Strange by Nature Podcast

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 resea...

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 heal...

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. Rach...

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...

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...

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 tim...

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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters...

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 con...

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, ju...

Victoria is with us this week and she brings us the tale of giant Coconut Crabs that just may have eaten Amelia Earhart. Not to be outdone, Kirk tells us about the mysterious disappearing Y chromosome. Will it eventually disappear all together? What does that have to do with the platypus? Rachel takes a look at the weird jobs ribs play in snakes from digestion to locomotion to defensive displays l...

Having survived wild thunderstorms, your intrepid hosts return with tales of the strange. Rachel brings us a story of the coolest (coldest) lava flowing on Earth. It still isn't cold enough to pick up with your hands but it's super strange. Victoria heads to the ocean to veer into Rachel's lane and shares with us the marvels of the Disco Clam, an amazing creature with a cool way to survive in the...

This week Kirk starts us off with a bizarre story about the weirdly human trait of blushing when we are embarrassed. He then tells us about a wild new study that had teenage girls blushing while in an MRI machine all though the magic of Karaoke. Rachel this week tackles pollination and flips the script on how and why we think it happens. It turns out, once again, nature laughs at our little boxes...

I can't believe I am about to type this sentence but Rachel's topic this week is Foot-long Neurotoxic Invasive Terrestrial Flatworms. Yeah. That's...that's a lot. So as not to leave the neurotoxin train, Kirk follows that up with a discussion of Cobras, cobra venom, neurotoxins, and necrotic flesh. Good news though, there's a possible new cure to talk about. Join us weekly for more strange nature....

This week, Kirk brings us a story about ants that perform surgery on injured colony members. Warning, the only surgery they know is amputation. Rachel, talks about a fish that was seen living inside of a jellyfish. Victoria caps it all off this week by getting extra weird talking about inter-species fornication. Why do they do it? It's quite a ride. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supp...

This week, Victoria talks about the bird pirates of the sea, the Great Skua. These birds have an incredible memory for people they don't like and they have also been known to steal other animals eyeballs. Woah. Kirk is up next with a story about the epic battles waged by Pavement Ants. These colonies go head to head battling colony vs colony but their strange behavior is acutaly making them highly...

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...

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!   Join us weekly for more str...

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...

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 the...

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 Panam...

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 h...

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 case...

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 pac...

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 crea...

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 a...