Radiolab15 Aug 2025

Weighing Good Intentions

In an episode first released in 2010, then-producer Lulu Miller drives to Michigan to track down the endangered Kirtland’s warbler. Efforts to protect the bird have lead to the killing of cowbirds (a species that commandeers warbler nests), and a prescribed burn aimed at creating a new habitat. Tragically, this burn led to the death of a 29-year-old wildlife technician who was dedicated to warbler restoration. Forest Service employee Rita Halbeisen, local Michiganders skeptical of the resources put toward protecting the warbler, and the family of James Swiderski (the man killed in the fire), weigh in on how far we should go to protect one species.

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Lulu Miller

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.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(652)

The Universe Knows My Name

In this new short, we explore luck and fate, both good and bad, with an author and a cartoon character. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collecti...

11 Jan 201116min

Blood Buddies

In this new short, a tree full of blood-sucking bats lends a startling twist to our understanding of altruism and natural selection. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for i...

28 Dec 201014min

The Good Show

In this episode, a question that haunted Charles Darwin: if natural selection boils down to survival of the fittest, how do you explain why one creature might stick its neck out for another? Hosted by...

14 Dec 20101h 1min

Gravitational Anarchy

A mysterious case of the topsy turvies and a return to the question of what felines feel when they fall. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collect...

29 Nov 201023min

What Does Technology Want?

Are new ideas and new inventions inevitable? Are they driven by us or by a larger force of nature? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection an...

16 Nov 201024min

Wild Talk

In today's podcast, we get a tantalizing taste of words in the wild, from the jungles to the prairie. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection...

18 Okt 201020min

Cities

In this hour of Radiolab, we take to the street to ask what makes cities tick. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal da...

8 Okt 201057min

The Walls of Jericho

Jad and Robert pit physics against a bible story with this simple question: could a team of trumpeters really bring down the walls of Jericho? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz...

4 Okt 201014min