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...
6:32 pm
Thu May 16, 2013

What Is It About Bees And Hexagons?

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 12:26 pm

Solved! A bee-buzzing, honey-licking 2,000-year-old mystery that begins here, with this beehive. Look at the honeycomb in the photo and ask yourself: (I know you've been wondering this all your life, but have been too shy to ask out loud ... ) Why is every cell in this honeycomb a hexagon?

Bees, after all, could build honeycombs from rectangles or squares or triangles ...

But for some reason, bees choose hexagons. Always hexagons.

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Krulwich Wonders...
4:02 pm
Mon May 13, 2013

Music, Inside Out

Credit Daniel Sierra / Oscillate/Vimeo

Originally published on Fri May 10, 2013 10:40 am

What would it be like to be a string that made music? Not anything simple, like a guitar string or a cello string, but a magical string, a sine curve that's taut then loose, that doubles then doubles again, that sheds then dissolves into showers of notes — a flaming, sighing, looping, dissolving string. Curious?

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Krulwich Wonders...
11:42 am
Thu May 9, 2013

Moths That Drive Cars (Really)

Originally published on Thu May 9, 2013 9:07 am

What you are about to see — and I'm not making this up — is a moth driving a car.

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Krulwich Wonders...
10:22 am
Wed May 8, 2013

Wildlife That Isn't Wild And Isn't Alive

Originally published on Wed May 8, 2013 1:33 pm

Krulwich Wonders...
9:30 am
Wed May 8, 2013

Our Very Normal Solar System Isn't Normal Anymore

Originally published on Tue May 7, 2013 7:53 am

Some things you just count on. Like if we ever meet a space alien, it should have eyes (and maybe a head). Like somewhere out there, there are planets like ours. Like we have an ordinary solar system — "ordinary" because you know what it looks like ...

It's got a sun in the middle, little planets on the inside, bigger ones farther out. That's what most of them should look like, no?

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Krulwich Wonders...
10:45 am
Tue April 30, 2013

The Boomerang Rocket Ship: Shoot It Up, Back It Comes

Krulwich Wonders...
2:30 pm
Sat April 27, 2013

Nobody Throws Balls Like Yu

Originally published on Sat April 27, 2013 7:03 am

Krulwich Wonders...
5:03 pm
Wed April 24, 2013

Mysterious Silly Putty Devours Innocent Magnets

Originally published on Tue April 23, 2013 5:11 pm

Krulwich Wonders...
3:08 pm
Sun April 21, 2013

A Wet Towel In Space Is Not Like A Wet Towel On Earth

Credit YouTube

Originally published on Mon May 13, 2013 9:20 am

Krulwich Wonders...
2:58 pm
Sun April 21, 2013

Monkeys, Mai Tais And Us

Originally published on Sat April 20, 2013 7:18 am

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