Modern Notion

On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, were talking to Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (Basic Books, May 2015). Ford argues that robots will soon replace not only blue-collar workers, but also white collar workers, too. We also have contributing editor Mark Hay in the studio to tell us why Ivan the Terrible may not have deserved his name.

Music this hour:

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

2.2.05 by BOPD, from the album 2005 Stayin Alive InstruMentals

Soldiertype (militarised) by Ketsa, from the album Whats Withouts Within

On this hour of Modern Notion Daily, were talking to Kristin Ohlson, author of The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet (Rodale, March 2015). Based on interviews with scientists and farmers around the country, Ohlson believes we soil is the key to solving many of our climate change woes. We also talk to Dan Koeppel about the bike highway in Los Angeles that was never built, and we hear from hosts Kristen and Dara about whats on Modern Notion today.

Music this hour:

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“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

Step On by Jahzzar, from the album Tumbling Dishes Like Old-Mans Wishes

Quasi Motion by Kevin MacLeod, from the album Global Sampler

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On todays show, were talking to William Rosen, author of The Third Horseman: A Story of Weather, War, and the Famine History Forgot (Penguin Books, May 2014). A seven-year famine is thought to have caused 5-8 million deaths in northern Europe in the 14th century—but Rosen argues that the famines severity was exacerbated by the preceding Medieval Warming Period. We also hear from Mark Hay about the time it rained worms in Norway and meat in Kentucky.

This hour we talk to Sydney Padua, author and illustrator of The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer (Pantheon, April 2015). In this graphic novel with lengthy, tongue-in-cheek footnotes, Padua reimagines the lives of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, who worked on prototypes for the first computer in the 1830s. Senior editor Kristen Majewski tells the story of the girl who posed for the famous Degas sculpture, Little Dancer, and staff writer Josh Hrala takes us on a tour of pranks throughout history. Plus, we hear a bird call that sounds like . . . a Star Wars laser gun?

Music this hour:

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

about u by Jahzzar, from the album Sketches

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On todays episode of Modern Notion Daily, we talk with guest Caitlin OConnell, author of Elephant Don: The Politics of a Pachyderm Posse (University of Chicago Press, April 2015). OConnell shares her observations from 20 years of research on male African elephants, and comes to the conclusion that theyre not unlike the Mafia (hence, the elephant Don). We all practice the tongue twister that MIT students have deemed the hardest, and we tell the story of the man who ate a Cessna 150. Plus, artists and scientists grapple with how to represent dark matter.

Music this hour:

People Are Strange by The Doors

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

2.2.05 by BOPD, from the album 2005 Stayin Alive InstruMentals

On todays show we talk to Cynthia Barnett, author of Rain: A Natural and Cultural History (Crown, April 2015). Barnett, an environmental journalist, takes us to Texas, India, and everywhere in between to explore how we make sense of the water that falls from the sky. Josh Hrala tells us how filmmakers might be the key to proving we did, in fact, land on the moon in 1969, and Mark Hay dissects the gruesome science of self-immolation.

Music this hour:

Step On by Jahzzar, from the album Tumbling Dishes Like Old-Mans Wishes

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

6,49 by Black Ant, from the album Free Beats Sel. 3

5 Piece by Black Ant, from the album Free Beats Sel. 3

Air Hockey Saloon by Chris Zabriskie, from the album Vendaface

Today on Modern Notion Daily we talk to Beth Shapiro, author of How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction (Princeton University Press, April 2015). Shapiro says the we wont ever be able to bring back an exact clone of a Dodo or a Woolly Mammoth, but we could use their ancient DNA to bolster current species on Planet Earth. Contributing editor Erin Blakemore talks about Penelope Ashe, aka 25 Newsday reporters who wrote a lurid novel in the 1960s. Plus, contributing editor Mark Hay clues us in on studies about endangered species, and we hear the story of Suicide Forest in Japan.

Music this hour:

Step On by Jahzzar, from the album Tumbling Dishes Like Old-Mans Wishes

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

Jason Alberts story on sailing is a production of the STEM Story Project, made possible with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

This hour we talk to Alice Dreger, author of Galileos Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science (Penguin Press, March 2015). As both a scientist and activist, Dreger has found herself in the middle of controversies surrounding the intersex movement, transsexual identity, and the biology of rape (among other issues). Contributing editor Mark Hay fills us in on the deaths (real and fabricated) of ancient trees. And we meet the real-life Chef Boyardee—who actually spelled it Boiardi.

Music this hour:

wherever by Jahzzar, from the album Sketches

Soldiertype (militarised) by Ketsa, from the album Whats Withouts Within

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

The story Remaking the Science Fair is a production of the PRX STEM Story Project, distributed by PRX and made possible with funds from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

On todays show we talk to Kalyanee Mam, the director and producer of the documentary film, A River Changes Course. For several years, Mam filmed two Cambodian families—one that subsists on fishing, the other on farming—affected by vast environmental and economic changes in their country. Plus, contributing editor Erin Blakemore tells us how Violet Jessup survived three shipwrecks, including the Titanic.

On this episode of Modern Notion Daily we talk to Jenny Price, a writer, artist, and environmental humanities scholar. She thinks that historians and artists bring new questions—and new perspectives—to discussions about the environment and climate change. We talk to contributing editor Mark Hay about Oneida, the cult that gave rise to a popular American cutlery company. And we hear the voices of some of our nations first women voters in a story from Sandra Sleight-Brennan.

(Sleight-Brennans feature is funded, in part, by the Ohio Humanities Council, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.)