6.6 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radiolab | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiolab | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:41:41.899730+00:00 | kb-cron |
== Reception and awards == Radiolab has been widely acclaimed among listeners and critics alike for its imaginative format and original use of sound design. It has been hailed, along with This American Life, as one of the most innovative shows on American radio. As of January 2023, Radiolab has earned 13 podcast industry award nominations, including 7 wins, including the 2013 People's Choice Podcast Award for Best Science and Medicine Podcast and the 2015 People's Choice Podcast Award for Best Produced Podcast. Radiolab was also awarded for the Shorty Award for Best Podcast. Radiolab has also won two Peabody Awards for broadcast excellence. The first Peabody was awarded to the show overall, and the second was awarded for the episode titled "60 Words" (aired on April 18, 2014) garnered a second Peabody Award for Radiolab. Radiolab also received a 2007 National Academies Communication Award "for their imaginative use of radio to make science accessible to broad audiences". The program has received two Peabody Awards; first in 2010 and again in 2014. In 2011, Abumrad received the MacArthur grant, in recognition of his work with RadioLab. In a 2007–2008 study by Multimedia Research (sponsored by the National Science Foundation), it was determined that over 95 percent of listeners reported that the science-based material featured on Radiolab was accessible. Additionally, upwards of 80 percent of listeners reported that the program's pace was exciting, and over 80 percent reported that the layering of interviews was engaging. On January 26, 2024, Radiolab aired an episode about the asteroid 2002 VE68, which Nasser first noticed on his child's Solar System poster, where it was mistakenly referred to as "ZOOZVE". This lead Radiolab to propose the name "Zoozve" for the asteroid, which was approved and announced by the International Astronomical Union on February 5, 2024. Radiolab and the IAU held a public naming campaign for the asteroid 2004 GU9 from June to September 2024. The winning name was Cardea, which was announced by the IAU on January 13, 2025.
== Controversy == On September 24, 2012, in a podcast titled "The Fact of the Matter", the program ran a segment about the yellow rain incidents in Laos and surrounding countries in the 1970s. Included in the story was an interview with Hmong veteran and refugee Eng Yang, with his niece Kao Kalia Yang serving as translator. After hearing the segment, Kao Kalia Yang and others complained that her uncle's viewpoints had been dismissed or edited out, that interviewer Robert Krulwich had treated them callously, and that the overall approach to the story had been racist. The complaints prompted several rounds of allegation, apology, rebuttal, and edits to the podcast, as well as commentary in various sources such as the public radio newspaper Current. On August 12, 2017, Radiolab removed an episode titled "Truth Trolls" about the attacks on LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner's HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US art project by trolls. The program had been criticized for appearing to condone the actions of extremist groups, with Turner condemning the reporting as "abhorrent and irresponsible" for describing the vandalism and harassment they had been subjected to as "a really encouraging story" and "comforting." Abumrad issued an apology for giving the impression that they "essentially condoned some pretty despicable ideology and behavior," while WNYC stated that they supported Radiolab's decision to remove the podcast, adding that "Radiolab unambiguously rejects the beliefs and actions of the trolls, and deeply regrets doing anything that would imply differently."
== Radiolab live ==
In spring 2011, Krulwich and Abumrad took the show on a live, national tour, selling out in cities such as New York, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The tour covered 21 cities and primarily focused on a speculative fringe theory regarding the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event that has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. The fundamental new idea surrounding this theory is that when a large asteroid impacted the Earth, the asteroid driving into the ground caused the rock to become heated so extremely that it became gaseous. This "rock-gas" was then ejected outside the Earth's atmosphere and into space. The rock-gas, after cooling into many tiny glass particles, was pulled back in by Earth's gravity. The majority of this "glass-rain" burned up in the Earth's atmosphere upon re-entry, causing the Earth's atmosphere to become superheated, killing most of the species living on the surface of the Earth within a matter of hours. The episode did not include any discussion of the problems with the theory or that it has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Episode 3 of Season 12, titled "Apocalyptical – Live from the Paramount in Seattle", was recorded at one of the live show tour locations that Radiolab performed. Unlike most shows, this show was also filmed, and made available on their official website.
== More Perfect ==
In June 2016, Radiolab launched their first "spinoff series" entitled More Perfect. The series examines controversial and historic cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. The show's title comes from the preamble of the United States Constitution which begins "We the People, in order to form a more perfect Union". The team working on the podcast became interested in the topic after studying an adoption case related to the Indian Child Welfare Act. The show's first season launched on June 1, 2016, and ran for eight episodes. The second season returned on September 30, 2017, and aired nine episodes. The show's third season began on September 18, 2018, and ran for nine episodes. The show relaunched on May 11, 2023, hosted by Julia Longoria (former host of The Experiment, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The Atlantic, and one of the original More Perfect producers), with a 12-part season. Since then, More Perfect has not aired any more episodes, although reruns are still occasionally posted in the Radiolab feed.
== Radiolab for Kids == Radiolab launched series Radiolab for Kids which features content suitable for children and family listening, including the series Terrestrial on September 15, 2022.
== References ==
== External links == Official website Audio interview with Krulwich & Abumrad on the public radio program Bullseye with Jesse Thorn Podcast interview with Jad Abumrad Archived 2013-01-06 at the Wayback Machine: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich interviewed by Charlie Rose on January 2, 2013.