Month: December 2014

Pop-up ads keep telling Mike to test his food sensitivity. Is that bulls--t? Today on The Gist, we ask Maria Konnikova of The New Yorker about the differences between food allergies and intolerance. Plus, Meghan Daum discusses the craft of essay writing, and the near-death experience that taught her nothing. She’s the author of The Unspeakable. For the Spiel, the importance of the galvanizing anecdote in the University of Virginia rape case.

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Starting Wednesday, Billboard will change the way it measures success on the album chart. Today on The Gist, Chris Molanphy explains how the new system reflects our listening habits—and the evolution of the album inside the music business. Plus, reporter Jody Avirgan gives us the backstory on his recent Studio 360 piece about one of the strangest works ever composed by jazz giant Charles Mingus: a toilet-training guide. For cats. For the Spiel, do we need a perfect expression of popular sentiment? Mike ponders galvanizing anecdotes in the wake of Ferguson.

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Tom Sutcliffe discusses evolution and extinction with Jules Pretty, who's been travelling to meet "enduring people in vanishing lands" and is concerned about their future; with Andreas Wagner on solving what he calls evolution's greatest puzzle - how can random mutations over a mere 3.8 billion years solely be responsible for eyeballs; poet Ruth Padel on what we can learn from animals and Chris Stringer who's been looking at ancient human occupation of Britain and how homo sapiens may have driven other humans to extinction.

Tom Sutcliffe discusses evolution and extinction with Jules Pretty, who's been travelling to meet "enduring people in vanishing lands" and is concerned about their future; with Andreas Wagner on solving what he calls evolution's greatest puzzle - how can random mutations over a mere 3.8 billion years solely be responsible for eyeballs; poet Ruth Padel on what we can learn from animals and Chris Stringer who's been looking at ancient human occupation of Britain and how homo sapiens may have driven other humans to extinction.