Life in a Barrel
About this episode
The episode explores the chaotic nature of life through various scientific narratives and theories.
This week, in an episode we first aired in 2022, we flip the Disney story of life on its head thanks to a barrel of seawater, a 1970s era computer, and underwater geysers. It’s the chaos of life. Latif, Lulu, and our Senior Producer Matt Kielty were all sitting on their own little stories until they got thrown into the studio, and had their cherished beliefs about the shape of life put on a collision course. From an accidental study of sea creatures, to the ambitions of Stephen J Gould, to an undercooked theory that captured the world’s imagination, we undo the seeming order of the living world and try to make some music out of the wreckage. (Bonus: Learn how Francis Crick really thought life got started on this planet). EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Latif Nasser, Matt Kielty, Heather Radke, Lulu Miller and Candice WangProduced by - Matt Kielty and Simon Adlerwith help from - Arianne WackOriginal music and sound design contributed by - Matt Kilety, Simon Adler, Alan Goffinski, and Jeremy Bloom EPISODE CITATIONS: Articles - Chaos in a long-term experiment with a plankton community (https://zpr.io/j6sYXKfDzPCG), by Benincà, E., Huisman, J., Heerkloss, R. et al. Nature Chaos theory…
People in this episode
Hosts: Latif Nasser, Matt Kielty, Lulu Miller
Topics covered
- chaos theory
- marine biology
- life origins
- storytelling
- scientific exploration
Keywords
- chaos
- plankton
- seawater
- underwater geysers
- life origins
- Stephen J Gould
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Full House, Extinction: Bad Genes
More episodes of Radiolab
- Forests on Forests
- The Resistance of a Cow
- The Builders
- Antibiotic Apocalypse
- Staph Retreat
- Return of the Flesh-Eaters
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