Dino Martins is an entomologist who finds beauty in every bug. In this episode of Constant Wonder, he tells host Marcus Smith about his passion for parasites and how a lifetime of studying creepy-crawlies draws on both scientific and spiritual knowledge.

Dino Martins grew up in Kenya, surrounded by wildlife and the insects that feed on them. Seeing parasitic wasps colonize caterpillars taught him the value of paying close attention, and he can enthrall even a skeptic with the marvels of the tsetse fly. He winningly argues that parasites and other predators are full of wonder and worthy of our fascination.

Guest: Dino Martins, entomologist, evolutionary biologist, and author of “Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites”

Visit our Substack for a look at Dino Martins’ art! https://bit.ly/4eZekFN

(0:00) Meet Dino Martins

(8:34) A Childhood Full of Creatures

(25:10) A High-School Dropout?

(30:45) The “Ick” Factor

(33:43) Coexistence & Control

(44:34 Spirituality in Spiders

(49:14) Parasitic Paradoxes

Late-in-life debuts, comebacks, and triumphs. In this episode, "Roctogenarians" author Mo Rocca shares with Constant Wonder host Marcus Smith awe-inspiring stories of people who made major career pivots late in life.

Yasmeen Lari was a famous Pakistani architect celebrated for her work in steel, cement, and glass. In her 60s, after a massive earthquake hit her country, she began to work with locals, building humble homes of adobe, mud, and bamboo. Painter Henri Matisse, debilitated by stomach cancer in his 70s, hung up his brushes and took up scissors to continue making art. And Disney illustrator Tyrus Wong waited until he was 90 years old to receive full credit for the revolutionary work he'd done on "Bambi." Never say it's too late to succeed!

Guest: Mo Rocca, correspondent for "CBS News Sunday Morning," author of "Roctogenarians: Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs," and host of the "Mobituaries" podcast

Chapters:

(0:00) What Makes a "Roctogenarian"?

(3:32) A Revolutionary Disney Animator

(17:00) Origin of Mo Rocca's Obsession with Roctogenarians

(22:33) An Artist's Self-Reinvention

(32:40) Paper Plant Specimens

(36:13) From Modern to Humble Architecture

Originally aired July 24, 2024

Amy Leach is an essayist and musician with a penchant for improvisation. In this episode of Constant Wonder, she and host Marcus Smith share a worldview: one filled with awe and praise for everything from puppies to porcupines. With roots in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Amy has found a more expansive view of God and the sacred.

Amy Leach is the kind of person who believes in finding what you're not necessarily looking for, be it on a walk outside or around your local Walmart. Since she was young, she's nursed a passionate love for music, but prefers to improvise over following a score. She tells stories of being transfixed by birds and bears and ibexes while looking for words to describe the indescribable. But most importantly, she finds divinity in nearly everything, even pickles.

Guest: Amy Leach, essayist and author. Her latest book is “The Salt of the Universe: Praise, Songs, and Improvisations.”

Chapters:

(0:00) Meet Amy Leach

(5:13) In the Thrall of the Violin

(13:52) Spirit of the Music

(20:31) Praise for Everything

(32:44) Birding and Bearing

(38:22) Serviceable & Mysterious

What does it mean to truly listen: not just hear, but attend to the world with exquisite care? In this episode of Constant Wonder, host Marcus Smith sits down with Hank Lentfer, a sound recordist and acoustic ecologist who has spent decades capturing the natural world's most breathtaking voices from his home base in Gustavus, Alaska, gateway to Glacier Bay National Park. Lentfer shares unforgettable recordings — a humpback whale trumpeting over a mirror-calm sea, barnacles whispering as a shadow passes over them, ancient air bubbles escaping from icebergs — and the stories behind each one. But this episode is about far more than wildlife audio: along the way, he reflects on hunting as a spiritual practice, our amnesia in supermarkets, the never-ending dawn chorus that circles the globe, and caring for a mother with dementia whose face still lit up at a Hank Williams song. Lentfer's memoir "Faith of Cranes" is the throughline, and finding the sounds and stories that remind us we are not separate from the world is his life's work and the beating heart of this conversation.

Guest: Hank Lentfer, author of "Faith of Cranes: Finding Hope and Family in Alaska"

Photo Credit: Taliesin Black-Brown

Chapters:

(0:00) Meet Hank Lentfer

(9:56) Unexpected Sounds

(16:37) A Childhood of Blessed Insignificance

(26:51) Uramuro's Satisfaction

(37:08) Hunting and Amnesia Factories

(52:24) Several Awakenings

Harriet Tubman was sustained by vivid dreams and fierce spiritual faith as she risked everything—again and again—to guide enslaved people to freedom. In this episode of Constant Wonder, Harvard historian Tiya Miles explains to co-host Tennery Taylor how Tubman's intense spirituality and her connection to the natural world empowered her and shaped her into a compelling leader.

As a child, Tubman worked in swamps and timber yards, enduring grueling labor that also prepared her to flee to the North in 1849. But her own freedom was only the beginning: for the rest of her life, she dedicated herself to helping her family and friends escape slavery as well.

Guest: Tiya Miles,  author of "Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People"

Chapters:

(0:00) Introduction

(5:15) A childhood spent outdoors

(12:54) The night the stars fell

(16:41) Harriet Tubman's prayers and faith

(30:27) Working in a timber yard

(34:50) Escaping to the North

(44:35) Walking across the Ohio River

(51:27) Freeing her brothers

(1:03:08) Applying dreams

George Smith is a maintenance worker by day, but his true passion lies in tracking and monitoring peregrine falcons. In this episode, he tells host Marcus Smith about his adventures in rock climbing and checking in on his birds. George has developed methods to trap them in order to collect DNA and give them tracking microchips. This methodology has helped him to catch poachers, bring them to justice, and release the falcons back to the wild.

Lynn Schofield and Sean Peterson are scientists who discovered a peregrine falcon nest on the bell tower at the University of California Berkeley. The nest is presided over by a matriarch affectionately called “Queen Annie” and her mate. Schofield and Peterson founded Cal Falcons, a livestream of the nest that brought Annie worldwide fame.

Guests:

George Smith, Peregrine Coordinator for the Scottish Raptor Study Group https://www.scottishraptorstudygroup.org/

Lynn Schofield and Sean Peterson, biologist and ecologist with Cal Falcons https://calfalcons.berkeley.edu/

(0:00) Meet George Smith

(4:32) To Trap a Peregrine Falcon

(12:34) Poaching & Repatriation

(21:45) George’s Nest Checks

(26:37) Meet Lynne Schofield and Sean Peterson

(27:20) Cal Falcons on the Campanile

(33:23) Queen Annie

Originally aired on September 25, 2024

Dan Roche has an implausibly realistic prosthetic eye. He was born with a cataract on his right eye, rendering him partially blind and very self-conscious. In this episode of Constant Wonder, he tells host Marcus Smith about how ocularist Michael Strauss made him a prosthetic that transformed his life. Now, Dan is fascinated by the industry of eye making, and the ocularists that dedicate their lives to the practice.

Dan Roche grew up hating his sightless right eye. After medical complications and fruitless corrective surgeries, he had it removed and replaced with a prosthetic. No longer fragile glass spheres, prosthetic eyes are intricate, bespoke medical devices. (Check out Dan's photo and see if you can tell the difference!) Modern ocularists, like Michael Strauss, facilitate both emotional and physical healing with their work, giving Dan (and other patients) confidence and a new lease on life.

Guests:

Dan Roche, professor of English at Le Moyne College, and author of "Eyes by Hand: Prosthetics of Art and Healing" https://www.eyesbyhand.com/

Michael Strauss, ocularist https://strausseye.com/

(0:00) Meet Dan Roche (and His Eye)

(15:21) History and Structure of Prosthetic Eyes

(22:38) Eye Contact and Confidence

(30:57) Michael Strauss, the Ocularist

(33:30 A Therapist and a Technician

(46:22) Do You Know That Guy?

(52:48) The Power of Empathy 

Photo credit: Dan Roche

Caroline Sanderson grew up surrounded by classical music, but didn't truly fall in love with it until after her father passed away. Now, she remembers him by learning to really listen to the music that he loved.

Beethoven - Symphony No. 6;

Stravinsky - Rite of Spring;

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23;

Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 22;

Chopin - Prelude No. 15, Raindrop;

Brahms - Symphony No. 1, movement 3;

Sibelius - Symphony No. 5;

Schumann - Kinderszenen No. 1;

Chopin - Opus 10, Etude No. 3;

Schumann - Träumerei;

Guest: Caroline Sanderson, a writer and books journalist. Her memoir is titled “Listen With Father: How I Learned to Love Classical Music."

Plants are just as alive as any animal-- and they've developed incredible survival strategies. Zoë Schlanger gives us an insider's look on some of the most unique adaptations in the wild world of plants. Far beyond just leaning into the light, these plants don disguises, train themselves into toxicity, and possibly even count. Plants are alive, but are they sentient?

Guest: Zoë Schlanger, author of "The Light Eaters" and journalist covering health, science, and the environment.

(0:00) Meet Zoë Schlanger

(6:18) Pothos & Azolla

(16:08) Acacia Tannins

(21:02) Venus Flytrap Math

(22:21) Dodder Vine Predation

(28:50) Boquila, the Mimic

(40:04) Consciousness & Communication

Geologist Ron Harris forecasted the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and so the loss of life in that disaster devastated him. In this episode of Constant Wonder, he tells host Marcus Smith how, after that tragedy, he expanded his work to include disaster prevention and well as forecasting. He estimates his foundation has saved 50,000 lives so far.

Ron Harris has been obsessed with plate tectonics since childhood. As a professor of geology, he published widely on threats of earthquakes and tsunamis, but two events convinced him that forecasting wasn't enough. One day, he overhead his young son saying that his dad "wasn't a doctor who helped people," and then there was the catastrophic loss of life in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. He decided to found In Harm's Way, which helps people prepare for natural disasters.

Guest: Ron Harris, professor of geology at BYU and founder of In Harm's Way

(0:00) Meet Ron Harris

(5:39) The Eruption of Mount St. Helens

(11:01) A Doctor Who Helps

(18:16) Boxing Day Tsunami 2004

(22:51) Moken Survival Strategies

(25:19) Ron's Calling

(32:24) Social Media and Mitigation

(38:06) Local Disaster Mitigation

(41:14) Surfing and Purpose

(47:04) Spreading the Word of 20-20-20