You Might Also Like: The Deep End

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What if your discovery of a natural gene editing mechanism launched a revolution?

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What if your abstract math proofs had unexpected connections to the real world?

SPEAKER_1 (0:11)

What if your Nobel Prize-winning work on the expanding universe was just the beginning of the story?

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And what if you joined us, Steve Strogatz and Jana Levin, to learn about all of this and much more on one podcast?

SPEAKER_1 (0:25)

Listen to season 5 of Quantum magazine's The Joy of Why. New episodes drop every other Thursday, starting June 11th.

Laura Sanders (0:40)

Jules Rodriguez has always had a lot to say. He has talked to kids as their science teacher.

He's talked about his life for years on a podcast he created with his wife.

Jules Rodriguez (0:58)

Hey everyone, it's been a while and I am so excited to be back.

Laura Sanders (1:01)

He even does some of the most terrifying talking I can imagine. He performs in front of crowds as a stand-up comedian.

Jules Rodriguez (1:10)

I have to pick my battles. Do I want to be right or do I want to eat tonight?

Laura Sanders (1:15)

His wife, Maria Alejandra Fernandez, who goes by MA., says that Jules' voice is one of her very favorites.

Maria Alejandra Fernandez (1:23)

Oh man, I definitely love hearing Jules' voice. Not just saying that, but I do.

Laura Sanders (1:28)

Jules was born and raised in Miami. He and MA have a nine-year-old son named Skyler.

Jules loves baseball. He loves the Marlins. He loves being outside. He loves action.

Jules Rodriguez (1:43)

I was always pretty high energy. I loved mountain biking, snorkeling, fishing, and playing all sports, really.

Baseball is my favorite sport to play and watch.

Laura Sanders (1:55)

The night Jules and MA met, they were doing karaoke at her 30th birthday party.

Maria Alejandra Fernandez (2:01)

A friend introduced us, and it was kind of a sort of a love at first sight situation. We danced. We sang.

Laura Sanders (2:12)

Jules' karaoke song choice was a classic that no millennial can resist. It was Sir Mix-A-Lot's Baby Got Back.

Maria Alejandra Fernandez (2:19)

Baby Got Back, yeah. That one he got up there and sang with a couple of his friends. It was like him and his three other buddies that were there with him. And oh, that was just so joyous.

And we had karaoke at our wedding as well, so we've always loved to sing, to dance. We took ballroom dancing classes. We like danced at every wedding, all of it. So, yeah.

Laura Sanders (2:45)

You have a good time.

Maria Alejandra Fernandez (2:46)

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Laura Sanders (2:48)

Yeah. One more thing about Jules.

That's short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease or motor neuron disease. Jules has lived with ALS since 2020 Many of his muscles no longer respond to his brain signals, which means he can't move his body or breathe on his own. This drought signal between brain and body also means that Jules is no longer able to talk. That line you heard earlier from Jules.

Jules Rodriguez (3:28)

I was always pretty high energy.

Laura Sanders (3:30)

That was an AI generated synthetic voice speaking his words. His voice as it used to exist is gone.

Welcome to season two of The Deep End, a podcast about our brains and ourselves. I'm your host, Laura Sanders, a reporter with Science News. And this season called Talk To Me is about the human voice.

SPEAKER_7 (3:58)

The casual observer sees little of the vigorous activity at the site of voice production.

Patrick Darling (4:04)

The voice is absolutely an integral part of your identity.

Kate Nilsson (4:08)

Do you want to talk? Your voice is you.

SPEAKER_9 (4:22)

My poor little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream.

Laura Sanders (4:36)

Voices can be powerful. We save and replay voicemails. Hey dude, I'm just calling to say hi and chit chat. We call someone special just to hear their voice. Hello. Hello. We love to hear people tell stories. Mom, can you tell me a story? But why? What is it inside these voices that can calm us down or terrify us or have us laughing so hard we're gasping for air? I did. In this season, we're going to explore a simple but deep question. What gives the human voice so much power?

You're going to hear all sorts of voices. They'll tell a story of what connects us and what happens when those connections are lost.