Robert Krulwich
Robert Krulwich has been called “the most inventive network reporter in television” by TV Guide.
His specialty is explaining complex subjects, science, technology, economics, in a style that is clear, compelling and entertaining. On television he has explored the structure of DNA using a banana; on radio he created an Italian opera, “Ratto Interesso” to explain how the Federal Reserve regulates interest rates; he has pioneered the use of new animation on ABC’s Nightline and World News Tonight.
Robert now reports for National Public Radio. His NPR blog, “Krulwich Wonders”, features drawings, cartoons and videos that illustrate hard-to-see concepts in science. He is also co-host of “Radiolab”, a nationally distributed radio series that explores new developments in science for people who are curious but not usually drawn to science shows. (“There’s nothing like it on the radio, “ says Ira Glass of This American Life, “It’s a act of crazy genius.”) Radiolab won a Peabody Award in 2011.
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Johannes Kepler, one of the world's great mathematicians, decided to marry in 1611. He made a list of 11 women to interview, and he wanted, of course, to choose the best. Here's the formula. -
Simon Singh spotted the equation on a Homer Simpson blackboard. Had Homer just solved one of the toughest puzzles in math? His solution, crazily, seemed "valid" — so Singh checked Homer's numbers. -
Why is it that in thousands of portraits done all over the world, artists emphasize the left side of the subject's face? There's a bias here, and it's hiding in our brains. -
They are so sleek, so graceful, with such gorgeous eyes, tufted ears — but then they speak. And you think, "Oh no! Why? Why?"
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How come so many species of domesticated animals — dogs, pigs, cows, ducks, geese, rats, horses — have smaller brains than their wild ancestors? Oh, and humans too!
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Animals bark, sing, growl and chat. Plants, one would think, just sit there. But it turns out that plants bark, growl and chat as well. Here's how they do it. -
One song, danced two totally different ways. First, two dancers who sculpt the giddiness, the beats, onto their rhyming bodies. Then a second version, this time, a crazy story. Vive la difference!
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Canada and the U.S.A. agreed to create a 20-foot-wide corridor between them that runs for 5,500 continuous miles. Cartographers drew the line straight, but engineers built it crooked. Take a look.
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Take Beyonce. Take Sinatra. Take whomever you love and set them on fire — with a "Pyro Board." It plays music by pulsing the beats in flame, and when the singer hits a high note — stand back.
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A pair of swans suggests Love Eternal. You often see them in twos, gliding together. But they're not Nature's Coupliest Birds. Which are?
