The Shape of the World

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The Grace of Going Unseen (Ep. 22) May 27, 2020

Show notes

Akiko Busch is well-known for her writing on design and culture. Her essays continue to touch on those subjects although increasingly, it incorporates—or directly addresses—the natural world. Her books include The Incidental Steward, where she tries out and writes about various citizen science opportunities: pulling invasive weeds, helping gather data for research, and conducting ecological monitoring; and Nine Ways to Cross a River, where she attempted to swim across (and observe and meditate upon) nine wild American rivers.
For twenty years, Akiko was a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine where she wrote about furniture, houses, and home design. “For me, writing about design was always about writing about a sense of fit,” she says. “How a spoon fits the hand. How a human body fits a chair. Or how a house fits a landscape, and how human beings can find a sense of fit with the natural world.” "We live in a time and culture that value display and are largely indifferent to the virtues of passing unnoticed. It is time for all of us to reconsider the beauty, elegance and imagination that can come with being unseen." – Akiko Busch, author of several essay collections, is on the faculty of the MA Design Research program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is a visiting faculty member at Bennington College. How to Find Out More About Akiko’s Work

The best way to learn more about Akiko is to buy and read her wonderful books. The one that inspired this episode of The Shape of the World was How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency. Get her books from your local bookseller or you can purchase them online from The Shape of the World’s favorite bookstore.

You can find Akiko’s work in many other places, too. Read her New York Times essay on invisibility and her New York Times essay on the joys and lessons of swimming in wild rivers. (“Just Beneath The Surface”) In addition to invisibility, we spoke about water during the interview and in the future, will incorporate some of that content into another episode. So look for that!

Something Cool from Akiko’s Book

In How to Disappear, Akiko discusses Invisible Mending, a short film made by the South African artist, William Kentridge. You can watch it here in its two-minute entirety—go ahead and click the link, it’s worth it. Akiko’s book is full of gems: artists to look at, authors to read, and other bits of culture to explore, pursue and marvel over.

Correction

In this episode, Jill mentions that certain types of baby birds disguise their scent when predators are nearby. What she was thinking about was something she learned from David Sibley’s book, What It’s Like to Be a Bird. But she misspoke; it’s the adult birds, not the babies. During his interview with The Shape of the World in April, 2020, David Sibley said, “I was stunned to learn that ground-nesting birds become odorless when sitting on their nest. The chemical composition of the oil that they use to preen their feathers changes. It becomes a compound that is odorless. So while the adult bird is sitting on the ground incubating eggs, the nest is camouflaged by an absence of odor.”

A Note On How This Podcast was Recorded

While recording this interview, both Jill and Akiko were sheltering in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it’s not uncommon for podcasts and radio programs to have speakers in two different locations, the current situation is different. Instead of being in separate studios with good equipment, both host and guest record in their homes on laptop computers. Ralph Loza, the show’s audio producer, listens on Skype and helps troubleshoot problems.

You may have noticed on shows besides ours—including even huge commercial talk shows on television—that the sound quality is iffy these days. We just wanted to let you know why and how we’re adapting. We sacrifice perfect sound quality to preserve the health of the host, the guest, and everyone we might come in contact with if we were to record in a studio. Some episodes this season (the ones that sound better!) were recorded before sheltering started.

The Coat & the Goat (Ep. 21) May 13, 2020

Show notes

Andrew Robichaud explores the peculiar coexistence of people and farm animals in America’s cities. In the 1800s, it wasn’t unusual for men wearing top hats and formal attire to stride down tony Manhattan avenues right next to goats and cows. After the Civil War, treatment of domesticated animals and our cultural view of what animals might be thinking and feeling changed dramatically. “During that period, reformers were looking to rebuild a certain set of social relationships by improving how people related to animals and therefore how they’d relate to one another,” Robichaud says.
With intervention, animals’ lives improved. Fewer animals lived in cities. Most were better suited to farm life.
But an unintended byproduct was that direct contact between humans and animals became more infrequent. Today, it’s so rare for most urban dwellers to see a cow or a pony that they’re kept in zoos next to lemurs and penguins. "American cities in the 19th century were ecologically diverse places, invariably made up of a multitude of domesticated, semidomesticated, and undomesticated species." – Andrew Robichaud is Assistant Professor of History at Boston University, where he teaches courses in American history. How to Find Out More About Andrew’s Work

The best way is to buy his wonderful book, Animal City: The Domestication of America at your local bookseller, or you can purchase it online from The Shape of the World’s favorite bookstore, in Hyde Park in Chicago. It’s also available from the publisher, Harvard Press.

Other ways to learn more: if you’re a student at Boston University, you can take one of Andrew’s classes. (Lucky you!) If you’re just a regular non-student type person, follow Andrew on twitter at @aarobichaud and visit his website. If he is giving a lecture or making some other sort of public appearance, he’ll post it there.

Andrew’s research is informed by digital mapping and some of those visualizations can be examined on the Animal City page of the Stanford Spatial History Project.

Andrew’s next book project is tentatively titled On Ice: Transformations in American Life, and is a history of America’s economic and cultural “ice age” in the nineteenth century.

The Weirdest Way (Ep. 20) May 06, 2020

Show notes

Dr. Katy Greenwald has a longstanding interest in puzzling out the success and persistence of North America’s “gene thieves,” the unisexual (all female) Ambystoma salamanders. These salamanders have what is without a doubt the world’s weirdest known form of reproduction. Opportunistic unisexual female salamanders swipe the sperm of males from other species, resulting in offspring with many different genome combinations. Something thought to be well-understood—sexual reproduction—turns out to be much wilder than we knew. "Sexual reproduction is sort of an evolutionary mystery" – Dr. Katy Greenwald is Associate Professor of Biology at Eastern Michigan University and studies conservation genetics of reptiles and amphibians. How to Find Out More About Katy’s Work

Watch “The Unisexuals: A Story of Salamanders and Sex”. This video was made by Science Friday, a show on National Public Radio. A short piece on Science Friday about Katy’s work spurred us to contact Katy for an interview where we could find out more. Katy does a great job describing the clever ways of the unisexual mole salamander on The Shape of the World, but we totally love this video for helping fill in the visual detail.

Visit Katy on Twitter, @amphibs.

Visit the website for Katy’s lab. The unisexual salamanders are almost a side project. The majority of the work done by Katy and her students is around using DNA analysis to assess how animals persist in areas dominated by human land use. They use molecular tools to answer ecological or conservation-related questions.

The original discovery of unisexual mole salamanders was described in 1992 by Jim Bogart, a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario.

Different Kinds of Aliveness (Ep. 19) Apr 29, 2020

Show notes

David Sibley started drawing birds at age five and never stopped. Having an ornithologist father and being around his father’s friends, all of whom were also interested in birds, made birdwatching seem an ordinary thing all grown men did. “Roger Tory Peterson, the father of the modern field guide, lived about twenty miles away from us and I met him a few times when I was a kid,” David says. “He made a living writing field guides—it seemed to me it was just something people do. A normal career path I could choose.”
David went on to do exactly that. His books on how to identify birds and trees have sold over a million and a half copies because they’re so darned good. What makes them great is the detail of the illustrations and the voice that comes through in both text and pictures; you have the sense that the author isn’t trying to show off knowledge but really is trying to help you. Like a good teacher who demonstrates a few different ways to approach a math problem, Sibley field guides provide different views and numerous clues about what a bird might be. David understands that out in the field you won’t always see all of a bird at any one time—life is imperfect—and that’s okay. "Drawing is a great way to focus, to really force you to look closely at something. For me, drawing was a way of studying birds, a method. The art and the science are inextricably linked." – David Allen Sibley is the author and illustrator of a series of books about birds, birding, and tree identification. How to find out more

David Sibley’s new book, “What It’s Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing–What Birds Are Doing, and Why” is an attempt to enter the mind, body and emotions of birds while they’re engaged in the various acts of being alive. It is full of facts on how different species of birds perceive the world, tell time, rest, eat and make decisions. This is the “it” book of 2020 for anyone interested in the many different ways there are to live.

How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Change the World (Ep. 18) Apr 22, 2020

Show notes

Structural geologist Marcia Bjornerud was raised by free-thinking parents who instilled in her a love of books and nature. She’s published many professional papers (read mainly by experts in the field) and two popular books that, in the opinion of this podcast, ought to be read by every inhabitant of our planet: “Reading the Rocks” (2005) and “Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Change the World.” (2018). The first is an awe-inspiring, sometimes amusing and always relatable way of understanding the Earth itself. The second shows us a way to live on the Earth that respects how remarkable this planet is.
Acquiring a better grasp of our planet’s long history is what Marcia describes as “timefulness.” The concept of timefulness pushes back against the narrow perspectives and super-short time frames in which our modern societies generally operate. We each tend to think of our everyday life as singular, without precedent. Yet our lives are built upon a long history of processes set in motion billions of years ago. If we can exercise some self-control, life on Earth can roll comfortably on for another billion. "Thinking like a geologist is about expanding our time frame, not seeing ourselves as the center of the cosmos, learning patience, understanding what lasts and what doesn’t." – Dr. Marcia Bjornerud is Professor of Geosciences and Environmental Studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She conducts structural geology field research in Norway, New Zealand, arctic Canada, Italy and the Lake Superior region. How to Find Out More

Read Marcia’s books. Order them from your favorite local bookstore, or from ours. The 57 th Street Bookstore and the Seminary Co-Op shops in Chicago are independent booksellers that serve readers locally and worldwide. You can find the two of them together online here.

You can also find some of Marcia’s talks on YouTube.

In the podcast, Marcia talks about the Surtsey volcano. This could be the exact same film Marcia describes having seen in grammar school.

How to Stay Safe from Coronavirus in the Outdoors (Ep. 17) Apr 07, 2020

Show notes

Even though the coronavirus pandemic is keeping 226 million Americans and one third of the world sheltering in place, stepping out for fresh air is still allowed. But what’s safe? How far apart do we need to be when we’re outside? Can the virus survive in wind, rain and sun? The news media is packed with info on how to stay safe inside—but with the help of Dr. Doriane Miller, we present the latest findings on how best to behave outdoors in the midst of a pandemic. Yes, you can go outside.

During the pandemic, the answer is an emphatic “no” to most questions of “can I do this?” But not for going outside to enjoy the trees, the sky, the flowers. Doctors on the preventative side of the coronavirus pandemic are encouraging patients to access the outdoors for exercise and for nature’s proven ability to diminish stress.

“Public health officials are promoting going outdoors in terms of helping people to stay healthy not just from a physical health aspect but from a mental health aspect as well,” says Dr. Doriane Miller, the physician at the University of Chicago Medical Center featured in this episode. “As long as they’re keeping what’s considered safe distancing.”

An internist at the at the University of Chicago Medical Center, Dr. Miller explains how the coronavirus protection rules we’re learning for how to behave indoors pertain to activities undertaken out of doors. Like many other physicians, in addition to her ordinary patient group, she’s helping serve those who may have COVID-19. “The University of Chicago hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center on the south side of Chicago. And so if you get into a bad automobile accident if you’re someone subject to interpersonal violence and have been injured as a result of that, this is where you’d come,” she says. “We’re still taking those cases as well. Now, with CVID-19 layered onto that, the hospital continues to be a pretty busy place.”

When asked how those of us who aren’t the least bit medical can help the frontline care providers during the pandemic, Dr. Miller is very clear. It wasn’t “make us masks” or “come to the hospital and volunteer.” It was: “Take care of yourselves and your family with good hand-washing and social distancing. Do your best not to increase the load of sick patients.”

For a complete lowdown on how to be safe outside (and why these rules are effective) download this PDF compiled by The Shape of the World staff based on the interview with Dr. Miller.

The Shape of the World is partnering with our friends at Openlands to put this information in the hands of as many people as possible. Please share it with your friends. Your safety is critically important. And so is that of the people you love.

It’s Not All Going the Wrong Way (Ep. 16) Jun 22, 2019

Show notes

In Openlands, Jerry Adelmann joined an organization whose interests aligned perfectly with his own: nature, culture, historic preservation, social equity. Since then, Jerry has been a ninja nature practitioner who’s created art exhibitions about nature in Chicago, initiated and helped create national parks in America, and collaborated on cultural and natural protection plans in Asia. Those are just a few examples of the depth and breadth of Jerry’s and the organization’s influence. Openlands also plays an important role in the shaping of policy related to nature and planning.
“Everything we do we do in partnership,” says Jerry. “I’ve been so fortunate, so blessed, to work with amazing people.”
Jerry comes from a tradition of service and deep roots in the community. He’s part of a family that has lived in Lockport, a town slightly south and west of the city, for six generations. "The formula for a great city is a combination of people and place. Great spaces, great architecture, great institutions are important, but the unique character of a community is also critical: Are the values inclusive? Do people feel welcome? Do they feel part of a bigger whole?" – Gerald W. Adelmann is executive director of Openlands, a 56-year-old regional land conservation organization working in northeastern Illinois and parts of neighboring states. He is chairman of the Center for Humans and Nature and also chairs the City of Chicago Mayor’s Nature and Wildlife Committee. He has been an advisor in conservation and historic preservation projects in China since the early 1990s and, since 2008, in Myanmar. How to Find Out More

“People have always been central to the mission of Openlands. It’s very much focused on social justice, social equity as much as it is as the quality of natural systems,” says Jerry. Here’s a video about the organization, one that gives a general overview.

The Land Trust Alliance recently interviewed Jerry, and here’s that link from Saving Land Magazine.

How You Can Help

Give a magnificent donation to Openlands (or if you must, a sweet and modest-sized offering) by clicking here.

If you are interested in trees—and who isn’t?—you can volunteer to become a TreeKeeper. The TreeKeepers learn how to help keep the urban forest growing strong. TreeKeepers learn a lot about the physiology of trees and what they need to survive, and then, in return for the training, they agree to spread the word. They become knowledgable ambassadors who teach their neighbors about trees. There are a number of TreeKeeper events each year, from small pruning workshops to large planting events.

Promiscuity & Polka Dots (Ep. 15) Jun 15, 2019

Show notes

Janet Voight grew up in Iowa, far from the ocean. Yet as a young adult, she found her way to the study of marine organisms, especially the cephalopods: that strange and wonderful system that includes snails, clams, squids, nautilus, and octopuses. In this episode, we discuss the incredible intelligence and fascinating lives of octopus.
Janet conducts her research not just in a lab, but one–mile deep in the ocean. Sixteen times she’s journeyed down in a strange, deep-ocean vehicle that holds only three people and looks as if it would be at home in outer space. On the East Pacific Rise, she examines the creatures that live around the hypothermal vents at the bottom of the sea. "I’ve always been fascinated by animals. That’s part of who I am. I was meant to be a zoologist." – Dr. Janet Voight is Associate Curator of zoology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and is a specialist in cephalopod mollusks, especially octopuses. How to Find Out More

Octopus are only of the organisms Janet Voight is fascinated by. “I’ve named 20 species of wood-boring clams,” she writes in her Field Museum blog. “You wouldn’t think there’s 20 species of wood-boring clams in the world. Trees fall in the forest and some of them wash out to sea. The wood that sinks to the bottom of the ocean is colonized by clams that bore into it. They just spend their lives scraping away at wood that sunk to the bottom of the ocean. And this group of species can only survive on the sunken wood.”

Janet appears in a terrific video about the sequencing of the octopus genome, a team she was part of. Here’s another article about this breakthrough.
The video and Janet’s colleague Cliff Ragsdale’s alien metaphor was the source for that portion of the narrative in this podcast episode. The episode was also informed by this article in Scientific American by Peter Godfrey-Smith; you may also want to check out

, “Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness.”

Booms & Busts: Natural Cycles That Run the World (Ep. 14) Jun 08, 2019

Show notes

When Dr. Jalene LaMontagne was growing up, her family moved every three to five years. “I was a military brat,” she says. For a while they lived in Cold Lake, Alberta, a very remote area in northern Canada. “Basically there was our house and community, and a park across the street and then we were surrounded by spruce forest.” Jalene and a group of friends played in a particular cluster of white spruce trees whose trunks grew close enough together that their branches provided protection from rain. That space turned into a fort, a clubhouse, and a place to reenact scenes from Star Wars.
The species of white spruce seems to have followed Jalene around—or perhaps, inadvertently, she followed it. “When I was doing my PhD research, it was the only species in the whole valley. I was in the Yukon, in northern Canada and literally, it was the only conifer species in the entire area.”
Today, Jalene alternates between her work on white spruce in remote, northern regions and urban work in the city of Chicago, where she researches how the availability of nesting sites and food influences wildlife species found in the city. “As a population ecologist, I’m interested in a lot of different things and it’s all about the questions.” – Dr. Jalene LaMontagne is Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at DePaul University, and is an Adjunct Scientist with the Urban Wildlife Institute at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Her research is concentrated on how patterns in plant and animal populations change across landscapes and how they’re impacted by their environments. How to Find Out More

It’s Not Over Until the Tiny Fish Thinks (Ep. 13) Jun 01, 2019

Show notes

Most scientists study animals while they’re stationary. It’s a lot easier that way. But Melina Hale studies fish in motion. She wants to find out what’s happening inside their brains—and what signals are traveling through their system from brain to fin and fin to brain—that allow movement to occur.
You wouldn’t necessarily think it, but the brain of a fish and the brain of a person have a lot in common. What the fish contemplates may be different from what we think about, but how we conduct the process of thinking is similar. So when Melina figured out how the startle reflex works in fish and which neurons control it, that also explained how humans startle. “These little three-millimeter fish provide a window into the brain that we couldn’t get at in any other way,” says Melina.
When Melina’s sons were little, she would make guesses about what was happening inside their brains. “It was fascinating to watch the changes and how they were able to move,” Melina says. “From crawling to walking, I was associating it with what was happening in their spinal cords or neural circuitry.”
“We’ve had to be able to startle—to escape from stimuli—through the whole history of evolutionary time. It’s a really interesting question to figure out how we do that.” – Dr. Melina Hale is the William Rainey Harper Professor in Organismal Biology and Anatomy and the College at The University of Chicago. Melina studies how animals move and how those movements are controlled by the brain. Melina is also a Vice Provost at the university and lives in Hyde Park with her husband, three kids and their dog. How to Find Out More

A lot of other projects are underway at Melina’s lab at the University of Chicago, and you can learn about those here. She also is a research fellow at the university’s Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts—which is a cool place to know about in and of itself.

This article explains more about the breakthrough realization that the fins of fish have sensors that are sending signals to the brain and not just vice versa—something Melina talks about in the episode.

This video from the National Science Foundation provides a nice overview of Melina’s work, and how, as the Foundation puts it, “one tiny fish can teach us big ideas about how the brain’s circuitry works.”

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