In this adventure, we head out into the crucible of American inventiveness ... the garage. We get a guided tour of the backyard lab of inventor Ben Krasnow, and then we talk with author Jack Hitt about his new book that explores the DIY roots of the American character.
In this adventure, we head out into the crucible of American inventiveness … the garage.
Join us as we explore the backyard lab of inventor Ben Krasnow, a man whose list of garage creations includes homemade Pop Rocks, an ice cream freeze drier, a keyboard that can be played inside of an MRI machine and what we think is the first ever home-built scanning electron microscope.
Also, there is a DeLorean.
Then we talk with journalist Jack Hitt, author of the new book “Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character” about how DIY inventiveness runs in our national bloodstream, and how Americans have had a history of hacking since the era of Ben Franklin. But in an era of do-it-at-home gene splicing and synthetic biology, is it a good idea for garage enthusiasts to have such ready access to high technology, or is that something better left to the professionals?
(P.S. If you haven’t heard the Peter Pan segment from “Fiasco!,” it is one of Jack’s many hilarious contributions to This American Life, and we recommend it highly. Just, you know, listen to it after you listen to our podcast.)
You can stream the podcast, or click to download, on the player below. Run time: 20:17.
Like what you hear and want to stay in touch? Please help spread the word about The Field Trip Podcast by liking us on Facebook or following @FieldTripLog on Twitter! You can also subscribe (free) to us on iTunes to automatically get downloads of future episodes.Public or college radio stations that would like to broadcast The Field Trip Podcast can find us at the Public Radio Exchange (PRX.org) or get in touch with us at info [at] fieldtrippodcast [dot] com.
A new adventure will be coming your way next Monday!