Radiolab

Life in a Barrel


Listen Later

This week, in an episode we first aired in 2022, 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 collision course. From an accidental study of sea creatures, to the ambitions of Stephen J Gould, to an undercooked theory that captured the world’s imagination, we undo the seeming order of the living world and try to make some music out of the wreckage. (Bonus: Learn how Francis Crick really thought life got started on this planet).

EPISODE CREDITS: 

Reported by - Latif Nasser, Matt Kielty, Heather Radke, Lulu Miller and Candice Wang
Produced by - Matt Kielty and Simon Adler
with help from - Arianne Wack
Original music and sound design contributed by - Matt Kilety, Simon Adler, Alan Goffinski, and Jeremy Bloom

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Articles - 

  • Chaos in a long-term experiment with a plankton community (https://zpr.io/j6sYXKfDzPCG), by Benincà, E., Huisman, J., Heerkloss, R. et al. Nature 
  • Chaos theory discloses triggers and drivers of plankton dynamics in stable environment (https://zpr.io/qHKENA3SJ8ML), by Telesh IV, Schubert H, Joehnk KD, Heerkloss R, Schumann R, Feike M, Schoor A, Skarlato SO. Sci Rep.
  • Books -

    • Full House (https://zpr.io/pMQZfyPcRzD4), by Stephen Jay Gould
    • Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? (https://zpr.io/pPVNugUKWpi4), by David M. Raup
    • Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline (https://zpr.io/YBjJxuXjydPN), by David Sepkoski
    • The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life (https://zpr.io/LzfueEqUWNHb), by Nick Lane
      Life Itself: Its Origin and Nature (https://zpr.io/KPZf57eEVMBX), by Francis Crick
    • 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 and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

      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.

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      RadiolabBy WNYC Studios

      • 4.6
      • 4.6
      • 4.6
      • 4.6
      • 4.6

      4.6

      42,322 ratings


      More shows like Radiolab

      View all
      This American Life by This American Life

      This American Life

      91,297 Listeners

      TED Radio Hour by NPR

      TED Radio Hour

      21,954 Listeners

      Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

      Freakonomics Radio

      32,246 Listeners

      Fresh Air by NPR

      Fresh Air

      38,430 Listeners

      Planet Money by NPR

      Planet Money

      30,609 Listeners

      Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

      Hidden Brain

      43,687 Listeners

      Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

      Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

      38,950 Listeners

      The Moth by The Moth

      The Moth

      27,011 Listeners

      Invisibilia by NPR

      Invisibilia

      21,619 Listeners

      99% Invisible by Roman Mars

      99% Invisible

      26,242 Listeners

      Snap Judgment by Snap Judgment and PRX

      Snap Judgment

      11,644 Listeners

      More Perfect by WNYC Studios

      More Perfect

      14,450 Listeners

      Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

      Science Friday

      6,467 Listeners

      Heavyweight by Pushkin Industries

      Heavyweight

      17,649 Listeners

      Throughline by NPR

      Throughline

      16,512 Listeners

      Dolly Parton's America by WNYC Studios & OSM Audio

      Dolly Parton's America

      16,405 Listeners

      The Other Latif by WNYC Studios

      The Other Latif

      474 Listeners

      Terrestrials by WNYC

      Terrestrials

      1,183 Listeners