Samantha Martin trains raccoons to play basketball and rats to bowl. She says that what we want from animals is for them to imitate humans. (5 minutes)
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Act One: Started From Phle-Bottom, Now We’re Here
When Adele wrote into our show last summer, she described herself as “the worst phlebotomist in the whole hospital.” Producer Diane Wu couldn’t resist calling her up to find out exactly what she meant by that.
Act One: Grime Scene
Reporter Nancy Updike spends two days with Neal Smither, who cleans up crime scenes for a living, and comes away wanting to open his Los Angeles franchise, despite the gore — or maybe because of it.
Act Two: Phone Home
Seth Freed Wessler reports on people going the opposite direction over the US/Mexico border.
More by Ira Glass
Act One
Reporter Paul Tough and Host Ira Glass look at the biggest change in admissions this year: colleges no longer requiring the SATs.
Act Four: Boiling Under
Lots of things go unspoken between family members, sometimes for years.
Act Three: There’s a German Word for That
Ira Glass talks to journalist Jochen Bittner about a political lie from 1920s Germany and the lessons it holds for 2020s America.