logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2022
53m 23s

Life in a Barrel

Wnyc Studios
About this episode
This week, we flip the Disney story of life on its head thanks to a barrel of seawater, a 1970s era computer, and underwater geysers. It’s the chaos of life. Latif, Lulu, and our Senior Producer Matt Kielty were all sitting on their own little stories until they got thrown into the studio, and had their cherished beliefs about the shape of life put on a coll ... Show More
Up next
Aug 28
Dolly Parton's America: Sad Ass Songs
The world lost a legend recently, and we wanted in some small way to pay tribute to the great Dolly Parton. So we’re playing you an episode from a series we had a small part in back in 2017, Dolly Parton’s America. The series kicked off with a simple question: How did the queen o ... Show More
1h 4m
Aug 21
Patient Zero
The greatest mysteries have a shadowy figure at the center—someone who sets things in motion and holds the key to how the story unfolds. In epidemiology, this central character is known as Patient Zero—the case at the heart of an outbreak. This hour, Radiolab digs up an episode w ... Show More
51m 33s
Aug 14
Nigel and the Real Gannet
In 2016, Chris Bell, a ranger with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, was the sole human inhabitant of a small island off the west coast of the country, called Mana Island. He was there to take care of the island’s fragile and recovering ecosystem, including a colony of Au ... Show More
25m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2021
Chaos
What happens when teenagers are shipwrecked on a deserted island? Can you find the fingerprint of God in warzones? Why was the concept of zero so revolutionary for humanity? A year into a pandemic that has completely upended the lives of people around the world, we look at how we ... Show More
1h 2m
Nov 2022
Dreams, Creatures, and Visions
We are in the season of chaos. It can feel like everything is happening at once: You might be sprinting across an airport; or around your kitchen, with a few too many dishes cooking at once. Your phone keeps pinging — texts, weather alerts, and more and more breaking news. Here a ... Show More
48m 10s
Sep 2021
35 - The Chaos Underlying Everything (ft. David Grier)
<p>Learn about the chaotic motion that underlies even the most ordered structures, including life.<br/><br/>Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/whythisuniverse</p><p><a rel="payment" href="https://patreon.com/whythisuniverse">Support the show</a></p> 
32m 4s
Dec 2017
Radio Replay: Don't Panic!
<p>Chaos is a part of all of our lives. Sometimes we try to control it. And other times, we just have to live with it. On this week's Radio Replay, we explore different strategies for coping with chaos.</p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pc ... Show More
49m 31s
Jul 2017
Order out of Chaos: How to Create a Universe
<p>Numerous mythologies speak to the birth of our universe out of darkness and chaos, but can humans follow in the footsteps of the gods? Can we create a universe in the lab? In this episode of the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast, Robert and Joe explore the primordial darkness of ... Show More
1h 6m
Jul 2021
Pure Chaos
On this episode of Chuckle Sandwich, we descent into chaos speaking about how we might fix the environmental woes of the world, specifically relating to plastic straws and turtles. In addition, we tell of some great stuff to happen this coming week for the podcast! Advertising In ... Show More
1h 9m
Oct 2020
Overheard Season 4
Documenting democracy. Untwisting the world’s largest tornado. Searching for wrecks of lost slave ships. Dinosaur hunting in Morocco. Accidentally inventing a new color. Come dive into one of the curiously delightful conversations overheard at National Geographic’s headquarters, ... Show More
2m 37s
Apr 2020
Two Heartbeats A Minute
The strange story of an unlikely crew of people who band together to take on one of our largest problems using nothing but whale sounds, machine learning, and a willingness to think outside the box. Even stranger, several of the world's most accomplished scientists seem to think ... Show More
1h 6m