DiscoverRadiolabCheating Death
Cheating Death

Cheating Death

Update: 2024-02-0917
Share

Description

In this episode, Maria Paz Gutiérrez does battle against the one absolute truth of human existence and all life… death. After getting a team of scientists to stand in for death (the grim reaper wasn’t available), we parry and thrust our way through the myriad ways that death comes for us - from falling pianos to evolution’s disinterest in longevity. In the process, we see if we can find a satisfying answer to the question “why do we have to die” and find ourselves face to face with the bitter end of everything that ever existed.

Special thanks to Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Steven Nadler, Beth Jarosz, Anjana Badrinarayanan, Shaon Chakrabarti, Bob Horvitz, John K. Davis, Jessica Brand, Chandan K. Sen, Cole Imperi, Carl Bergstrom, Erin Gentry -Lam, and Jared Silvia. 

This episode was made in loving memory of Dali Rodriguez.

EPISODE CREDITS - 
Reported by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez
Produced by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez
with help from - Alyssa Jeong Perry and Timmy Broderick
Original music and sound design contributed by - Maria Paz Gutiérrez and Jeremy Bloom
with mixing help from - Arianne Wack
Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger

Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Comments (2)

Jeremy Mesiano-Crookston

this episode is really dumb

Feb 13th
Reply (1)
loading
In Channel
Terrestrials: The Trio

Terrestrials: The Trio

2024-07-2637:44

Lose Lose

Lose Lose

2024-07-1935:09

How to Save a Life

How to Save a Life

2024-07-1250:32

The Alford Plea

The Alford Plea

2024-06-2801:00:25

Birdie in the Cage

Birdie in the Cage

2024-06-2146:41

Aphantasia

Aphantasia

2024-06-1439:45

Argentine Invasion

Argentine Invasion

2024-05-3125:32

Mixtapes to the Moon

Mixtapes to the Moon

2024-05-2440:40

Lucy

Lucy

2024-05-1701:02:55

Selected Shorts

Selected Shorts

2024-05-1052:51

Memory and Forgetting

Memory and Forgetting

2024-04-2601:04:10

Small Potatoes

Small Potatoes

2024-04-1901:04:37

The Moon Itself

The Moon Itself

2024-04-0552:56

Finding Emilie

Finding Emilie

2024-03-2241:32

Staph Retreat

Staph Retreat

2024-03-0833:43

Hold On

Hold On

2024-03-0150:02

loading
00:00
00:00
1.0x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

Cheating Death

Cheating Death

WNYC Studios