Easy Listening Blanton Museum Podcasts

Commissioned for the opening of the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, Music for the Blanton by Donald Grantham premiered on April 24 and April 30, 2006. The work is in 18 short movements and is scored for ten instruments. Eight of the movements are intended to depict musically specific works of art in the musuem's collection. These eight movements are connected by brief solos and duos intended to summon the audience from the location of one art object to the next, and the entire work is framed by a prelude and a postlude. The works of art date from the 15th to the late 20th century and the music reflects these periods in tone and tempo.

Right here for free on iTunes.

Why not eat insects?

Marcel Dicke makes an appetizing case for adding insects to everyone's diet. His message to squeamish chefs and foodies: delicacies like locusts and caterpillars compete with meat in flavor, nutrition and eco-friendliness.

Watch video on Ted.

Syntax

Great narration and content direction combined with irony, humor and intelligent critique. A magazine to be enjoyed alone and by yourself – no other distraction should be allowed. Quote by Kimberly Lloyd.

Extended feature here.

Eric Sanderson

400 years after Hudson found New York harbor, Eric Sanderson shares how he made a 3D map of Mannahatta’s fascinating pre-city ecology of hills, rivers, wildlife – accurate down to the block – when Times Square was a wetland and you couldn't get delivery.

Watch Eric Sanderson on Ted.

Michael Specter

Michael Specter is a staff writer for the New Yorker. His new book, Denialism, asks why we have increasingly begun to fear scientific advances instead of embracing them.

Watch Michael Specter on Ted.

How much would you pay for the Universe?

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on the importance of NASA for the United States and the world.

Watch the video here.