Programs

This episode was recorded on July 9th, 2026 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes The Po' Ramblin Boys, Inara George, The Mammals, Red Camel Collective, Heather Maloney . https://bit.ly/4ynM0Df

Throughout human history, there’s been one element we’ve always associated with death. Just the smell of it is an alarm bell that says, “something here is dangerous.” But what if our noses have been wrong all along?In this episode of our series Viscera: Gripping Tales of the Human Body, we take you to a live performance in Boston where we reveal how this much-maligned element might be better understood as the smell of life.LATERAL CUTS:Want to see a Viscera show? Join us for Radiolab Presents: Viscera, live in New York City on Thursday, November 5th. All about the sometimes freaky world of organ transplants, with special guest Mary Roach discussing her upcoming book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy. Get your tickets at wnyc.org/events.EPISODE CREDITS:Reported by – Avir Mitra and Matt Kieltywith help from – Mona MadgavkarProduced by – Mona Madgavkar and Matt Kieltywith mixing help from – Jeremy BloomFact-checking by – Rachel Grossand Edited by  – Pat WaltersLiveshow production support – Natalia Ramirez, Sarah Sandbach, Maia Appleby Melamed, and Jeremy Bloom.EPISODE CITATIONS:Videos – Watch the video of Radiolab Presents: Viscera live at WBUR CitySpace (https://zpr.io/PZF3BqnbKKJD)Articles – A possible chemical explanation for the events associated with the death of Gloria Ramirez at Riverside General Hospital (https://zpr.io/sbjXYcPenGSH), the paper explaining Livermore Lab’s hypothesis.Books – The Great Secret (https://zpr.io/PGCmihSFBHj4), by Jennet Conant about the birth of chemotherapy in the laboratory of war. 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 radiolab@wnyc.org.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.

Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot review some new albums from Michael Kiwanuka, Neil Young, Chaka Khan, The Tubs and This is Lorelei. They also bid farewell to Cheetah Chrome, guitarist for the Dead Boys and Rocket from the Tombs, and hear from some listeners.Join our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/4frcVZoMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah  Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundops Featured Songs:This Is Lorelei, "Billy Came Back," The Singer In My Band, Matador, 2026The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, "Second Song," Second Song, Reprise, 2026Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, "Casting Me Away From You," Second Song, Reprise, 2026Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, "I'll Love You Forever," Second Song, Reprise, 2026Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, "Day After Day," Second Song, Reprise, 2026Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts, "Earth Girl," Second Song, Reprise, 2026Chaka Khan, "Always Love the Challenge," Chakzilla, EarthSong and BMG, 2026Chaka Khan, "Curious Subject," Chakzilla, EarthSong and BMG, 2026Chaka Khan, "Cool You Down (feat. Sia)," Chakzilla, EarthSong and BMG, 2026Chaka Khan, "Now and Forever," Chakzilla, EarthSong and BMG, 2026This Is Lorelei, "Oh No Now My," The Singer In My Band, Matador, 2026This Is Lorelei, "The Singer in My Band," The Singer In My Band, Matador, 2026Michael Kiwanuka, "Summer Clothes," Fudge, Polydor, 2026Michael Kiwanuka, "Love In My Heart," Fudge, Polydor, 2026Michael Kiwanuka, "Steve's Paradise," Fudge, Polydor, 2026The Tubs, "Who's Gonna Love You Now," Hard Life, Merge, 2026The Tubs, "Heaven or London," Hard Life, Merge, 2026The Tubs, "If You Don't Love Me," Hard Life, Merge, 2026The Tubs, "Do Yourself a Favor," Hard Life, Merge, 2026Rocket from the Tombs, "Ain't it Fun (Live)," The Day The Earth Met The…(Live From Punk Ground Zero, Cleveland 1975), Smog Veil, 2002Rocket from the Tombs, "Sonic Reducer," Black Record, Fire, 2015Sweeping Promises, "Accent," You Say I Romanticize, Sub Pop, 2026Neil Young, "Imagine," America: A Tribute to Heroes, Interscope, 2001AFI, "Fall Children," All Hallow's E.P., Nitro, 1999See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meteorology is the study of Earth’s atmosphere and its weather and climate. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with meteors – at least not directly. But more broadly, meteors and meteorology are related – in their names. Both words come from a Greek word that meant “the heavens above” or “things high up.” Meteorology was first used by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, around 340 B.C. A “meteor” was any particle in the sky, or that fell from the sky. Over time, meteors were clumped into four classes. Aerial meteors referred to the wind. Aqueous meteors were rain, snow, or hail – any wet stuff that fell from above. Luminous meteors were anything that glowed, such as rainbows or the northern lights. And igneous meteors were anything that flashed through the sky in an instant – lightning and “shooting stars.” Until a couple of centuries ago, it was thought that shooting stars had a strictly atmospheric origin – something triggered in the sky itself. It wasn’t until the early 1800s that scientists figured out their true origin: bits of space rock that are burning up in the atmosphere. So without the atmosphere, there would be no glowing meteors to light up the night sky. The word “meteor,” by the way, refers only to the streak of light. When a rock is still in space, it’s a meteor-oid. And one that s hits the ground is a meteor-ite – a “thing on high” that fell to Earth. More tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield

It's a spotlight on our favorite Cuban music!  Featured artists include Orishas, Los Van Van, Los Zafiros and more.  

We asked listeners to send us their best coincidence stories, and we got more than 1,300 submissions! There were so many good ones that we decided to make a whole show about them. From a chance encounter at a bus station to a romantic dollar bill to a baffling apparition in a college shower stall.  Start a Life Partners free trial to watch our new video, A Night of Stories and Improv.(00:00:00) Prologue: Hannah Jacoby tells the story of when she and her best friend Lindsey bonded over those toy soldiers with the parachutes, called (really) Poopatroopers — and how the little jumpers perfectly bookended their high-school years. And guest host Sarah Koenig explains the very interesting trends we discovered in our listeners' coincidences. (9 minutes)(00:09:23) Act One: A surprising number of coincidences involve grandmothers. One grandma has so many coincidences happen to her that it drives her granddaughter, 16-year-old Juliana Bontrager, to try to beat her at her own coincidence game. We also hear from Blake Oliver about a very strange appearance his grandma once made. (9 minutes)(00:19:31) Act Two: When it comes to love, coincidences tend to loom extra-large. Stephen Lee tells about the time his parents first met his fiance’s parents, and his future mother-in-law dropped a coincidence bomb. And we hear how a dollar bill ended up clinching a marriage, after floating around Chicago for years. (10 minutes)(00:28:22) Act Three: Ryan Rozar told us about a confounding coincidence that was visited on him in college. We didn’t think it was a coincidence at all, so we set out to prove him wrong. (8 minutes)(00:37:39) Act Four: More stories of dazzling coincidences: an old boyfriend is conjured in Morocco, a jazz singer seems to rise from the dead, and three boys believe they’ve seen a corpse. Plus stories of errant fathers, lost and found. (13 minutes)(00:49:57) Act Five: Kerry Weeks tells about the time he lost a pocketknife and turned to the galaxy for help. (7 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org / This American Life privacy policy. / Learn more about sponsor message choices.