I haven’t done a Radiolab Saturday in some time, but don’t worry, i will be posting more segments i find interesting in the Fall. Weekends have been packed with events and summer lounging.  I wanted to write about this particular Radiolab short though, because it is linked to the current book i am trudging happily through: Metzingers’ The Ego Tunnel. So far, it is as mind blowingly disorienting  as Jim told me. The concept that the self — the subjective point of view that humans use to interact with their environment– is a myth is not an easy understanding. But i think i am getting there, and this Radiolab, an extra morsel from their really compelling hour long show on the afterlife, starts to make me understand what it is like to develop ones ego tunnel, or sense of self.

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I have never read the works of Frank McCourt (author of popular books like Angela’s Ashes), but because he often graced my media staples like NPR, i had learned to appreciate and enjoy his take on America’s decadent persona. It is sad to see him and his insight go. He really put old cranky dudes like Andy Rooney to shame. I didn’t see his schtick reflect longing for the american idea of yesteryear (born in brooklyn, he grew up destitute in Ireland), but more of an indictment of materialism and its promise of easy joy.

Here is an interview i heard on NPR’s Studio 360 from McCourt on his ideas on how Americans raise their children. It’s a great listen: (continue reading…)

I saw this video via the daily dish:

and it reminded me of an old 2008 episode of Radio Lab which goes much further in understanding if laughing is a universal animal kingdom reaction, and if so, what’s so funny? Listen to the RadioLab episode here and a Radio Lab Extra video of more animal laughing after the break.  (continue reading…)

It’s not often that scientists are thought of as investigators or detectives in the public’s eye, but they really are the worthy heirs to Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Logic, the reasoning of deduction and induction, hypothesis, experimentation, one could argue that scientists are more investigator than a reporter or a law enforcer. Radiolab has an episode titled detective stories that chronicles interesting stories of investigation. Last Radiolab Saturday, i posted one segment on garbage and how burrowing through it shows us how messy the facts of history actually are. This week, it is the surreal detective story of titled goat on a cow. It really has to be heard to be believed.

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Experience and observation is a part of the human condition that is discounted too much. Especially when it is in context of a scientific discovery. Far from the classic eureka moment portrayed in many pop culture references of science discovery, i would imagine most scientists rarely think at that moment they are first and possibly, only person to see what they are seeing. These are such special and unique situations, that some people would possibly die to witness it. Who knows, but  i feel if Marie Curie  knew how the exposure to the material that made her world famous but led to her premature cancer death, she would still do it all over again. Or when the explorer Percy Fawcett died in the Amazon trying to find the lost city of Z. It’s in this context i listen to these seemingly odd stories from Radiolab’s episode YELLOW FLUFF AND OTHER CURIOUS ENCOUNTERS, where scientists show how becoming disgustingly close to their work is part of the natural obsession that often occurs when someone has the need to know.  (continue reading…)

Mating season has begun, and i can’t think of a better way to figure out your strategy for success than to listen to Radiolab’s discussion OF ALL THINGS SPERM. (sorry egg, you kinda get the short end of this stick…. Can we still be friends?)

my favorite two words from this podcast? SUGAR ROOM.

You can listen to the entire show here.

Or parts of this episode: (continue reading…)