NPR's to Launch New Six-Part Series ''Body Electric''

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, October 2, 2023 | 3:28pm CT

''Body Electric''

NPR will launch "Body Electric" on October 3, a special six-part interactive series investigating the relationship between technology and our bodies - and how we can improve it. TED Radio Hour host Manoush Zomorodi explores how our bodies are adapting and changing to meet the demands of the Information Age, including why, within a generation, half the world's population will be nearsighted and why the rate of young people with Type 2 diabetes has doubled in the last 20 years.

In an era when 92% of jobs require digital skills and nearly 85% of jobs are sedentary, NPR says "Body Electric" explores what it would take to shift a culture oriented towards sitting and looking at screens.

As part of the series, NPR is working with Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Columbia researcher Keith Diaz,PhD, and colleagues think they have found the least amount of movement needed to offset the harms of our sedentary habits. But, will their research pan out in the real world? Podcast listeners will have the opportunity to participate in answering this question. The results will be shared in the series finale on November 7. The deadline to sign up is Sunday, October 8 at 11:59pm ET.

Zomorodi looks back at how evolving economies and tools -- from the invention of the chair to the personal computer -- morphed human anatomy over the centuries. She visits the first myopia treatment clinic in the U.S., a center founded by a Chinese ophthalmologist who struggled to convince her American colleagues that screen time contributed to nearsightedness and that doctors can do more than just prescribe glasses. Throughout, Zomorodi speaks with neuroscientists and psychologists who are mapping new connections between the body and brain that can help explain why so many of us feel physically and mentally overloaded all the time.

New episodes of "Body Electric" will drop on Tuesdays in NPR's TED Radio Hour podcast feed. Morning Edition will also air a weekly segment highlighting "Body Electric."