Radiolab: "Blood"

Episode Date: July 31, 2013
Hosts: Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich
Producer: WNYC Studios

Overview

In this episode, Radiolab embarks on a journey through the world of blood—both real and symbolic. The hosts explore the substance’s physical, cultural, scientific, and economic dimensions, asking: What makes blood so powerful a symbol? How do attitudes shift when science examines its secrets? And what happens when a "gift of life" becomes a billion-dollar business?

The story flows across fake movie blood, HIV-infected art exhibits, Shakespearean metaphors, mad science with transfusions, anti-aging research, and the surprisingly market-driven world of modern blood banking.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

I. The Art of Blood—Real and Fake

[03:00–09:00]

• Begins with a visit to Christian Tinsley, a Hollywood bloodsmith specializing in creating fake blood for films. Hosts marvel at the variety: “Black blood, clear blood, green blood, vibrant blood, dark blood.”
• Christian demonstrates how fake blood is deployed in movies—sometimes using tools like a condom full of blood or knives rigged with blood tubes.
• Memorable quote (Robert):

  “It's the chintziest trick I've ever seen. But it's a classic approach.” (05:00)

• Despite knowing it’s fake, hosts experience real physical reactions—nausea, faintness—revealing blood's innate power over the psyche.

II. Barton Benes: The Artist Who Made Blood Dangerous

[10:00–30:00]

• Focuses on Barton Benes, an artist in New York known for taboo-challenging collections: from mummified toes to infamous personal items.
• Benes, HIV-positive, initially avoids addressing AIDS in his art. A kitchen accident with his own blood sparks transformation.
  • Quote (Barton):

    “I was so freaked out... This is my blood, my kitchen, and I'm going through all this craziness. And that's when I thought, if I have this fear, you can imagine the fear that other people have.” (18:20)

• He creates "Lethal Weapons"—artworks containing his own HIV-infected blood (in toy guns, pacifiers, perfume atomizers), displayed behind glass. The work evokes intense fear and controversy, especially abroad in Sweden, leading to a police-ordered shutdown and bizarre “oven-baking” safety certification.
• Quote (Inger Thornberg, Swedish gallery director):

  “Within a day or two of the show opening, the authorities were here, telling me to close the doors, that by law they had to for the safety of people coming into the gallery.” (24:40)

• Reflects on the raw power and cultural meanings of blood, even as AIDS has become less terrifying over time.

III. Blood in Culture: From Shakespeare to Metaphor

[33:00–42:00]

• Transition to blood's historic symbolic resonance, guided by Shakespeare expert James Shapiro.
• Shakespeare’s works used animal blood on stage; the word “blood” is cited: “673 times in 571 speeches, in 41 of Shakespeare's plays and poems” (36:30).
• Blood as status ("good blood"), essence, lineage, and sometimes guilt—e.g., the macabre imagery in Macbeth and The Rape of Lucrece.
  • Quote (James Shapiro):

    “For most of us, this is just a metaphor. What I'm trying to say is for [Shakespeare’s] culture, blood was more than a metaphor.” (40:00)

IV. Historic Science: Searching for Blood’s Mystical Essence

[44:00–58:00]

• Science journalist Edward Dolnick recounts wild 17th-century Royal Society experiments: Could sheep’s blood calm a “madman”?
  • Human-to-animal and animal-to-animal transfusions attempted, inspired by the then-prevalent belief that blood carried temperament and essence.
  • Every experiment (cowardly dog to brave dog, old to young, skilled to unskilled) fails—“none...with any useful results” (57:30).
• Marks the gradual cultural shift from seeing blood as magical to scientific—reducing “essence” to biology.

V. New Science: The Secrets of Young and Old Blood

[58:00–1:19:00]

• Producer Lynn Levy pursues stunning new research on blood’s rejuvenative powers.
• At UCSF, Dr. Saul Villeda and others test what happens when young and old mice exchange blood:
  • Young mice given old blood perform worse on learning/memory tests; old mice given young blood improve cognitive function.
  • At cell level: Young blood increases formation of neurons in aged brains; old blood suppresses neuron growth.
  • Quote (Saul Villeda):

    “In a young animal, [there was] about a 25% decrease in those baby neurons.” (1:11:30)

  • Similar research at Harvard pinpoints a specific protein (GDF11) in blood that can shrink enlarged older mouse hearts.
  • Raises ethical and scientific questions—will “vials of baby blood” become sought after for human anti-aging?
  • Quote (Lynn Levy):

    “You can do the water maze better if you're full of young blood... Like crazy, right? It freaks me out a little bit.” (1:14:30)

VI. Blood Drives: Gift or Commodity?

[1:20:00–1:56:00]

• The narrative pivots on the tension between the cultural narrative of blood as a pure, selfless gift and the messy realities of the blood trade.
• Journalist Gilbert “Gil” Gaul investigates the true path of donated blood, prompted by an offhand curiosity while donating. He’s met with secrecy and resistance.
• Blood’s history: Once donated (US Red Cross model) and paid (private clinics), with paid blood quickly associated with lower quality and disease risk—hence, modern eradication of paid donation in most of the US.
  • Quote (Scott Carney):

    “It was a dirty, dirty business... There is something sacred about blood, it's not a commodity.” (1:38:15)

• Yet, behind the scenes, donated blood is bought and sold (as high as $300/unit in hospitals), marked up as it trades through blood centers—a process often resembling financial arbitrage.
• Real-world implications: After 9/11 and similar disasters, overwhelming donations lead to waste as blood expires, and later shortages when donors feel they’ve “done their part.”
• Calls for transparency: Perhaps blood is best understood as a precious pharmaceutical raw material—and that reality doesn’t mean people shouldn’t give.
  • Quote (Molly Webster):

    “Maybe we need to let a little bit of that gift image go...but I would still donate. I don't think I care.” (1:54:10)

  • Quote (Douglas Starr):

    “It’s not simply a gift... It's a drug, a precious raw material... And when I stopped to think about how powerful this pharmaceutical really was, I kind of decided maybe I should give.” (1:55:00)

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Christian Tinsley (Bloodsmith):
  “Black blood, clear blood, green blood, vibrant blood, dark blood...there are catalogs for blood.” [04:30]
• Laurel Reuter (Benes' friend):
  “It was taboo... In another cabinet, he had Adolf Hitler’s teaspoon, a severed human toe.” [13:00]
• Jad Abumrad (Host):
  “He saw his own HIV-infected blood and was so viscerally terrified that he ran out of the room.” [20:40]
• Inger Thornberg (Swedish curator):
  “She had people coming into the gallery yelling, ‘This is not art. How dare you. And you sell it for money. What is this?’” [26:00]
• James Shapiro (Shakespearean):
  “673 times in 571 speeches, in 41 of Shakespeare's plays and poems.” [36:30]
• Edward Dolnick (Science Writer):
  “Suppose you have a dog taught to fetch, and you put his blood into a common ignoramus dog. Will the simpleton dog suddenly be pointing out ducks to his master? No. No, that didn’t work.” [56:10]
• Saul Villeda (Neuroscientist):
  “A young animal gets it. The old guys, they're just not getting better. But that's where the blood came in.” [1:05:00]
• Gil Gaul (Journalist):
  “I probably reacted like, ‘What?’” (On first learning donated blood is marked up and sold) [1:48:00]

Segment Timestamps

• Fake Blood in Films: 03:00–09:00
• Barton Benes & “Lethal Weapons”: 10:00–30:00
• Blood in Shakespeare & Metaphor: 33:00–42:00
• Royal Society's Blood Experiments: 44:00–58:00
• Young vs. Old Blood Science: 58:00–1:19:00
• Gift vs. Business: Blood Banks: 1:20:00–1:56:00

Tone

Playful, reflective, at times irreverent, always curious. Hosts approach taboo, discomfort, and scientific marvels with equal parts humor and seriousness, giving voice to awe, skepticism, moral unease, and the fainting spells blood can bring.

Summary Takeaway

"BLOOD" traverses fake gore to very real stakes: from art that provokes fear, through centuries-old superstitions and scientific discoveries, to the gritty economics of donation. In doing so, the episode probes why blood’s mere presence unsettles, unites, and sometimes divides—with the message that, however we frame it, blood’s power is as much about us as about what flows through our veins.

Further Listening

Tracks from the band Lucius used in the episode are available as free downloads via radiolab.org.