RADIO LAB'S PATCHWORK OF PEOPLE, SOUND RETURNS FEB. 11-15 ON VPR

A new season of listener favorite Radio Lab debuts next week on VPR.  The audio patchwork of people, sounds, stories and experiences centered around One Big Idea returns with five new episodes.  VPR will showcase the new season of Radio Lab all next week, Monday through Friday afternoons at 2pm [February 11-15].  VPR will then rebroadcast the new season Sunday evenings at 6pm February 17-March 16, 2008.

Radio Lab is an experiential investigation that explores themes and ideas with hosts Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad.  In each episode, Radio Lab experiments with sound and style, allowing science to fuse with culture and information to sound like music. Radio Lab is designed for listeners who demand skepticism but appreciate wonder; who are curious about the world, but also want to be moved and surprised.

The five ideas explored this season include:

¨ Laughter - What is laughter for? Are we humans the only ones that do it? Radio Lab examines the purpose and power of the guffaw by tickling rats and exploring an entire village that erupted in an epidemic of contagious laughter.

¨ Deception - Why do some people lie more than others? Radio Lab talks with one researcher who has peered into the brains of pathological liars and found that certain parts of their lying brains are much bigger than those in truth-tellers. Also, the program looks at the joy of lying to one's own self and new efforts to teach airport security how to spot liars using only their eyes.

¨ War of the Worlds - This program explores one of the most controversial moments in broadcasting history: Orson Welles' 1938 radio play about Martians invading New Jersey. Why did it fool people? Join us for a look at the power of mass media to create panic.

¨ Pop Music - Why do some songs mercilessly stick in our heads and repeat themselves over and over? What makes these hooks so hooky? And what happens when a song, or just a piece, really and truly won't disappear from your head -- for years?

¨ (So Called) Life - This program visits the place where the borders of life get blurry -- between species, between life and non-life, even between selves.

VPR, featuring NPR and regional news, information and public radio entertainment, can be heard at 107.9 FM in northern Vermont, 89.5 FM in the Connecticut River Valley, 88.7 FM in the Rutland region, 88.5 FM in St. Johnsbury, 94.3 FM in Bennington, 92.5 in Manchester, 94.5 in Brattleboro, 95.3 in Middlebury, 94.1 in Montpelier, 101.1 in Rupert and online at vpr.net.