Bone Lab Radio

What makes us human? We learn about the ways in which cognitive abilities and hand evolution worked hand in hand.

Colma, California is an odd place: the dead outnumber the living. This imbalance arose through massive cemetery relocations to free up space in nearby San Francisco. In this episode, we unearth obscure Bay Area history with volunteers who work to identify human remains inadvertently unearthed during SF home renovations. This is a story of death and devotion in a city in flux.

Early in the history of matchsticks, factory workers in London were plagued by a gruesome and debilitating illness: their jaw bones would glow green in the dark and eventually crumble apart. It was discovered that a chemical interaction was occurring between the combustible white phosphorus used in match heads, and the mineral comprising their own skeletons. This is a story about consumer convenience, occupational hazards, and some of the worst bosses in history.

Perhaps, there is nothing more human than the multitude of ways that we honor the dead. Each culture has its own attitude about death and its own funeral traditions. This episode is a story from a mountainous location in the Philippines where the native Igorot people suspend caskets high above a lush valley.

In this episode, our founder, Kate, tells a story about soccer, knee pain, and some secret lab shenanigans.

For some people, a chance life event can change everything. Injury or disease may require amputation- the loss of a limb. But not necessarily a loss of your game. In this episode, you’ll hear the story of these special athletes, the coaches that inspire them, and the doctors and that heal them.

Think of your favorite song. How does it make you feel? What images do you see when you hear it? Before reaching the brain to create those feelings and images, those musical sounds take a strange, physical, mechanical, and sometimes violent path through the ear. A large part of how we perceive the audible world depends upon a set of tiny, vibrating bones--bones that often get overlooked until something goes wrong. In this episode, you’ll hear the story of these unsung skeletal heroes. We’ll talk about the role they play in hearing, and how unforeseen circumstances can cause irreparable damage.

Picture the flag on a pirate ship. What do you see? A grinning skull and bones crossed in an ominous “X.” These bones are always gleaming white. But have you ever thought about how they got that way? Those pristine bones used to be wrapped in sheaths of muscle that moved them around, skin and hair that protected them. This episode tells the story of how a living, breathing organism turns into a pile of bones, and how those bones can tell us about the lives they led hundreds, or even thousands of years ago.