wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comment from Irritated Reader
Date: April 20, 2009, 11:56 pm

Don’t stuff people’s RSS readers with stuff they’ve already heard. This is completely pointless.

Comment from Witches Brew
Date: April 21, 2009, 10:43 am

I just want to know one thing.
When will we be hearing a New SEASON?

Like an actual full season, not just these teaser 30min podcasts -which have been a blessing- but please, I really need a full hour fix of radio lab and quick!!!

Comment from Not-At-All-Irritated Reader
Date: April 21, 2009, 1:24 pm

Please ignore the irritated reader and continue to stuff my RSS feed with everything you can. I have not heard this episode, and I appreciate having it called to my attention.

Comment from Ilya
Date: April 21, 2009, 5:58 pm

What were the magnets called again?

Pingback from » Blog Archive » I Understand Women
Date: April 22, 2009, 11:32 am

[...] Now that’s a bold statement, let me step back from that a bit. I understand women better than I used to. Thanks to WNYC’s  Radio Lab Podcast.  And as I always expected our differences apear to be tied to the evolution of our spicies. This is a cool podcast if you want to UNDERSTAND women, check this link out  WNYC’s  Radio Lab Podcast [...]

Comment from Ronnie
Date: April 22, 2009, 11:53 am

Fantastic,

Comment from Joseph
Date: April 22, 2009, 4:57 pm

Not to be gruesome, but where could I see that picture of the amputated legs you discuss in this episode? It sounded kind of cool.

Comment from alexandre van
Date: April 22, 2009, 4:58 pm

Althought I agree that the last new season has passed by rather quickly (I am just spoiled by having a new this american life every week) I like rehearing old episodes. But would like a new intro, sort of “why is this here? why this episode? why now?”

Comment from voice of friggin’ reason
Date: April 23, 2009, 8:45 pm

for godssakes! stop complaining!! We’re lucky to have a pop-science program of this caliber at all!

Comment from darwin godwin
Date: April 24, 2009, 2:59 am

I’m a new listener. I like to hear the best of… and this episode was nice. I wonder if you intentionally fed me fighter pilots talking about weird juju and knew I was going to make the jump to soul-casting, ghosts in hotels, staring down from operating room ceilings etc… using silver-haired, no-nonsense military dare-devils for inspiration. I KNOW you did that on purpose, and it worked…

Comment from Rob
Date: April 25, 2009, 12:44 pm

I have nothing but contempt for you, Irritated Reader. You mean to tell me you have the gall to complain about a rebroadcast of a classic Radio Lab episode you don’t have to pay anything for? Who do you think you are?

You remind me of the people described here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

Keep on rocking, Radio Lab.

Comment from Steph
Date: April 25, 2009, 6:54 pm

I LOVE RADIOLAB. You guys rock and everytime I’m driving in the car with your show on, I find myself sitting in my driveway listening because I can’t get out until the show is done. I love the topics, the sound effects, the questions, the mysteriousness of it all. Nice job. I’ll keep listening and passing on your “weird juju” to friends/family. You’re like the uber hip, mac using, music making, twenty (thirty?) somethings of Discover magazine.

Comment from Charlotte
Date: April 27, 2009, 9:11 pm

First I want to echo Steph’s sentiments. Well said, so I won’t repeat.
Second, a comment on this particular episode: am I the only one who, in high school, spent a couple recess periods with other not-so-wise kids doing this hyperventilation/strangulation thing on each other? The idea was to breathe very deeply for about a minute and then hold your breath while applying pressure to the arteries in your throat. The result (if done properly) was exactly like what the pilots describe: grey-out then loss of consciousness. Some passed out and went limp, other flailed a bit. Loss of consciousness only lasted a few seconds, but to the person doing it, it felt like hours, or forever. Many reported having had a dream of some kind.
So, besides the fact that we were crazy and that this should not be tried at home, what’s the deal? Was this the same phenomena as what the pilots were experiencing?

Comment from Witches Brew
Date: April 28, 2009, 1:57 pm

Yeah i did that passing out thing, at a roller skating arena, the management got wise to it and they told our parents, my dad thought i was on drugs, lol, i dont remember having any dreams though.

Comment from greybird
Date: April 28, 2009, 4:11 pm

I would be curious to see the pilot experiment include some testing of perception during the out of body phase. For instance, before the pilots fly in the simulator, someone could paint a temporary colored dot on the back of the pilot’s head. Then, if the pilot did have an out of body experience in which he saw himself from above and behind, he could then be asked what color the dot was. This way, the experiment could also disprove any idea that the pilots might have actual perception from their unnatural vantage point….or it might not. It would be a cool thing to try.

Comment from Benjamin Jancewicz
Date: April 30, 2009, 11:53 am

Can you ask Oliver Sacks where he got his magnets from? I want to see if I can make a hat that tells you (my feeling, just like he was doing with this thighs) which way is north.

My assumption is that if I wear the hat long enough, my brain will start to automatically learn which way is north, (based on the feelings relation to other things, like landmarks and the position of the sun) and then even when I do not have the hat on, the sense will still be there.

Comment from dave
Date: April 30, 2009, 1:46 pm

I too would like to see the photo of the Civil War “legs”.
Where?

Comment from Another Irritarted Reader
Date: May 4, 2009, 9:41 am

I this is completely pointless i cant believe I have to listen to this

Comment from dadada dadda dadada daddada gggg
Date: May 4, 2009, 9:56 am

go grease lightning

Comment from Chris
Date: May 4, 2009, 4:28 pm

Fascinating ideas on your show!
I find a parallel here: this idea of feeling upheavals of emotions with your body is the root of Vipassana meditation. Through this practice one learns to recognize feelings in the body and to see them as being “empty” or “interdependent”, and therefore become able to watch them arise and pass away without being overtaken by them. So, we knew about this stuff 2500 years before William James! Nothing against James though, I love his work.
Thanks for the show!

Comment from Lauren
Date: May 5, 2009, 3:15 pm

Ohh that sound effect when you were describing amputation gave me the willies and I’m just short of puking on my keyboard.

Job well done!

Comment from Michael Krauklis
Date: May 6, 2009, 8:29 am

I’m a regular Radio Lab listener but I hadn’t heard this one before. I don’t mind rebroadcasts, especially since you were kind enough to label it “(Rebroadcast)”. If I didn’t want to listen to a rebroadcast it would have been literally two seconds to mark it as read and move on. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Comment from Martin
Date: May 6, 2009, 2:59 pm

I am curious how Ian Watterman can speak? It sounded like he has to look at every body part in which he wants the muscles to move, so… how is his speech not an issue. Do Jad and Michael check this? Keep up the good work, I love this program!

Comment from Martin
Date: May 6, 2009, 3:01 pm

oops I meant Robert not Michael

Comment from Anonymous
Date: May 13, 2009, 4:42 pm

Martin,

They say at the beginning that he lost all perception of his body and the sense of touch from the neck down.

Comment from Anonymous
Date: May 17, 2009, 3:43 pm

Hey, you guys need to post your soundtrack somewhere, because like, all this music is grooovy.

Pingback from Science and spirituality in a sweet co-op « Maxplorer
Date: May 22, 2009, 4:39 pm

[...] just started listen to this Radiolab podcast about brains and bodies… and they just said that the body reacts to stuff before the brain [...]

Comment from ILuvRadioLab
Date: May 26, 2009, 8:00 pm

This was a terrific episode that we hadn’t heard; so, thank you for rebroadcasting it! The question is, where can we find info about the fantastic scientists/authors you mention on the show? Do you have a list of RadioLab-related books somewhere? If not, please post one! Keep up the fantastic work, Jad and Robert!!!

Comment from tim
Date: July 1, 2009, 9:07 pm

Does anyone know where i can find that haunting melody at the end of where am i? was it stars of the lid? i know jad really likes them… Karma points to the winner!!

Pingback from Podcast geekery « A Geeky Life
Date: August 10, 2009, 1:57 pm

[...] Where Am I?  http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/04/20/where-am-i-rebroadcast/ [...]