Heather Radke

Contributor, Radiolab

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(Radiolab)

Heather is probably best known for writing a book called Butts.

 Almost two decades ago, Heather interned at Radiolab. After doing many other things—working as a curator, getting an MFA, and waitressing at a barbecue restaurant that also housed a zoo and a trapeze—she came back to where she started and pitched a show about humans racing horses. She’s been in the mix ever since as a Contributing Editor.

When she isn’t working at Radiolab, she writes books and teaches. Her first book, Butts: A Backstory, came out in 2022, was named a best book of the year by Esquire, Amazon, Time, and Publishers Weekly, and is currently being translated into nine languages. She is currently working on a book about the culture and history of girlhood. Her Substack, Petite Patate, was inspired by one of her Radiolab episodes. You can find more about her work at www.heatherradke.com

Heather Radke appears in the following:

An illustration of a collection of single-cell organism up to an opening where a person is peering in.

Life in a Barrel

Friday, April 03, 2026

This week, we flip the Disney story of life on its head thanks to a barrel of seawater, a 1970's-era computer and underwater geysers. It’s the chaos of life.

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An illustration of a silhouette of a woman pondering over numerous images of her in different profiles, displaying a range of emotion.

You and Me and Mr. Self-Esteem

Friday, January 23, 2026

Most of us spend some part of our lives feeling bad about ourselves and wanting to feel better. But this preoccupation is a surprisingly new one in the history of the world.

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A collage of a chimp, a flower, an orca and the Radiolab symbol.

The Menopause Mystery

Friday, August 08, 2025

 What do orcas, chimps and humans have in common? A puzzling pause.

An illustration of a placenta, with a cord running through an adult hand, then a baby hand, and branching out into veins and capillaries on the other side.

Everybody's Got One

Friday, March 21, 2025

The womb mate we’ve all had, but barely know.

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Human vs Horse

Thursday, August 08, 2024

The Summer Olympics are in full swing. Humans are racing against other humans from all across the globe. But you know the one race they don’t have? The one where a human competes agai...

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And illustration of a potato.

Small Potatoes

Friday, April 19, 2024

An ode to the small, the banal, the overlooked things that make up the fabric of our lives.

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A skeletal horse following a skeletal man from left to right.

Man Against Horse

Friday, July 07, 2023

How butts make us human.
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Butt Stuff

Friday, November 11, 2022

How the myth of the perfectly normal butt was born and how it haunts our dressing rooms today.
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An illustration with a deep blue background wherein sea life and creatures are spiraling up to a person looking over it all.

Life in a Barrel

Friday, March 04, 2022

This week, we flip the Disney story of life on its head thanks to a barrel of seawater, a 1970's-era computer and underwater geysers. It’s the chaos of life.
Read More

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Flop Off

Friday, December 31, 2021

This year was a flop. Here at Radiolab we wanted to flip that flop, so we dredged up the most mortifying, most cringeworthy, most gravity-defying flops as a Flop Off to 2021.
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Everybody’s Got One

Friday, August 20, 2021

The womb mate we’ve all had, but barely know.
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The Great Vaccinator

Thursday, December 03, 2020

A foul-mouthed, chicken-loving Montanan completely altered the course of human health. His story also lays bare the struggles inherent in our global effort to create a covid-19 vaccine.
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Man Against Horse

Saturday, December 28, 2019

An exploration into our very beginnings, of the first strides we took to become us. 
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Puppets Take Manhattan

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

By Heather Radke : Contributor, Radiolab

New York, NY —

Every October 31st for the past 33 years, puppeteers have walked up sixth avenue wearing paper mache heads and gauzy tunics to celebrate Halloween.The story of these puppets starts in a barn on the banks of the Hudson River in Rhinecliff, New York. Sophia *Michahelles* ...

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