Programs

This episode was recorded on March 17th, 2024 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Nothin' Fancy, Missy Raines & Allegheny, Rory Block, Ed Snodderly, and Meredith Moon.  https://bit.ly/3xMupLZ

An ode to the small, the banal, the overlooked things that make up the fabric of our lives.Most of our stories are about the big stuff: Important or dramatic events, big ideas that transform the world around us or inspire conflict and struggle and change. But most of our lives, day by day or hour by hour, are made up of … not that stuff. Most of our lives are what we sometimes dismissively call “small potatoes.” This week on Radiolab, Heather Radke challenges to focus on the small, the overlook, the everyday … and find out what happens when you take a good hard look at the things we all usually overlook.Special thanks to Moeko Fujii, Kelley Conway, Robin Kelley, Jason Isaacs, and Andrew SemansEPISODE CREDITS: Reported by – Heather Radke, Rachael Cusick, and Matt Kieltywith help from – Erica HeilmanProduced by – Annie McEwen and Matt KieltyOriginal music and sound design contributed by – Annie McEwen, Matt Kielty, and Jeremy BloomFact-checking by – Emily Krieger and Diane Kellyand Edited by  – Alex NeasonEPISODE CITATIONS:Audio -Check out Ian Chillag’s podcast, Everything is Alive, from Radiotopia.Museums -Learn more about The Museum of Everyday Life, located in Glover, Vermont, here.Newsletter – Heather Radke has a newsletter all about small potatoes. It’s called Petite Patate and you can subscribe at HeatherRadke.substack.com.Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. 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 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

In this bonus episode, we share producer Andrew Gill's side project, "Rock That Doesn't Roll." Their second season launches this week, so we're sharing an episode they did last season with David Bazan of Pedro The Lion.Rock That Doesn't Roll: https://pod.link/1703257857 Become 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/soundopsJoin our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Immanuel Kant is best known for his ideas about philosophy, from ethics to the nature of knowledge. But he also played a role in the development of an idea about how planets are born. And while many of the details were off, his basic idea was sound. Kant was born 300 years ago this week, in the German state of Konigsberg. And during his 80 years, he never left it. He enrolled in the University of Konigsberg at age 16. But his father died, and he was forced to leave the university. He became a tutor for well-to-do families. He was able to return and finish his education in 1755. Kant was interested in just about everything — including science. Soon after completing his degree, he wrote about earthquakes, the weather, and more. One of his early works was “Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens.” In it, he described a “nebular” hypothesis for the formation of planets. A scientist in Sweden had conceived the idea a couple of decades earlier. Kant developed it further. He wrote that the Sun and planets were born from a nebula — a giant spinning cloud of gas and particles. Gravity caused the cloud to flatten, forming a disk. Material in the disk stuck together to make larger and larger chunks — eventually forming planets. Today, scientists have worked out more of the details. But the basic idea remains the same — Kant’s hypothesis provides a basic description of how planets are born. Script by Damond Benningfield

We spotlight our fave tracks of the 2020's to date, including songs from Cimafunk, Trueno, Marilina Bertoldi, Francisca Valenzuela, Girl Ultra, Ramona, Bizarrap & Snow The Product and more!

A girl signs up for a class. A couple hires an accountant. A group of co-workers decides to pool their money and buy a couple of lottery tickets. In the beginning, they're full of hope and optimism — and then something turns. Stories of good ideas gone bad. Prologue: Paul was a cop. One night he was pulling second shift when he had a perfectly good idea: He'd stretch out in the back seat and take a little nap during his break. He fell right asleep, and slept well until he woke up and realized the funny thing about the back seats of cop cars: The doors don't open from the inside. Paul is author of the book Bad Cop: New York's Least Likely Police Officer Tells All. (8 minutes)Act One: It was two months into the tour. Katie Else and the rest of the Riverdance cast had been performing eight shows a week. They decided to pool their money for the Mega-Millions lottery. Lotto fever gripped the cast. They started to genuinely believe they would take home about $2 million each, and quit Riverdance the next day. They took the stage the night of the drawing and pulled off their best performance ever, "For the Lotto!," trying to direct their energy towards the win. An hour later, at the hotel bar, the numbers came in. (17 minutes)Act Two: After years of neglecting their personal finances, Joel and his wife finally decide to sort things out. They hire a tax accountant named Len, whose casual manner is a real comfort, at first. But then, "casual" turns into "drunk" and then it's clear that he's just plain delinquent. Joel tries to take his business elsewhere, but Len refuses to let go of their file. He begs for a second chance, which it seems, came too late. Joel Lovell is executive editor at Pineapple Street Media. (8 minutes)Act Three: Davy Rothbart was on a 136-city tour appearing on morning TV talk shows to promote his book Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World. Just before one appearance he had what seemed like a great idea at the time. Without letting the host know, he tested it out, live, on-air. Davy is the creator of Found Magazine and author of the book of essays My Heart Is An Idiot. (6 minutes)Act Four: When Elspeth was a girl, she wanted nothing more than her father's attention. He was busy, a doctor, and distant. One day he agrees to put on a volunteer seminar for their church, about his area of expertise: "The Function of the Heart." Elspeth and her best friend are the only two kids who show up, and Elspeth is attentive and engaged, the perfect student. It was an incredible experience for her, the best day she's ever spent with her dad…she thinks. That is, until her mother takes her aside and explains her big mistake. (8 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org