Sound as vibration, sound as sensation, sound as means of manipulation. Sound as a state of mind and as a weapon. Seth Horowitz considers sonic phenomena from these and other angles in his new book The Universal Sense. And he's a good one to do it: as a neuroscientist specializing in auditory phenomena, sound recordist, musician and aural explorer, not to mention the guy who proved that tadpoles can hear, Seth is an expert guide to the sonic world. He and I listened to a sampling of audio curiosities while contemplating questions such as:

-What's faster, our ears or our eyes?

-What's it like to be a bat?

-What's it like to be Evelyn Glennie?

-How do we build a picture of the world from sonic data?

-Why are low sounds ominous?

-Can sounds kill?