The World According to Sound

Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett

A live audio show, online listening series, and m…

  • 2 hours 5 minutes
    Ways of Knowing: An Inexact Science
    Science is not some purely rationalist endeavor that exists in an isolated realm of objective observations and hard data that can deliver absolute truths. It is built on and intertwined with the modes of analysis, intellectual history, and ways of knowing in the humanities. 0:00 Intro 2:19 Part 1 –– Metaphors We Live By 5:52 Part 2 –– Metaphors in Science, an Ancient Paradox 10:32 Part 3 –– Embryology 23:10 Part 4 –– The Clockwork Universe 32:04 Part 5 –– The History of a Dead Metaphor: Cell 44:00 Part 6 –– Black Holes 51:10 Part 7 –– The Body 57:50 Part 8 –– Pain, in 78 Adjectives 1:05:29 Part 9 –– Natural Selection 1:09:47 Part 10 –– A New Metaphor for Science 1:20:22 Part 11 –– The Solar System Model of the Atom 1:24:35 Part 12 –– Uniformitarianism 1:31:35 Part 13 –– Glia, the Gendering of a Cell 1:39:15 Part 14 –– Light Bulbs and Seeds 1:46:04 Part 15 –– War and Disease, the Domination of a Metaphor 1:51:26 Part 16 –– Social Darwinism 1:55:05 Part 17 –– The Universe 2:02:08 Part 18 –– Anthropomorphism An Inexact Science is a production of The World According to Sound. It’s part of our series, “Ways of Knowing,” audio works dedicated to humanities research and thought. It was made in collaboration with the University of Chicago’s Institute on the Formation of Knowledge. Special thanks to Shadi Bartsch-Zimmer, who spearheaded the project at the University of Chicago. Editorial support from Hans Buetow. Academic advising by Andrew Hicks. Voicing work by Tina Antolini. Mathematical consultant, Steven Strogatz. Intro music by our friends, Matmos. And to see a complete list of musicians used in this show, visit our website: www.theworldaccordingtosound.org
    15 September 2024, 12:00 am
  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    Listening Experience 01: Transposition
    The first in a 9-part series dedicated to deep, intentional listening. Episodes of "The Listening Experience" will be released about every four months.
    11 March 2024, 7:52 pm
  • 8 minutes 45 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Sounds of Space
    There's a lot to hear in outer space if you change the way you listen.
    21 December 2023, 2:21 pm
  • 13 minutes 34 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Sonic Gravity
    The story of how gravitational waves were finally discovered and how we are making sense of them.
    20 December 2023, 2:15 pm
  • 11 minutes 43 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Picturing the Universe
    Some of the most iconic images we have of the universe closely resemble 19th-century landscape paintings of the American West. A big part of the reason has to do with how scientists interpreted visual data from telescopes like Hubble.
    19 December 2023, 3:40 pm
  • 10 minutes 45 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Dante's Universe
    With the telescopes of the 20th century, astronomers began to see a universe that just so happened to resemble the cosmos as described by a 13th century Italian poet…Dante Alighieri.
    18 December 2023, 2:28 pm
  • 11 minutes 9 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Aliens
    An observational error in the 19th century leads to a belief that there is an advanced alien civilization on Mars...which leads to a boom in astronomy investment, research, and actual discoveries, including the first sighting of Pluto.
    17 December 2023, 2:15 pm
  • 14 minutes 16 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Kepler's Fiction
    "Somnium" is considered one of the first pieces of science fiction. The short story, written in 1608, recounts a trip up to the moon. There are magical beings, aliens, drugs, and a perspective of the stars that would fundamentally change how people understood the solar system.
    16 December 2023, 2:48 pm
  • 12 minutes 4 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: Deep Patterns
    Near the end of the 11th century CE, there was a crisis in China’s Song Dynasty. The imperial calendars were filled with errors. To fix them, the imperial court would have to reform one of the most essential institutions in the empire: The Bureau of Astronomy.
    15 December 2023, 2:16 pm
  • 13 minutes 26 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: The Mayan Zero
    In the 9th century CE, Mayan astronomers were able to calculate the period of Venus down to the minute. They were only able to achieve this unrivaled accuracy because they had developed one of the most important mathematical concepts in human history, the zero.
    14 December 2023, 3:18 pm
  • 10 minutes 49 seconds
    Cosmic Visions: The Beautiful Order
    In the 6th Century BCE, Ancient Greeks began thinking about the cosmos in a fundamentally new way. Their novel approach led them to believe the things they saw in the night sky were not ethereal, but solid bodies—balls of fire or rock that may even have inhabitants of their own.
    13 December 2023, 2:16 pm
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