Strange by Nature Podcast

Anyone fancy a yawn? Victoria did some investigation into the strange phenomenon of social yawning. Are yawns really contagious? Kirk then brings us the story of the Bone Collector Moth. When it is a caterpillar, it creates a disguise by gluing dead bodies to itself. Yikes. Rachel rounds out the show with brand new research showing that sharks can make sounds! Join us weekly for more strange natur...

Victoria talks about the amazing tropical super-canopy tree the Almendro that actually seem to attract lightening in order to kill off the trees around them. Talk about a bad neighbor! Kirk then brings us the strange story of the Ruff, a shorebird with three distinct versions of males. They each have their own distinct plumage and role in the mating dance. One of them even disguises itself as a fe...

Kirk blows our minds with the age of Bristlecone Pines. Did you know there are living trees that predate the invention of written language? Victoria then has a doozy of a story about White-throated sparrows developing a new secondary sex chromosome. This bizarre occurrence means there are technically four different sexes of this bird instead of the regular two.   Join us weekly for more strange na...

Victoria starts us off this week with the surprising reason that blue-eyed white cats are often deaf. The reason is truly bizarre. Kirk brings us the story of an amazing adaption recently discovered in Hummingbirds. Researchers just discovered that the White-necked Jacobin have babies who's feathers perfectly mimic dangerous caterpillars in order to scare away predators. Rachel rounds out this wee...

Rachel is up first this week with a lighthearted study that investigated why banana peels are so slippery when stepped on. Victoria then swerves into Rachel's lane and takes us to Australia to investigate the origin of the Dingo. Kirk is up last and brings us the story of a newly discovered wasp from millions of years ago that had an amazing adaptation for trapping insects like a venus flytrap. Jo...

Are you ready for another wild episode? This week we have three wonderful stories for you. Kirk goes first with the astounding story of archerfish that not only have an amazing hunting adaptation but researchers just showed they can remember and pick out a human face when presented with over 40 options. Simply stunning. Who said fish have a bad memory? Rachel is up new with an update on one of the...

Here's your weekly dose of weird. Up first, Victoria revisits slime molds so she can tell us about a truly massive single cell organism. Kirk is up next answers the question, snakes can be venomous but can they be poisonous? We get to the bottom of this sneaky snake question. Rachel rounds out this week's show with a truly strange bird, the horned screamer. Find out all about it and hear the funky...

Welcome to the beginning of year 5 of the podcast. We're happy to have all of our amazing listeners along for the ride. Rachel kicks things off this year with the bizarre story of a fish that spends more time on land than in water. Welcome to the world of mud skippers. Victoria probes the depths of the ocean to unravel the mystery of Dark Oxygen. This finding has big implications for rare earth mi...

It's the end of our 4th year doing the show so that means it is time for our annual quiz show! Our Special guest Brett Sieberer is here once again to ask us strange questions that all relate to the past year of the show. Don't worry, your favorite game, "Eat, Ride or Jacket" is back for another round! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Supp...

Kirk kicks things off the the Medlar, an ancient fruit with a decidedly NSFW nickname. Maybe this one isn't for the kids.  Rachel then gets to the bottom of why people put grape leaves in pickle jars.  Victoria then bring us the horrifying story of the Loa Loa, otherwise known as the Eye Worm.  Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Support us:...

Victoria starts things off with a bang this week and that bang is ants that explode their bodies releasing a toxic yellow goo epoxy to trap their attackers. It's just...wow. Kirk is up next with the strange case of disappearing stars. There are stars vanishing in the night sky and astronomers aren't sure why. Rachel rounds out this very strange episode with a story about a trapper who gave mouth-t...

Rachel tells us an astounding fact, the metal of the Titanic is being eaten by bacteria and could collapse in just 6 years. Victoria helpfully lets us know that beautiful beach sand is actually Parrotfish poop. Kirk is up last and he introduces us to the mystery of Fast Radio Bursts from outer space. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Suppo...

Kirk gets to start us out this week and he's all ears. Ears are weird but all those shapes actually mean something. Learn how the shape of an animal's ears can tell us about their habitat and behavior. Rachel is up next and she goes on on the ice to tackle the question of why does ice on lakes crack in the winter? It turns out it relates to some of the very strange properties of frozen water. Vict...

Victoria is up first with a mystery part of the cell and we have no idea what it does or why it is there but it is inside you right now. Learn more about the strange "Vaults" in our cells. Kirk is second this week and he brings us some new research into the strange social urination of animals. Rachel rounds out the episode with a creature feature on Kangaroo Rats/Kangaroo Mice. Support us: patreon...

On this week's show, Victoria kicks things off with a discussion of Chirality and how the study of the "handedness" of molecules could actually lead to the creation of completely new forms of life. It's a bizarre thought experiment with very real and dangerous consequences. Rachel brings us a creature feature, the fish-scaled gecko. This strange creature has an amazing defense mechanism that is bo...

On this week's show 2/3 of us talk about animal defenses. Kirk starts us off with the Giant Vinegaroon, an acid shooting whip scorpion. Rachel then also talks defenses with the Fulmar, a bird that covers enemies with stinking projectile vomit. Victoria takes us in an all new direction by talking about Left-handedness. Thanks for joining us this week! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our sup...

Victoria kicks things of this week with a fascinating new study on Potter wasps showing that the males actually can defensively "sting" even though they don't have a classic stinger. If you are a fan of defensive genitalia, this story's for you! Kirk keeps it with insects and defense this week and tells us a bit about the irritating hairs of caterpillars, how some of them have toxins and and how t...

Rachel takes us to the zoo to meet a Lyre Bird. Sure, they are found in the wild too but this one learned to reproduce the evacuation alarm for the entire zoo. Good times. Learn more about these amazing birds. Victoria this week brings us, The Immortal Jellyfish. This strange creature can reverse age and then start life all over again. There doesn't seem to be a limit so potentially it could live...

Hey Everyone, it is our first show of 2025! Kirk starts us off this week with a medical mystery from Australia. Can Victoria guess what it is? Spoiler, it is the Paralysis Tick! Rachel (no surprise here) takes us to the bottom of the ocean to lean about a strange bone eating worm that feasts on dead whales. Victoria also takes us underwater this week to Doggerland, a hidden submerged world at the...

Welcome to another exciting week of weird. Victoria starts off this week's show with the story of an Ignobel prize wining study showing that mammals can breathe through their butts.  Kirk then takes us to the ocean to learn about animals that can drink saltwater without dying like us humans would. Rachel rounds out this week by returning again into the ocean to introduce us to the bizarre looking...

This week Rachel brings us the Bumblebee Bat which by some measures is the smallest mammal in the world. It weighs the same as two skittles candies. Kirk then describes some fascinating research that the authors claim shows plants can actually hear running water and send their roots toward it. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Support us:...

Welcome to Episode 200. Thanks for being along on the ride. Victoria brings us the mysterious tale of Red Sprites. They sound like mythical creates but they are really a bizarre and beautiful atmospheric phenomenon related to powerful thunderstorms. Kirk is up next to tell us about the Mexican Mole Lizard. This strange creature scares locals so badly they have colorful tales about it attacking you...

We're almost to 200 episodes! Hold your horses though, we have one more episode here in ONEderland. This week, Kirk brings us a completely bizarre story about a possible solar powered hornet. Is the Oriental Hornet really solar powered? Kirk dives into the details. Rachel then introduces us to the largest whale in the world, the Blue Whale. The animal is so hard to understand size-wise that she ha...

We've got a full episode this week to get some of you though family time on Thanksgiving. Put in the ear buds and enjoy some anti-social you time. Rachel kicks us off with the fascinating story of a long-long extinct plant brought back to live with an ancient seed found on an archeological dig. Only problem is, we aren't 100% sure what it is.  Victoria then untangles the issue of intersex. Sure, t...

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 end...