Programs

We're firing up the Mountain Stage time machine once again to look back two decades to the year 2006. Host Kathy Mattea revisits sets from The Derek Trucks Band, Bettye LaVette, Soulive (featuring Reggie Watts), Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, and more, all recorded live on Mountain Stage. https://bit.ly/4xBxqcv

One morning, Oliver Sipple went out for a walk. A couple hours later, to his own surprise, he saved the life of the President of the United States. In a story we reported back in 2017, we explain how in the days that followed, Sipple’s split-second act of heroism turned into a rationale for making his personal life into political opportunity. What happens next makes us wonder what a moment, or a movement, or a whole society can demand of one person. And how much is too much?  Through newly unearthed archival tape, we hear Sipple himself grapple with some of the most vexing topics of his day and ours – privacy, identity, the freedom of the press – not to mention the bonds of family and friendship.  Special thanks to Jerry Pritikin, Michael Yamashita, Stan Smith, Duffy Jennings; Ann Dolan, Megan Filly and Ginale Harris at the Superior Court of San Francisco; Leah Gracik, Karyn Hunt, Jesse Hamlin, The San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive, Mike Amico, Jennifer Vanasco and Joey Plaster.EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by – Reported by Latif Nasser and Tracie Hunte Produced by – Produced by Matt Kielty, Annie McEwen, Latif Nasser and Tracie Hunte. 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.

In this bonus episode, Greg pays tribute to American record producer Jack Douglas. Douglas earned the admiration of countless artists, perhaps none more than Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, who called him his favorite producer of all time. Jack Douglas died on May 11, 2026, at the age of 77.Join 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.

Saturn has more moons than any other planet in the solar system – 274 as of this spring. All of the bigger ones are interesting worlds in their own right. Some of them are balls of ice mixed with rock. And they offer some especially eye-catching features. Mimas has a huge impact crater that makes it look like a Star Wars death star. It’s a third as wide as Mimas itself, with walls three miles high and a floor 10 miles deep. It was created by an impact that almost ripped the moon apart. Shockwaves raced all the way around Mimas, creating a jumbled landscape on the opposite side. Iapetus has a couple of giant craters. But it stands out for two other reasons. One is its coloring. One hemisphere is covered with ice, so it’s as white as snow. The other is covered with dust that’s as dark as charcoal. The other thing that makes it stand out is its shape – it resembles a walnut. A mountain range circles its equator. It’s a dozen miles wide, and averages about nine miles high. A region of Dione is marked by cliffs that form bright slashes. The cliffs are up to a thousand feet high, and they stretch across hundreds of miles. They probably formed as Dione shrank, wrinkling its crust – sculpting an intriguing feature on one of Saturn’s moons. Saturn is near our moon at dawn tomorrow. It looks like a bright star to the lower right of the Moon. But you need a telescope to see any of the giant planet’s ice-ball moons. 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.

Regular people trapped inside Greek myths. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: When a mysterious, ripped-open package arrives on Pablo's doorstep, he takes it as a sign. (4 minutes)Act One: Pablo flies closer to the sun. (14 minutes)Act Two: In Greek mythology, there's Hades, where everyone goes when they die. You have to cross the river Styx to get there, and there’s a gate with this three-headed dog. He’s guarding the entrance and he’s supposed to make sure only actual dead people enter. This story is about a real person in America who stood at those very gates. Which is not the easiest job it turns out, at least not right now. (24 minutes)Act Three: A mortal gets the assignment of a lifetime — to go interview an actual god who is living on earth, traveling under the name of Lionel Messi. (11 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.