Life in a Barrel

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, in an episode we first aired in 2022, we flip the Disney story of life on its head thanks to a barrel of seawater, a 1970s era computer, and underwater geysers. It’s the chaos of life. Latif, Lulu, and our Senior Producer Matt Kielty were all sitting on their own little stories until they got thrown into the studio, and had their cherished beliefs about the shape of life put on a collision course. From an accidental study of sea creatures, to the ambitions of Stephen J Gould, to an undercooked theory that captured the world’s imagination, we undo the seeming order of the living world and try to make some music out of the wreckage. (Bonus: Learn how Francis Crick really thought life got started on this planet). EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Latif Nasser, Matt Kielty, Heather Radke, Lulu Miller and Candice WangProduced by - Matt Kielty and Simon Adlerwith help from - Arianne WackOriginal music and sound design contributed by - Matt Kilety, Simon Adler, Alan Goffinski, and Jeremy Bloom EPISODE CITATIONS: Articles - Chaos in a long-term experiment with a plankton community (https://zpr.io/j6sYXKfDzPCG), by Benincà, E., Huisman, J., Heerkloss, R. et al. Nature Chaos theory discloses triggers and drivers of plankton dynamics in stable environment (https://zpr.io/qHKENA3SJ8ML), by Telesh IV, Schubert H, Joehnk KD, Heerkloss R, Schumann R, Feike M, Schoor A, Skarlato SO. Sci Rep. Books - Full House (https://zpr.io/pMQZfyPcRzD4), by Stephen Jay Gould Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? (https://zpr.io/pPVNugUKWpi4), by David M. Raup Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline (https://zpr.io/YBjJxuXjydPN), by David Sepkoski The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life (https://zpr.io/LzfueEqUWNHb), by Nick LaneLife Itself: Its Origin and Nature (https://zpr.io/KPZf57eEVMBX), by Francis Crick Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Molly. Before this episode starts, I want to let you in on a little secret, which is that Radio Lab is doing and ask me anything about our recent episode, Snail Sex Tape. So the AMA is going to be with myself and our producer, Mona Medgal Kerr, who is like a snail expert, a snexpert. And you can ask us anything,
0:24.5	how the episode got made, how we came up with the idea, do snugs really exist? So come to the
0:30.0	AMA on April 16th. Now, the catch is, in order to come, you need to be a member of the lab.
0:36.9	So if you're not a member of the lab,
0:39.3	go sign up now, fools, so you can come see us. Go to radio lab.org slash join. Radiolab.
0:46.5	org slash join. Use code snail. So you get a discount on your first year of membership.
0:56.9	And as a thank you for signing up right now, we will send you an enamel snail pin that we are about to drop. It's very cool. We all
1:03.1	wanted on our jean jackets. So I can't wait to see you April 16th. And until then, we have a really
1:10.0	great episode for you today.
1:11.8	It is a story Lulu and Lutif reported back in 2022 all about the chaos and messiness of life.
1:19.2	And I'm talking life with a capital L, like the kind that evolution gets involved in.
1:25.6	So let's go listen.
1:26.8	Wait, you're listening.
1:28.4	Okay.
1:29.6	All right.
1:30.8	Okay.
1:32.1	All right.
1:33.6	You're listening to Radio Lab.
1:36.5	Radio Lab.
1:37.1	From W. NY.
1:39.1	Six.
1:40.0	See?
	...

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