Signal Hill: Caterpillar Roadshow

11 April 2025 - 50 mins
Podcast Series Radiolab

A couple years ago, an entomologist named Martha Weiss got a letter from a little boy in Japan saying he wanted to replicate a famous study of hers. We covered that original study on Radiolab more than a decade ago in an episode called Goo and You – check it out here – and in addition to revealing some fascinating secrets of insect life, it also raises big questions about memory, permanence and transformation. The letter Martha received about building on this study set in motion a series of spectacular events that advance her original science and show how science works when a 12-year-old boy is the one doing it. Martha’s daughter, reporter Annie Rosenthal, captured all of it and turned it in...

50 mins

Series Episodes

A 4-Track Mind Playing

A 4-Track Mind

A neurologist issues a dare to a ragtime piano player and a famous conductor, then the impossible happens.

21 mins

2 October Finished

Grass Apes Playing

Grass Apes

A tiny ode to grass, for its epic role in human history.

22 mins

25 September Finished

23 Weeks 6 Days Playing

23 Weeks 6 Days

A tiny baby, born at 23 Weeks and 6 days—roughly halfway to full term. And a whole universe of medical and moral questions.

1 hour 3 mins

11 September Finished

60 Words Playing

60 Words

It’s been 25 years since 9/11. Today we talk about the 60 words that ushered in everything that came after.

58 mins

4 September Finished

Recommended

No Account

Subscriptions to podcast series are only available to users with an account. Sign in or register to subscribe and access your subscriptions.

Register Sign in

Woops!

Error text.