From the loyal dog to the house cat to the horse, domestication has bridged the gap between wild animals and humans. On today’s show, the evolutionary advantages of domestication, and how we got from wildcat to the purring kitten of a zillion video memes.
Then, from playing catch in the backyard to taking junior to his first ball game, baseball is a bonding tradition, and cliché, for many American men. We’ll look at the father-son relationship through the lens of baseball.
Listen to the full show
Domesticated
What evolutionary advantages have humans and animals reaped from domestication? That’s just one of the questions posed in a new book Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World. Author Richard Francis is a science journalist with a PhD in neurobiology from Stony Brook University. He is also the author of Epigenetics and Why Won’t Men Ask for Directions?
The Dog, The Rabies, and the Lie
One of Elyssa Dudley’s favorite family stories is about a lie that her dad told as a ten-year-old and kept up for decades. She interviewed both her dad and her grandma so they could each tell their version of the story. This piece was co-produced with Alana Rinicella for an episode of KCRW'sUnFictional called "The Big Lie."
You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.
Fathers and Sons and Baseball
Kevin Cook is former Senior Editor at Sports Illustrated and author of The Dad Report: Fathers, Sons and Baseball Families.
Related | From the Archives: A Century of Babe Ruth
The Importance of MLB Interpreters
Eric Benson spoke to us about the evolving role of interpreters in Major League Baseball. His article for Grantland, “Laughing With Yu Darvish” profiles KenjiNimura, the trilingual interpreter for the Texas Rangers.
