Outside/In

A listener recently asked, “Has the entire surface of earth at some point or another been covered in poop?” Turns out, there are some questions that even we can’t answer. 

In this installment of our regular mailbag segment, the Outside/Inbox, we do our best to take on your zany inquiries, or find experts who can. Here are this week’s questions:

Why was there a sudden spike in “dangerous carbon monoxide levels” during a snowstorm in New Hampshire?

Is there any official recognition for hiking the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail?

Why are live scorpions allowed in the mail?

Why do kids (and adults) chant “Do it! Do it! Do it!” and other chants?

Do all predators have forward-facing eyes?

Featuring Kathleen Simmons, Carlos Santibanez-Lopez, and Barb Lake.

Produced by Felix Poon, Marina Henke, and Nate Hegyi. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

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Whales have Free Willy. Dolphins have Flipper. But what about the humble porpoise? 

The porpoise doesn’t star in any Hollywood blockbusters. These shy, elusive “deer of the sea” are often overshadowed by their more charismatic cousins – but don’t let their social anxiety fool you. In fact, porpoises are speed-fiends with an insane metabolism and an outrageous sex drive.

Host Nate Hegyi and producer Marina Henke explore the Olympic sprinters of the sea and wonder if the fate of the endangered vaquita might hinge on being oh-so-very-cute. 

Featuring Michelle Dutro, Barb Lake and Ruxandra Guidi.

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

Ripped logo credit: Jeremy Keith / Flickr

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LINKS

The second season of Rux Guidi’s podcast, The Catch, covered the plight of the vaquita. 

In 1999, the Department of Defense studied the speed and hydrodynamics of dolphins, whales and porpoises to build better underwater drones. 

Here’s a picture of a porpoise penis, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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We launched a Patreon! Become an Outside/Insider for just $5 per month, and you can get AD-FREE episodes of the podcast, plus access to behind-the-scenes blog posts and more.

Sardines are in vogue. Literally. They are in Vogue magazine. They’re delicious (subjectively), good for you, and sustainable… right? 

Recently, a listener called into the show asking about just that.

“I've always had this sense that they're a more environmentally friendly fish, perhaps because of being low on the food chain. But I'm realizing I really have no sense of what it looks like to actually fish for sardines,” Jeannie told us.

The Outside/In team got together to look beyond the sunny illustrations on the fish tins. Is there bycatch? What about emissions? Are sardines overfished? If we care about the health of the ocean, can we keep eating sardines?

This episode was originally published in 2025. 

Featuring Jeannie Bartlett, Malin Pinsky, and Zach Koehn.

Rip logo photo: Canned seafood by Jack Kennard (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

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

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Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 
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Put salt (aka sodium chloride) in your pasta water and you’ll end up with delicious spaghetti. Put pure sodium in it instead… and it will explode.

It’s the latest edition of “The Element of Surprise,” our occasional series about the hidden stories behind the periodic table’s most unassuming atoms, isotopes, and molecules. This time we’re talking all about sodium.

It’s the periodic table’s saltiest element. It powers your body like a battery and you need it to survive. So why is too much of it bad for you? Plus, how did salt help the North win the Civil War?

Featuring Raychelle Burks, Trisha Pasricha, Ashley Dumas.

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

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LINKS

Watch a 1947 newsreel of the US Army disposing thousands of pounds of pure sodium into a lake in Washington State, causing massive explosions.

See images of the Slanic Salt Mine in Romania and the Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland, now major tourist sites.

Check out Theodore Gray’s “Sodium Party” YouTube video series where he drops sodium chunks of various sizes into water to observe how they explode. Here’s the first video in the series.
Want to learn more about the role of salt throughout human history? Read Mark Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History.

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When 10-year-old Doug Crandell joined the 4-H program, he was supposed to learn about raising, feeding, and selling a cow. What he wound up learning was something else entirely.

“I wanted to be a hog man, like my father,” he said. “But I knew pretty early on that you couldn’t have these animals forever.”

From producer Shaina Shealy, this is the story of a boy and his cow, Speckles. 

Featuring Doug Crandell.

Produced by Shaina Shealy. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. 
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Megan Eaves-Egenes grew up under the very starry skies of rural New Mexico. During those years, she developed a deep appreciation for astronomy. 

The fascination is, of course, not hers alone. But, a starry sky requires one pretty important ingredient: darkness. One study recently reported that since 2011, the night sky has gotten brighter at about 10% per year.

All that light pollution has brought dire consequences to life on planet earth. Crickets can’t tell whether it’s day or night, bird migrations have gone haywire, and our own natural alarm clocks are constantly confused. 

In a world where switching on a lamp during evening hours is, as Megan writes, “almost as basic as breathing” is there hope for our night skies? Or have we illuminated our way to a point of no return? 

Featuring Megan Eaves-Egenes. 

SUPPORT

To share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.

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

Follow Outside/In on Instagram and BlueSky, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

LINKS

You can order a copy of Megan’s book Nightfaring: In Search of the Disappearing Darkness on her website.

Want to plan travel around dark sky locations? Dark Sky International offers a variety of guides and tips on how to visit darky sky locations responsibly. 

There are many popular stargazing apps. Megan uses SkyView, but also recommends Stellarium or SkySafari.

Learn more about satellite’s role in light pollution from our 2024 episode, “The new space race.” 

Made nearly 10 years ago, here is our episode about light pollution emitted from a New Hampshire greenhouse. 

CREDITS

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

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President Trump recently signed an executive order to make certain psychedelic drugs more available to treat mental health conditions like depression and PTSD. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joe Rogan were in the oval office, and President Trump even joked during the signing ceremony, “can I have some, please?” 

Maybe this executive order wasn’t on your 2026 political bingo card… but interest in these substances for mental health isn’t new. In this episode, we’re revisiting the story of Kathy Kral. In the midst of her battle with cancer, Kathy found herself facing a diagnosis of major depression.

So, she signed up for a clinical study to see if psilocybin – the psychedelic compound found in “magic mushrooms” – could help her confront her fears about cancer and death, as well as her deepest inner demons.

This episode was first published in 2023. Featuring Kathleen Kral, Manish Agrawal, and Norma Stevens.

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

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LINKS

Trump’s order is a milestone for proponents of using psychedelics as medicine. (NPR)

Listen to the Sunstone Psilocybin Spotify Playlist that patients listen to during their psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions.

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Like a typecast actor who can’t escape the blockbuster franchise they’re known for, the element of silicon is inescapably associated with Silicon Valley. But that association undersells just how important, how foundational silicon is for human civilization.

It’s another edition of “The Element of Surprise,” our occasional series about the hidden stories behind the periodic table’s most unassuming atoms, isotopes, and molecules. And this time, it’s all about silicon.

From humankind’s early tools, to the quartz crystal hidden in your digital watch, we’ll cover how this underrated element has a lot more to offer than one California valley might suggest. 

Featuring Vince Beiser, Megan Brewster, and Rachel Maines.

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

SUPPORT

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

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LINKS

Still confused about the difference between silicon, silica, and silicone? We think this explanation is helpful. 

See the inside of a silicon wafer fab. It’s wild. 

Or watch this old video on how silicon wafers are made. Also wild.

If you are very into watches, you might enjoy this detailed history of how the “Quartz Crisis” upended the Swiss watch industry. 

Want to learn more about the environmental impacts of sand mining? Check out this 2019 UNEP report. 

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