Robert Krulwich

Isn't That King David? Nope, It's Just Dave

Robert Krulwich — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:33:00 +0000

Usually they're naked, ancient and stony. But all of a sudden, they could live next door.

The Paris-based designer Leo Caillard had, as he wrote me, "the idea conception" and took the photographs. Alexis Persani dressed them. (Not actually; it was done on a computer, as you can see here. I know that putting modern clothes on classical sculptures isn't a new idea.

Why Men Die Younger Than Women: The 'Guys Are Fragile' Thesis

Robert Krulwich — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:39:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdIRrmNN_CQ

Why Dolphins Make Us Nervous

Robert Krulwich — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:32:00 +0000

What is it about dolphins? They have very, very big brains, and that makes we humans, whose brains are nothing to sniff at, nervous. We don't know what to make of them.

The latest example: On May 17 in India, the Ministry of Environment and Forests issued an order to all Indian states banning dolphin amusement parks. No leaping out of pools to catch balls, no jumping through hoops.

The Most Dangerous Traffic Circle In The World?

Robert Krulwich — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:22:00 +0000

I've been to New Delhi where traffic is frightening. I've seen pictures of Nairobi and Bangkok, where it's even scarier. But Ho Chi Minh City? The town we used to call Saigon? I don't think I'd put myself in a truck, car, bike or even a Sherman tank in that town. This video opens in the scariest traffic circle I could imagine — actually, it's beyond imagining — where bikes, cars and people seem simultaneously, collectively and individually heading straight at each other (when you look, just count the vehicles and people on collision course; there are at least two or three in every frame).

Watts For Lunch? (Or Why Humans Are Like Light Bulbs)

Robert Krulwich — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:06:00 +0000

There's a new lunch place down the block, so like you do when the menu looks interesting, I walked in and ordered something mysterious, which for me was the "Red Lentil and Edamame Salad," mostly because I can never remember what edamame is, and because that word suggests doing something slightly frightening, like munching accidentally on one's mother.

How Much Energy Am I Eating? Enough To Power A Flashlight?

What arrived was a bowl of lentils, roasted carrots, raisins, mint and (I'm guessing) edamame beans.

The Boomerang Graffito (Or Bad, Bad, Luther B!)

Robert Krulwich — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:16:00 +0000

I was standing in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art the other day, where there's a full-sized Egyptian temple, called Dendur. It's housed under a glass roof ...

And standing there, gazing at profiles of Egyptian nobles etched onto the limestone, I noticed a bunch of what we now call "tags" — basically graffiti, carved by tourists, who back in the early 1800s made a habit of carving their names onto the places they visited. Basically, it's a "Hey, I was here!" thing.

MIT's Magic Bag Of Sand

Robert Krulwich — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:27:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMis7LPZE9M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okciiW26A6c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wShKl0Hbw0

What Did Rachel Carson Hear? The Mystery of the 'Fairy Bell Ringer'

Robert Krulwich — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:46:00 +0000

This is the season of night noises, chirps, buzzes, little cries. The air is telling you, "Things are going on out here," and if you like you can step out onto the porch and do what the writer Rachel Carson did back in 1956: She played a hunting game. The rules were simple: You stand outdoors, near the house. You go quiet. When you hear something interesting, you either: a) take a flashlight and go hunt for it; or b) you don't go anywhere.

Not Winging It, But Ringing It

Robert Krulwich — Tue, 28 May 2013 16:04:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHyTOcfF99o

What If There's No Internet?

Robert Krulwich — Sat, 25 May 2013 10:28:00 +0000

I email. I search. I shop. I Facebook. I stream. I Skype. Every year I seem to do these things a little bit more. Stroke by stroke, as I slip deeper into the Internet's embrace, I find myself wondering:

"What would happen if the Internet went away?"

Can it? It was famously built to be indestructible, with no center, no hub, no "off" or "on" switch. It is, after all, a creature of the U.S. Defense Department, designed, supposedly, to survive a global war.

I know, of course, that it's voluntary.

Who's The Best Drinker? Dogs? Cats? Or Pigeons?

Robert Krulwich — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:45:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ch2pNkZwU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTCxZWYlWC0

What Would Ben Franklin Do With A Bunch Of Balloons? Everything

Robert Krulwich — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:03:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQhvgo62l74

The Little Metronome That Wouldn't

Robert Krulwich — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:04:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1TMZASCR-I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWToUATLGzs

David Foster Wallace Tells Us About Freedom

Robert Krulwich — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:48:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmpYnxlEh0c

What Did I Do Last Summer? Oh, I Discovered How To Make Babies Without Sex. And You?

Robert Krulwich — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:56:00 +0000

Ah, if only all summers could be like June, July and August 1740 — when three young guys (and a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old) did a science experiment that startled the world. In those days, you could do biology without a fancy diploma. More people could play.

That spring, the hot book — the one everyone was reading — was a gorgeously illustrated volume about insects by the French naturalist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur.