Radiolab

Jeff Jensen, a reporter who covered the Green River murders, and Tom Jensen, the lead detective who questioned Gary Ridgway, recount hunting and interrogating a prolific killer. Alex Haslam, a psychology professor, revisits Milgram’s obedience studies and shows how context reshapes results. They probe ordinary dark impulses, scientific ethics, chemical warfare, and what it means to seek a motive for evil.

Wayne Hsiung, animal rights activist and co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere, tells how a farm intrusion and rescue of two sick piglets sparked a courtroom showdown. He centers the trial on the piglets and forces jurors to wrestle with monetary versus intrinsic value. The story probes how law, morality, and our relationship with animals collide.

Nalini Nadkarni, an ecologist who pioneered canopy research, recalls climbing into treetops and finding mossy soils, roots, and whole gardens in the sky. She describes tracing roots from branches back into trees. Short, surprising snapshots explore rich canopy soils, unexpected wildlife, and how trees tap these sky gardens during scarcity.

A strange dairy mystery: cows across countries stop drinking water and start drinking urine. Farmers suspect invisible electrical forces near power infrastructure and Viking-marked buildings. Reporters trace history, protests, and scientific tests about stray voltage and cow sensitivity. Tensions flare between electrical explanations and nutritional or barn-design alternatives.

Dr. Emily Fairfax, ecologist who studies beavers in the field, and Ben Goldfarb, writer and beaver advocate, dive into beaver engineering and conservation. They recount Bronx River restorations, historic parachuted beavers, and how beaver ponds can create wildfire refuges. The conversation highlights beaver dams healing ecosystems, water management, and why humans should trust these small engineers.

A forgotten barrel of seawater becomes a decades-long micro-ecosystem that blooms and crashes unpredictably. Chaos theory meets plankton as scientists debate reproducibility and ecological stability. Early computer simulations show randomness can mimic the fossil record, reshaping how we think about extinction. Origins-of-life ideas clash: primordial soup, vents, or even life arriving from space.

Bruce Stewart-Brown, Purdue Chicken CMO who led removing routine antibiotics from poultry. Steffanie Strathdee, infectious disease epidemiologist who helped rescue her husband with bacteriophage therapy. Avir Mitra, emergency physician and special correspondent reporting live on antibiotic resistance. They tour hospitals, farms, sewers and labs. They explore bacterial evolution, farm-to-human spread, stewardship, and phage therapy as a countermeasure.

A medieval recipe is recreated and tested against modern staph bacteria. Researchers mix onion, garlic, ox gall, wine and brass following a thousand-year ritual. Lab results show the ancient brew can kill stubborn MRSA strains. The story raises questions about antibiotic resistance, pharmaceutical decline, and whether old knowledge can help solve new medical crises.

Sarah Kari, reporter and producer who led the investigation into screwworm outbreaks, narrates a hunt for a revived parasite and the century-spanning effort to exterminate it. The story covers the sterile-male method, massive aerial releases, a Panama barrier, a 2023 resurgence, rebuilding production, and the ethical debate over deliberately wiping a species from the planet.

Menno Schilthuizen, an evolutionary biologist who studies snail genital evolution, joins to explore snail mating weirdness. Short, vivid scenes describe simultaneous penis eversion, multi-hour hookups, and bizarre love darts. Snail anatomy, sperm conflict, and the surprising role of dart-delivered mucus in manipulating mates are highlighted in lively, often funny detail.