Programs

This episode was recorded on May 17th, 2026 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Paul Thorn, Ray Benson, Sunny Sweeney, Andy Friedman. https://bit.ly/4afWiMG⁠

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 RupikEPISODE CREDITS: Reported by Maria Paz Gutierrez Produced by Maria Paz Gutierrez, Sindhu Gnanasambandan Fact-checking by Angely Mercado EPISODE CITATIONS: Website –  Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies (advancedconsciousness.org) – If you want to check out more of the work Felix and Nicco are conducting. Software – Rewire website (https://rewire.bio) – Check out Felix and Nicco's Holy Shiver generator and signup for early access to their app. 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 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.

Lucy Dacus joins co-senior producer Alex Claiborne to discuss her July 19 special performance with the Chicago Philharmonic at Millennium Park. They talk about reimagining songs from "Forever Is a Feeling" with orchestral arrangements, her deep ties to the Chicago area, pushing herself creatively, and the future of Boygenius.Lucy Dacus Millennium Park Tickets: https://www.axs.com/events/1389763/lucy-dacus-with-the-chicago-philharmonic-at-millennium-park-tickets?__cf_chl_f_tk=JzCNj_NnwbA0Wg5IQGVWPEzXO6OrPMIQkojv.5Xz7OQ-1784055265-1.0.1.1-.7S2acFCaI.ppg6crnaLmsgzYZ6EUXQsAFc0LEcC78QJoin our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2136865Make 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.

Something small, dark, and heavy lurks at the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy. Most astronomers say it’s a black hole. But a recent study says “not so fast”- it could be a clump of dark matter. The central object is called Sagittarius A-star. It’s about 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun. A few years ago, astronomers took a picture of its “shadow” against a glowing background. Sagittarius A-star is encircled by stars and dusty clumps in tight orbits. They’re accelerated to millions of miles per hour by the gravity of the central object. The new study suggested that object could be a knot of dark matter particles known as fermions. Dark matter produces no detectable energy, but its gravity pulls on the visible matter around it. It appears to make up about 85 percent of all the matter in the universe, but its nature remains unknown. The clump could account for many of the observed qualities of the central dark object. Other studies have suggested that dark matter could produce fountains of gamma rays that shoot from the galaxy’s core. Dark-matter particles could produce the gamma rays when they ram together and cancel each other out. The dark-matter model doesn’t explain all of the evidence of a black hole. But future instruments should be able to discern between the two models – providing a definitive explanation for the darkness at the galaxy’s heart. More about dark matter tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield

This week is an exploration of Blues music, Latino style.  Featured artists include Santana, Los Lonely Boys, Diamante Electrico, Bunbury, Andres Calamaro and many more.

Some people in this country think Antifa is a dangerous domestic terror organization. Some think that’s a complete myth. This week, we go to the federal trial where, for the first time, the government sets out to prove that Antifa is real. Zoe Chace reports. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Host Ira Glass tells the story of what happened at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. The government claims this was an attack by an Antifa cell. The defense says it was a protest gone awry. This argument goes to court in a first-of-its-kind trial. (7 minutes)Act One: Reporter Zoe Chace walks us through one of the worst days for the defense: all these guns. (5 minutes)Act Two: Zoe takes us through the testimony of the government’s Antifa expert. The defense team is optimistic that things are going well for them. (8 minutes)Act Three: Zoe goes to jail to talk with one of the cooperating witnesses for the prosecution, a former church lady named Lynette Sharp. She has a lot to say about the events in her life that led her to accept a plea deal and testify against her friends. (24 minutes)Act Four: The verdicts come in. (12 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.