Outside/In

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After the Avalanche May 12, 2022

Show notes

On a bluebird day in April of 2019, Snow Ranger Frank Carus set out to investigate a reported avalanche in the backcountry of Mt. Washington. He found a lone skier, buried several feet under the snow. The man was severely hypothermic, but alive.

Wilderness EMTS can work for decades and never encounter this particular situation, and what happened next was an attempted rescue that people in Northern New England are still learning from.

What happens when a rescue goes wrong? And how do first responders cope when an opportunity to save someone’s life slips through their fingers?

Featuring: Denise Butler, Frank Carus, Jeff Fongemie, Nicholas Weinberg

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LINKS

Read the Mount Washington Avalanche Center’s final report on Nick Benedix’s death.

Learn more about avalanche safety here.

Read the Wilderness Medical Society Journal article about this incident here.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by: Jessica Hunt

Mixer: Taylor Quimby

Editing by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi, with help and feedback from Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Erika Janik, Sam Evans-Brown, Jimmy Gutierrez, and Christina Philips.

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Special Thanks to: Matt Dustin, Ty Gagne, Frank Hubbell, and Andrew Parrella.

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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Call of the Void Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

A few weeks ago our host, Nate Hegyi, was on the edge of a very high cliff in Utah’s Zion National Park when he heard a little voice inside his head whisper… “jump.”

He didn’t heed the call, thankfully, and when he got down safely he discovered that more than a third of all people might feel this urge, ominously known as “the call of the void.”

Most of us can wave off these impulses. But what if you couldn’t? What if the call of the void was so intense that you almost acted? Is there a cure?

This episode contains a contextual reference to suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, anxiety, or just needs someone to talk to, reach out to the folks at the Crisis Text Line, a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.

Featuring: Jennifer Hames, Stephen Hunt

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

Hey folks – we’re working on some stories about electric vehicles, and we’re looking to hear from you. Are you interested in going electric? Wish there was better charging infrastructure where you are? Or would you prefer sticking with the car/truck you’re used to?

Tell us what you think about EVs, and help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

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LINKS

This 2020 study, in BMC Psychiatry, looks at the prevalence of high place phenomenon and whether it’s connected to suicidal ideation.

Read Jennifer Hames’ paper in The Journal of Affective Disorders on the “call of the void”: “An urge to jump affirms the urge to live: an empirical examination of the high place phenomenon.”

The Imp of the Perverse, by Edgar Allen Poe

Marconi Union, “Weightless”

Listen to our previous episode “Even Hikers Get The Blues”

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by: Nate Hegyi.

Mixer: Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby

Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, Felix Poon and Rebecca Lavoie.

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by Marconi Union, Sour Mash, Dew of Light, Gavin Luke, and Christopher Moe Ditlevsen.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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The So-Called Mystery of Rapa Nui (AKA Easter Island) Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

Three hundred years ago on Easter Sunday, 1722, European explorers landed on a South Pacific island that they called “Easter Island.” And they were shocked to see nearly one-thousand giant statues of stoic faces, called “moai”, placed all over the island.

Who moved them? And how did they do it?

The most popular theory was that this remote civilization destroyed itself – cutting down all the trees to make contraptions for moving statues.

But according to the Indigenous people of Rapa Nui, their ancestors didn’t need to cut down any trees to transport the statues. In fact, their oral history has always been clear about how the moai were transported. The real mystery is, why hasn’t anyone been listening?

This story originally ran in October 2021, and was updated for the 300th anniversary of first contact between Rapanui and European peoples.

Featuring: Sergio Rapu Haoa, Carl Lipo, Terry Hunt, Sergio Mata’u Rapu, and Gina Pakarati

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LINKS

A profile of Sergio Rapu Haoa for the 2002 Rotary World Peace Scholars program at Berkeley

Eating Up Easter -- a documentary film produced by Sergio Mata’u Rapu, about how the people of Rapa Nui are grappling with environmental and social changes brought on by tourism and economic development.

The NOVA-National Geographic Documentary

A team of 18 volunteers move a 10-foot 5-ton statue for the NOVA-National Geographic documentary, Mystery of Easter Island
A figurine animation demonstrating five different theories of moai-transport through the years.
Mystery of Easter Island -- The NOVA-National Geographic Documentary in its entirety

Lectures by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo

CREDITS

Reported and produced by Felix Poon

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Mixed by Felix Poon

Additional Editing: Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, Rebecca Lavoie, and Erika Janik

Special thanks to Effie Kong, and Daniela Allee for her Spanish and Rapanui voiceovers.

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions

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How to Build a Solar-Powered Website Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

Like most modern publications, Low-tech Magazine has a website. But when you scroll through theirs, you’ll notice an icon in the corner: the weather forecast in Barcelona.

That’s because Kris Decker, the creator of Low-tech Magazine, powers the site off a solar panel on his balcony. When the weather gets bad, the website just… goes offline.

In a way, the solar-powered website is an experiment: an attempt to peel back the curtain and to reveal the infrastructure behind it, and to raise questions about our relationship with technology. Should everything on the internet be accessible, all the time? Could progress mean choosing to live with less?

Featuring Kris De Decker.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

We’re working on a series about electric vehicles, and we’re looking to hear from you. Would you consider going electric? What do you think about the EV transition?

Help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Low-tech Magazine has published instructions on how to build a low tech or solar-powered site.

Solar Protocol, a solar-powered platform designed with the idea that “it’s always sunny somewhere!”

HTTP Archive tracks the history of web performance.

Re: that time it rained inside the data center.

This website lets you measure the emissions of any website (including this one).

Photographer Trevor Paglen’s images of undersea Internet cables (reportedly wiretapped by the NSA), and a video of sharks nipping at them.

Another example of the natural world interfering with computers, from the cutting room floor: the world’s first computer bug was a literal bug.

When Senator Ted Stevens described the internet as a “series of tubes,” many have opined that he actually wasn’t wrong.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Producer: Justine Paradis

Editor: Taylor Quimby

Additional editing: Nate Hegyi, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon

Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Special thanks to Melanie Risch.

Music: Pandaraps, Damma Beatz, Dusty Decks, Harry Edvino, Sarah the Illstrumentalist (sic), and Blue Dot Sessions.

The “Internet is a Series of Tubes” remix was created by superfunky59 on Youtube.

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Frankenfish Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

Lake trout are on life support in Lake Michigan. They rely on intense breeding and stocking by federal fisheries. There was a breakthrough last summer, though, that could help bolster the lake trout’s recovery. A geneticist successfully mapped the lake trout genome: an outline of the fish’s genetic makeup. The genome will help biologists understand why some “strains” of trout have a higher survival rate.

But could it also be used to create a sort of super-trout? And is that a good thing? Or is conservation-based gene editing a step too far?

Featuring: Mark Walton, Roger Gordon, Chuck Madenjian, Seth Smith, Marty Kardos and Kim Scribner.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

Tell us what you think about EVs, and help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Check out more episodes of Points North, and their special series: [Un]Natural Selection

Listen to our previous episode “The Particular Sadness of Trout Fishing in America”

CREDITS

This episode of Points North was written and produced by Patrick Shea

Hosts: Dan wanschura and Morgan Springer

Editor: Morgan Springer

Consulting editor: Peter Payette

Music for this episode by Max Dragoo, Marlin Ledin, Santah, and Blue Dot Sessions

Outside/In is produced by Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon

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Outside/Inbox: You Can't Get Further Outdoors than Space Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, the final frontier of the outdoors: space! From rocket particles, to ominous theories about what might happen if we ever make contact with aliens, we’re launching into uncharted territory to answer your questions about outer space.

And speaking of uncharted territory, we’re kicking this episode off with a very important introduction: our new host Nate Hegyi is picking up the mic for the first time.

Question 1: How do I become a backyard astronomer? Here are seven Tips for getting started.

Question 2: How sustainable is space travel?

Question 3: What is the ‘Dark Forest’ theory?

Question 4: Would the hare-brained scheme from 'Don't Look Up' actually work?

Do you have a question about the natural world? Submit it to the Outside/Inbox! Send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or call our hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.

Featuring: Susan Rolke, Jennifer Willis, Martin Ross, Jonathan Yaney, and Amy Mainzer

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

Tell us what you think about EVs, and help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

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Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

LINKS

Find an astronomy club near you

Want some digital stargazing help? Try an app like Star Walk 2 or Stellarium.

Check out the sounds of space.

Learn more about the company Spinlaunch, which is trying to use centrifugal force to launch rockets into space, and watch their Orbital Accelerator concept video.

Does more efficient sometimes mean more emissions? Read up on Jevon’s Paradox.

Are we alone? Like, really alone? Learn about the Drake Equation to find out.

Go down a wikipedia wormhole on The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin.

Don’t Look Up seems like it’s about a comet, but it’s actually about climate change.

Simulate a world ending comet collision with the Earth Impact Effects Program.

CREDITS

Reported and produced by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, and Justine Paradis

Host: Nate Hegyi

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Additional editing by Justine Paradis and Cori Princell

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Mixed by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, and Justine Paradis

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Howard Harper-Barnes, Jerry Lacey, Jules Gaia, and Blue Dot Sessions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holy Scat! Why Antlers Are Freaking Amazing Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

Antler tissue is the fastest growing animal tissue on the planet. It grows faster than a human embryo, faster even than a cluster of cancer cells. On a hot summer day, some antlers can grow as much as one inch per day! And buried inside them is a cocktail of nutrients that both animals and humans are itching to get their paws on.

In summary: Antlers are freaking amazing. So in this episode of Outside/In, we’ve invented a new segment just to highlight them. We’re calling it Holy Scat! and it’s our way of exploring all the things about the natural world that make us totally geek out.
For our inaugural adventure, we learn about how antlers grow so fast, meet a collector who covers hundreds of miles searching for them, AND find out why scientists hope antlers could unlock new treatments for osteoporosis. Plus, we’ll tell you a whole herd of awesome deer factoids, and answer the eternal question: are Santa’s reindeer males or females?

Featuring Henry Ahern, Will Staats, Brendan Lee, and Tomas Landete-Castillejos. Special thanks to Chris Martin and Dave Anderson of Something Wild, who inspired this episode!

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LINKS

Check out the episode of the NHPR podcast Something Wild that inspired this story!

Stanford scientists identified genes behind rapid antler growth. Read more here.

Watch a video describing the research on glioblastoma cells.

Good footage of an antler shoving match.

Graphic Video Warning! If you want to see what an emergency velvet antler amputation looks like, here you go.

Reporting on MMA Fighter George Sullivan’s one year suspension for the use of Velvet Antler supplements

Is the Coronavirus in Your Backyard? A New York Times report on coronavirus in animal populations (and especially, in deer)

An article from Smithsonian detailing what may be the first case of coronavirus to spread from a deer to a human

CREDITS

Produced and researched by Jessica Hunt and Taylor Quimby

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Edited by Taylor Quimby and Rebecca Lavoie

Mixed by Taylor Quimby

Additional editing: Felix Poon and Nate Hegyi

Special Thanks to Cindy Downing and David Hewitt

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Arthur Benson and Claude Signet

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Immigrant Apple and The Hard Cider Comeback Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

Forget about beer, or even water; it was hard apple cider that was THE drink of choice in colonial America. Even kids drank it! And since it’s made from apples – the “all-American” fruit – what could be more American than cider?

But apples aren’t native to America. They’re originally from Kazakhstan.

In this episode we look at the immigration story of Malus domestica, the domesticated apple, from its roots in the wild forests of Central Asia, to its current status as an American icon. And we look at how apples and cider were used in some of America’s biggest migrations – from Indigenous tribes who first brought apples west across the continent, to the new immigrants who are using hard cider to bridge cultures and find belonging.

Featuring Soham Bhatt and Susan Sleeper-Smith.

Special thanks to everyone Felix spoke to at the Cider Days Festival, including Ben Watson, Charlie Olchowski, and Bob Sabolefski.

LINKS

How to Make Hard Cider

George and Ursula Granger: The Erasure of Enslaved Black Cidermakers, by Darlene Hayes.

An Apple Commons: reflections by cidermaker Melissa Maddens on what it means to forage from wild apple orchards – relics of this country’s history of dispossessing Indigenous people of their lands.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Subscribe to our free newsletter.

Follow Outside/In on Instagram and Twitter.

Join our private podcast discussion group on Facebook.

CREDITS

Produced and mixed by Felix Poon

Edited by: Taylor Quimby

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Additional editing: Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Rebecca Lavoie

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Jharee, Kevin MacLeod and Blue Dot Sessions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the Tofurkey is Going On with Fake Meat? Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

Move over, beef: there’s a new burger in town. Plant-based meats are sizzling hot right now; in 2020 alone, the alternative meat industry saw a record $3.1 billion in investment, with 112 new plant-based brands launching in supermarkets. These juicy, savory, chewy fake burgers are a far cry from the dry, weird-tasting veggie patties of the past.

In this episode, Gastropod co-hosts Nicole Twilley and Cynthia Graber visit the Impossible Foods labs to swig some of the animal-free molecule that makes their meatless meat bleed, try fungal food start-up Meati's prototype "chicken" cutlet, and speak to the scientists and historians who compare these new fake meats to their predecessors—and to real meat!

Can a plant-based sausage roll be considered kosher or halal? Are plant-based meats actually better for you and for the environment? And how might a mysterious protein-powerhouse fungus named Rosita help feed the world?

This episode was reported and produced by our friends at Gastropod.

Featuring Aymann Ismail, Celeste Holz-Schietinger, Malte Rödl, Tyler Huggins, and Raychel Santo.

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Read Aymann Ismail’s piece on the debates surrounding plant-based pig substitutes in Muslim communities here.

Celeste Holz-Schietinger, the VP of Product Innovation at Impossible Foods, featured in Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business in 2020.

Malte Rödl is a researcher in environmental communications at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His PhD thesis is titled “Categorising Meat Alternatives: how dominant meat culture is reproduced and challenged through the making and eating of meat alternatives.”

Tyler Huggin’s company, Meati, which he started after “auditioning” thousands of fungus species and finally a protein powerhouse he and his team nicknamed “Rosita.”

Raychel Santo studies how plant-based meats measure up against animal meats in terms of both nutritional and environmental impacts. Read the full paper she and her colleagues wrote here.

CREDITS

Gastropod co-hosts: Nicola Twilley and Cynthia Graber
Produced by Sonja Cho Swanson
Outside/In team: Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Ludwigs Steirische Gaudi and Jackson F. Smith

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Even Hikers Get The Blues Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

When Jocelyn Smith was growing up, she told her friends and family she didn’t want to go to college. Instead, her goal was to hike all 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail, a rugged journey spanning from northern Georgia to central Maine. Last year, she finally realized that dream in a seven-month long, life-changing adventure.

But as soon as she started her descent from the last mountain summit, she started to wonder… what now? What did all of this mean? For the thousands of people who “thru-hike” the world’s longest trails, this is actually a well-known phenomenon. They call it “the post-trail blues.''

If getting out into nature is supposed to be restorative, why do so many long-distance hikers report feeling depressed after they finish? In this episode, we explore how an epic hike turns into a new identity, and ask why some of the biggest achievements of our lives can leave us feeling strangely empty.

Featuring Jocelyn Smith, Shalin Desai, Joseph Robinson, and Anne Baker.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, reach out to the folks at the Crisis Text Line, a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

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LINKS

Jocelyn Smith’s blog for The Trek

Shalin Desai’s piece about diversity on the trail, originally published in A.T. Journeys, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy magazine.

More information about the life and music of Earl Shaffer, the first known person to have thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail from end-to-end.

Anne Baker’s article for The Trek, titled Post-Trail Depression: It’s Not What You Think

Our previous episode on Baxter State Park, featuring ultramarathoner Scott Jurek: “Champagne on The Rocks”

CREDITS

Produced and mixed by Taylor Quimby

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Edited by Rebecca Lavoie

Additional editing: Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, Felix Poon, and Rebecca Lavoie

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, River Foxcroft, Dew of Light, Golden Age Radio, Matt Large, and Earl Shaffer.

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