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The use of fetal cells in science has become quite controversial. There was an interesting moment in an interview between Radio Lab co-host, Jad Abumrad. and scientist Dr. Leonard Hayflick on this topic when we were making the show Mortality. Dr. Hayflick grew millions of cells from one aborted fetus and pioneered the use of fetal cells for research and the creation of vaccines.

In this take, Jad is talking to Dr. Hayflick in his garage where millions of these cells are preserved.
Have a listen:

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Earlier this year, Jad and Robert visited the Koshland Science Museum in Washington D.C. to give listeners a behind-the-scenes look at Radiolab. The question here is just how far can you go in the name of making an idea clear? What’s allowed? Is music allowed? Are sound effects allowed? What helps? What hurts? We play some never-released tape from the vault, and reveal a bit about what techniques we used to try and make it sing. Please weigh in on the blog.

Also, if you enjoyed this conversation, you may want to check out the other Radiolab process talks, like this one at Oberlin College in the spring and another last fall at the Apple store Read more »

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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:

Joel Bedford/flickr

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 Space episode Ann Druyan, widow of Carl Sagan, told us a story about the Voyager expedition, true love, and golden record that travels through space.

Listen to part of the episode here:

Here’s what Ann Druyan thought of it! (She’s speaking with intern Linda Evarts):

We’ve gotten a lot of great responses to our show Laughter. Tom was so inspired that he changed his voicemail:

“I was so excited that when I got to work I changed the end of my daily telephone greeting to “…make it a groovy day.” For some reason I then decided to start laughing like the laugh track people on your show.

When I finished I turned to look at my cube mates who were grinning from ear-to-ear. They didn’t know what was going on of course but my laughing sure “charged” their morning. Less than a minute later I started getting phone calls from others in the office who wanted to listen to my greeting. (My cubies must have told). I got 15 calls within 10 minutes and then things got back to normal. All day as I passed people in the hall I’d get “…hello Tom.” and then a big smile would come across their face.”

Listen to his giggle-fit here:

What happens when there is no leader? Starlings, bees, and ants manage just fine. In fact, they form staggeringly complicated societies, all without a Toscanini to conduct them into harmony. How? That’s our question this hour. We gaze down at the bottom-up logic of cities, Google, even our very own brains. Featured: author Steven Johnson, fire-flyologists John and Elizabeth Buck, biologist E.O. Wilson, Ant expert Debra Gordon, mathematician Steve Strogatz, economist James Surowiecki, and neurologists Oliver Sacks and Christof Koch.

First, we asked you to tell us what song gets stuck in your head. Then, we asked you how you got it out. Finally, we made a podcast. Thank you to everyone who called in, shared their secret techniques, and sang without shame. Your suggestions ranged from the hilarious (Darth Vader breathing) to the malicious (give it to some one else) to the oddly-aligned (multiple people called in suggesting “Girl from Ipanema” as a cure-all earworm). And now, we release your wisdom to the masses. We hope that this will be of help to earworm-sufferers, but be forewarned, it might just plague you with Journey.

On this week’s podcast, we share an excerpt from Wordless Music on WNYC, a 4-part music program hosted by Jad, exploring the boundaries between classical and pop music. The series pairs rock and electronic musicians with more traditional chamber and new music performers, to create an entirely new concert experience. On this week’s selection, Jad waxes googly-eyed fan when he gets to talk about one of his favorite bands, Stars of the Lid.

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Why do we play, an activity that is, by its definition, without an immediate objective? Does play serve an important purpose in humans and in other animals?

The science of play draws from the work of neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, ethologists, and psychiatrists, among others, and many researchers are studying the appearance of play behaviors in other animals in an attempt to understand what role it may play in brain development.

In our show about Laughter, neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp talks to us about tickling rats. He went on to tell us in our interview about his experimental work tracking changes in brain structure brought about by play in rats, and surgically inducing ADHD in rats and observing what effects ample play, or a lack of it, had on their behavior and their brains.

The New York Times Magazine took on the huge subject of “play” in the February 17, 2008 issue, and mentions Dr. Panksepp’s interest in play as it relates to ADHD. He spoke with us about his plans for studies with children in D.C.

We have long recognized that mammals other than humans engage in play behaviors…

…but only recently has experimental evidence emerged that play may extend into the realms of birds and reptiles. Gordon Burghardt, who told us about snakes who play dead in our Deception episode, conducted a series of 31 experiments over the course of 2 years with Kraken, a female Komodo dragon raised at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, to observe her interactions with a variety of objects, with and without her keeper present, and sometimes marked with different scents. Her behavior with food or blood-scented items differed from her behavior with other objects, and this video of her stealing a handkerchief from the pocket of her keeper Trooper Walsh is an example of behavior that looks suspiciously like a puppy playing.

If you’re not getting enough play in your life, fear not! The all-ages Come Out And Play Festival 2008 is coming to NYC June 6-8.

MORE LINKS:
-More on the National Institute of Play
-Gordon Burghardt’s book The Genesis of Play and his website