Programs

This episode was recorded on May 17th, 2026 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Paul Thorn, Ray Benson, Sunny Sweeney, Andy Friedman. https://bit.ly/4afWiMG⁠

The world lost a legend recently, and we wanted in some small way to pay tribute to the great Dolly Parton. So we’re playing you an episode from a series we had a small part in back in 2017, Dolly Parton’s America.  The series kicked off with a simple question: How did the queen of the boob joke become a feminist icon? Helen Morales, author of “Pilgrimage to Dollywood,” gave us a stern directive – look at the lyrics! So we dive into Dolly’s discography, starting with the early period of what Dolly calls “sad ass songs” to find remarkably prescient words of female pain, slut-shaming, domestic violence, and women being locked away in asylums by cheating husbands. We explore how Dolly took the centuries-old tradition of the Appalachian “murder ballad”—an oral tradition of men singing songs about brutally killing women—and flipped the script, singing from the woman’s point of view. And as her career progresses, the songs expand beyond the pain to tell tales of leaving abuse behind. How can such pro-woman lyrics come from someone who despises the word feminism? Best to let Dolly tell you herself. EPISODE CREDITS:  Reported by – Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee Produced by – Jad Abumrad with help from – W. Harry Fortuna Original music from – Alex Overington Sound design contributed by – Alex Overington and Edited by  – Suzie Lechtenberg 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this bonus episode, Greg pays tribute to producer William Orbit and his work on Ray of Light, which Greg considers Madonna’s greatest album.Join our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2136865Make a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah  Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundopsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The center of the Milky Way Galaxy is packed with treasures: stars, dead stars, gas clouds, and lots of planets. And a new space telescope will spend a lot of its time sorting it all out. That’s one of several big projects for Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next big space observatory. The telescope will see the heavens as clearly as Hubble Space Telescope does. But its view will be much wider. And it’ll study the universe mainly in the infrared – wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye. Roman will tackle some of the biggest problems in modern science. As one example, it’ll look away from the center of the Milky Way to study more than a billion other galaxies, and to look for exploding stars. That combination will help us understand how the universe is expanding – a key for deciphering the mystery of dark energy. The telescope’s survey of the center of the galaxy could reveal thousands of new planets. And a special instrument – using a technique proposed by Nancy Roman herself – could provide images of some of those planets. A planet will appear only as a bright dot, with no detail. But breaking down its light will tell us a bit about the planet’s size, temperature, and composition. The center of the Milky Way is in Sagittarius, which is low in the south at nightfall. Its brightest stars outline a teapot. The heart of the galaxy is in the steam above the spout of the teapot. Script by Damond Benningfield

It's an episode dedicated exclusively to Panamanian music of all genres, from dancehall reggae and salsa, to rock and jazz. Featured artists include Ruben Blades, Los Rabanes, El General, Danilo Perez, The Exciters and more.

Moments when it seems obvious what to do for someone else, so of course you jump in and try to help — and what happens after that.  Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.(00:00:00) Prologue: Devon Taylor tells host Ira Glass about a time she confronted people who stole $100 from her. (12 minutes)(00:12:01) Act One: We get to an age when we find ourselves taking care of our parents, whether they want us to or not. Writer Kristen Roupenian wrote this piece of fiction based on something real that happened to a family she knows. (20 minutes)(00:33:37) Act Two: Two chatbots, stuck in a loop, each trying to help the other. Will they ever break free? (20 minutes)(00:55:48) Act Three: In Utah, some communities have been fighting measles outbreaks for 14 months. These are some of the longest-running outbreaks in the country. But one of our producers, Miki Meek, heard about how school nurses in a town called Vernal helped end its outbreak in just six weeks. Miki finds out how they did it. (9 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org / This American Life privacy policy. / Learn more about sponsor message choices.