Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Radio Lab for Kids is supported by the New York Hall of Science, a hands-on science center and STEM learning lab in New York City. Every day is a new hands-on adventure in their innovative design lab. Build ice caves, pinball machines, and shadow puppets. Figure out how to bake pizza on the moon with just cardboard and plastic. Watch chemistry explosions.
that are as safe as they are attention-getting. Don't try it at home. Try it at the Hall of Science, where there is a constant stream of rotating activities that allow you to collaborate and innovate, like you're on a group mission to change the world. Visit nysci.org for tickets.
Radiolab for Kids is supported by IXL. IXL is an online learning program that helps to enrich homeschool curriculums, offering practice in math, science, social studies, and more. Their programs are designed to meet kids where they're at, helping them develop curiosity and determination all the way through 12th grade, no matter your child's learning style or knowledge level.
Ixl has built-in tools like video tutorials, detailed explanations, and learning games to guide your child in the way they learn best while meeting them at their level. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get Ixl now. Radiolab for Kids listeners can get an exclusive 20% off Ixl membership when they sign up today at ixl.com slash rlkids. Visit ixl.com slash rlkids to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. ♪
Listener supported. WNYC Studios. Hey friends, Lulu here. Next week is Valentine's Day. So people are going to be talking all about falling in love.
So we're going to be talking about...
Other kinds of falling. Not in love. Nope. Falling cats. We'll talk about falling over one of the greatest falls on planet Earth, Niagara Falls, and the first person who did it and whether or not they survived. To find out, you'll just have to listen. Yeah, that's it. We're kicking off the Falling in Love season with two great stories about other kinds of falling. So yeah, that's it. I will hand it off to Dad and Robert.
This is Radiolab. And we are falling. Number one. Falling cats.
Yeah. Comes from science writer David Quammen. One article in particular that he wrote caught our attention. All right. I'm going to quote you to yourself. Okay. Nowadays, true enough, we know quite a bit about cats. They've been dissected in uncountable numbers. Their anatomy, their physiology, their behavior have been minutely studied. But there's so much we still don't know. Among all the other intractable issues, one in particular interests me, and that is, what's the terminal velocity of a plummeting cat?
Why? Can you give me a little history? Why did that question interest you? I mean, when I used to write for Outside Magazine, I would browse through journals and I would come across obscure papers. How I happened upon the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, familiarly known as JVAMA, I don't know. I don't remember it.
But I'm sure that that was the starting point. Because it was in that journal that David ran across a research paper by two vets. Wayne Whitney and Cheryl Melhoff. Who worked in... The Midtown Veterinary Hospital. And they noticed that in Manhattan... There were a lot of cats falling out of windows, high windows, falling off ledges, falling off roofs. What is a lot? I mean, how many cats were coming into this place?
We saw 132 cats fall in a five-month summer period. That's Anne Hohenhaus. She actually works in the veterinary hospital. And she's been there since that research paper was written back in 1986. When I came to New York City, I said, what do you mean cats fall out of buildings? It doesn't make sense. I said, why would the cat fall out? But we'll get back to her in just a little bit.
132 in five months? That's almost a rain of cats. Well, no, don't say that, because I think people should visit New York without cat receiving umbrellas. What are you doing? I'm doing the math to see how many that is in a week.
Can you do a day? 35 days. That's about a cat a day. It's a shame. We can all agree about that. But according to David, it's actually not as much of a shame as you would think. 22 of the cats that they saw had fallen from eight stories or higher. And out of those 22, only one died.
So 21 cats survived from eight stories or higher. Wow, that's a long way. And there was one cat that fell 32 stories, and the cat had a little bit of sort of thoracic bruising and a chipped tooth. And that was it. So, I mean, how in the world do cats... I mean, we all know cats land on their feet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But how do they do that? Like, these are not magical creatures. Well, if you go back about a thousand years... It was thought that they consorted with witches. Oh.
And their reputation got darker and darker. The more people started to distrust and dislike cats, the more they started to do horrible things to them.
They would put cats in a barrel and then they run the barrel through with swords. Oh. Also throwing them out of windows. The defenestration of cats. What does a defenestration mean? Throwing out the window. Really? Fenestra is the window. There's a word for that? D. Oh, Chad, add that to your active vocabulary today. I plan to. So what would happen when they would defenestrate these cats? The cats would land on their feet and walk away. And that made people even crazier. Oh.
♪
No, of course. We love our cats now. We don't do that to our cats anymore. But when we went to visit Anne back at the veterinary hospital, we were asking her about the falling cats research paper, which was called the feline high-rise syndrome. Then the mystery of how cats can fall from these amazing heights and survive got a lot deeper. Well, cats that fell less than five stories. They did fine. Not too bad. Cats that fell less than five stories.
Cats that fell over nine stories. They did fine too, she says. Not so bad. Which is weird. But. Cats that fell between five and nine. Between five floors and nine floors? Had really serious injuries and had more injuries per cat. So cats that fell a little ways were okay. Cats that fell a long ways were okay, weirdly. But this five to nine thing? Yeah, how do you account for that? Yeah, what is that?
So we had to get a physicist to help us explain this. This is where we get back to what Quammen calls the terminal velocity issue. Or here's how Anne put it to us. Say you're living on the 30th floor of a building and it's summertime. You get done at work at 5, you go home, get there about 6, the apartment's hot and stuffy, and you open up those windows, and Fluffy says, hmm, I'd like that pigeon out there. And the next thing you know, a misstep. And as the cat starts to fall, he's all disoriented.
And almost immediately... Probably within the first six feet... The cat's brain says, okay, turn your front half over, now bring your back legs around. That's like instinct. The cat can apparently do that move lickety-split. But the cat is still speeding up. Going faster and faster. Three floors, five floors, seven floors. And after falling about nine floors... And accelerating the speeds... Up to about 60 miles an hour. Something happens. You hit an equilibrium between the pull of gravity and wind resistance...
What he means is gravity is pulling down on you, and the peak pull is between five and nine floors for a cat. But after nine floors, the wind resistance, which all the while has been pushing back up on you, starts to slow you down. You don't speed up anymore. So that's your cruising speed. That's your cruising speed. After the cats hit terminal velocity and the sensation of acceleration was gone, they relaxed. They sort of stretch out like a flying squirrel.
And then they hit the ground. Belly flop. And you're saying that because they hit the cruising speed and then relax into the flying squirrel, the impact is less? Yes. Yeah. And our record here, it wasn't in this paper, but our record is 42 floors and the cat walked away. Wow. 42 floors. Is that a lucky cat or is that just plain physics? Should cats everywhere go to the 42nd floor before jumping out of the window? No cat should ever jump out of a window. That's right. Stay indoors.
No, Fluffy. Back. That's right. Back, Fluffy. And I don't think I need to say this, but back all humans. Don't push cats out windows no matter what you've just learned about physics. I know I don't need to say this, but please do not push your cats or any other living things out of windows. Okay? Okay. Okay.
Okay, so the next falling, what are we going to call these? Falling episodes. No, is there an F word you could use? Features. Yes. Great, great. Our next falling feature. Is headed your way right after a short break. WNYC Studios is supported by Babbel. Are you holding back on foreign travel plans this year because you're afraid of the language gap? Well, no need to mind the gap if you have Babbel.
This year, speak like a whole new you with Babbel, the language learning app that gets you talking. Babbel's quick 10-minute lessons, handcrafted by over 200 language experts, get you to begin speaking your new language in three weeks, or whatever pace you choose. And
And because conversing is the key to really understanding each other in new languages, Babbel is designed using practical, real-world conversations. Let's get more of you talking in a new language. Babbel is gifting our listeners 60% off subscriptions at babbel.com slash WNYC. Get
Do you have a car, truck, boat, motorcycle, or RV that is no longer of use to you?
Hello parents, homeschoolers, and teachers. Trusty narrator here from the Who's Smarted podcast. Our fifth
Our 15-minute episodes are perfect for car rides, bedtime, break time, class time, or any time. We make learning science and history fun and funny for 7 to 11-year-olds with new episodes every week. Look for Who Smarted on any podcast platform or at whosmarted.com. And teachers get a free subscription to our ad-free version by clicking educators at whosmarted.com.
Lulu, we're back with our second falling story. Should we call it Falling Fortunes or? Well, Falling Fortunes is a good one for this, I think. Yeah. Because someone is seeking fame and fortune and then falls. The idea of the gravity hero, to me, one of the things that it goes along with. Was that a term that was used, gravity heroes? No. No.
That's my term. I like it, though. It's a really catchy term. Well, thanks. Yeah. This is Garrett Soden. He's an author. Author of Defying Gravity. Original title. Following How Our Greatest Fear Became Our Greatest Thrill, A History. And speaking of history and fears and thrills, and I would add to that list tragedy, he tells the following story. It really started with Niagara Falls because up to that point, people had done all kinds of things in Niagara Falls.
To back up, it is the 1850s, and at Niagara Falls, you've got these two guys doing tightrope tricks over the falls. Yeah. A fellow named Charles Blondin. Famous French wire walker. And a Canadian guy who called himself... The Great Farini. And they would duke it out. Right. Blondin came out, strung a rope across Niagara Falls, put a chair down, bounced on two legs, and stood on it. Whoa. And one time he carried a guy over. Oh, wow. He had to keep upping the ante, so... So, for his greatest trick?
He carried a small cast iron stove on his back with some firewood. He got out there and he put the stove down, lit a fire, had a couple of eggs in a frying pan and made an omelet.
Right over this churning, like, rapid? Yes. Wow. So the great Farini came out with a washing machine. That was his answer to London. Wash some clothes out there. Yeah. The thing to know about these guys is that this is basically just a show.
Because, for example, the wire that they walked on was pretty wide. About the diameter of a coffee cup. And really, they were just avoiding the big trick. The most anticipated trick. The one that everybody was waiting for. It was somebody going over the falls in the barrel. The guy who did that would be the real Gravity Hero!
You wire walking wusses. Niagara Falls is one of the great forces of nature. Every second, 600,000 gallons fall over the edge, pound the rocks below with such a fury that you can hear it five miles away.
Which is why in 1850 when P.T. Barnum saw the falls... He said that if someone could figure out a way to go over that, that would be a huge stunt that would give them fame and fortune. That's Joan Murray. I'm a poet.
She's a poet? She's written in a whole book. In verse. About the first person to conquer the falls. In a barrel. And it's called? Queen of the Mist. Queen of the Mist. Huh. Yep. So it wasn't a guy then? No, I just said it was a guy to set you up so that you would ask me that question. Because in fact, it was a woman. Wow. Props to her. Thank you for acting surprised. What's her name, Chad? Fanny Taylor. Fanny Taylor.
When we first meet Annie Taylor... This was 1901. She was... Down on her luck. She'd been a... She'd done a lot of different things. She'd run a dancing school. She had been a principal. She had traveled all over the world. Her husband had died, and she was broke. But then it hit her.
Gravity. She was sitting at home. Sitting in her apartment. In Bay City, Michigan. And for some odd reason, she read an article about the goings on at Niagara Falls and she decided she would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Yeah. Why? I mean, do we know? She's looking to save herself from the poorhouse.
house. She was after money. And when she read about these guys at Niagara Falls, she thought, this is it. Right. So she called Cooper to build the barrel. At first he refused to build it when he heard what her plan was, but finally he did. And not long after, Annie was on a train with her barrel, headed to the falls. By the way, what day are we talking about? On October...
24th in 1901. Okay. Word had spread. This was going to be a spectacle. Everyone was there. Mobs of people. Thousands. Up and down the river. Tens of thousands. And Annie shows up. Waving to the crowd. Wearing a very fancy Victorian dress. And a hat with ostrich feathers. Wow. She's quite the lady. But then they go on an island where she changes. Into some gym clothes. And now she gets in the barrel. They tow her out to the middle of the river. Then they knock.
And cut the rope. And off she goes to the brink. The roar of the river. Enormous. And it's wet at my feet. And I'm feeling while I'm in there that this is miserable. Interesting thing is that in Joan's poem, she actually becomes Annie. I careened and spun. She's in the barrel, getting hurled down the river, tossed and turned. My brain tore. And as she gets closer to the edge, it's about a half mile journey, she begins to hallucinate.
And I glimpsed through the turbulence. There was my young husband, in his arms, our baby, trembling and willing. And then... This moment of weightlessness. She's going... Into the pools below. The great mass of foam and boiling water. And then, she shoots out again. Through the buoyancy of the barrel, about 15 feet in the air. Wow.
The barrel crashes back. Back down in the water. And then it floats over to some rocks. And a rescue team paddle out to the barrel right away. They get the barrel and they have to saw it open. The crowd, no doubt, is thinking, that woman is dead. There is nothing but a dead woman in that barrel. But... When they pull her out... She's alive. I am alive. She took on this thing that the world was waiting for.
And she did it. She was the first to ever try. We're going to leave it there with the gravity hero dripping and the world in awe. And I should say another disclaimer, I don't think I need to say, but folks, do not try this at home. Going over Niagara or any falls in a barrel is incredibly dangerous and you are all smart cookies. So again, I don't need to say it, but please do not ever try such a thing. It usually does not end so well.
Thank you so much for listening. More stories about this lumpy old planet of ours and the wild creatures living on top of it in two weeks.
This is Joan Murray. Radio Lab is produced by Jad Abumrad and Tim Howard. Their staff includes Ellen Horn, Soren Wheeler, Lulu Miller, Brenna Farrell, Pat Walters, and Lynn Levy. With help from Sharon Shattuck, Raymond Tungacar, Sam Roudman, and Nicole Curie. Special thanks to Ari Daniel Shapiro, Penn Huang, Emily Corwin, April Kinzer, and the City Arts and Lectures in San Francisco. How's that, guys? This is Fred Coolidge.
Bye. Hi, I'm Emma and I live in Portland, Maine. Here are the staff credits. Radiolab was created by Jad Abumrad and is edited by Soren Wheeler. Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser are our co-hosts. Dylan Keefe is our director of sound design. Our staff includes Simon Adler, Jeremy Bloom, Becca Bressler, W. Harry Fortuna, David Gable, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Sindhu Jnanasambandam, Matt Kielty,
Our fact checkers are Diane Kelly, Emily Krieger, and Natalie Middleton. Hi!
teeth do coyotes have? Uh, I don't know. Well, do you know how high a coquifrog can jump? I don't even know what those are. Dang. What about, okay, camels? Do you know anything about camels? Not really, but that's what badger questions are for. Right.
One of our favorite segments of Terrestrials is where we all stop talking and the badgers, a.k.a. the kids with badgering questions, get to ask our experts everything they're dying to know. And we need some of those for our upcoming episodes. We're looking for questions about coyotes, rats, coquifrogs, camels, and farts. Farts.
Email us a voice recording of your question along with your name, age, location, and you just might hear your badgering voice on an upcoming episode of Terrestrials. And where can they send those, Alan? Terrestrials at WNYC.org. That's T-E-R-R-E-S-T-R-I-A-L-S at WNYC.org.