By NHPR
4.7
13541,354 ratings
The podcast currently has 313 episodes available.
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.
SUPPORT
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Subscribe to our newsletter to get occasional emails about new show swag, call-outs for listener submissions, and other announcements.
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LINKS
Behavioral ecologist Miya Warrington and her colleagues found that Savannah sparrows changed the tune of their love songs as a result of noisy oil fields in Alberta, Canada (The New York Times)
Bats have changed their day-to-day habits because of traffic noise, according to research conducted in the U.K.
Natural sounds are proven to improve health, lower stress, and have positive effects on humans. Rachel Buxton and her colleagues wrote about that in their study from 2021.
Erica Walker’s organization, the Community Noise Lab, monitors noise levels in Boston, Providence, and Jackson, Mississippi. You can read more about her work in this article from Harvard Magazine.
Are you interested in going to a Quiet Parks International-designated quiet park? The organization has a list of spaces across the world that they’ve certified.
Here’s a radio story from NPR that serves as an homage to John Cage’s 4’33”.
If you were ever curious about why bird songs are good for you… This article from the Washington Post should be on the top of your reading list!
This New Yorker piece from 2019 outlines how noise pollution might be the next public health crisis. Since that article, there’s been even more research showing that noise can take years off of our lives.
So, you’ve heard lots of sounds in this episode. But do you want to see what sounds look like? Click here — and this is not clickbait!
Ethan Kross, who is a psychologist and neuroscientist, wrote a whole book about noise — the noise in your head, to be precise. It’s called Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.
Mercede Erfanian’s research into misophonia and soundscapes is fascinating. You can hear her speak on the subject of different kinds of sounds in a show aired from 1A, or watch her presentation on the effects that soundscapes have on humans.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Jeongyoon Han
Mixed by Jeongyoon Han and Taylor Quimby
Edited by Taylor Quimby, with help from Nate Hegyi, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon
Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie
Special thanks to
Music 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.
SUPPORT
Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.
Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.
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LINKS
An 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)
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, written, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis
Edited by Taylor Quimby
Our team also includes Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario.
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Special 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.
Click HERE to buy tickets for NHPR's Holiday Raffle!
NHPR’s Holiday Raffle is open to any United States resident 18 years or older in any state where the Raffle is not prohibited by state, local or other laws. (States where raffles are not permitted: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Utah.) The grand prize winner will win a $15,000 travel voucher OR $10,000 cash. Get your tickets here.
LINKS
Want 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.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported, produced and mixed by Marina Henke
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon and Kate Dario
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, El Flaco Collective and Spring Gang
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio
We want to hear from you! Hate what’s under your porch? Love what’s under your porch? You can send a voice memo to [email protected] 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.
SUPPORT
Outside/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.
LINKS
The 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.
CREDITS
Host: Nate Hegyi
Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi
Mixed by Nate Hegyi
Editing by Taylor Quimby
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Kate Dario
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio
Music by Blue Dot Sessions
Outside/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 [email protected] 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?
LINKS
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 MATERIAL
The Morton Cranial Collection
The MOVE bombing and MOVE remains controversy
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 MATERIAL
The 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.
LINKS
Check out more episodes of “How Wild” here.
SUPPORT
Outside/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
HOW WILD CREDITS
How 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.ca
OUTSIDE/IN CREDITS
Outside/In Host: Nate Hegyi
Executive producer: Taylor Quimby
NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio is Rebecca Lavoie
Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Kate Dario and Marina Henke.
Outside/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 [email protected] 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.
SUPPORT
Outside/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.
LINKS
This 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.
CREDITS
Outside/In host: Nate Hegyi
Reported by Justine Paradis, Nate Hegyi, and Marina Henke.
Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis.
Edited by Taylor Quimby
NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is Rebecca Lavoie
Our 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.
The podcast currently has 313 episodes available.
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