Strange by Nature Podcast

This week, Kirk takes us back to the end of the dinosaur age and how the asteroid impact may have set up just the right conditions to create the world's first farmers. Ants, it turns out, beat humans to the idea of agriculture by about 65 million years.

Rachel then takes us to one of the most remote islands in the world, Nightingale Island, to hear about the amazing effort going to to save the endemic Wilkins's Bunting. It is a monumental task that included saving forests by raising and introducing killer wasps.

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Fresh off Halloween and still on a sugar high, Rachel and Kirk dive into the mysteries of the planet.

Rachel heads back to the ocean to visit the Twilight Zone and talk about the bizarre Barrel-eyed fish. This fish has a see-through head and looks like something out of Avatar or some other sci-fi alien movie. Truly bizarre.

Kirk also delves into the waters of the ocean to bring us some fresh research on comb sea jellies and their incredible regenerative properties. Scientists cut them in half and discovered they merged bodies with their neighbors to survive. It is an incredible story that makes us think about what it means to be able to tell when your body ends and your neighbor's begins.

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Kirk kicks things off this week with a mysterious sound being heard in Tampa, Florida. What is it? Likely the sound of hundreds of mating black drum fish. Keep it weird Florida.

Rachel then presents us with a pretty little Puss Caterpillar. It looks harmless enough but just touching it can make you feel like your bones are breaking. Do not touch.

Victoria surprises us this week with a miracle healing substance we've know about for over a century but don't currently use very often. The Human Placenta! 

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It's finally here, the Halloween Episode for 2024.

Victoria starts things of with, brace yourself, flying leeches. That's right, we finally have confirmation of a story that goes back almost 700 years. There really are flying leeches.

Keeping with the unintentional blood-sucking flying creature theme, Kirk brings us the Vampire Finch, a bird that drinks blood to survive on dry desert islands.

Rachel rounds out this week's show by making us afraid of ever going near water again. Sure, we need it to survive, but water can harbor a whole host of nasty parasites and diseases to ruin your day.

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What an appropriate subject for the week before Halloween! Rachel brings us the very creepy Crypt-keeper Wasp. This parasitic wasp eats you alive inside your home and then forces you to dig a tunnel so it can escape by bursting through your forehead. All completely normal yes?

Kirk takes a turn to the humorous side by putting biologist's sense of humor on display when it comes to silly scientific names for plants and animals. From a fungus named after Spongebob to a Trilobite named after Han Solo, scientists sometimes like to wave their freak flag.

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This week, Kirk brings us a mystery. Last September, the Earth rang like a bell for nine days and a team of 56 scientists from around the world spent a year investigating why. The story the uncovered involves the collapse of a mountain and a mind-boggling large tsunami. Our world is bizarre.

Rachel was up next with a story of giant 440 lb jellyfish that have been overwhelming fishermen when up to 1,500 of them at a time are showing up in fishing nets. Yes, they sting. They are absolutely astounding and more may be on the way.

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Rachel kicks things off this week with the amazing Wombat butt. Sure, Kirk talked about the strange square shaped poo of the Wombat many episodes ago but he didn't talk about their armored butt and how they use it for defense. Thanks for the update Rachel!

Victoria is next and she once again treads familiar ground on the show by talking about extremophiles. We've discussed them before but this time they aren't lurking in the depths of the ocean they are in your home microwave. New research shows us what creatures an survive this extreme environment.

In a strange coincidence this week, not only did Rachel add to one of Kirk's old topics but Kirk revisited one of Rachel's. Rachel had previously talked about a poisonous bird and so Kirk did a deep dive on all of the rest of the poisonous birds in the world. Some are truly bizarre.

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So much to unpack here this week. Kirk starts us off with a story about bears in Yellowstone eating 40,000 moths to get ready for winter.

Rachel then takes us into Piranha infested waters to separate myth from science.

Victoria rounds out the week with surprising new research on extra nipples and breasts. What can we say, it was a weird week.

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Rachel starts us off with a mysterious river of blood in Antarctica. Okay, so not actually blood but what is causing this strange red river to flow out of a glacier on the bottom of the world?

Kirk is up next and he talks us though the de-extinction of the Wooly Mammoth. What is the current state of research and what reasons are both to do it and to avoid it? De-extinction is a complicated and controversial topic. Kirk and Rachel debate the merits.

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You may have seen this one in the headlines. Kirk does a deep dive on the science behind this fascinating phenomenon. Scientists have turned the skin of mice completely transparent in a simple reversible technique using the same dye that makes Doritos orange. This strange result could have huge impacts on science and medicine.

Rachel also talks about a creature this week but it isn't invisible, just very difficult to find. She tells us about the strange critically endangered Northern Bald Ibis. This strange shorebird nests on cliffs and castles and scientists have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the population going.

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