meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Radiolab

Small Potatoes

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

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

4.643.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2024

⏱️ 59 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

An ode to the small, the banal, the overlooked things that make up the fabric of our lives. Most of our stories are about the big stuff: Important or dramatic events, big ideas that transform the world around us or inspire conflict and struggle and change. But most of our lives, day by day or hour by hour, are made up of … not that stuff. Most of our lives are what we sometimes dismissively call “small potatoes.” This week on Radiolab, Heather Radke challenges to focus on the small, the overlook, the everyday … and find out what happens when you take a good hard look at the things we all usually overlook. Special thanks to Moeko Fujii, Kelley Conway, Robin Kelley, Jason Isaacs, and Andrew Semans EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Heather Radke, Rachael Cusick, and Matt Kielty with help from - Erica Heilman Produced by - Annie McEwen and Matt Kielty Original music and sound design contributed by - Annie McEwen, Matt Kielty, and Jeremy Bloom Fact-checking by - Emily Krieger and Diane Kelly and Edited by - Alex Neason EPISODE CITATIONS: Audio -Check out Ian Chillag’s podcast, Everything is Alive, from Radiotopia. Museums -Learn more about The Museum of Everyday Life, located in Glover, Vermont, here. Newsletter - Heather Radke has a newsletter all about small potatoes. It’s called Petite Patate and you can subscribe at HeatherRadke.substack.com. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. 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.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Heads up. Today's show does include a couple of curse words. So anyway, here we go.

0:07.0

Oh, wait, you're listening.

0:08.0

Okay.

0:10.0

Okay.

0:11.0

Okay.

0:12.0

All right.

0:13.0

You're listening to Radio Lab.

0:16.0

Radio.

0:17.0

From WNYC.

0:19.0

See?

0:20.0

Yeah.

0:21.0

Yeah.

0:22.0

He? I got my potato and I'm looking at it and I'm looking at it.

0:25.0

I got my potato and I'm looking at it and I'm holding it.

0:34.6

Maybe it should hold potatoes more.

0:39.0

It's, uh, you know, it's a potato. It's washed. I think it's a yellow potato. It's not dirty. It's a

0:49.8

washed. It's not dirty, it's a little dirty.

0:53.0

It's kind of baffling to actually think about a potato.

0:56.0

This could, uh...

1:01.0

Uh... Yeah, what do you say about a potato?

1:04.0

I'm sure, four, six, even seven.

1:08.0

Hey, I'm Latif Nasser.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.