Flying to a conference recently, I had time to catch up on my podcasts, including episodes of the cheeky yet informative , where hosts and guests reanalyse a misunderstood or misremembered event. The episode featuring science journalist Lulu Miller, in which she probes the science of same-sex relationships among animals and the fraught history of that science, made a strong impression on me.
I am currently reading , an exploration of drone music by Harry Sword. As a longtime fan of loud and grating genres, I was expecting to learn more about some of my favourite bands, but Sword approaches the idea more expansively.
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He starts with ambient noises in the womb, the background hum of the universe and prehistoric bone instruments, taking generous detours into acoustic science and neuroscience before mentioning heavy metal. This delighted me as a science-minded reader.
Karmela Padavic-Callaghan
Reporter
New York
