Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes

Produced by WBEZ

Caption: www.wbez.org/cleverapes
www.wbez.org/cleverapes 

WBEZ’s science experiment, “Clever Apes” is a nano-sized show with a cosmic scope. It tells the stories of the rich scientific community of the Chicago area, its quirky characters and the fascinating, often mind-bending questions they’re out to answer. But it is not so Chicago-centric that it won't work for your town.

"Clever Apes" is a self-contained 9 minute module organized around a theme and containing multiple elements including two-ways and feature stories. It is designed to fit into the "D segment" of NPR's "Morning Edition," but has the flexibility to float elsewhere as well.

While there is a focus on the work of Chicago-area science, the themes of the show are broad and would likely work for all stations looking to add some science reporting to their broadcast.

In 2011, Clever Apes won the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award for radio.


30 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Clever Apes: Nature and human nature
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Megan Bang helped incorporate systems-level thinking into the design of an early education classroom., Credit: (WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer)
We go back to one of the first lessons kids learn about science, and what it says about how human minds develop. As children discover the natural w...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Apr 05, 2012
  • Length: 00:08:16
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: The critter economy
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Gorilla at Lincoln Park Zoo, Credit: WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer
WBEZ's Gabriel Spitzer explains why figuring out high finance means you have to understand the critter economy.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Mar 21, 2012
  • Length: 00:08:25
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: Breaking the fossil record
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Joseph Orgel holds his sample of T. rex tissue. , Credit: (WBEZ/Michael De Bonis)
In this installment, Gabriel Spitzer discovers how an ancient specimen might rewrite prehistory, and maybe medical books, too.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Mar 07, 2012
  • Length: 00:08:25
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: The happiness machine
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Philip Janicak of Rush University Medical Center adjusts his TMS machine. , Credit: WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer
Host Gabriel Spitzer explores how doctors are using magnets to tweak the brain's machinery and treat depression. Plus, how magnets and radio waves ...

Bought by KUT, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and Public Radio Remix


  • Added: Feb 15, 2012
  • Length: 00:08:25
  • Purchases: 3
Clever Apes: Curveballs from space
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Clockwise and counterclockwise galaxies from the Hubble Telescope, Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team, STScI/AURA
Astronomers re-evaluate origins of our solar system and entertain the idea that the universe is shaped like a small doughnut.

Bought by KUT, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and Public Radio Remix


  • Added: Feb 01, 2012
  • Length: 00:08:31
  • Purchases: 3
Clever Apes: Gut Feelings
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Scientists say the intestines are like a second brain., Credit: (WBEZ/Michael De Bonis)
We take a trip into the emerging field of gut science and its effects on everything from cancer to dementia to obesity.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, KISU, and WAMC


  • Added: Jan 18, 2012
  • Length: 00:08:25
  • Purchases: 3
Clever Apes: First memories
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Piece image
Our childhood memories may not always be reliable, but they have a lot to teach us about how we think, learn, and build an identity. In this episod...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh, KUT, and KISU


  • Added: Dec 14, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:22
  • Purchases: 3
Clever Apes 2011 Special
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Host Gabriel Spitzer and producer Michael De Bonis, Credit: (WBEZ/Andrew Gill)
This science special is perfect for your holiday programming needs. We've gathered our favorite segments from 2011 and gift-wrapped them in this ho...

Bought by KBRP Community Radio


  • Added: Dec 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:53:59
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: Paper covers rock
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Rock paper scissors, and its variations, may lie hidden in the math that underlies natural systems. (WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer), Credit: (WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer)
Behind the workings of nature, there is math. It's the blueprint for galaxies and atoms. But WBEZ's science experiment is about to make it look eas...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and Public Radio Remix


  • Added: Nov 23, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:15
  • Purchases: 2
Clever Apes: Secret lives of nuclear scientists
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Marius Stan and Dan Pancake lead double lives on top of their scientific pursuits.
We explore the secret lives of nuclear scientists and learn why these brainiacs are way more interesting than you’d have ever imagined.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Nov 10, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:20
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: Reimagining Robots
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Heinrich Jaeger demonstrates the jamming effect, which led to a soft robot., Credit: (WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer)
What if the next generation of robots looks less like a humanoid, and more like a slug?

Bought by KUT, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and Public Radio Remix


  • Added: Oct 19, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:25
  • Purchases: 3
Clever Apes: Godspeed, Tevatron
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Piece image
We remember the legacy of the Tevatron, the particle collider that was shut down in September of 2011.

Bought by KUT and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Sep 30, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:24
  • Purchases: 2
Clever Apes: Biological weapons
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: www.wbez.org/cleverapes
After the anthrax attacks of 2001 the government chartered 13 high-security labs to study some of the world's most dangerous germs. Clever Apes got...

Bought by KUT, Vocalo.org, Public Radio Remix, and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Sep 14, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:35
  • Purchases: 4
Clever Apes: Deep listening
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Don White captures surround sound in downtown Chicago by mimicking human ears., Credit: WBEZ/Gabriel Spitzer
Believe it or not, with just two little ears, humans hear in 3-D, and Clever Apes has captured it on tape.

Bought by Public Radio Remix, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and KUT


  • Added: Aug 24, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:22
  • Purchases: 3
Clever Apes: New dimesions
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Diagram of the holometer at Fermi Lab
In this episode, stories of two researchers: one measuring the shape of music, and another hunting for signs that the world is flat.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Aug 10, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:40
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: Trick of the lgiht
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Lisa Utschig holds a vial of the protein active in photosynthesis.
In this installment, we consider why photosynthesis remains a puzzle to science. And we’ll find out how a research team at Argonne National Laborat...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KUT


  • Added: Aug 02, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:59
  • Purchases: 2
Clever Apes: Toolmakers
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: A chimp at the Lincoln Park Zoo uses a stick to fish for food., Credit: Michael De Bonis/WBEZ
Humans have an incredible ability to fashion tools that make our lives easier and advance the goals of science, but we're not the only species maki...

Bought by KUT, WRST-FM Oshkosh, KVMR, and Public Radio Remix


  • Added: Jul 07, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:32
  • Purchases: 4
Clever Apes: Origin stories
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Caption: Bill Stanley and the skull of a new genus he helped identify.
As scientists figure out the world, they often turn back the clock to understand the beginnings of things... The Big Bang, patient zero, the chicke...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: May 26, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:40
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: Seeking the grail
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Piece image
There are certain questions that get scientists really excited – discoveries that are big, tantalizing, and often, far out of reach. Even if they’r...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: May 18, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:40
  • Purchases: 1
Clever Apes: Deconstructing Disgust
Series: WBEZ's Clever Apes
From WBEZ
Piece image
What is disgust, and where does it come from? Host Gabriel Spitzer explores why we've evolved with this emotion and what it says about us.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Apr 27, 2011
  • Length: 00:08:45
  • Purchases: 1

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