welcome mat (Ben Askew/flickr)
Welcome to our new blog! Kick off your shoes and explore. Read behind-the-scenes updates, find out what’s piquing our curiosity, and download Radiolab ringtones! Take a look around. Check out some of the ideas floating around in our brains, and tell us what you think.
If a thought is like lots of little neurons singing together in harmony, who conducts the brain chorus? Neurologist Christof Koch offers his theory in Emergence.
Download a ringtone of a brain chorus singing coffee:
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Ever had a phrase get stuck in your head? Did it morph into music in your brain? Professor Diana Deutsch explores the phenomenon in Musical Language.
Download an infectious “Behaves So Strangely” ringtone from the show:
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Imagine that you’re a composer. Imagine getting the commission to write a song that will allow family members to face the death of a loved one. Well, composer David Lang had to do just that when a hospital in Garches, France, asked him to write music for their morgue, or “Salle Des Departs.”
What do you do? What should death sound like?
Producer Jocelyn Gonzales brings us this piece about David Lang and his commission for the “Salle Des Departs.”
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Get on the bus(massdistraction/flickr)
Radiolab has events coming up in the following cities:
Feb 21 Angelika Theater NYC, NY
March 10 Uptown Billards Portland, OR
April 24 Koshland Museum Washington, DC
Details to Follow
You’ve heard of the tortured artist. The tortured poet. Did you ever think about the tortured zoo director? It’s tough work being the steward of animals while at the same time being their captor. David Hancocks, a former zoo director, tells us about the paradoxes he encounters in the zoo world and his dream for a future zoo.
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Animal cams
Check out our favorite picks below:
A great blog about Animal Cams!
Mashatu Game Reserve
Falcon Cam (55 Water St.)
Falcon Cam (Santa Cruz)
Seal Cam
Panda Cam
Kelp Cam
Polar Bear Cam
Octopus Cam
Gator Cam
Eagle Cam
On this Radio Lab/WNYC Special, we explore the impact and influence of Wagner’s Ring Cycle on the Metropolitan Opera’s 2004 Presentation.
It might seem hyperbole to claim, as many Wagnerites do, that The Ring Cycle is “The Greatest Work of Art Ever.” But the grandeur and power of this monumental work have permeated our culture from Star Wars to Bugs Bunny to J.R.R. Tolkien.
This piece includes the voices of Howard Shore, Oscar-winning composer of The Lord of the Rings, Playwrite Tony Kushner, Joe Clark, technical director for the Metropolitan Opera, Alex Ross, music critic of The New Yorker magazine, Jungian Psychologist Laurie Layton Shapira, Seattle Opera director Speight Jenkins, Guitarist Gary Lucas, Fred Plotkin, Food & Opera Writer; Will Berger, author of Wagner without Fear, and John Rockwell, cultural correspondent for The New York Times.
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For more information about this episode go here.
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From Musical Language
January 31, 2008 – 1:23 pm
“So, now that artists run the gamut from consonance to pure random screeches, what can possibly be new for our brain? Noises at the edge of hearing?”
— eiaboca
Read eiaboca’s full comment
Listen to Musical Language