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Radiolab

Update: Eye In the Sky

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

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

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2016

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

An update on Ross McNutt and his superpower — he can zoom in on everyday life, then rewind and fast-forward to solve crimes in a shutter-flash. But should he? In 2004, when casualties in Iraq were rising due to roadside bombs, Ross McNutt and his team came up with an idea. With a small plane and a 44 mega-pixel camera, they figured out how to watch an entire city all at once, all day long. Whenever a bomb detonated, they could zoom onto that spot and then, because this eye in the sky had been there all along, they could scroll back in time and see - literally see - who planted it. After the war, Ross McNutt retired from the Air Force, and brought this technology back home with him. Manoush Zomorodi and Alex Goldmark from the podcast “Note to Self” give us the lowdown on Ross’s unique brand of persistent surveillance, from Juarez, Mexico to Dayton, Ohio. Then, once we realize what we can do, we wonder whether we should. Produced by Andy Mills. Special thanks to Dan Tucker and George Schulz. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Wait, you're listening.

0:03.1

Okay.

0:04.4

All right.

0:05.6

Okay.

0:07.0

All right.

0:08.4

You're listening to Radio Lab.

0:11.4

Radio Lab.

0:11.9

From W. N. Y.

0:13.9

C.

0:14.8

See?

0:15.1

Yeah.

0:19.2

I'm Robert Crilwich.

0:20.6

This is Radio Lab, and I have the host of Note to Self with me.

0:25.2

That's another WNYC podcast that comes out of here, a brilliant one, and the brilliant

0:30.6

test person who does it all.

0:32.6

Manu Zamerooti is with me.

0:33.9

Hello, Robert.

0:34.7

And I asked you to come in just because I wanted you to sort of set this up if you could.

0:39.6

Oh, happy to.

0:40.5

So we did Radio Lab and Note to Self did a joint episode last year called Eye in the Sky.

0:46.9

It was a disturbing story, but...

0:49.6

It's kind of like a spy thriller, actually.

...

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