Allusionist 60: Zillions
They look like numbers. They sound like numbers. You kinda know they are numbers. But they're not actually numbers. Linguistic anthropologist Stephen Chrisomalis explains what's going on with indefinite hyperbolic…
The Mean, Green, Water-Cleaning Machine
The Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) is one of the marine ecology field’s best-kept secrets. Invented by Smithsonian scientist Dr. Walter Adey in the 1980s, the ATS harvests algae from large…
The Poetry of Everyday Life
How we use poetry to find meaning and to bring disparate aspects of life together. {listen}
The End of Sand
Yogita Limaye investigates concerns, highlighted in a United Nations study, that vitally important reserves of sand are running out, with serious consequences for human society and the planet. Nearly everything…
Criminal Podcast: Bears, Birds, and Bones
As long as 2,500 years ago, Native Americans placed the bones of their dead in giant mounds of earth in the shape of animals. The Effigy Mounds National Monument in…
The End of Sand
Yogita Limaye investigates concerns, highlighted in a United Nations study, that vitally important reserves of sand are running out, with serious consequences for human society and the planet. Nearly everything…
78-Egyptian Mythology: The Master Namer
Starting at the beginning of the universe and going to the beginning of the epic and mildly disturbing battles between Set and his nephew Horus, Egyptian mythology is epic, funny,…
Ways of Hearing – 99% Invisible
about how we record and listen to music can alter our perceptions of time. {listen}
Lucy Culliton
To give you an idea of Lucy Culliton’s popularity, in 2014 Sydney’s Mosman Art Gallery held a major survey of her work which contained over 100 works. That exhibition attracted…
Grandmothers have the best curse words
two highlights: we hold swear words in a different part of the brain than the rest of language. We often don’t think of the literal meaning of common swear words…