PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360

For over twenty years the Oregon State Psychiatric Hospital stored the cremated remains of patients in copper containers. Photographer David Maisel found them, and shows the beautiful — and bizarre — chemical reactions that took place as the canisters corroded in his exhibit "Library of Dust," currently at the California Museum of Photography in Riversi

Around 1900, a German biologist named Ernst Haeckel used his incredible drawings of microbes and larger creatures to promote his ideas about evolution. The public loved Haeckel's work, but as Sarah Lilley reports, the artist in Haeckel eventually came into conflict with the scientist.

The painter Alexis Rockman gets worked up by news from the scientific world. He wants his paintings to help people visualize – and get a little freaked out by – big phenomena like genetic engineering and global warming. He doesn't have a science background, but Rockman consults with so many scientists before he starts to paint, he's become something of

"If I were at work right now, I'd be paid to have these thoughts." With that thought, Zack Booth Simpson dropped out of high school — then started reading biology textbooks and designing video games. Now he's at a university — not as a student, but as a researcher, combining living organisms with computer programming. Produced by Lindsay Patterson.

Kids' questions about their provenance are harder to answer when you've cloned your son but aren't sure how many of them were made. In Caryl Churchill's play, A Number, there's just a father and a single actor playing three of his genetically identical offspring. WNYC's Judith Kampfner went to see the play with a psychologist and a medical ethicist.

Embroidery's not just for pillowcases any more. Design curator Matilda McQuaid tells us about an intricate little piece of polyester that only the surgeons ever get to see.

There are things we expect at the movies these days– popcorn, the coming attractions and color on the screen. But when Technicolor was introduced 80 years ago, it was a revolution. Bob Harris, a film restorer, and historian Scott Higgins tell us about how the chemicals changed what we saw on the screen and what we wanted to see. Produced by Trent Wolbe.

We love big eyes on anything -- babies, puppies, cartoon characters, Christina Ricci. But our fondness for big eyes is the work of nature, not Disney. Studio 360's Eric Molinsky found out how evolutionary psychology butts into pop culture.

We've all heard stories about sports and dance injuries that abruptly end careers, but musicians actually face as many physical risks as professional athletes. When trumpeter Matthew Steinfeld injured his mouth and couldn't make his horn create a decent sound, he felt helpless. Hillary Frank has the story.

American kids spend an average of 7 hours a week gaming. But what about the grown-ups inside the industry, who play 8 to 10 hours – and then leave the office and go home to play some more? Jonathan Mitchell asked game producer Marc Nesbitt about living almost full time in the simulated world.

Where did we come from? Evolutionary biologist Spencer Wells is pretty close to the answer. He's the National Geographic "Explorer-in-Residence." By collecting DNA samples from around the world, he's tracing the paths of human migration, and he's uncovered some startling facts about homo sapiens' early history: we almost didn't make it.

Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer led a team of thousands to create the first nuclear weapon. Though first hailed as an American hero, after speaking out against the use of the bomb he was condemned as a traitor and maligned as a Communist spy. WNYC's Sara Fishko examines how the tragic arc of his life has turned Oppenheimer into a modern American myth.

Right-brained people are supposed to be artistic and spontaneous, while left-brainers are literal and analytical. Nobel Prize-winning neurology spawned this insight decades ago, along with the bestseller Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. But does the story of two hemispheres stand up in the age of the MRI? Produced by Dave Johns.

In his book, The Age of Wonder, Richard Holmes describes the major breakthroughs in astronomy, anthropology, and physics in late 18th and early 19th century Britain. Holmes calls the era an "age of romantic science" - when the poets and scientists inspired each other's work.

Was Bartleby the Scrivener depressed? Did Clarissa Dalloway need lithium? Today's English lit students seem to want to medicate away the problems of classic literary characters. Studio 360's Eric Molinsky explores this phenomenon with help from NYU professor Elayne Tobin and novelist Michael Cunningham.