The Natural Curiosity Project

When I was a kid I spent a lot of time in New Mexico, where my grandparents lived (Roswell, specifically). As we drove around, I became fascinated with town names--like Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Huh? Well, I did some research, and I came up with a list of what I think are the funniest, or most intriguing, town names for every state. Enjoy!

The Natural Curiosity Project, hosted by Steve Shepard, and the Silverback Digest, published by Stephen Morris, have a very special relationship. If you like the Natural Curiosity Project, for example, you’ll like the Silverback Digest as well. Here’s the story of how their partnership came to pass—and why you should absolutely subscribe to both.

Have you ever had this happen: You see a book a shelf that makes you think of a friend you haven’t spoken with in a while. You smile at the memory, and as you smile, your phone rings. You look at the screen, and it’s the person you’re thinking about, calling you. We’ve all had it happen, and it’s kind of weird. But it turns out that there may be some serious science behind the phenomenon—serious,...

Want to hear the sound of the largest living organism on the planet? My guest, Seattle-based Jeff Rice, has recorded it. Sound recordist, journalist, documentarian, musician, Jeff wears many hats, and his world is beyond intriguing. Please join us for a great conversation.

I read a lot of books—an average of 135 per year. And yes, I remember them—most of them, anyway. And every once in a while, a book grabs ahold of my leg and won’t let go. That was the case with “The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World,” by Joe Keohane. In fact, it affected me so strongly that I closed the back cover, went to my computer, found Joe online, and calle...

You know how sometimes you meet someone who does something interesting, but as you get to know them, you learn that actually, there’s a lot more to them than that one thing that got your attention in the first place? Well, that explains John Neville. I contacted John because he’s on one of the mailing lists for sound recordists that I belong to. His work intrigued me, so I asked him if he’d be a g...

Let’s take a trip. We’re going to start in southwestern Europe and drive as far as we can go into the Arctic, following the annual migration of north-bound birds, photographing and recording them along the way. Then, we’ll turn our vehicles around, this time starting in southwestern Europe and following those same birds as far south as we can go, across the Strait of Gibraltar into Morocco and dri...

In this free-flowing conversation, I interview Ryan McCarty, an extraordinary individual with a story to tell that is both inspirational and informative. Actually, that's all I'm going to say. Enjoy!

I first ran across Rick Hannon's work when I purchased his album, "Dusk to Dawn on the Camas Prairie." After listening to this extraordinary collection, I reached out to Rick, and he agreed to join me on the Natural Curiosity Project to to talk about career as a photojournalist, photographer, sound recordist, and sound designer. From natural soundscapes like the Camas Prairie, to the sounds of ant...

A few thoughts about broadcast television (especially the commercials), see through the eyes of Alexis de Tocqueville.

Just a few thoughts on the societal and generational progression from data to wisdom.

If you’re a regular listener, you know that I’m interested in the sounds of the natural world and have interviewed quite a few sound recordists on this program. In this episode, you’re going to meet a guy who is more than just a sound hobbyist. He works all over the world for big movie studios—in fact, when we recorded this, he had just returned from a shoot in the Sahara Desert in Algeria for a b...

Episode 219 - Reef Renewal USA by Dr. Steven Shepard

Thomas Meinzen represents the best of several worlds: he's a composer, a musician, a naturalist, and an avid recorder of the sounds of the natural world. He agreed to sit down with me recently to talk about how he incorporates all his many interests with his over-the-top skills as a musician. And check out his music--you can find his work at https://thomasmeinzen.bandcamp.com.

If someone were to come to me and say, “I’m going to show you how an explorer, an engineer and a statesman shaped our Modern World,” I’d want that person on my show. Well, meet Brad Borkan, the author of two excellent books: “Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results: How an Explorer, an Engineer and a Statesman shaped our Modern World,” and “When Your Life Depends on It: Extreme Decision-Making Lessons...

One of the most important things to know about human generations is that, contrary to popular belief, they all want the same things from work and life—they just want it in different ways. All companies (other than sole proprietorships) are multigenerational, so the extent to which we all understand the differences among generations is a measure of how well we engage with all of them, attract them,...

One of the most important things to know about human generations is that, contrary to popular belief, they all want the same things from work and life—they just want it in different ways. All companies (other than sole proprietorships) are multigenerational, so the extent to which we all understand the differences among generations is a measure of how well we engage with all of them, attract them,...

An evening at the local wetland, punctuated by a symphony of spring peepers and an occasional round of applause from the resident beavers.

We rarely give much thought to water, other than when we're thirsty. But as it happens, it is one of the rarest of the rare compounds we know--not just because it is precious, and we're blessed with a lot of it on Earth, but because its chemistry is the stuff of Dumbledore. Have a listen. You can find the episode transcript at https://steven-shepard.com/natural-curiosity-project/.

An exercise in using all five senses during a walk in the deep woods. Headphones, please--relax and listen. And thank you!

It was late August, and I was in central Iowa on a recording trip. I wandered into a cornfield, and at the back of it was a creek, surrounded by cottonwood trees. The trees were filled with 17-year cicadas. The life cycle of these critters is a testament to the magic of life. Shortly after they hatch from the eggs laid by their mothers, the nymphs burrow into the ground, where they stay for 17 yea...

Well, here we are approaching the end of March, which means that once again we will soon be facing the political season in the United States, and all that that implies. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather avoid the debacle we faced last time, when social media pummeled us with disinformation from every direction, making it virtually impossible to separate the wheat of truth from the chaff of fa...

There's something mesmerizing about the way rivers look from the air--the way they ebb and flow and respond to the topography of the land they flow over. Sometimes, the water flows in a great sheet, like a fan; other times, it flows in a tree-like structure called a dendrite. Well, it turns out that salt can form similar structures when it crystallizes, but only under very specific conditions. It'...

How important are libraries and books? In my mind, very. In some peoples' minds, important enough to risk their lives for their protection. In "The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, Joshua Hammer tells the story of Abdel Nader Haidara, a minor government bureaucrat who takes it upon himself to save thousands of precious texts, some of them from the 5th century, all the while evading the clutches of...

Have you ever wondered why geese fly in that V-shaped formation when they're migrating? Turns out that there's a very important reason--and you might be interested to know that it has a lot to do with the practice of leadership. Enjoy the episode.