Writer Yudhijit Bhattacharjee discusses the mental abilities of animals and how they might have emotions as complex as our own.
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Dying insects and migrating trees: our planet in peril
Of all the species on Earth, humans have easily had the biggest impact. We’ll look at how our actions have affected everything from the bug population to the plants and trees many animals call home.
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How animals perceive reality
Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer on staff at The Atlantic, discusses what seems like animal magic powers – from magnetic fields and sonar to complex vision and heightened smell.
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Why are humans so fascinated with animals?
New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean joins us to discuss her book of essays about the human-animal connection – stories that span the world from New Jersey to Morocco – and the lessons we can learn from the way we interact with these creatures.
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Meet The Creatures Living Above And Below Us
Two pioneering female scientists speak with us: one who describes life in the tops of trees as an eighth continent, and an oceanographer who studies bioluminescent marine animals that light up the ocean floor.
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Are Our Pandemic Pets Here To Stay?
New Yorker staff writer Nick Paumgarten joins us to talk about the animals we acquired to comfort us and why leaving them at home alone is now going to be a big problem.
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When Your New Family Member Is A Robot
Kate Darling joins us to talk about how our relationship with animals might serve as a guide to our dealings with robots.
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Darwin’s Guide To Alien Life
Arik Kershenbaum, a zoologist and fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge, joins us to talk about understanding evolution on Earth and how that might parallel alien life forms elsewhere.
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Artificial Solutions To Preserve The Natural World
New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert joins us to talk about how scientists are looking to address climate change by studying the ways plants and animals have already adapted to live alongside humans.
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Yes, Animals Are Conscious
Ross Andersen joins us to talk about how researchers are now operating from an assumption that all animals are conscious until proven otherwise, which he writes about for The Atlantic.
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The World Of Whales
Nick Pyenson joins us to talk about how whales evolved from land-roaming creatures – and about their prospects for survival in a warming world.
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Rethinking Our Relationship With Animals
Michigan State law professor David Favre joins us to think through our evolving relationship with our fellow inhabitants of Earth.
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