Stay ConnectedA show where curiosity and the natural world collide. We explore science, energy, environmentalism, and reflections on how we think about and depict nature, and always leave time for plenty of goofing off.
Outside/In is a production of NHPR.
Learn more at outsideinradio.org
Copyright: © New Hampshire Public Radio
For the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring the issue of human remains collections for our miniseries, “What Remains.” Today, we want to share another excellent series that has covered some similar, but also, very different ground.
Introducing “Postmortem: The Stolen Bodies of Harvard,” the latest season of Last Seen from WBUR.
In this first episode, the police find buckets of body parts in a basement in Pennsylvania. Throughout the series, WBUR reporter Ally Jarmanning tells us what happened at Harvard, and how an elite university became a stop on a nationwide network of human remains trading.
It’s an excellent series, and a perfect follow-up to What Remains. If you want to hear the rest of the episodes afterwards, listen and follow Last Seen wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode of Last Seen: Postmortem was hosted and reported by Ally Jarmanning. It was edited by Dave Shaw and Beth Healy, with additional editing from Katelyn Harrop and Frannie Monahan Mixing and sound design. Paul Vaitkus. Last Seen’s Managing Producer is Samati Joshi. Executive Producer is Ben Brock Johnson.
Also, we have something new from NHPR’s award-winning Document team. Listen to “Emilia’s Thing,” a story of survival and resilience in the wake of January 6th. To listen, click here.
A scholar and an activist make an uncompromising ultimatum. A forgotten burial ground is discovered under the streets of New York City. In Philadelphia, two groups fight over the definition of “descendant community.”
Featuring Michael Blakey, Lyra Monteiro, Chris Woods, aAliy Muhammad, Wendell Mapson, Sacharja Cunningham, Jazmin Benton, Amrah Salomon, and Aja Lans.
MORE ABOUT “WHAT REMAINS”
Across the country, the remains of tens of thousands of human beings are held by museums and institutions. Scientists say they’ve helped lay the foundations of forensic science and unlocked the secrets of humanity’s shared past.
But these bones were also collected before informed consent was the gold standard for ethical study. 19th and 20th-century physicians and anthropologists took unclaimed bodies from poorhouses and hospitals, robbed graves, and looted Indigenous bones from sacred sites.
Now, under pressure from activists and an evolving scientific community, these institutions are rethinking what to do with their unethically collected human remains.
Outside/In producer Felix Poon has informally gained a reputation as the podcast’s “death beat” correspondent. He’s visited a human decomposition facility (aka, “body farm”), reported on the growing trend of “green burial,” and explored the use of psychedelic mushrooms to help terminal cancer patients confront death.
In this three-episode series from Outside/In, Felix takes us to Philadelphia, where the prestigious Penn Museum has promised to “respectfully repatriate” hundreds of skulls collected by 19th century physician Samuel George Morton, who used them to pursue pseudo-scientific theories of white supremacy. Those efforts have been met with support by some, and anger and distrust by others.
Along the way, Felix explores the long legacy of scientific racism, lingering questions over the 1985 MOVE bombing, and evolving ethics in the field of biological anthropology.
Can the institutions that have long benefited from these remains be trusted to give them up? And if so, who decides what happens next?
LINKS
You can find our full episode credits, listen to our back catalog, and support Outside/In at our website: outsideinradio.org.
A classroom display of human skulls sparks a reckoning at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. A movement grows to “abolish the collection.” The Penn Museum relents to pressure. More skeletons in the closet.
This episode contains swears.
MORE ABOUT "WHAT REMAINS"
Across the country, the remains of tens of thousands of human beings are held by museums and institutions. Scientists say they’ve helped lay the foundations of forensic science and unlocked the secrets of humanity’s shared past.
But these bones were also collected before informed consent was the gold standard for ethical study. Now, under pressure from activists and an evolving scientific community, these institutions are rethinking what to do with their unethically collected human remains.
In this three-episode series from Outside/In, producer Felix Poon takes us to Philadelphia, where the prestigious Penn Museum has promised to “respectfully repatriate” hundreds of skulls collected by 19th century physician Samuel George Morton, who used them to pursue pseudo-scientific theories of white supremacy. Those efforts have been met with support by some, and anger and distrust by others.
Along the way, Felix explores the long legacy of scientific racism, lingering questions over the 1985 MOVE bombing, and evolving ethics in the field of biological anthropology.
Can the institutions that have long benefited from these remains be trusted to give them up? And if so, who decides what happens next?
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
The Morton Cranial Collection
The MOVE bombing and MOVE remains controversy
You can find our full episode credits, listen to our back catalog, and support Outside/In at our website: outsideinradio.org.
A 1,500 year old skeleton is diagnosed with tuberculosis. A visit to a modern-day bone library. A fight over the future of ethical science.
MORE ABOUT "WHAT REMAINS"
Across the country, the remains of tens of thousands of human beings are held by museums and institutions. Scientists say they’ve helped lay the foundations of forensic science and unlocked the secrets of humanity’s shared past.
But these bones were also collected before informed consent was the gold standard for ethical study. 19th and 20th-century physicians and anthropologists took unclaimed bodies from poorhouses and hospitals, robbed graves, and looted Indigenous bones from sacred sites.
Now, under pressure from activists and an evolving scientific community, these institutions are rethinking what to do with their unethically collected human remains.
Outside/In producer Felix Poon has informally gained a reputation as the podcast’s “death beat” correspondent. He’s visited a human decomposition facility (aka, “body farm”), reported on the growing trend of “green burial,” and explored the use of psychedelic mushrooms to help terminal cancer patients confront death.
In this three-episode series from Outside/In, Felix takes us to Philadelphia, where the prestigious Penn Museum has promised to “respectfully repatriate” hundreds of skulls collected by 19th century physician Samuel George Morton, who used them to pursue pseudo-scientific theories of white supremacy. Those efforts have been met with support by some, and anger and distrust by others.
Along the way, Felix explores the long legacy of scientific racism, lingering questions over the 1985 MOVE bombing, and evolving ethics in the field of biological anthropology.
Can the institutions that have long benefited from these remains be trusted to give them up? And if so, who decides what happens next?
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
The Smithsonian’s ‘Bone Doctor’ scavenged thousands of body parts (Washington Post)
Medical, scientific racism revealed in century-old plaque from Black man’s teeth (Science)
America’s Biggest Museums Fail to Return Native American Human Remains (ProPublica)
Read about Maria Pearson, the “Rosa Parks of NAGPRA” and how she sparked a movement. (Library of Congress Blogs)
Read Olga Spekker’s paper on SPF15, “The first probable case with tuberculous meningitis from the Hun period of the Carpathian Basin.”
Listen to our episode about so-called body farms, “Life and Death at a Human Decomposition Facility.”
You can find our full episode credits, listen to our back catalogue, and support Outside/In at our website: outsideinradio.org.
When KALW’s Marissa Ortega-Welch hit the Pacific Crest Trail, she used her preferred method of navigation: an old-fashioned trail map. But along the way, she met a couple who only used phones to guide them, a Search and Rescue team that welcomes the power of GPS, and a woman who has been told her adaptive wheelchair isn't allowed in official wilderness areas (not actually true).
So… does technology help people access wilderness? Or does it get in the way?
This week’s episode comes to us from “How Wild” produced by our friends at KALW Public Media. In this seven-part series, host Marissa Ortega-Welch charts the complex meaning of “wilderness” in the United States and how it’s changing. Marissa criss-crosses the country to speak with hikers, land managers, scientists and Indigenous leaders – people who spend every day grappling with how ideas about wilderness play out in the hundreds of designated wilderness areas across the U.S.
LINKS
Check out more episodes of “How Wild” here.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook
HOW WILD CREDITS
How Wild is created and executive produced by Marissa Ortega-Welch.
Edited by Lisa Morehouse. Additional editing and sound design by Gabe Grabin.
Life coaching by Shereen Adel. Fact-checking by Mark Armao.
How Wild is produced in partnership with KALW Public Media, distributed by NPR and made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the NEH. This podcast is produced in Oakland, California…on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ohlone. Learn more about the Indigenous communities where you live at native-land.ca
OUTSIDE/IN CREDITS
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio is Rebecca Lavoie
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Kate Dario and Marina Henke.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Perhaps you’re familiar with our Outside/Inbox hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER. Anyone can leave us a voicemail sharing questions about the natural world, and we periodically answer them on the show.
A few weeks ago, it came to our attention that we hadn't gotten a new voicemail in some time. Turns out our hotline has been bugging out for at least six months, and we have a lot of catching up to do.
So, we present: Outside/Inbox, the lost voicemails edition.
Featuring Stephanie Spera, with contributions from Ariel, Joe, Carolyn, Maverick, Jarrett, Eben, a rooster, and a closet (?) full of snakes.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.
Subscribe to our newsletter for occasional emails about new show swag, call-outs for listener submissions, and other announcements.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
This is the study Marina mentioned with a comparative life cycle assessment of hand dryers vs. paper towel dispensers.
If you want to learn more about chronic wasting disease, Nate recommends listening to Bent Out of Shape, a three-part series from KUNC. For a quick read, here’s a fact sheet from the CDC.
Listen to Outside/In’s behind-the-scenes journey into a human decomposition facility, aka “body farm,” reported by Felix Poon.
If you’ve been to Acadia National Park in Maine and taken photos of the fall foliage anytime since 1950, you can participate in research about how climate change is shifting the timing of peak foliage. Contribute your pictures of the autumn leaves to the Acadia National Park Fall Foliage Project here.
Many are predicting that fall 2024 will be a banner season for spectacular foliage, including our colleagues at NHPR’s Something Wild. Plus, here’s more on the dynamics of fall foliage, precipitation, and anthocyanin.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported by Justine Paradis, Nate Hegyi, and Marina Henke.
Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis.
Edited by Taylor Quimby
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Our staff also includes Kate Dario.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Brigham Orchestra, Guustavv, Katori Walker, John B. Lund, and Bonkers Beat Club.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Editor's note: A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated that Forest Park is the biggest public park in the United States. It is the biggest in St. Louis, Missouri and arguably bigger than Central Park. The audio and transcript have been updated.
In the early 1900s, people didn’t trust refrigerated food. Fruits and vegetables, cuts of meat… these things are supposed to decay, right? As Nicola Twilley writes, “What kind of unnatural technology could deliver a two-year old chicken carcass that still looked as though it was slaughtered yesterday?”
But just a few decades later, Americans have done a full one-eighty. Livestock can be slaughtered thousands of miles away, and taste just as good (or better) by the time it hits your plate. Apples can be stored for over a year without any noticeable change. A network called the “cold-chain” criss-crosses the country, and at home our refrigerators are fooling us into thinking we waste less food than we actually do.
Today, refrigeration has reshaped what we eat, how we cook it, and even warped our very definition of what is and isn’t “fresh.”
Featuring Nicola Twilley.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
You can find Nicola’s new book “Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet and Ourselves,” at your local bookstore or online.
CREDITS
Our host is Nate Hegyi.
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby.
Mixed by Nate Hegyi
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Kate Dario and Marina Henke.
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions. Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
For more than two hundred years Americans have tried to tame the Mississippi River. And, for that entire time, the river has fought back.
Journalist and author Boyce Upholt has spent dozens of nights camping along the Lower Mississippi and knows the river for what it is: both a water-moving machine and a supremely wild place. His recent book, “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi River” tells the story of how engineers have made the Mississippi into one of the most engineered waterways in the world, and in turn have transformed it into a bit of a cyborg — half mechanical, half natural.
In this episode, host Nate Hegyi and Upholt take us from the flood ravaged town of Greenville, Mississippi, to the small office of a group of army engineers, in a tale of faulty science, big egos and a river that will ultimately do what it wants.
Featuring Boyce Upholt.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
You can find Boyce’s new book The Great River, at your local bookstore or online.
The 2018 study which attributed increased engineering of the Mississippi as a greater influence to worsening floods on the river than climate change.
Check out Harold Fisk's 1944 now famous maps of a meandering and ever-changing Mississippi watershed.
The Mississippi Department of Archives & History has a remarkable collection of digitized photos from the 1927 flood.
To get a sense of the type of work being done on the Mississippi in modern day, a US Army Corps of Engineers video detailing concrete revetment on the Lower Mississippi.
Curious about recent controversy on the Mississippi? Read up on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion – a $3 billion coastal restoration project that will divert portions of the Mississippi’s flow in hopes of rebuilding lost land via sediment deposition.
CREDITS
Our host is Nate Hegyi.
Written and mixed by Marina Henke.
Editing by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi.
Our staff also includes Felix Poon and Justine Paradis. Our executive producer is Taylor Quimby. Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions, Martin Landstrom, and Chris Zabriskie. Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Helium is full of contradictions. It’s the second most abundant element in the universe, but is relatively rare on Earth. It’s non-reactive, totally inert—yet the most valuable helium isotope is sourced from thermonuclear warheads.
And even though we treat it as a disposable gas, often for making funny voices and single-use party balloons, our global supply of helium will eventually run out. That’s because, at a rate of about 50 grams per second, this non-renewable resource is escaping the atmosphere for good.
In this edition of The Element of Surprise, our occasional series about the hidden histories behind the periodic table’s most unassuming atoms, we examine the incredible properties and baffling economics of our most notable noble gas.
Featuring Anjali Tripathi and William Halperin.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter to get occasional emails about new show swag, call-outs for listener submissions, and other announcements.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
Read John Paul Merkle’s petition arguing to change the name of helium to “helion.”
Despite being about a quarter century old, this passage from “The Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve” has a pretty comprehensive list of the uses and properties of helium.
More on the recent sale of the Federal Helium Reserve (NBC News)
Physicist William Halperin said the idea of mining helium-3 on the moon was… unlikely… but that hasn’t stopped this startup company from trying it. (Wired)
Want to learn more about the weird history of American airships? Check out this film produced by the U.S. government in 1937, when they were still hoping to keep our airship program afloat.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing by Rebecca Lavoie, with help from Marina Henke and Justine Paradis
Our staff includes Felix Poon
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Ryan James Carr.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Jack Rodolico knows exactly what scares him. Sharks.
But here’s what he doesn’t get: if he’s so freaked out, why can’t he stop incessantly watching online videos of bloody shark attacks?
Why would he deliberately seek out the very thing that spooks him?
To figure it out, Jack enlists the help of other scaredy-cats: our listeners, who shared their fears about nature with us. Together, Jack and the gang consider the spectrum of fear, from phobia to terror, and what it might mean when we don’t look away.
Featuring Lauren Passell, Arash Javanbakht, Nile Carrethers, and Sushmitha Madaboosi.
This episode originally aired in October 2022.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our (free) newsletter for occasional merch drops and updates.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
Lauren Passell’s Podcast the Newsletter.
Related: why people love horror movies.
The ubiquity of smartphones means plenty of hair-raising amateur videos of shark attacks to get you started on your doomscrolling (warning: a couple of these are bloody).
If this image of an octopus freaks you out, you might share Lauren’s “fear of holes,” or trypophobia.
Learn more about augmented reality technology and other projects at Arash Javanbakht’s clinic.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Jack Rodolico
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Nate Hegy, and Jessica Hunt.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music for this episode by Silver Maple, Matt Large, Luella Gren, John Abbot and Blue Dot Sessions.
Thanks to everyone who sent in voicemails and memos, even the ones we didn’t play: Erin Partridge, Lauren Passell, Nile Carrethers, Michelle MacKay, Alec from Nashville, and Hillary from Washington.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
From the perspective of Western science, plants have long been considered unaware, passive life forms; essentially, rocks that happen to grow.
But there’s something in the air in the world of plant science. New research suggests that plants are aware of the world around them to a far greater extent than previously understood. Plants may be able to sense acoustics, communicate with each other, and make choices… all this without a brain.
These findings are fueling a debate, perhaps even a scientific revolution, which challenges our fundamental definitions of life, intelligence, and consciousness.
Featuring Zoë Schlanger.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.
Subscribe to our newsletter for occasional emails about new show swag, call-outs for listener submissions, and other announcements.
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LINKS
Zoë Schlanger’s book is called The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth.
“Everything Will Be Vine” is a great podcast episode from Future Ecologies featuring Zoë’s journey into the Chilean rainforest, where researchers are mystified by a once-overlooked vine.
Jagadish Chandra Bose was an Indian scientist who challenged the Western view of plants in the early 20th century. He studied electrical signaling in plants and argued that plants use language. Read about his life and work in Orion.
This is the now famous study by David Rhoades. Rhoades was derided for his “talking trees” theory, and only was proved correct after his death. Here’s an audio story which goes deeper on Rhoades.
Lilach Hadany, the scientist who likened a field of flowers to a “field of ears,” also recently found that plants produce sounds when stressed.
The study which found that plants respond to the sound of caterpillars chewing, a collaboration between Rex Cocroft and Heidi Appel.
The organization of the octopus nervous system is fascinating.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis.
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon and Marina Henke.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Special thanks to Rex Cocroft for sharing the recordings of leafhopper mating calls and chewing caterpillars.
Music by Mochas, Hanna Lindgren, Alec Slayne, Sarah the Illstrumentalist, Brendan Moeller, Nul Tiel Records, Blue Dot Sessions, and Chris Zabriskie.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
GPS is essential these days. We use it for everything – from a hunter figuring out where the heck they are in the backcountry, to a delivery truck finding a grocery store, to keeping clocks in sync.
But our reliance on GPS may also be changing our brains. Old school navigation strengthens the hippocampus, and multiple studies suggest that our new reliance on satellite navigation may put us at higher risk for diseases like dementia.
In this episode, we map out how GPS took over our world – from Sputnik’s doppler effect, to the airplane crash that led to its widespread adoption – and share everyday stories of getting lost and found again.
Featuring: Dana Goward, M.R. O’Connor, Christina Phillips, Michelle Liu, Julia Furukawa, and Taylor Quimby
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
In 2023, Google Maps rerouted dozens of drivers in Los Angeles down a dirt road to the middle of nowhere to avoid a dust storm.
Maura O’Connor traveled from rural Alaska to the Australian bush to better understand how people navigate without GPS – and sometimes even maps.
Here’s the peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Nature, that found that young people who relied on GPS for daily driving had poorer spatial memories.
Another study, out of Japan, found that people who use smartphone apps like Google Maps to get around had a tougher time retracing their steps or remembering how they got to a place compared to people who use paper maps or landmarks.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Katie Colaneri
Our team includes Marina Henke, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Once again, it’s that wonderful time when scientists everywhere hold their breath as the team opens the Outside/Inbox to answer listener questions about the natural world. Today’s theme is smell: how it works in the nose, the mind, and how much is still unknown about the fifth sense.
Question 1: Does it gross you out to know that every time you smell something, a little bit of that thing… is in your nose? What happens to the molecules we smell?
Question 2: Why do smells have such a powerful connection to memory?
Question 3: How do pheromones work in humans? Do ‘ideal mates’ really ‘smell better’ to us?
Question 4: Why does the smell of florals sometimes precede a migraine?
Question 5: What’s anosmia?
Featuring Rachel Herz, Bob Datta, Katie Boetang, and Tristram Wyatt, with thanks to Stephanie Hunter.
Outside/In seeks your questions for an upcoming Outside/Inbox.
What questions should the Outside/In team explore about the U.S. presidential election? What do you want to know about what this election means for climate change or environmental regulation? Maybe you’ve got questions about Project 2025, or maybe you’re curious about presidential transitions more generally.
You can send your questions to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a voicemail on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.
Subscribe to our newsletter for occasional emails about new show swag, call-outs for listener submissions, and other announcements.
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LINKS
Rachel Herz is the author of several books, including “Why You Eat What You Eat” and “The Scent of Desire.”
Tristram Wyatt is the author of “Pheromones and Animal Behavior.”
Katie Boetang hosts The Smell Podcast.
More on the connections between smell, memory, emotion, and health, featuring Bob Datta and Herz.
In the 1990s, one company claimed to have found human sex pheromones and tried to market them for use in perfumes.
Research on the connection between olfactory loss and depression, smell triggers for migraines, and an explanation of how COVID-19 causes loss of smell.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis, Catherine Hurley, and Felix Poon, with help from Marina Henke.
Edited by Taylor Quimby
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Daniel Fridell, Caro Luna, Lofive, bomull, Jahzarr, Mindme, and John B. Lund.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Redwood National and State Parks are home to giants: coast redwoods that can grow as tall as a thirty-story building. These ancient California forests support hundreds of different species, and store more carbon than any other forest on the planet. But in the last century, 95% of them were felled by loggers.
Now, scientists have discovered a surprising strategy to foster the next generation of old-growth redwoods… and it involves chopping some of the younger trees down.
This week’s episode comes to us from “THE WILD with Chris Morgan,” produced by our friends at KUOW. Chris has got an infectious enthusiasm for the natural world, and the podcast has an immersive sound that makes it feel like you’re standing right under the redwoods with him.
LINKS
Check out more episodes of THE WILD at https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/thewild
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
THE WILD CREDITS
THE WILD is a production of KUOW and Chris Morgan Wildlife, with support from Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek. It is edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Theme music is by Michael Parker.
OUTSIDE/IN CREDITS
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio is Rebecca Lavoie
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Marina Henke. Our intern is Catherine Hurley.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Will Simone Biles live up to her moniker as greatest gymnast of all time? Will Lebron James and Team USA continue to dominate men's basketball? And will the Paris 2024 Games be the most sustainable in modern Olympic history?
While billions of viewers tune in for the drama of athletes competing on a global stage, climate scientists are tuning in to Paris's climate promises – from the locally sourced catering and carbon neutral Olympic cauldron, to head-scratching “solutions” like a sidewalk made of seashells, and not installing air conditioning in athletes’ housing.
Are these solutions making a difference? Or is it plain and simple greenwashing? We put these questions to the test in this episode on the XXXIII Olympiad. Let the games begin!
Featuring Martin Müller.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
Read Martin Muller’s paper evaluating the sustainability of summer and winter Olympic games from the past 3 decades.
Listen to Civics 101’s episode on the politics of the Olympic Games.
Check out scenes from Olympic opening ceremonies from London 1908 to Rio 2016.
Watch a timelapse video of construction of the temporary beach volleyball venue in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Read up on fun Olympics trivia, like what the most common surname of athletes is, and about the time two athletes who tied for second place cut their silver and bronze medals and fused them together to make two “friendship medals.”
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby.
Our staff includes Justine Paradis and Marina Henke.
Our intern is Catherine Hurley.
Our Executive producer is Taylor Quimby.
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR's Director of On-Demand Audio.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Joe E. Lee, Jay Varton, Arthur Benson, Philip Ayers, Kikoru, Trabant 33, and Phoenix Tail.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
You might not think much about the sticky bottle of vanilla sitting in the back of your pantry. But that flavor – one of the most common in the world – has a fascinating history, involving a fickle orchid and a 12-year-old enslaved boy who made the discovery of a lifetime.
That’s the sort of tale that attracts poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil. From peacock feathers to the sounds of garden insects, her work is known for magnifying the wonders of the natural world. Her latest book of essays, “Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees,” explores the unexpected connections between food, memory, and community.
So take a seat and pour yourself an aperitif, as Aimee Nezhukumatathil shares a few of these miniature morsels with Outside/In host Nate Hegyi: a three-course meal of grape jelly, sweet nostalgia, and just a hint of vanilla bean.
Featuring Aimee Nezhukumatathil
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CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Nate Hegyi
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Marina Henke, Felix Poon and Catherine Hurley
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Introducing the newest series from NHPR’s award-winning Document team: “The Youth Development Center.” New Hampshire has sent its most troubled kids to the same juvenile detention center for more than a century. It's a place that was supposed to nurture them, that instead hurt them – in some of the worst ways imaginable. It's now at the center of one of the biggest youth detention scandals in American history. How did this happen – and how did it finally come to light?
The rest of the series is available now: listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
This episode includes content that may not be suitable for young listeners. If you have suffered abuse and need someone to talk to, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. If you’re in a mental health crisis, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8.
Maybe you’ve looked at the sky on a clear night and spotted the International Space Station, a tiny white dot gliding through the stars. Maybe it felt special, a rare glimpse of a human-made satellite in space.
But what if you were to look up at the sky and see more visible satellites than stars? What if the Big Dipper and Orion were drowned out by a satellite traffic jam, criss-crossing through space?
A growing number of astronomers are sounding the alarm about such a possibility, even within the next decade. A new space race is already well underway. Commercial satellite traffic in low Earth orbit has skyrocketed in recent years, with more satellites launched into space than ever before. The majority of these satellites are owned and operated by a single company: Starlink.
Featuring Samantha Lawler, Jonathan McDowell, Aaron Boley, and Roohi Dalal, with thanks to Edward Oughton.
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LINKS
Here’s a link to the most popular proceedings in the FCC docket, and a step-by-step guide for submitting your own comments (this guide was compiled for a previous filing by an advocacy group which includes Samantha Lawler).
COMPASSE, or the Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment, also stays up-to-date on FCC procedures.
In this episode, Nate and Justine looked at this 3D rendering of satellite constellations around the globe, including GPS and Starlink.
Space Data Navigator has nice visualizations of the number of launches, satellites, and debris over time, which relies in part on Jonathan McDowell’s data.
Aaron Boley’s article in Nature, “Satellite mega-constellations create risks in Low Earth Orbit, the atmosphere and on Earth.”
A talk by Samantha Lawler about Kuiper belt objects and the challenges to astronomy posed by sharp increase in satellites.
An open-access paper which found that internet from satellite mega-constellations could be up to 12-14 times more emission-intensive than terrestrial broadband.
For more from Outside/In on the “earth-space environmental system,” check out our episode on property rights in airspace and space-space, this one on the element of aluminum, and an oldie-but-a-goodie on geoengineering.
A piece on the cutting room floor: the risk that you’ll get hit by satellite debris falling back to Earth is quite low… but the risk that someone will get hit is rising.
Here’s a global map of light pollution, and a tool to find dark sky sites near you.
On the issue of orbital crowding, there have been a couple notable traffic jams in space. Last month, a decommissioned Russian satellite disintegrated in low Earth orbit, posing potential risks to astronauts on board the ISS. In 2019, an important weather-monitoring satellite had to dodge a Starlink satellite, a fuel-expensive maneuver. In 2021, Starlink and OneWeb debated what really happened when their satellites passed within 190 feet of each other in orbit.
A note on space regulation
Our episode did not cover all the groups regulating space. At a global level, this includes the UN’s International Telecommunication Union and the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs. Within the United States, the Office of Space Commerce also plays a role, in addition to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Music in this episode came from Victor Lundberg, Lofive, Harbours & Oceans, Spiegelstadt, Curved Mirror, Silver Maple, Wave Saver, Cobby Costa, and From Now On.
The blue whale calls were recorded by NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Consider the potato.
The typical potato is not all that pretty. They can be beige and lumpy, dusty and speckled, and on top of that, they even sprout alien-like tentacles. Further, no one really knows what to make of the potato. Is it a vegetable, or so starchy that we should really consider it a grain?
It’s time for answers. The Outside/In team ventures into the potato patch and presents three stories on this “fifth most important crop worldwide.”
Part 1: An artist vaults the humble potato to luxury status.
Part 2: A deliberation on the potato’s true place in the food pyramid – or, that is, on “MyPlate.”
Part 3: When his mom was diagnosed with cancer, producer Felix Poon’s dad found a way to help her: fresh-squeezed potato juice.
Featuring Laila Gohar, Kristina Peterson, and Paul Poon.
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LINKS
Laila Gohar wrote about her potato party, and the Marie-Antoinette-era rebrand of the potato, in her column for the Financial Times.
For more details on the French pharmacist who transformed the potato’s image, check out this Atlas Obscura piece.
For a vinegary and vegetable-forward potato salad, Justine recommends this recipe from the great Deb Perelman.
Taylor recommends these vegan Bombay potatoes and peas (this is the closest recipe he could find online to the book recipe he uses at home).
Felix recommends trying Sichuan stir-fried potatoes from an authentic Sichuan Chinese restaurant if you haven’t had it before, and then give this Woks of Life recipe a try.
If you find yourself near the U.S.-Mexico border, Nate recommends you try some carne asada fries. Here’s a good recipe if you want to try them at home.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Mixed by Nate Hegyi, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon.
Editing by Executive Producer Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Our intern is Catherine Hurley.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Patrick Patrikios.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Episode art courtesy of Laila Gohar.
Ed Yong’s writing about the pandemic in Atlantic Magazine was read by millions of Americans. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for his coverage.
But behind the scenes, he was struggling with burnout, anxiety and depression.
Host Nate Hegyi sits down with Ed for a conversation about how he decided to step back from pandemic reporting, the benefits (and possible drawbacks) of birdwatching for mental health, and the unexpected club that’s bringing two halves of his life together.
Featuring Ed Yong.
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LINKS
Ed wrote an eerily predictive story about how America was not prepared for a pandemic in 2018.
You can find a link to all of Ed’s reporting for Atlantic Magazine here.
A description of “spoon theory” in Psychology Today.
For more information about the Spoonbill Club, check out Ed’s newsletter.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Taylor Quimby, with help from our intern, Catherine Hurley
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradise and Felix Poon
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
During their twelve seasons as winter rangers in Yosemite National Park, Rob and Laura Pilewski have learned a thing or two about what it means to love a place – and a person.
This episode comes to us from the wonderful folks at The Dirtbag Diaries, another podcast that features stories about conservation, epic adventures, and more.
Featuring Rob and Laura Pilewski
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CREDITS
Host of The Dirtbag Diaries: Fitz Cahall
This episode was reported, produced and edited by Lauren DeLaunay Miller
Mixing by Evan Phillips
The Dirtbag Diaries Executive Producer: Becca Cahall
Music from Jacob Bain & Nis Kotto, Brian Bombadil, Joya, Roma 49, Garland, and Brendan O’Connell
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon. Catherine Hurley is our intern.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
What do wolves, waste-water treatment plants, and the Gulf Stream have in common? This episode, that’s what! It’s that wonderful time when we comb through all your wonderful questions and call up some scientists to help us answer them. Some of the more unlikely things that get brought up include dinosaur pee, abandoned shopping carts, and wolves preying on cheese curds.
Here’s what’s on the docket:
Featuring Eric Odell, Alice Ren, and Sri Vedachalam.
SUPPORT
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Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby.
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Baegul, Hatamitsunami, and King Sis.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Every December, during the Christmas Bird Count, tens of thousands of volunteers look to the skies for an international census of wild birds.
But during migration season, a much smaller squad of New York City volunteers take on a more sobering experience: counting dead birds that have collided with glass buildings and fallen back to Earth.
In this episode, we find out what kind of people volunteer for this grisly job, visit the New York City rehab center that takes in injured pigeons, and find out how to stop glass from killing an estimated one billion birds nationwide every year.
Featuring Melissa Breyer, Linda LaBella, Gitanjali Bhattacharjee, Katherine Chen, and Tristan Higginbotham
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LINKS
Want to see the migration forecast? Check out Birdcast.
Want to be a citizen scientist and report dead birds? Check out dBird.
Want to see volunteer Melissa Breyer’s photos of dead birds? Check out Sad Birding.
More about Project Safe Flight.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing by Rebecca Lavoie and Nate Hegyi.
Our staff includes Justine Paradis and Felix Poon
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
The Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC is sometimes called “the people’s zoo.” That’s because it’s the only zoo in the country to be created by an act of US Congress, and admission is free.
But why did our federal government create a national zoo in the first place?
Producer Felix Poon has the scoop – from its surprising origins in the near-extinction of bison, to a look at its modern-day mission of conservation, we’re going on a field trip to learn all about the National Zoo.
Featuring Kara Ingraham, Daniel Frank, and Ellie Tahmaseb.
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William Hornaday founded the National Zoo, but his legacy is complicated, to say the least. Environmental journalist Michelle Nijhuis contemplates whether he’s a “villainous hero or heroic villain” (PBS).
“A Chinese cigarette tin launched D.C.’s 50-year love affair with pandas” tells the origin story of pandas at the National Zoo (The Washington Post).
The story of Ota Benga, the man who was caged by William Hornaday in the Bronx Zoo (The Guardian).
Environmental writer Emma Marris imagines a world without zoos in her opinion essay, “Modern Zoos Are Not Worth the Moral Cost” (NYTimes).
We looked at the court case of Happy the elephant in our 2022 Outside/In episode, “Et Tu, Brute? The Case for Human Rights for Animals.”
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby.
Our staff includes Justine Paradis
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Thanks to Nick Capodice for performing William Hornaday voiceovers.
Music by Bluedot Sessions and Jules Gaia
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
While digging a well in 1750, a group of workers accidentally discovered an ancient Roman villa containing over a thousand papyrus scrolls. This was a stunning discovery: the only library from antiquity ever found in situ. But the scrolls were blackened and fragile, turned almost to ash by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Over the centuries, scholars’ many attempts to unroll the fragile scrolls have mostly been catastrophic. But now, scientists are trying again, this time with the help of Silicon Valley and some of the most advanced technology we’ve got: particle accelerators, CT scanners, and AI.
After two thousand years, will we finally be able to read the scrolls?
Featuring Federica Nicolardi, Brent Seales, Youssef Nader, Arefeh Sherafati, and Julian Schilliger.
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LINKS
The Vesuvius Challenge is not over. Find out more here.
Check out more pictures of the scrolls and the process of “virtual unwrapping” at the Digital Restoration Initiative website, or watch Brent Seales lecture about his technique.
A 60 Minutes story (2018) focusing on the conflict between Seales and scholars Vito Mocella and Graziano Ranocchia.
A replica of the marble floor discovered by Italian farmworkers in 1750.
A video illustrating the process of “virtual unwrapping” with a jelly roll.
Contestant Casey Handmer’s blog post detailing his identification of the “crackle signal” to the ink.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Music in this episode came from Silver Maple, Xavy Rusan, bomull, Young Community, Bio Unit, Konrad OldMoney, Chris Zabriski, and Blue Dot Sessions.
Volcano recordings came from daveincamas on Freesound.org, License Attribution 4.0 and felix.blume on freesound.org, Creative Commons 0.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
The Colorado River – and the people that rely on it – are in a state of crisis. Climate change and overuse are taking a significant toll. Seven states must compromise and reach a solution to prevent the river from collapsing.
In late 2023, tensions were running high between the major players in the water world as they convened at the annual Colorado River conference in Las Vegas. LAist Correspondent Emily Guerin was there, seeking to learn as much as she can about the people with the most power on the river, including a sharply-dressed 28-year-old from California.
This episode comes to us from the podcast Imperfect Paradise, which is releasing a whole series on the Colorado River water crisis.
SUPPORT
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Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
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LINKS
Agriculture uses a lot of the Colorado River - what if we replaced that farmland with solar panels?
Speaking of farms, most of the crops raised with Colorado River water don’t go to people. They go to cows.
CREDITS
This episode was written and reported by Emily Guerin
Imperfect Paradise host: Antonia Cereijido
Fact-checking by Gabriel Dunatov.
Mixing and Imperfect Paradise theme music by E. Scott Kelly with additional music by Andrew Eapen.
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Outside/In Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradis and Felix Poon
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
You might associate it with the foil that wraps leftover pizza and the shiny craft beer cans sold in breweries, but aluminum is literally everywhere. Scoop up a handful of soil or gravel anywhere on Earth, and you’ll find atoms of bonded aluminum hidden inside. Over the past 150 years, that abundance has led production of the silvery metal to skyrocket (pun intended) and created an industry responsible for 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
But even before it was used in everything from airplanes to deodorant, the trade of aluminum minerals helped color the world, finance the Vatican, and led to the mass collection of human urine.
In this episode, we’re piloting a new segment called “The Element of Surprise.” It’s all about the hidden histories behind the periodic table’s most unassuming atoms, isotopes, and molecules. And we’re kicking things off with aluminum.
Editor's note: A previous version of this episode misstated the number of Allied casualties during a 1943 bombing campaign against a German cryolite factory, claiming all but one of 180 bombers were destroyed. In actuality, all but one of 180 bombers returned home safely. The episode has been corrected.
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The World Economic Forum has published a number of studies and articles on the need to decarbonize the aluminum industry and the promising technologies that might help us get there.
A few years ago, Alcoa announced plans to build a new aluminum smelting plant in Maniitsoq, Greenland. PBS’s POV released a documentary about how people there reckoned with the island’s colonial past as the project progressed, stalled, and eventually collapsed.
The National Park Service has a fun little read about the Washington Monument’s aluminum tip.
Sean Adams, at the University of Florida, wrote an excellent recap of the U.S. government’s antitrust case against aluminum giant Alcoa.
Here’s another one from Foreign Policy about how industrial cartels and monopolies helped Hitler gain power.
Check out Charlie Halloran’s “The Alcoa Sessions,” to imagine what kind of music might have been played during Alcoa’s cruise voyages between New Orleans and Jamaica between 1949 and 1959.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, mixed, and produced by Taylor Quimby
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing by Rebecca Lavoie, with help from Nate Hegyi and Felix Poon
Our staff includes Justine Paradis
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Ryan James Carr, and L.M. Styles
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
When officials commissioned a set of updated hazard maps for Juneau, Alaska, they thought the information would help save lives and spur new development. Instead, the new maps drew public outcry from people who woke up to discover their homes were at risk of being wiped out by landslides.
What’s followed has been a multiyear project – not to address the challenges posed by climate-fueled landslides – but to alter, ignore, or otherwise shelve the maps that outline the threat in the first place.
Host Nate Hegyi visits Juneau to see one example of why, across the country, even the most progressive Americans are rejecting tough truths about climate change when it comes knocking at their own back door.
Featuring: Tom Mattice, Christine Woll, Eve Soutiere, and Lloyd Dixon.
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LINKS
You can check out Juneau’s new hazard maps, along with many of its neighborhood meetings, on their website.
Dive into why the insurance industry stopped providing landslide coverage to Southeast Alaska.
KTOO had a wonderful story on how a 1936 landslide that killed 15 people in Juneau became a faded memory.
Zach Provant, a researcher at the University of Oregon, spent months investigating the rollout of Juneau’s hazard maps.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Katie Colaneri
Editing help from Felix Poon and Justine Paradis
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
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
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
When it comes to protecting the biodiversity of Planet Earth, there is no greater failure than extinction. Thankfully, only a few dozen species have been officially declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the half-century since the passage of the Endangered Species Act.
But, hold on. Aren’t we in the middle of the sixth mass extinction? Shouldn’t the list of extinct species be… way longer? Well, yeah. Maybe.
Producer Taylor Quimby sets out to understand why it’s so difficult to officially declare an animal extinct. Along the way, he compares rare animals to missing socks, finds a way to invoke Lizzo during an investigation of an endangered species of crabgrass, and learns about the disturbing concept of “dark extinctions.”
Editor's Note: This episode was first published in October 2022. Since then, the US Fish and Wildlife Service officially delisted 21 of 23 proposed species due to extinction. The ivory-billed woodpecker was not one of them.
Featuring Sharon Marino, Arne Mooers, Sean O’Brien, Bill Nichols, and Wes Knapp.
Shirtless influencers on TikTok and Instagram have acquired millions of followers promoting the carnivore diet. They say studies linking meat consumption and heart disease are flawed — and plant foods are making people sick. "Western medicine is lying to you," says content-creator Dr. Paul Saladino, who co-owns a company selling desiccated cattle organs.
The online popularity of the carnivore diet is undeniable. Yet, no controlled studies have been published confirming its advertised benefits.
Our friends at WBUR’s podcast Endless Thread look at how social media cooked up the anti-establishment wellness trend.
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CREDITS
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Outside/In Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
This episode of Endless Thread was written and produced by Dean Russell and Ben Brock Johnson.
Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Endless Thread is a production of WBUR in Boston.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Hemp used to be a staple of life in America. King James I demanded that colonists produce it. Hemp rope and fabric were ubiquitous throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The USDA even produced a WWII newsreel called “Hemp for Victory.”
But other materials came to replace hemp – wood pulp for paper, and cotton and synthetics for fabric. Why?
For that matter, what is hemp? Is it different from weed? And does it actually have 25,000 uses as its proponents claim?
Featuring Hector “Freedom” Gerardo, David Suchoff, John Fike, and Danny Desjarlais.
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Learn more about how the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation has worked with hempcrete, and how they hope it’ll transform their economy (Grist).
The 2018 Farm Bill inadvertently led to a multibillion-dollar market of hemp-derived THC products. Twenty-two AGs are now calling on congress to fix the legal loophole that has “[forced] cannabis-equivalent products into our economies regardless of states’ intentions to legalize cannabis use.” (The Hill)
Cannabis sativa in the US only came to be called “marijuana” in the early 1900s, when the anti-cannabis movement wanted to link it to its “Mexican-ness.” But, as The Mysterious History Of 'Marijuana' (NPR Code Switch) explains, the etymological origins of “marijuana” are still debated: does it come from the Chinese word ma ren hua? Or the Bantu word for cannabis: ma-kaña? Or something else?
Hemp for Victory! (YouTube)
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, mixed, and produced by Felix Poon.
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Rebecca Lavoie
Our staff includes Justine Paradis.
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Special thanks to Fitsum Tariku, Director of the Building Science Centre of Excellence.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Mike Franklyn, Jules Gaia, Dusty Decks, and Rocket Jr.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
It’s that special time again! Scientists everywhere hold their breath as the team opens the Outside/Inbox and answers listener questions about the natural world. In this episode, we consider Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl, an impulsive goat purchase, and a big night for salamanders. Plus, we’re graced with Nate’s rendition of a Tom Waits song.
Questions:
Featuring Stephon Alexander, Luke Kemp, Chris Sturdy, and Sandi Houghton.
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LINKS
Check out these gorgeous visualizations created by the Mannahatta Project, which has since been renamed the Welikia Project.
Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl died after crashing into a building earlier this month. His autopsy revealed his body to be riddled with rodenticide and pigeon herpes, cementing his status as “a real New Yorker” for some observers. Still, building collisions, rat poison, and disease are all major risks for birds of prey in urban environments.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, and Justine Paradis
Mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Rebecca Lavoie
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Music by blacksona, Katori Walker, Bisou, Young Community, Diamond Ortiz, Brightarm Orchestra, Kevin MacLeod, Tellsonic, Walt Adams, and ProleteR.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
To save for retirement, common knowledge says to “diversify your portfolio.” Give your cash to a company so they can invest it into hundreds of other companies on the stock market. But unless you’ve gone out of your way to change it, your portfolio probably has little to do with your values.
For example, there are climate activists invested in fossil fuel companies. Staunch vegans putting some of their hard-earned income into Tyson Foods. On the flip side, there are climate deniers with money in Tesla!
So is there a way to save for retirement that’s both good for your pocketbook… and good for the planet?
Featuring: Timothy Yee, Clara Vondrich, Kelly Shue
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Divestment helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the coal industry, according to this white paper from the Harvard Business School. However, divestment can also backfire, according to this study from Yale.
Got a lot of time to kill? You can watch the recent SEC commissioner meeting where they voted to pass a weakened version of the climate disclosure rule.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradis and Felix Poon
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Editor's Note: This episode first aired in July, 2023
With 'Oppenheimer,' director Christopher Nolan turned the Manhattan Project into an Academy-Award-winning blockbuster. The film is set in Los Alamos, where the first atomic bomb was tested. But few people know the history of Carrizozo, a rural farming area downwind of the test.
Radioactive fallout from the bomb settled on everything: the soil, gardens, and drinking water. Cow’s milk became radioactive. Later, hundreds of people developed radiogenic cancers.
The people of Carrizozo were among the first people in the world exposed to a nuclear blast. More than 75 years later, their families are still fighting for medical compensation from the federal government.
Host Nate Hegyi traveled to New Mexico to visit the Trinity Site, and to hear the stories of so-called ‘downwinders.'
Featuring: Paul Pino, Tina Cordova, Ben Ray Lujan
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Read more about RECA (the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act) which passed in the U.S. Senate this March. (Idaho Capital Sun)
The federal government has produced a few studies on the fallout from Trinity. This one from Los Alamos found that there was still contamination in the area in 1985.
Another, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, produced one of the most in-depth histories of the fallout from Trinity and the government’s reaction.
The National Cancer Institute found that hundreds of people likely developed cancer because of the fallout.
The history of Trinity is full of strange little details, like the desert toads that were croaking all night.
You can find affidavits and first-hand accounts of the fallout from Trinity at the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium website.
This review by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists explains why it’s so hard to determine a definitive death toll for the USI bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jeongyoon Han
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
If you grew up with family members who pushed (or dragged) you onto the trail, chances are you have strong memories associated with hiking. Epic vistas… swarms of black flies… and your dad’s terrible homemade gorp.
Whether you grow up to see them as personal triumphs or family fiascos, those early adventures can shape your perception of the outdoors for life.
Can parents shape kids into hardcore hikers? And what happens when your best-laid plans go off the map?
Featuring Sarah Lamagna, Nick Capodice, Daisy Curtin, Niles Lashway, Sarah Raiche, Tiffany Raiche, and Phineas Quimby
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LINKS
If you liked Sarah Lamagna’s tips on how to hike with children, you’ll find more in her recently published guidebook.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Rebecca Lavoie
Our staff includes Justine Paradis and Felix Poon.
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, The New Fools, and SINY.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
A century ago, coastal dunes threatened to overwhelm the city of Florence, Oregon. The sand swallowed roads, highways, and houses. When “Dune” author Frank Herbert visited the area in 1957, he was stunned by the awesome power of the sand. Eventually, it inspired his fictional desert planet, Arrakis.
But now, the dunes that inspired “Dune” are disappearing.
To solve the sand problem, the US Forest Service planted dunes with non-native beachgrass, hoping its strong roots would keep the dunes in place. The strategy worked… too well. The grass spread, out-competing native species and transforming the dunes. At one popular spot, roughly 60% of what was once open sand is now gone.
Producer Justine Paradis traveled to the Oregon Coast to see the mountains of sand which inspired a sci-fi classic, and meet the people working to save them.
Featuring Dina Pavlis, Patty Whereat Phillips, and Jesse Beers.
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LINKS
These aerial photos demonstrate the dramatic changes in the Oregon dunes since 1941.
Dina Pavlis’ Secrets of the Oregon Dunes Facebook page
The Oregon dunes are the setting of an episode of “Lassie” (1964), in which a little girl gets lost in a sand storm. New hires at the Forest Service in Florence are shown this film during orientation.
The Siuslaw Public Library in Florence is home to the eclectic Frank Herbert collection, as reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting. These are books donated by Herbert’s daughter which he was reading at the time he wrote ‘Dune,’ and are available to the public. Fans make the pilgrimage to browse the collection, which includes titles on the desert, politics in the Middle East, computation, Scottish folk singing, rug hooking, and much more.
Frank Herbert originally visited Florence to research a proposed magazine article on the Forest Service’s dune, as reported on the Siuslaw News. His (unsuccessful) proposal, “They Stopped the Moving Sands,” can be read in “The Road to Dune.”
An episode of Endless Thread about the time a six-year-old boy fell into a tree hole (he’s fine now) in Michigan City, Indiana.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Katie Colaneri
Our team also includes Felix Poon.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Special thanks to Meg Spencer, Kegen Benson, Armand Rebischke, and Kevin Mittge.
Music by Sarah the Illstrumentalist, Elm Lake, Chris Zabriskie, and Blue Dot Sessions.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
In the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, dozens of strangers gathered together in the woods for three straight days. Their mission? Teach people of color how to kill, gut, and butcher a deer for the first time.
Producer Felix Poon was there as a first-time hunter. He wanted to know: what does it feel like to take an animal's life to sustain your own? Given the opportunity… would he pull the trigger?
In this episode we follow Felix out of his depth and into the woods, to find out if one weekend can convert a longtime city-dweller into a dedicated deer hunter.
Featuring Dorothy Ren, Brandon Dale, and Brant MacDuff.
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LINKS
Lydia Parker, executive director of Hunters of Color, discusses how to make the outdoors more equitable. (The Nature Conservancy)
Melissa Harris-Perry talks to Brandon Dale, the New York ambassador for the Hunters of Color organization, on WNYC’s The Takeaway.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Rebecca Lavoie.
Our staff also includes Justine Paradis
Taylor Quimby is our Executive Producer
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Hanna Lindgren, and Walt Adams.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Editor's note: This episode was first published in July, 2022.
Humans have had an impressive run thus far; we’ve explored most of the planet (the parts that aren’t underwater anyway), landed on the moon, created art and music, and made some pretty entertaining Tik Toks.
But we’ve survived on the planet for just a fraction of the time horseshoe crabs and alligators have. And we’re vastly outnumbered by many species of bacteria and insects.
So what is the most successful species on Earth? And how do you measure that, anyway?
From longevity and happiness, to sheer numbers, we put a handful of different organisms under the microscope in hopes of better understanding what exactly it means to succeed at life on a collective and individual scale.
Featuring: Stephen Giovannoni, Rashidah Farid, and Steward Pickett
SUPPORT
Check out Stephen Giovannoni’s paper: “SAR11 Bacteria: The Most Abundant Plankton in the Oceans”
An interesting treatise on adaptability: “Why crocodiles still look the same as they did 200 million years ago”
From the NSF: “The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA”
More food for thought: “The non-human living inside you"
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby
Editing by: Nate Hegyi, Rebecca Lavoie
Additional editing help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to everybody who answered our question at the top of the show: Josemar Ochoa, m Carey Grant, Butter Wilson, Tim Blagden, Robert Baker, Sheila Rydel, and Bob Beaulac.
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Jules Gaia
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is massive, bigger than the state of Florida. If it collapses, it could reshape every coast on this planet during this century. That’s why it’s sometimes known as “the Doomsday Glacier.”
And yet, until recently, we knew very little about it. Because Thwaites is extremely remote, reachable only by crossing the wildest ocean on the planet, scientists had never observed its calving edge firsthand.
In 2019, a ground-breaking international mission set out to change that, and writer Elizabeth Rush was on board to document the voyage. We caught up with her to learn about life on an Antarctic icebreaker, how she grappled with classic Antarctic narratives about exploration (and domination), and how she summons hope even after coming face-to-face with Thwaites.
Featuring Elizabeth Rush.
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LINKS
Our 2022 episode featuring Elizabeth Rush about community responses to sea level rise in Staten Island and Louisiana. If you’re interested in reading more about the journey to Thwaites, check out Elizabeth’s book, “The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth”.
A paper published in Nature with some of the findings from this voyage, showing that Thwaites has historically retreated two to three times faster than we’ve ever observed. Here’s the one detailing findings about Thwaites’ past extent, extrapolated from their study of ancient penguin bones, and another sharing observations about water currents beneath its ice shelf.
We also recommend “Encounters at the End of the World,” Werner Herzog’s (2007) documentary about science and community in Antarctica.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Nctrnm, Sometimes Why, FLYIN, Silver Maple, Chris Zabriskie, Ooyy, and the Weddell seals of Antarctica.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
A lot of discussion about sustainability revolves around the trash and waste we leave behind. But at some point, every human being will die and leave behind a body.
So what should we do with it? Casket? Cremation? Compost? And does our choice actually have a meaningful impact on the soils and skies around us?
Today, we’ve got another edition of our segment, “This, That, or the Other Thing”, where Outside/In’s unofficial decomposition correspondent Felix Poon investigates how we can more sustainably rest in peace. Featuring Regina Harrison, Katrina Spade, and Matt Scott
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Find how you can help with climate solutions by drawing your Climate Action Venn Diagram.
Learn more about Project Drawdown’s Drawdown Solutions Library.
Tag along on a visit to the Recompose human composting facility (Youtube).
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team includes Justine Paradis.
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
Once in a blue moon the Outside/In team opens up the mailbag and answers your questions about the natural world. This time, they all share a preoccupation with a particular hue: blue.
Come along as we learn about the differences between European and Aztec conceptions of the color blue, how construction workers build offshore turbine foundations under the deep blue sea, and why the most exciting picture astronauts took during Apollo 8 wasn’t of the lunar surface.
Questions:
Featuring Kai Kupferschmidt and Justin Alves.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Check out science journalist Kai Kupferscmidt’s book, “Blue: In Search of Nature’s Rarest Color”
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Taylor Quimby and Felix Poon
Our team also includes Justine Paradis
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Rebecca Lavoie
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of NHPR
For many, wild horses are a symbol of freedom, strength, and the American West. But to some they’re a symbol of colonialism and an ecological nuisance.
Host Nate Hegyi visits a rancher on the Blackfeet Reservation, where free-ranging horses have become more plentiful than deer. They’re outcompeting cattle for forage and putting livelihoods at risk. One potential solution? Slaughter.
In this episode, we dive deep into the history of eating horses – or not eating horses – and find out why this symbol of the American West is more divisive than you probably realized.
Featuring: Craig Iron Pipe, Tolani Francisco, Susanna Forrest
LINKS
Susanna Forrest has written all about the relationship between humans and horses – from riding them to eating them.
The Virginia Range wild horse herd has seen a substantial drop in population because of a fertility control campaign financed by a wild horse advocacy group.
There’s some great research from the University of New Mexico that shows how the domesticated horse made its way north from tribe to tribe in the 1500s.
You can learn all about how folks can adopt wild horses from the federal government here.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby
The Outside/In team includes Felix Poon and Justine Paradise.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Did you know that the humble pigeon is related to the dodo, makes milk (pigeon cheese, anyone?) and even played a role in the French Revolution? Surely this often-dismissed bird deserves some recognition.
Well, on this episode we’re diving deep into the biology and history of Nate’s favorite overlooked animal, as explored by the brilliantly titled (and produced) podcast, What The Duck?! This absolute gem is from the Australian Broadcast Company and hosted by Ann Jones. It is so chock-full of wild animal facts that it’s a miracle they can all be contained in less than 30 minutes.
So sit back and prepare to be wowed by a bird that haters love to hate, and a podcast so fun it could make you fall in love with a speck of dust.
Featuring Rosemary Mosco, Nathan Finger, Dr Robin Leppitt, April Broadbent, and pigeon fanciers Aaron and Aria.
SUPPORT
Listen to other episodes of What the Duck?! on Apple podcasts
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi. Our team includes Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon.
What the Duck?! Is produced and presented by Ann Jones, with Petria Ladgrove and additional mastering by Hamish Camilleri.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
In 1994, the world’s first oat milk company was born in Sweden. Three decades later, Oatly is on a high-stakes mission to defeat the dairy industry by becoming the biggest plant-based brand the world has ever seen.
So…can a start-up from Malmö save us all through capitalism? And how much damage is our affection for dairy doing to the planet? This week, we’re featuring the first of a three-part series from the wonderful folks over at The Europeans podcast.
SUPPORT
Listen to the rest of The Europeans series on Oatly here.
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
This episode was reported, written and produced by Katz Laszlo.
It was edited by Katy Lee and Justine Paradis, with editorial support from Margot Gibbs, Dominic Kraemer and Wojciech Oleksiak.
Mastering, scoring and sound design by Wojciech.
Artwork by RTiiiKA.
Outside/In’s staff includes Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon.
Even though you can explore its entirety from the comfort of a living room beanbag, the world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (commonly just referred to as 'Skyrim') is vast. The video game contains cities, villages, high waterfalls that cascade into deep pools, and packs of wolves that roam the edges of misty alpine forests. Skyrim is celebrated for the intricacy of its environment and is one of the top-selling video games of all time.
But if you spend enough time in a fantasy, it might change how you relate to the real world.
In this favorite Outside/In episode, first released at the start of the pandemic, producer Justine Paradis speaks with the environmental artist tasked with creating one of the video game world’s most iconic landscapes, the limits of environmental design, and how Skyrim shaped his view of the actual outdoors.
Featuring Megan Sawyer, Ana Diaz, and Noah Berry.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Editing help from Taylor Quimby, Erika Janik, Sam Evans-Brown, and Felix Poon
NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio is Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
It’s Outside/In’s annual winter “Surthrival” show, in which a panel of podcast and radio journalists serve up their personal tips for staying warm, cozy, and active all winter long. From ice-fishing to spicy novels, we’ve got suggestions that’ll get you outside when the adventurous spirit takes hold, and others for days when it’s too darn cold out.
This year, we’re joined by Berly McCoy, producer of NPR’s Shortwave podcast, Olivia Richardson, reporter for New Hampshire Public Radio, and Nick Capodice, co-host of Civics 101.
You can read our full list of suggestions on our website. We’d also love to hear from you! Send your suggestions, ideally as a voice recording, to outsidein@nhpr.org, or call our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER. We might even play them on the podcast or share your tips in our (free) newsletter.
Featuring Francis Tarasiewicz, Weather Observer at Mount Washington Observatory.
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LINKS
Learn more about the science and history behind wind chill.
Go to our website to read our full list of 12 tips for embracing winter.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Produced and mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Justine Paradis.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer.
Music for this episode by Fasion, Jules Gaia, Thea Tyler, Real Heroes, Mike Franklyn, Josef Bel Habib, Jharee, Jay Varton, DJ Denz The Rooster, Frigga, Ballpoint, Dusty Decks, and Arthur Benson.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
It’s tough to see your hometown portrayed in television and movies. New Englanders roll their eyes at overly quaint shots of church steeples and fall foliage. Minnesotans balk at the over-the-top accents in ‘Fargo.’ And now Montanans are struggling with the way the state is portrayed in the hit television series ‘Yellowstone.’
The show stars Kevin Costner as the gravelly-voiced patriarch of the Dutton ranching family. They own a sprawling cattle operation on the edge of Yellowstone National Park and they will do whatever it takes – including a whole lot of murder – to protect their way of life from wealthy outsiders.
But in the real world, Montanans are accusing the show of attracting wealthy outsiders to move to the state and change their way of life. Since the show first aired in 2018, home prices have nearly doubled, and – anecdotally – real estate agents are leaning on Yellowstone’s appeal to sell property.
Host Nate Hegyi and Rebecca Lavoie, television critic and head of podcasts at NHPR, dive deep into how a fake show is changing a very real place and what ‘Yellowstone’ gets right – and wrong – about Native Americans, women, and the West.
Featuring: Taylar Stagner, Maggie Slepian
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
As of December 2023, Certain Women is currently streaming for free on Tubi.
You can find Taylar Stagner’s criticism on books, television and more at High Country News.
Maggie Slepian wrote an essay about the impact of ‘Yellowstone’ on her hometown of Bozeman for Outside magazine.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby
The Outside/In team includes Felix Poon and Justine Paradise.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Northside and Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Some people think artificial intelligence is the best thing since sliced bread. Others say it’s the beginning of a science-fiction apocalypse. At COP28 – the U.N. Climate Change Conference – tech companies are saying AI is key to unlocking a more efficient future.
But what if the truth is less sensational than all that?
In this episode, how AI tools are helping and hurting efforts to curb climate change. From satellite-based flood maps to the growing energy cost of programs like ChatGPT, we’ll survey the use of artificial intelligence as a tool for climate action… and for climate distraction.
Featuring David Rolnick and Karen Hao
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
David Rolnick is one of the lead authors of this paper, called “Climate Change and AI: Recommendations for government action.”
Check out ChatNetZero, an AI climate chatbot that gives you references when it answers your questions.
A University of Washington researcher estimates the energy usage of ChatGPT (UW News)
After a Greenpeace report outlined how tech giants have worked with the fossil fuel industry, Google said it would no longer make AI tools to “facilitate upstream extraction” for oil and gas firms. (CNBC)
The Climate Summit Embraces A.I., With Reservations (New York Times)
COP28 president says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of fossil fuels (The Guardian)
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Rebecca Lavoie, NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Special thanks to Angel Hsu, and Sajjad Moazeni.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Most Americans can look down at their phone and see a prediction of the future. How is that even possible?
Well, this episode from Civics 101 is all about the weather – from early predictive methods and almanacs to the National Weather Service's modern-day practices of collecting, analyzing, and sharing a staggering amount of data.
Featuring Kris Harper and Felicia Bowser
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Check out more episodes from Civics 101.
Follow Outside/In on Instagram and X, or discuss episodes in our private listener group on Facebook.
CREDITS
This episode of Civics 101 was produced by Hannah McCarthy with Nick Capodice and Christina Phillips.
Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi. The team also includes Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon.
The executive producer of Civics 101 and Outside/In is Rebecca Lavoie.
Civics 101 and Outside/In are productions of New Hampshire Public Radio.
If you’ve got a question for the Outside/Inbox hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.
For humans, roads epitomize freedom. For wildlife, it’s a different story: a million animals are killed by cars every day in the US alone.
How did our infrastructure turn so deadly? And what are people trying to do about it?
In this episode, we look at how two very different species are impacted by roads. Along the way, we visit a turtle rescue clinic, hear about a celebrity cougar that was trapped in the Hollywood Hills, and find out what it took to fund what will soon be the world’s largest wildlife bridge.
Featuring Ben Goldfarb, Alexxia Bell, Natasha Nowick, and Michaela Conder.
SUPPORT
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Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
LINKS
From bears to badgers, and crocodiles in Florida to salamanders in Vermont – check out these videos of wildlife crossings in action across the country. (NYTimes)
Check out Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, by Ben Goldfarb.
Read more about The Turtle Rescue League in Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell, by Sy Montgomery.
Engross yourself in the stories of the National Park Service’s Puma Profiles of the Santa Monica Mountains.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon.
Edited by Taylor Quimby.
Our team also includes Justine Paradis.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer.
Music for this episode by Jay Varton, Rand Aldo, and Blue Dot Sessions.
Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
It’s time again for our listener mail roundup, and this week, the theme is bugs, bugs, and more bugs. We discover what’s happening inside the chrysalis of a monarch butterfly, find out why fruit flies seem to spontaneously generate from over-ripe fruit, and ask if meat-eaters really are sweeter to mosquitoes. Plus, a cautionary tale about leaving the window screens open.
Featuring Karen Oberhauser, Deidre Gibson, and Lyric Bartholomay.
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Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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LINKS
Learn more about our mosquito expert, Lyric Bartholomay, in this video about her and her work.
This National Geographic article has a good overview of bioluminescence, plus some great photos.
Consumer Reports details how it tests bug spray and lists some high-performing products.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
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 Judith Maloney, Carol Hillman, Ben Clark, Ben Watson, Charlie Olchowski, William Grote, and Bob Sabolefski.
Editor’s Note: This episode first aired in February of 2022.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
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LINKS
George and Ursula Granger: The Erasure of Enslaved Black Cidermakers, by Darlene Hayes.
An Apple Commons, reflections by 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.
Open Spaces Cider – Melissa Maddens’ cidery focuses on reparations and reconciliation for living off a land that was taken from Indigenous peoples.
CREDITS
Reported, produced and mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help by Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Rebecca Lavoie.
Host: Nate Hegyi
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music for this episode by Jharee, Kevin MacLeod and Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
If you’ve got a question for the Outside/In[box] hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.
According to our unscientific office poll, the annual changing of the clocks has all the popularity of a root canal. With few exceptions, people described the shift to and from Daylight Saving Time as disorienting, arbitrary, and unwelcome.
On a more existential level, winding the clocks back and forth reminds us that no matter how concrete minutes and hours may feel, the way we perceive time is fluid. Time flies when you’re having fun. A watched pot never boils.
So to celebrate (or perhaps protest) another year setting back the clocks, the Outside/In team has uncovered four mini-stories that will poke at, stretch, or even obliterate your perception of time. From “time expansion experiences,” to time-space synesthesia, to the slow-motion life of a fly, prepare for a totally different type of time warp.
Featuring Steve Taylor, Rhitu Chatterjee, Kevin Healy, Katherine Akey, and Patricia Lynne Duffy.
Depending on who you ask bats are either a favorite mascot of spooky season, a dangerous nuisance and vector for rabies, or a charismatic group of nocturnal mammals in need of protection.
So when Outside/In host Nate Hegyi moved to the countryside of Montana and discovered a colony of bats living in the siding of his new house, he was forced to make a decision. Evict the bats that pest control people suggest could be endangering his family? Or try and embrace his inner Bruce Wayne?
Featuring: Susan Tsang, Steph Holt, Mike Hegyi, Penny Hegyi, Christine Bellis
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.
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CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon and Justine Paradis
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
During disasters, people flock to social media to share warnings, coordinate in real time, and share images of the destruction. But others use the chaos of breaking news events to spread false information.
On today’s episode, we’re exploring the rise of fake news in the environmental space, from #HawaiiNotUkraine, to a news site spreading climate disinformation in Wyoming. Plus, we speak to the people fighting back, including a community fact-checker correcting earthquake disinformation on X.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
This article, written before Elon Musk took over X, profiled Celeste Labedz and some other folks fighting diisonfmration on social media (Poynter)
Check out Caroline Orr Bueno’s substack newsletter, Weaponized, and her piece about the #HawaiiNotUkraine hashtag.
Jem Bartholomew’s story about the sudden growth of a Wyoming news site that’s rife with climate disinformation (CJR)
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Jeongyoon Han
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi and Felix Poon.
Our staff also includes Justine Paradis.
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Become a sustaining member today. For $5 a month, we'll send you an Outside/In baseball cap. The first 250 people to donate during our fall fund drive will also receive a "ginkgo love" sticker. Support Outside/In today!
Flying is a mess. Underserved airports, a global pilot shortage, and incessant extra fees… not to mention, of course, the emissions.
But, in 2022, an aviation start-up debuted “the world’s first all-electric passenger plane.” They say that electric flight can help address not only emissions, but also entrenched problems in the entire aviation system. Can it?
Featuring Noah Karberg, Lynnette Dray, Dan Wolf, and Greg Davis, with appearances by Jim Goddard, Scott Genthner, Joe Urbanski, and Bill Guinee.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.
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LINKS
Why do airlines try to sell you credit cards? Because “airlines are just banks now.” (The Atlantic)
Experts told us the aviation system is, by and large, quite safe… but it might be more complicated. (New York Times)
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Music by bomull, Bill Vortex, Guustavv, Xavy Rusan, Bonkers Beat Club, Nul Tiel Records, Adelyn Paik, Shiruky, Uncle Bibby, Scott Gratton, and Blue Dot Sessions.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Become a sustaining member today. For $5 a month, we'll send you an Outside/In baseball cap. The first 250 people to donate during our fall fund drive will also receive a "ginkgo love" sticker. Support Outside/In today!
As of late, Endless Thread co-host Ben Brock Johnson has been obsessed with a rock in Wyoming, a lot like the protagonist of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
But you won't find Ben in the kitchen, making a replica of the rock out of mud and chicken wire. Instead, you'll find him and co-host Amory Sivertson in this episode, traversing Reddit and TikTok, YouTube, and the actual state of Wyoming to find out why hundreds of thousands of people have been drawn to a monolith that has so many names and meanings.
This episode is part of Endless Thread’s latest 4-part series called Parks!
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi. Our team includes Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon. Our Executive Producer is Rebecca Lavoie.
This episode of Endless Thread was produced by Ben Brock Johnson, co-hosted by Amory Sivertson, and produced by Samata Joshi, Grace Tatter, and Quincy Walters
It was mixed and sound-designed by Paul Vaitkus.
Endless Thread is a production of WBUR.
Outside/In is a production of NHPR.
Become a sustaining member today. For $5 a month, we'll send you an Outside/In baseball cap. The first 250 people to donate during our fall fund drive will also receive a "ginkgo love" sticker. Support Outside/In today!
Earlier this year, our host Nate Hegyi picked a fight with Ryan Zinke.
Zinke is the former Interior Secretary under Trump – the guy who rode into office on horseback. In the midst of an awful few days in June, when Canadian wildfire smoke blanketed the entire east coast, Zinke took to Twitter and argued that the solution was “active forest management.”
Nate assumed that was a political code word for more logging, something Republicans have been pushing for years. But instead of firing back, he decided to fact-check his assumptions and study up. Why are Canadian wildfires getting so intense? Is it possible to stop the smoke by logging the boreal forest? And what would Teddy Roosevelt have to say about this?!
Featuring Phil Higuera, John Vaillant, Ryan Zinke, and Courtney Shultz.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Check out our episode about prescribed burns (10X10: Pine Barrens).
The NPS has a good overview of how indigenous fire practices shaped North America.
“As Canada reels from wildfire, First Nations hope for larger role” (Al Jazeera)
CREDITS
Hosted, reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Rebecca Lavoie
Our team also includes Justine Paradis, Jeongyoon Han, and Felix Poon.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Help us celebrate our 250th episode by becoming a sustaining member today. For $5 a month, we'll send you an Outside/In baseball cap. The first 250 people to donate during our fall fund drive will also receive a "ginkgo love" sticker.
Support Outside/In today!
From Dante’s Peak and Twister, to the twin apocalypse movies Armageddon and Deep Impact, Outside/In senior producer Taylor Quimby was raised on disaster movies.
But with real climate-related catastrophes popping up more and more, one has to wonder:... what is it about disaster stories that were so appealing in the first place? Do they have anything redeeming to teach us about ourselves or our planet?
Taylor attempts to answer that question (and weirdly enough, to celebrate Outside/In’s 250th episode) by looking back at one of the planet’s all-time worst disasters: The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, or as it’s sometimes called “The Great Dying.”
Featuring Michael Benton.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing by Rebecca Lavoie and Nate Hegyi.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
In the midst of a battle with cancer, Kathy Kral found herself facing another diagnosis: major depression.
So, Kathy signed up for a clinical study to see if psilocybin – the psychedelic compound found in “magic mushrooms” – could help her confront her fears about cancer and death, as well as her deepest inner demons.
Featuring Kathleen Kral, Manish Agrawal, and Norma Stevens.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Can Psychedelic Therapy Offer a Sense of Peace for the Dying?
The Sunstone Psilocybin Playlist patients listen to during their psychedelic trips
Citations
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Rebecca Lavoie, Nate Hegyi, Justine Paradis, and Jeongyoon Han.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to Evan Craig, Heather Honstein, Kathryn Tucker, and Erinn Baldeshwiler.
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Pawan Krishna, the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, and Paul De Bra.
Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
It’s time again for our listener mail round-up, and this week, the theme is borders and boundaries. We learn what it means to define the “end of an era,” explore how close is too close to a black hole, and discuss the power of animal urine. Plus, we hear the story about the time the U.S. and Great Britain almost fought a border war… because of a pig.
Featuring Eric Salovich, Naoufal Souitat, Dagomar Degroot, and Christine Wilkinson.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon and Jeongyoon Han.
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
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. He 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?
Editor’s Note: This episode first aired in May of 2022, and was later honored with a National Edward R. Murrow Award for News Documentary.
Featuring: Denise Butler, Frank Carus, Jeff Fongemie, Nicholas Weinberg
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram and Twitter, or discuss episodes in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
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.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
At any given time, millions of lab mice are being used in research facilities nationwide. And yet nearly all of them can be connected back to a single source: The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where the modern lab mouse was invented.
What started as a research project aimed at understanding heredity is now a global business. Research on lab mice has led to more than two dozen Nobel prizes, helped save countless human lives, and has pushed science and medicine to new heights. But behind it all is a cost that’s rarely discussed outside of the ethics boards that determine how lab mice are used.
In this episode, we hear the story of how a leading eugenicist turned the humble mouse from a household pest into science’s number one guinea pig. Plus, we get a rare peek inside the Jackson Laboratory - where over 10,000 strains of lab mice DNA are kept cryogenically frozen.
Featuring Bethany Brookshire, Kristin Blanchette, Lon Cardon, Rachael Pelletier, Karen Rader, Nadia Rosenthal and Mark Wanner.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Karen Rader’s book, Making Mice: Standardizing Animals for American Biomedical Research, 1900-1955, is a definitive source on the birth of the lab mouse…
Curious to learn more about pests? Take a look at Bethany Brookshire’s book, Pests: How Humans Create Villains.
This piece from the New Yorker questions the assumptions and ethical choices scientists have made by using lab mice in sterilized lab environments.
In this New York Times essay, Brandon Keim explores how some ethicists want to reduce harm to animals used for research through a new model: repaying them.
CREDITS
Produced by Jeongyoon Han
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi, Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Spring Gang, and El Flaco Collective.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
In case you hadn’t heard, El Niño is back in the news, and this time it’s pushing global temperatures to the 1.5-degree climate threshold, giving us a sneak preview of a world scorched by global warming. But when it comes to El Niño, the first question on people’s minds is usually…wait…what the heck is El Niño again?
Well, today on Outside/In we’ve got answers. Plus, we ask how to tell if extreme weather events are caused by climate change or by El Niño, and consider what this El Niño can tell us about our climate future.
Featuring Kim Cobb, Emily Becker, and Ángel Muñoz.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Read Kim Cobb’s 2016 article, A bittersweet victory for an El Niño chaser – Cobb explains how her research on corals gives us a surprisingly accurate history of El Niño events going back as far as 7,000 years ago.
The National Weather Service for the UK has a great video explainer of El Nino, as well as over a hundred other short videos on their YouTube channel explaining various weather and climate phenomena like jet streams, global circulation, and the Coriolis effect.
For more science-talk on El Nino, check out the ENSO Blog, where climate scientist Emily Becker is a lead writer.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Justine Paradis and Nate Hegyi.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to Jeongyoon Han for playing the violin, and Michael Prentky for the timpani recording.
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Walt Adams, and Brightarm Orchestra.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
At Outside/In, we often talk about the challenge of covering climate in a way that doesn’t leave us feeling hopeless or overwhelmed. For us, that’s often meant staying curious and keeping a sense of humor.
But a few years ago, investigative journalist Amy Westervelt had another idea. Why not use one of podcasting’s most popular genres—true crime—to tell the story of climate change?
From greenwashing to climate denialism and corporate propaganda, Drilled makes accountability journalism a thrill to listen to, while consistently being one of the most informative sources for in-depth climate news.
So today, we’re featuring the first episode of their latest three-part series: “Herb.” This is the story of Herb Schmertz, the political strategist-turned-oil-man who popularized corporate personhood, and how it's become one of the biggest problems facing climate action today.
Featuring Robert Kerr and Robert Bruhl
Read the episode transcript.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
This episode of Drilled was written and reported by Amy Westervelt.
It was produced and sound designed by Martin Zaltz Ostwick.
Sound engineer: Peter Doff
Additional reporting by Julia Manepela
Fact checking: Wudan Yan
Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi. The team also includes Tayor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jeongyoon Han.
Outside/In’s executive producer is Rebecca Lavoie
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
It’s our listener mail round up, and this week it’s all about communication in the natural world, like: how do migratory animals teach their young how to migrate and where to go? Do sharks smell underwater? And, are plants talking to each other?
Plus, a mini-story about a lost baby squirrel and a Bluetooth speaker.
Take a listen!
Featuring: Patrik Byholm, Richard Karban, Bethany Brookshire, and Stephen Kajiura.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Visit outsideinradio.org for video of a Bluetooth speaker-assisted baby squirrel rescue.
On animal migration:
On plants talking:
On what makes an animal a pest:
On sharks:
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon, Jeongyoon Han, Taylor Quimby, and Jessica Hunt
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to Lani Asuncion and Angus Murphy
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Wine is considered to be an expression of a place and climate, a reflection of centuries-old traditions. But these days, a lot of wine is a product of an industrialized agricultural system, and just as processed as the bulk of products in the grocery store.
Today on Outside/In, we take a look at what really goes into your wine, and at a growing movement exploring just how “natural” wine can be.
Featuring Julia Furukawa, Helen Johannesen, and Lee Campbell, with appearances by Lucy Leske, Steve Paradis, Jenny Paradis, Elsie Turner Matthews, and Samuel Golding.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.
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LINKS
Lee Campbell is a partner in a Virginia winery called Common Wealth Crush.
Helen Johannesen is a partner in Jon & Vinny’s and Helen’s Wines, a wine shop and delivery club in Los Angeles. She’s also the host of Wineface podcast, with episodes covering the basics of natural wine, a deeper dive on the specific grapes (like pinot noir), and an introduction to certain styles, like orange wine.
Julia Furukawa is the host of All Things Considered at New Hampshire Public Radio. Check out her investigative reporting on a lack of evidence for some claims of Abenaki ancestry in New England.
5 tips for navigating the world of natural wine
1. As Helen Johannesen likes to say, “wine is for enjoying and wine is for everyone,” but it’s also a luxury. Still, you can get natural wines for $20 a bottle or less. The hard part is finding them.
2. If you’re trying to figure out whether a wine is natural or not, turn the bottle around and look at the importer on the back. There are certain importers who seek out small producers who are aligned with the natural wine movement. A couple of importers with such a reputation are Zev Rovine and Jenny & Francois.
3. If possible, find a local brick-and-mortar wine shop. They’re more likely to help you find a natural wine. Plus, wine shops often offer free or low-cost tastings, which can help you figure out what you like without spending a ton of money. There are online wine subscription services that have natural wines as well.
4. If you’re just dipping your toe into the natural wine world, start with what you like. If you love Sauvignon Blanc, try a natural bottle of the same variety.
5. Last, have a good time! Don’t get intimidated or think that you have to be completely pure about it. Again, in the end, wine is supposed to be fun.
-Justine P.
CREDITS
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Hosted, reported, written, and produced by Justine Paradis
Mixed and edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon and Jeongyoon Han.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Matt Large and Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
With 'Oppenheimer,' director Christopher Nolan has turned the Manhattan Project into a summer blockbuster. The film is set in Los Alamos, one of the primary places where the first atomic bomb was developed. But fewer people know the history of Carrizozo, a rural farming area downwind of the Trinity test — and a community still dealing with the fallout to this day.
Radioactive fallout from the bomb settled on everything: the soil, gardens, and drinking water. Cow’s milk became radioactive. Later, hundreds of people developed radiogenic cancers.
The people of Carrizozo were among the first people in the world exposed to a nuclear blast. More than 75 years later, their families are still fighting for medical compensation from the federal government.
Host Nate Hegyi traveled to New Mexico to visit the Trinity Site, and to hear the stories of so-called ‘downwinders.'
Featuring: Paul Pino, Tina Cordova, Ben Ray Lujan
Editor's note: A previous version of this description incorrectly described Los Alamos as the site of the first atomic bomb test. The actual test took place in the White Sands Missle Range.
SUPPORT
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
The federal government has produced a few studies on the fallout from Trinity. This one from Los Alamos found that there was still contamination in the area in 1985.
Another, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, produced one of the most in-depth histories of the fallout from Trinity and the government’s reaction.
The National Cancer Institute found that hundreds of people likely developed cancer because of the fallout.
The history of Trinity is full of strange little details, like the desert toads that were croaking all night.
You can find affidavits and first-hand accounts of the fallout from Trinity at the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium website.
This review by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists explains why it’s so hard to determine a definitive death toll for the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jeongyoon Han
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Humans are noisy. The National Park Service estimates that all of our whirring, grinding, and revving machines are doubling or even tripling global noise pollution every 30 years.
A lot of that noise is negatively affecting wildlife and human health. Maybe that’s why we’re so consumed with managing our sonic environments, with noise-cancelling headphones and white noise machines — and sometimes, we get into spats with our neighbors, as one of our guests did…
So for this episode, producer Jeongyoon Han takes us on an exploration of three sonic landscapes: noise, silence, and something in between.
Featuring Rachel Buxton, Jim Connell, Stan Ellis, Mercede Erfanian, Nora Ma, and Rob Steadman.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
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Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Behavioral ecologist Miya Warrington and her colleagues found that Savannah sparrows changed the tune of their love songs as a result of noisy oil fields in Alberta, Canada (The New York Times)
Bats have changed their day-to-day habits because of traffic noise, according to research conducted in the U.K.
Natural sounds are proven to improve health, lower stress, and have positive effects on humans. Rachel Buxton and her colleagues wrote about that in their study from 2021.
Erica Walker’s organization, the Community Noise Lab, monitors noise levels in Boston, Providence, and Jackson, Mississippi. You can read more about her work in this article from Harvard Magazine.
Are you interested in going to a Quiet Parks International-designated quiet park? The organization has a list of spaces across the world that they’ve certified.
Here’s a radio story from NPR that serves as an homage to John Cage’s 4’33”.
If you were ever curious about why bird songs are good for you… This article from the Washington Post should be on the top of your reading list!
This New Yorker piece from 2019 outlines how noise pollution might be the next public health crisis. Since that article, there’s been even more research showing that noise can take years off of our lives.
So, you’ve heard lots of sounds in this episode. But do you want to see what sounds look like? Click here — and this is not clickbait!
Ethan Kross, who is a psychologist and neuroscientist, wrote a whole book about noise — the noise in your head, to be precise. It’s called Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.
Mercede Erfanian’s research into misophonia and soundscapes is fascinating. You can hear her speak on the subject of different kinds of sounds in a show aired from 1A, or watch her presentation on the effects that soundscapes have on humans.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Jeongyoon Han
Mixed by Jeongyoon Han and Taylor Quimby
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music from Blue Dot Sessions, Edvard Greeg, and Mike Franklyn.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
We love shrimp in the United States. As a country, we eat over 2 billion pounds a year, making it the most consumed seafood in the country. So times should be really good for shrimpers, right? In this episode, our friends at the Sea Change podcast from WWNO and WRKF head to the docks and out in the bayous with shrimpers fighting for a livelihood and a culture that has been here for centuries.
This narrative episode goes on a journey from the fishing docks to shrimping in the bayous exploring land loss, climate change, and other issues endangering the future of the Gulf shrimp industry. We also uncover the threats imported shrimp pose to a way of life and human health.
Featuring Justin Kennedy, Thomas Gonzales, Acy Cooper, Gary Mayfield, Eddy Hayes, Donald Dardar, and Steve Morris.
Most dog owners know they’re supposed to scoop the poop.
But when a pup does the deed off the trail, a lot of otherwise responsible citizens find themselves wondering… Is it really better to pick it up in a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage? Isn’t dog poop… natural?
Listen to the latest edition of This, That, or The Other Thing: our series about the little decisions we make in life to try and build a more sustainable world – whether they have any effect and what we can do instead if they don’t.
This time, we’re wrestling with a major ick factor: should I leave my dog’s poop in the woods, or put it in a plastic bag and entomb it forever in a landfill? And why do otherwise environmentally-minded folks look the other way when it comes to the impact of our furry friends?
Featuring Stephanie Chow, Anthony Drouin, Ben Goldfarb, Rebecca Perlstein, Forrest Schwartz, Jennifer Williams
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or discuss episodes in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
The Leave No Trace organization studied how to get more people to pick up after their dogs in Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks.
Dog waste is a major source of water pollution.
“Dogs are a beach’s worst nightmare” according to Ben Goldfarb in Hakkai Magazine.
Stephanie Chow of Pet Poo Skiddoo breaks down which dog waste bags are truly compostable here.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Jessica Hunt.
Mixed by Taylor Quimby.
Edited by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis and Rebecca Lavoie.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Spring Gang, El Flaco Collective, and Daniel Fridell.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
[Editor's Note: This episode first aired in April 2022]
Last year 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
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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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
When it comes to the environment, are natural fabrics better than synthetics? The answer might surprise you.
It’s the latest installment of This, That, Or The Other Thing, a series about the decisions we make to build a more sustainable world, and to make a difference in our communities.
In this episode we compare the carbon footprints of polyester versus cotton, we ask the experts whether our waterproof clothes are killing us, and for those of us who find this all too overwhelming, we talk about the number one thing you can do to make more sustainable clothing choices.
Featuring: Lucy Allosso, Jessian Choy, Joel Svedlund, and Akiera Charles.
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 or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook
If you’ve got a question for the Outside/Inbox hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837), or email us at outsidein@nhpr.org.
LINKS
Lucky Sweater is an app for trading clothes, and they’ve also got an “approved brand” list of companies that make more high-quality garments and provide livable wages across the supply chain.
There’s lots of other buy/sell/trade sites online like noihsafbazaar.com and Sell Trade Slow Fashion on Instagram. You can also use gem.app to search many resale sites at once, but you’re also likely to find local groups near you by simply searching for clothes swaps, Buy Nothing, or buy/sell/trade on Facebook and Google.
If you’re looking for slow fashion brands, some companies take preorders and only manufacture the amount ordered, reducing waste from unsold clothing. Elizabeth Suzann and Gustin are examples of this model.
Here are other actions you can take for a safer and more sustainable wardrobe:
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Produced and mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer.
Special thanks to Natascha van der Velden, and Gustav Sandin Albertsson.
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.
After the gathering at Standing Rock, legislators across the United States passed laws in the name of “protecting critical infrastructure,” especially pipelines.
At the same time, attacks on the electrical grid have increased almost 300%. But that threat isn’t coming from environmental activists.
It’s coming from neo-Nazis.
This is the second episode in our series examining the landscape of environmental protest in the United States, from Standing Rock to Cop City and beyond. Listen to the first episode here.
As the space for protest in the United States shrinks, this year marked a major escalation: the first police killing of an environmental protestor in the United States, plus the arrests of dozens of people at protests under the charge of domestic terrorism.
Featuring Naomi Dix, Lauren Mathers, Jon Wellinghoff, Will Potter, Hannah Gais, Alex Amend, Aurielle Marie, and Madeline Thigpen.
Special thanks to Micah Herskind, Mike German, Yessenia Funes, Clark White.
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Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of the show.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
Further reading on the ideology of far-right accelerationism by Alex Amend
Hannah Gais’ reporting on Atomwaffen and the planned Baltimore grid attack
Check out this excellent explainer on Cop City in Scalawag Magazine, written by Micah Herskind.
Read “The Forest for the Trees” in The Bitter Southerner, a profile of life in the “forest defender” camp in the Weelaunee Forest. It includes a conversation with the late Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, better known at Tortuguita.
More than 60 human rights and environmental organizations signed this letter condemning the domestic terrorism charges in Atlanta, Georgia.
Unicorn Riot’s livestream of the police action at the concert.
Two activists face felony charges for distributing flyers which identified a police officer linked to Tortuguita’s killing.
Plus, leaders of a bail fund were arrested on charges of charity fraud for their support of the people recently charged with domestic terrorism – as the Atlanta Press Collective reports, the history of bail funds in the United States goes back to the Civil Rights movement.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Justine Paradis
Mixed by Justine Paradis and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Jack Rodolico, Rebecca Lavoie, Felix Poon, Jessica Hunt, Jeongyoon Han, and Nate Hegyi
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music came from Blue Dot Sessions, Autohacker, Blacksona, The Big Let Down, and Hatamitsunami.
Audio of the events after the concert in the South River Forest was recorded in a livestream by Unicorn Riot and shared under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
When members of the Oceti Sakowin gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, they decided on a strategy of nonviolent direct action. No violence… against people.
But sabotage of property – well, that’s another question entirely.
Since the gathering at Standing Rock, anti-protest legislation backed by the fossil fuel industry has swept across the country.
What happened? When is environmental protest considered acceptable… and when is it seen as a threat?
This is the first of two episodes exploring the changing landscape of environmental protest in the United States, from Standing Rock to Cop City and beyond.
Part II will be released on June 8.
Featuring Chase Iron Eyes, Tokata Iron Eyes, Lesley Wood, Elly Page, and Connor Gibson.
Special thanks to Phyllis Young and everyone at the Lakota People’s Law Project, especially Daniel Nelson and Jesse Phelps. Thanks also to Soundings Mindful Media.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
We highly recommend the podcast Burn Wild, investigative reporter Leah Sottile’s excellent series on the Earth Liberation Front. It centers on the question, “How far is too far to stop the planet burning?”
Use the ICNL’s US Protest Law Tracker to look up anti-protest and critical infrastructure bills by state or by issue.
“Exploring the sound of the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz”, produced by the Berkeley Voices program, and footage of the occupation, compiled by the Bay Area TV Archive.
For even more context on AIM, we recommend listening to Buffy, a podcast series on Buffy Sainte Marie, a Piapot Cree Nation singer-songwriter whose record “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” was an anthem during the occupation of Alcatraz.
The Intercept’s reported extensively on Standing Rock and TigerSwan. They’ve also made the leaked documents available for anyone to read, and recently published this investigation on TigerSwan’s strategy of misinformation, in collaboration with Grist.
This critique of How to Blow Up a Pipeline calls the book “reckless,” arguing that Andreas Malm “has a tendency of rehashing many well-established anarchist ideas.”
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, written, and produced by Justine Paradis
Mixed by Justine Paradis and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Nate Hegyi, Felix Poon, Rebecca Lavoie, and Jessica Hunt
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Podington Bear, Skylines, Cory Gray, Cooper Cannell, and Blue Dot Sessions.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
As a candidate, Joe Biden called himself a climate change pioneer. He promised a green energy revolution. More renewables, way less fossil fuels, and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. So two years in, how’s he doing?
Outside/In host Nate Hegyi speaks with a political scientist and an environmental activist to figure out where Biden has pushed his climate agenda, where he hasn’t, and whether he’s an octopus or a bighorn sheep.
Featuring: Aseem Prakash, Jean Su
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby
The Outside/In team also includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
There are few physical challenges more uncomfortable than holding your breath underwater as long as you can.
But if your duty is to pull downed military personnel from waters all over the world, you need to prove your ability to perform in the most hostile and unforgiving conditions. That’s why the Air Force has long made breath holds part of its training programs for parajumpers, or parachute rescue specialists.
This week, we’re featuring an episode from our friends at the Outside Podcast (not to be confused with Outside/In) about a parajumper candidate who finds himself facing elimination from training for the most surprising reason: he can hold his breath way too long.
Featuring Travis Morgan and Alex Hutchinson
Listen to more from the Outside Podcast here.
SUPPORT
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CREDITS
This episode of the Outside Podcast was produced and hosted by Peter Frick-Wright. Editing and music by Robbie Carver.
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Outside/In Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
While the taps are running dry and reservoirs are disappearing in Arizona, a corporate farm from Saudi Arabia is pumping massive amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa for cows back in the Middle East. Now, after years of inaction, Arizonans are pointing the finger at what they see as a foreign invader slurping up the last gulps of a diminishing water supply.
But the truth is more complicated.
In this episode, we dig deep into the history of Arizona’s water crisis and uncover a tale of dates, camels and dairy cows, and try to find out who’s really to blame for the West’s water crisis.
Featuring: Natalie Koch.
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 or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook
If you’ve got a question for the Outside/Inbox hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837), or email us at outsidein@nhpr.org.
LINKS
Read Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia, by Natalie Koch.
Listen to the six-part podcast series Thirst Gap: Learning to live with less on the Colorado River, by KUNC.
Listen to Parched, a podcast about people who rely on the river that shaped the West, and have ideas to save it, by Colorado Public Radio.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Produced by Felix Poon and Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
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.
The team peers into the Outside/Inbox to answer listener questions on the theme of “green,” a prompt which sends us exploring the hanging gardens of Babylon, xeriscaping, and the evolution of the human eye.
1: What’s the benefit of being evergreen?
2: How water-friendly is my lawn?
3: How many city buildings have green roofs?
4: Why did we evolve to see so many different shades of green?
Featuring Georgia Silvera Seamans, Rubab Saher, Kate England, Abraham Wu, and Adriana Briscoe.
Special thanks to Steven Peck.
How to submit a question to the Outside/Inbox
Call our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER, and leave a voicemail. Send a voice recording to outsidein@nhpr.org. We also post regular call-outs for questions in our stories on Instagram.
We’re seeking questions on a new theme for an upcoming episode: “the deeps.” Think caves, life underground, geothermal energy, and deep existential questions about our life on earth.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
Check out the Washington Square Park Eco Projects, which includes a map of city trees, a seasonal change monitoring project, and bird surveys.
Project Drawdown on green roofs as a key climate solution
Abraham Wu’s research on mapping green roofs
Exploring the relationship between turfgrass and city heat
Our own reporting on the American love of lawns, and the impact on the desert
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Justine Paradis, Jeongyoon Han, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Justine Paradis.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by spring gang, Molife, Apollo, Autohacker, Diamond Ortiz, and Chris Zabriskie.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
In the late 1950s, engineer Herb Ueda Sr. traveled to a remote Arctic military base. His mission? To drill through nearly a mile of ice, and extract the world’s first complete ice core.
To finish the job, he and his team would endure sub-zero weather, toxic chemicals, and life inside a military base… which was slowly being crushed by the glacier from which it was carved.
Producer Daniel Ackerman takes us inside Camp Century, and explains how a foundational moment in climate science is inextricably linked with the story of the United States military.
Featuring Curt La Bombard, Julie Brigham-Grette, Herb Ueda Jr., Don Garfield, and Aleqa Hammond.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of the show.
Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).
Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
If you want to see footage from inside Camp Century, check out this Department of Defense archival film, “Research and Development Progress Report No. 6.”
For a little Cold War context, watch this 1951 Civil Defense Film called “Duck and Cover”, featuring Bert the Turtle.
Here's a book about the history of Camp Century, which includes a chapter on the ice core drilling project.
To see some amazing photos, and read about how scientists are still learning new things from the Camp Century core after rediscovering sediment samples in 2017, check out this blog post from the European Geosciences Union.
Learn more about the NSF Ice Core Facility in Colorado, where sections of the Camp Century ice core are currently stored.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Daniel Ackerman
Mixed and edited by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Justine Paradis and Felix Poon
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks today to Carrie Harris, Holly Ueda, Chester Langway, Nancy Langway, Laura Kissel, and the Polar Archives at The Ohio State University Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
Music by Amaranth Cove and Blue Dot Sessions
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Right now, we’re investing billions of dollars into charging infrastructure in order to speed up the transition to electric cars and decarbonize transportation.
But there are all sorts of problems that EVs won’t solve: bumper-to-bumper traffic, extractive metal mining, and car collisions that kill tens of thousands of drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians every year in the US.
That’s why transit activists say we need to rethink the way we get around. Because learning to drive less isn’t just about safer streets and better quality of life – it’s also key to winning the race to net zero.
Featuring: Effie Kong, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, LaShea Johnson, Alex Hudson, Edwin Lindo, Thea Riofrancos.
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LINKS
Read more about Boston’s 3-year plan to expand the city’s biking infrastructure, make crosswalks safer for pedestrians, and offer biking classes to women and gender-diverse adults.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is in the middle of getting feedback on the Seattle Transportation Plan on how to build a safer and more efficient transportation system.
Read about Cul De Sac Tempe, a new car-free community in Arizona, where residents are contractually forbidden from parking within a quarter-mile radius of the site. (Bloomberg)
According to studies in Cambridge, MA and Toronto, Canada, bike lanes have a neutral or even positive impact on local businesses, even if some parking spaces are taken away.
A paper in the journal Energy Research & Social Science describes the EV transition as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and argues that private vehicle electrification is neither effective, nor equitable.
This LA Times Op-ed argues that switching to electric cars isn’t enough to solve climate change.
Studies say pedestrians and bikers are more likely to be hit by EVs and cause more damage because they’re quieter and heavier than gas cars.
Archival audio in this episode come from the 1953 film The American Road funded by Ford Motor Company, and Futurama at the 1939 NY World’s Fair.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Mixed by Felix Poon and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca lavoie, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Mara Haplamazian
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Roy Edwin Williams
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Transitioning to electric vehicles is essential to meeting our climate goals. But there are so many barriers to overcome – from expanding EV charging infrastructure, to updating the power grid, to mining the metals that make batteries go.
In the first of a two-part series on decarbonizing transportation, we try to answer the critical question: is it all happening fast enough to avoid the worst climate impacts?
Featuring: Craig Bentley, Nora Naughton, Sara Baldwin, Thea Riofrancos
If you’ve got a question for the Outside/Inbox hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to dive down into. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837), or email us at outsidein@nhpr.org.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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LINKS
EV transition predictive models
Consumer education and survey findings
Charging infrastructure
The grid
Metal extraction
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Mixed by Felix Poon and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca lavoie, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Mara Haplamazian
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Roy Edwin Williams
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
The Underdogs Ep3: You sell your soul
What caused the Peranos to abandon their dogs and screw so many people over? Nate enlists the help of a New Zealand journalist to find out.
More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:
A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile race across some of Alaska’s harshest terrain. Over the past decade, Curt and Fleur Perano have transformed their success on the trail into a flourishing mushing tourism business in their home country’s south island. Some of their dogs have even appeared in a Marvel movie and a Taylor Swift music video.
But behind the scenes, in the usually-guarded world of competitive dog sledding, the Peranos have burned bridges, destroyed friendships, and left a trail of debt totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
In this special Outside/In mini-series, Nate investigates a story one musher describes as “one dead body away from Tiger King,” and exposes the singular culture within the world of elite mushing.
Featuring: Amanda Hasenauer, Jodi Bailey, Jenn Fisher, Jeff Fisher, Tony Turner, Gemma Nave, Tim Brown
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Check out the history of working dogs here.
More than a dozen tourists have written bad reviews about Underdog sled dog tours on Tripadvisor and Google.
That bicycle ride Nate mentioned? It was part of an award-winning reporting project about the 2020 election.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Jack Rodolico, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Dylan Sitts, Joseph Beg, Hanna Lindgren, and Amaranth Cove.
Outside/In presents The Underdogs is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
The Underdogs Ep2: It has to be earned
Nate flies to Minnesota to follow a new lead about the New Zealand racing team.
Advisory: This episode contains brief descriptions of injured animals and animal abuse that may be disturbing to some listeners.
More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:
A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile race across some of Alaska’s harshest terrain. Over the past decade, Curt and Fleur Perano have transformed their success on the trail into a flourishing mushing tourism business in their home country’s south island. Some of their dogs have even appeared in a Marvel movie and a Taylor Swift music video.
But behind the scenes, in the usually-guarded world of competitive dog sledding, the Peranos have burned bridges, destroyed friendships, and left a trail of debt totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
In this special Outside/In mini-series, Nate investigates a story one musher describes as “one dead body away from Tiger King,” and exposes the singular culture within the world of elite mushing.
Featuring: Jamie Nelson, Jodi Bailey, Mike Williams Sr., and Amanda Hasenauer
SUPPORT
Outside/In presents The Underdogs 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 or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook
LINKS
Humane Mushing (an advocacy group whose motto is “dog first, sport second”) used to compile an annual list of Iditarod sled dog deaths and injuries. Their information is taken from official race reports and Iditarod media advisories. (Humane Mushing)
Check it out: Alaska Natives took the top three spots in the 2023 Iditarod. (NPR)
An in-depth profile of Dallas Seavey, a five-time Iditarod winner who was publicly accused – and then publicly cleared – of doping his dogs. (GQ)
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Jack Rodolico, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Graphics by Sara Plourde
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Dylan Sitts, Joseph Beg, Hanna Lindgren, and Amaranth Cove.
Outside/In presents The Underdogs is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
The Underdogs Ep1: Honey and vinegar
Outside/In host Nate Hegyi gets a surprising tip that leads him into the frozen and tight-knit world of competitive sled dog racing in Alaska.
More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:
A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile race across some of Alaska’s harshest terrain. Over the past decade, Curt and Fleur Perano have transformed their success on the trail into a flourishing mushing tourism business in their home country’s south island. Some of their dogs have even appeared in a Marvel movie and a Taylor Swift music video.
But behind the scenes, in the usually-guarded world of competitive dog sledding, the Peranos have burned bridges, destroyed friendships, and left a trail of debt totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
In this special Outside/In mini-series, Nate investigates a story one musher describes as “one dead body away from Tiger King,” and exposes the singular culture within the world of elite mushing.
Featuring: Jodi Bailey, Austin Sorem, Dan Kaduce, Jamie Nelson, and Marine Kuhn.
SUPPORT
Outside/In presents The Underdogs 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 or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook
LINKS
Check out the results from the 2023 Iditarod
Read the actual Iditarod rule (Rule 34) that states wild game animals killed in self-defense must be gutted and reported to a race official at the next checkpoint.
To learn more about the physiology of Alaskan huskies, check out this TEDx talk from Michael Davis: “Canines in Combat and Competition”
Read a review of Blair Braverman’s memoir, “Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube”.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Edited and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Jack Rodolico, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Dylan Sitts, Rand Aldo, and Amaranth Cove.
Outside/In presents The Underdogs is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Iditarod, a 1,000-mile race across some of Alaska’s harshest terrain; a pair of mushers that have transformed their success on the trail into a flourishing tourism business in their home country’s south island.
But behind the scenes, in the usually-guarded world of competitive dog sledding, they've burned bridges, destroyed friendships, and left a trail of debt totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
In this trailer, get a first look at our upcoming three-part series: Outside/In presents The Underdogs. Look for the first episode in your feeds next week, March 16th.
SUPPORT
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Once upon a time, potpourri was a popular way to freshen up a space. Now, for some, it feels a bit like the lava lamp of fragrance: an outdated fad from a bygone decade.
So, why was potpourri so popular in the 1980’s, and what happened to it? Did the trend dry up… or just evolve?
We explore the transformation of potpourri, from the fermented mush of the Victorian era to the perfumed and colorful bag of pine cones of the eighties, and talk to a few of the people still making potpourri today.
This episode was originally published in September 2021.
Featuring Yvette Weaver, Carly Still, Laure Moutet, Autumn Anderson, Paulus, and Ednita Tingle.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
An 1895 recipe from Sweet from Sweet Scented Flowers and Fragrant Leaves for 50-year moist potpourri (the recipe begins on page 42).
From Death Scents: more fascinating info on the history of medieval trends that predate potpourri and the rise of “rotten pot” potpourri.
Fragrant Potpourri Preserves the Floral Scents of Summer: A 1975 NYT article that bridges the gap between moist and dried potpourri recipes.
A 1988 Glade Potpourri Spray commercial
CREDITS
Hosted by Justine Paradis
Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Justine Paradis
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing by Felix Poon and Jessica Hunt
Special thanks to Rosalyn LaPier, Mark Nesbit, and to NHPR’s voices from the ‘80s: Nick Capodice, Josh Rogers, Emily Quirk, Patricia McLaughlin, Rick Ganley, and Rebecca Lavoie.
Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Ben Nestor
If you own land in the United States, do you also own the airspace above it? In other words, who owns the sky?
The answer begins with a medieval Roman principle of property rights, which made it all the way to American courts: “Whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell."
We asked our friends Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy, cohosts of Civics 101, to join us to explore the uniquely American philosophy of property, to the moon and back.
Featuring Colin Jerolmack, Michael Heller, George Anthony Long, and Deondre Smiles, with special guests Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!) for extras from the cutting room floor and behind-the-scenes dispatches from our reporters.
Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox – we answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).
LINKS
This article by Laura Donohue poses the same question we ask – “who owns the skies?” – in the context of property rights, state rights, and drones.
Deondre Smiles’ essay on how manifest destiny is showing up as we explore beyond this planet, “The Settler Logics of (Outer) Space”
The Civics 101 episodes mentioned were “Is Santa a Criminal?” and “What’s Up With the US Space Force?” Also relevant: their two-part series on “The Government and Housing.”
A great podcast episode on diamonds and De Beers via Articles of Interest + 99% Invisible
More on United States v. Causby (1946)
By the way, the 2015 U.S. law about commercialization of space only refers to abiotic resources like minerals. If someone discovers alien life (even microbial), this law doesn’t cover it. Japan, Luxembourg, and the UAE have passed similar laws.
To learn about the fascinating question of who owns the space beyond your airplane seat, check out Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives by Michael Heller and coauthor James Salzman
Read more about the uniquely American interpretation of “ad coelum” in the introduction to Colin Jerolmack’s book, Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Rebecca Lavoie with help from Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music by Lobo Loco, ProleteR, Triple Bacon, Larry Poppinz, Gabriel Lewis, Ben Elson, Bonkers Beat Club, bomull, Anthony Earls, David Szesztay, and Chris Zabriskie.
Outside/In and Civics 101 are productions of New Hampshire Public Radio.
When Nora Saks learned that a "toxic, self-cloning worm that poops out of its mouth was invading Maine", she started sounding the alarm about the impending eco-doom. Until, that is, state experts clued her into the "real threat"; a different creepy crawly wriggling towards The Pine Tree State's gardens and precious forests, and fast.
In an attempt to find out more about this real threat, Ben Brock Johnson and Nora tunnel down a wormhole, encountering a long history of xenophobic rhetoric about so-called invasive species, and some hard truths about the field of invasion biology itself.
This week we’re featuring a story from our friend at WBUR’s Endless Thread, a podcast that digs into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.
Featuring: Banu Subramaniam, Dov Sax, Bob McNally, Gary Fish, and Regina Smith
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Endless Thread (WBUR)
"A toxic, self-cloning worm that poops out of its mouth is invading Maine" (Bangor Daily News)
Reddit post on r/oddlyterrifying about hammerhead worms
lindsaynikole's viral TikTok video on hammerhead worms
"The Aliens Have Landed! Reflections on the Rhetoric of Biological Invasions", Banu Subramaniam
The Sax Research Lab at Brown University
Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry fact sheet on jumping worms
"Identify and Report Jumping Worms in Maine", UMaine Cooperative Forestry Research Unit informational video
Cornell University fact sheet on Asian Jumping Worms
UMass Extension Invasive Jumping Worm FAQ
"Cancel Earthworms" (The Atlantic)
"Invasive 'Jumping Worms' Threaten Trees in Maine and Elsewhere" (NECN)
"Scientists Sound The Alarm About Invasive 'Crazy Worms' Found in Maine" (Maine Public)
"Maine Gardener: Invasion of the jumping worms" (Portland Press Herald)
CREDITS
This episode was produced by Nora Saks and Dean Russell of WBUR’s Endless Thread
Co-hosts: Nora Saks and Ben Brock Johnson.
Mix and sound design: Matt Reed
Endless Thread’s team includes Amory Sivertson, Dean Russell, Quincy Walters, Grace Tatter,
Amy Gorel, Paul Vaitkus, and Emily Jankowski
Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi, and produced by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Despite being the only rodent with a holiday to its name, groundhogs are often considered pests.
However, these natural-born diggers have unearthed rare artifacts, play a pivotal role in shaping ecosystems, and are tied to important breakthroughs in hepatitis B treatments. Plus they’re pretty cute.
So in this episode, a special Groundhog Day edition of our Holy Scat series, we’re digging up as many amazing factoids about these creatures as we possibly can.
Featuring: David Scofield, Amanda Gillen, Eric D’Aleo, Joe Bruchac, and Sandra Sexton
SUPPORT
Donate to support the show and get your hands on a limited edition Outside/In opossum camp mug!
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LINKS
Youtube video of a whistling groundhog
NBC News video of Groundhog Day 2022 prediction
Read more about the Meadowcroft Rockshelter – the oldest known site of human habitation in North America, discovered by a groundhog.
Read this 1996 article about hepatitis B research using the woodchuck animal model at Cornell University.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
What’s the slowest heartbeat on the planet? What’s it like to live with zero sunlight?
If you’ve ever picked up a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records, you know that people are drawn to extremes, be they geographical, philosophical, or biological.
So this week, we’re cracking open the Outside/Inbox to answer your questions about the outer limits of life on Earth. We’ll learn about how landslides are way more common than you might think, why frogs are practically undead, and how researchers stay motivated through an Antarctic winter.
Submit your own question (the weirder the better) on Instagram, via email at outsidein@nhpr.org, or by calling our Outside/Inbox hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER.
Question 1: How low can an animal’s heartbeat go?
Question 2: What happens to your body if you get ZERO sunlight?
Question 3: Is climate change making landslides happen more often?
Question 4: What is a “wet-bulb” temperature?
Featuring: Carmen Possnig, Kira Mauseth, Corina Cerovski-Darriau, Daniel Vecellio, and Avikal Somvanshi.
Donate to support the show, and get your hands on a limited edition Outside/In opossum camp mug! Here's the link: https://bit.ly/3PvIzWy
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 or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby with help from Justine Paradis
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music by Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
In each essay in their debut collection, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures, science writer Sabrina Imbler shares the story of an undersea organism and a story of their own journey as someone who, as they put it, came out twice in adulthood.
In one essay, they reflect on how a shape-shifting cephalopod helped them navigate their own questions about gender. In another, they celebrate queer dance clubs through the lens of the Yeti crab, a creature who “dances to live” in the crushing conditions around deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
“I really wanted to sort of take these creatures very seriously… to think about both of us as organisms,” said Sabrina.
“The creature’s existence in the world, and also the ways in which I am just, at the end of the day, another organism moving through the world, trying to eat and mate and survive.”
Outside/In host Nate Hegyi and producer Justine Paradis sat down with Sabrina Imbler to talk about their blend of science and personal writing, and about what we might be able to learn by looking closely at the lives—perhaps very different, very strange-to-us lives—of creatures in the sea.
Donate to support the show, and to get your hands on a limited edition Outside/In opossum camp mug! Here's the link: https://bit.ly/3PvIzWy
MORE OUTSIDE/IN
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LINKS
Find How Far the Light Reaches at your local bookstore
Sabrina Imbler’s articles on Defector Media
“It’s always ourselves we find in the sea” is a line from this poem by E.E. Cummings.
CREDITS
Hosted by Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Felix Poon
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music in this episode by Loving Caliber, Autohacker, Valante, Silver Maple, Moon Crater, and So Vea.
Theme music: Breakmaster Cylinder
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Some folks promote local food. Others swear by veganism. But what is the most environmentally-friendly diet? And does it really matter what we eat? Or are there bigger fish to fry when it comes to climate activism?
Outside/In is trying out a new segment called This, That, Or The Other Thing. It’s all about the little decisions we make to try and build a more sustainable world—whether they have any effect, and what we can do instead if they don’t.
For our inaugural edition, we’re focusing on food. From Brazilian beef and tofu tacos to food waste and composting, host Nate Hegyi talks with experts to understand how our choices impact the planet… and how we can make a difference in our communities.
Featuring Umair Irfan, Tamar Haspel, and Ben Halpern.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Give a listen to Tamar Haspel’s podcast, Climavores.
Vox reporter Umair Irfan wrote about how individual action actually does matter in the fight against climate change.
Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara put together a big study on the cumulative environmental pressures of different foods.
Want to tackle food waste? The Environmental Protection Agency has a great, down-to-earth guide on what you can do.
CREDITS
Hosted, reported, produced, and mixed by Nate Hegyi
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Sven Lindvall, El Flaco Collective, Future Joust, Spring Gang, Eight Bits, and Awlee.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
On the first day of January, people all over the world dive into the water as a way to start the new year fresh. It’s often referred to as a “polar plunge”.
But cold water dipping is different.
It’s not a breathless in-and-out plunge, but a slow submersion: lingering in the cold water for 5 or 10 minutes. No wetsuit.
This fall, Outside/In producer Justine Paradis got to know a community of dippers along the coast of Maine. Many of them described something happening once they’re in their water.. Something which they say changes their relationship to the cold, the ocean, and themselves.
In this episode, we’re ringing in the new year by sharing a little more from those conversations.
Featuring Kelsy Hartley, Caitlin Hopkins, Puranjot Kaur, Betsy Dawkins, and Judy Greene-Janse.
Thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions for winter surthrival. We featured ideas from James in Bend, Oregon; Kyra in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; and Annie in Portland, Maine.
Thanks also to Gin Majka, Guenola Lefeuvre, and Annie Ropeik.
A word on the risks of cold water immersion
People engage in cold water dipping and swimming around the world. Many claim health benefits, like a boosted immune system and reduced inflammation. But it’s not a risk-free activity.
"I'm not sitting here as the fun police stopping people doing what they want to do. It's just we would encourage them to do it safely,” said Mike Tipton, a professor of Human and Applied Physiology at the Extreme Environments Laboratory at the University of Portsmouth. He shared a couple risks to consider before jumping in.
A few basic safety tips:
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LINKS
Caitlin Hopkins and Kelsy Hartley are also known as Ebb and Flow, the founders of Two Maine Mermaids.
Puranjot Kaur is a member of Cold Tits, Warm Hearts on Mount Desert Island. There’s also another group in midcoast Maine called Wicked Nippy Dippahs.
In addition to dipping, many of the women featured are open water swimmers. Puranjot Kaur wrote this account of her second attempt to swim around Mount Desert Island, fueled by congee and community.
Check out these gorgeous photos by Greta Rybus of a community dip in an ice-hole in York, Maine, and these photos of some of the dippers in our episode.
A good interview with a “wild swimming” scientist on both the risks and benefits of immersion
CREDITS
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
The Outside/In team also includes our host Nate Hegyi, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Quesa, and Autohacker
Theme music: Breakmaster Cylinder
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
There’s an unfortunate paradox for environmental podcasts; data shows a lot of people skip segments about the climate. But also… it’s the CLIMATE! We can’t NOT talk about it, right?
So how do we break through the malaise and make climate news feel less overwhelming? More surprising? Less depressing? In this episode, we round-up a handful of stories that we hope break the mold and make climate a more approachable topic for everyday discussion.
We’ll look at a third-rail of environmental activism, hear about an unlikely, middle-of-the-night climate deal at COP27, and learn about one place where producing less renewable energy might just be the best thing for the environment.
Featuring Cara Buckley, Naveena Sadasivam, and Gillian Flaccus
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Earth Now Has 8 Billion Humans. This Man Wishes There Were None. By Cara Buckley for The New York Times.
(For more on population, you can read Are 8 billion people too many — or too few? and Should you not have kids because of climate change? It’s complicated. And you should also listen to our two-parter on this very subject: So Over Population [Part 1] and So Over Population [Part 2])
Inside the COP27 fight to get wealthy nations to pay climate reparations, by Naveena Sadasivam for Grist
‘Momentous:’ US advances largest dam demolition in history, by Gillian Flaccus for the Associated Press
News Roundup:
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Felix Poon
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi, Justine Paradis, and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Jharee, and Blackout Memories.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
At the beginning of the pandemic, we published an episode about “how to be a backyard birder.” Everybody was understandably freaking out, and we wanted to put something sweet, calming, and hopeful into the world.
In that episode, we heard from ornithologist Dr. J. Drew Lanham, who shared some great tips for beginners, like what to watch and listen for, and how to make binoculars from toilet paper tubes.
But what we didn’t get into was Dr. Lanham’s own remarkable story, including the moment when the humble chicken pulled him away from a life in the military and onto the path to ornithological stardom.
This episode comes from our friends at Going Wild, with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, a podcast from PBS that’s more about the people that study wild animals than it is about the animals themselves.
Their latest season also includes the story of a shark researcher struggling with the whiteness of academia, a herpetologist who pushed to change the language of the field, and Dr. Rae-Wynn’s own journey as a field researcher slash newly single mom.
Featuring Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant and Dr. J. Drew Lanham.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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LINKS
Read “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher”, Dr. J. Drew Lanham’s breakthrough piece for Orion Magazine.
Listen to a South Carolina Public Radio interview with Dr. J. Drew Lanham after he won a MacArthur Fellowship.
CREDITS
Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi and produced by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Going Wild is hosted by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Production by Caroline Hadilaksono, Danielle Broza, Nathan Tobey, and Great Feeling Studios. Editing by Rachel Aronoff and Jakob Lewis. Sound design by Cariad Harmon.
It’s Outside/In’s annual winter show, in which the team gathers around the proverbial fire to share our best ideas towards becoming better friends with winter. The dream is to not just survive, but thrive – dare we say, to “surthrive” – and embrace the season, both the cold and the cozy.
This year, we’re joined by the wonderful Mara Hoplamazian, climate and environment reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio.
You can read our list here. We’d also love to hear your recommendations! We might even play them on the podcast or share your tips in our (free) newsletter.
Send your suggestions, ideally as a voice recording, to outsidein@nhpr.org or call our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER.
Featuring a few of the cold-water dippers of Maine, including Betsy Lou Dawkins, Cholla Foot, Juliet Cox, Anne Buckwalter, and the crowd at a Two Maine Mermaids full moon dip.
A word on cold water immersion
People engage in cold water dipping or swimming around the world. Many claim health benefits, like a boosted immune system and reduced inflammation. But it’s obviously not a risk-free activity.
Physiologist Michael Tipton told us a couple things to be aware of: 1) cold water shock, which prompts an involuntary gasp – bad news if you’re underwater 2) cold water exposure can send competing signals to your heart, potentially causing cardiac arrhythmia. But he also said, "I'm not sitting here as the fun police stopping people doing what they want to do. It's just we would encourage them to do it safely."
Here’s another overview of benefits and risks of cold-water swimming.
Support the show
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Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.
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Credits
Host: Nate Hegyi
Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music for this episode by Autohacker, Nul Tiel Records, John Runefelt, Blue Dot Sessions, Smartface, Xavy Rasan, Iso Indie, and Vaain.
Special thanks to Michael Tipton, Kelsy Hartley, Caitlin Hopkins, and Judith Greene-Janse.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
It’s high time to shine a light on an under-appreciated nocturnal visitor to America’s backyards and garbage cans: the opossum.
The opossum is the only marsupial in North America, and they’ve been snuffling around since before the dinosaurs died. It faints at the slightest threat, yet can be struck by a venomous snake and, unfazed, turn right around and eat it.
Also, they have two vaginas, and an extra pseudo-vagina. What more do you need? The opossum’s superpower is its reproductive system, and the thing that’s really going to make you say “holy scat!” is what’s going on in that pouch.
So…what’s it going to take to get some respect for the opossum?
Featuring: Jessica Anderson, Joseph Bruchac, Danielle Draback, and Frannie Greenberg
The premise of History’s reality TV show Alone is about as straightforward as it gets. Ten people are dropped into the remote wilderness with nothing but a handful of tools, a supply of GoPro cameras, and instructions to document their entire experience.
As contestants put their wilderness skills to the test, they face some of reality television’s most intense physical and emotional stakes; struggling with isolation, cold, wild animals, and even starvation. The last person standing wins the grand prize: half a million dollars.
But while the contestants must leave the comforts of home behind, the show still carries societal baggage.
In this episode, two critics explore the subtext of History’s Alone, and the messages it might be sending about class, gender, entertainment, and human relationships with the natural world.
Featuring Eric Martin and Tracy Clark-Flory.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Check our Eric Martin’s article: ALONE — What is this reality tv show really about?
And Tracy Clark-Flory’s piece for Jezebel: A Woman Alone: On History’s Survival Show, There’s No Escaping Gender, Not Even In The Woods.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Rebecca Lavoie and Nate Hegyi, with help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, The New Fools, Guy Trevino and Friends, Ambientalism, 91 nova, and Sarah the Illstrumentalist.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
It’s time to open our mailbag and answer your questions about fall – and not just the season. We’ve interpreted the theme to include everything from dreams about falling to fallout shelters and, um, tornadoes.
Plus, we reveal the long-anticipated winner of our poll on best alternatives for replacing the term “leaf-peeping.”
Question 1: Why do so many have recurring dreams about falling?
Question 2: How do tornadoes figure in myths around the world?
Question 3: How deep does a fallout shelter need to be?
Question 4: Are berries ripening earlier because of climate change?
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: Abhinav Singh, Nani Pybus, David Monteyne, Shaheen Dewji, Richard Primack, Nicole Herman-Mercer, Katie Spellman.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
On dreams
On Fallout Shelters
On Berries
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced and mixed by Felix Poon, Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, and Jessica Hunt
Edited by Taylor Quimby and Justine Paradis.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music for this episode by Jharee, Thea Tyler, and Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
Jack Rodolico knows exactly what scares him. Sharks.
But here’s what he doesn’t get: if he’s so freaked out, why can’t he stop incessantly watching online videos of bloody shark attacks?
Why would he deliberately seek out the very thing that spooks him?
To figure it out, Jack enlists the help of other scaredy-cats: our listeners, who shared their fears about nature with us. Together, Jack and the gang consider the spectrum of fear, from phobia to terror, and what it might mean when we don’t look away.
Featuring Lauren Passell, Arash Javanbakht, Nile Carrethers, and Sushmitha Madaboosi.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Lauren Passell’s Podcast the Newsletter.
Related: why people love horror movies.
The ubiquity of smartphones means plenty of hair-raising amateur videos of shark attacks to get you started on your doomscrolling (warning: a couple of these are bloody).
If this image of an octopus freaks you out, you might share Lauren’s “fear of holes,” or trypophobia.
Learn more about augmented reality technology and other projects at Arash Javanbakht’s clinic.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Jack Rodolico
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Nate Hegy, and Jessica Hunt.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music for this episode by Silver Maple, Matt Large, Luella Gren, John Abbot and Blue Dot Sessions.
Thanks to everyone who sent in voicemails and memos, even the ones we didn’t play: Erin Partridge, Lauren Passell, Nile Carrethers, Michelle MacKay, Alec from Nashville, and Hillary from Washington.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.
When it comes to protecting the biodiversity of Planet Earth, there is no greater failure than extinction.
Thankfully, only a few dozen species have been officially declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in the half century since the passage of the Endangered Species Act.
But, hold on. Aren’t we in the middle of the sixth mass extinction? Shouldn’t the list of extinct species be… way longer?
Well, yeah. Maybe.
Producer Taylor Quimby sets out to understand why it’s so difficult to officially declare an animal extinct. Along the way, he compares rare animals to missing socks, finds a way to invoke Lizzo during an investigation of an endangered species of crabgrass, and learns about the disturbing concept of “dark extinctions.”
Featuring Sharon Marino, Arne Mooers, Sean O’Brien, Bill Nichols, and Wes Knapp.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Check out this 2005 feature from the CBS Sunday Morning archives: In search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker…
…and this one from 60 minutes, also from 2005, pulled from the archive and rebroadcast after the proposed delisting.
Nate’s favorite ivory-billed story came from NPR, and featured songwriter Sufjan Stevens.
Watch the US Fish and Wildlife Service virtual public meeting about the proposed delisting of the ivory-billed woodpecker on January 26, 2022.
Read this 2016 paper that outlines, among other things, the consequences of being wait-listed under the ESA: “Taxa, petitioning agency, and lawsuits affect time spent awaiting listing under the US Endangered Species Act.”
From Simon Fraser University, “Lost or extinct? Study finds the existence of 562 animal species remains uncertain.”
More on the unknown status of Cambodia’s national mammal, the kouprey.
Wes Knapps’ paper on “Dark Extinctions” among vascular plants in the continental United States and Canada.
Read about the extinction of smooth slender crabgrass, the first documented extinction in New Hampshire.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby
Mixer: Taylor Quimby
Editing by Rebecca Lavoie and Nate Hegyi, with help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to Noah Greenwald, Jonathan Reichard, Tom Martin, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Music for this episode by Silver Maple and Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
If you've been having trouble getting in with a veterinarian, you're not imagining it. Across the country, pet care is increasingly hard to come by, and more vets are leaving the job.
Alaska’s capital city, Juneau, has lost roughly half of its veterinarians since the pandemic began. Pet owners often have to wait several weeks for an appointment, surgery is scarce, and 24/7 emergency care doesn’t exist. Now, a local animal shelter is stepping up to try and fill the gap for desperate pet owners, who often have nowhere else to turn.
In an industry rife with burnout, turnover, and high suicide rates, veterinarians and vet technicians are being forced to choose between taking care of animals and taking care of themselves.
Featuring: Tracy Ward, Jocelyn Andrea, Krista Miller, Sam Smith, Sam Blankenship
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.
LINKS
A professor at Auburn University looked into the role pentobarbital plays in suicides among veterinarians and vet techs.
The American Veterinary Medical Association broke down the reasons why it’s tough to find veterinary care these days.
The USDA has a cool map of places that are experiencing a shortage in veterinary care.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Rebecca Lavoie and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
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
Planting a tree often becomes almost a shorthand for doing a good deed. But such an act is not always neutral. In some places, certain trees can become windows into history, tools of erasure, or symbols of resistance.
This episode originally aired in October of 2020.
Featuring: Liat Berdugo, Irus Braverman, Jonathan Kuttab, Noga Kadman, Iyad Hadad, Raja Shehadeh, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Miri Maoz-Ovadia, and Nidal Waleed Rabie and his granddaughter Samera.
SUPPORT
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LINKS & BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berdugo, Liat. “A Situation: A Tree in Palestine.”Places Journal. January 2020.
Braverman, Irus. Planted Flags: Trees, Land, and Law in Israel Palestine. Cambridge University Press: 2009.
Kadman, Noga. Erased from Space and Consciousness: Israel and the Depopulated Palestinian Villages of 1948. Indiana University Press: 2015.
Long, Joanna. “(En)planting Israel: Jewish national fund forestry and the naturalisation of Zionism.” University of British Columbia: 2005.
”Our History.” Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael Jewish National Fund. Accessed 8 October 2020.
Pappe, Ilan. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. One World Oxford: 2006.
Shehadeh, Raja. Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. Scribner: 2007.
Tal, Alon. Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel. University of California Press: 2002.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Justine Paradis
Mixer: Justine Paradis
Editing by Taylor Quimby, Sam Evans-Brown, and Erika Janik
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Special thanks to Yehoshua Shkedy, Amit Gilutz, Eliana Passentin, and Vered Ben Saadon. Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
It’s that time again when we open our mailbag to answer your (oh-so-delightful) questions. This time, we deliberate over what seagulls are doing so far from the sea, the reason that staring at fire is so compelling, why dogs kick up dirt after they poo, and other timeless inquiries.
Submit your own question (the weirder the better) on Instagram, via email at outsidein@nhpr.org, or by calling our Outside/Inbox hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER.
Question 1: Would ice age humans still think of ice as ‘cold?’
Question 2: Why do we like to stare at fire?
Question 3: Why do dogs scratch the ground after pooping?
Question 4: Shouldn’t seagulls be at sea?
Question 5: Do animals get seasonal allergies?
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby & Felix Poon
Mixers: Taylor Quimby & Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Rebecca Lavoie
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Felix Johansson Carne, Stationary Sign, Jules Gaia, Yomoti, and Flouw.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Ever have an unexpected animal encounter that leaves you filled with adrenaline? Or awed by the natural world? Or filled with fear?
On this episode, we hand over the reins to the folks at Every Little Thing, a Spotify-exclusive podcast hosted by Flora Lichtman.
They asked their listeners for stories about extreme animal run-ins, and boy did folks deliver…. From a tangled antlers conundrum, to a life-altering encounter with jellyfish, these are animal stories that will make you laugh, sweat, and want to stay on the boat.
Thanks to Cory, Sara, Geoff and everyone who called in to Every Little Thing with a wild animal tale.
Every Little Thing is made by Flora Lichtman, Annette Heist, Phoebe Flanigan, Hadley Robinson, Stephanie Werner and Carla Javier.
Outside/In is produced by Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon
AFRAID OF NATURE? SEND US YOUR STORIES!
Halloween is coming up, and we want to know what natural thing scares the bejeezus out of you. Is there a particular animal, insect, or encounter that just absolutely creeps you out? Or maybe it’s just an idea: like you’re afraid of the dark, or the ocean, or thunderstorms?
Submit your fear, and we may feature it on a future episode of the show - or call you up to talk about whatever it is that freaks you out. Here are some prompts:
What scares you?
How does that fear manifest in your life? Where do you think that fear stems from?
Tell us a specific anecdote or story related to your fear.
Submit your story by sending a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org. Or by calling our hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER.
MORE ABOUT EVERY LITTLE THING
Why do news anchors all sound the same? Do wolves really howl at the moon? How did Elvis imitators take over Las Vegas wedding chapels? On ELT, you call with a question, they find you an answer.
Their helpline is open 24-7. Call 833-RING-ELT or send an audio message to elt@gimletmedia.com.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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Some people see something special happening at the Berkeley Community Garden in Boston’s South End: a multicultural garden community built from the rubble of a demolished city block; a green oasis of Chinese plants like bitter melon, cultivated here for over half a century.
But others… well, all they see is a trash pile.
In the final installment of Yardwork, the story of how a predominantly immigrant community garden is shaping the built environment, even as gentrification threatened its existence.
Featuring: Arlene Ng, Kim Szeto, Chun Lee, Sue Fong Lee, Helen Ng, Fanny, Ada, Sarah Hutt, Jeremy Liu, Betsy Johnson, Ann McQueen, Valerie Burns
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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LINKS
Official Berkeley Community Garden Website
Adversity Can Help A Garden To Grow (NYTimes)
Berkeley Community Gardeners Master Growing...Up (WBUR)
The Trustees of Reservations now owns and manages the Berkeley Community Garden. But many organizations have supported the garden through the decades, including:
Mel King was instrumental in making community gardens in Boston possible. In 1974 he sponsored the MA Gardening and Farm Act, which passed into law and allowed people to farm and garden on vacant public land. He was honored in 2021 by then acting mayor of Boston, Kim Janey.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi
Additional editing help from Jessica Hunt and Justine Paradis.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to Michelle Slater, Julie Stone, Zach Nowak, Mark Gardner, Michelle de Lima, Vidya Tikku, Peter Bowne, Jessica Holden, Lauren Chooljian Nick Capodice, Jason Moon, Christina Phillips, and Eileen Poon.
Music for this episode by Walt Adams, Blue Dot Sessions, and Airae
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Welcome to Yardwork, a summer yard and garden miniseries from Outside/In. We’re sharing three stories about our relationships with the land around us: the front yard, the backyard, and down the block. This is part two.
Sometimes, when Maureen McMurray is digging in her backyard garden, she encounters something she didn’t expect: a lump of coal. She’s planted vegetables in the same soil for a few years now. But as she prepared for an upcoming growing season, she wondered: is her homegrown produce poisoning her family?
The answer is nicer than you might think.
Featuring Maureen McMurray, Nate Bernitz, and Ganga Hettiarachchi.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Find your state’s cooperative extension and soil testing service in this directory.
Cornell Small Farms Program offers a guide to soil contamination, including ranges of safe levels, with the caveat that toxicity depends on factors like soil texture, pH, and organic matter.
The EPA’s primer to lead in soil.
More information on managing the health risks of lead in New Hampshire soils from the UNH Cooperative Extension.
This open source paper goes even deeper on issues of urban gardening, soil contamination, and public awareness.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing help from Nate Hegyi, Felix Poon, Rebecca Lavoie and Jessica Hunt.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Title art and photo: Justine Paradis
Special thanks to Tom Lemien, Anna Paltseva, and Jim Garvin.
Music by Walt Adams, Nul Tiel Records, Alexandra Woodward, Martin Gauffin, Blue Dot Sessions, and Arthur Benson.
Outside/In theme by Breakmaster Cylinder
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Welcome to Yardwork, a summer yard and garden miniseries from Outside/In. We’re sharing three stories about our relationships with the land around us: the front yard, the backyard, and down the block. This is part one.
Americans love a lawn. Green grass grows everywhere: on baseball fields, in backyards, in front of strip malls. Collectively, we spend billions of dollars every year keeping them fertilized and watered.
But lawns cost more than money in Western states like Utah. Despite a severe drought, residents of Utah’s towns and cities use more water per capita than any other place in the nation, and a majority of that water goes right into lawns. That’s helping fuel an environmental disaster that could wipe out one of America’s largest inland seas.
In part one of Yardwork, we trace the 600-year history of lawns, explore how they became a symbol of power, wealth, and Whiteness in America, and share tips on how to make a yard more environmentally responsible.
Featuring: Malin Curry, Ira Curry, Kelly Kopp, Zach Frankel, Karen Stenehjel
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Check out Malin Curry’s essay on the history of Black Americans and yard work.
To read more about how agriculture and outdoor watering is contributing to the disappearance of the Great Salt Lake, take a look at these two studies.
ProPublica published an excellent investigation into why one of the West’s driest states often rejects aggressive water conservation efforts.
For some great history on lawns, read Paul Robbins’ Lawn People and Virginia Scott Jenkins’ The Lawn: A History of an American Obsession
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Rebecca Lavoie and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to Sherry Lund, Zach Renstrom, Karry Rathje and Ken Fox.
Music for this episode by Walt Adams, Sture Zetterberg, OTE, Headlund, Roy Edwin Williams, El Flaco Collective, Pulsed, Jimmy Wahlsteen, Both Are Infinite, Airae, and Alfie-Jay Winters.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Humans have had an impressive run thus far; we’ve explored most of the planet (the parts that aren’t underwater anyway), landed on the moon, created art and music, and some pretty entertaining Tik Toks.
But we’ve survived on the planet for just a fraction of the time horseshoe crabs and alligators have. And we’re vastly outnumbered by many species of bacteria and insects.
So what is the most successful species on Earth? And how do you measure that, anyway?
From longevity, to happiness, to sheer numbers, we put a handful of different organisms under the microscope in hopes of better understanding what exactly it means to succeed at life on a collective and individual scale.
Featuring: Stephen Giovannoni, Rashidah Farid, and Steward Pickett
SUPPORT
Check out Stephen Giovannoni’s paper: “SAR11 Bacteria: The Most Abundant Plankton in the Oceans”
An interesting treatise on adaptability: “Why crocodiles still look the same as they did 200 million years ago”
From the NSF: “The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA”
More food for thought: “The non-human living inside you"
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby
Editing by: Nate Hegyi, Rebecca Lavoie
Additional editing help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special thanks to everybody who answered our question at the top of the show: Josemar Ochoa, m Carey Grant, Butter Wilson, Tim Blagden, Robert Baker, Sheila Rydel, and Bob Beaulac.
Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Jules Gaia
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
The National Park Service has changed immensely since its days of keeping poachers out of Yellowstone. So has its approach to telling the story of America.
Kirsten Talken-Spaulding of the NPS and Will Shafroth of the National Parks Foundation help us understand how this colossal system actually works and what it's doing to tell the true story of the United States.
This episode was reported and produced by our friends at the wonderful podcast Civics 101.
LINKS
For more about the history of national parks and state-backed conservation, we’ve got episodes!
We’ve also delved into the history of Yellowstone, with a focus on the original conservation strategy behind it and many other parks, a strategy pejoratively called “fortress conservation.”
“Himalayan Land Grab” tells the story of what happened when park developers applied the same “fortress conservation” strategy in northern India.
“Thin Green Line” is an exploration of the role of conservation law enforcement through the reality TV show North Woods Law.
We’ve also featured “The Problem with America’s National Parks,” an episode of the podcast The Experiment (no longer being produced) which asked: why not simply give the national parks back to Native people?
CREDITS
Hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice
Produced by Hannah McCarthy with help from Nick Capodice
Senior Producer: Christina Phillips
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Civics 101 staff includes Jacqui Fulton.
Outside/In team: Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Music (National Park Service): Nul Tiel Records, Evan Schaefer, Kesha, Walt Adams, Site of Wonders, Dusty Decks, HoliznaRAPS and Margareta.
The land had been cultivated and lived on for millennia when geologist Ferdinand Hayden came upon the astounding Yellowstone "wilderness." It wasn't long before the federal government declared it a national park, to be preserved in perpetuity for the enjoyment of all. Ostensibly. How did Yellowstone go from being an important home, hunting ground, thoroughfare and meeting place to being a park?
This episode was reported and produced by our friends at the wonderful podcast Civics 101.
Featuring: Megan Kate Nelson, author of Saving Yellowstone, Mark David Spence, author of Dispossessing the Wilderness and Alexandra E. Stern, historian of Native peoples and Reconstruction are our guides to this rocky start.
LINKS
For more about the history of national parks and state-backed conservation, we’ve got episodes!
We’ve also delved into the history of Yellowstone, with a focus on the original conservation strategy behind it and many other parks, a strategy pejoratively called “fortress conservation.”
“Himalayan Land Grab” tells the story of what happened when park developers applied the same “fortress conservation” strategy in northern India.
“Thin Green Line” is an exploration of the role of conservation law enforcement through the reality TV show North Woods Law.
We’ve also featured “The Problem with America’s National Parks,” an episode of the podcast The Experiment (no longer being produced) which asked: why not simply give the national parks back to Native Americans?
CREDITS
Hosted by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice
Produced by Hannah McCarthy with help from Nick Capodice
Senior Producer: Christina Phillips
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Civics 101 staff includes Jacqui Fulton.
Outside/In team: Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Music: Walt Adams, Silver Maple, Arthur Benson, Alexandra Woodward and Rocky Marciano.
Last summer, former Outside/In host Sam Evans-Brown quit journalism to become a lobbyist for clean energy.
He’s not alone. Millions of people left their jobs or changed careers in the past couple years. But is the field of climate journalism going through its own “Great Resignation?” In a moment when the stakes are so high, are the people who cover the climate crisis leaving journalism to try to help solve it?
Producer Justine Paradis talks with two reporters who recently found themselves re-evaluating their personal and professional priorities: one who left journalism, and another who stayed.
Featuring Sophie Gilbert, Sam Evans-Brown, Stephen Lacey, Julia Pyper, Meaghan Parker, and Kendra Pierre-Louis.
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 or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.
LINKS
The podcast episode of Warm Regards that Justine mentions is “Apocalyptic Narratives, Climate Data, and Hope, with Zeke Hausfather and Diego Arguedas Ortiz”
The history of objectivity is arguably one of the “great confusions of journalism.” In the early 20th century, reporter Walter Lippman and editor Charles Merz contended that objectivity is a practice akin to the scientific method. “The method is objective, not the journalist.”
More recently, plenty of folks have commented on problems with “bias” in journalism, including Lewis Raven Wallace, Wesley Lowery, and Sam Sanders, who wrote, “The avoidance of the ‘perception’ of ‘bias’ ultimately means the only reporters to be trusted are those whose lives haven’t been directly touched by the issues and struggles they’re covering. And you [know] what that means.”
Julia Pyper’s podcast Political Climate
Post Script Media, Stephen Lacey’s podcast company
How cable TV covered climate change in 2021.
Nate Johnson, a former journalist who left Grist to become an electrician, featured on How to Save a Planet.
Kendra Pierre-Louis spoke in greater depth about her career and what it’s like to be a Black woman in journalism with Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt on Hot Take.
The Yale Climate Opinion Maps find that 72% of Americans believe in global warming, although just 33% report hearing about climate in the media at least once a week. You can explore the data and see how climate attitudes vary by state and county.
For Sarah Miller, all the right words on climate have already been said. “I could end this story by saying ‘We kept swimming and it was beautiful even if it will all be gone someday,’ or some shit, but I already ended another climate story that way. I have, several times, really nailed that ending… Writing is stupid. I just want to be alive.”
CREDITS
Special thanks to Nate Johnson and Peter Howe
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Editing and additional mixing by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing: Rebecca Lavoie, Nate Hegyi, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Music: Sarah the Illstrumentalist, Daniel Fridell, baegel, FLYIN, Smartface, Silver Maple, By Lotus, 91nova, Moon Craters, Pandaraps, and Blue Dot Sessions
Theme Music: Breakmaster Cylinder
Few bear witness to human decomposition. We embalm and seal bodies in caskets, and bury them six feet underground. Decomposition happens out of sight and out of mind, or in the case of cremation, is skipped over entirely.
But at human decomposition facilities, sometimes known as "body farms," students and researchers see rotting corpses every day. They watch as scavengers and bacteria feast on them. And when it's all over, they clean the skeletons, and file them away in a collection.
In this episode, producer Felix Poon visits a human decomposition facility in North Carolina to see what the people who work there have learned about death, find out how a human body decomposes, and why a person might choose to wind up there in the first place.
Featuring: Nick Passalacqua, Rebecca George, Carter Unger, Maggie Klemm, Carlee Green, Victoria Deal, Kadri Greene, Mackenzie Gascon, Reagan Baechle, Leigh Irwin, and Lucinda Denton
LINKS
You can watch Bill Bass tell the story of Colonel William Shy and the time since death estimation he got so wrong that led to him founding the first ever “Body Farm.”
If you want to hear from pre-registered donors about their decision to donate their bodies, you can watch a WBIR-TV segment, The Body Farm: A donor explains why she’s ready to hand off her corpse to the forensic center about Lucinda Denton, who we feature in this episode. And you can read Fawn Fitter’s article, My Afterlife on the Body Farm (NY Times), about how she intends to help solve crimes as part of a world-renowned criminal justice program after she dies.
If you’re curious to read more about the “CSI Effect,” check this article out: ‘CSI effect’ draws more women to forensics.
And if you want to read up on how the field of forensics is talking about evolving their concepts of race and gender, you can read Decolonizing ancestry estimation in the United States, and Centering Transgender Individuals in Forensic Anthropology and Expanding Binary Sex Estimation in Casework and Research.
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CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help and feedback from Nate Hegyi, Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, and Jessica Hunt.
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Special Thanks to: Fawn Fitter, Katie Zejdlik, Jimmy Holt, Carter Unger, Maggie Klemm, Carlee Green, Victoria Deal, Kadri Greene, Mackenzie Gascon, Reagan Baechle, and Leigh Irwin.
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
Anybody who supports the show RIGHT NOW, during our June 2020 Fund Drive, will be entered to win a $500 Airbnb gift card, and will receive an adorable limited-edition Outside/In axolotl sticker.
Click here to donate to Outside/In right now.
A few weeks ago, we teamed up with the Civics 101 podcast to bring you the story of Happy, an Asian elephant living in the Bronx Zoo.
Lawyers had petitioned the New York State Court of Appeals for a writ of Habeas Corpus; a legal maneuver that could have freed Happy and set a new precedent for animal rights. But in a ruling out this week, the court has decided: Happy isn’t going anywhere.
In this quick update to our previous episode (listen here if you haven’t already) Nate and Hannah debrief on the 5-2 split decision, and what it means for the future of animal rights.
Featuring: Maneesha Deckha
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LINKS
Read more about this week’s ruling, and what it may mean for animal rights, in this article from Slate.
CREDITS
Hosts: Nate Hegyi and Hannah McCarthy
Reported and produced by: Nate Hegyi
Mixer: Taylor Quimby
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Fabien Tell, Bill Ferngren, Sarah the Illstrumentalist, and Alexandra Woodward
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Anybody who supports the show RIGHT NOW, during our June 2020 Fund Drive, will be entered to win a $500 Airbnb gift card, and will receive an adorable limited-edition Outside/In axolotl sticker.
Click here to donate to Outside/In right now.
When the smash-success Jurassic Park first hit theaters in 1993, it inspired a generation of dinophiliacs and helped to usher in a new “golden age of paleontology.”
But it also froze the public’s perception of dinosaurs in time, and popularized inaccuracies that people still believe are true today.
So what happens when the biggest source of information on a scientific field comes from a fictional monster movie? In this episode, three Jurassic Park super-fans (one paleontologist, and two podcasters) try to sort it all out.
Featuring: Gabriel-Philip Santos
SUPPORT
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LINKS
Want to learn more about dinosaurs? Check the publish date before you check it out from the library! And here are some good options:
Smithsonian’s The Dinosaur Book (pretty much all of the Smithsonian books are good for younger readers)
Want to get a more global perspective of where dinosaurs have been discovered? Check out a dinosaur atlas book.
For older readers, or anybody who loves a good coffee table book, check out this entry featuring a number of excellent paleoartists: Dinosaur Art II (Taylor has the first one and loves to show it off).
Also: A truly disheartening read about people who think feathered dinosaurs are an attack on masculinity.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby
Mixer: Taylor Quimby
Editing by Rebecca Lavoie, with help from Nate Hegyi and Justine Paradis
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by Sarah the Illstrumentalist, Pandaraps, Matt Large, Ballpoint, and Valante.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
Anybody who supports the show RIGHT NOW, during our June 2020 Fund Drive, will be entered to win a $500 Airbnb gift card, AND will receive an adorable limited-edition Outside/In axolotl sticker.
Click here to donate to Outside/In right now.
Happy has lived in New York City’s Bronx Zoo for years. To visitors, she’s a lone Asian elephant. But to a team of animal rights lawyers, she’s a prisoner.
They’ve petitioned state courts for a writ of Habeas Corpus; a legal maneuver that, if granted, would declare Happy a legal person who deserves to be freed. It’s the latest case in an ongoing fight to extend basic human rights to animals – one that could have big repercussions in the natural world.
Because this is a case that deals with animals AND the law, two podcasts from New Hampshire Public Radio have teamed up to take it on: Outside/In and Civics 101. We always hear about the animal rights movement… but what rights do animals actually have?
Featuring: Maneesha Deckha, Kevin Schneider
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LINKS
Listen and subscribe to Civics 101!
Check out which animals don’t get covered by the country’s biggest anti-cruelty law, the Animal Welfare Act, here.
Nonhuman Rights Project founder, Steven Wise, explained why he compares the plight of nonhuman animals to the plight of enslaved people in a wide-ranging interview with University of Toronto law professor Angela Fernandez in 2018.
The New Yorker wrote about Happy the elephant’s legal case earlier this year.
You can rent the HBO Documentary about Tommy the chimpanzee, Unlocking the Cage, on Apple TV.
We weren’t able to dive into it in this episode, but Maneesha has made a compelling case for not fighting for personhood for animals – instead, there should be a distinct third classification known as “legal beings.” Check out her lecture on it here.
CREDITS
Hosts: Nate Hegyi, Hannah McCarthy, Nick Capodice
Reported and produced by: Nate Hegyi
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help and feedback from Nick Capodice, Hannah McCarthy, Rebecca Lavoie, and Nate Hegyi
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
Music for this episode by El Flaco Collective, The Fly Guy Five, Jules Gaia, and Peerless.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
It’s that time again, when scientists everywhere hold their breath as we open our listener mailbag. It’s spring in the northern hemisphere, so the theme of the questions in this episode is “growth” — with the exception of the last question, which is… kind of the opposite.
Question 1: Um, what are those frogs doing? (go to our website to see the picture)
Question 2: What’s that white foam that forms on trees when it rains?
Question 3: Does moss get damaged when you walk on it?
Question 4: What’s the best filling for raised beds in the garden?
Question 5: How long does it take for a dead squirrel to decompose?
[insert image]
Thanks for the excellent questions, Louise, Mihaela, Tricia, Kevin, and Nicolas! 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: Nat Cleavitt, Rebecca Roy, Yolanda Burrell, and Sibyl Bucheli
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LINKS
Check out one of many salacious articles about frog sex, or read the somewhat less sensational study about underwater breeding chambers.
And here’s one more study about frog sex; specifically simultaneous polyandry.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Mixed by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Rebecca Lavoie and Justine Paradis
Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer
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
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
SUPPORT
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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
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
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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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
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
SUPPORT
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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
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
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.
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
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
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
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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
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
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
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
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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.
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!
SUPPORT
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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
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
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
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Subscribe to our free newsletter.
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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.
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
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.
Subscribe to our free newsletter.
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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.
When writer Elizabeth Rush visited neighborhoods already transformed by rising seas, she noticed that many people did not use terms like “climate change.” They still talked about it – it’s just that they talked about it in terms of their own experiences: the dolphins, swimming in tidal creeks further inland than ever before… how the last big flood wasn’t gradual, but fast and sudden.
In this episode, we’re looking for new ways to discuss climate change with Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore. While some books about climate change are heavy on politics and UN reports, Rising is not that. Instead, Elizabeth focuses on the people, species, and communities on the leading edge of sea level rise, from New York to California, Louisiana and even to the mountains of Oregon.
“A good friend of mine… was like, ‘This is the first climate book I've also read that has zero quotes from politicians.’ That wasn't purposeful, but I looked back and was sort of proud of that,” Elizabeth said.
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LINKS
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
CREDITS
Hosted by Justine Paradis and Felix Poon
Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Rebecca Lavoie
Additional editing: Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Chris Zabriskie and Blue Dot Sessions
Decades before the first international permaculture conference or certified organic tomato, a farmer on an island in southern Japan turned his back on industrial agriculture and devoted his life to finding a different way of farming.
Masanobu Fukuoka was working as a plant pathologist when he experienced a revelation – and promptly quit his job and returned home to his family farm. Eventually, he wrote The One-Straw Revolution, a manifesto on his method, shizen noho, and the philosophy of “do-nothing farming.”
Published in 1978, the book has been described by writer Michael Pollan as “one of the founding documents of the alternative food movement.” But its reach goes far beyond farming: The One Straw Revolution has been translated into 25 languages and is admired by artists, writers, and philosophers.
Fukuoka passed away in 2008, but his grandson, Hiroki Fukuoka, is still living and farming there today. In the second part of the story of Fukuoka and “do-nothing” farming, writer Hannah Kirshner journeys to the place where he lived and farmed, to see shizen noho, as it is today.
Featuring Hiroki Fukuoka, with appearances by Akiko Fukuoka, Taro Nakamura, and Atsushi Tada.
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LINKS + FURTHER READING
Hannah Kirshner, author of Water, Wood, and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town
Fukuoka in discussion with Bill Mollison and Wes Jackson for Mother Earth News, which took place at the Second International Permaculture Conference in Washington state.
Many of those practicing natural farming in Japan learned about it from Yoshikazu Kawaguchi, who adapted Fukuoka’s practice and started a natural farming school called Akame Shizennou Jyuku.
The 1978 review of The One Straw Revolution in Akwesasne Notes, a newspaper published by the Mohawk Nation
For more on the story behind the book’s publication and Fukuoka’s travels in the United States: The One Straw Revolutionary: The Philosophy and Work of Masanobu Fukuoka by Larry Korn
CREDITS
Special thanks to Tim Crews and the Land Institute, ethnobotanist Justin Robinson, Jeffrey Gray of Fenlake Farm, Paul Quirk of Ishiharaya farm, Bill Vitek, and Atsushi Tada and Taro Nakamura, who work with the Masanobu Fukuoka Natural Farm.
Reported and written by Justine Paradis and Hannah Kirshner
Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing: Rebecca Lavoie and Felix Poon
Translation help from Michael Thornton
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Patrick Patrikios and Blue Dot Sessions
Decades before the first international permaculture conference or certified organic tomato, a farmer on an island in southern Japan turned his back on industrial agriculture and devoted his life to finding a different way of farming.
Masanobu Fukuoka was working as a plant pathologist when he experienced a revelation – and promptly quit his job and returned home to his family farm. Eventually, he wrote The One-Straw Revolution, a manifesto on his method, shizen noho, and the philosophy of “do-nothing farming.”
Published in 1978, the book has been described by writer Michael Pollan as “one of the founding documents of the alternative food movement.” But its reach goes far beyond farming: The One Straw Revolution has been translated into 25 languages and is admired by artists, writers, and philosophers.
What is it about this slim green book that has touched so many people?
Part I tells the “origin story” of Masanobu Fukuoka, and how his ideas spread far beyond his home on the Japanese island of Shikoku.
In Part II, we journey to that corner of southern Japan, and the mountain where Masanobu Fukuoka once lived and farmed, to see shizen noho in action today.
Featuring Takeshi Watanabe, Robin Calderon, and Hiroki Fukuoka.
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LINKS + FURTHER READING
Fukuoka’s discussion with Bill Mollison and Wes Jackson for Mother Earth News, which took place in 1986 at the Second International Permaculture Conference in Washington state.
Many of those practicing natural farming in Japan learned about it from Yoshikazu Kawaguchi, who adapted Fukuoka’s practice and started a natural farming school called Akame Shizennou Jyuku.
The 1978 review of The One Straw Revolution in Akwesasne Notes, a newspaper published by the Mohawk Nation
For more on the story behind the book’s publication and Fukuoka’s travels in the United States: The One Straw Revolutionary: The Philosophy and Work of Masanobu Fukuoka by Larry Korn
CREDITS
Special thanks to Tim Crews and the Land Institute, ethnobotanist Justin Robinson, Jeffrey Gray of Fenlake Farm, Paul Quirk of Ishiharaya farm, Bill Vitek, and Atsushi Tada and Taro Nakamura, who work with the Masanobu Fukuoka Natural Farm.
Reported and written by Justine Paradis and Hannah Kirshner
Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing: Rebecca Lavoie and Felix Poon
Translation help from Michael Thornton
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Patrick Patrikios
On May 21, 2021, an influential environmental activist died of Covid-19 and you probably didn’t hear about it. Sunderlal Bahuguna’s passing didn’t make the major news outlets in the US, but it was a big deal in India, where he was the renowned leader of the Chipko movement against deforestation in the 1970s.
Chipko is a Hindi word for “hugging”, but according to Bahuguna, he was just the messenger of the movement. “It was the ladies who hugged the trees,” he said.
This story is about the life and legacy of Sunderlal Bahuguna, and the tree huggers that saved India’s forests.
Featuring: Haritima Bahuguna
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LINKS
On The Fence: Chipko Movement Re-visited
CREDITS
Reported and produced by Felix Poon
Host: Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing by Justine Paradis, and Erika Janik
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Felix Poon
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Saumya Bahuguna, Samuel Corwin, and Blue Dot Sessions
We all know that a key part of addressing climate change involves getting off fossil fuels. But renewable energies, such as solar energy, are not without costs. One key cost? It uses a lot of land. The team at How to Save a Planet takes a look at one creative solution to this problem – mixing solar panels with agriculture. And they are not at all sheepish about the role of one very adorable four legged animal.
Featuring How to Save a Planet.
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CREDITS
How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production.
Host: Alex Blumberg
Episode producer: Kendra Pierre-Louis
Show producers: Anna Ladd, Rachel Waldholz and Hannah Chinn
Intern: Nicole Welch
Supervising producers: Lauren Silverman and Kaitlyn Bogucki
Editor: Caitlin Kenney.
Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard
Original music by Peter Leonard, Catherine Anderson and Emma Munger
Fact-checking: James Gaines
Special thanks to Alex DePillis at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, and Tonje Waxman and Brooks Mixon at Sun Raised Farms.
Outside/In team: Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Gasp! Once again, the Outside/In team find themselves plunged into (a very predictable) darkness as winter descends on the Northern Hemisphere. In this episode, our second annual friluftsliv special, we turn to Norwegian culture for inspiration on how best to approach the coldest quarter of the year.
The team offers our 2021/22 tips on how to enjoy the outdoors in inclement weather, and cozy (and not so cozy) indoor recommendations for those days when the wind is howling, the digits are single, and you simply can’t even.
Featuring Jim Staples.
SUPPORT
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'FRILUFTSLIV' GEAR TIPS
Interested in microspikes? Check out this review of various winter traction devices.
How to sell a parka: Fast Company calls the Canada Goose “cold room” the best retail experience of the year.
Everything old is new again: The LA Times on how the disposable camera is making a comeback among millennials and Gen Z.
'KOSELIG' TV RECOMMENDATIONS
Jessica: 100 Foot Wave. A seminal big-wave surfing documentary, complete with staggering visuals, intense score, and larger-than-life personality. Follows extreme surfer Garrett McNamara’s journey as he pioneers new methods for taking on the world’s biggest waves. HBO Max.
Rebecca: Dark. At first, this cerebral time-travel story feels like a German take on Stranger Things - but Dark, frankly, is much weirder than that. Get hooked by the surprising twists, stay for the stellar performances from its ensemble cast. Perfect for a February binge-session. Netflix.
Taylor: Alone. Most reality TV relies on human interaction in order to create drama - this one is just the opposite. Contestants film themselves as they try to survive the longest in harsh wilderness conditions without friends, family, or even producers around to see them do it. Hulu and Netflix.
Justine: The Great. An “occasionally true” look back at the reign of Catherine the Great, the devotee of enlightenment ideals who oversaw Russia during one of its most prosperous eras. Visually, it’s a great period piece - but what sets it apart is the raunchy, smart, laugh-out-loud humor. Hulu.
NON-SCREEN 'KOSELIG' IDEAS
Taylor: Put together a puzzle unlike any other.
Rebecca: Keep yourself cozy with a rubber hot water bottle.
Jessica: Make yourself some glogg.
Justine: Throw a fantastic winter banquet, with the help of How to Eat a Peach by Diana Henry.
[Note: Please be cautious of CDC safety guidelines when planning any social gatherings during the pandemic - a good winter banquet need not be held indoors or have a large guest list to be a splendid time!]
Justine’s bonus recommendation (excellent on its own or paired with The Great): The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow, a book about freedom, the Indigenous influence on the Enlightenment, and what on Earth our ancient human ancestors were up to for hundreds of thousands of years.
CREDITS
Produced and mixed by Taylor Quimby
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Additional editing: Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Rebecca Lavoie
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
We’ve got answers to your burning questions: a query about the impacts of wildlife smoke on bird migration; a long-smoldering family debate over whether or not bears can hoot; and, perhaps, stamping out the fire in the gas furnace heating your home.
Question 1: What home heating system is best for the climate?
Question 2: Is wildfire smoke impacting bird migration?
Question 3: Do bears hoot?
Question 4: Are farmers practicing agroforestry in New England?
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: Nate (The House Whisperer) Adams, Emily Mottram, Joe Lajewski, Olivia Sanderfoot, Anni Yang, Dave Mance III, Andy Timmins, David Telesco, Kate Macfarland, and Meghan Giroux.
SUPPORT
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CREDITS
Reported and produced by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, and Justine Paradis
Host: Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Additional editing by Cori Princell
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, and Justine Paradis
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
Animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to global climate emissions. But what about hunting? Does shooting and eating wild game skirt the complicated ethics and emissions connected with eating factory farmed animals?
In this episode, a vegetarian-turned-hunter brings two reporters into a forest in Germany, in search of sustainable meat. Not only is it an interesting conversation from a climate perspective, it’s also a fascinating glimpse into the differences between hunting culture in the United States and Germany.
This story comes from our friends at On The Green Fence, a podcast about environmental issues. It’s produced by Deutsche Welle and hosted by Neil King and Gabriel Borrud. This episode was part of their season on the ethics and sustainability of eating meat, which recently won a 2021 Lovie Award for Best Limited Series.
Featuring Alena Steinbach.
Follow On The Green Fence on Twitter: @dw_environment
Follow On The Green Fence on Instagram: @dw_globalideas
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LINKS
For more on the “meat paradox” that Neil and Gabriel mention in this episode, check out our previous episode The Meat Matrix.
CREDITS
On The Green Fence is hosted by Neil King and Gabriel Borrud. Their executive producer is Vanessa Fischer. Their sound engineer is Jürgen Kuhn and they’re produced by Natalie Muller.
The Outside/In team is Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon and Jessica Hunt
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder
In Aspen, Colorado, bears descend from the mountains to gorge on unlocked restaurant dumpsters. In India, drunk elephants crash into bodegas searching for food. And behind these human-wildlife conflicts are the researchers and scientists who are trying to prevent us from killing each other.
Author Mary Roach is no stranger to squirmy subjects: she’s written about the science of decomposition, digestion, and sex. By comparison, her latest book sounds almost cute: It’s called Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law. But don’t be fooled, because this book is “wilder” than anything else she’s ever written.
Reminder: you don’t need to read the book to enjoy Outside/In Book Club! The conversation is open to all. In this episode, we speak with Mary about humanity’s drive to keep wild animals out of our kitchens, communities, and crops, and the absurd -- and sometimes disturbing -- lengths we’ll go to do it.
Our next pick for the Outside/In Book Club is Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, by Elizabeth Rush. Again, you don’t have to read it to enjoy the show, but if you do, don’t forget to tag us @OutsideInRadio on Twitter and Instagram, and use the hashtag #ReadingOutsideIn to share your thoughts and questions.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
More about Mary Roach
CREDITS
Produced by Taylor Quimby and Jessica Hunt
Edited by Justine Paradis
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Additional Editing: Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Who moved the giant monolithic statues of Rapa Nui, a remote island in the South Pacific? And how did they do it? These questions have been at the center of much speculation and debate since Europeans first arrived there on Easter Sunday, 1722, and called it “Easter Island”. 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.
This is a story about storytelling: what happens when your community becomes the subject of a global mystery? A parable of human failure and ecological collapse? What’s the true story? And who gets to tell it?
Featuring: Sergio Rapu Haoa, Carl Lipo, Terry Hunt, Sergio Mata’u Rapu, and Gina Pakarati
SUPPORT
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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
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
There’s a type of travel industry which defines itself as different: ecologically minded, even “responsible.” It’s a type of travel meant to support the conservation of threatened ecosystems. This is not just tourism, but “ecotourism.”
This specific brand of tourism is a crucial part of the plan to conserve the Great Himalayan National Park in northern India, a gorgeous patchwork of forests, glaciers, mountains, and rare wildlife.
From one perspective, the strategy is working: tourism is on the rise, which provides jobs to locals and incentivizes conservation.
But from another perspective, the very thing meant to help conserve the area might also be one of its biggest threats.
In our last episode, journalist Yardain Amron reported on the conservation strategy -- and the controversy -- around the creation of the GHNP in the 1980’s and ‘90s.
Here, Yardain turns to 21st century ecotourism, and explores just how much the Tirthan Valley of India is changing. Who profits from tourism based on exploring wilderness? And just how eco-friendly is ecotourism?
Featuring Raju Bharti, Karan Bharti, Dimple Kamra, Upi Kamra, Rosaleen Duffy, Stephan Marchal, Robert Fletcher, Narottam Singh, and a traveler named Nishant.
Translation by Vibha Kumar.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
To learn more about this approach to conservation, check out our episode on the origins of Yellowstone National Park, “Fortress Conservation.”
Dorceta Taylor, “The Rise of the American Conservation Movement.”
Bram Buscher and Robert Fletcher, “The Conservation Revolution.”
CREDITS
Host: Justine Paradis
Reported and produced by Yardain Amron
Edited by Taylor Quimby with help from Justine Paradis
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Yardain Amron and Taylor Quimby
Additional Editing: Felix Poon and Jessica Hunt
Special thanks to: Guman Singh, Tony Gaston, and Hema Marchal.
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions
The Great Himalayan National Park in India is among the most dramatic landscapes on Earth. Count the layers in a single panoramic photo of the park and you might see mountains, glaciers, old-growth forests, and alpine meadows.
But National Parks are defined by two things: first, an abundance of wildlife and majestic landscapes; and second, no permanent human presence.
So, before anybody was ever invited to visit the park, authorities first told about 15,000 local people to stay out.
This episode is the first of two stories reported by freelance journalist Yardain Amron. In this tale, he explores the strategies of conservation at work in India’s Tirthan Valley, and what it took to create The Great Himalayan National Park over the course of two decades. What does it mean to “protect” the natural world? Who is doing the protecting, and who should it be protected from?
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
LINKS
To learn more about this approach to conservation, check out our episode on the origins of Yellowstone National Park, “Fortress Conservation.”
Dorceta Taylor, “The Rise of the American Conservation Movement.”
Bram Buscher and Robert Fletcher, “The Conservation Revolution.”
CREDITS
Host: Justine Paradis
Reported and produced by Yardain Amron
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Yardain Amron and Taylor Quimby
Additional Editing: Felix Poon and Jessica Hunt
Translation: Vibha Kumar
Special thanks to Guman Singh and Tony Gaston.
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions
We introduce our new mailbag segment: the Outside/Inbox, where we answer your questions about the natural world.
This time:
Question 1: What are those blue boxes sticking out of East Coast salt marshes?
Question 2: A bunch of wasps swarmed into my friend’s bowl of ramen and died. What poisoned the wasps?
Question 3: Did life begin on Earth just once? Or could it have happened multiple times during the same period?
Question 4: If you ironed out all the mountains in a place like New Hampshire - how much bigger would the surface area of the state be?
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.
Featuring: Gabrielle Sakolsky, Luke Steller, Jared Dyer, Debbie Maciecki, Larry Garland, and Russell Congalton
SUPPORT
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CREDITS
Produced and Reported by Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Host: Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Additional Editing: Cori Princell and Rebecca Lavoie
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon
Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Once upon a time, potpourri was a popular way to freshen up a space. Now, for some, it feels a bit like the lava lamp of fragrance: an outdated fad from a bygone decade.
So, why was potpourri so popular in the 1980’s, and what happened to it? Did the trend dry up… or just evolve?
We explore the transformation of potpourri, from the fermented mush of the Victorian era to the perfumed and colorful bag of pine cones of the eighties, and talk to a few of the people still making potpourri today.
Featuring: Yvette Weaver, Carly Still, Laure Moutet, Autumn Anderson, Paulus, and Ednita Tingle.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
An 1895 recipe from Sweet from Sweet Scented Flowers and Fragrant Leaves for 50-year moist potpourri (the recipe begins on page 42).
From Death Scents: more fascinating info on the history of medieval trends that predate potpourri and the rise of “rotten pot” potpourri.
Fragrant Potpourri Preserves the Floral Scents of Summer: A 1975 NYT article that bridges the gap between moist and dried potpourri recipes.
A 1988 Glade Potpourri Spray commercial
CREDITS
Hosted by Justine Paradis
Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby
Edited by Justine Paradis
Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Additional Editing: Felix Poon and Jessica Hunt
Special thanks to Rosalyn LaPier, Mark Nesbit, and to NHPR’s voices from the ‘80s: Nick Capodice, Josh Rogers, Emily Quirk, Patricia McLaughlin, Rick Ganley, and Rebecca Lavoie.
Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Ben Nestor
Science journalist and sci-fi novelist Annalee Newitz thinks and writes a lot about the future. But in their latest book, Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Annalee looks at the distant past in four ancient cities: Pompeii (of the Roman Empire), Angkor (of the Khmer empire in modern day Cambodia), Catalhoyuk (the first known city in the world in today’s Turkey), and Cahokia (an indigenous city near what’s now St. Louis, Missouri).
Through these four cities, Annalee explores the past to understand our future. And, in the face of the existential threat of climate change, we talk about what the stories of these cities can tell us about humanity’s possible future.
The next Outside/In book club pick is Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach. It comes out on September 14, 2021.
Don’t forget to tag us @OutsideInRadio on Twitter and Instagram, and use the hashtag #ReadingOutsideIn to share your thoughts and questions about Four Lost Cities or Fuzz!
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with member-support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
LINKS
Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age
CREDITS
Host: Justine Paradise
Written and reported by Felix Poon
Edited by Justine Paradise, Erika Janik, and Taylor Quimby
Executive Producer: Erika Janik
Mixed by Felix Poon
Music by Breakmaster Cylinder
This week, we’re sharing an episode from The Experiment, a podcast from The Atlantic and WNYC that tells “stories from an unfinished country.”
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Each episode explores elements of the experiment that is the United States, from the evangelical influence on American politics to alcohol use in the United States… and to “America’s best idea:” its national parks.
In an essay for The Atlantic, David Treuer, an Ojibwe author and historian, says we can make that idea even better—by giving national parks back to Native Americans.
“By virtue of the parks returning to Native control, I would like people, when they’re standing at the foot of El Capitan, to look up knowing they’re on Native lands, to look up knowing that they’re standing on the graves of Native people,” says Treuer, who grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota as the nearby Voyageurs National Park was being established. “I would like, when people look up at vistas, like at Yosemite or at Yellowstone, that they’d look up as a way to look back at the history of this country.”
Outside/In is a member-supported production of New Hampshire Public Radio. You can donate at outsideinradio.org/donate.
As we wave off our erstwhile host as he moves on to new adventures, we recall a drive through the mountains and assemble (what else?) a riotous montage.
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If you’ve got a question for the Outside/In[box] hotline, give us a call! We’re always looking for rabbit holes to explore. Leave us a voicemail at: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.
One more throw-back of Sam, one of our more “creative” fundraising ideas from a few years back.
Outside/In is a member-supported production of New Hampshire Public Radio. You can donate at outsideinradio.org/donate.
To be profitable, the offshore wind industry requires vast sums of money only accessible to some of the world’s biggest companies. But is the environmental movement ready to welcome oil majors and devoted capitalists into their ranks? Ready or not, here they come.
Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.
Featuring: Henrik Stiesdal, Nat Bullard, Jason Jarvis, and Mijin Cha.
Part 5 of 5.
SUPPORT
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LINKS
A note about our reporting process
CREDITS
Co-hosts: Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik
Written and reported by Sam Evans-Brown
Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico
Executive Producer: Erika Janik
Mixing: Justine Paradis
Fact-checking: Sara Sneath
Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy
Special thanks to Sandeep Pai, Bo Quinn, Sammy Roth and Kim Delfino.
Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder
Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde
Billions of dollars in investment will rain down on the cities that are best positioned to launch America’s offshore wind industry. But not every city can become the “wind capital of America.” Where is it gonna drizzle, and where is it gonna pour?
Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.
Featuring: Ziven Drake, Dana Rebeiro, Jesper Bank, and Lars Pederson.
Part 4 of 5.
SUPPORT
Windfall is made possible with member-support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
LINKS
A note about our reporting process
Time-lapse of a (European) jack-up barge in action
CREDITS
Co-hosts: Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik
Written and reported by Sam Evans-Brown and Jack Rodolico
Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico
Executive Producer: Erika Janik
Mixing: Taylor Quimby
Fact-checking: Sara Sneath
Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy
Special thanks to
Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder
Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde
The promise of the nascent American offshore wind industry meets an unlikely foe: squid fishermen in Rhode Island. Forces collide — like the enduring symbol of the American blue-collar worker, the big money of global energy interests, and the volatility of American politics. We ask: what is the nature of power?
Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.
Featuring: Joe McNamara, Norbert Stamps, Josiah Dodge, Kevin Sullivan, Jason Jarvis, Meghan Lapp, Lars Pederson, Nicola Groom, Ben Storrow, Kevin Stokesbury, David Monti, David Bernhardt, and Gina Raimondo.
Part 3 of 5.
SUPPORT
Windfall is made possible with member-support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
LINKS
A note about our reporting process
CREDITS
Co-hosts: Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik
Reported by Sam Evans Brown
Written by Sam Evans-Brown, Jack Rodolico, and Annie Ropeik
Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico
Executive Producer: Erika Janik
Mixing: Justine Paradis
Fact-checking: Sara Sneath
Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy
Special thanks to Miriam Wasser of WBUR and Craig Lemoult for audio of Lars Pederson and David Bernhardt in this episode. Thanks also to Christa Bank, Jean Flemma, Andrew Gill, David Bidwell, Henrik Lund, John Mitchell, Callie Tansill-Suddath, and the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies.
Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder
Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde
Ten years ago, a Kennedy and a Koch shared the same goal: stop Cape Wind, America’s would-be first offshore wind farm.
Despite nearly two decades of effort, Cape Wind was never built, and its failure had huge consequences for the offshore wind industry. But it also laid the groundwork for the next wave of offshore wind and the explosive growth to come.
Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.
Featuring: Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, Jim Gordon, Sean Corcoran, Beth Daley, and Audra Parker.
Beth Daley is now the editor-in-chief of The Conversation. Sean Corcoran is currently the managing editor at WGBH.
Part 2 of 5.
SUPPORT
Windfall is made possible with member-support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
LINKS
A note about our reporting process
A pro-Cape Wind PSA (from Greenpeace) circa 2007
CREDITS
Co-hosts: Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik
Writing and reporting: Jack Rodolico
Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico
Executive Producer: Erika Janik
Mixing: Taylor Quimby
Fact-checking: Sara Sneath
Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy
Special thanks to Beth Daley, Sean Corcoran, Bettina Washington, and Richard Andre
Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder
Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde
Picture this: thousands of wind turbines off the Atlantic coast, each one taller than the Washington Monument. Offshore wind is seen as an essential solution to climate change, and it’s poised for explosive growth in the United States. How did we get to a moment of such dramatic change?
Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future.
Featuring: Henrik Stiesdal, Bryan Wilson, and Bob Grace.
Part 1 of 5. Listen to the rest of the series here.
SUPPORT
Windfall is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.
LINKS
CREDITS
Co-hosts: Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik
Written and reported by Sam Evans-Brown
Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico
Executive Producer: Erika Janik
Mixed by Taylor Quimby
Fact-checker: Sara Sneath
Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy
Special thanks to Sarah Mizes-Tan and WCAI for the audio of the Block Island Wind Farm Tour, and to Vincent Schellings, Walter Musial, Michael Taylor and Dan Shreve
Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder
Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde
A new series and an announcement.
After 20 years of politicization and red tape, the U.S. is moving full speed ahead on plans to install thousands of wind turbines off the Atlantic coast.
Today, we’re proud to announce the launch of a special five-part series exploring this story. It’s called Windfall, and it follows the birth of a brand new industry in the U.S., one that will invest billions of dollars in our economy and reshape our coastal communities.
Giant corporations are retooling their business models, setting their sights on the climate problem and hoping to capitalize on offshore wind. But some of these corporations — including BP and Shell — are the same companies arguably responsible for climate change in the first place.
Windfall is the story of a promising green technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. And it’s a story about power… and who has the power to reshape our energy future.
The first episode will debut on the Outside/In feed on June 24th, with new episodes weekly through July 22nd. Learn more at windfallpodcast.org
Also, we share a big announcement about the staffing of Outside/In – a change that not only informs our reporting and transparency for the upcoming Windfall series, but impacts the future of the show as a whole.
We’re exposed to plenty of invisible risks in our daily life: toxic compounds in the fabric of our couches, contaminants in the water, and pollutants in the air. A lot of the time, we don’t think too much about them.
But sometimes, the invisible becomes suddenly, acutely visible.
A story about the air we breathe, the risks we can live with, and what it means to become a citizen of a place.
Featuring Susan Scott Peterson, Stella Peleato, Dr. Deborah Gentile, Rashmi Baliga, and Linda Wigington.
Links and Resources
To learn ways to improve your indoor air quality wherever you are, here’s a link to the ROCIS guide.
For open-source air quality data in your location, visit the Purple Air monitoring network map.
For more on air quality in the Pittsburgh region, start with Breathe Project and the Smell PGH and Plume PGH apps by Carnegie Mellon’s CREATE Lab.
To learn more about air quality activism in Pittsburgh, visit the Group Against Smog and Pollution and Breathe Project.
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Outside/In is a member-supported production of New Hampshire Public Radio. To support work like this, please consider a donation to the show.
Geologist and writer Lauret Savoy considers fossil hunting and historical inquiry to be versions of the same pursuit.
In Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape, Lauret uses the search for her family story as a lens to better understand American history, and the landscape as a lens to better understand her past.
Her memoir is a winding journey from southern California to Puritan New England, from Lake Superior to the U.S.- Mexico Border, and finally to Washington, D.C., where she grew up. For Lauret, identifying the geologic story in the American landscape was often easier than finding answers about her own family.
The next Outside/In book club pick is *Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age* by Annalee Newitz. Look for that episode in late summer.
We want to see you reading your books! Share a picture of yourself #ReadingOutsideIn, and don’t forget to tag us @OutsideInRadio on Twitter and Instagram. Plus, if you’ve got a thought about Trace or a question for Annalee Newitz, send ‘em our way!
While sand beaches comprise just over 30% of the world’s ice-free shorelines, the collective idea of the sand beach can sometimes cast a much bigger shadow.
That imagined beach can even have an influence on other fields of science — like plastic pollution.
Featuring Dr. Max Liboiron.
Links
Liboiron’s essay, “Plastics in the Gut,” published in Orion Magazine.
Outside/In Book Club
The pick for the first book is Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape by geologist and writer Lauret Savoy.
When composer and traveling musician Ben Cosgrove was just 7 years old, he wrote a song called “Waves”. Since then, he’s made a career out of music inspired by landscape, place, and wilderness.
But if an artist has an environmental brand... do they also represent an environmental ethic?
Over the years, Ben began to wrestle with what his music was really saying about the natural world.
Read “The Trouble with Wilderness” by William Cronon.
More on Ben Cosgrove’s new album, also called “The Trouble with Wilderness”.
Even in the quietest of times, sand beaches are defined by movement and change.
“I think it's fair to say the beach is one of the most flexible or dynamic, if you will, habitats in the world. It’s super geologically unstable,” said coastal ecologist Dr. Bianca Charbonneau, also known as “the Dune Goon.”
On this edition of 10x10, we explore how beaches move. Producer Justine Paradis examines the systems and feedback loops on and around the sand beach, the science taking place there, and how the way beaches are changing is itself changing in a changing world.
Support great storytelling by making a donation to Outside/In.
Links
Hawaii’s Beaches are Disappearing, a report from ProPublica and Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Rockaway: Surfing Headlong into a New Life by Diane Cardwell
United Nations report on the global sand shortage
“Peak Sand” from Planet Money
Beach profiling and community science with NH Sea Grant and UNH Cooperative Extension.
Announcing: the Outside/In Book Club
Heads-up! In May, we will be debuting the O/I Book Club. The pick for the first book, selected by our listeners, is Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape by geologist and writer Lauret Savoy. It is so good: she tells hidden stories of American landscapes, sometimes starting from the bedrock, and explores the interplay between geography, history, and culture.
if you don’t get a chance to read the book we think you’ll still enjoy the conversation. But if you want to read along with us, here’s a link to buy the book from your local independent bookseller, or you can always check it out from the library.
This week, we’re featuring an episode from How To Save A Planet, a podcast about climate change hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg.
Heating and powering buildings takes a lot of energy, which is why a full thirty percent of U.S. greenhouse gasses can be traced back to the indoor environments in which we live and work. Lowering that number on a collective scale - by increasing their efficiency - is no easy feat.
In this episode, Ayana and Alex speak with Donnel Baird, founder of BlocPower, about his mission to tighten up one of the leakiest contributors to climate change: our buildings.
How To Save A Planet is produced and reported by Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Their senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Their editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Catherine Anderson and Bobby Lord. This episode was fact-checked by Claudia Geib.
Outside/In theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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This special BONUS episode of Outside/In was sponsored and selected by our lovely donors. Thank you for your support!
Gutters can refer to the curbside drainage channels that lead into storm drains, to the metal or plastic troughs that line some rooftops, or really to any low area designed to move water from one place to another.
They are, by design, fairly ordinary examples of human engineering. But look closer, and you’ll find extraordinary objects and ecosystems hidden within.
Starting at the curb and working our way up, we spend this episode learning about which creatures take advantage of our waste-water systems; find evidence of extraterrestrial travel on our rooftops; and look at how gutters function…or don’t… for the very species that designed them.
Featuring Ken Belt, Carlos Goller, Menno Schilthuizen, Doug Hartman, Matthew Genge, Fushcia Hoover, and Joyce Hwang.
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Support Outside/In by making a donation!
Read more about the Parisian Gutter study.
Check out Jon Larsen’s Facebook Group for urban micrometeorite hobbyists, Project Stardust.
See a United States map of cities with Combined Sewer Systems.
In the early 1900s, an Ohlone woman named Isabel Meadows was recorded describing her longing to eat acorn bread again. She detailed the bread’s flavor; the jelly-like texture; the crispy edges; the people who made it. And she talked about the bread’s place in the creation story of her tribe. A century later, a young Ohlone man named Louis Trevino came across the recordings and recognized Meadows as an ancestor from his community. Today, Trevino and his Ohlone partner, Vincent Medina, are on a journey to bring acorn bread, and the language and traditions connected to it, back to the Ohlone people.
The Acorn: An Ohlone Love Story is a documentary about Ohlone food, language, and history. But, ultimately, it is a story about Ohlone strength and homeland, the landscape that stretches from the Bay Area of California to Monterey and Big Sur. And at the heart of this story are acorns.
Links
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Another edition of Ask Sam, where Sam answers listener questions about the natural world. This time, questions about hugging trees, bumpy roads, objects stuck on power lines, and epic hummingbird battles.
Featuring special guests, Maddie Sofia, host of NPR's Short Wave, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, climate journalist with Gimlet's How to Save a Planet.
Also featuring Ferris Jabr, Stephen Morris, Greg Bruton, and Anusha Shankar.
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A lot of us may feel like our time and attention is not our own, and can easily disappear into the ether of work and the internet. But rather than merely suggesting a digital detox, Jenny Odell presents a third way.
In her book How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, Jenny draws on ecology, art, labor history, and literature, seeking a deeper kind of attention: an attention that probes our sense of selfhood, our relationship to place, time, and other species. An attention that reminds us of our being animal on this planet.
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When producer/reporter Dan Taberski collected data about the long-running reality TV show Cops, he found that it depicts a distorted version of America: Where nearly all crime is associated with violence, drugs, or prostitution, and nearly every police encounter ends in arrest.
There’s another reality TV show about law enforcement called North Woods Law. It follows state conservation officers employed by New Hampshire’s Fish & Game Department. But on North Woods Law, you’re more likely to see an injured loon than an honest-to-goodness arrest.
If COPS presents a world more dangerous than reality, North Woods Law presents something else. But what?
Featuring Jamiles Lartey, William Browne, Erika Billerbeck, Colin Woodard, Colonel Kevin Jordan, Dan Taberski, and Scott Rouleau.
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For many of us during the pandemic, the dark and cold of winter brings a special sense of dread. But it’s not just this year: the seasonal darkness often collectively takes us by surprise. Like clockwork, we forget how dark and cold it gets - and it turns out, there are reasons for that.
But our perception of the seasonal darkness can also be influenced by our attitudes about it.
In Norway, cultural ideas around winter help shape attitudes and experiences of the cold.
The Outside/In winter fund drive is nearly over, and we’re almost to our goal of 100 donors! Visit outsideinradio.org/donate to support the show - and vote on the topic of a potential bonus episode if we reach our goal.
First, there’s the idea of getting cozy, or kosileg. Think candles, slippers, the glow of a fire in the window on a snowy night, eating wood-fired pizza under the stars, or “the smell of baked goods and the Christmas tree,” said Anders Folleras, college friend of Sam Evans-Brown and honorary Outside/In Norwegian cultural attaché.
Koselig is the Norwegian analogue of the Danish idea of hygge. But there’s another concept that goes hand-in-hand with koselig: friluftsliv.
“Being outdoorsy, I’d say,” said Folleras. “Outdoor lifestyle.”
Embracing friluftsliv means open-air living, or getting outside every day, and outdoor adventures for all ages.
So, we think if you really want to get koselig, you’ve gotta get a little friluftsliv too.
For a full list of the suggestions we mentioned in this episode, visit the episode post on outsideinradio.org.
This week, we’re featuring an episode from A Matter of Degrees, a podcast about climate change hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katherine Wilkinson. This episode was reported by Julian Brave NoiseCat.
The energy transition isn’t going to be a one-size-fits-all process. In this episode, a broad lesson gleaned from a very specific story: the effort to move from coal to solar in the Navajo nation.
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Support Outside/In by making a donation in our year end fund drive
In the coming decades, the scale of climate migration could be dizzying. In one projection, four million people in the United States could find themselves “living at the fringe,” outside ideal conditions for human life.
In collaboration with By Degrees, NHPR’s climate change reporting initiative, we’re devoting the entire episode to answering one question: if you’re worried about climate, where should you live? And how should places prepare for the wave of climate migrants just around the corner?
Featuring Bess Samuel, Jesse Jaime, Aurelia Jaime Ramirez, Kate McCarthy, Elena Mihaly, Jola Ajibade, Nadege Green, Suzi Patterson, Alex Whittemore, and Mike Hass.
Sign up for the Outside/In newsletter for our biweekly reading lists and episode extras.
Support Outside/In by making a donation in our year end fund drive
Links
“Locals Bristle As Out-of-Towners Fleeing Virus Hunker Down In New Hampshire Homes” by Annie Ropeik for New Hampshire Public Radio
Nadege Green’s reporting on climate gentrification in season 3 of There Goes the Neighborhood, a collaboration between WNYC and WLRN.
“Why climate migration is not managed retreat: Six justifications” (2020), coauthored by Idowu (Jola) Ajibade and published in Global Environmental Change.
ProPublica’s Climate Migration project
The EPA’s Climate Resiliency Screening Index (2017). Scroll to page 79 for their list of the top 150 most resilient counties in the United States.
Marty, Maine coon cat, 12-year resident of the Mount Washington Observatory, and the highest-altitude feline in the Northeastern United states, died after a sudden illness on November 9th, 2020.
In this Outside/In extra, producer Taylor Quimby remembers Marty, beloved companion and a dignified veteran of the Presidential Range.
Featuring Ryan Knapp.
This Outside/In extra was originally broadcast on New Hampshire Public Radio, our home station.
We often link to these special pieces in our biweekly newsletter, which also includes our reading list, peeks behind the scenes, and opportunities to vote on episode ideas and to shape the future of the show.
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A carbon offset is a simple premise: if you take a cross-country flight and are responsible for a half ton of carbon emissions, spend a few dollars to fund the growth of a half ton worth of carbon in the form of a forest. A fossil fuel company can do the same: buy offsets to write off emissions and call it green. But is this just another form of greenwashing?
Do carbon offsets bring us closer to carbon-neutrality?
Featuring Kaarsten Turner Dalby, Heather Furman, Charlie Stabolepszy, Barbara Haya, Jim Shallow, and Adeniyi Asiyanbi.
Sign up for the Outside/In newsletter. Every two weeks we’ll send you episode extras, occasional call-outs to participate in our episodes, and our reading list.
Throughout the 20th century, conservationists and environmentalists have looked to protect wildlife and biodiversity through the creation of parks and other forms of exclusionary wildlife zones. Zones that seek to preserve spaces devoid of human impact - or to create them, by displacing indigenous and poor people who already live there. Today, some academics call this strategy by a pejorative name: Fortress conservation.
In this episode, we look at medieval forest law, the early days of Yellowstone National Park, and spreading concern over how conservation efforts are enacted and enforced around the world.
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Featuring Karl Jacoby, Prakash Kashwan, Rosalyn LaPier, Hadrian Cook, and Vicky Tauli-Corpuz.
Find more Outside/In on our website
Another year… another record-breaking wildfire season. Thanks to climate change the fire season now starts sooner and ends later. Scientists also say climate change will make lightning more frequent, and winds more powerful. Basically, the world is a tinderbox.
But maybe the problem with these big, out-of-control fires is actually *not enough* fire.
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Featuring Luke Romance, John Bailey, Mike Crawford, Jeff Lougee, Paul Gagnon, Tony Harwood, Steve Pyne and Adele Fenwick.
This episode originally aired in 2018.
Find more Outside/In on our website
Planting a tree often becomes almost a shorthand for doing a good deed. But such an act is not always neutral. In some places, certain trees can become windows into history, tools of erasure, or symbols of resistance.
Featuring Liat Berdugo, Irus Braverman, Jonathan Kuttab, Noga Kadman, Iyad Hadad, Raja Shehadeh, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Miri Maoz-Ovadia, and Nidal Waleed Rabie and his granddaughter Samera.
Listeners submit their cases for the best fruit ever, and we explore the intersections of fruit, food, and colonialism.
Featuring Alicia Kennedy, Coral Lee, Lauren Baker, Grant Bosse, and Hallie Casey.
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Links
“On Luxury” by Alicia Kennedy
“C is for Colonialism’s Effect on How and What We Eat” by Coral Lee
Here’s the 2013 Scientific American article Taylor mentioned on America’s corn system.
In one version of a sustainable, carbon-neutral future, the world’s cars will transition from fossil fuels to electricity. Right now that vision absolutely depends on lithium, a primary component of the lithium-ion battery.
But there is no “Lithium Central Planning Committee” balancing supply and demand or making sure that lithium is mined in environmentally and socially responsible ways. In fact, there is almost no lithium mining in the United States at all. So where does it all come from? And who is being affected?
Featuring Emily Hersh, Chloe Holzinger, Mike Wise, Patrick Donnelly, Thea Riofrancos, Emiliano Gullo, Ramón M. Balcázar, and Julian Brave NoiseCat.
Check out NHPR’s new climate reporting project, By Degrees.
Sign up for our newsletter (really, you’re missing out).
Fred Tutman is a voice for Maryland’s Patuxent River. In 2004, he founded Patuxent Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy organization. His mission is to protect and preserve all 110 miles of the Patuxent—a mission that takes him to the courtroom and to the riverbank. Fred is also the only African-American "Riverkeeper" in the Waterkeeper Alliance in the U.S., which he sees as an indicator of an environmental movement that is incomplete—one the planet will pay the price for.
“It’s very hard in these big conservation movements for people of color to be ourselves,” said Tutman.
“We need not only all hands on deck, but we actually need movements that are adaptable enough to embrace and serve all.”
This episode was produced by Sidedoor, a podcast from the Smithsonian.
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There are places on the map where roads end.
The Darién Gap, or el Tapon del Darién, is one of them. It’s a stretch of rainforest in southern Panama, right on the edge of Central and South America. From a globetrotter’s perspective, the Darién Gap might seem to exist mostly as an obstacle to tourists dreaming of a truly epic road trip from Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego.
But, while a road is a way movement, it’s not the only way to get somewhere. What happens, or does not happen, in a place without roads?
Featuring Jorge Ahumada, Roland Kays, Hector Huertas, Ustin Pascal Dubuisson, and Alicia Korten.
Are snow-making machines an example of climate adaptation, or an example of an emissions feedback loop? Does the fire risk posed by planting trees outweigh the benefits of their use as a carbon sink? Can the team talk big planet problems and still leave room for bad puns? We’ll answer these questions and more climate queries on this special edition of Ask Sam.
Check out NHPR’s new climate reporting project, By Degrees.
Sign up for our newsletter (really, you’re missing out).
The world of Skyrim is vast. The video game contains cities, villages, and rugged wilderness: high waterfalls cascading into deep pools, packs of wolves roaming the edges of misty alpine forests, echoes in the canyons. The game is celebrated for the intricacy of its environment, and is one of the top-selling video games of all time.
“The world itself was almost the main character of the game, in a way. To say that it's just the background I think is not quite enough,” said Noah Berry, Skyrim’s lead environment artist. “All the memories that you take away from playing a game…I think the world is sort of the larger encompassing vehicle that helps usher all that into you. We hope.”
But if you spend enough time in a fantasy, it might change how you relate to the real world.
Featuring Megan Sawyer, Ana Diaz, and Noah Berry.
In this update, we tally your votes and announce the winner of our fruit fight. What seed-bearing plant ovary will be crowned the GFOAT, or Greatest Fruit of All Time? The pepper? The coconut? The gourd? The vanilla bean?
Or… none of the above? One listener challenges our candidates with a fruit of his own. Listen to his full 5 minute argument for the grape on the episode page for Fruit Fight. And we welcome you to send you own fruit pitch voicemail to outsidein@nhpr.org.
In 2016, we produced an episode about the ginkgo tree titled "Ginkgo Stink." With its fan-shaped leaves and golden fall foliage, the Ginkgo biloba is a beautiful tree with an incredible history dating back millions of years. It’s also a popular street tree among urban foresters, despite the fact that some ginkgoes produce malodorous cones. The episode was meant to be a celebration of the incredible ginkgo.
But the episode contained an offensive phrase and failed to consider a nonwhite perspective of this amazing species.
In this episode, we’re correcting our mistake, and adding some context about what exactly we got so wrong. First, Felix Poon shares his personal relationship with the ginkgo tree and explores the history of food-related racism in the United States. Then, a new version of the original story, edited to sound the way it should have when we first produced it four years ago.
Explicit Language warning: this episode contains repeated use of a swear word used in the original episode many times. It also contains an ethnic slur, spoken in the context of a conversation about racism. For those reasons, this episode may not be suitable for young kids.
For months, producer Taylor Quimby has been trying to craft a story about spicy peppers. Every one of his pitches has been shot down…until now. On this episode of Outside/In, a CULINARY challenge, a DELICIOUS debate, a FANTASTIC food fight in which four producers argue about which seed-bearing delicacy is the ABSOLUTE best. Of course these fruits aren’t the ones you typically think of when you’re making a fruit salad…
*To Take our FUN and VERY SCIENTIFIC survey, click here. *
To cast your vote in the Outside/In Fruit Fight, click here.
The experience of public outdoor spaces isn't the same for everyone. Today, we explore birding while Black (and #blackbirdersweek) and how racist housing policies drive unequal exposure to climate-driven heat waves.
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Today on the show, we’re bringing you inside what may be the most important environmental Supreme Court Decision in history. Massachusetts v. EPA declared that greenhouse gases are pollution under the definition set out by one of the nation’s oldest and most successful environmental laws, the 1970 Clean Air Act. The case determined that if the executive branch wanted to do so, it could** **confront one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century with one of the most celebrated laws of the 20th century. As such, ultimately, it’s a story of the power … and the limits… of the law.
Find more Outside/In on our website: outsideinradio.org
Outside/In is supported by Ben's. Click here to learn more or go to https://bens30.com/outsidein
With so many of our favorite outdoor activities currently off-limits, we’re look for accessible ways to explore the magic of the nature from the safety of our homes our neighborhoods. In this edition of Inside/In, we discover the magic and wonder of two often ignored or reviled organisms.
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Outside/In is supported by Ben's. Click here to learn more or go to https://bens30.com/outsidein
Being stuck at home for an extended period of time, worrying about the safety of yourself and your loved ones takes a toll on your mental health. “For the first time, it seems, the entire world knows what it’s like to live inside my head,” writes Stephanie Foo, who was diagnosed with complex PTSD in 2018. We talk to her about how to keep yourself on an even keel when the whole world feels like a disaster.
Also, how much impact did native people have on the forests of New England? It’s been a great debate ever since William Cronon published *Changes in the Land *in 1983, claiming they had dramatically altered the landscape that colonist observed upon arrival. But a new study challenges that narrative, as well as the very idea that agriculture and large-scale impacts on landscapes should be used as a barometer of the “progress” of a society.
Outside/In is supported by Ben's. Click here to learn more or go to https://bens30.com/outsidein
If you want to donate to Outside/In, you’ll get an invitation to our virtual trivia night, happening Thursday May 21st. Click here to make a gift.
You know that scene in every disaster movie, where the frantic and panicky science nerd unsuccessfully tries to warn the powers that be that something terrible is about to happen?
In this episode, we explore a historic storm of cosmic proportions, which, if it happened today, experts say could turn out to be a disaster the likes of which our modern world has never seen. So…how do you prepare for a disaster that always seems incredibly far away… until it’s not?
With so many of our favorite outdoor activities currently off-limits, we’re look for accessible ways to explore the magic of the nature from the safety of our homes our neighborhoods. This is the first in a series of short episodes for families and individuals who want to discover how, even when we’re stuck inside, the natural world ties us together.
Find more Outside/In on our website: outsideinradio.org
Cat People is a podcast series by Longreads that examines the strange relationships people have with big cats and the legal loopholes that have made America home to more captive tigers than there are left in the wild.
It also serves as an important corrective to some of the irresponsible journalistic choices made by the creators of the hit Netflix series "Tiger King.”
On today’s show, we are addressing a question we have seen A LOT. As we’re all adjusting to life with the coronavirus, the advice is to stay home and stay safe. But depending on where you are in the world, that advice gets a little blurrier when it comes to exercise and outdoor recreation.
Is it safe to go outside? Is it safe… to go on a hike in the woods? What about a neighborhood in the city? Where do you draw the line, and how do you make this decision for yourself - and for your community?
Find more Outside/In on our website.
In our series 10X10, we examine ordinary places that are more interesting than they might initially appear; and few places hold more unexpected mysteries beneath the wet, mossy surfaces than the dark and muddy places we explored for this episode. We call them by a multitude of names: mires, muskegs, moorlands, or kettle bogs. This time, Outside/In digs beneath the shrubs, sedges, rushes and moss of the bog to find something else - peat. It’s a journey that holds smokey hints of pepper, seaweed, and for peat’s sake, a lot of fossil fuels.
Find more Outside/In on our website: outsideinradio.org
The passenger pigeon is one of the world’s most symbolic extinction stories. It’s a cautionary tale of how in just a few short generations, one of the wonders of the world could be completely eradicated.
But when that narrative was questioned in a popular book, *1491 *by Charles Mann, what does the response tell us about the conservation movement as a whole?
The winner of our “Battle of Tiny Proportions” is revealed! Plus, one of our favorite episodes about the pace of technology: The Forest for the Treesap.
Mysteries are brewing in the sugar shack. Changes are coming to New England’s sugar bushes. And the very identity of a product that we’ve been crafting in basically the same way for centuries, could be on the verge of a radical shift. But a shift towards what?
In New England, the Waterman name is like mountain royalty. But beyond a tight circle of outdoors-people, they're not a household name. Today, we tell the story of one of the most influential voices in American wilderness philosophy, Laura Waterman, and how she has changed following the death of her husband.
A government bureaucrat builds a website that saves a billion gallons in gas. The minuscule Irish invention that enables the industrial revolution. An innovation for doctor’s gloves kicks off women’s liberation. An ill wind leads to America being stuck with the gallon forever.
On this episode, we present a series of small “nudges” (but not actual nudges) that have had profound impacts for the environment… or maybe not the environment, maybe just generally.
Head to our website and vote on your favorite!
Depending on who you ask, astrology is a science, an art, a form of therapy… or, a pseudo-science, fortune-telling, a scam. But astrology is way more than a horoscope.
Check us out online, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
From the ancient charcoal animals of France's Chauvet Cave, to 17th century Dutch windmill paintings, art history can tell us a lot about our evolving view of the natural world. In this episode, producer Taylor Quimby (a self-described art-world neophyte) searches for individual works and genres through history that reveal something interesting about human society and the outdoors. This episode has visual aids - so click this link or find us on Instagram to follow along with the show! Outside/In needs your help. Click here to find out how you can support the show. There's lots of great swag to choose from (so check out the thank-you gifts!) but for $20 a month, we'll send you a ticket to an Outside/In Trivia Night! Test your knowledge of the natural world, share an evening with Sam and the rest of the team, and support the podcast you love.
As extreme weather wreaks havoc around the globe NPR's Throughline looks at a natural disaster more than 200 hundred years ago that had far-reaching effects. This week, how the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Laki awed, terrified and disrupted millions around the world and changed the course of history.
Outside/In needs your help. Click here to find out how you can support the show.
There's lots of great swag to choose from (so check out the thank-you gifts!) but for $100 a month, Sam will personally give you a cross country ski lesson! And yes, it's true, he was taught how to ski by an Olympic gold-medalist.
Before Hurricane Maria hit in September of 2017, Puerto Rico's rickety electric grid was a notorious headache. After the storm, it was a crisis.
This is the story of how a pair of star-crossed lovers came to see nuclear as the unlikely solution to Puerto Rico's energy woes, and how their vision for the island might be changing the way we approach power... even if their plan never comes to pass.
Outside/In needs your help. Click here to find out how you can support the show.
There's lots of great swag to choose from (so check out the thank-you gifts!) but for $20 a month, we'll send you a ticket to an Outside/In Trivia Night! Test your knowledge of the natural world, share an evening with Sam and the rest of the team, and support the podcast you love.
People love fishing for trout. They love it so much that we are willing to go to insane lengths to catch them. But what should we make of the fact that much of that experience of fishing for trout is just a facsimile of what it once was… and may actually be bad for the very same fish, that we so love to catch?
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
When most of us heard about the "insect apocalypse" we were worried. When producer Jimmy Gutierrez heard it, he thought "this is great." Today he takes a journey in which he tries to learn to appreciate our many-legged companions.
Want to read a transcript or support the podcast? Check out our website.
Sam answers questions about rethinking the toilet, line-dry laundry, rhubarb, and sleeping mosquitoes.
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Last year, two people were attacked by sharks on Cape Cod, and one died. The result has been a media frenzy that really you have to see to believe.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
When it feels like doctors have closed the door to establishment medicine, another set of doors open. These doors lead to dubious providers, and untested treatments.
Click hereto donate $20 and get ad-free episodes of Patient Zero a week early and bonus content.
A perfect carrier of disease. A race underneath your skin. The part we know, before we get to the parts we don't.
Click hereto donate $20 and get ad-free episodes of Patient Zero a week early and bonus content.
When you're fighting off a cold or flu, it's easy to imagine the battle is being waged solely inside the confines of your body.
But in order to spread, pathogens rely on nearly every aspect of our shared societies. Food and drink, social customs, our proximity to animals, urban design, income inequality: The science of epidemiology connects them all.
Patient Zero investigates the spaces where people and pathogens collide. It is a story about Lyme disease, but it is also a story about uncertainty, and what to do in the face of it.
A first look at Patient Zero, a series we'll be putting out next month! Hosted by Outside/In's Taylor Quimby. Sweet new theme by Ty Gibbons.
First episode drops mid-August! Find more at patientzeropodcast.com.
With Disney's reboot of The Lion King hitting theaters, does the original still hold up all these years later? In this episode, the team revisits an epic tale of class, land rights, and destiny... and critiques the landscapes, animals, and themes that so many 90's kids grew up watching. And once again, Jimmy defends the reputation of hyenas.
Check out our website, outsideinradio.org
Ever since the threat of climate change was first made public, scientists have offered the possibility of a get-out-of-jail-free card: geoengineering. While reducing emissions is hard and complicated, why not just engineer the Earth's atmosphere in the meantime?
Decades later, the science of geoengineering is still in its infancy, but a growing number of researchers are trying to change that. Should they?
Check out our website, outsideinradio.org
Swimming is something that is more or less a part of human experience, depending on who you are, where you are, when you are alive in history. More than half of Americans can't perform all of the basic swimming skills.
On this episode, two stories that explore our relationship with the water, and why people do or don’t learn to swim.
Check out our website, outsideinradio.org
Traveling to Antarctica to hang with penguins on the company dime likely seems like the dream assignment for a journalist... or anyone. Ron Naveen has been living that dream, counting penguins by hand for decades. And today you're going to hear about that work from our friends at the PBS Newshour's podcast "The Last Continent."
Find moreOutside/In.
Today on the podcast, a story that seemed like a perfect fit Outside/In that wound up going places that we didn’t expect to go. When workers at the American embassy Cuba claimed to have been attacked by a mysterious weapon that left no trace, it led to a major shift in American diplomacy towards the Caribbean socialist state. But the story has also led to a split in journalism, stemming from the sources different kinds of journalists rely on.
This story forces us to ask: how do we decide what we know? What kinds of information we trust?
Ask Sam: that special segment when scientists cringe as Sam and the team speculate wildly on answers to a diverse range of questions from listeners before calling in the real experts. This time we tackle paper towels, cow poop, body temperature, and weighing whales.
Find more Outside/In
Textiles are all around us. We live in them, sleep on them, sit on them, walk on them, live in houses filled with them. It’s one of the biggest industries in the world. But it’s also one with a big problem and, at least for consumers in the United States, a largely invisible one - textile waste. Today, we’re tearing the very shirt off your back to explore the old is new approach to textiles that could eliminate millions of tons of garbage a year.
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This month, Outside/In is asking for your support. Your donations will keep the show kicking butt, and help us make our next big series! Plus, we’ve got special (limited-edition, super-twee) swag, handcrafted with an actual branding iron. Donate here .
You hike, you fish, you camp… and you’re single. When you’re looking for love, what is the importance of being “outdoorsy”? And how do you communicate your identity — and expectations for potential matches — on an online dating profile?
The fish photo is just the beginning.
In Australia, conventional conservation wisdom has stated that in order to save the small indigenous mammals, it's necessary to kill invasive predators. But is it? Today on the show, we follow environmental writer Emma Marris as she explores the concept, and possible limits, of compassionate conservationism.
Also, are you noticing that we're in your feed a little early? That's because this month, we're asking for you to pitch in and support the podcast with a donation, and because we know that's kind of annoying, we want to give you something a little extra as thanks. So for the month of April, instead of just 2 episodes, we're going to give you four.
Not only that we're giving away swag! We've lined up a bunch of nifty thank you gifts, which you can peruse at outsideinradio.org
So, if you want to send a little love our way click here to donate to our Outside/In Fund Drive, and get a limited edition O/I button (among other cool stuff)!
The Sununus are one of New Hampshire's grandest families. John H. Sununu was governor and White House Chief of Staff. One of his sons, John E. Sununu, was a U.S. congressman and senator, and another, Chris Sununu, is governor today. In their roles of political power, all of these men have faced a different landscape with regard to climate change, and what it means to be a Republican. Today, we track that party's evolution on the subject, through the frame of this one family.
For full versions of several of the interviews in this episode, head to our website outsideinradio.org
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For a long time, the elusive night parrot of the Australian outback was believed to be extinct. Then, an experienced birder with a reputation for dubious finds offered up foolproof evidence that the bird is still alive: photographs, feathers, and birdsong that he promises is the real deal. This week on the show, we're featuring our Australian podcast pal Ann Jones, host of ABC's Off-Track, as she heads out into the bush to try and capture sound from a bird few have ever heard.
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Episode photo by Eddie Yip.
In our 10X10 series, we examine places that might not seem all that interesting... places like your typical frozen pond. Sure, on the surface it's a wind-swept desert of crunchy snow and frigid temperatures, but drill a few inches down though, and you'll discover a world turned upside-down. In this episode, we give the down low on bizarre properties of water, fish that thrive in a capped-off environment, and long beards of algae clinging to the underside of a secret ecosystem few have ever explored.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
Episode photo by Michael Carian.
Outdoorsy types are the among the biggest ambassadors of Leave No Trace, a set of principles and best practices for sharing and conserving wilderness areas. But while most people agree on the broad strokes - DON'T SCREW UP NATURE! - sorting out the details can be an emotional and argumentative affair... especially when it comes to rocks.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
The 40-hour workweek is as American as apple pie, and it’s been around almost as long. So, is it finally time to re-think our Monday-through-Friday lifestyle? With modern mechanization and automation, should we all have more leisure time? And what would that mean for the environment? Producer Jimmy Gutierrez looks into the history of work culture, where it’s being challenged, and makes the argument that we ALL should be working less, you know, to save the planet.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
Here's a humdinger of a thought experiment: How fast could people go before the combustion engine and other technologies drastically increased the speed of the human race? And how did they pull it off? Skis? Sled-dogs? Catapults? From ancient horseriders and viking ships to primitive luges and "Russian Mountains", the Outside/In team researches all sorts of old-fashioned methods of locomotion and presents biggest the speed trial of the millennium.
If you've got your own ideas about how humans hit record speeds during ye good olde days before the automobile, send us an email at outsidein@nhpr.org or call us on the Ask Sam hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER!
Episode photo by William James, courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
Pirate trails are everywhere: the pioneers of mountain biking built them on private land, public land and everything in between. They were built by riders just looking for a place to take their new bikes, and in the process they simply appropriated land that they wanted for their trails.
But what happens when the evolution of a sport threatens the very thing that made it so attractive in the first place?
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
Everyone's heard of Vikings - their daring North Atlantic voyages, their mysterious runes. But there's another ancient culture in Arctic Scandinavia that's much older, and just as fascinating - the Sámi. While the Vikings have been celebrated, Sámi music, language and traditions were forced underground. Why?
Check out Threshold at thresholdpodcast.org
And find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
There's only one place in the world that you can find the axolotl—the Mexican salamander—in the wild. This creature is the living embodiment of Xolotl, the Aztec god of heavenly fire, of lightning and the underworld, and the renegade twin brother of Quetzalcoatl. But the wild axolotl’s fate might be bound to the Aztecs by more than myth: its life in 21st century could rely on a landscape both very old and very human.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
Ask Sam: that special time when scientists worldwide cringe as Sam & the team speculate wildly on a diverse range of topics before picking up the phone to call in the real experts.
This time, we've got another hirsute mystery: Are insect and plant hairs also made from the magical (seeming) protein called keratin? Also, do bugs get cancer? And which came first: the chachalaca (not a typo) or the turkey?
The Ask Sam Hotline (1-844-GO-OTTER) is always open, so do your best to stump the gang and send us down another figurative rabbit-hole!
Listener feedback is a big part of working in radio and podcasting. We try to look for the lesson in every critical email, phone call, or tweet (even the cranky ones). However, there is one listener who has probably gotten in touch with producers at New Hampshire Public Radio more than any other - a vegan advocate named Laura Slitt. Her approach hasn’t always made it easy to take her seriously.
Today, we’ve got a deeply personal story from producer Taylor Quimby, who last year decided to strike up a relationship with Laura, to try and understand where she’s coming from and what made her decide to give up meat and dairy.
Heads up: This episode features descriptions of people killing animals to eat them.
Find more Outside/In at outsideinradio.org
Today the second in our two-part series on the politics of population. In this episode, we’re digging into the story of how around the turn of the millennium, population got all tangled up in immigration in one vote at the Sierra Club.
That ugly fight represents a pivot point for the movement: a transition from the environmental politics of the 70s and 80s to the environmental politics of today.
Find more at outsideinradio.org
Today, we’re talking about population. How it went from being on the front pages of our newspapers and all over late night television to being the issue that you’ll only hear from out of the mouth of comic book super-villain Thanos. It's a big story, so we're spending two episodes on it.
Also, we promised you a link to David Roberts' Vox piece, so here's that.
Find more at outsideinradio.org
Two barrels. Four bodies. And the decades-long mystery that led to a serial killer.
A special look at a new podcast from NHPR, Bear Brook: A podcast about a cold case that's changing how murders will be investigated forever.
Today, we take a step back to imagine a world without a web of GPS satellites telling your smartphone where you are every second of the day. While this might sound scary, come along and maybe you’ll discover you have a secret sixth sense...one that’s been inside you all along, if you just knew how to turn it on.
Today, we’re giving you an inside look at what it takes to make the podcast. A bunch of people make this show, which means that our ideas meetings almost inevitably turn into total chaos when one of us starts shouting our favorite facts about our favorite animals.
This time, we gave up. Rather than fight it, we’re leaning in to bring you four stories about animals. Or rather… four cases for animals that are the best… the coolest… the niftiest… however you want to define that. And when it’s all said and done, we’d like you to settle this one for us. www.outsideinradio.org
News flash: men aren't the only people who enjoy the outdoors. No sh*#, right? But the outdoor gear industry has only recently started to realize that there are more people wanting high quality gear than traditionally fit men.
Today, we're digging in to the fraught relationship between the gear industry and gender. When do women actually need something different, and when are companies just looking to make more money by selling women a product that is essentially the same thing... but smaller and pink? And what do you do if the available products - pink or not - don't fit your body at all?
There are between eight and ten thousand wildfires in the United States each year, but most quietly burn out and we never hear about them. The Pagami Creek Wildfire in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area was supposed to be like that, but things turned out differently. And Greg and Julie Welch were camping right in its path.
Another year… another record-breaking wildfire season. Thanks to climate change the fire season now starts sooner and ends later. Scientists also say climate change will make lightning more frequent, and winds more powerful… basically the world is a tinderbox.
But what if I told you that maybe the problem with all these big, out of control fires was *not enough* fire.
Bengal cat is an attempt to preserve the image of a leopard in the body of a house cat — using a wild animal’s genes, while leaving out the wild animal personality. But is it possible to isolate the parts of a wild animal that you like, and forgo the parts that you don’t?
Can you have your leopard rosette, and your little cat too?
It took 200 years of dealing with with the invasive European green crab before American scientists finally decided to head back to the source. And when they did, they discovered that the invasive scourge of our estuaries is a straight up Italian delicacy.
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On June 27th, 1981, a bodybuilder, a stockbroker, and 10 other men entered the woods of New Hampshire, determined to settle an argument. They called it The First Annual Survival Game, and the details are the stuff of the legend. The game marked the birth of a multi-billion dollar sports industry, but also sheds light on the squishy art of myth-making.
Show that you love Outside/In! (And stick it to the guy in the corner office) Click here to donate: https://goo.gl/ijzVaZ
Mysteries are brewing in the sugar shack. Changes are coming to New England’s sugar bushes. And the very identity of a product that we’ve been crafting in basically the same way for centuries, could be on the verge of a radical shift. But a shift towards what?
Storm chasing is a pursuit we love to hate in the comment section, but if you look at the TV ratings, or YouTube views, it’s clear that we can’t look away, either. So what motivates chasers to actively put themselves in front of a storm when everyone is else is taking shelter? And, ultimately, do we owe them an apology?
Curiosity abounds in the listener ranks and the Ask Sam Hotline (1-844-GO-OTTER) has been ringing off the hook! Sam and the gang tackle your questions about decorative fountains, land fish and the difference between dog hair and dog fur. Oh, and think you love wood stoves? Think again. It's time for another Sam Ruined It!
If you ask John Forester, there’s a war being fought, between the forces that want to eject cyclists from the roads, and those that want to preserve their right to ride. According to him, it’s been underway for at least a century, and environmentalists and cycling advocates have all been co-opted by the car lobby.
Robert Person Sr. — Percy, as he’s known — has been shining shoes for 70 years. He started around age 10 and now, at 80, continues to work at Percy’s Shoe Shine Service in Nashville. He’s worn out, stressed out, but this veteran shoe shiner just can’t stop.
This episode comes to us from Neighbors, a podcast by Jakob Lewis made with Nashville Public Radio.
The reality is, recycling doesn’t work because we believe in it. It works because it’s an industry. You might be keeping that plastic bottle out of your trash bin, but the commodities market keeps it out of the landfill. That plastic bottle is cash in someone’s pocket. But what happens when the way we recycle no longer fits the rest of the equation? Where does our trash go when our partners aren’t buying?
When you watch the Olympics, you think you’re watching the best in the world competing at the pinnacle of their fitness.
And while that is often true when it comes to America’s very best, when you start to get farther down the list, choosing which athletes deserve a ticket to the Olympics gets much more difficult… much more subjective.
And it’s often those margin calls, those athletes on the bubble, who have some of the most inspiring stories to tell. Today, the story of Jennie Bender.
For thousands of years, natural spring waters have been associated with health. But recently something called the “raw water movement” has scientists and health officials reminding the public that drinking from untested springs can make you sick. Today, we try to sort it all out: are springs a healing tonic, a source of unadulterated H20, or a passing fad and a dangerous throwback?
There have been a couple of important developments on the subject of Canadian hydropower since we released our 4-part series, Powerline. Today, we bring in NHPR's environmental reporter, Annie Ropeik, and our executive producer, Erika Janik, to talk about Northern Pass and the future of energy projects in New England. Plus, we look back at a handful of older episodes to see what has changed since we first put them out. Beaver deceivers? Kiwi-berries? Crazy trail crew stories? Prepare to have your brain updated.
In 2010 a researcher found a clutch of hybrid American-European lobster eggs in a Norwegian fjord. This kicked off a decade of research attempting to determine if Scandinavia was in the midst of a foreign lobster invasion. This question is hard to answer, especially when the fate of a business worth $150 million dollars a year hangs in the balance.
You've left us lots of great questions on the Ask Sam hotline (1-844-GO-OTTER) so Sam and the team crammed into a studio to try and answer a few. In this episode we'll tackle metamorphosis, animal sexuality, how to ride a bicycle when it's -18 degrees, and we'll introduce a new segment in which Sam is asked to ruin some of our favorite things.
There’s a legend among energy nerds. According to this legend, California pot-growers — with their illicit capital and counter-cultural ideas — were instrumental in getting the solar industry off the ground, and without them, the industry as we know it would have withered on the vine.So we decided to find out: is it true?
This canine can be found all the way from Panama to Alaska, and shows no sign of going away anytime soon. But what are they? In this episode from Brave Little State, a podcast made next door in Vermont, we get some answers.
In the late sixties, a soap factory in suburban Illinois discovered one of its outflow pipes had been intentionally clogged by an industrial saboteur. Does environmental damage ever demand radical action? And when does environmental protest cross the line and become eco-terrorism?
Decades of legal and public relations battles with First Nations have changed the way that Hydro-Quebec approaches new projects. Today, the company hires specialists who consult with impacted communities, and modify the designs of their projects to take what they have heard into consideration. But is that enough?
The Crees of Quebec signed a landmark agreement with their province and country. The Pessamit Innus now look to that playbook for help in their present-day fight against the provincial utility, but is it too late? On episode two of Powerline, we bring you the story of how one indigenous community got a seat at the table... and how another still struggles to be heard.
Hydro-Quebec is the provincially-owned utility that helped French-Canadians stake a claim in Quebec politics and economy. As it forged ahead with two massive hydro projects, the company flooded land that had been used by indigenous people for thousands of years. On episode two of Powerline, we bring you the stories of two groups of First Nations people who grappled with Hydro-Quebec... two stories that end in very different ways.
This is part one of our series about how a company, with all of the force of a colonial culture behind it, tried to use its power to push original occupants—its indigenous people—to one side. It’s also the story of how that effort led to something that has become its own kind of revolution in Canada: native people pushing to regain power over their own lives and culture. And it’s a story about the environmental benefits and human costs of clean energy.
Hydro-Québec, the world’s fourth largest hydropower producer, pumps out low carbon electricity at the cheapest rates in North America. For some, it is the key to a greener, more prosperous, future, but that “clean energy” comes freighted with a complicated history and an uncertain future. This is the story of how a massive, state-owned utility company came to be a symbol of the French-Canadian people. It’s also the story of how a company, with all of the force of a colonial culture behind it, used its power to try to push Quebec’s original occupants—its indigenous people—to one side. It’s the story of how that effort led to something that has become its own kind of revolution in Canada: native people pushing to regain power over their own lives and culture. And it’s a story about the environmental benefits and human costs of clean energy.
New episodes weekly starting November 9th.
Featuring new music from Breakmaster Cylinder.
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The Bicknell's Thrush is a bird that can only live in a few very very restricted places. It spends its summers in dense alpine forests in the Northeast of the US. In the winter, perhaps as many as 90 percent of the birds fly to the Dominican Republic. It's a bird without many options, and that makes it a poster child for what's to come.
The Ask Sam hotline has been blowing up lately! Not like the Galaxy 7, no. In a good way! So Sam, along with a couple of producers from the Outside/In team, took a moment to answer your questions about tree killing, grass eating and the sound in the woods that scared the colonists away. And that's just to name a few. Somebody even gets a trail name out of this one.
The story of Michael Proudfoot is everywhere, and the details are always more or less the same: a SCUBA diver exploring a shipwreck breaks his regulator, and surfaces in an air pocket deep in the belly of the ship. He finds a tea-kettle full of fresh water, and eats sea urchins to survive. But as producers of the Outside Podcast, Robbie Carver and Peter Frick-Wright, dig deeper and deeper into the tale, it becomes harder and harder to tell what's real and what isn't.
In our long, evolutionary history, modernity is just a blip. The wiring of our brains took place over hundreds of thousands of years of hunting and gathering food out in the wilderness, and nothing proves that more vividly than the practice of mushroom hunting. It’s incredibly addictive, even to those who know all too well the associated dangers.
Two young, starry-eyed conservation biologists take a college road trip through Mexico that transforms their outlook on the world. In so doing, they created the foundation for a strategy that would lead them to succeed where heavy-handed government policies had failed. But along the way, they had to get their hands dirty.
Looking for a relatively cheap way to spend a few weeks abroad? You might want to consider World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, or WWOOF. Have an aversion to mud, farm animals, and learning on the job? Maybe reconsider that first suggestion. But for those of you who are looking for an adventure, on a budget, Sam and Molly have composed a “guide” for would-be WWOOFers to think about before taking off–from how to make sure your visa is in order, to embracing the awkwardness of close quarters with strangers, while still maintaining your dignity.
Lēf Farms built a $10 million dollar, state of the art, automated greenhouse, hoping to sell baby greens branded as fresh and local to area grocery stores and restaurants. But even local foods can meet with local opposition when the neighbors see a farm that doesn’t match their expectations for what agriculture should look like.
Wilderness Therapy is a form of treatment that uses the natural world to address behavioral and mental health issues in teens. But with a tattered history of institutional abuse, patchwork oversight, and absent legislation, is this treatment option too wild to be trusted?
In 1982, Times Beach was wiped off the map by an environmental disaster. But once the houses and streets were gone, the town was erased again, this time in a way that may make it difficult to learn from the mistakes of the past.
This week we attempt to not only eat the invaders, but drink them as well. And this time, most of us were on board. Also, the Ask Sam hotline gets some attention as Sam answers questions about bird feeders, black flies, storm clouds, and dew.
Global Rescue is a business that, should you get yourself into trouble, will drop everything to come and save you, anywhere in the world. They employ former Navy Seals, helicopters, airplanes, and even yaks to get the job done. But this service comes at a price, and when disaster strikes, is it fair that a service that won’t save everyone can rush in pull out those who can afford it?
Up along the banks of the Damariscotta River in Maine there used to be two stadium-sized piles of oyster shells. Where did they come from? Why are they there? What can they tell us about the people that created them? There are mysteries abound in the middens!
If you're a long-time listener of the podcast, you might remember this as Episode 6: Champagne on the Rocks. But if you're new around here, we thought you'd like to hear one of our favorite episodes from the archives, complete with an update at the end. In the summer of 2015, Scott Jurek set a new record for running the 2,181 miles of the Appalachian Trail. But on his triumphant day atop the last mountain in Northern Maine, his 21st century campaign for the trail's record ran afoul of a park founded on ideas about wilderness from a decidedly earlier time.
Ever wonder where those flowers in the grocery come from and why, no matter what time of year, there are always roses available? Just in time for Mother's Day—the second busiest floral day behind Valentine's Day—we look inside the billion dollar flower industry and trace the well oiled supply chain that makes sure saying it with flowers is always an option.
Since we launched the toll free version of our Ask Sam hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837), we've seen a real healthy uptick in queries. This time around we decided to ask Chris Martin of the New Hampshire Audubon, and Dave Anderson from the Forest Society to join Sam in our quest to answer your questions about the outdoor world. We've got everything from the geometry of wombat feces to planting trees by the light of the moon. #AskSam
Beaver (Castor canadensis), have been kicking around in North America for 2 million years. Ecologically they do all sorts of great things: their ponds ease flooding downstream, and support large numbers of bird species, fish, amphibians, and otters. They're what's called a keystone species, as in the keystone to an entire eco-system. But they're also the world's second largest rodent and a nightmare for property owners. Humans and beavers have a long history together because they like to live in the same places, but the way we've built our infrastructure has almost guaranteed our two species will be locked in eternal conflict.
Nature documentaries and wildlife films transport us to places in the world that still feel wild, but what if the wilderness they present is staged? What if, in order to capture nature’s unvarnished beauty and conflict, filmmakers have to engage in a bit of fakery? In this episode we examine how deception is used to enhance the drama of nature documentaries, from Disney’s Oscar-winning film White Wilderness, to the incredible footage featured in the BBC’s Planet Earth II. Plus, we own up to some of the production tricks we use to make this podcast.
When he was just 38 years old, Mackie Branham Jr., a coal miner, was diagnosed with progressive massive fibrosis, a debilitating and terminal form of black lung, a disease that was thought to be a relic of the past; a problem when coal mining was at its peak. In this episode we hear from Branham and his family, in a collaboration with Producer Benny Becker who reported on the resurgence of black lung in coal country. We'll look into why, despite the severity of the illness and the large number of miners being diagnosed, it's not getting a lot of attention.
Is skiing a sport reserved for rich people? Producers Maureen and Jimmy think so, and Sam wants to prove them wrong. In this episode, Sam takes his skeptical colleagues skiing for the very first time to show that it doesn’t have to be a fancy endeavor. Will he succeed? Will it be wicked expensive? Will they enjoy it? Listen to find out. www.outsideinradio.org Theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder
In the late sixties, a soap factory in suburban Illinois discovered one of its outflow pipes had been intentionally clogged by an industrial saboteur. Does environmental damage ever demand radical action? And when does environmental protest cross the line and become eco-terrorism?
Every so often, we take some time out from telling stories to answer questions from you, our friends and listeners. These questions have been piling up, and so we thought we’d dig through them and bring you some of the more interesting ones. This week, we're digging into snow fleas, the lies we tell others about mountains, and whether there's more wind than there used to be. If you want us to answer your question, you should give us a call! The number is 603-223-2448. If you’re technologically inclined, record your question on a voice-memo and send it to outsidein@nhpr.org.
When Ryan and Sinehan Lessard first started dating, they discovered they have something strange in common: after they die, they both want to “become a tree”. This is the story about a growing number of people who want to forgo standard funeral practices like embalming, caskets and big granite monuments in favor of a more natural burial - and why that’s easier said than done.
Coastal communities of every partisan stripe are wrestling with the reality of rising seas. But when you’ve built a life centered around your dream home by the shore, the decision to pull up stakes and leave is a wrenching one.
If you’re even the least bit interested in solar power, you’ve probably come across an obscure, hard-to-parse, seemingly conflict-free term: net metering. It’s a system that has come to be the bedrock of the American rooftop solar industry, and the root of one of today’s biggest energy battles. It was also started by a dude named Steven Strong, kind of by accident. Buckle up folks, we're going full energy nerd.
Sam is going to take us all hunting this week. Not hunting for animals, but instead, hunting for the secret of what’s behind that 26-mile fence cutting through the woods of New Hampshire, and why some people want it to stay a secret.
This week on the show we’re bringing you something a little different, a story from someone else. Caroline Ballard and Micah Schweizer started HumaNature, which is based in Wyoming, and they’re part of the team responsible for bringing us the story of a man, his walk through an unfamiliar culture and an unexpected friendship, in a couple of different ways.
Mount Washington is famously home of "The World's Worst Weather", but it also hosts a huge amount of tourist infrastructure. Senior producer Taylor Quimby brings us this tale of how the mountain was conquered, and how that process became the template for mountain tourism nation-wide.
Sam won’t tell you this, but he’s a really great athlete. He has another secret, too. There’s this photo of him leading a ski race, and it’s plastered on the side of a city bus in Argentina. So, how did Sam wind up on the side of a bus? This story explains.
In our series, 10X10, we take you on a journey to a 10X10 plot and uncover the secrets in spaces you’d never think to look. This time, we look for signs of extraordinary life, at the center of a traffic circle.
Tony Bosco hid in plain sight for more than two decades in the most densely populated state in the nation. How did he do it? And what makes someone exchange all of the comforts of their home for the simplicity of a shed in the woods?
Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Friday the Thirteenth, Blair Witch. It seems the woods make a great backdrop for scary stories, but why? Are we hardwired to fear the forest? Or, let’s throw it out there, do ghosts just like hanging out in the thickets? Sam goes on the trail with paranormal experts and talks with Lore’s Aaron Mahnke to find out what makes the woods so terrifying, and tests his own beliefs along the way.
This is Eat The Invaders - our occasional segment where we take a bite out of invasive species populations. On the menu today, one of the scariest, most voracious and intractable invaders out there: the lionfish.
Today, we take a step back to imagine a world without a web of GPS satellites telling your smartphone where you are every second of the day. While this might sound scary, come along and maybe you’ll discover you have a secret sixth sense...one that’s been inside you all along, if you just knew how to turn it on.
It’s not surprising that many of the medicines we use today are derived from plants. The surprising part is how similar the molecular components of plants are to the building blocks of our own human, mammalian bodies. This week we dive head first into a vat of soybean oil with Dr. Percy Julian who, against all odds, became one of the most prominent chemists of his time and whose work paved the way for the birth control pill. Plus, why the cone snail and its deadly neurotoxin just might be the key to a pain free future.
In 2013, Neil Hayward was depressed. He had just left the biotech company he helped start, and he was getting over the end of a very serious relationship. He had disposable income, and free time. Suddenly, he found himself doing a lot of birding. A LOT. In this episode Sam delves into the subculture of extreme bird-watching. Plus, this week’s Ask Sam is all about assassin crows.
The producers commandeer the show while host Sam Evans-Brown is on a much-needed vacation. They sail into weird territory almost immediately. Note: Sam will be back with a new, normal episode right after Labor Day.
When you walk a trail in the woods, have you ever wondered, how did this get here? Who carved this path? Was this stone staircase always like this? Nope. Chances are a team of hardscrabble men and women worked tirelessly to make sure the paths you follow blend right into the landscape. In this story, we find out why one such trail crew, known as the 'TFC', is the stuff of legend.
When a Harvard professor accidentally let Gypsy Moths loose in the 1860s, he didn’t realize he was releasing a scourge that would plague New England forests for more than a century. Nothing could stop the moths except a controversial method of wildlife management called biocontrol. It’s the scientific version of “fighting fire with fire”: eradicate an invasive species by introducing another invasive species. Since then, there have been lots of biocontrol success stories, but also a few disastrous failures. In this episode, we ask whether biocontrol is the best--maybe the only way--to combat invasives, or if it’s just an example of scientific hubris.
Producer Taylor Quimby has been defending Vibram FiveFingers™ shoes to naysayers for years. When people see him wearing them while he’s on the trail or out for a run, they tend to have a pretty visceral reaction, and that reaction is typically disgust. So what is it about these glove-like shoes that makes people so upset? #running #fivefingers #vibram
Pokémon Go is getting people outside and moving around, but is that enough? When it comes to developing a lasting appreciation for the natural world, will augmented reality make a dent? Sam hashes it out with a Poké-believer and a Poké-skeptic.
The “Save the Whales” movement of the 1970’s was instrumental in putting a stop to commercial whaling. But even as humpbacks and other whale populations have bounced back, one species is still up against the ropes. Literally. In this story, Sam tackles the problem of whale entanglement - and discovers that proposed solutions include crossbows, Australian lobsters, and Chinese finger traps.
Two listeners, two very different questions for Sam. Can you 'taste' which state maple syrup comes from & why do dogs spend so much time deciding where to go #2?
Ari Ofsevit is a guy from Boston fueled by an intense, nerdy love for sports. The day after running this year’s Boston Marathon, his face was all over the cover of the Boston Globe and on all of the network news channels, but on the internet, people were accusing him of cheating. This is Ari’s story.
We're gonna give it to you straight. This story is Sam's white whale. For years, the electrical grid has called to him like a siren, and lead him down a treacherous path of unintelligible tech jargon, mind-numbing energy reports, unfinished radio stories, and lots of mixed metaphors. But out of the ashes, the story of Boothbay, Maine rose like a Phoenix...or perhaps it was cobbled into existence, like Frankenstein. Either way, this is a story about the electrical grid, and it's darned interesting. Sam has slayed the beast.
For alpinist Ben Clark, scaling the world's toughest montains was a source of pride and accomplishment, for his parents it was a source of constant worry. After learning to live with their son's adventurous streak, Ben decided to quit mountaineering altogether. Why? The answer may surprise you.
Tyler Armstrong is 12 years old. He likes to play laser tag. He’s learning to play guitar. And this spring he’s heading to China, where he will attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain. In this episode, an ethical debate: how young is too young to climb Everest?
In the early '90s Keene, New Hampshire created a pumpkin festival to bring the community together, but after 24 years the quaint festival tore the town apart.
This past summer, Scott Jurek set a new record for running the 2,181 miles of the Appalachian Trail. But on his triumphant day atop the last mountain in Northern Maine, his 21st century campaign for the trail's record ran afoul of a park founded on ideas about wilderness from a decidedly earlier time. Photo credit: "The Shared Experience" via Creative Commons BIT.LY/23A9KSV
In 1998, Forest Quimby spent thousands of dollars building one of the most beautiful, most elaborate docks on Franklin Pierce Lake in New Hampshire. There was just one problem – it was illegal. In this story, we hear about Quimby’s seventeen-year battle with the NH Department of Environmental Services, and find out why small-scale environmental regulations are so hard to enforce.
In 2015 about 2,700 of the 50,000 people who applied will receive a moose hunting permit. If you're one of the lucky ones who has waited 20 years for this moment, you're going to want an expert on your team. You're going to want a moose whisperer.
....or, why you should always be careful when you're traipsing through the woods in the springtime. In this episode we check out the most short-lived and abundant sources of life that you've never heard of.
Or, how Sam learned to stop worrying and love the cold hardy kiwi. It's a fruit you've never heard of, but it could be the key to one man's dream, even though it's another man's invasive nightmare.
Welcome to Outside/In, a show where curiosity and the natural world collide. Outside/In is hosted by Nate Hegyi, and produced by New Hampshire Public Radio
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