Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser build single reported stories around one scientific question.
Radiolab follows odd, concrete mysteries until they open into bigger questions about life, bodies, evolution, and the planet. A beaver dam, a fossil record, a hospital infection, or a wounded deer can become the doorway into a surprisingly human piece of science journalism.
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Radiolab is produced by WNYC Studios and hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser, with executive editor Soren Wheeler occasionally cohosting live tapings. Each episode is constructed as a single narrative arc rather than a structured interview, following a reporter through labs, archives, or communities to answer one specific question. Recurring subject areas include neuroscience and lab-grown brain organoids, evolutionary biology, wildlife and conservation, infectious disease and public health, and the history of science, with occasional episodes on technology and artificial intelligence. Guests are typically the working scientists, historians, or activists at the center of a given story — such as a neuroscientist who accidentally created the first brain organoids, or a physician studying antibiotic resistance — rather than recurring commentators, though science writer Carl Zimmer reappears across multiple episodes as a contextualizing voice. The show also produces Terrestrials, a spinoff for younger listeners covering nature topics like beaver dams and moon trees. Some episodes are turned over entirely to allied WNYC series, including one on a journalist building an AI-staffed startup and another on Appalachian coal-mining communities and music. Episodes run roughly 30 to 60 minutes and lean on field recordings, archival audio, and layered sound design rather than a simple two-person conversation. Listeners who want conclusions stated up front may find the tape-driven build slower going, while those interested in watching scientific or historical discovery unfold are better served. The show draws on a long back catalog, at times revisiting or updating stories first reported a decade or more earlier. Cross-promotion for other public radio podcasts appears in some episodes' mid-rolls.
Made for: Listeners curious about science, medicine, and history who prefer narrative, tape-driven storytelling over straight interviews or panel debate.
What sets it apart: Unlike interview-format science shows, Radiolab builds each episode as a single scene-by-scene reported narrative with layered sound design, and extends into a dedicated kids' nature spinoff, Terrestrials.
Radiolab is on a curiosity bender. We ask deep questions and use investigative journalism to get the answers. A given episode might whirl you through science, legal history, and into the home of someone halfway across the world. The show is known for innovative sound design, smashing information into music. It is hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Radiolab turns complex mechanisms into memorable reported stories by tracing how scientific ideas alter human choices and consequences.
Radiolab follows scientific questions until they reach both a mechanism and a human consequence. Antibiotic resistance becomes a story about bacterial adaptation and the economics that stalled drug development.
This is the show that turns a bull rescue into an argument with your own moral certainty.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Beavers as ecological engineers: Miller and Alan make the science specific enough to hold any skeptical grownup.
Terrestrials opens by dropping the listener into a beaver's body -- webbed feet, extra eyelids like goggles, a black scaly tail ready to slap the water.
Radiolab turns a 1972 fossil-record computing project into a curious, lively story about evolution, extinction, and scientific mess.
Radiolab's "Life in a Barrel" begins with evolution at its messiest: Stephen Jay Gould, early in his Harvard years, joins Tom Schopf, Dave Raup, and Dan Simberloff in asking whether computers can pull new answers from the fossil record.
A clear, urgent Radiolab episode on how antibiotic resistance is rising while new drug development has stalled.
Radiolab's Antibiotic Apocalypse turns a familiar public-health warning into a brisk, unsettling argument: bacteria keep adapting, while the search for major new antibiotics has slowed badly. The episode works best when it links microbial evolution to market logic.
A postdoc's Vienna gene screen gives a glioblastoma doctor one of his few genuine lightbulb moments, arriving after 37 years of mouse research that had run dry.
'Brain Balls' opens in Vienna in 2010, with a postdoc named Madeline Lancaster running a gene screen on mouse neural stem cells -- work that produced something that looked, under a microscope, like a tiny brain. From there it moves to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where Dr.
Seeds ride to the moon in a fireproof bag, and Radiolab makes the groaning rivets feel like the whole story.
Radiolab opens the year with two pieces that don't obviously belong together: a recorded conversation with disability activist Alice Wong, who showed up to a Lady Gaga show dressed as Ziggy Stardust in silver pants and boots, and then the story of seeds that flew to the moon in…
A focused Radiolab story about altruism, built around one frightening rescue and the unnerving quiet of an instant decision.
Radiolab's "The Good Show" asks why people sometimes help when helping may hurt them. Latif Nasser opens with the holiday-season swell of gifts, cookies, and charity, then brings the question down to Laura Shrake, who was 21 in 1995 when she stopped after seeing a woman being…
Ratliff starts his AI-company experiment with a Zoom meeting featuring Kyle Law, a synthetic rise-and-grind co-worker.
Evan Ratliff opens Shell Game by trying to build a company staffed almost entirely by AI, starting with the least glamorous thing imaginable: a regular founder meeting on Zoom.
A son's account of his mother's wit in the face of racist harassment, and the cost hidden inside good work.
Appalachia frames a story about love as practice, not sentiment. Chris remembers his mother answering racist harassment with patient wit: when a coworker kept trying to tell her racist jokes, she told him to write them down, saved the pages, and said she was making him a book.
Flora Lichtman interviews scientists, from gut-health researchers to Queen's Brian May.
Steven Novella and a rotating panel dissect weekly science news and debunk pseudoscience claims.
Long interviews with neuroscientists and philosophers on consciousness, decision-making, and whether AI is anything like a brain.
Bob McDonald anchors weekly multi-segment interviews on new research, from cricket courtship to moon missions.
APA's Kim Mills interviews psychology researchers on tipping, crying, and extremism.
A host and three academics dissect one topic weekly, from archaea to the Tudors.
First, you become a beaver.
Life gets messy fast.
The antibiotic ladder is missing rungs.
This episode explores the historical discovery of a new drug to treat MRSA infections, starting with Alexander Fleming's accidental finding in 1928.
This episode explores the mysterious and gruesome wounds on endangered key deer in the Florida Keys, which were caused by an infestation of the flesh-eating New World Screw Worm.
This episode follows an evolutionary biologist on a walk in Borneo and Brooklyn to explore a mysterious natural phenomenon involving snails.
This episode explores the discovery of anesthesia and its transformative impact on medicine and humanity.
A family seeks to learn the outcome of their donation, leading to a profound exploration of medical ethics and human connection.
This episode explores the story of Sunil Nakrani, an engineer whose career intersects with the dawn of the internet and the 9/11 attacks, highlighting the fragility of digital infrastructure.
Radiolab explores stories of people and creatures seeking warmth, blending science, history, and personal narratives.
A reporter experiences sudden voice loss during karaoke, prompting an investigation into the science behind it.
This episode explores the personal struggles with self-esteem and the need for validation through a conversation between friends Heather Radke and Matt Kilty, set against the backdrop of creative professions.
This episode features a challenging two-year interview with a humble Canadian man, culminating in a magical, intimate moment with his daughter that enhances the story.
Back in a Vienna lab, a screen starts small.
Ten, nine, eight, then blast-off.
The Radiolab hosts reflect on their favorite episodes of the year, highlight listener support, and discuss the impact of federal funding cuts on public media.
Goodness gets slippery fast.
Radiolab explores the confusion and debate surrounding artificial intelligence, aiming to demystify how AI works under the hood.
An attempt to build a company staffed almost entirely by AI.
Radiolab explores deep questions through investigative journalism, blending science, history, and personal stories with innovative sound design.
Chris begins with his mother.
A physicist in Gaza discusses the many worlds interpretation of quantum physics as a way to imagine a peaceful alternative reality amidst war.
This episode explores a historical technology arms race between the U.S.
A deep sea explorer recounts pulling a bioluminescent shrimp from the ocean, leading into a discussion about anglerfish immune systems and mating.
Radiolab explores the historical origin of the modern notion of free speech, tracing it back to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Radiolab examines how free speech principles apply to social media platforms like Facebook, exploring the complexities of content moderation.
A live Radiolab episode explores the evolutionary and biological significance of breast milk, tracing its history across cultures and deep time.
The episode explores the process behind closed captioning, questioning whether it is done by humans or AI.
Radiolab revisits a 17-year-old episode exploring a new brain imaging technology for diagnosing mental health conditions like depression.
An exploration of song in the animal world, from crickets to whales, through a narrated essay with immersive sound design.
Radiolab presents a segment from its kids' spin-off Terrestrials, exploring a mysterious animal that challenges our understanding of nature.
A scientist recounts his career beginnings as a parable for the current crisis in public funding for basic research.
Radiolab explores the value of Earth through stories about marine phytoplankton and global warfare.
Radiolab explores deep scientific questions through investigative journalism and innovative sound design.