Bonnie Tsui on the Science, Symbolism and Strength of Muscle

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We often take our muscles for granted, rarely stopping to consider just how complex and essential they are. From the powerful beat of our hearts to the tiny fibers that raise goosebumps, our muscles do far more than we realize. They don’t just follow instructions from the brain — they send signals back and even hold their own kind of memory. In her new book “On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters,” journalist and author Bonnie Tsui offers a new way of looking at muscles, in terms of both their physicality and cultural significance. She joins us to discuss how reconsidering muscles can allow us to find deeper meaning in our understanding of strength, beauty and what it means to be human. Guests: Bonnie Tsui, author and journalist, her latest book is "On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:34.4	From KQED.
0:51.3	Music From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.
0:54.4	Coming up on forum, our muscles.
0:56.9	There's so much about them that we take for granted and don't understand.
1:00.4	From our powerful beating hearts to the tiny fibers that raise goosebumps,
1:04.6	they're the engines that move us.
1:06.8	And they don't just follow instructions from the brain.
1:09.3	They send signals to it and even hold their own kind of memory.
1:13.6	All this I learned from Bonnie Toys' new book called On Muscle.
1:17.6	And she joins us to talk about how a closer look at our muscles can also deepen our understanding of strength, beauty, and what it means to be human.
1:27.0	Join us.
	...

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