Natural Selections

['Martha Foley and Curt Stager talk about ochre. It’s more than just a color in the Crayola box. It's often mistaken for pollution, but it is a naturally-occurring substance combining harmless bacteria and iron. And it’s been used as paint for thousands of years.', OrderedDict([('@xmlns:itunes', 'http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd'), ('#text', 'Martha Foley and Curt Stager talk about ochre. It’s more than just a color in the Crayola box. It's often mistaken for pollution, but it is a naturally-occurring substance combining harmless bacteria and iron. And it’s been used as paint for thousands of years.')])]

What happens when certain species of domesticated animals like chickens and pigs escape to live and breed in the wild? According to Curt Stager and Martha Foley, after a few generations they start to look and act like their wild ancestors again.

Snowmaking machines on the ski slopes don't actually make snowflakes; it's more like frozen water droplets. That prompted Martha Foley to ask Curt Stager how natural snowflakes differ from manmade "snow." How does Mother Nature make the white stuff?

This northern forest species is so common that its biomass would outweigh all the large mammals and birds in its habitat combined. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager look at forest amphibians.

The Adirondacks may be "new," but the rock is a billion years old, pushed up through the newer rock of the Champlain region. Mixed in, the remains of even older rock can be found in pockets and veins - blue calcite laid down by warm oceans before the evolution of coral. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager get geological.

Northeastern forests are one of the few places where the white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatch share the same habitat.Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about how these frequent visitors to winter birdfeeders are able to co-exist in the North Country.

If male guppies use bright colors to attract mates, why are there still lots of drab guppies? Bright colors may attract the attention of more than just potential mates. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss the upside and downside of male flash.

Do plants have blood? How does the human circulatory system compare to that of plants and trees? Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager tackle the question.

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about tryptophan, and why you may need a new excuse for falling asleep after a turkey dinner.

Reintroduction of animals such as the wolf to certain areas has been a hot topic recently. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager take the idea one step bigger and ask "What if we brought the elephant back to North America?!"