Pledge Drive Continues: Still Time to Give
Many thanks to those of you who made contributions during our pledge drive show yesterday. Same to all who’ve pitched in during this drive. And to those of you who haven’t (yet), there’s plenty of time. Just call 888-777-1507 or go to KUSP.org. It’s soooo easy. And tell them what your favorite shows are.
On yesterday’s 7th Ave Project, we aired some choice bits from the past year’s shows. An accidental (and pledge drive-relevant) throughline emerged. If you want to hear the full stories from which the segments were taken, here are the links:
- Knowing you’re right, before the majority does: interview with Frank Kameny, gay rights pioneer
- Knowing you’re right, even when you aren’t: Political Scientist Brendan Nyhan on people’s resistance to facts
- Dying for love: conversations from Juvenile Hall
- A change of heart: an ex-con looks back on his 38 years in prison (voices from the Poetic Justice Project)
- War without end: evolutionary biologist Barry Sinervo on genetically-driven competition among lizards
- Breaking the vicious cycle: neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky and the baboon commune
- War, peace and music: David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet on Alexandra Vrebalov’s …hold me, neighbor, in this storm…
Show for Sept. 26, 2010. Felix Warneken and Robert Sapolsky on the Nicer Side of Primates
Science has done a lot to expose the darker side of human behavior, and that of our primate relatives, so we thought it was time to highlight some more encouraging studies. In part one of the show, developmental psychologist Felix Warneken looks for and finds evidence of instinctive altruism in young humans and chimps. In part two, neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky discovers that even baboons—long believed to be incorrigibly bellicose—can change their ways and make nice.
Felix Warneken Robert Sapolsky and colleague
To hear the whole show, click the play arrow above, or download the MP3 here.
Check out Robert Sapolsky’s wonderful book, A Primate’s Memoir, about his years studying baboons in Kenya. The book covers the period leading up to the discoveries Robert described on our show.
Show for May 16, 2010. Witness to Extinction: Biologists Barry Sinervo, Donald Miles and Raymond Huey
In a new study that’s making headlines around the world, biologists Barry Sinervo, Donald Miles and colleagues report that lizards worldwide are dying off, apparent casualties of rising temperatures. The study suggests that an era of climate-driven mass extinctions may have already begun, sooner than many scientists expected. I spoke to Sinervo, Miles and fellow biologist Raymond Huey last week, just after the news broke. They described the research and the implications in detail. The show’s well worth a listen: this is not only a potentially game-changing piece of research (if correct), but also a dramatic story of accidental discovery.
Click the arrow above to listen. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
Lizard extinction risk under some temperature scenarios. (Sinervo, et. al.)
Show for May 9, 2010. The Philosophical Baby: an Interview with Alison Gopnik
Well, we wanted to dish up something new on Mother’s Day this
year, but stuff happened. So instead: a second helping of a show from last year—one we’re pretty sure moms will like. Developmental psychologist Alison Gopnik has spent decades studying the minds of infants and young children. Her conclusion: babies are smarter, more aware and more caring than scientists previously realized. Also, inventor Joshua Klein on the surprising intelligence of crows.
Click the arrow above to listen to the show. If you don’t have Flash player or have other playback problems, click this link for the MP3.
Show for Apr 11, 2010. Hugh Raffles: Insectopedia
Anthropologist Hugh Raffles wanted to write about animal-human relationships, but he didn’t want to go the easy route. No dogs, kitties or horses here. Just insects, or rather, a set of dispatches from the man-bug boundary. In this interview, Hugh talks about Japanese insect boys, Chinese fighting crickets, entomological epistemology, insect music, crush freaks, insect nightmares and more.
And here’s some insect music from Mirah and Spectratone International. It was inspired by Jean-Henri Fabre, 19th-century naturalist and insectophile described in Hugh’s Insectopedia and in our interview:
Orange bullies, true blues and sneaky yellow bastards: Three types of lizards locked in an endless round of rock-paper-scissors. Biologist Barry Sinervo, subject of the Feb 28th show, uses game theory to decode the evolutionary strategies of blotch-sided lizards. Click the photo to go to Barry Sinervo’s lab (including videos). Photo credit: B. Sinervo.
Show for Feb 28, 2010. Adventures in Lizardland with Evolutionary Biologist Barry Sinervo.
What Jane Goodall was to chimps, biologist Barry Sinervo is to lizards. He’s spent the last 20 years studying lizards in the wild, gaining remarkable insights into the workings of evolution, social behavior and cooperation. He shares his discoveries, along with some very funny lizard stories.
To hear the show, click the play arrow above, or download the MP3 here.
Sho
w for Nov 1, 2009. Geoffrey West: Life by the Numbers
Physicist Geoffrey West of the Santa Fe Institute searches for the universal laws of life. He describes some simple mathematical rules that he says may explain everything from the length of our lives to the health of our cities.
