Programs

This episode was recorded on September 27th, 2026 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes S.G. Goodman, Horse Feather, Daniel Kimbro, and Rainbow Girls. https://bit.ly/4zHRs5F

This week, we’re replaying the inaugural episode of More Perfect (first aired in 2016) we explore three little words embedded in the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “cruel and unusual.” America has long wrestled with this concept in the context of our strongest punishment, the death penalty. A majority of “we the people” (61 percent, to be exact) are in favor of having it, but inside the Supreme Court, opinions have evolved over time in surprising ways.And outside of the court, the debate drove one woman in the UK to take on the U.S. death penalty system from Europe. It also caused states to resuscitate old methods used for executing prisoners on death row. And perhaps more than anything, it forced a conversation on what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.In this episode, we also include a new conversation with Harvard law professor Carol Steiker and former death-row inmate Damien Nichols about the moment the death penalty finds itself in now. After the botched execution of Christa Pike, and with the government considering livestreaming a firing squad execution, how do we understand the death penalty in 2026?Special thanks to Claire Phillips, Nina Perry, Stephanie Jenkins, Ralph Dellapiana, Byrd Pinkerton, Elisabeth Semel, Christina Spaulding, Carol Steiker, Damien Nichols, and The Marshall Project EPISODE CREDITS: Update Reported by – Karen DuffinUpdate Produced by – Mona Madgavkar, and Matt Kieltywith mixing help from – Jeremy Bloom and Arianne WackFact-checking by – Hilary ElkinsSignup 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.

In this bonus episode, Jim digs into his Desert Island Jukebox for a track by a duo he calls “France’s answer to Sparks.”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/soundopsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two “super-puff” planets appear to orbit a bright star about 1100 light-years from Earth. They’re as big as Jupiter, the giant of our own solar system. But they’re only a few percent the mass of Jupiter. That makes them extremely puffy – the least-dense worlds yet seen – less dense than cotton candy. Such planets are called super-puffs. The planets orbit the star TOI 791. It’s a little bigger and heavier than the Sun, and a few times brighter. But it’s too far south to see from all but a sliver of the United States. The planets were discovered by TESS, a planet-hunting space telescope. But it took years for astronomers to winnow out their details. They used almost a dozen ground-based telescopes, including one near the south pole. The planets periodically pass in front of their star, dimming the star’s light. But the gravity of each planet tugs at the other, changing the timing of these transits. The scope of the change revealed the masses of the planets. One planet orbits at a little less than the distance from Earth to the Sun, while the other is a bit closer. They might have been born farther out, then migrated to their current spots – a scenario that could explain their puffiness. Astronomers plan to study the system with James Webb Space Telescope. It can reveal the composition of the planets’ atmospheres, telling us more about where the planets formed – and how they became super-puffs.   Script by Damond Benningfield

We spotlight some of our favorite artists' career high points, those creative peaks that create enduring musical legacies. Featured artists include Los Lobos, Babasonicos, Julieta Venegas, Bebel Gilberto, Kinky, Jose Jose & more.

The doomed project of trying to translate what’s in your head into someone else’s head. Start a Life Partners free trial to watch our new video, A Night of Stories and Improv.(00:00:00) Prologue: A while back, Ira woke up with double vision and learned that he had cataracts. After his cataract surgery, he realized the color blue looked very different to him. Now he always wonders: does everyone see the same blue as I do, or is their blue different? (3 minutes)(00:03:26) Act One: Shaun Bengson has known since he was a kid that he’d very likely lose his hearing as he got older and develop tinnitus. And even after it started, he didn’t do the sensible things that would slow its progression. Shaun and his wife, Abigail, discuss their decisions — and non-decisions — with Ira. And Shaun plays a simulation of what the world now sounds like to him. (27 minutes)(00:32:50) Act Two: Cluster headaches are sometimes called the most painful medical condition. Researchers who study them wanted to know if that was actually true. They asked cluster patients to compare their headaches to other famously painful conditions. Producer Ike Sriskandarajah, who gets these headaches, was excited to read the findings. But should he tell his pregnant wife? (14 minutes)(00:46:35) Act Three: Molly’s mom died suddenly last fall, and it flipped the axis of her world. But one day, a friend told her about a special object that really helped him cope with his own father’s death. Molly decides to track this object down. (8 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org / This American Life privacy policy. / Learn more about sponsor message choices.