Human beings have developed hundreds of cultural expressions to face or understand death. And it has done so since the most ancient times: mythologies, stories, legends, lights at the end of the tunnel, poems, obituaries… The only certain thing in life is death.
Today’s story is the sum of more than two years of interviews and research. A journey that begins with a YouTube video: Antonio Osuna was working in the United States until he returned to Europe to study the behaviors of the cockatoos of Tanimbar – a group of 66 islands in Indonesia – capable of something as surprising as opening a coconut with a leaf. But within its three branches of research, one of them is the presence of the concept of death in other animal species. What if humans are not the only ones who understand what death means? What interpretations and rituals exist in other species? In this episode we delve precisely into the different ways in which other species coexist with death.
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What is Ultraviolet Catastrophe?
Ultraviolet Catastrophe is a podcast by Antonio Martínez Ron, Javier Peláez and Javi Álvarez that tries to bring the world of science closer together through the most diverse areas of knowledge. Each episode is a sound experience that offers an approach to reality from unexpected perspectives and a good dose of humor.
From a technical point of view, each installment is also a small artistic composition, since it has original settings and music for each episode, sometimes staged in the old spirit of radio theater and sound shows. Everything to embark on a mental and sensory journey that transmits the love of science and the feeling that the world is yet to be discovered.
Released in early 2014 and winner of an Ondas award, Catastrofe Ultravioleta is a pioneering podcast in Spanish, with a huge community of followers. An innovative project that explores the sound format to tell stories, whose return arouses great expectations.
The fourth season of Ultraviolet Catastrophe can be heard on elDiario.es in early 2026.
