Outside/In

It’s time again for our listener mail round-up, and this week, the theme is borders and boundaries. We learn what it means to define the “end of an era,” explore how close is too close to a black hole, and discuss the power of animal urine. Plus, we hear the story about the time the U.S. and Great Britain almost fought a border war… because of a pig.  How do different animals mark their territory?...

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. He 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...

At any given time, millions of lab mice are being used in research facilities nationwide. And yet nearly all of them can be connected back to a single source: The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, where the modern lab mouse was invented. What started as a research project aimed at understanding heredity is now a global business. Research on lab mice has led to more than two dozen Nobel priz...

In case you hadn’t heard, El Niño is back in the news, and this time it’s pushing global temperatures to the 1.5-degree climate threshold, giving us a sneak preview of a world scorched by global warming. But when it comes to El Niño, the first question on people’s minds is usually…wait…what the heck is El Niño again? Well, today on Outside/In we’ve got answers. Plus, we ask how to tell if extreme...

At Outside/In, we often talk about the challenge of covering climate in a way that doesn’t leave us feeling hopeless or overwhelmed. For us, that’s often meant staying curious and keeping a sense of humor.  But a few years ago, investigative journalist Amy Westervelt had another idea. Why not use one of podcasting’s most popular genres—true crime—to tell the story of climate change?  From greenwas...

It’s our listener mail round up, and this week it’s all about communication in the natural world, like: how do migratory animals teach their young how to migrate and where to go? Do sharks smell underwater? And, are plants talking to each other? Plus, a mini-story about a lost baby squirrel and a Bluetooth speaker. Take a listen! How do young animals know how to migrate? Can plants talk to each ot...

Wine is considered to be an expression of a place and climate, a reflection of centuries-old traditions. But these days, a lot of wine is a product of an industrialized agricultural system, and just as processed as the bulk of products in the grocery store.  Today on Outside/In, we take a look at what really goes into your wine, and at a growing movement exploring just how “natural” wine can be. ...

With 'Oppenheimer,' director Christopher Nolan has turned the Manhattan Project into a summer blockbuster. The film is set in Los Alamos, one of the primary places where the first atomic bomb was developed. But fewer people know the history of Carrizozo, a rural farming area downwind of the Trinity test — and a community still dealing with the fallout to this day. Radioactive fallout from the bomb...

Humans are noisy. The National Park Service estimates that all of our whirring, grinding, and revving machines are doubling or even tripling global noise pollution every 30 years.  A lot of that noise is negatively affecting wildlife and human health. Maybe that’s why we’re so consumed with managing our sonic environments, with noise-cancelling headphones and white noise machines — and sometimes,...

We love shrimp in the United States. As a country, we eat over 2 billion pounds a year, making it the most consumed seafood in the country. So times should be really good for shrimpers, right? In this episode, our friends at the Sea Change podcast from WWNO and WRKF head to the docks and out in the bayous with shrimpers fighting for a livelihood and a culture that has been here for centuries.  Thi...

Most dog owners know they’re supposed to scoop the poop.  But when a pup does the deed off the trail, a lot of otherwise responsible citizens find themselves wondering… Is it really better to pick it up in a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage? Isn’t dog poop… natural? Listen to the latest edition of This, That, or The Other Thing: our series about the little decisions we make in life to try a...

[Editor's Note: This episode first aired in April 2022]Last year 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.”  M...

When it comes to the environment, are natural fabrics better than synthetics? The answer might surprise you. It’s the latest installment of This, That, Or The Other Thing, a series about the decisions we make to build a more sustainable world, and to make a difference in our communities. In this episode we compare the carbon footprints of polyester versus cotton, we ask the experts whether our wat...

After the gathering at Standing Rock, legislators across the United States passed laws in the name of “protecting critical infrastructure,” especially pipelines.  At the same time, attacks on the electrical grid have increased almost 300%. But that threat isn’t coming from environmental activists.  It’s coming from neo-Nazis.  This is the second episode in our series examining the landscape of env...

When members of the Oceti Sakowin gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, they decided on a strategy of nonviolent direct action. No violence… against people. But sabotage of property – well, that’s another question entirely.  Since the gathering at Standing Rock, anti-protest legislation backed by the fossil fuel industry has swept across the country. Wh...

As a candidate, Joe Biden called himself a climate change pioneer. He promised a green energy revolution. More renewables, way less fossil fuels, and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. So two years in, how’s he doing? Outside/In host Nate Hegyi speaks with a political scientist and an environmental activist to figure out where Biden has pushed his climate agenda, where he hasn’t, and whether he’s a...

There are few physical challenges more uncomfortable than holding your breath underwater as long as you can.  But if your duty is to pull downed military personnel from waters all over the world, you need to prove your ability to perform in the most hostile and unforgiving conditions. That’s why the Air Force has long made breath holds part of its training programs for parajumpers, or parachute re...

While the taps are running dry and reservoirs are disappearing in Arizona, a corporate farm from Saudi Arabia is pumping massive amounts of groundwater to grow alfalfa  for cows back in the Middle East. Now, after years of inaction, Arizonans are pointing the finger at what they see  as a foreign invader slurping up the last gulps of a diminishing water supply. But the truth is more complicated. ...

The team peers into the Outside/Inbox to answer listener questions on the theme of “green,” a prompt which sends us exploring the hanging gardens of Babylon, xeriscaping, and the evolution of the human eye. 1: What’s the benefit of being evergreen? 2: How water-friendly is my lawn? 3: How many city buildings have green roofs? 4: Why did we evolve to see so many different shades of green? Featuring...

In the late 1950s, engineer Herb Ueda Sr. traveled to a remote Arctic military base. His mission? To drill through nearly a mile of ice, and extract the world’s first complete ice core. To finish the job, he and his team would endure sub-zero weather, toxic chemicals, and life inside a military base… which was slowly being crushed by the glacier from which it was carved.  Producer Daniel Ackerman...

Right now, we’re investing billions of dollars into charging infrastructure in order to speed up the transition to electric cars and decarbonize transportation.  But there are all sorts of problems that EVs won’t solve: bumper-to-bumper traffic, extractive metal mining, and car collisions that kill tens of thousands of drivers, passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians every year in the US.  That’s wh...

Transitioning to electric vehicles is essential to meeting our climate goals. But there are so many barriers to overcome – from expanding EV charging infrastructure, to updating the power grid, to mining the metals that make batteries go. In the first of a two-part series on decarbonizing transportation, we try to answer the critical question: is it all happening fast enough to avoid the worst cli...

The Underdogs Ep3: You sell your soul What caused the Peranos to abandon their dogs and screw so many people over? Nate enlists the help of a New Zealand journalist to find out.  More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:  A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Idi...

The Underdogs Ep2: It has to be earned Nate flies to Minnesota to follow a new lead about the New Zealand racing team. Advisory: This episode contains brief descriptions of injured animals and animal abuse that may be disturbing to some listeners.    More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:  A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding com...

The Underdogs Ep1: Honey and vinegar Outside/In host Nate Hegyi gets a surprising tip that leads him into the frozen and tight-knit world of competitive sled dog racing in Alaska. More about Outside/In presents The Underdogs:  A few months ago, Outside/In host Nate Hegyi got a tip from the highest levels of the dog sledding community. It was about the first team from New Zealand to complete the Id...