logo
episode-header-image
Jul 11
57m 23s

Desperately Seeking Symmetry

Wnyc Studios
About this episode

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 ancient Greece, head to modern-day Princeton to peer inside our brains, and turn up an unlikely headline from the Oval Office circa 1979.

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Videos - 

Back in the day, when we first aired this episode, the film collective Everynone, filmmakers Will Hoffman, Daniel Mercadante and Julius Metoyer III were inspired with our yearning for balance, and aimed to visually reveal how beautiful imperfect matches can be.

Radiolab Presents: Symmetry (https://youtu.be/zEQskIsHKT8)

Signup for our newsletter!! 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/X 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 Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Up next
Aug 22
The Medical Matchmaking Machine
As he finished his medical school exam, David Fajgenbaum felt off. He walked down to the ER and checked himself in. Soon he was in the ICU with multiple organ failure. The only drug for his condition didn’t work. He had months to live, if that. If he was going to survive, he was ... Show More
1h 1m
Aug 15
Weighing Good Intentions
In an episode first released in 2010, then-producer Lulu Miller drives to Michigan to track down the endangered Kirtland’s warbler. Efforts to protect the bird have lead to the killing of cowbirds (a species that commandeers warbler nests), and a prescribed burn aimed at creating ... Show More
24m 9s
Aug 8
The Menopause Mystery
Until recently, scientists assumed humans were the only species in which females went through menopause, and lived a substantial part of their lives after they were no longer able to reproduce. And they had no idea why that happens, and why evolution wouldn’t push females to keep ... Show More
38m 58s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2015
Episode 08: Being Human with Robert Sapolsky
This episode of Origin Stories was recorded live in San Francisco as part of the Bay Area Science Festival. It was the first of The Leakey Foundation and the Baumann Foundation’s new “Being Human” event series. Our speaker was Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology ... Show More
38m 34s
Jan 2023
Top Human Origins Discoveries of 2022
2022 was another exciting year in human origins research! New fossil discoveries and ancient DNA research expanded our understanding of the past. We learned something surprising about the evolution of human speech, and new methodologies and showed promising potential to improve t ... Show More
35m 5s
Nov 2024
502. Angry and Red: Color as Emotion | Mark Changizi
Jordan Peterson sits down with theorist and researcher Mark Changizi. They discuss the biological reasons for mass hysteria on the societal level, why we evolved to have color vision, and how we understand and interpret the patterns of the natural world. Mark Changizi is a theori ... Show More
1h 38m
Sep 2024
The Hidden Secrets of Math: Beauty and Power (Part 1)
Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne Santos will help you discover the beauty and power of math in this three-part Friday miniseries. Kyne takes us back to ancient Greece to illustrate the elegance of mathematics. We meet mathematician Tom Crawford, who combines fieldwork ... Show More
14m 26s
Jul 2023
Stephen Davies, "Adornment: What Self-Decoration Tells Us About Who We Are" (Bloomsbury, 2020)
Elaborating the history, variety, pervasiveness, and function of the adornments and ornaments with which we beautify ourselves, Stephen Davies's Adornment: What Self-Decoration Tells Us About Who We Are (Bloomsbury, 2020) takes in human prehistory, ancient civilizations, hunter-f ... Show More
31m 19s
Jul 2024
Fortean Times Talk
📰🛸🕵🏼‍♀️ Fortean Times has been bringing weirdness into people’s lives for over 50 years and Paul’s been reading its pages since he was a mere Chin-cub. Now join Paul and Stephen as they meet the man behind the mag, esteemed New Editor, Ian Simmons. What follows is a mind-bend ... Show More
59m 31s
May 2024
#145 - Robert Edward Grant: Decoding The Hidden Secrets Of The Universe
This week on The Higher Self, we are honored to host entrepreneur, author, and polymath Robert Edward Grant. His work offers inspiration through geometric art, mathematical insights, and explorations of ancient wonders like the Pyramids of Giza. In this episode, Danny and Robert ... Show More
1h 17m
Jul 11
Why Do We Sing? Musicologists and Neuroscientists Seek an Answer
Last year Science Quickly looked across disciplines to piece apart the science of singing. To understand why humans sing, musicologists collaborated on an international study of folk music. To understand how we sing, neuroscientists differentiated how our brain processes speech a ... Show More
24m 49s
Nov 2024
Harvey Whitehouse, "Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World" (Harvard UP, 2024)
Each of us is endowed with an inheritance--a set of evolved biases and cultural tools that shape every facet of our behavior. For countless generations, this inheritance has taken us to ever greater heights: driving the rise of more sophisticated technologies, more organized reli ... Show More
44m 17s
Nov 2024
'The Philosophy of Movement: An Introduction' with Thomas Nail
Please fund the Acéphalous Kickstarter today!: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/acephalous/acephalous-the-erotic-tarot-of-georges-bataille Acid Horizon and Stuart Kendall live at the Durations Festival on November 9th, 2024: https://publicrecords.nyc/events/durations-festival ... Show More
1h 10m