Matin Durrani - Science Journalist

On air with Leonard Lopate

Posted by Matin Durrani on 23 September 2017

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LeonardLopateWith the paperback version of Furry Logic: The Physics of Animal Life due out in the UK next month, it was great yesterday for me and my co-author Liz Kalaugher to talk to New York radio legend Leonard Lopate on his Friday lunchtime show on WNYC.

You can listen to the show at this link.

Liz and I have done quite a few radio interviews about our book - you can see a full list here - and it's always interesting to field questions from listeners as you never know quite what to expect. Lopate himself had us stumped when he wondered why his dog lingers over certain smells rather than others when out on a walk.

We were also not quick enough to remember that dogs pant because they can't cool down (unike other many other mammals) by sweating. So thanks to Lopate's listeners and others for pointing that out.

That's the fun of doing live radio with an expert host like Lopate - to think on your feet and still tell a story that's interesting.

It's also humbling to take a look at the roster of previous guests who've appeared on his show, who include no less than 35 Nobel laureates, such as Barack Obama, Henry Kissinger and Lech Walesa. Others stars have included Anne Hathaway, Francis Ford Coppola and John Updike as well as the one and only Sarah Jessica Parker.

The US has a great tradition of top-quality public-service radio broadcasting. In fact, the main guest on WNYC earlier in the morning was none other than Hillary Clinton talking about her new book. All I can say is that if WNYC's good enough for her, then it's good enough for me, Liz and Furry Logic.