Month: June 2017

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Undiscovered - The Wastebook

After a senator calls her research a waste of taxpayer dollars, biologist Sheila Patek heads to Capitol Hill to prove what her science is worth.

In December 2015, the fight over science funding got personal for biologist Sheila Patek. She discovered that a U.S. Senator, Jeff Flake of Arizona, had included her research on mantis shrimp in his “wastebook”: a list of federally-funded projects he deemed a waste of taxpayer money. So what did Patek do? She headed to Capitol Hill to make the case to Senator Flake—and to Congress—that blue-sky science is worth the money.

 

GUESTS

 

FOOTNOTES

    Read Sen. Jeff Flake’s 2015 Wastebook "The Farce Awakens," and his science-themed 2016 Wastebook “Twenty Questions.” Watch two mantis shrimp duke it out! Read Melinda Baldwin’s article on the grand-daddy of the modern waste report: Sen. William Proxmire. Read about Congressman Jim Cooper’s answer to Sen. Proxmire’s “Golden Fleece Award”: the “Golden Goose Award." Read the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 2014 report Furthering America’s Research Enterprise, detailing the benefits of federal science investment (and the difficulty of measuring them). Learn more about Restore Accountability and read their response to the episode. Watch Sheila Patek’s PBS NewsHour essay about her meeting with Sen. Flake, and read about current research at the Patek Lab. How much does the federal government spend on R&D? Here’s how much!

 

CREDITS

This episode of Undiscovered was reported and produced by Annie Minoff and Elah Feder. Editing by Christopher Intagliata. Fact-checking help by Michelle Harris. Original music by Daniel Peterschmidt. Our theme music is by I am Robot and Proud. Art for this episode by Claire Merchlinsky. Thanks to Science Friday’s Danielle Dana, Christian Skotte, Brandon Echter, and Rachel Bouton.

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the memory palace - A White Horse, re-released on the second anniversary of the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

This piece was originally released a few days after the shooting deaths of 49 people at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It is re-released here on the second anniversary of the event. 

If you are so moved, please donate to any of these charities:

Equality Florida.

Human Rights Campaign.

Everytown for Gun Safety.

 

Trans Lifeline

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the memory palace - Episode 111 (Cipher, or Greenhow Girls)

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows. This episode was produced as part out or "Doing Time" series, where each show across the network tackles the same theme. Go listen to the other contributions  at Radiotopia.fm.

Notes

Music

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Infant Formula

Not every baby has a mother who can breastfeed. Indeed, not every baby has a mother. In the early 1800s, only two in three babies who weren’t breastfed lived to see their first birthday. Many were given “pap”, a bread-and-water mush, from hard-to-clean receptacles that teemed with bacteria. But in 1865 Justus von Liebig invented Soluble Food for Babies – a powder comprising cow’s milk, wheat flour, malt flour and potassium bicarbonate. It was the first commercial substitute for breastmilk and, as Tim Harford explains, it has helped shape the modern workplace. Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon Producer: Ben Crighton (Image: Baby lying down drinking from bottle, Credit: Lopolo/Shutterstock)
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the memory palace - If You Have to be a Floor (The Met Residency Episode 6)

Nate DiMeo is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Artist in Residence for 2016/2017. He is producing ten pieces inspired by the collection and by the museum itself. This is the sixth episode of that residency.

This residency is made possible by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Chester Dale Fund.

This episode is written and produced and stuff by Nate DiMeo with engineering assistance from Elizabeth Aubert. Its Executive Producer is Limor Tomer, General Manager Live Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Special thanks to Jimmy LaValle and Mark Kozelek.

The Art Discussed

Music