logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2025
33m 19s

Ghosts in the Green Machine

Wnyc Studios
About this episode
In honor of our Earth, on her day, we have two stories about the overlooked, ignored, and neglected parts of nature. In the first half, we learn about an epic battle that is raging across the globe every day, every moment. It's happening in the ocean, and your very life depends on it. In the second half, we make an earnest, possibly foolhardy, attempt to fig ... Show More
Up next
Feb 27
Black Box
In this episode, first aired in 2014, we examine three very different kinds of black boxes—spaces where we know what’s going in, we know what’s coming out, but can’t see what happens in-between. From the darkest parts of metamorphosis to a sixty-year-old secret among magicians, a ... Show More
1h 5m
Feb 20
Gray's Donation
Before he was even born, Sarah and Ross Gray knew that their son Thomas wouldn’t live long. But as they let go of him, they made a decision that reverberated through a world that they never bothered to think about. Years later, after a couple of awkward phone calls, they go on a ... Show More
27m 20s
Feb 13
Time is Honey
In the early 2000s, Sunil Nakrani felt stuck. Back then, websites crashed all the time. When Sunil noticed this, he decided he was going to fix the internet. But after nearly a year of studying the architecture of the web, he was no closer to an answer. In desperation, Sunil sent ... Show More
38m 31s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2024
Unusual Archaeology: Contemplating the Cosmos (Part 2)
Gazing up at the night sky is a universal human experience, likely as old as our species itself. But how did our ancient ancestors feel about what they saw in the heavens, and how did it shape their lives? In Episode Two of our three-part Fascination miniseries on unusual archaeo ... Show More
23m 26s
Oct 2025
Jane Goodall, In Memoriam — What It Means to Be Human
The great primatologist and humanitarian, Jane Goodall, died on October 1, 2025, at the age of 91. It is a joy and a comfort to revisit our last broadcast of her 2020 conversation with Krista. Jane Goodall began her epic work studying chimpanzees in the Gombe forest without even ... Show More
50m 51s
Feb 2025
Exploring the Hidden Life in the Air around Us with Carl Zimmer
Scientists now agree that COVID spreads via airborne transmission. But during the early days of the disease, public health officials suggested that it mainly did so via close contact. The subsequent back-and-forth over how COVID spread brought science journalist Carl Zimmer into ... Show More
16m 47s
Apr 2025
Stellar Microbes, Titan's Mysteries & the Quest for Life Beyond Earth
This episode of Space Nuts is brought you with the support of Saily. If you love travelling, you need Saily by your side. To find out more and get the special Space Nuts listener discount, visit www.saily.com/spacenuts pace Nuts Episode 513: Microbial Life in Space, Titan's Secre ... Show More
37m 33s
Dec 2023
Vincent Ialenti, "Deep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now" (MIT Press, 2020)
Based on twelve years of anthropological exploration, Vincent Ialenti'sDeep Time Reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now (MIT Press, 2020) is an engaging guide on deep time learning to reorient our understanding of time and space. As each chapter begins with creative vi ... Show More
1h 18m
Feb 2025
The War on Science
U.S. science is in turmoil. Amid agency firings and confusion over federal funding, researchers are freaking out. Many can’t do their work, and they have no idea what the future holds. Plus, we’re hearing that all of this could jeopardize medical treatments for people in the U.S. ... Show More
34m 43s
Oct 2025
Neuroscience of reality; Quest for dark matter; Folklore of geoscience (New Scientist Live Special)
Episode 327 A special episode recorded on October 18 at New Scientist Live in London, featuring experts in geoscience, dark matter and neuroscience. Anjana Khatwa is an Earth scientist and TV presenter. In her new book, The Whispers of Rock, she brings together Western scientific ... Show More
28m 29s
Sep 2025
The Dead Composer Whose ‘Brain’ Still Makes Music
In a hauntingly innovative exhibit, brain cells grown from the late composer Alvin Lucier’s blood generate sound. Set in a museum in Perth, Australia, the installation blurs the line between art and neuroscience. Host Rachel Feltman and associate editor Allison Parshall explore t ... Show More
25m 25s
Sep 2025
The Dead Composer Whose ‘Brain’ Still Makes Music
In a hauntingly innovative exhibit, brain cells grown from the late composer Alvin Lucier’s blood generate sound. Set in a museum in Perth, Australia, the installation blurs the line between art and neuroscience. Host Rachel Feltman and associate editor Allison Parshall explore t ... Show More
25m 25s