Song of the Cerebellum
1/30/202643 min
One spring evening in 2024, science journalist Rachel Gross bombed at karaoke. The culprit was a bleed in a fist-sized clump of neurons tucked down in the back and bottom of her brain called the Cerebellum. A couple weeks later, her doctors took a piece of it out, assuring her it just did basic motor control - she might be a bit clumsy for a while, but she’d still be herself. But after that surgery Rachel did not feel quite like herself. So she dove into the dusty basement of the brain (and brain science) to figure out why. What Rachel found was a new frontier in neuroscience. We learn what singing Shakira on stage has to do with reaching for a cup of coffee — and why the surprising relationship between those two things means we may need to rethink what we think about thinking.
Special thanks to Warzone Karaoke at Branded Saloon, the Computer History Museum for their archival interview with Henrietta Leiner, either the choir “Singing Together, Measure by Measure” or the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy which houses it, Daniel A. Gross (... and Shakira?)
EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Rachel Gross
Produced by - Sindhu Gnanasambandan
Additional mixing by - Jeremy S. Bloom
EPISODE CITATIONS:
Articles -
- “Ignoring the cerebellum is hindering progress in neuroscience.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39934082/), by Wang et al, 2025
- “The cerebellum and cognition.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29997061/), by Schmahmann JD. Neurosci Lett. 2019
- “How did brains evolve?” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11805823/), by Barton RA., Nature. 2002
Books -
- Vagina Obscura (https://www.rachelegross.com/book), by Rachel E. Gross
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLatif Nasser· Host0:00
[electronic music] Radiolab is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try it at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law, not available in all states.
Speaker 10:23
[electronic music] WNYC Studios is supported by Odoo. When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up, and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O-D-O-O.com. That's O-D-O-O.com.
Speaker 20:54
Oh, wait, you're listening [laughing]...
Lulu Miller· Host0:57
Okay.
Speaker 20:57
All right.
Lulu Miller· Host1:00
Okay?
Speaker 21:01
All right.
Speaker 41:02
[clears throat] You're listening- Listening- -to Radiolab.
Rachel Gross· Guest1:05
Radiolab.
Speaker 11:06
From- WNYC.
Speaker 41:08
C.
Speaker 11:09
C?
Latif Nasser· Host1:09
Yep.
Lulu Miller· Host1:11
[electronic music] Hi, Latif.
Latif Nasser· Host1:15
Hello.
Lulu Miller· Host1:16
All right, so reporter walks into a bar.
Latif Nasser· Host1:19
Okay.
Lulu Miller· Host1:20
And that's just the beginning of our story. [laughing] That reporter's name is Rachel Gross. She is thirty-five. The year is twenty twenty-four. It's a warm spring night. The bar is in Brooklyn, and it is called the Branded Saloon.