logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2023
55m 3s

Apologetical

Wnyc Studios
About this episode

How do you fix a word that’s broken? A word we need when we bump into someone on the street, or break someone’s heart. In our increasingly disconnected secular world, “sorry” has been stretched and twisted, and in some cases weaponized. But it’s also one of the only ways we have to piece together a sense of shared values and beliefs. Through today's sea of sorry-not-sorries, empty apologies, and just straight up non-apologies, we wonder in this episode from 2018 what it looks like to make amends.

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported and Produced by - Annie McEwenwith help from - Simon Adler

CITATIONS:The program at Stanford that Leilani went through (and now works for) (https://zpr.io/eYhfZnwznHfD) was a joint creation between Stanford and Lee Taft. 

Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Up next
Yesterday
Desperately Seeking Symmetry
This hour of Radiolab, former co-hosts Jad and Robert set out in search of order and balance in the world around us, and ask how symmetry shapes our very existence -- from the origins of the universe, to what we see when we look in the mirror.Along the way, we look for love in an ... Show More
57m 23s
Jul 4
On [The Divided Dial]: Fishing In The Night
Have you heard On the Media’s Peabody-winning series The Divided Dial? It’s awesome and you should, and now you will. In this episode they tell the story of shortwave radio: the way-less-listened to but way-farther-reaching cousin of AM and FM radio. The medium was once heralded ... Show More
38m 51s
Jun 27
Sex, Ducks and the Founding Feud
Jilted lovers and disrupted duck hunts provide a very odd look into the soul of the US Constitution.What does a betrayed lover’s revenge have to do with an international chemical weapons treaty? More than you’d think. From poison and duck hunts to our feuding fathers, we step int ... Show More
25m 8s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2023
Break the Science Barrier: Why science matters
Break the Science Barrier is a TV documentary that I presented on Channel 4 in 1996. It argues for the importance, for society, of scientific ways of thinking. In it, I interviewed David Attenborough, Alec Jeffreys, who discovered DNA fingerprinting, and Douglas Adams, who gave a ... Show More
44m 27s
Mar 2022
The limits of forgiveness
Sean Illing talks with philosopher Lucy Allais about the nature, power, and limits of forgiveness. They talk about the role of forgiveness in the dissolution of apartheid in Allais's native South Africa, the distinction between forgiveness and punishment, and the prospect of usin ... Show More
52m 24s
Jun 2021
DURKHEIM - L'invention de la sociologie
Au XIXème siècle, les sciences sont en plein essor. C'est dans ce contexte qu'Emile Durkheim entreprend de faire accepter une nouvelle discipline au sein des sciences : la sociologie. Mais ce projet va se heurter à quelques réticences. Lesquelles ? C'est ce que nous allons voir d ... Show More
45m 21s
Jan 2022
A scientist's case for "woo-woo"
Sean Illing talks with David Hamilton, a scientist and former research chemist turned author, about his new book Why Woo-Woo Works, in which he offers a scientifically-grounded defense of alternative practices like meditation, crystals, and the law of attraction. They discuss the ... Show More
1 h
Apr 2023
From Problem to Publication
The process of “doing research” is a methodical slog AJ has finished up some interventional radiology research and gotten it published recently. He and Daniel, Jeff, and Mallory–who’ve all been down that road–walk Dave through the research process, step by step.The crew discusses ... Show More
1h 5m
Jun 2022
The Joy of Science, with Jim Al-Khalili
Professor Jim Al-Khalili is the physicist who makes science look easy. He’s the author of several books, the latest of which is The Joy of Science, which offers eight core scientific principles that can be applied to everyday life. As a broadcaster Jim is perhaps best known as th ... Show More
43m 55s
Sep 2021
Joshua Schimel, "Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded" (Oxford UP, 2011)
Listen to this interview of Joshua Schimel, Professor of soil ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and author of Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded (Oxford UP, 2011). We talk about how writing is research, and about ... Show More
1h 16m
May 2024
Anagnosology (READING) with Adrian Johns
 Clay tablets! Printing presses! Old timey audio books! Speed reading strategies! Attention spans! Dyslexia history! Literacy campaigns! Dr. Adrian Johns is an historian, professor, and author of the book “The Science of Reading” and we have a nice mellow chat about when humans s ... Show More
1h 15m
Feb 2021
EDWARD BERNAYS - Comment manipuler l'opinion
Surnommé "le fondateur de la propagande moderne", Edward Bernays a posé les bases d'une véritable science de l'influence. Dans son livre "Propaganda", il nous dévoile les secrets de la manipulation de l'opinion dans nos démocraties modernes.      Vous pouvez nous soutenir : ★En d ... Show More
29m 20s
May 2024
Patreon Replay: Lucy Taylor on Greek Life & Death at Penn State
We unlocked this previously released Patreon episode so everyone can hear it, because people need to know: Campus Greek Life Ain’t It. Lucy Taylor joins us to discuss the red flags of ‘rushing’, the tragic hazing death of a Penn State student, and her ongoing crusade to make frat ... Show More
46m 33s