Join Ellen & shark scientist Melissa Márquez for a review of the giant garbage disposals of the ocean: tiger sharks. We discuss sharks as links to our world’s past, what it's like to work with the ocean as your office and wild sharks as your colleagues, teeth and slime and jelly-filled pores.

Melissa's books:

Mother of Sharks, a picture book for ages 5 to 8

Swimming with Sharks (Wild Survival #2) : Volume 2, an adventure book for ages 12 to 15

Learn more about Melissa's work on her website, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

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Christian sticks to velvet worms & Ellen hangs out with binturongs. We discuss sticky situations, some unconventional means of reproduction, prehensile tails, and popcorn-scented pee.

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Cover photos: Geoff Galice via Wikipedia (velvet worm) & exs via Getty images (binturong)

Join Ellen & special guest, invertebrate photographer, zookeeper and science communicator behind "She's Got Legs" Caitlin Henderson, for a review  of the best huggers of the arachnid world: huntsman spiders. We’ll discuss why your yard glitters at night, fake webs for real spiders, cartwheels, backflips, spider unions, spider spaghetti, and why the most dangerous thing about these little guys is how much we fear them.

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Cover photo provided by Caitlin Henderson :)

Ellen has a bone to pick with the Iberian ribbed newt & Christian channels the spirit of the Australian ghostshark. We discuss insides becoming outsides, amphibian space flight, living fossils, and reset the "episodes since last Naruto reference" counter to zero.

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Cover photos: Peter Halasz via Wikipedia (Iberian ribbed newt) & Fir0002/Flagstaffotos via Wikipedia (Australian ghostshark)

Join Ellen & special guest, entomologist Johanna Schwartz, for a review of animals you may not have thought to appreciate before: wasps. From the world’s smallest insect, the fairyfly, to the infamous giant hornet, the wasp world is full of imposters, cockroach brain surgery, pollination and pest control.

Check out Nature Check on YouTube & Twitch! Our appearance can be found here.

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Christian shreds on the bowmouth guitarfish & Ellen shakes things up with the timber rattlesnake. We discuss the shark-ray spectrum (which is not a laser beam that turns you into a shark),  weird teeth, how a snake's rattle works, and why you should peacefully leave them alone.

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Cover photos: Tomas Kotouc via Getty images (bowmouth guitarfish) & tamers1 via Getty images (timber rattlesnake)

Join Ellen & special guest, ecologist and history podcaster Natalie Sabin, for a post-mortem of the dearly departed dodo. We discuss the unique traits that allowed the dodo to thrive in its island home, what went wrong for them when humans appeared, and why they left such big heavy footprints in our hearts.

Listen to Across the Ages wherever you get podcasts!

Follow Natalie on Twitter for more wildlife ecology, bats, nature & history!

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Cover photo: "Adriaen van de Venne's 1626 depiction of a dodo he claimed to have seen" via Wikipedia

Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! This week, Ellen puts the spotted lanternfly in the spotlight & Christian spills his guts on the crown-of-thorns starfish. We discuss stinky trees, winged invaders, crunching up corals, and eyes where you least expect them.

Learn more about what to do if you see spotted lanternflies in the USA: https://www.phila.gov/2018-08-31-spotted-lanternfly-in-philadelphia/

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Cover photos: arlutz73 via Getty images (spotted lanternfly) & Velvetfish via Getty images (crown-of-thorns starfish)

Join Ellen & special guest, illustrator and author Alexander Vidal, for a review of a tiny bird with an ambitious itinerary: the rufous hummingbird. We discuss cottagecore nests, how wildlife moves all over our continent, birds that look like bugs and bugs that look like birds, and a lesson in confidence from the world’s littlest dinosaurs. 

Get Alexander's book, Wilds of the United States: The Animals' Survival Field Guide!

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Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! This week, Christian gets salty over the marine iguana & Ellen glides along with the literally treehugging colugo. We discuss archipelagos, snot rockets, Darwin's garbage takes, Godzilla, skin parachutes and baby hammocks.

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Cover photos: Patrick_Gijsbers via Getty images (marine iguana) & Didasteph via Wikimedia commons (colugo)