PODCAST

Universe of Art

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Meet artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level.

arts visual arts

All Episodes

00:18:40

This poet turns to science in times of uncertainty

Universe of Art ·

2023/10/17

Poet Jane Hirshfield calls these “unaccountable” times. Crises in the biosphere—climate change, extinctions—collide with crises in human life. And in her new book Ledger, she says she has tried to do the accounting of where we, human beings, are as a result.As a poet whose work touches on the Hubble telescope, the proteins of itch, and the silencing of climate researchers, Hirshfield talks with John Dankosky about the particular observational capacity of language, and why scientists and poets can

00:12:28

How this composer integrated neuroscience into her music

Universe of Art ·

2023/10/03

When composer Sarah Hennies learned about a neurological theory called “motor tapes” from Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, the concept stuck with her for years. The theory comes from neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás, who posited that many of our thoughts, memories, and physical movements operate via a series of “looping tapes,” with the goal of reducing the amount of energy the brain uses while doing common, repetitive tasks.The concept resonated with Hennies, who is also a visiting assistant professor

00:22:27

How video game devs and musicians are processing...

Universe of Art ·

2023/09/19

It’s Climate Week in New York City this week, which brings together hundreds of events, all aimed at encouraging conversation and participation and action around our climate crisis.So this week, we wanted to play two stories of artists grappling with and integrating climate change into their work. The first is about a gaming competition called the Climate Jam, where teams compete to build video games about climate change in just one week. Universe of Art host D. Peterschmidt talked with Indiecade

00:12:32

How scientifically accurate are the sharks in "Meg 2:...

Universe of Art ·

2023/09/05

“Meg 2: The Trench” is the sequel to the 2018 movie “The Meg,” in which a team of ocean scientists discover a megalodon, the largest shark that ever lived, thriving at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Megalodon went extinct over 2.6 million years ago … or so the movie’s characters thought.When the team’s research sub gets damaged, a skilled rescue diver, played by Jason Statham, is brought in, who happened to have encountered the same megalodon years earlier. Over the course of the movie, the team

00:13:20

Pregnancy goes high-tech in "The Pod Generation"

Universe of Art ·

2023/08/22

In the new movie The Pod Generation, a wife named Rachel, played by Emilia Clarke, and her husband Alvy, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, want to start a family. In the movie’s near future, you don’t have to have a baby by getting pregnant, or using IVF, or going through a surrogate.If you’re lucky, you can get a reservation at The Womb Center, where you can grow your baby inside a convenient, high-tech, egg-shaped pod. Pressured by her friends and her work’s HR department, Rachel decides to give The

00:22:52

How NASA translates space data into sparkly and...

Universe of Art ·

2023/08/08

You’ve probably heard that if you scream in space, no one will hear a thing. Space is a vacuum, so sound waves don’t have anything to bounce off of. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that space is silent. A team of researchers are taking data from a variety of telescopes and assigning them sounds, creating song-length sonifications of beloved space structures like black holes, nebulas, galaxies, and beyond. The album, called “Universal Harmonies” aims to bring galaxies to life and allow more people,

00:30:53

Star Trek’s science advisor reveals the real...

Universe of Art ·

2023/07/25

Few pop culture properties have lasted quite as long as Star Trek. A dozen Star Trek television shows have aired over the last sixty years—not to mention countless movies, novels, and comic books. Science concepts have always been integral to the Star Trek franchise: from warp speed travel to dilithium. But how much does the series accurately depict?Science Friday host Ira Flatow speaks with astrophysicist Dr. Erin Macdonald, science consultant for Star Trek about the legacy of the franchise, and

00:15:08

Changing parasites’ bad reputation with monster girl art

Universe of Art ·

2023/07/11

In Alien, the titular xenomorph uses the body of a human host to grow and eventually burst out of his chest. In the video game-turned TV series The Last Of Us, a fungi called cordyceps causes a catastrophic global pandemic by infecting humans and forming a parasitic relationship that turns them into flesh-eating zombies.Are you noticing a pattern here? As far as pop culture is concerned, humans and parasites definitely have beef. Dr. Tommy Leung, a lecturer and parasitologist at the University of

00:23:50

Why this sound artist recorded nature and human life...

Universe of Art ·

2023/06/27

Jim Metzner is one of the pioneers of science radio—he’s been making field recordings and sharing them with audiences for more than 40 years. He hosted shows such as “Sounds of Science” in the 1980s, which later grew into “Pulse of the Planet,” a radio show about “the sound of life on Earth.”Over the decades, Metzner has created an incredible time capsule of soundscapes, and now, his entire collection is going to the Library of Congress. John Dankosky talks with Metzner about what he’s learned about

00:15:17

The surprising ways the arts transform our brains and...

Universe of Art ·

2023/06/13

We might intrinsically know that engaging with and making art is good for us in some way. But now, scientists have much more evidence to support this, thanks in part to a relatively new field called neuroaesthetics, which studies the effects that artistic experiences have on the brain. A new book called Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us, dives into that research, and it turns out the benefits of the arts go far beyond elevating everyday life; they’re now being used as part of healthcare

00:22:45

This violinist is making ultra-affordable 3D-printed...

Universe of Art ·

2023/05/30

Stringed instruments can be a joy to the ears and the eyes. They’re handcrafted, made of beautiful wood, and the very best ones are centuries old, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or sometimes even millions.But there’s a new violin in the works—one that’s 3D-printed. It costs just a few bucks to print, making it an affordable and accessible option for young learners and classrooms. Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Brown is a concert violinist and the founder and director of the AVIVA Young Artists Program

00:11:49

Soak in the sounds of a river with this composer’s...

Universe of Art ·

2023/05/16

Annea Lockwood thinks of rivers as “live phenomena” that are constantly changing and shifting. She’s been drawn to the energy that rivers create, and the sound that energy makes, since she first started working with environmental recordings in the 1960s.One of her projects has been to create detailed “river maps” of the Hudson, Danube, and Housatonic rivers. Using stereo microphones and underwater hydrophones, she captures the gentle, powerful sounds of the water, along with the noises of insects,

00:15:00

This astrophysicist turns star data into 3D-printed...

Universe of Art ·

2023/05/02

When you look into the sky, the space between stars looks empty and void—but it isn’t. That’s where stars are born. And since astronomers and astrophysicists can’t reach these stellar nurseries, they rely on data collected by telescopes to peer into space. But what if you could hold part of the galaxy in their hands? Or peer into an orb and see the birthplace of stars? By combining astrophysics and art, that’s exactly what Dr. Nia Imara does. She’s a visual artist and assistant professor of

00:10:35

Illustrating the anal teeth and deadly farts of...

Universe of Art ·

2023/04/18

Last year, the staff of Science Friday came across a tweet that caught our attention, sent out by researcher Dr. Maureen Berg. It read: “Hello, does anyone know of any animal that has a few butts? Like, more than one, but fewer than 100? I’m generally talking butts as the anus, but I'm open to other interpretations.”Turns out, it was a call to source comic ideas for Invertebrate Butt Week, a celebration of—you guessed it—the butts of invertebrates. “Invertebrates really get the short end of the

00:22:42

These drag artists are making science more accessible

Universe of Art ·

2023/04/11

Each generation has science communicators who brought a sometimes stuffy, siloed subject into homes, inspiring minds young and old. Scientists like Don Herbert, Carl Sagan, and Bill Nye are classic examples. But our modern age of social media has brought more diverse communicators into the forefront of science communication, including the wild, wonderful world of STEM drag stars.These are queer folk who mix the flashy fashions of the drag world with science education. Some, like Kyne, use TikTok as

00:01:43

Introducing Universe of Art

Universe of Art ·

2023/04/03

How do we use art to process the world around us in ways that science can't? How are illustrators using their skills to help us understand nature's most unusual creatures? On Universe of Art, we'll bring you some of our favorite arts stories from Science Friday, some new ones too, and conversations with the producers who made those segments. We’ll hear from astronomers who integrate space into their artwork, drag performers who bring science into their acts, and many others. Join us for

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Universe of Art

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