Radio Lab

Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. We ask deep questions and use investigative journalism to get the answers. A given episode might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. The show is known for innovative sound design, smashing information into music. It is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.

  • Snail Sex Tape

    In this episode, we consider a creature we often don’t think much about—the snail. And not just snails, but their sex lives. Which, as it turns out, is epic. There is persuasion and subterfuge, spaghetti penises and co-copulation. And this very surprising habit—erm kink—of making tiny arrows (actually!) and stabbing each other with them. Known as a “love dart,” these limestone daggers aren’t just a strange trick of nature—they have a deep evolutionary purpose. 

    Special thanks to Menno Schilthuizen and Aaron Chase.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Hosted by - Molly Webster
    Reported by - Molly Webster
    Produced by - Mona Madgavkar, Annie McEwen, Molly Webster
    Sound design contributed by - Mona Madgavkar, Annie McEwen
    Fact-checking by - Diane A. Kelly
    and Edited by  - Alex Neason

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Videos -  
    A love dart being DARTED! (https://zpr.io/rYhLwXhaxQQP)  – Molly has watched this video so many times

    Articles - 

    Books - 
    “Nature’s Nether Regions: What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves” (https://zpr.io/ktMvJbZciCdD)  by evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen.

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Black Box

    In this episode, first aired in 2014, we examine three very different kinds of black boxes—spaces where we know what’s going in, we know what’s coming out, but can’t see what happens in-between.

    From the darkest parts of metamorphosis to a sixty-year-old secret among magicians, and the nature of consciousness itself, we shine some light on three questions. But for each, we contend with an answerless space, leaving just enough room for the mystery and magic, always wondering what’s inside the Black Box.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by Tim Howard and Molly Webster
    Produced by Tim Howard and Molly Webster

    EPISODE CITATIONS:
    Radio Show: ABC's Keep Them Guessing (https://tinyurl.com/9r9zmftr)

    LATERAL CUTS:
    Last year we shared a story on our feed about butterfly researcher Dr. Martha Weiss, and how she befriended a little boy on the other side of the world who wanted to do his own caterpillar memory study.

    Martha’s daughter Annie Rosenthal captured the whole adventure on tape and produced a gorgeous audio feature, “Caterpillar Roadshow,” which was first published in the audio magazine Signal Hill. 

    You can find it on our feed (https://zpr.io/xPdAYXFUMr4s)
    –or on Signal Hill’s website. (https://zpr.io/a4bjPKeXJQWK) 
     

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Gray's Donation

    Before he was even born, Sarah and Ross Gray knew that their son Thomas wouldn’t live long. But as they let go of him, they made a decision that reverberated through a world that they never bothered to think about. Years later, after a couple of awkward phone calls, they go on a quest and manage to meet the people and places for whom Thomas’ short life was an altogether different kind of gift. We originally made this story back in 2015, but we wanted to play it again because we love that it brings a view of science that is redemptive, tender, and unexpected.

    Since we first released this episode, Sarah Gray wrote a book called A Life Everlasting (https://zpr.io/GVYisRaqe9d6), it’s a memoir about Thomas that dives into the world of organ donation and medical science. She’s also written a beautiful short story about shame called The Lacemaker Fairy Tale (https://zpr.io/Li5BMtfHmf92). And, right now she’s working on a script for a movie called Raincheck.

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Reported by - Jad Abumrad
    with help from - Latif Nasser

    LATERAL CUTS -

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Time is Honey

    In the early 2000s, Sunil Nakrani felt stuck. 

    Back then, websites crashed all the time. When Sunil noticed this, he decided he was going to fix the internet. But after nearly a year of studying the architecture of the web, he was no closer to an answer. In desperation, Sunil sent out a raft of cold emails to engineering professors. He hoped someone, anyone, could help him figure this out. Eventually, he learned that the internet could only be fixed if he paid attention to the humble honeybee. 

    This is the story of the Honeybee Algorithm: How tech used honeybees to build the internet as we know it.

    Special thanks to John Bartholdi, John Vande Vate, Sammy Ramsey, James Marshall, Steve Strogatz, Duc Pham, and Heiko Hamann.

    We found out about this story thanks to our friends at AAAS, who run the one and only Golden Goose Awards. The award goes to government funded science that sounds trivial or bizarre, but goes on to change the world.The Honeybee Algorithm won a Golden Goose Award back in 2016 (https://zpr.io/ePxaaYja6YF4). Thank you to our friends there: Erin Heath, Gwendolyn Bogard, Valeria Sabate, Joanne Padron Carney, and Meredith Asbury. 


    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Latif Nasser
    with help from - Maria Paz Gutiérrez
    Produced by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez, Annie McEwen and Pat Walters
    and Edited by  - Pat Walters

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Videos - 

    Books -

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Kleptotherms

    In this episode, we break the thermometer and watch the mercury spill out as we discover that temperature is far stranger than it seems. We first ran this episode in 2021: Five stories that run the gamut from snakes to stars. We start out underwater, with a species of snake that has evolved a devious trick for keeping warm. Then we hear the tale of a young man whose seemingly simple method of warming up might be the very thing making him cold. And Senior Correspondent Molly Webster blows the lid off the idea that 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit is a sound marker of health. 

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Reported by - Lulu Miller and Molly Webster
    Produced by - Becca Bressler, Lulu Miller and Molly Webster
    with help from - Carin Leong
    Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Song of the Cerebellum

    One spring evening in 2024, a science journalist named Rachel Gross bombed at karaoke. The culprit was a bleed in a fist-sized clump of neurons tucked down in the back of her brain called the cerebellum. A couple weeks later, her doctors took a bit of it out, assuring her it was just helping her with motor coordination — she might be a bit clumsy for a while, but she’d still be herself. But afterwards, she didn't feel like herself. So she dove into the dusty basement of the brain (and brain science) to figure out why. What Rachel found was a burgeoning new frontier in neuroscience. We learn what singing Shakira on stage has to do with reaching for a cup of coffee — and how the surprising relationship between the two is making us rethink what we think about thinking.

    Special thanks to Warzone Karaoke at Branded Saloon, Dr. Joanne Loewy and the Singing Together, Measure by Measure choir at theLouis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine  (http://musicandmedicine.org/) at Mount Sinai Union Square, Dag Spicer and the Computer History Museum, Désirée Lie, Mark Gross, Daniel A. Gross, Brittany Aguilar, and, of course, Shakira.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Rachel Gross
    Produced by - Sindhu Gnanasambandan

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Articles -

    Books - 

    • Vagina Obscura (https://www.rachelegross.com/book), by Rachel E. Gross

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • You and Me and Mr. Self-Esteem

    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, and can largely be traced back to one man: a rumpled, convertible-driving California state representative named John Vasconcellos who helped spark a movement that took over schools, board rooms, and social-service offices across America in the 1990s. This week, we look at the rise and fall of the self-esteem movement and ask: is it possible to raise your self-esteem? And is trying to do so even a good idea?

    Special thanks to big thank you to the University of California, Santa Barbara Library for use of audio material from their Humanistic Psychology Archives and to their staff for helping located so many audio recordings. 

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Reported by - Heather Radke and Matt Kielty 
    Produced by - Matt Kietly
    Original music and sound design by - Jeremy S. Bloom and Matt Kielty
    Flute performance and compositions by -  Ben Batchelder
    Voiceover work by - Dann Fink and David Gebel
    Mixing help by - Jeremy S. Bloom
    Fact-checking by - Anna Pujol-Mazzini and Angely Mercado
    and Edited by  - Pat Walters

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Articles - 

    Books - 

    Sing up for our newsletter. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show.Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Punchline

    This episode, first aired in 2019, brings you the story of John Scott, the professional hockey player that every fan loved to hate.  A tough guy. A brawler. A goon. But when an impish pundit named Puck Daddy called on fans to vote for Scott to play alongside the world’s greatest players in the NHL All-Star Game, Scott found himself facing off against fans, commentators, and the powers that be.  Was this the realization of Scott’s childhood dreams? Or a nightmarish prank gone too far? Today on Radiolab, a goof on a goon turns into a parable of the agony and the ecstasy of the internet, and democracy in the age of Boaty McBoatface.

    Special thanks to Larry Lynch and Morgan Springer. 

    Check out John Scott's "Dropping the Gloves"podcast (https://www.droppingthegloves.com/) and hisbook (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/A-Guy-Like-Me/John-Scott/9781501159657) "A Guy Like Me". 

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Latif Nasser
    Produced by - Matt Kielty

    Original music and sound design contributed by -
    John Dryden, Thee Oh Sees, Weedeater and Bongzilla.

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.
    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Brain Balls

    When neuroscientist Madeline Lancaster was a brand new postdoc, she accidentally used an expired protein gel in a lab experiment and noticed something weird. The stem cells she was trying to grow in a dish were self-assembling. The result? Madeline was the first person ever to grow what she called a “cerebral organoid,” a tiny, 3D version of a human brain the size of a peppercorn.

    In about a decade, these mini human brain balls were everywhere. They were revealing bombshell secrets about how our brains develop in the womb, helping treat advanced cancer patients, being implanted into animals, even playing the video game Pong. But what are they? Are these brain balls capable of sensing, feeling, learning, being? Are they tiny, trapped humans? And if they were, how would we know?

    Special thanks to Lynn Levy, Jason Yamada-Hanff, David Fajgenbaum, Andrew Verstein, Anne Hamilton, Christopher Mason, Madeline Mason-Moriarty, the team at the Boston Museum of Science, and Howard Fine, Stefano Cirigliano, and the team at Weill-Cornell. 

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Latif Nasser
    with help from - Mona Madgavkar
    Produced by - Annie McEwen, Mona Madgavkar, and Pat Walters
    with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
    Fact-checking by - Natalie Middleton and Rebecca Rand
    and Edited by  - Alex Neason and Pat Walters

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Videos -

    Articles -


    Books - 
    Carl Zimmer Life’s Edge: The Search for What it Means to be Alive(https://carlzimmer.com/books/lifes-edge/)



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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Moon Trees

    In 1971, a red-headed, tree-loving astronaut named Stu ‘Smokey’ Roosa was asked to take something to the moon with him. Of all things, he chose to take a canister of 500 tree seeds. After orbiting the moon 34 times, the seeds made it back to Earth. NASA decided to plant the seeds all across the country and then… everyone forgot about them. Until one day, a third grader from Indiana stumbled on a tree with a strange plaque: "Moon Tree." This discovery set off a cascading search for all the trees that visited the moon across the United States. Science writer, and our very own factchecker, Natalie Middleton (https://www.nataliemiddleton.org/) tells us the tale.

    Read Lulu’s remembrance of Alice Wong for Transom.org: 13 questions I’ll never get to ask Alice Wong (https://transom.org/2026/13-questions-ill-never-get-to-ask-alice-wong/). 

    Check out Natalie’s map to find your nearest moon tree on our show page (https://radiolab.org/podcast/moon-trees)!

    Help us hunt for more moon trees. If you know of an undocumented moon tree, contact Natalie at nataliemiddleton.org. Check out Natalie’s essay on Moon Trees (https://orionmagazine.org/article/moon-tree/) and Space Zinnias (https://orionmagazine.org/article/astronaut-scott-kelly-flower-experiment-space/) in Orion Magazine (https://orionmagazine.org/).

    Visit NASA’s official Moon Tree Page (https://science.nasa.gov/resource/apollo-moon-trees/) for a list of all the Apollo 14 Moon Trees in the world. 

    To learn more about Stu Roosa or to learn more about acquiring your own half Moon Tree, check out the Moon Tree Foundation (https://www.moontreefoundation.com/), spearheaded by Stu’s daughter, Rosemary Roosa. 

    A reminder that Terrestrials also makes original music! You can find ‘Tangled in the Roots’ and all other music from the show here(https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids/just-the-songs).

    EPISODE CREDITS: 

    Terrestrials was created by Lulu Miller with WNYC Studios. This episode was produced by Tanya Chawla and sound-designed by Joe Plourde. Our Executive Producer is Sarah Sandbach. Our team includes Alan Goffinski, Ana González and Mira Burt-Wintonick. Fact checking was by Diane Kelly. 

    Special thanks to Sumanth Prabhaker from Orion magazine, retired NASA Scientist Dr. Dave Williams, Joan Goble, Tre Corely and NASA scientist Dr. Marie Henderson.

    Our advisors for this show were Ana Luz Porzecanski, Nicole Depalma, Liza Demby and Carly Ciarrocchi.

    Support for Terrestrials also comes from the Simons Foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the John Templeton Foundation.

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.
    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Fertility Cliff

    As she -- and her friends — approached the age of 35, senior correspondent Molly Webster kept hearing a phrase over and over: “fertility cliff.” It was a short-hand term to describe what she was told would happen to her fertility after she turned 35 — that is, it would drop off. Suddenly, sharply, dramatically. And this was well before she was supposed to hit menopause. Intrigued, Molly decided to look into it — what was the truth behind this so-called cliff, and when, if so, would she topple? 

    This story first premiered in “Thirty Something,” a 2018 Radiolab live show that was part of,Gonads, (https://radiolab.org/series/radiolab-presents-gonads)a six-episode audio and live event series all about reproduction and the parts of us that make more of us. The live event was produced by Rachael Cusick and edited by Pat Walters.

    Special thanks to epidemiologist Lauren Wise, at Boston University. Plus, Emily, Chloe, and Bianca. And of course, Jad Abumrad.

    If you’re more of a visual person, here are the graphs we explain in the episode, we also include links to the corresponding papers in our Episode Citations Section, below!

    LINK TO GRAPHS:
    https://media.wnyc.org/i/1860/1046/c/80/2025/12/FERTILITY_AGE_GRAPHS_1-4.jpg

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Molly Webster
    Produced by - Arianne Wack
    Fact-checking by - Diane A. Kelly

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Audio:

    Videos:

    “Radiolab Presents: Thirty Something”
    https://youtu.be/LOJVAaSwags?si=czCBraHf1JEqmAQi

    Research Articles:

    Further reading: 
    Predicting Fertility, (https://zpr.io/YEdfiYT29rUh): Magazine article on Lauren Wise’s research,
     

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.
    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Good Show

    The standard view of evolution is that living things are shaped by cold-hearted competition. And there is no doubt that today's plants and animals carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought fiercely to survive and reproduce. But in this hour that we first broadcast back in 2010, we wonder whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness... or even, self-sacrifice. Is altruism an aberration, or just an elaborate guise for sneaky self-interest? Do we really live in a selfish, dog-eat-dog world? Or has evolution carved out a hidden code that rewards genuine cooperation?

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.
    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Alien in the Room

    It’s faster than a speeding bullet. It’s smarter than a polymath genius. It’s everywhere but it’s invisible. It’s artificial intelligence. But what actually is it?

    Today we ask this simple question and explore why it’s so damn hard to answer.

    Special thanks to Stephanie Yin and the New York Institute of Go for teaching us the game. Mark, Daria and Levon Hoover Brauner for helping bring NETtalk to life. 

    And a huge thank you to Grant Sanderson for his unending patience explaining the math of neural nets to us. To learn more about how these 'thinking machines' actually think, we highly recommend his wonderful youtube channel3Blue1Brown(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aircAruvnKk).

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Simon Adler
    Produced by - Simon Adler
    Original music from - Simon Adler
    Sound design contributed by - Simon Adler
    Fact-checking by - Anna Pujol-Mazzini 

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty

  • Shell Game: Minimum Viable Company

    A year ago we brought you a show called Shell Game where a journalist named Evan Ratliff made an AI copy of himself. Now on season 2 of the show, Evan’s using AI to do more than just mimic himself — he’s starting a company staffed entirely by AI agents, and making a podcast about the experience. The show is a smart, funny, and truly bizarre look at what AI can do—and what it can’t. 

    This week we bring you the first episode of Shell Game Season Two, Minimum Viable Company. You can sign up to get the rest of the Shell Game ad-free, and the Shell Game newsletter, at shellgame.co .


    EPISODE CREDITS: 

    Shell Game 
    Hosted by Evan Ratliff, 
    Produced and edited by Sophie Bridges. 
    Shell Game’s Technical Advisor Matty Bohacek 
    Executive Produced by Samantha Henig, Kate Osborn and Mangesh Hattikudur at Kaleidoscope
    and Katrina Norvell at IHeart Podcasts.

    Radiolab portions 
    Hosted by Simon Adler 
    Produced by Mona Madgavkar.

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Fela Kuti: Enter the Shrine

    Our original host Jad Abumrad returns to share a new podcast series he’s just released. It’s all about Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician who created a genre, then a movement, then tried to use his hypnotic beats to topple a military dictatorship. Jad tells us about the series and why he made it, and we play the episode that, for us at least, gets to the heart of the matter: How exactly does his music work? What actually happens to the people who hear it and how does it move them to action?

    You can find Jad’s entire nine-part series, Fela Kuti: Fear No Man, on Apple or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Jad Abumrad
    Radiolab portions produced by - Sindhu Gnanasambandan

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    Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member ofThe Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Our Common Nature: West Virginia Coal

    Today on the show, we’re bringing you an episode from Our Common Nature (https://link.podtrac.com/v7mx144d), a new podcast series where cellist Yo-Yo Ma and host Ana González travel around the United States to meet people, make music and better understand how culture binds us to nature. The series features a few familiar voices, including Ana González (host) and Alan Goffinski (producer), from our kids podcast, Terrestrials (https://link.podtrac.com/vysacqn1). 

    About the episode: 
    West Virginia is defined by its beauty and its coal, two things that can work against each other. Yo-Yo Ma felt this as soon as stepped foot in its hills.This episode explores how music and poetry help process the emotions of a community besieged with disaster and held together by pride and duty. We travel down the Coal River with third-generation coal miner Chris Saunders, who tells us how coal has saved and threatened his life. Poet Crystal Good shares her poetry, which channels her rage and love. And musician and granddaughter of West Virginia coal miners, Kathy Mattea, explains the beauty of belting out your home state in a chorus. The end of the episode finds host Ana floating down the New River with help from a group of high schoolers and Yo-Yo Ma. 

    Listen to the full series Our Common Nature (https://link.podtrac.com/v7mx144d). 

    Featuring music by Yo-Yo Ma, Dom Flemons, and Kathy Mattea and poetry by Crystal Good.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Radiolab Bits Produced - Anisa Vietze (Radiolab bits)

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Quantum Refuge

    Qasem Waleed is a 28-year-old physicist who has lived in Gaza his whole life. In 2024, he joined a chorus of Palestinians sharing videos and pictures and writing about the chaos and violence they were living through, as Israel’s military bombardment devastated their lives. But Qasem was trying to describe his reality through the lens of the most notoriously confusing and inscrutable field of science ever, quantum mechanics. We talked to him, from a cafe near the Al-Mawasi section of Gaza, to find out why. And over the course of several conversations, he told us how this reality-breaking corner of science has helped him survive. And how such unspeakable violence actually let him understand, in a visceral way, quantum mechanics’ most counter-intuitive ideas. 

    Special thanks to Katya Rogers, Karim Kattan, Allan Adams, Sarah Qari, Soren Wheeler, and Pat Walters

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Lulu Miller
    Produced by - Jessica Yung
    with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
    Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger
    and Edited by  - Alex Neason


    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Videos - 

    Articles - 
    Read a selection of Qasem’s published essays about his life in Gaza and the quantum world: 

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Wubi Effect

    When we think of China today, we think of a technological superpower. From Huawei and 5G to TikTok and viral social media, China is stride for stride with the United States in the world of computing. However, China’s technological renaissance almost didn’t happen. And for one very basic reason: the Chinese language, with its 70,000 plus characters, couldn’t fit on a keyboard.

    Today, we tell the story of Professor Wang Yongmin, a hard-headed computer programmer who solved this puzzle and laid the foundation for the China we know today.

    Special thanks to Martin Howard. You can view his renowned collection of typewriters at:antiquetypewriters.com.

     

    EPISODE CREDITS: 

    Reported by - Simon Adler

    Produced by - Simon Adler
     

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Glow Below

    A call to oceanographer Edie Widder about a fish with a very odd immune system quickly becomes something else: a dive into the deep sea, into a world of brilliant light. But down there, the light doesn’t behave like light -- it sparkles and glows, but also drips, squirts, and dribbles. Today, find out how creatures make the light and how they use it, from hunting and hiding to maybe even … talking. And hear about a series of mysterious moments where Edie goes from studying the creatures to becoming one of them. 

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Hosted by - Molly Webster
    Reported by - Molly Webster
    Produced by - Maria Paz Gutierrez
    with help from - Molly Webster
    Fact-checking by - Diane A. Kelly

    LATERAL CUTS (Other Radiolab episodes you may like):
    Octomom - https://radiolab.org/podcast/octomom
    The Darkest Dark - https://radiolab.org/podcast/the-darkest-dark

    EPISODE CITATIONS:
    Documentary - 
    Coming soon, there’ll be a new doc about Edie’s life and work studying bioluminescence in deep sea creatures. According to Edie, “A Life Illuminated”, contains some of the best deep sea bioluminescence footage ever recorded. It’s from our friends at Sandbox Films, and director Tasha Van Zandt.
    https://www.sandboxfilms.org/films/a-life-illuminated/

    Books - 
    Edie Widder wrote a memoir! Go read, “Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea”.https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564185/below-the-edge-of-darkness-by-edith-widder-phd/

    Videos - 
    It’s not in the episode, but a few years back, Edie’s fame reached new heights when she captured footage of a never-before-seen Giant Squid … here’s the story, and video.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krDdv9KLmuM
     

    Articles - 
    A look at some glowing shrimps.
    https://zpr.io/3jyHWi7VFBw5

    A photo gallery of different types of deep sea glow, from different types of deep sea creatures, including one of counterillumination, which Edie talks about in the episode.
    https://zpr.io/hdFFsArGjhau
     

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • What Up Holmes?

    Love it or hate it, the freedom to say obnoxious and subversive things is the quintessence of what makes America America. But our say-almost-anything approach to free speech is actually relatively recent, and you can trace it back to one guy: a Supreme Court justice named Oliver Wendell Holmes. Even weirder, you can trace it back to one seemingly ordinary eight-month period in Holmes’s life when he seems to have done a logical U-turn on what should be say-able.  Why he changed his mind during those eight months is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the Supreme Court. (Spoiler: the answer involves anarchists, a house of truth, and a cry for help from a dear friend.)  Join us in an episode we originally released in 2021, as we investigate why he changed his mind, how that made the country change its mind, and whether it’s now time to change our minds again.

    Special thanks to Jenny Lawton, Soren Shade, Kelsey Padgett, Mahyad Tousi and Soroush Vosughi.

    LATERAL CUTS:
    Content Warning
    Facebook Supreme Court
    The Trust Engineers

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Latif Nasser
    Produced by - Sarah Qari
    with help from - Anisa Vietze

     

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Content Warning

    Over the past five years TikTok has radically changed the online world. But trust us when we say, it’s not how you’d expect.

    Today we continue our yearslong exploration of what you can and can’t post online. We look at how Facebook’s approach to free speech has evolved since Trump’s victory. How TikTok upended everything we see. And what all this means for the future of our political and digital lives.

    Special thanks to Kate Klonick


    EPISODE CREDITS: 

    Reported by - Simon Adler
    Produced by - Simon Adler

    Original music from - Simon Adler

    with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloome

    Fact-checking by - Anna Pujol-Mazzini

    Lateral Cuts:
    The Trust Engineers
    Facebook’s Supreme Court

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Creation Story

    Ella al-Shamahi is one part Charles Darwin, one part Indiana Jones. She braves war zones and pirate-infested waters to collect fossils from prehistoric caves, fossils that help us understand the origin of our species. Her recent hit BBC / PBS series Human follows her around the globe trying to piece together the unlikely story of how early humans conquered the world.  But Ella’s own origins as an evolutionary biologist are equally unlikely. She sits down with us and tells us a story she has rarely shared publicly, about how she came to believe in evolution, and how much that belief cost her. 

    Special thanks to Misha Euceph, Khalil Andani, and Hamza Syed.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Latif Nasser
    Produced by - Jessica Yung and Pat Walters
    with help from - Sarah Qari
    Fact-checking by - Diane Kelly
    and Edited by  - Pat Walters

     

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Videos - 

    “Human” (https://www.bbcearth.com/shows/human), Ella’s show on the BBC and PBS

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl

    This is the story of a three-year-old girl and the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court case Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl is a legal battle that has entangled a biological father, a heart-broken couple, and the tragic history of Native American children taken from their families. We originally released this story back in 2013, when that girl’s fate was still in the balance of various legal decisions. We thought now was a good time to bring the story back, because the Act at the center of the story is still being questioned.

    When then-producer Tim Howard first read about this case, it struck him as a sad but seemingly straightforward custody dispute. But, as he started talking to lawyers and historians and the families involved in the case, it became clear that it was much more than that. Because Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl challenges parts of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, this case puts one little girl at the center of a storm of legal intricacies, Native American tribal culture, and heart-wrenching personal stakes.

    LATERAL CUTS:
    What Up Holmes?
    The Gatekeeper

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Reported by - Tim Howard
    Produced by - Tim Howard

    EPISODE CITATIONS (so many):

    Background and Reporting from a range of different perspectives

    Analysis and Editorials

    Contemporary, Historic, and Legal Source Materials

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    Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Voice

    Over the course of millions of years, human voices have evolved to hold startling power. These clouds of vibrating air carry crucial information about who we are–and we rely on them to push ourselves up and out into the physical world.

    This week, we’re on a journey to understand how we got our unique sonic fingerprint, the power it affords us, and what happens when it’s taken away.

    Special thanks to Alice Wong, Wren Farrell, Hector Espinal and his parents, Crisaly and Hector Espinal, Mary Croke, Nancy Kielty, Beth McEwen, Robin Feuer Miller,Roomful of Teeth, Amanda Crider, Caroline Shaw, Judd Greenstein, Leilihua Lanzilotti, Rebekka Karijord, and Michael Harrison.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 

    Reported by -Annie McEwen and Matt Kielty
    Produced by - Annie McEwen and Matt Kielty
    Original music and sound design contributed by - Jeremy Bloom and Matt Kielty
    with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
    Fact-checking by - Anna Pujol-Mazzini
    and Edited by  - Alex Neason

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Books - 

    Websites -

    Audio/Artists -

    Roomful of Teeth (https://www.roomfulofteeth.org/)

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Spark of Life

    In the 1920s, a Russian biologist studying onion roots made a surprising discovery: underground, down in the darkness, it seemed like the cells inside the onion roots were making their own … light. 

    The “onion root experiment” went on to become something of a cult classic in science, and eventually the biologically-made light was dubbed “biophotons.” In the ensuing century, biophoton discoveries moved from onion roots to bacteria, frog embryos, and humans. Today, scientist Nirosha Murugan is on a career-defining journey to learn more about the light. As she and her colleagues study this mysterious phenomenon, they find themselves racing from question to question, wondering what gives off light, where it might be coming from, and what, if anything, it could tell us about life, disease, and even death. 

    Correction: In this episode, when Nirosha spoke about her melanoma study, she misstated the lab animal involved in the study. It was mice.

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Hosted by - Molly Webster
    Reported by - Molly Webster
    Produced by - Sarah Qari
    with help from - Molly Webster
    Fact-checking by - Natalie Middleton

    EPISODE CITATIONS:
    Videos -
    The “Life Flash” video! Note that fluorescent dye was added to the experiment, by the researchers, to enhance the zinc sparks (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9tmOyrIlYM) 

    Articles -

    The Onion Root Experiment (https://www.brmi.online/gurwitsch)

    Enjoy this Wikipedia rabbit-hole about Fritz Albert Popp (https://zpr.io/nxJFcAMvZkBz)

    Original Paper on zinc sparks (https://zpr.io/GfbazBqU3e3y) at the time of fertilization, a moment referred to as the “life flash”

    Read more about the “death flash,” (https://zpr.io/TqG3mcCGYEgQ) and other end-of-life phenomenon, as reported by medical caregivers

    Research from Nirosha’s lab on photon emissions (https://zpr.io/mtpbwSeY4iEp) and brain activity

    Research from Nirosha’s lab on biophoton emission (https://zpr.io/3in9LSmzW6m5) and cancer diagnosis

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Los Frikis

    How a group of 80’s Cuban misfits found rock-and-roll and created a revolution within a revolution, going into exile without ever leaving home.  Reporter Luis Trelles brings us the story of punk rock’s arrival in Cuba and a small band of outsiders who sentenced themselves to death and set themselves free. We originally released this episode back in 2015 in a collaboration with Radio Ambulante, but the story is so fascinating (and, in many ways, still relevant) that we haven’t stopped thinking about it. 

    Special thanks to the bands VIH, Eskoria, Metamorfosis and Alio Die & Mariolina Zitta for the use of their music. 

    Radio Ambulante launches their 15th season on September 30th!!
    Check it out, here!! (https://radioambulante.org/en) 

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Find some of Radio Ambulante’s other stories about the Frikis here -
    The Survivors (https://zpr.io/Kh8KWWi6SqaF)
    When Havana was Friki (https://zpr.io/HrXsgibzvbJj)

    Please put any supporting materials you think our audience would find interesting or useful below in the appropriate broad categories.

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Screaming Into the Void

    In August we performed a live taping of the show from a theater perched on the edge of Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River, overshadowed by the wide open night sky. Three stories about voids. One about a fish that screams into the night – and the mystery of its counterpart that doesn’t. Another about a group of women who gazed at the night sky and taught us just how vast the universe is, and a third about a man who talk to aliens – and the people who tell him he’s putting human civilization at risk by doing so. Finally, we turn back to Earth with the help of a reading from Samantha Harvey’s hit novel Orbital (https://zpr.io/RNi4sY2JVKxK) performed by the artist, actor and podcast host Helga Davis (https://zpr.io/TKGuzzDFnVjN). What does it mean to stand on the edge of a void, and what happens when you scream into it, or choose not to?

    This episode was originally produced and developed in front of a live audience by Little Island, Producing Artistic Director Zack Winokur, Executive Director Laura Clement. Special thanks to our voice actors Davidé Borella, Jim Pirri, Armando Riesco, and Brian Wiles with casting by Dann Fink. And Anna von Mertens, author ofAttention Is Discovery: The Life and Legacy of Astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (https://zpr.io/j7ZYKX8wSCYL).

    EPISODE CREDITS: 
    Reported by - Lulu Miller, Matt Kielty and Latif Nasser
    Produced by - Pat Walters and Matt Kielty
    with help from - Jessica Yung, Maria Paz Gutierrez and Rebecca Rand
    Original music from - Mantra Percussion
    Sound design contributed by - Matt Kielty and Jeremy Bloom
    with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
    Fact-checking by - Diane Kelly and Natalie Middleton
    and Edited by  - Pat Walters

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Books - 

    Attention Is Discovery: The Life and Legacy of Astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (https://zpr.io/j7ZYKX8wSCYL) by Anna von Mertens

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    Follow our show onInstagram,Twitter andFacebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailingradiolab@wnyc.org.

    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Music Hat

    With this episode, we’re putting on our music hat. For a program that relies so much on scoring and sound, it’s not often we talk about the musicians and the music they make that inspire us. Today, that changes. Today, we bring you two stories. Each about musicians that our former host and creator of Radiolab, Jad Abumrad, loves. 

    We originally released these stories many years ago, and both start deep in music itself. Then quickly, they dig deeper — into our relationships with technology, and ourselves. 

    We start with the band Dawn of Midi, who straddle the intersection between acoustic and electronic sounds. Jad talks to the band about their album, Dysnomia, and how it's filled with heavily-layered rhythms that feel both mechanistic and deeply human, at the same time.

    Then, Jad talks with Juana Molina, an Argentine singer who accidentally became a famous actress, when all along all she really wanted was to be a musician. 

    Special thanks to Dawn of Midi and Juana Molina.

    EPISODE CREDITS: 

    Reported by - JAD ABUMRAD 

    EPISODE CITATIONS:

    Check out Dawn of Midi atdawnofmidi.com and Juana Molina atjuanamolina.com

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • The Medical Matchmaking Machine

    As he finished his medical school exam, David Fajgenbaum felt off.  He walked down to the ER and checked himself in.  Soon he was in the ICU with multiple organ failure.  The only drug for his condition didn’t work. He had months to live, if that.  If he was going to survive, he was going to have to find his own cure. Miraculously, he pulled it off in the nick of time. From that ordeal, he realized that our system of discovering and approving drugs is far from perfect, and that he might be able to use AI to find dozens, hundreds, even thousands of cures, hidden in plain sight, for as-yet untreatable diseases. 

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Reported by - Latif Nasser
    Produced by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez
    with mixing help from - Jeremy S. Bloom
    Fact-checking by - Natalie A. Middleton

    VISIT:
    Everycure.org (https://www.everycure.org)

    EPISODE CITATIONS:
    Books -
    Blair Bigham -  Death Interrupted: How Modern Medicine is Complicating the Way We Die

    David Fajgenbaum - Chasing My Cure, (https://davidfajgenbaum.com/)

    Radiolab | Lateral Cuts:
    Check out Death Interrupted(https://radiolab.org/podcast/death-interrupted), a conversation with Blair Bigham about a worldview shifting change of heart.

    The Dirty Drug and the Ice Cream Tub(https://radiolab.org/podcast/dirty-drug-and-ice-cream-tub) to hear the crazy story about how Rapamycin was discovered.

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

  • Weighing Good Intentions

    In an episode first released in 2010, then-producer Lulu Miller drives to Michigan to track down the endangered Kirtland’s warbler. Efforts to protect the bird have lead to the killing of cowbirds (a species that commandeers warbler nests), and a prescribed burn aimed at creating a new habitat. Tragically, this burn led to the death of a 29-year-old wildlife technician who was dedicated to warbler restoration. Forest Service employee Rita Halbeisen, local Michiganders skeptical of the resources put toward protecting the warbler, and the family of James Swiderski (the man killed in the fire), weigh in on how far we should go to protect one species.

    EPISODE CREDITS:
    Reported by - Lulu Miller

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    Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.