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Life is strange, naturally you want to hear about it. Strange by Nature is your guide to the strange, weird and unbelievable side of nature. Professional naturalists present weekly curated stories about just how strange nature can get.
Episodes
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
This week it's back to the briny deep as Rachel talks about a program to train sharks to eat lion fish. It's the latest in a strange list of ways people have been trying to control this invasive fish species.
Kirk brings us the strange tale of the 2000 foot tall WEAU TV tower in Wisconsin that was responsible for thousands of bird deaths every year until it fell. The truly strange part is that the antenna wasn't special. "Tower kills" account for somewhere between 4 and 50 million bird deaths in the US every year. It's a sobering story about our responsibility to help migrating birds.
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Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
On this week's show, Kirk talks about the uncomfortable middle path. How does ambiguity shape our choices? Why do things that are not quite one thing or the other make us uncomfortable.
Up second, Rachel takes us to New Zealand to talk about the heaviest parrot in the world. the Kākāpō aka, the Moss Chicken.
Enjoy these two very different and strange topics this week!
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Wednesday Jul 17, 2024
Wednesday Jul 17, 2024
The gang's all together this week. Victoria kicks things off with a story about a bizarre fern that displayed a totally new concept in plants. Ladies and Gentlemen, we present, the Zombie Fern. This bizarre plant can convert dead fronds into roots. It's something we've never seen before and completely strange.
Rachel is up next to tell us the tale of the Wētā. These giant insects from New Zealand are large and amazing, just be careful how you pronounce their name.
Kirk is up last this week and he helps us understand a long-time mystery that may finally be solved. Why did the wounds of soldiers at the battle of Shiloh discover their wounds were glowing and why did those with glowing wounds have a better chance of survival?
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Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Hello Everyone, ready for another fun episode? Rachel kicks us off this week by talking about Alpha Gal. No, she's not a superhero. Alpha Gal is an allergy to mammal meat you can get from being bitten by a tick. Absolutely terrible.
Victoria delves into the strange phenomenon of animals playing dead and what it may have to do with something called Tonic immobility. Many animals, when turned on their back, go into a trance-like state. It's truly bizarre.
Kirk rounds out the show by talking about research that involved subjecting small lizards to a leaf blower. It's bizarre but they did it for a good reason; to learn about hurricanes and how the effect animal evolution.
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Wednesday Jul 03, 2024
Wednesday Jul 03, 2024
Kirk once again takes us back to space this week to talk about Schloz's Star. Incredibly, scientists discovered that 70,000 years ago, this star actually passed THROUGH our solar system.
Rachel's tale this week is almost as big and mind boggling but it takes place right here on Earth. She tells us why we are spending millions of dollars to drop 14.7 million screwworms into the rainforest in Panama EVERY WEEK!
Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Rachel goes back to the ocean to talk about bizarre, small, upside-down, solar powered jellyfish.
Kirk goes the exact opposite direction and takes us to space with a primer on the Heliosphere. It's all just so he can tell us about some strange research that came out that suggests the sun's heliosphere collapsing 2 million years ago may have caused the last ice age or even the evolution of modern humans.
So, wide berth in topics this week but ultimately they both come back to the sun.
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Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Kirk tells us all about the amazing but extinct Elephant Bird, an incredible bird that could grow to a massive 2000 pounds. Rachel next brings us an absolutely astounding story of a researcher who wanted to answer the question of why snakes strike and bite and that research involved stepping on snakes 40,000 times. Victoria rounds out this week by telling us about mushrooms and the intriguing cases where the edible Morel mushrooms ended up being poisonous.
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Wednesday Jun 12, 2024
Wednesday Jun 12, 2024
We're all over the place this week. Victoria is back and she brings a mind blower talking about how the length of the day and the number of days in a year have changed dramatically over time. Kirk then brings things back to birds (of course) with a talk about the amazing Ostrich. Rachel rounds out this week's show talking about the tiny but mighty Mottled Cup Caterpillar, a little critter that packs a potent sting.
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Wednesday Jun 05, 2024
Wednesday Jun 05, 2024
This week Kirk starts us off with a fascinating story of PMO or Prosopometamorphopsia, a condition where people strangely see distortions to other people's faces that can make them look like demons, elves or dragons.
Rachel wants to tell us all about ticks this week and it turns into a bit of a PSA on tick safety before going into some interesting facts about these much maligned blood sucking creatures.
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Wednesday May 29, 2024
Wednesday May 29, 2024
This week Rachel and Kirk share some incredible stories. Rachel starts us of with some amazing facts about the Albatross. They are truly giant and amazing birds that spend much of their life at sea.
I know, you thought Rachel had turned a page and wasn't going to do a story about the ocean but alas, even when she talks about birds she finds a way to make it about the sea.
Kirk shares this week about the Epomis Beetle, a truly bizarre little creature that turns the table on the predator-prey relationship by sneak attacking frogs and other animals that try to eat it. What happens next is pretty horrifying. Hint: it involves liquefaction.
Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!