Radiolab

The Holy Shiver


Listen Later

Lauren Brown gets goosebumps. A lot. Sometimes several times a day. When her partner, writer Carmen Maria Machado, noticed it...she couldn't stop thinking about it. Why does she get them in so many different situations? What’s happening in her body and what does it mean? We take that question and run with it. We face chilly winds, sudden frights, and moments when the world seem to shift under your feet to figure out what the little bumps on our skin might be trying to tell us.  

Special thanks to Rachel Gross, Gregory Rupik

EPISODE CREDITS:

Reported by Maria Paz Gutierrez
Produced by Maria Paz Gutierrez, Sindhu Gnanasambandan
Fact-checking by Angely Mercado

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Videos - 

  • Hallelujah (https://zpr.io/6ak2f), performed by Rufus Wainwright, accompanied by 1500 singers
  • De Ushuaia a La Quiaca (https://zpr.io/PcYbN)
  • Alysa Liu wins the Olympic gold medal for the United States (https://zpr.io/Q7pPNkYSTGVd)
  • Books -

    • Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado
    • On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters,  by Bonnie Tsui (https://www.bonnietsui.com/)
    • Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (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.


      Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

      ...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

      90,994 Listeners

      TED Radio Hour by NPR

      TED Radio Hour

      21,790 Listeners

      Freakonomics Radio by Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

      Freakonomics Radio

      32,100 Listeners

      Fresh Air by NPR

      Fresh Air

      38,062 Listeners

      Planet Money by NPR

      Planet Money

      30,666 Listeners

      Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

      Hidden Brain

      43,528 Listeners

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

      Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

      38,856 Listeners

      The Moth by The Moth

      The Moth

      26,984 Listeners

      Invisibilia by NPR

      Invisibilia

      21,593 Listeners

      99% Invisible by Roman Mars

      99% Invisible

      26,197 Listeners

      Snap Judgment by Snap Judgment and PRX

      Snap Judgment

      11,604 Listeners

      More Perfect by WNYC Studios

      More Perfect

      14,444 Listeners

      Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

      Science Friday

      6,435 Listeners

      Heavyweight by Pushkin Industries

      Heavyweight

      17,620 Listeners

      Throughline by NPR

      Throughline

      16,399 Listeners

      Dolly Parton's America by WNYC Studios & OSM Audio

      Dolly Parton's America

      16,404 Listeners

      The Other Latif by WNYC Studios

      The Other Latif

      474 Listeners

      Terrestrials by WNYC

      Terrestrials

      1,190 Listeners