The First Known Earthly Voice | Radiolab Podcast @Radiolabpod

Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

From the Radiolab podcast: How song can be key to survival, whether you're a cricket or a human.

What happens when a voice emerges? What happens when one is lost? Is something gained? A couple months ago, Lulu guest edited an issue of the nature magazine Orion. She called the issue “Queer Planet: A Celebration of Biodiversity,” and it was a wide-ranging celebration of queerness in nature. It featured work by amazing writers like Ocean Vuong, Kristen Arnett, Carmen Maria Machado and adrienne maree brown, among many others. But one piece in particular struck Lulu as something that was really meant to be made into audio, an essay called “Key Changes,” by the writer Sabrina Imbler. If their name sounds familiar, it might be because they’ve been on the show before. In this episode, we bring you Sabrina’s essay – which takes us from the beginning of time, to a field of crickets, to a karaoke bar – read by the phenomenal actor Becca Blackwell, and scored by our director of sound design Dylan Keefe. Stay to the end for a special surprise … from Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls!

Special thanks to Jay Gallagher from UC Davis.

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Sabrina Imbler
Produced by - Annie McEwen and Pat Walters
with help from - Maria Paz Guttierrez
Original music from - Dylan Keefe
Fact-checking by - Kim Schmidt
and Edited by - Tajja Isen and Pat Walters

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Articles:
Check out Queer Planet: A Celebration of Biodiversity, Orion Magazine (Spring 2025)
Read Sabrina Imbler’s original essay, “Key Changes,” Orion Magazine (Spring 2025)
Read Lulu Miller’s mini-essay, “Astonishing Immobility,” Orion Magazine (Spring 2025)
Listen to Amy Ray’s song “Chuck Will’s Widow” from her solo album If It All Goes South
Check out Sabrina Imbler’s Defector column Creaturefector all about animals

Books:
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures, by Sabrina Imbler
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Photo illustration by Jared Bartman
Video by W. Harry Fortuna

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