Robert Krulwich

Robert Krulwich works on radio, podcasts, video, the blogosphere. He has been called "the most inventive network reporter in television" by TV Guide.

Krulwich is a Science Correspondent for NPR. His NPR blog, "Krulwich Wonders" features drawings, cartoons and videos that illustrate hard-to-see concepts in science.

He is the co-host of Radiolab, a nationally distributed radio/podcast 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.

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.

For 22 years, Krulwich was a science, economics, general assignment and foreign correspondent at ABC and CBS News.

He won Emmy awards for a cultural history of the Barbie doll, for a Frontline investigation of computers and privacy, a George Polk and Emmy for a look at the Savings & Loan bailout online advertising and the 2010 Essay Prize from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Krulwich earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Oberlin College and a law degree from Columbia University.

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Krulwich Wonders...
12:21 pm
Wed June 19, 2013

The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name, Of A Beetle For A Beer Bottle

Originally published on Wed June 19, 2013 2:44 pm

Krulwich Wonders...
12:33 pm
Tue June 18, 2013

Isn't That King David? Nope, It's Just Dave

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 12:48 pm

Usually they're naked, ancient and stony. But all of a sudden, they could live next door.

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Krulwich Wonders...
10:39 am
Mon June 17, 2013

Why Men Die Younger Than Women: The 'Guys Are Fragile' Thesis

Originally published on Tue June 18, 2013 9:53 am

The 19th century just lost its last living man.

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Krulwich Wonders...
11:32 am
Thu June 13, 2013

Why Dolphins Make Us Nervous

What is it about dolphins? They have very, very big brains, and that makes we humans, whose brains are nothing to sniff at, nervous. We don't know what to make of them.

The latest example: On May 17 in India, the Ministry of Environment and Forests issued an order to all Indian states banning dolphin amusement parks. No leaping out of pools to catch balls, no jumping through hoops. Forcing dolphins to entertain humans, the ministry said, was morally unacceptable.

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Krulwich Wonders...
11:22 am
Tue June 11, 2013

The Most Dangerous Traffic Circle In The World?

Credit Rob Whitworth / Vimeo

I've been to New Delhi where traffic is frightening. I've seen pictures of Nairobi and Bangkok, where it's even scarier. But Ho Chi Minh City? The town we used to call Saigon? I don't think I'd put myself in a truck, car, bike or even a Sherman tank in that town. This video opens in the scariest traffic circle I could imagine — actually, it's beyond imagining — where bikes, cars and people seem simultaneously, collectively and individually heading straight at each other (when you look, just count the vehicles and people on collision course; there are at least two or three in every frame).

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Krulwich Wonders...
1:06 pm
Mon June 10, 2013

Watts For Lunch? (Or Why Humans Are Like Light Bulbs)

Credit Robert Krulwich / NPR

There's a new lunch place down the block, so like you do when the menu looks interesting, I walked in and ordered something mysterious, which for me was the "Red Lentil and Edamame Salad," mostly because I can never remember what edamame is, and because that word suggests doing something slightly frightening, like munching accidentally on one's mother.

How Much Energy Am I Eating? Enough To Power A Flashlight?

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Krulwich Wonders...
11:16 am
Fri June 7, 2013

The Boomerang Graffito (Or Bad, Bad, Luther B!)

Originally published on Fri June 7, 2013 2:30 pm

I was standing in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art the other day, where there's a full-sized Egyptian temple, called Dendur. It's housed under a glass roof ...

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Krulwich Wonders...
10:27 am
Wed June 5, 2013

MIT's Magic Bag Of Sand

Originally published on Wed June 5, 2013 10:48 am

Krulwich Wonders...
1:46 pm
Mon June 3, 2013

What Did Rachel Carson Hear? The Mystery of the 'Fairy Bell Ringer'

Originally published on Mon June 3, 2013 3:08 pm

This is the season of night noises, chirps, buzzes, little cries. The air is telling you, "Things are going on out here," and if you like you can step out onto the porch and do what the writer Rachel Carson did back in 1956: She played a hunting game. The rules were simple: You stand outdoors, near the house. You go quiet. When you hear something interesting, you either: a) take a flashlight and go hunt for it; or b) you don't go anywhere. You just imagine it.

The best find Rachel Carson ever made, she never found.

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Krulwich Wonders...
12:04 pm
Tue May 28, 2013

Not Winging It, But Ringing It

Humans do it with smoke.

Dolphins do it with air.

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Krulwich Wonders...
6:28 am
Sat May 25, 2013

What If There's No Internet?

Credit Vimeo

Originally published on Sat May 25, 2013 3:38 pm

I email. I search. I shop. I Facebook. I stream. I Skype. Every year I seem to do these things a little bit more. Stroke by stroke, as I slip deeper into the Internet's embrace, I find myself wondering:

"What would happen if the Internet went away?"

Can it? It was famously built to be indestructible, with no center, no hub, no "off" or "on" switch. It is, after all, a creature of the U.S. Defense Department, designed, supposedly, to survive a global war.

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Krulwich Wonders...
8:45 am
Fri May 24, 2013

Who's The Best Drinker? Dogs? Cats? Or Pigeons?

Credit Newspix/Rex/Rex USA

Originally published on Fri May 24, 2013 11:56 am

Krulwich Wonders...
12:03 pm
Wed May 22, 2013

What Would Ben Franklin Do With A Bunch Of Balloons? Everything

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 5:40 pm

Krulwich Wonders...
2:04 pm
Mon May 20, 2013

The Little Metronome That Wouldn't

Krulwich Wonders...
5:48 am
Sat May 18, 2013

David Foster Wallace Tells Us About Freedom

Credit YouTube

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 11:24 am

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