Science & Tech

As you’re reading this sentence, what is your brain doing?

by ASR Staff

Photo by Daniel Tkacik | Carnegie Mellon University

 As you’re reading this sentence, what is your brain doing? What’s actually going on as it turns a bunch of lines and circles into words that carry meaning? This week, I Wonder… explores the world of reading.

During the program, we talk to some people who have been thinking about the reading brain for quite a while: Dr. Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid, Dr. Marcel Just from Carnegie Mellon University, and Dr. Charles Perfetti from the University of Pittsburgh. We also learn of an interesting story from the blog Krulwich Wonders.

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What makes a sad song sad?

by ASR Staff

Photo by Daniel Tkacik | Carnegie Mellon University

Ever been listening to a sad song wondering why it sounds so darn sad? Happy, sad, peaceful or angry — there’s just something about music that makes us feel a certain way. Apart from any lyrics, there seems to be much more to music than meets the ear.

In our investigation of how and why we perceive music the way we do, we talk to physicist Dr. Roy Briere and music theorist Dr. Richard Randall from Carnegie Mellon University, and psychologists Dr. Meagan Curtis from Purchase College and Dr. Shantala Hegde from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences.


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Are cities good or bad for the environment?

by ASR Staff

Photo by Daniel Tkacik | Carnegie Mellon University

In this episode of I Wonder…, a caller’s asthma leads him to wonder whether cities are good or bad for the environment. We discuss this inquiry with an environmental historian, an atmospheric chemist, and random pedestrians to try to understand how cities affect our lives, whether we live in them or not.

During the episode, we reference Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax,  Joel Tarr’s Devastation and Renewal, Ed Glaeser’s Triumph of the City, and the air quality research of Neil Donahue.

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How has the internet changed us? (and how hasn’t it)

by ASR Staff

Is the internet radically reshaping society? Or is it just another tool to allow us to do things that we’ve always done?

During our search for insight into these questions, we speak to Ph.D student Patrick Kelley, Dr. Moira Burke from Carnegie Mellon University and Dr. Kimberly Young from St. Bonaventure University and the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery. We also try to illustrate this emerging technology using the humor of comedian Pete Holmes.

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