The 17-year cicadas emerged once again this year in northern Illinois (while a 13-year brood emerged to the south), and I traveled to see and hear them. "Ick, insects?" I know, they are pretty big, with buzzing wings and large red eyes. But why not spend nine minutes hearing about them anyway — and see if you can sense some of the wonder in this regular, but infrequent, natural phenomenon. 

Illinois Cicada Watch (Facebook group)

Insectophilia (insects in Japanese culture, with the Haiku I read)

Illinois cicada info

Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk) www.soundcloud.com/jenseast

Here's my take on why the ruins of ancient Rome are so awe-inspiring. Then think about ancient (or at least relatively old) sites near your home — is a road trip in order?

A couple videos on the topic:

The Ancient City of Rome (travel video)

Virtual Rome: What Did Ancient Rome Look Like?

Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk) www.soundcloud.com/jenseast

Peanuts are not really nuts, but they're much more interesting than you might think. Even if you don't eat them, you can appreciate how far they've spread in the world and how they've even inspired some gross banana-flavored candies!

A few of my sources:

Peanuts and power in the Andes

Where are the peanuts? (the David Williams quote)

A brief history of peanut butter (Smithsonian)

Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk) www.soundcloud.com/jenseast

Wow, pink and purple skies! I hope you've had a chance to see it this weekend, or at least sometime in the past or future. Let's talk about these magnificent lights.

A few resources:

What causes the northern lights?

Northern lights: what they are and how to see them

10 awesome aurora facts (from the Australian government)

Fire in the sky: the southern lights in Indigenous oral traditions

Hubble captures vivid auroras in Jupiter's atmosphere (NASA)

Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk) www.soundcloud.com/jenseast

Did you see the recent total solar eclipse? Eclipses are really incredible! Find out why in this episode.

In the episode I mention Horatio Cushman. I should have read more about him before speaking, but you can read about him here if you like. He was not Choctaw, but he lived in the same area and wrote a major history of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Natchez, published in 1899.

The Archilochus quote comes from this page.

I found the audio clip of the eclipse here (really a video):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Total_Solar_Eclipse_with_Audience_Reaction.webm#filelinks. This is the license that allows me to use it: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

We take seeds for granted, yet they're all around us and are obviously essential to life. We'll discuss seeds and visit the Global Seed Vault on Svalbard (where you can take your own virtual tour).

A few resources of interest:

Who controls the world's food supply?

Inside the Doomsday Vault (the Time Magazine article I quote)

Global Seed Vault

Global Seed Vault Virtual Tour

These islands are so far removed from most of our lives — and I find them fascinating. Find out why in this nine-minute trip north of the Arctic Circle. 

See today's weather forecast for Jan Mayen.

Here's a site about Jan Mayen, with the Lord Dufferin quote.

And here's another page about Jan Mayen.

Learn about the Global Seed Vault.

Deep water is awe-inspiring, in a spooky sort of way. Join me to explore some wonders of the depths.

Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk): www.soundcloud.com/jenseast

This podcast promotes a state of wonder about this captivating world and its inhabitants. We explore real-life examples of how things we often take for granted — or never even think about at all — are actually fascinating if we pay attention to them. Each episode is around nine minutes or less, but I hope these few minutes will affect how you experience the other minutes and hours of your day. A sense of wonder and awe is good for us, as we already intuitively know and as science is increasingly demonstrating — so please join me!

Music: Jens East — Daybreak (ft. Henk): www.soundcloud.com/jenseast