Brian Lair on WNYC, and now will end today's special Brian Lairr show edition of the weekend shows visiting us on a Friday with our friends at Radio Lab and Terrestrials.

You know, for more than two decades, Radio Lab has taken science out of the classroom and turned it into stories

that surprise, move, and stick with you.

It's Kid Series Terrestrials brings that same approach to young listeners, Lulu Miller co-hosts Radio Lab,

and hosts Terrestrials,

and she joins us now to take us behind the scenes and preview some upcoming episodes.

Hey, Lulu.

Hello, Brian. It's great to be here.

So where did the idea for that spot come from? Were you involved with that,

the WNYC, Acapella Terrestrial Singers?

That was all Alan, Alan Kofinski, our songbud, our musical director over at Terrestrials,

who just can turn any concept into song, including encouraging you to pledge and to support

the beauty that is public radio.

That is all his brainchild.

But yeah. I think it's not overstating

it. Every radio lab episode is a work of art. How do you decide what stories are worth that

treatment? I mean, it is an extensive pitch process. We gather the whole team, everyone, reporters,

host editors, executive, you know, assistants, interns,

and we discuss the heck out of every pitch. And then we rate it. We have all kinds of qualities.

We rate it on five qualities. You know, does this story take you on a journey? Does it challenge a

belief? Is there real surprise? We want it to be fun. Does it include a voice from a historically

excluded community? Does it, and do you, would you want to spend two months working on it?

...