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1712 drawing by Charles Le Brun

“Laughter,” wrote Thomas Hobbes, “is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.”

Putting an evolutionary tweak on that idea, Albert Rapp, in his 1951 treatise Origins of Wit and Humour, opined that “all laughter has developed from one primitive behavior, the roar of triumph in an ancient jungle duel.”

It seems a bit of a stretch to lump all of laughter together like that, but it is instructive to note just how ubiquitous sadistic laughter is.

To cite but a few famous examples: Romans laughed heartily at Christians being mauled by lions; and torture and execution were considered fun for the whole family until practically yesterday—in the late Middle Ages, the citizens of Mons actually purchased a condemned man from a neighboring town so they could have the pleasure of quartering him themselves. In the 18th century, the well-heeled would visit insane asylums to amuse themselves by taunting the inmates.

Laughter was widely reported during the ethnic violence in Kosovo, Indonesia, and Rwanda; and was allegedly present at many lynchings in the South. The boys who shot up Columbine were said to have been laughing throughout much of the massacre.

And it could be plausibly argued that such gleeful sadism is very much in evidence in some versions of so-called “reality television.”

Type “face plant” into YouTube and ask yourself why, oh why it’s so irresistibly funny to watch people fall down. (There’s an especially pleasing subgenre of falling models, among which videos you will find a pole-dancer face-plant that’s a touch too racy for this family program.)

If you’re too sophisticated or compassionate to laugh at suffering, remember the last time you laughed at Bush’s verbal blunders, or even a malapropism in Shakespeare, and consider Rapp’s claim that “frailty, deformity, and error are modern substitutes for the battered appearance of one’s opponent.”

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Have you wondered if there is another you out there? Somewhere? Sitting in the same chair, reading the same blog post, wearing the same clothes and thinking the same thoughts? Well, Brian Greene says there must be one. Or two. Or lots and lots and lots and lots and… Why? You ask, well listen to Greene’s argument in this week’s podcast.

We are still furiously working on Season 5, so while you wait we bring you today’s podcast of a conversation between Robert Krulwich and Brian Greene, physics and mathematics professor and director of the Institute of Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics at Columbia University. The interview is part of a series called “Giants of Science” hosted by venerable New York institution, the 92nd St Y.

Robert and Brian discuss what’s beyond the horizon of our universe, what you might wear in infinite universes with finite pairs of designer shoes, and why the Universe and swiss cheese have more in common than you think.

Take a listen here:

PLEASE NOTE: Our apologies, there’s some noise at the end of the recording, please don’t be alarmed! It’s us, not you.

You can see a video of Brian talking about string theory here.

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Here at Radiolab we’ve been known to tinker with sound…. cutting music, ambi, and big ideas all together to get the point across in the most fun, interesting and understandable way. It’s not your typical public radio interview. Recently, we decided to check in with some of the guests on past episodes to see what they thought. Were they over-edited? Mis-represented? Did they love the show? Hate it?

In the Stress episode Dr. Sapolsky explained the physiological representations of stress and how it helps and hurts us today.

You can hear Dr. Sapolsky in the Stress episode here:

Linda Evarts recently asked Dr. Sapolsky what he thought of the episode:

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Here at Radiolab we’ve been known to tinker with sound…. cutting music, ambi, and big ideas all together to get the point across in the most fun, interesting and understandable way. It’s not your typical public radio interview. Recently, we decided to check in with some of the guests on past episodes to see what they thought. Were they over-edited? Mis-represented? Did they love the show? Hate it?

Deborah Gordon is a professor at Stanford University and an expert on ants. She showed Jad and Robert around her lab in the Emergence episode.

Listen to part of the episode here:

Linda Evarts recently called Deborah up to see what she thought of it:

We want your two cents. Give us your best argument for or against calling Radiolab a science show. Is it a show about science? Is it scientific in its approach? How would you describe it to a friend who’s never heard an episode? Are there limitations to classifying it as a science show?
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“I was screaming in my mind during most of the “Faith Healer” section of this show. You guys generally do a fantastic job of keeping things scientific and reasonable in your program, but I really wish there was a different point of view on this portion of the program.”
–Ben
Read Ben’s full comments about the “Faith Healers” segment in Placebo.

Yet another listener has sent in a youtube that makes us stop what we’re doing and gather around ye olde computer screen to gaze upon its offerings. Darn you, Ross Bennett, for indulging our desire to procrastinate! You want to us to finish Season 5, don’t you? Alas. This one’s too good not to pass along. Behold, the transcendent power of lullabies:

Here’s what listener Ross Bennet thought about the video:

It’s a short video of a man singing a song to a litter of very active but attentive boxer puppies. The instant he begins singing, the entire litter of puppies begins shuffling around for a place to sleep like some narcoleptic version of musical chairs. By the time he’s been through two refrains of “Goodnight, Sweetheart” the pups are out cold. It’s definitely worth the 1:40 to watch it.

Now watch closely. This is more than just providing a soothing sound that creates a comforting environment conducive to relaxation. There’s something triggering sleep. These puppies zonk out as quickly as a trained dog will “sit” or “shake.”

As I’m watching this, recalling your episodes on sleep and musical language, so many questions come to mind.

What is a lullaby?
What is this connection between music and sleep?
Is this an inborn trait that we reinforce to become a conditioned behavior? Or is there something else going on here?
What makes a good lullaby?
Who was the brilliant person who hit on the idea of a bedside clock radio with a sleep timer?
Have there been any clinical studies about using music to treat insomnia?
And what exactly is insomnia? Could it be a lack of music?
What does a lullaby look or feel like to a synaesthesia patient? Do they look or feel different than other music?

This spring, Robert Krulwich gave the commencement speech at California Institute of Technology. He called it “Tell Me a Story.” And commencement speech it may be, it gets at the heart of what we do here at Radiolab. It’s a treat to hear his passion. We enjoyed it. And we thought you might too.