Programs

This episode was recorded on March 8th, 2026 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Cyril Neville, Deke Dickerson & Los Straitjackets, Sons of Town Hall, Amanda Pascali. https://bit.ly/3OyzFLX

For most of human history, people went about their daily lives with a worm or two (or fifty) in their guts. Only in the past century, with pharmaceuticals and sanitation practices, have we made significant strides towards deworming the whole of humanity. And that’s typically been thought of as a good thing, because having too many worms in your body can–quite literally–suck the life out of you. But is it possible to have… too few worms? Science wonders if deworming ourselves has actually led to an increase in certain chronic diseases. On this episode, we dive into Necator americanus, a.k.a. the American Hookworm, and its mysterious relationship with each of us. We trace the hookworm’s 118-year journey from a demonized economic depressant, to its use as a desperate D.I.Y. immunosuppressant, to its potential as a medical treatment for a number of chronic diseases, everything from asthma to MS. We’re bringing back two stories  from our 2009 episode Parasites plus new research on hookworms and autoimmune diseases, reported by Molly Webster Special thanks to Ethan Hein for the use of his remix of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21. Plus, Doris Pierce, and Dan and Alice Hadley. EPISODE CREDITS:  Reported by – Pat Walters and Molly Webster with help from – {{wREPORTERS}} Produced by – Matt Kielty with help from – Rebecca Rand Fact-checking by – Diane A. Kelly and Edited by  – Arianne Wack EPISODE CITATIONS: Articles –  Effect of experimental hookworm infection on insulin resistance in people at risk of type 2 diabetes (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37495576/) by Giacomin PR et al. Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 26 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.

This week, hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot are joined by author Nic Brown for a classic album dissection of the debut from The Violent Femmes. They delve into the unexpected staying power of songs like "Add It Up" and "Blister In The Sun" and Brown shares new insights into the album from his recent interviews with the band members.Join our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/3eEvRnGMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah  Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundops Featured Songs:Blister In The Sun, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967Please Do Not Go, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983Confession, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983Kiss Off, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983Add It Up, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983Gone Daddy Gone, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983Good Feeling, "Violent Femmes," Violent Femmes, Slash, 1983American Music, "Violent Femmes," Why Do Birds Sing, Reprise, 1991Willie Nelson, "On The Road Again (Live)," Honeysuckle Rose, Columbia, 1980See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most of the stars in the Milky Way orbit the center of the galaxy in the same direction as all the other stars around them, and at about the same speed. But a few follow their own paths. An example is a star at the tip of the Guitar Nebula. The nebula is a bubble of gas with an outline that resembles a guitar. It’s in Cepheus, which is low in the north at nightfall. The king’s brightest stars form an outline that resembles a child’s drawing of a house. Don’t look for the nebula, though – it’s so faint that it wasn’t discovered until 1992. The guitar was sculpted by a pulsar – the crushed corpse of a mighty star. It spins once every two-thirds of a second, emitting a beam of energy that sweeps past Earth on each turn. The pulsar was born when the star exploded as a supernova. The explosion must have been off-center, so it gave the dead core a powerful kick. The pulsar is plowing through clouds of gas and dust at almost two million miles per hour. It leaves an expanding wake behind it, like a ship traveling across the ocean. That wake is what we see as the Guitar. But there’s more to the nebula than meets the eye. X-ray telescopes in space reveal a long, high-speed “jet.” It’s firing away from the tip of the nebula at a right angle to the nebula itself. The jet most likely is powered by the pulsar’s magnetic field, which funnels charged particles away from the pulsar – an interesting note from a celestial guitar. Script by Damond Benningfield

We're joined for a special Uruguay episode co-hosted by Juan Campodonico, the artist and producer at the forefront of fusing electronic and rock music with traditional Uruguayan genres like tango and murga. Featured artists include Bajofondo, El Cuarteto de Nos, Campo and Peyote Asesino. 

One family faces the Trump administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military, and responds with a surprising secret weapon. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Geirid and Chrissy are extreme planners. But about a year ago, they were confronted with a situation that even they had no idea how to plan for. (4 minutes)Act One: Geirid and Chrissy make an “in case of emergency, break glass” spreadsheet and get some big news. (14 minutes)Act Two: Geirid and Chrissy have less than a month to make a life-changing decision. The government gives them two options, and they try to find a third. (21 minutes)Act Three: A short story from Rachel Khong: Two people have a very consequential choice to make, given to them by God. (15 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.