Radiolab | Corpse Demon | Radiolab Podcast @Radiolabpod | Uploaded April 2023 | Updated October 2024, 23 hours ago.
From the Radiolab podcast: Where vultures, Zoroastrianism and modern medicine meet.
Heaven and hell, Judgement Day, monotheism — these ideas all came from one ancient Persian religion: Zoroastrianism. Also: Sky Burials. Zoroastrians put their dead on top of a structure called The Tower of Silence where vultures devour the body in a matter of hours. It’s clean, efficient, eco-friendly. It’s how it’s been for thousands of years.
Until 2006. That’s when a Zoroastrian woman living in Mumbai snuck up into the tower and found bloated, rotting bodies everywhere. The vultures were gone. And not just at the tower — all across the country.
In this episode, Avir Mitra follows the Kenyan bird biologist, Munir Virani, as he gets to the bottom of this. A mystery whose stakes are not just the end of an ancient burial practice, but the health of all the world’s ecosystems.
The answer, in unexpected ways, points back to us.
🎧 Subscribe to Radiolab wherever you listen to podcasts: bit.ly/3trXDLe
🔎 Subscribe to Radiolab on YouTube: bit.ly/3I9KI53
🖋 Subscribe to Radiolab’s Newsletter: radiolab.org/newsletter
🌱 Check out Radiolab's Starter Kit Playlist: bit.ly/3sX8f4P
👍 Like this video ✏️ and leave us a comment!
Follow Radiolab:
Instagram — instagram.com/radiolab
Twitter — twitter.com/Radiolab
Facebook — facebook.com/Radiolab
Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today: radiolab.org/the-lab
Guests in this episode include: Munir Virani, Cawas Desai, Jasmine Mitra.
Photo illustration Jared Bartman
From the Radiolab podcast: Where vultures, Zoroastrianism and modern medicine meet.
Heaven and hell, Judgement Day, monotheism — these ideas all came from one ancient Persian religion: Zoroastrianism. Also: Sky Burials. Zoroastrians put their dead on top of a structure called The Tower of Silence where vultures devour the body in a matter of hours. It’s clean, efficient, eco-friendly. It’s how it’s been for thousands of years.
Until 2006. That’s when a Zoroastrian woman living in Mumbai snuck up into the tower and found bloated, rotting bodies everywhere. The vultures were gone. And not just at the tower — all across the country.
In this episode, Avir Mitra follows the Kenyan bird biologist, Munir Virani, as he gets to the bottom of this. A mystery whose stakes are not just the end of an ancient burial practice, but the health of all the world’s ecosystems.
The answer, in unexpected ways, points back to us.
🎧 Subscribe to Radiolab wherever you listen to podcasts: bit.ly/3trXDLe
🔎 Subscribe to Radiolab on YouTube: bit.ly/3I9KI53
🖋 Subscribe to Radiolab’s Newsletter: radiolab.org/newsletter
🌱 Check out Radiolab's Starter Kit Playlist: bit.ly/3sX8f4P
👍 Like this video ✏️ and leave us a comment!
Follow Radiolab:
Instagram — instagram.com/radiolab
Twitter — twitter.com/Radiolab
Facebook — facebook.com/Radiolab
Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today: radiolab.org/the-lab
Guests in this episode include: Munir Virani, Cawas Desai, Jasmine Mitra.
Photo illustration Jared Bartman
