Radiolab

I was introduced to Radiolab during my Chicago work commute, where the show would occasionally fill in for Eight Forty-Eight on Chicago Public Radio.  Since then, I found their podcasts and listen often.

What Radiolab does best is tell good stories and ask great questions.  The hosts, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, mix music, sounds, and interviews into an engaging composite.  Topics vary widely, though the hosts and their expert guests typically philosophize about the science of a given subject.  Past episodes cover the elasticity of time (Time), a 16^th century praying robot (A Clockwork Miracle), and the physics of looping sound (Quantum Cello).  The mystery of how an orangutan named Fu Manchu repeatedly escaped his locked zoo enclosure (Fu Manchu) exemplifies the show’s depth.  The ultimate question is not how the orangutan escaped–which is, itself, interesting, but whether animals are capable of deception. 

But what spurred me to write this blog for Scientific Writing was the Radiolab short Pass the Science.  Robert asks Richard Holmes, a biographer, what led him to chronicle the rise of modern science in The Age of Wonder.  Holmes describes a wordless discussion about Number Theory with a Russian mathematician at a Trinity College dinner party.  After Holmes only drops the name of the mathematician Évariste Galois, the Russian, who knew no English, effectively explained his complicated theorem using knives, forks, and plates instead of words.  Holmes opines, “Scientists love to discuss their science. They’re very often very good at describing it…And these guys want you to understand, and I love that.”  Holmes portrays the communicative skills of the scientist in the best light; though this does not accurately describe that of every scientist, it presents a fine goal.

I suggest you listen to this and other Radiolab shows if you have not already!  My personal favorite is Fu Manchu.  Another notable mention is the challenging ethics discussion in Killing Babies, Saving the World.  Happy blogging!