The Present: A Gift from our Furry Friends
28:58 Share

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.

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. Looking for summer day trips that make you feel like you are traveling through time and space?

Wait, you're listening? Okay.

All right. Okay. All right. You are listening to Radiolab. Radiolab. Radiolab. From WNYC. C. C? Yeah.

Happy New Year's Day. Happy New Year's Day. Happy New Year's Day. I've got something to say. Okay, so it's a new year. We have all on this spaceship called Earth lapped the sun, gone over 500 million miles. High five.

Oh, good job. We did it. But you know what? I've always noticed about this time. In the weeks leading up to this moment, everyone is looking back. They are rating the best. What were the best movies of the year? The best songs? The best books? And then we cross over this finish line. We make it to a new year. And suddenly everyone starts looking forward. What are my New Year's resolutions? How am I going to be better? How am I going to be different? But it's like we just skip making room for the present. For just being.

about living in the present is there are all kinds of gifts that come when you do. It has been shown to lower your heart rate.

make you a little more chill. It reduces stress. It may improve your immune responses, making you better at fighting off sicknesses. And some scientists think it improves your cognitive function, which is fancy speak for it helps you think. It helps you notice things, the stuff around you, the people around you. It might even help you be more able to experience awe.

That lovely feeling of the world surprising you. But we humans, the way our brains are wired, we are not always so great at staying there in the present. You know, we leap into the future and we worry about what could happen, or we return to the past and we relive something embarrassing or sad, or think about someone who made us mad. It's like this gift that we have to give to the world.

And curse of being a human is that our mind can leave the present and go to these other places. So on this day, on New Year's Day, instead of eating black-eyed peas for good luck, as many in the United States do, or eating 12 grapes, one for each month, as they do in Spain, or shooting off fireworks, as they do in China, or eating long soba noodles for a long life, as they do in Japan, or hurling yourself into cold water, mmm,

As polar bear plungers do all around the world, I thought here at Terrestrials, as a New Year's Day tradition, I would hand the mic over to those of us who are fantastic at living in the present. And who is that someone? Drum roll. It's your pets. Yep.

Our furry or sometimes scaly or spiny friends, we put out a call to you to send us audio postcards of your pets relaxing, chillaxing, snoozing, snoring, just being right where they are.

And so that's what we've got for you today. A First for Terrestrials, an episode hosted by non-human hosts. We are going to let them run the show and see what they might have to teach all of us about how to be on this planet. Think of this as a guided meditation of sorts, an animal inspiration. Let them lead you into that special place, the present.

A place where awe and connection and calmness might reside. So without further ado, here we go. A lesson in rest from those who do it best. This is Koa. She's a one-year-old pit bull mix. She lives with me in Seattle, Washington. Right now she's sleeping on top of her crate, not inside of it.

Duna is a medium-sized dog, fully white with few patches of light brown. Right now, Duna is sleeping next to me. It's finally night time. She takes a deep breath and relaxes her body. It's quiet. You can hear her soft breathing. We're in Susie's backyard. Harry the tortoise is sleeping.

and hear him breathe really loud. This is Moo. She is an eight-year-old black and white cat. We're in Baltimore, Maryland, on our couch in our apartment. She is laying on her side with her belly facing me. Pink tongue is poking out. Moo. Moo. Moo. Moo. Moo.

This is Koji. She is a 13-year-old Boston Terrier. She's blind and she's deaf, but she's doing okay. And she's sleeping on the bed next to Champ the cat. And Laszlo, the black lab, is on the floor. The sun's coming in through the window a little bit. Buzzing.

She was up late last night, so she'll probably be last one to wake up. And Archie are asleep on our leather sofa in front of us. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon. We're in Kenny Monk May. Dukes have begun her 30-pound mud. Archie's a little 30-pound mud. Both fast asleep. A hole that might jump to Duke's butt where Archie's lying his head. I'm a... I'm a... I'm a...

so

My name is Tambor and I'm a harpist in Nashville, Tennessee. I've just finished practicing harp and my cat Onyx is curled up at the base of my bed. He's snoring like an old man.

It's one of my favorite things he does. He always tends to fall asleep when I'm practicing. So I sit down next to him and then curl up around him and just listen to him snore. This is Sassy. She is our 16 and a half year old black cat here in Tucson, Arizona.

sleeping in the corner of our office. Right now it's about noon and she's taking a nap. This is Baker in Atlanta, Georgia. He is about two and a half years old. He is a brown Boston Terrier. Cuddled up and snuggly. Cuddled up when he sleeps on his back because of his little smushed face it produces some truly incredible snoring. This is Charlie. She's seven. She thinks she's two.

She loves life. And she's totally crazy. That's a little baby. Yeah. I'm here with my dog, Jamie. He's an American foxhound. We're sitting in our dining room and Jamie is asleep on his elegant Victorian couch. Hi, my name is Karina and I am here with my cat. He is snuggled up next to me on some comfy pillows.

And he is purring himself to sleep. And he'll be helping me fall asleep as well. Can you hear him? Doing some little snores. This is Mira in Montreal, Canada. The winter sun is streaming in through the window. And it's landing on my cat Nevo, who's curled up beside me. He's a long, black cat.

He's very very loud when he's awake. When he's sleeping he has the softest little snore I've ever heard. With my dog Foxy Lady. She's a 12 pound Chihuahua mix. We've both had a long day. This is Captain Jack. My rescue is Chinchilla. I think Chinchillas look like fat bottomed squirrels. Here's the cat sleeping.

I'm sitting next to my dog, BB Queen. She is curled up and her eyes are beginning to twitch and her breathing is getting really heavy. This is Tucker from Middleton, Wisconsin. He's a 15-year-old black pug and he's sleeping in my mom and dad's bed being very loud. This is Nico.

She's a 15 year old Puggle. She's got the softest floppy ears. She's curled up like a donut in her little blue dog bed. And she's twitching a bit. Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming? Is she dreaming?

This is the sound of our dog Mavis. Our dog Mavis. We call her Bubby, as in Grandma. I look at old pictures of her and I wonder at how sprightly she used to be and how much she's aged in the past couple of years. She's teaching me how to be with chain, to have to love and care as needed. She can't really hear much anymore.

Every day, I tell her she's such a good girl. The music and arrangement today by Alan Gofinski. The mix by Joe Plord. For more from the Terrestrials team, subscribe to the Radiolab for Kids feed. I am your human host, Lulu Miller, signing out.