Anybody who supports the show RIGHT NOW, during our June 2020 Fund Drive, will be entered to win a $500 Airbnb gift card, AND will receive an adorable limited-edition Outside/In axolotl sticker.

Click here to donate to Outside/In right now. 

Happy has lived in New York City’s Bronx Zoo for years. To visitors, she’s a lone Asian elephant. But to a team of animal rights lawyers, she’s a prisoner. 

They’ve petitioned state courts for a writ of Habeas Corpus; a legal maneuver that, if granted, would declare Happy a legal person who deserves to be freed. It’s the latest case in an ongoing fight to extend basic human rights to animals – one that could have big repercussions in the natural world. 

Because this is a case that deals with animals AND the law, two podcasts from New Hampshire Public Radio have teamed up to take it on: Outside/In and Civics 101. We always hear about the animal rights movement… but what rights do animals actually have? 

Featuring: Maneesha Deckha, Kevin Schneider

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LINKS

Listen and subscribe to Civics 101!

Check out which animals don’t get covered by the country’s biggest anti-cruelty law, the Animal Welfare Act, here.

Nonhuman Rights Project founder, Steven Wise, explained why he compares the plight of nonhuman animals to the plight of enslaved people in a wide-ranging interview with University of Toronto law professor Angela Fernandez in 2018. 

The New Yorker wrote about Happy the elephant’s legal case earlier this year. 

You can rent the HBO Documentary about Tommy the chimpanzee, Unlocking the Cage, on Apple TV.

We weren’t able to dive into it in this episode, but Maneesha has made a compelling case for not fighting for personhood for animals – instead, there should be a distinct third classification known as “legal beings.” Check out her lecture on it here. 

CREDITS

Hosts: Nate Hegyi, Hannah McCarthy, Nick Capodice

Reported and produced by: Nate Hegyi

Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help and feedback from Nick Capodice, Hannah McCarthy, Rebecca Lavoie, and Nate Hegyi

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by El Flaco Collective, The Fly Guy Five, Jules Gaia, and Peerless. 

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s that time again, when scientists everywhere hold their breath as we open our listener mailbag. It’s spring in the northern hemisphere, so the theme of the questions in this episode is “growth” — with the exception of the last question, which is… kind of the opposite.

Question 1: Um, what are those frogs doing? (go to our website to see the picture)

Question 2: What’s that white foam that forms on trees when it rains?

Question 3: Does moss get damaged when you walk on it?

Question 4: What’s the best filling for raised beds in the garden?

Question 5: How long does it take for a dead squirrel to decompose?

[insert image]

Thanks for the excellent questions, Louise, Mihaela, Tricia, Kevin, and Nicolas! Do you have a question about the natural world? Submit it to the Outside/Inbox! Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call our hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.

Featuring: Nat Cleavitt, Rebecca Roy, Yolanda Burrell, and Sibyl Bucheli

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LINKS

Check out one of many salacious articles about frog sex, or read the somewhat less sensational study about underwater breeding chambers. 

And here’s one more study about frog sex; specifically simultaneous polyandry. 

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt

Mixed by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon 

Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Rebecca Lavoie and Justine Paradis 

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On a bluebird day in April of 2019, Snow Ranger Frank Carus set out to investigate a reported avalanche in the backcountry of Mt. Washington. He found a lone skier, buried several feet under the snow. The man was severely hypothermic, but alive.

Wilderness EMTS can work for decades and never encounter this particular situation, and what happened next was an attempted rescue that people in Northern New England are still learning from. 

What happens when a rescue goes wrong? And how do first responders cope when an opportunity to save someone’s life slips through their fingers?

Featuring:  Denise Butler, Frank Carus, Jeff Fongemie, Nicholas Weinberg

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Read the Mount Washington Avalanche Center’s final report on Nick Benedix’s death.

Learn more about avalanche safety here.

Read the Wilderness Medical Society Journal article about this incident here.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by: Jessica Hunt

Mixer: Taylor Quimby

Editing by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi, with help and feedback from Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, Erika Janik, Sam Evans-Brown, Jimmy Gutierrez, and Christina Philips.

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Special Thanks to: Matt Dustin, Ty Gagne, Frank Hubbell, and Andrew Parrella. 

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A few weeks ago our host, Nate Hegyi, was on the edge of a very high cliff in Utah’s Zion National Park when he heard a little voice inside his head whisper… “jump.”  

He didn’t heed the call, thankfully, and when he got down safely he discovered that more than a third of all people might feel this urge, ominously known as “the call of the void.” 

Most of us can wave off these impulses. But what if you couldn’t? What if the call of the void was so intense that you almost acted? Is there a cure? 

This episode contains a contextual reference to suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, anxiety, or just needs someone to talk to, reach out to the folks at the Crisis Text Line, a texting service for emotional crisis support. To speak with a trained listener, text HELLO to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.

Featuring: Jennifer Hames, Stephen Hunt

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

Hey folks – we’re working on some stories about electric vehicles, and we’re looking to hear from you. Are you interested in going electric? Wish there was better charging infrastructure where you are? Or would you prefer sticking with the car/truck you’re used to? 

Tell us what you think about EVs, and help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

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LINKS

This 2020 study, in BMC Psychiatry, looks at the prevalence of high place phenomenon and whether it’s connected to suicidal ideation. 

Read Jennifer Hames’ paper in The Journal of Affective Disorders on the “call of the void”: “An urge to jump affirms the urge to live: an empirical examination of the high place phenomenon.”

The Imp of the Perverse, by Edgar Allen Poe

Marconi Union, “Weightless”

Listen to our previous episode “Even Hikers Get The Blues” 

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by: Nate Hegyi.

Mixer: Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby

Editing by Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, Felix Poon and Rebecca Lavoie.

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by Marconi Union, Sour Mash, Dew of Light, Gavin Luke, and Christopher Moe Ditlevsen.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Three hundred years ago on Easter Sunday, 1722, European explorers landed on a South Pacific island that they called “Easter Island.” And they were shocked to see nearly one-thousand giant statues of stoic faces, called “moai”, placed all over the island.

Who moved them? And how did they do it?

The most popular theory was that this remote civilization destroyed itself – cutting down all the trees to make contraptions for moving statues.

But according to the Indigenous people of Rapa Nui, their ancestors didn’t need to cut down any trees to transport the statues. In fact, their oral history has always been clear about how the moai were transported. The real mystery is, why hasn’t anyone been listening?

This story originally ran in  October 2021, and was updated for the 300th anniversary of first contact between Rapanui and European peoples.

Featuring: Sergio Rapu Haoa, Carl Lipo, Terry Hunt, Sergio Mata’u Rapu, and Gina Pakarati

SUPPORT

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LINKS

A profile of Sergio Rapu Haoa for the 2002 Rotary World Peace Scholars program at Berkeley

Eating Up Easter -- a documentary film produced by Sergio Mata’u Rapu, about how the people of Rapa Nui are grappling with environmental and social changes brought on by tourism and economic development.

The NOVA-National Geographic Documentary

• A team of 18 volunteers move a 10-foot 5-ton statue for the NOVA-National Geographic documentary, Mystery of Easter Island
• A figurine animation demonstrating five different theories of moai-transport through the years.
• Mystery of Easter Island -- The NOVA-National Geographic Documentary in its entirety

Lectures by Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo

• National Geographic Live Lecture -- Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo: The Statues That Walked
• Long Now Foundation Lecture: The Statues Walked -- What Really Happened on Easter Island | Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo

CREDITS

Reported and produced by Felix Poon

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Mixed by Felix Poon

Additional Editing: Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, Rebecca Lavoie, and Erika Janik

Special thanks to Effie Kong, and Daniela Allee for her Spanish and Rapanui voiceovers.

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Like most modern publications, Low-tech Magazine has a website. But when you scroll through theirs, you’ll notice an icon in the corner: the weather forecast in Barcelona.

That’s because Kris Decker, the creator of Low-tech Magazine, powers the site off a solar panel on his balcony. When the weather gets bad, the website just… goes offline.

In a way, the solar-powered website is an experiment: an attempt to peel back the curtain and to reveal the infrastructure behind it, and to raise questions about our relationship with technology. Should everything on the internet be accessible, all the time? Could progress mean choosing to live with less?

Featuring Kris De Decker.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

We’re working on a series about electric vehicles, and we’re looking to hear from you. Would you consider going electric? What do you think about the EV transition?  

Help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Low-tech Magazine has published instructions on how to build a low tech or solar-powered site. 

Solar Protocol, a solar-powered platform designed with the idea that “it’s always sunny somewhere!”

HTTP Archive tracks the history of web performance.

Re: that time it rained inside the data center.

This website lets you measure the emissions of any website (including this one).

Photographer Trevor Paglen’s images of undersea Internet cables (reportedly wiretapped by the NSA), and a video of sharks nipping at them.

Another example of the natural world interfering with computers, from the cutting room floor: the world’s first computer bug was a literal bug.

When Senator Ted Stevens described the internet as a “series of tubes,” many have opined that he actually wasn’t wrong.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Producer: Justine Paradis

Editor: Taylor Quimby

Additional editing: Nate Hegyi, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon 

Executive Producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Special thanks to Melanie Risch.

Music: Pandaraps, Damma Beatz, Dusty Decks, Harry Edvino, Sarah the Illstrumentalist (sic), and Blue Dot Sessions.

The “Internet is a Series of Tubes” remix was created by superfunky59 on Youtube.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lake trout are on life support in Lake Michigan. They rely on intense breeding and stocking by federal fisheries. There was a breakthrough last summer, though, that could help bolster the lake trout’s recovery. A geneticist successfully mapped the lake trout genome: an outline of the fish’s genetic makeup. The genome will help biologists understand why some “strains” of trout have a higher survival rate. 

But could it also be used to create a sort of super-trout? And is that a good thing? Or is conservation-based gene editing a step too far? 

Featuring: Mark Walton, Roger Gordon, Chuck Madenjian, Seth Smith, Marty Kardos and Kim Scribner.

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

Hey folks – we’re working on some stories about electric vehicles, and we’re looking to hear from you. Are you interested in going electric? Wish there was better charging infrastructure where you are? Or would you prefer sticking with the car/truck you’re used to? 

Tell us what you think about EVs, and help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

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LINKS

Check out more episodes of Points North, and their special series: [Un]Natural Selection 

Listen to our previous episode “The Particular Sadness of Trout Fishing in America”

CREDITS

This episode of Points North was written and produced by Patrick Shea

Hosts: Dan wanschura and Morgan Springer

Editor: Morgan Springer 

Consulting editor: Peter Payette 

Music for this episode by Max Dragoo, Marlin Ledin, Santah, and Blue Dot Sessions 

Outside/In is produced by Nate Hegyi, Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, the final frontier of the outdoors: space! From rocket particles, to ominous theories about what might happen if we ever make contact with aliens, we’re launching into uncharted territory to answer your questions about outer space. 

And speaking of uncharted territory, we’re kicking this episode off with a very important introduction: our new host Nate Hegyi is picking up the mic for the first time. 

Question 1: How do I become a backyard astronomer? Here are seven Tips for getting started. 

Question 2: How sustainable is space travel? 

Question 3: What is the ‘Dark Forest’ theory?

Question 4: Would the hare-brained scheme from 'Don't Look Up' actually work?

Do you have a question about the natural world? Submit it to the Outside/Inbox! Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call our hotline: 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). Don’t forget to leave a number so we can call you back.

Featuring: Susan Rolke, Jennifer Willis, Martin Ross, Jonathan Yaney, and Amy Mainzer

ELECTRIC VEHICLE SURVEY

Hey folks – we’re working on some stories about electric vehicles, and we’re looking to hear from you. Are you interested in going electric? Wish there was better charging infrastructure where you are? Or would you prefer sticking with the car/truck you’re used to? 

Tell us what you think about EVs, and help inform our reporting by filling out this survey. It’ll only take a couple minutes, and it really helps us produce the show. Thanks so much!

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. 

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LINKS

Find an astronomy club near you

Want some digital stargazing help? Try an app like Star Walk 2 or Stellarium.

Check out the sounds of space. 

Learn more about the company Spinlaunch, which is trying to use centrifugal force to launch rockets into space, and watch their Orbital Accelerator concept video.

Does more efficient sometimes mean more emissions? Read up on Jevon’s Paradox. 

Are we alone? Like, really alone? Learn about the Drake Equation to find out. 

Go down a wikipedia wormhole on The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin.

Don’t Look Up seems like it’s about a comet, but it’s actually about climate change. 

Simulate a world ending comet collision with the Earth Impact Effects Program.

CREDITS

Reported and produced by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, and Justine Paradis

Host: Nate Hegyi

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Additional editing by Justine Paradis and Cori Princell

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Mixed by Felix Poon, Taylor Quimby, Jessica Hunt, and Justine Paradis

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Howard Harper-Barnes, Jerry Lacey, Jules Gaia, and Blue Dot Sessions.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Antler tissue is the fastest growing animal tissue on the planet. It grows faster than a human embryo, faster even than a cluster of cancer cells. On a hot summer day, some antlers can grow as much as one inch per day! And buried inside them is a cocktail of nutrients that both animals and humans are itching to get their paws on.

In summary: Antlers are freaking amazing. So in this episode of Outside/In, we’ve invented a new segment just to highlight them. We’re calling it Holy Scat! and it’s our way of exploring all the things about the natural world that make us totally geek out. 

For our inaugural adventure, we learn about how antlers grow so fast, meet a collector who covers hundreds of miles searching for them, AND find out why scientists hope antlers could unlock new treatments for osteoporosis. Plus, we’ll tell you a whole herd of awesome deer factoids, and answer the eternal question: are Santa’s reindeer males or females? 

Featuring Henry Ahern, Will Staats, Brendan Lee, and Tomas Landete-Castillejos. Special thanks to Chris Martin and Dave Anderson of Something Wild, who inspired this episode!

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LINKS

Check out the episode of the NHPR podcast Something Wild that inspired this story!

Stanford scientists identified genes behind rapid antler growth. Read more here. 

Watch a video describing the research on glioblastoma cells.

Good footage of an antler shoving match. 

Graphic Video Warning! If you want to see what an emergency velvet antler amputation looks like, here you go. 

Reporting on MMA Fighter George Sullivan’s one year suspension for the use of Velvet Antler supplements

Is the Coronavirus in Your Backyard? A New York Times report on coronavirus in animal populations (and especially, in deer)

An article from Smithsonian detailing what may be the first case of coronavirus to spread from a deer to a human

CREDITS

Produced and researched by Jessica Hunt and Taylor Quimby

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Edited by Taylor Quimby and Rebecca Lavoie

Mixed by Taylor Quimby

Additional editing: Felix Poon and Nate Hegyi

Special Thanks to Cindy Downing and David Hewitt

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Arthur Benson and Claude Signet

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Forget about beer, or even water; it was hard apple cider that was THE drink of choice in colonial America. Even kids drank it! And since it’s made from apples – the “all-American” fruit – what could be more American than cider?

But apples aren’t native to America. They’re originally from Kazakhstan.

In this episode we look at the immigration story of Malus domestica, the domesticated apple, from its roots in the wild forests of Central Asia, to its current status as an American icon. And we look at how apples and cider were used in some of America’s biggest migrations – from Indigenous tribes who first brought apples west across the continent, to the new immigrants who are using hard cider to bridge cultures and find belonging.  

Featuring Soham Bhatt and Susan Sleeper-Smith.

Special thanks to everyone Felix spoke to at the Cider Days Festival, including Ben Watson, Charlie Olchowski, and Bob Sabolefski.

LINKS

How to Make Hard Cider

George and Ursula Granger: The Erasure of Enslaved Black Cidermakers, by Darlene Hayes.

An Apple Commons: reflections by cidermaker Melissa Maddens on what it means to forage from wild apple orchards – relics of this country’s history of dispossessing Indigenous people of their lands.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. 

Subscribe to our free newsletter.

Follow Outside/In on Instagram and Twitter.

Join our private podcast discussion group on Facebook.

CREDITS

Produced and mixed by Felix Poon

Edited by: Taylor Quimby

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Additional editing: Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt,  and Rebecca Lavoie

Theme: Breakmaster Cylinder

Additional music by Jharee, Kevin MacLeod  and Blue Dot Sessions.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.