Outside/In

Coyotes are a sort of goldilocks animal. They can be active during the day, and at night. They can hunt in groups, or survive solo. They’re wolfish enough to survive in the wild, dog-like enough to blossom in the big city.  That adaptability has arguably made coyotes one of the most successful mammalian predators on the planet. It’s also given them a reputation as opportunistic villains that prey on neighborhood garbage, livestock,  and (occasionally) household pets. So what makes these animals so special? And if coyotes are so good at living amongst us, how do we get better at living amongst them? Featuring: Daniel Proux, Dan Flores, Christine Wilkinson, Stan Gehrt, and Kieon HalonaSUPPORTOutside/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.LINKSIf you enjoyed learning about coyote vocalizations, check out Janet Kessler’s blog about San Francisco coyotes, or her YouTube page, where you can find dozens of videos showing the diversity of coyote yips, yowls, barks, grows, and more .Read about coyotes in the Massachusetts town of Nahant, where municipal officials asked the federal government to help kill them in 2022. (New York Times) CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported and produced by Kate DarioMixed by Kate Dario and Taylor QuimbyEditing by Taylor QuimbyOur staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Marina HenkeExecutive producer: Taylor QuimbyRebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand AudioMusic by Blue Dot SessionsOutside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public RadioSubmit 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).

Just a few weeks after we released the What Remains series, news broke that the Penn Museum discovered additional remains of 1985 MOVE bombing victims in the museum.How did this happen? And what's next for the thousands of other human remains still in their possession?Producer Felix Poon knew just the person to talk to for answers.Featuring Rachel Watkins. 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. In this 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?LINKSRead the Penn Museum’s statement about the latest discovery of additional MOVE remains at the museum.Listen to WHYY’s news report, Penn Museum discovers another set of human remains from the MOVE bombing.You can find our full episode credits, listen to our back catalog, and support Outside/In at our website: outsideinradio.org. 

Hear ye, hear ye! Winter is fast approaching, and it is time for our fifth annual ‘surthrival’ special, in which the Outside/In team reframes the endurance sport that is winter. We’ve got suggestions for thriving during the cold-season, which we hope will help you positively look forward to dirty snow banks and single-digit temperatures.This year, though, there’s a twist. A listener asked us for advice on what to do before the snow starts to fall, when it’s gray and bleak. This is that dingy in-between period, known in New England as ‘stick season.’ Host Nate Hegyi is joined by Kate Dario, Taylor Quimby, and special guest Zoey Knox, offering suggestions for indoors and out, on-screen and off, and both serious and silly. Featuring Eric Diven and special guest Zoey Knox. You can find our Outside/In 'Stick Season' Spotify playlist here. For a full list of this year’s recommendations visit our website.CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiProduced and mixed by Taylor Quimby. Additional panelists: Kate Dario and Zoey Knox. Edited by Rebecca LavoieOur staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Marina Henke.Executive producer: Taylor QuimbyRebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand AudioMusic by Blue Dot Sessions.Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public RadioSubmit 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).

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.This episode originally aired  in July, 2023. CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported and produced by Jeongyoon HanMixed by Jeongyoon Han and Taylor QuimbyEdited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi, Jessica Hunt, and Felix PoonExecutive producer: Rebecca LavoieSpecial thanks toMusic by Blue Dot Sessions, Edvard Grieg, and Mike Franklyn.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/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.

In Appalachia, Hurricane Helene was a thousand-year-flood. It flattened towns and forests, washed roads away, and killed hundreds.But this story is not about the flood. It’s about what happened after.A month after Hurricane Helene, our producer Justine Paradis visited Marshall, a tiny town in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina, a region renowned for its biodiversity, music, and art.She went to see what it really looks like on the ground in the wake of a disaster, and how people create systems to help each other. But what she found there wasn’t just a model of mutual aid: it was a glimpse of another way to live with one another.Featuring Josh Copus, Becca Nicholson, Rachel Bennett, Steve Matlack, Keith Majeroni, and Ian Montgomery.Appearances by Meredith Silver, Anna Thompson, Kenneth Satterfield, Reid Creswell, Jim Purkerson, Jazz Maltz, Melanie Risch, and Alexandra Barao.Songs performed by Sheila Kay Adams, Analo Phillips, Leah Song and Chloe Smith of Rising Appalachia, and William Ritter. LINKSAn excerpt of “A Paradise Built in Hell” by Rebecca Solnit (quoted in this episode) is available on Lithub.“You know our systems are broke when 5 gay DJs can bring 10k of supplies back before the national guard does.” (Them)The folks behind the Instagram account @photosfromhelene find, clean, and share lost hurricane photos, aiming to reunite the hurricane survivors with their photo memories. A great essay on mutual aid by Jia Tolentino (The New Yorker) CREDITSOutside/In host: Nate HegyiReported, written, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis Edited by Taylor QuimbyOur team also includes Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario.NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca LavoieSpecial thanks to  Poder Emma and Collaborativa La Milpa in Asheville. Thanks also to Rural Organizing and Resilience (ROAR).Music by  Doctor Turtle, Guustavv, Blue Dot Sessions, Cody High, and Silver Maple.Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.

A few months ago, producer Marina Henke saw two skunks sprint under her porch. Since then, she can’t stop wondering what’s really going on beneath her feet.And as it turns out, she’s not the only one. Every day across the country, homeowners are waging wars with the animals who stake out our porches, decks and crawl spaces. Have we as humans inadvertently designed luxury apartments for “unwelcome” wildlife? And is that necessarily a bad thing? In a new edition of our (long-retired!) 10x10 series we’re going under the porch. So, grab your headlamps, put on a different pair of pants and watch out for skunks. Featuring Christopher Schell, Kieran Lindsey, Josh Sparks and Maynard Stanley.LINKSWant more 10x10s? We’ve got ‘em! Listen here for traffic circles, gutters, sand beaches, kettle bogs and vernal pools. You can read more about the “biological deserts fallacy” here. The Schell Lab at UC Berkeley is up to all kinds of urban ecology research.   CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported, produced and mixed by Marina HenkeEditing by Taylor QuimbyOur staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon and Kate DarioExecutive producer: Taylor QuimbyRebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand AudioMusic by Blue Dot Sessions, El Flaco Collective and Spring GangOur theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public RadioWe want to hear from you! Hate what’s under your porch? Love what’s under your porch? 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 over ten years, biologist Mark Higley has been stalking the forests of the Hoopa Valley Reservation with a shotgun. His mission? To save the northern spotted owl. The threat? The more aggressive barred owl, which has spread from eastern forests into the Pacific Northwest.The federal government plans to scale up these efforts and kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls across multiple states. But can the plan really save the northern spotted owl? And is the barred owl really “invasive”… or just expanding its range? In this episode, Nate Hegyi dons a headlamp and heads into the forest with Mark Higley to catch a glimpse of these two rivals, and find out what it takes to kill these charismatic raptors, night after night, in the name of conservation.Featuring Mark Higley, Tom Wheeler, and Wayne Pacelle.  SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSThe federal government’s barred owl management plan is very long but they have a helpful list of frequently asked questions.Check out some beautiful photos of Mark Higley’s work in this Audubon magazine story from a few years ago. Curious about the timber wars? Oregon Public Broadcasting has an excellent podcast miniseries you should listen to.  CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported and produced by Nate HegyiMixed by Nate HegyiEditing by Taylor QuimbyOur staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate DarioExecutive producer: Taylor QuimbyRebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand AudioMusic by Blue Dot SessionsOutside/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 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?  LINKSArchival tape of protests for the African Burial Ground came from the documentary The African Burial Ground: An American Discovery (1994).Learn more about the African Burial Ground National Monument.A recently published report, co-authored by bioarchaeologist Michael Blakey for the American Anthropological Association, recommends that research involving the handling of ancestral remains must include collaboration with descendant communities.Learn more about Finding Ceremony, the repatriation organization started by aAliy Muhammad and Lyra Monteiro.Read the Penn Museum’s statement about the Morton Cranial Collection and the 19 Black Philadelphians they interred at Eden Cemetery in early 2024.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 MATERIALThe Morton Cranial CollectionThe Penn & Slavery Project Symposium in 2019 included a presentation on the Morton Cranial Collection.aAliy Muhammad’s 2019 opinion piece: “As reparations debate continues, the University of Pennsylvania has a role to play” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)Mar Portillo Alvarado’s 2020 opinion piece: “The Penn Museum must end abuse of the Morton collection” (The Daily Pennsylvanian)Paul Wolff Mitchell’s 2021 report: “Black Philadelphians in the Samuel George Morton Cranial Collection”The Penn Museum’s 2021 press release: “Museum Announces the Repatriation of the Morton Cranial Collection”The MOVE bombing and MOVE remains controversyArchival tape of the MOVE bombing came from the documentary Let the Fire Burn, and Democracy Now!She Was Killed by the Police. Why Were Her Bones in a Museum? (NY Times)In 2021-2022 three independent investigations reported on the MOVE remains controversy: one commissioned by the Penn Museum, one by the City of Philadelphia, and one by Princeton University.Lyra Monteiro's piece on Medium, "What the photos from 2014 reveal about Penn Museum's possession of the remains of multiple victims of the 1985 MOVE bombing."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 MATERIALThe 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. LINKSCheck out more episodes of “How Wild” here.SUPPORTOutside/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 FacebookHOW WILD CREDITSHow 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.caOUTSIDE/IN CREDITSOutside/In Host: Nate HegyiExecutive producer: Taylor QuimbyNHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio is Rebecca LavoieOur staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Kate Dario and Marina Henke. Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public RadioSubmit 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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSThis 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.  CREDITSOutside/In host: Nate HegyiReported by Justine Paradis, Nate Hegyi, and Marina Henke. Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis.Edited by Taylor QuimbyNHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca LavoieOur 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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSYou can find Nicola’s new book “Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet and Ourselves,” at your local bookstore or online.  CREDITSOur host is Nate Hegyi.Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby.Mixed by Nate HegyiEditing by Taylor QuimbyOur staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Kate Dario and Marina Henke.Executive producer: Taylor QuimbyRebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand AudioMusic by Blue Dot Sessions. Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public RadioSubmit 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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSYou 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. CREDITSOur 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 RadioSubmit 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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSRead 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.  CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported, produced, and mixed by Taylor QuimbyEditing by Rebecca Lavoie, with help from Marina Henke and Justine ParadisOur staff includes  Felix PoonExecutive producer: Taylor QuimbyRebecca 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 RadioSubmit 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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSLauren 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. CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported and produced by Jack RodolicoMixed by Taylor QuimbyEdited 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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSZoë 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. CREDITSOutside/In host: Nate HegyiReported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis.Edited by Taylor QuimbyOur team also includes Felix Poon and Marina Henke.NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca LavoieSpecial 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 SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSIn 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.  CREDITSHost: Nate HegyiReported and produced by Nate HegyiEdited by Taylor Quimby and Katie Colaneri Our team includes Marina Henke, Justine Paradis, and Felix PoonRebecca Lavoie is our Executive ProducerMusic for this episode by Blue Dot SessionsOutside/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. SUPPORTOutside/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. LINKSRachel 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. CREDITSOutside/In host: Nate HegyiReported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis, Catherine Hurley, and Felix Poon, with help from Marina Henke.Edited by Taylor QuimbyNHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca LavoieMusic by Daniel Fridell, Caro Luna, Lofive, bomull, Jahzarr, Mindme, and John B. Lund. Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.