Radiolab

What Did I Do Last Summer? Oh, I Discovered How To Make Babies Without Sex. And You?

Robert Krulwich — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Ah, if only all summers could be like June, July and August 1740 — when three young guys (and a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old) did a science experiment that startled the world. In those days, you could do biology without a fancy diploma. More people could play.

That spring, the hot book — the one everyone was reading — was a gorgeously illustrated volume about insects by the French naturalist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur.

What Is It About Bees And Hexagons?

Robert Krulwich — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:51:00 +0000

Solved! A bee-buzzing, honey-licking 2,000-year-old mystery that begins here, with this beehive. Look at the honeycomb in the photo and ask yourself: (I know you've been wondering this all your life, but have been too shy to ask out loud ... ) Why is every cell in this honeycomb a hexagon?

Bees, after all, could build honeycombs from rectangles or squares or triangles ...

But for some reason, bees choose hexagons. Always hexagons.

And not just your basic six-sided hexagon.

Moths That Drive Cars (Really)

Robert Krulwich — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:42:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2k1T2X7_Aw

Wildlife That Isn't Wild And Isn't Alive

Robert Krulwich — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:08:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNUeSUXOc-w

Our Very Normal Solar System Isn't Normal Anymore

Robert Krulwich — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:53:00 +0000

Some things you just count on. Like if we ever meet a space alien, it should have eyes (and maybe a head). Like somewhere out there, there are planets like ours. Like we have an ordinary solar system — "ordinary" because you know what it looks like ...

It's got a sun in the middle, little planets on the inside, bigger ones farther out. That's what most of them should look like, no?

We thought they should.