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Wildly Curious is a comedy podcast where science, nature, and curiosity collide. Hosted by Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole, two wildlife experts with a combined 25+ years of conservation education experience, the show dives into wild animal behaviors, unexpected scientific discoveries, and bizarre natural phenomena. With a knack for breaking down complex topics into fun and digestible insights, Katy and Laura make science accessible for all—while still offering fresh perspectives for seasoned science enthusiasts. Each episode blends humor with real-world science, taking listeners on an engaging journey filled with quirky facts and surprising revelations. Whether you're a curious beginner or a lifelong science lover, this podcast offers a perfect mix of laughs, learning, and the unexpected wonders of the natural world.
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Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this deep-dive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole crack open the bizarre, beautiful world of echinoderms—the “spiny-skinned” sea creatures that are hard on the outside, squishy on the inside, and powered by a literal hydraulic system. We’re talking sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, brittle stars, feather stars, and sea cucumbers—a group that looks like it shouldn’t make ...
Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to root for the slowest athletes on Earth. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the bizarre but brilliant world of snail racing—and the scientists who study it to unlock secrets of movement, slime, and survival. Every summer in England, snails compete in the World Snail Racing Championships. It sounds ridiculous… until you realize researchers are using these races to study animal locomotion, non-N...
Send us a text Subscribe and rediscover a skill humans were never meant to lose. In this episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole explore natural navigation—the ancient human ability to find direction by reading the land, sea, sky, plants, and animals instead of relying on GPS. Long before maps and satellites, humans navigated forests and oceans using patterns, movement, and observation. And the wild part? That ability never disappeared—we just stopped practicing it. 🌿 How...
Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to learn something you will never un-know. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole spotlight two researchers whose work sounds ridiculous… until you realize it’s brilliant. Meet Dr. David Hu and Dr. Patricia Yang, engineers who study fluid dynamics by asking the questions no one else would: Why do almost all mammals pee in the same amount of time?Why is wombat poop shaped like a cube?And how can studying anima...
Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. DNA isn’t magic—but it is one of the most powerful instruction systems in the universe. In this deep-dive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole break down genetics, DNA, and inheritance in a way that actually makes sense—no lab coat required. From the tiny molecular code inside your cells to the ethical questions surrounding modern gene editing, this episode connects the science t...
1Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to learn something you absolutely did not know existed. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss dives into one of the strangest—and most important—jobs in science: whale earwax archivist. Yes. That’s a real thing. Certain whales build massive earwax plugs over their lifetime, adding a new layer every six months. And scientists have learned how to read those layers like tree rings—revealing a whale’s age, stress levels, exposure to p...
Send us a text Subscribe and let your curiosity swear a little. We won’t tell. 😉 In this Wildly Curious minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole kick off their new Niche Scientists series with a deep dive into Dr. Richard Stephens—a psychologist who studies something we all do (sometimes loudly): swearing. From pain tolerance to powerlifting, Dr. Stephens’ research shows that strategic cursing can actually make you stronger, tougher, and maybe even a little bit smarter about when to drop a...
Send us a text Subscribe and stuff your brain before you stuff your turkey. 🦃🥧 In this Wildly Curious Thanksgiving special, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole serve up the surprisingly scientific and hilariously human history of America’s favorite feast. From how pumpkins nearly went extinct after the Ice Age to why turkeys were almost wiped out (and then made a comeback), this episode is a buffet of weird facts, origin stories, and seasonal science. 🍂 How mastodons helped evolve pumpkins &nbs...
Send us a text Season 13 is here… and it’s fight night. (Hypothetically, of course.) 🥊 Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole are back with Could You Fight That? Part 2, the follow-up to one of Wildly Curious’ most beloved (and ridiculous) episodes. This time, the matchups get even wilder—from kangaroos and cassowaries to anteaters and octopuses—as the duo debates whether they could theoretically survive these encounters. It’s all fun, all hypothetical, and all rooted in animal science and pure c...
Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this final Swarms Minisode of the season, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole lose their minds (in the best way) over the most chaotic, moon-synced crab love party on Earth: the migration of Christmas Island red crabs. We’re talking: 🦀 50 to 100 million land crabs 🌧 Timed to what we're convinced is a witches curse.... 🚧 Roads shut down 🌊 Pina colada breaks (probably) 💥 And babies launche...
Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this explosive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole reveal the surprising truth: sometimes, nature chooses to self-destruct—and it's all part of the plan. From exploding ants to salmon that spawn and die, and fungi that launch spores like botanical cannons, this episode dives into how death in nature isn't always failure—it's strategy. 💥 Why some creatures explode on purpose &...
Send us a text Subscribe and prepare yourself—because this time, the swarm doesn’t just chase... it devours. In this Swarms Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the world of army ants, some of the most strategic, aggressive, and terrifyingly coordinated hunters on Earth. From building living bridges to raiding the forest floor with military precision, these ants don't forage… they sweep, and anything that can’t move fast enough is gone. 🐜 Why army ants don’t build nests—but b...
Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this seed-sational episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dig into the unexpectedly wild world of seed dispersal. From coconuts floating across oceans to violets launching their seeds like botanical cannons, this episode explores the many weird and wonderful ways plants get around without walking. 🌊 How coconuts evolved to sail thousands of miles 🌬️ The physics behind para...
Send us a text Subscribe if you love science, chaos, and being mildly afraid of your backyard. 🐝 In this Swarms Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover facts around the infamous “killer bees”—a.k.a. Africanized honeybees. Spoiler: they don’t look scary, but they’ll chase you, sting in overwhelming numbers, and sometimes even wait above water for you to come up for air. But is the fear justified? 🐝 What makes Africanized honeybees so aggressive? 🌎 How did a 1950s experiment i...
Send us a text Ever wonder how birds, eels, whales, or even bugs find their way without a GPS? In this episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover the jaw-dropping science behind animal navigation. From locusts using sky maps and magnetic fields, to eels migrating thousands of miles to a secret oceanic birthplace no one’s ever seen (seriously), and birds that may be using quantum mechanics to see the Earth’s magnetic field—it’s a global tour of natural way-finding. 🌎 ...
Send us a text Subscribe if you love science, chaos, and bugs that are way too confident. In this Swarms Minisode, Katy dives into the desert locust, a grasshopper that transforms—literally—into one of the most devastating swarm creatures on Earth. 🦗 What causes a peaceful insect to go full apocalypse mode? 🌾 How do they morph from shy loners to yellow, muscle-bound sky-hulks? 🌪 What triggers a swarm so massive it consumes everything in its path—eating its body weight daily? ...
Send us a text Subscribe and brace yourself—because this week, the swarm has teeth. 🦈 In this second episode of our Swarms Minisode Series, Laura and Katy dive into a lesser-known swarm behavior: shark aggregations. From 1,400 basking sharks off New England to over 15,000 spinning sharks off the Florida coast, this episode explores the science (and chaos) behind why some of the ocean’s most feared predators travel in giant, synchronized groups. 🦈 Why do basking sharks—normally loners—form fee...
Send us a text Subscribe and let your nose lead the way. This episode stinks—in the best way possible. In this surprisingly deep dive into all things scent, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole explore how your sense of smell works, why it’s wildly underappreciated, and what makes certain smells feel amazing (or like a chemical attack). 🧠 How does smell connect to memory and emotion? 🦨 What makes skunk spray so powerful—and impossible to wash off? 🌺 Why do corpse flowers pretend to b...
Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. It’s time for Swarms. In the kickoff to our Swarms Minisodes, Katy and Laura dive into one of nature’s most mesmerizing spectacles: the murmuration of starlings. These jaw-dropping bird formations swirl through the sky like smoke or liquid—but behind the beauty is a stunning system of rules, physics, and evolutionary strategy. 🐦 What exactly is a murmuration—and why do starlings do it? 🌪 How can thousands of birds turn on a...
Send us a text Subscribe and let your inner science goblin move into its own weird little ecosystem. 🦠 In the Season 12 kickoff of Wildly Curious, Katy and Laura reveal the bizarre—but very real—ecosystems thriving inside your house. From the Amazon rainforest of your belly button to the bug-filled biome behind your fridge, your home is alive in more ways than you think. 🦠 Why scientists swabbed hundreds of belly buttons to study bacteria 🍄 How household fungi can go from harmless to ha...
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If you like nature & animal podcasts-check out this show: 🐝"FOR THE LOVE OF NATURE" -It's a quality production full of information w/ delightful hosts.
Can't wait for season 2, starting in June!
🐸YAY!! NEW ANIMAL/NATURE PODCAST!!! 🦩🦦🦥🦘🦛🦒