OK. Maybe you're in your desk chair. You're in your office. You're in New York, or Detroit, or Timbuktu. You're on planet Earth. But where are you, really? This hour, Radiolab tries to find out.
How does your brain keep track of your body? We examine the bond between brain and body, and look at what happens when it breaks. First, author and neurologist Oliver Sacks tries to find himself using magnets. Then, a century-old mystery: why do many amputees still feel their missing limbs? We speak with a neuroscientist who solved the problem with an optical illusion. Up next, the story of a butcher who suddenly lost his entire sense of touch. And we hear from pilots who lose consciousness and suffer out-of-body experiences while flying fighter jets.
Warning: this section gets gorey. We'll start off with fatality, trauma, and bear attack. Neurologists Robert Sapolsky and Antonio Damasio weigh in on 19th century philosopher William James, and his theory of emotion (and of bears), which says “emotion is a slave to physiology.” ...
There's a sense so essential to our everyday functioning, it is almost impossible to describe beyond... simply being. Or existing, physically. Called proprioception, and sometimes referred to as the sixth sense, it is the sense that the body uses to detect itself. Radio Lab talks to one man ...
I was there. But I, like, wasn't there. I was floating. I was looking at myself from outside of myself.
If it hasn't happened to you, it's likely happened to somebody you know. And whether or not you believe it, about one in ten people report having ...
Comments [35]
YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!
This completely keeps my attention to every single word you say. Iloveyour cell phone;your wife?your weirdness.
You are ILARIOUS!!!
Thank you so much for being there. You make this so easy. Oh my goodness...I LOVE YOU!!!!
Ciao :0)
Tomas81, the song you are looking for is one of Brian Eno's Three Variations on Canon in D Major from the album Discreet Music. I believe it is the variation called French Catalogues, but could also be the variation called Fullness of Wind.
I would like to know the soundtrack from 7:33 after the punch-line.
Anybody has an idea?
Thanks
Hello. Does anyone know what is the song that plays in this episode beginning at 43:47?
Greetings from Australia, I love the podcasts..but "Where am I" contains a glaring error. Ian, who lacks proprioception, "had to study movements in a way no-one in history has ever studied movement". Can I beg to differ, my undergraduate days as a physiotherapist were almost full, for one year, of study in exactly that. The process of sit-to-stand, walking, using knife and fork, all required video analysis, frame by frame, prior to gaining a pass grade in the subject. The purpose was to enable stroke rehab. We would observe the "missing component" in a movement, and confine our rehab to facilitate that. The surprise I am feeling in hearing the error no way will prevent me totally enjoying the work you guys do.
Very interesting episode that I had not heard before, thanks for posting! I have listened to many of your episodes more than once and was happy to listen to something "new"
i love you guys!!
I would love to buy a transcript, is that possible? PLEASE?
Does anyone know where i can find that haunting melody at the end of where am i? was it stars of the lid? i know jad really likes them... Karma points to the winner!!
This was a terrific episode that we hadn't heard; so, thank you for rebroadcasting it! The question is, where can we find info about the fantastic scientists/authors you mention on the show? Do you have a list of RadioLab-related books somewhere? If not, please post one! Keep up the fantastic work, Jad and Robert!!!
Hey, you guys need to post your soundtrack somewhere, because like, all this music is grooovy.
Martin,
They say at the beginning that he lost all perception of his body and the sense of touch from the neck down.
oops I meant Robert not Michael
I am curious how Ian Watterman can speak? It sounded like he has to look at every body part in which he wants the muscles to move, so... how is his speech not an issue. Do Jad and Michael check this? Keep up the good work, I love this program!
I'm a regular Radio Lab listener but I hadn't heard this one before. I don't mind rebroadcasts, especially since you were kind enough to label it "(Rebroadcast)". If I didn't want to listen to a rebroadcast it would have been literally two seconds to mark it as read and move on. Thanks, and keep up the good work!
Ohh that sound effect when you were describing amputation gave me the willies and I'm just short of puking on my keyboard.
Job well done!
Fascinating ideas on your show!
I find a parallel here: this idea of feeling upheavals of emotions with your body is the root of Vipassana meditation. Through this practice one learns to recognize feelings in the body and to see them as being “empty” or “interdependent”, and therefore become able to watch them arise and pass away without being overtaken by them. So, we knew about this stuff 2500 years before William James! Nothing against James though, I love his work.
Thanks for the show!
go grease lightning
I this is completely pointless i cant believe I have to listen to this
I too would like to see the photo of the Civil War "legs".
Where?
Can you ask Oliver Sacks where he got his magnets from? I want to see if I can make a hat that tells you (my feeling, just like he was doing with this thighs) which way is north.
My assumption is that if I wear the hat long enough, my brain will start to automatically learn which way is north, (based on the feelings relation to other things, like landmarks and the position of the sun) and then even when I do not have the hat on, the sense will still be there.
I would be curious to see the pilot experiment include some testing of perception during the out of body phase. For instance, before the pilots fly in the simulator, someone could paint a temporary colored dot on the back of the pilot's head. Then, if the pilot did have an out of body experience in which he saw himself from above and behind, he could then be asked what color the dot was. This way, the experiment could also disprove any idea that the pilots might have actual perception from their unnatural vantage point....or it might not. It would be a cool thing to try.
Yeah i did that passing out thing, at a roller skating arena, the management got wise to it and they told our parents, my dad thought i was on drugs, lol, i dont remember having any dreams though.
First I want to echo Steph's sentiments. Well said, so I won't repeat.
Second, a comment on this particular episode: am I the only one who, in high school, spent a couple recess periods with other not-so-wise kids doing this hyperventilation/strangulation thing on each other? The idea was to breathe very deeply for about a minute and then hold your breath while applying pressure to the arteries in your throat. The result (if done properly) was exactly like what the pilots describe: grey-out then loss of consciousness. Some passed out and went limp, other flailed a bit. Loss of consciousness only lasted a few seconds, but to the person doing it, it felt like hours, or forever. Many reported having had a dream of some kind.
So, besides the fact that we were crazy and that this should not be tried at home, what's the deal? Was this the same phenomena as what the pilots were experiencing?
I LOVE RADIOLAB. You guys rock and everytime I'm driving in the car with your show on, I find myself sitting in my driveway listening because I can't get out until the show is done. I love the topics, the sound effects, the questions, the mysteriousness of it all. Nice job. I'll keep listening and passing on your "weird juju" to friends/family. You're like the uber hip, mac using, music making, twenty (thirty?) somethings of Discover magazine.
I have nothing but contempt for you, Irritated Reader. You mean to tell me you have the gall to complain about a rebroadcast of a classic Radio Lab episode you don't have to pay anything for? Who do you think you are?
You remind me of the people described here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus
Keep on rocking, Radio Lab.
I'm a new listener. I like to hear the best of... and this episode was nice. I wonder if you intentionally fed me fighter pilots talking about weird juju and knew I was going to make the jump to soul-casting, ghosts in hotels, staring down from operating room ceilings etc... using silver-haired, no-nonsense military dare-devils for inspiration. I KNOW you did that on purpose, and it worked...
for godssakes! stop complaining!! We're lucky to have a pop-science program of this caliber at all!
Althought I agree that the last new season has passed by rather quickly (I am just spoiled by having a new this american life every week) I like rehearing old episodes. But would like a new intro, sort of "why is this here? why this episode? why now?"
Not to be gruesome, but where could I see that picture of the amputated legs you discuss in this episode? It sounded kind of cool.
Fantastic,
What were the magnets called again?
Please ignore the irritated reader and continue to stuff my RSS feed with everything you can. I have not heard this episode, and I appreciate having it called to my attention.
I just want to know one thing.
When will we be hearing a New SEASON?
Like an actual full season, not just these teaser 30min podcasts -which have been a blessing- but please, I really need a full hour fix of radio lab and quick!!!
Don't stuff people's RSS readers with stuff they've already heard. This is completely pointless.
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