us a real survival edge. But these days, "trouble" is more likely to mean waiting in traffic...and "the system" is more likely to make us sick. Stanford University neurologist (and part-time "baboonologist") Dr. Robert Sapolsky takes us through what happens on our insides when we stand in the wrong line at the supermarket and offers coping strategies such as: gnawing on wood, beating the crap out of somebody, and having friends.

Emergence

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 brains. Featured are: author Steven Johnson, mathematician Steve Strogatz and neurologists Oliver Sacks and Christof Koch.

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Time

Radio Lab takes a spin through the history of time, making stops at the railroad and the first high-speed photography, which froze a horse Joining us on this trip: Rebecca Solnit, author of River of Shadows and Jay Griffith, author of A Sideways Look at Time. We examine the relativity of time — how time for You is different than time for Me — with physicist Brian Greene and neurologist Oliver Sacks. And we'll hear a piece on the experience of listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony for 24 hours straight...but only hearing it once.

Beyond Time

Einstein's Theory of Relativity may have implications on the concept of choice. Namely, that there is none. Do we choose what movie to see tonight? No. (It's already been chosen, some say.) Do we choose to wiggle our finger? No. (Already wiggled.) We'll visit a particle accelerator where scientists are recreating the moment just after the beginning of time. Swedish producer Marcus Lindeen introduces us to an artist in Dublin whose life is a 19 century time-experiment. And producer Ben Adair tours the Mojave dessert while coming to terms with his own brevity in the face of geological time.