Humans kill about one point five billion pigs a year. Pigs come from china, and traditionally they were kept in yards. They were confined to specific areas, but able to move around. In the last 50 or so years we've been farming them in factories where they can't exercise their bodies or their minds. On factory farms, pigs can't play with straw. Straw gunks up the drainage. And i think if you get the chance to see pigs, even by a kind of natural environment, it does alter our perspective.
This week, we explore new scientific research behind: pigs! They have far more sentience and complexity than we give them credit for. Chief features writer Henry Mance joins to discuss how pigs and other animals think and feel, and the bigger questions around how we farm and eat them. Then, we look at a New York City architectural phenomenon: skinnyscrapers. Architecture critic Edwin Heathcote tells us about these new, super-thin towers that shoot up more than a quarter of a mile into the sky. How does a city’s architecture reflect its identity?
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Want to say hi? We love hearing from you. Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.
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Links and mentions from the episode:
– Henry Mance’s article: ‘What cutting-edge science tells us about pigs’: https://on.ft.com/3MEe6Cz
– Henry’s book is called How To Love Animals: In A Human-Shaped World
– Edwin Heathcote on 111 W 57th and Manhattan’s skinnyscrapers: https://on.ft.com/3aMIehZ
– Henry Mance is on Twitter @henrymance, and Edwin is at @edwinheathcote.
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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