This episode covers the bizarre life of the Death Watch Beetle. This beetle was once thought to be a harbinger of death because of its habit of living in older houses and knocking ominously from inside of the walls. It turns out that the tapping it produces is just how the half-blind beetles locates potential mates. <3
At the end of the episode, Radiolab enlists Lin-Manuel Miranda (HAMILTON!) and Utkarsh Ambudkar to perform a song from the perspective of the female and male Death Watch Beetles.
IT IS AMAZING!
“but its hard out here and i’m not playin’/ the humans beings here mean and get to sprayin’/ they think that i’m they devil so they get to fumigating/ they don’t understand that i’m only procreatin’”
AND THEN THIS:
“BEETLE BABYDOLL/ LET’S GET INVOLVED/ I WANT TO GIVE IT TO YOU ALL/ RIGHT HERE ON THIS LOG”
It is real good. PERIPHERAL SUGGESTS THAT YOU LISTEN!
Jason Mantzoukas as Plato on The Dead Authors Podcast with Paul F. Tompkins