Malthusian Swerve

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

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

4.6 • 43.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earth can sustain life for another 100 million years, but can we?In this episode, we partnered with the team at Planet Money to take stock of the essential raw materials that enable us to live as we do here on Earth—everything from sand to copper to oil— and tally up how much we have left. Are we living with reckless abandon? And if so, is there even a way to stop? This week, we bring you a conversation that’s equal parts terrifying and fascinating, featuring bird poop, daredevil drivers, and some staggering back-of-the-envelope math. EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Jeff Guo and Latif Nasser Produced by - Pat Walters and Soren Wheeler with production help from - Sindhu Gnanasambandan and editing help from - Alex Goldmark and Jess Jiang Fact-checking by - Natalie Middleton 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 [email protected]. Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 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 [email protected] support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, 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 Lulu here. So a few months back, our illustrator Jared Bartman got a difficult prompt.
0:07.7	We asked him to design a cute tote bag based on our incredibly morbid episode, Cheating Death, and Jared was stumped.
0:16.7	How do you create something plucky and cheerful and design forward about the inevitability of dying?
0:24.9	So he brooded and he doodled and then one day it hit him.
0:29.2	It is easily my favorite design ever and because it's sort of this secret code about death,
0:35.2	it's kind of like carrying carpadium around on your shoulder. And you can get
0:39.4	that tote bag right now if you become a member of the lab. You knew it was coming. The lab is the way
0:45.5	we have designed to support the show. It's super easy. Just a couple clicks. You send a few bucks
0:50.5	our way a month in exchange for, you know, public radio currency, tote bags and other perks. Whether you support us or not, we are so grateful for you.
0:58.4	But if you've ever been on the fence, I would say that now is a really good time,
1:01.6	because not only does the tote bag have a very cool surrealist design, it also has.
1:07.5	A zipper. So go take a peek at radiolab.org slash join.
1:12.9	That's radio lab.org slash join.
1:15.4	And that's all.
1:16.1	Thank you.
1:16.5	On with the show.
1:20.5	Wait, you're listening.
1:21.9	Okay.
1:23.2	All right.
1:24.4	Okay.
1:25.8	All right.
1:27.2	You're listening to Radio Lab.
	...

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