EPISODE · Feb 28, 2025 · 45 MIN
624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do
from Freakonomics Radio · host Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab — and from the animator who made one the hero of a Pixar blockbuster. (Part three of a three-part series, “Sympathy for the Rat.”) SOURCES:Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal VillainsJan Pinkava, creator and co-writer of "Ratatouille," and director of the Animation Institute at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg.Julia Zichello, evolutionary biologist at Hunter College. RESOURCES:"Weekend Column: Rat’s End, or, How a Rat Dies," by Julia Zichello (West Side Rag, 2024).Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains by Bethany Brookshire (2022)."Rats: the history of an incendiary cartoon trope," by Archie Bland (The Guardian, 2015)."Catching the Rat: Understanding Multiple and Contradictory Human-Rat Relations as Situated Practices," by Koen Beumer (Society & Animals, 2014)."Effects of Chronic Methylphenidate on Dopamine/Serotonin Interactions in the Mesolimbic DA System of the Mouse," by Bethany Brookshire (Wake Forest University, 2010)."A New Deal For Mice," by C.C. Little (Scientific American, 1935). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
What this episode covers
To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab — and from the animator who made one the hero of a Pixar blockbuster. (Part three of a three-part series, “Sympathy for the Rat.”)
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624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do
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