We’re catching some air this week, and talking things with wings!  

Quandaries range from the practical (how do different animal and insect wings differ?) to the ethereal (this includes dragons). Here’s the questions we’ll be answering…

1. What makes wings different?
2. How have wings in nature inspired human flight? 
3. Did we ever solve the colony collapse problem with bees?
4. Why do so many cultures have dragon myths?

Featuring Jonathan Rader, Tim Burbery, Lauren Ponisio, and Andrew Howley. 

For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

For our next Outside/Inbox roundup, we’re looking for questions about healing! We’re casting a wide net here: homeopathy, neuroplasticity, chronic disease, plant resiliency. Send us your questions by recording yourself on a voice memo, and emailing that to us at [email protected].  Or you can call our hotline: 844-GO-OTTER.

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The video of the sandhill crane landing lives on TikTok. 

Here’s that video of an albatross walking on land after years at sea. 

Timothy Burbery is the author of Geomythology: How Common Stories Reflect Earth Events.

The hypothesis connecting the mythical griffin and Protoceratops fossils was popularized by Adrienne Mayor, author of The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times.

Here's a paper critiquing Mayor's interpretations, "Did the horned dinosaur Protoceratops inspire the griffin?"

A USGS volcanologist on what geologists missed for so long in the stories of Pele, from indigenous Hawaiian oral tradition.

Shipwrecks captivate our imagination, and are the subject of many books, academic papers, and movies—from the world-famous Titanic, to sunken World War II warships, to ancient fishing canoes. Some describe them as time capsules of our maritime history, waiting to be discovered and opened.

But there’s a group of people who are drawn to shipwrecks for very different reasons, and it sometimes leads to the demise of the wrecks themselves: fishermen.

In this episode, why archaeologists and fishermen have sometimes been at odds over shipwrecks, and the federal government program that’s bringing them together under one common cause.

Featuring Ben Roberts, Mike Bailey, Tom Hill, Calvin Meyers, and Ben Haskell.

Produced by Felix Poon. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

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Learn more about the many known shipwrecks of Stellwagen Bank, including the Portland, known as “New England’s Titanic.”

Check out some of the other research projects at Stellwagen Bank

 on topics as varied as whales, sand lances, and seabirds.

GPS is essential these days. We use it for everything, from a hunter figuring out where the heck they are in the backcountry, to a delivery truck finding a grocery store, to keeping clocks in sync.

But our reliance on GPS may also be changing our brains. Old school navigation strengthens the hippocampus, and multiple studies suggest that our new reliance on satellite navigation may put us at higher risk for conditions like dementia.

In this episode (first released in 2024), we map out how GPS took over our world—from Sputnik’s Doppler effect to the airplane crash that led to its widespread adoption—and share everyday stories of getting lost and found again.

Featuring Dana Goward, M.R. O’Connor, Christina Phillips, Michelle Liu, Julia Furukawa, and Taylor Quimby.

Produced by Nate Hegyi. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. 

LINKS

In 2023, Google Maps rerouted dozens of drivers in Los Angeles down a dirt road to the middle of nowhere to avoid a dust storm. 

Maura O’Connor traveled from rural Alaska to the Australian bush to better understand how people navigate without GPS—and sometimes even maps. 

Here’s the peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Nature, that found that young people who relied on GPS for daily driving had poorer spatial memories. 

Another study out of Japan found that people who use smartphone apps like Google Maps to get around had a tougher time retracing their steps or remembering how they got to a place compared to people who use paper maps or landmarks.

Fungi used to be considered plants. Bad plants. Carl Linnaeus even referred to them as “the poorest peasants” of the vegetable class. This reputation stuck, and fungi were considered a nuisance in the Western world well into the 20th century.

Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is trying to rewrite that narrative. Her new book, Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature catalogs fungi that sprout from the shells of beetles, morph with their sexual partners into one being and exhibit as many as 23,000 mating types. 

Patty believes that fungi’s ability to defy our cut and dry assumptions about the natural world is actually their superpower. All it takes is to first accept that they’re queer as heck. 

Featuring Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. 

Produced by Marina Henke. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

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You can find Patty’s new book Forest Euphoria at your local bookstore or online. 

Local to Albany? Visit the fungi exhibit that Marina toured at the New York State Museum: Outcasts: Mary Banning’s World of Mushrooms.

Patty has had the chance to name several new species of fungi. In 2021 she published an article documenting those species, with some pretty great photos of laboulbeniales (those are the fungi that grow from arthropod shells). 

Check out C. L. Porter’s 1969 address to the Indiana Academy of Sciences where he critiques fellow mycologists for being “meek.” It’s brutal.

One of Patty’s favorite films is Microcosmos, a 1996 French documentary that investigates the daily interactions of insects. It’s not direct mushroom content per se, but it is beautiful.

Last spring, a curious listener called with an unusual question about coyote urine. Is it – as advertised by companies who sell it – an effective, all natural pest deterrent? And more importantly: “Who are the coyotes that are providing this urine?”

Since then, producer Taylor Quimby has been trying to find out… and with literal gallons of the stuff available online, he discovered the answers aren’t pretty. 

Today on Outside/In, we peek inside the unregulated Pandora’s box of urine farming. Does it work? Is it ethical? And is anybody willing to actually talk about it? 

Featuring Jeannie Bartlett, Caroline Long, Ed Brookmyer, Laura Koivula. 

Produced by Taylor Quimby. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

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This 1998 study assessed coyote urine as a deterrent for deer, and found (with some caveats) a 15-24% reduction in deer browsing after exposure to the urine. 

However, coyote urine had no measurable effect on the deer browsing of yew saplings in this more recent study. 

Websites for some coyote urine brands, like PredatorPee.com and Shake-away animal repellents, claim that they source urine from regulated farms that treat animals humanely, but did not provide more information when asked. 

This article from Cleveland.com

 details the conditions at The Grand River Fur Exchange, a fur and urine farm where hundreds of animals were found in poor condition after the owner’s death. 

It’s a weird time to be an environmental scientist. The proposed cuts to federal science funding in the United States are profound, and if they come to pass, it’s not clear what American science will look like on the other side. But for many researchers, science is much more than a career: it’s a community, lifestyle, and sometimes even a family business. 

Outside/In producer Justine Paradis tagged along with researchers in the field to learn what it’s like to be a scientist right now. We visit one of the oldest atmospheric monitoring stations in the country, and venture onto the Finger Lakes with an ad-hoc group of researchers struggling to understand an emerging threat to water quality: harmful algal blooms.

This is a glimpse of the people behind the headlines, navigating questions both personal and professional, and trying to find ways to continue their work, even as much of their funding is simultaneously collapsing around them. 

Featuring Bob Howarth, Joshua Thienpont, Irena Creed, Nico Trick, Anita Dedić, and Tom Butler, with appearances from Roxanne Marino, Renee Santoro, and Garreth Smith. 

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LINKS

NY67, one of the oldest atmospheric monitoring stations in the U.S., was established by Gene Likens, who helped discover acid rain in the 1960s (The Guardian). 

More on the cuts to the National Science Foundation from The Guardian. It references a Federal Reserve Bank analysis, finding that for every dollar spent on R&D by the major federal agencies, there’s been a return to U.S. taxpayers of $1.50-$3.00—in other words, 150-300%.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has been tracking the federal science budget for decades, and publishes an ongoing analysis breaking down the proposed cuts.

A map tracking harmful algal blooms in New York State. 

In the early 2000s, some wondered if seeding the ocean with iron could be a climate solution. They hoped that the iron would trigger the growth of marine phytoplankton and sequester carbon in the ocean. But when Charlie Trick and his colleagues studied it, they learned it had unintended consequences: it triggered the growth of highly toxic algal blooms.

A paper on the rise of ammonia, using data from the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and co-authored by Tom Butler.

A letter condemning the proposed cuts to science in FY26, signed by more than 1200 members of the National Academy of Sciences.

CREDITS 

Produced by Justine Paradis. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

Helium is full of contradictions. It’s the second most abundant element in the universe, but is relatively rare on Earth. It’s non-reactive, totally inert—yet the most valuable helium isotope is sourced from thermonuclear warheads. 

And even though we treat it as a disposable gas, often for making funny voices and single-use party balloons, our global supply of helium will eventually run out. That’s because, at a rate of about 50 grams per second, this non-renewable resource is escaping the atmosphere for good. 

In this edition of The Element of Surprise, our occasional series about the hidden histories behind the periodic table’s most unassuming atoms, we examine the incredible properties and baffling economics of our most notable noble gas. 

Featuring Anjali Tripathi and William Halperin. 

This episode was produced by Taylor Quimby and first released in 2024. For a full list of credits and a transcript, go to outsideinradio.org. 

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LINKS

Read John Paul Merkle’s petition arguing to change the name of helium to “helion.”

Despite being about a quarter century old, this passage from “The Impact of Selling the Federal Helium Reserve” has a pretty comprehensive list of the uses and properties of helium.

More on the recent sale of the Federal Helium Reserve (NBC News)

Physicist William Halperin said the idea of mining helium-3 on the moon was… unlikely… but that hasn’t stopped this startup company from trying it. (Wired)

Want to learn more about the weird history of American airships? Check out this film produced by the U.S. government in 1937, when they were still hoping to keep our airship program afloat. 

“In the last days of the fourth world I wished to make a map for those who would climb through the hole in the sky.”

That’s the first line of the poem “A Map to the Next World” by Muscogee writer and former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. It’s a piece that’s inspired Aquinnah Wampanoag writer Joseph Lee as he undertakes one of journalism's most nuanced beats: covering hundreds of unique tribal communities. 

Sometimes those stories fit into neat narratives – about how tribes are restoring nature and winning back land – but that’s not always the case. What's it like covering Indigenous communities responding and adapting to climate change? And how are these tribes thinking about their futures? We talk to Joseph Lee about some of the stories he’s covered, and his own attempt to make a map to the next world. 

Featuring Joseph Lee.

Produced by Felix Poon. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

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“A Map to the Next World,” is the title of a poem by Muscogee poet Joy Harjo.

Nothing More of This Land is a new book from award-winning journalist Joseph Lee, about Indigenous identity and the challenges facing Indigenous people around the world.

Read Joseph Lee’s reporting on:

• The Northwestern Shoshone’s restoration work to the Bear River (Vox)
• The controversy over a proposed gold mine in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta (Grist)
• The Shinnecock tribe’s response to sea-level rise in the Hamptons

In 1970, marine architect Charlie Canby got an odd assignment: Design a 600-foot ship for an undisclosed purpose and an undisclosed customer. Only after it was built did he finally find out what it was for. 

“I was dumbfounded,” he said. “I drove away in a daze. I could not believe what we were really doing.”

In this episode, reporter Daniel Ackerman tells the unbelievable story of a boat, a government conspiracy, and the birth of a new industry that could change the way we look at oceans forever. 

Featuring Charlie Canby, Andrew Thaler, Wernher Krutein, and Hank Philippi Ryan

Produced by Daniel Ackerman. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

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Check out this 1975 New York Times article published after reporters discovered the true mission of the Glomar Explorer.

A corporate update for shareholders detailing The Metals Company’s recent test of deep-sea mining. 

Another archival report from The New York Times details the SEC investigation into whether investors in the Glomar Explorer were misled.

Today on Outside/In, we’re sharing an episode from our friends and partners at Common Land.

Common Land explores the creation stories behind protected land. Each season takes a deep dive into the history, science and politics behind the creation of one particular patch of protected, common land.

Season two of Common Land, produced in partnership with New Hampshire Public Radio, follows documentarian Matthew Podolsky as he attempts to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail with his 65-year-old mom, Candy. Matt and his mom face extreme weather, illness, and injury as they trek 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. Along the way, Matt shares stories of remarkable people, surprising history, and the modern challenges facing the Appalachian Trail — all as the iconic footpath marks its 100th anniversary.

You can listen to episode two of the new season right now, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you prefer to listen. 

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