Radiolab - Falling - Archive FM

There are so many ways to fall—in love, asleep, even flat on your face. This hour, Radiolab dives into stories of great falls. We jump into a black hole, take a trip over Niagara Falls, upend some myths about falling cats, and plunge into our favorite songs about falling. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Duration: 59m
Broadcast on: 17 Sep 2020
Audio Format: other

There are so many ways to fall—in love, asleep, even flat on your face. This hour, Radiolab dives into stories of great falls.

We jump into a black hole, take a trip over Niagara Falls, upend some myths about falling cats, and plunge into our favorite songs about falling.

Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.

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No, wait, you're listening to Radio Lab from WNYC. Hello, hello, hello. How do I want to introduce this tape to you? Have you heard this tape? I have not. This is actually one of my first radio pieces. You're not going to hear what we're saying, as we're in Freepa. And I had two friends who were in love. I always take a picture of the two of you. I have since fallen out of love and fallen in love with other people. At the time, they were very much in love, and they had decided they were going to go skydiving. Together. Together. Everything looks good. You ready for this? Yeah, I got to go skydiving. So, this is my friend Jordan. He is getting into a plane. Right. So let's check your harness. This recorder strapped to his chest. And I should just say that the piece ended up being really dumb, but it contains the best moment of tape I think I've ever recorded. You're going to hear it coming up. Okay, so as Jordan gets up into the sky, they're like 7,000, 8,000 feet. I don't remember the number, but they opened the door. Yeah, are you ready to skydive? He steps just to the edge, and he's about to go, you'll hear there's going to be a fire. Just listen. Okay. Okay, he is out of the plane now, and he's hurling through space, free-falling. Within like a few seconds, he's at 100 miles an hour. Up to 150, 175 miles an hour, maybe 200, I don't know, and there. How did you like that? It was incredible. Oh my God. That's the moment where the parachute opens. I cannot believe it. And he is floating. God. That's amazing. Ooh, what happens to the girl? I don't know. You don't know? Well, her mini-dist recorder malfunctioned on the way down, but let's just rewind that back for a second. Transition right there from falling body to floating body? Yeah.

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