Listen to Natural Selections podcast online

Natural Selections: eye shine

Thu, Nov 27 Listen

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about eye shine, and why some animals eyes reflect light and others dont.

Natural Selections: Fat

Mon, Nov 24 Listen

Between the ages of 20 and 50, the average American doubles his or her body fat. As turkey and trimmings are placed on the table and visions of sugar plums dance, get "the skinny" on fat from Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley.

Natural Selections: Moon Watching

Thu, Nov 6 Listen

Why does the moon look bigger when its on the horizon, than it does when it is high in the sky? Curt Stager shares some theories with Martha Foley.

Natural Selections: Why is the sky blue?

Thu, Oct 30 Listen

Martha Foley poses the classic childs question. According to Dr. Curt Stager, the answer lies in the composition of the atmosphere, and in the refractive qualities of different wavelengths of light.

Natural Selections: Red Squirrels

Fri, Oct 24 Listen

The small but aggressive red squirrel is most at home in conifer forests, preferring a diet of cones supplemented with whatever else is around. But they are perfectly willing to share our homes, filling the eaves with winter fodder, chewing on wires and raiding the bird feeder. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley share their ambivalence.

Natural Selections: Porcupine Quills

Thu, Oct 16 Listen

While the porcupine quill is hollow, like a feather, and is made from the same material, it is actually a modified hair. African porcupines can weigh as much as 60 pounds and have quills as thick as soda straws. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about "prickly" matters.

Natural Selections: Forest, old and new

Thu, Oct 9 Listen

There is actually more mature forest in the Northeast now than there was a century ago, but it is a very different kind of forest from the ancient pre-colonial woodlands. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley take to the woods.

Natural Selections: Dragonflies, part 2

Thu, Oct 2 Listen

The Japanese trap dragonflies with weighted silk threads, treasuring their association with the virtues of happiness, courage and strength. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley continue their discussion of dragonflies and their habits.

Natural Selections: Dragonflies, part 1

Thu, Sep 25 Listen

Dragonflies, the largest flying insect predators, can be startling, but are not known for biting humans. As Dr. Curt Stager tells Martha Foley, however, one is reported to have killed a hummingbird.

Natural Selections: Softshell turtles

Thu, Sep 18 Listen

The Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle is rare in the north, but a small population lives at the top of Lake Champlain. Shyer than their armored cousins, the encroachment of human activities is making it harder for them to breed. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss this uncommon holdover from the days of the dinosaurs.

Natural Selections: Aeroplankton

Thu, Sep 11 Listen

This week, Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about aeroplankton and all of the stuff we constantly see (or dont see) floating around in the air, from pollen and bugs to bacteria and other particles.

Natural Selections: Places with No Snakes

Thu, Sep 4 Listen

Were there really no snakes before St. Patrick showed up? Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager ponder this and other questions. They explain that there are, in fact, places with no native snakes, particularly isolated places like New Zealand and Greenland.

Natural Selections: Seagulls

Thu, Aug 28 Listen

Where do all the seagulls come from? Martha Foley talks with Dr. Curt Stager about the population boom of seagulls in the last few decades, particularly ring-billed gulls found in the northeastern United States and the Great Lakes region.

Natural Selections: more about bird eggs

Thu, Aug 21 Listen

This week, Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager continue their discussion about eggs, exploring the color and shape of birds eggshells, from green, white and brown to pointy and ovoid.

Natural Selections: bird eggs

Thu, Aug 14 Listen

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about why birds? eggs look the way they do.

Natural Selections: Deerfly

Thu, Aug 7 Listen

As painful and annoying as they are, Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss deerfly - their beauty, the multiple species and why their bites hurt so badly.

Natural Selections: the evolution of birds

Thu, Jul 31 Listen

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager study the evolution of birds and discover that some unlikely species are very closely related.

Natural Selections: Snapping Turtle

Thu, Jul 24 Listen

The Eastern Snapping Turtle can reach a size of three feet and 50 lbs. Martha Foley and Curt Stager introduce us to this large and testy reptile found throughout the eastern US.

Natural Selections: Hearing Pitch

Thu, Jul 17 Listen

Do we all hear the same things? Is middle-C on a piano the same for you as it is for someone else? Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager look at how we hear what we hear.

Natural Selections: Animal Extinctions, pt. 2

Thu, Jul 10 Listen

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager continue discussion of animal extinction with a look at the book The Ghosts of Evolution.

Natural Selections: Ghosts of Evolution

Thu, Jul 3 Listen

Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss plants that have outlived the animals they co-evolved with.

Natural Selections: Salamanders and Newts

Thu, Jun 26 Listen

Whats the difference between a salamander and a newt? Not too much, says Dr. Curt Stager. He talks with Martha Foley about how aquatic salamanders mature into the forest variety.

Natural Selections: Bird Monogamy

Thu, Jun 19 Listen

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss the manners and morals of avian mating.

Natural Selections: Animal Extinctions

Thu, Jun 12 Listen

Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss mass animal die-offs, such as the one ending the age of dinosaurs.

Natural Selections: Anthills

Thu, Jun 5 Listen

Wood ant colonies create noticeable hummocks in clearings and fields. The elaborate structures create a temperate micro-climate ideal for protecting larvae, the queen and her workers. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley talk about insect architecture.

Natural Selections: Which way is up?

Thu, May 29 Listen

The magnetic fields on earth have a pattern of reversing. So does this mean that one day we will all be upside-down when the fields change? Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley get to the bottom of up.

Natural Selections: Return of the Black Fly

Thu, May 22 Listen

This pest of the northern spring can travel up to twenty miles on the wind. How to get away? Dress in yellow, some suggest, or tie a dragonfly to your hat. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager consult.

Natural Selections: white-throated sparrow

Thu, May 15 Listen

Dr. Curt Stager describes the differences between two variations of the white-throated sparrow - the white-striped form and the tan-striped form. Though the birds are from the same species and are complementary in some ways, their looks and behaviors are very different. Martha Foley asks: which is more competent?

Natural Selections: fish out of water

Thu, May 8 Listen

From catfish to killifish, can some fish actually survive outside of water? Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss the old clich? "like a fish out of water" and the truth behind the saying.

Natural Selections: Poison Ivy

Thu, May 1 Listen

"Leaves of three, let it be." Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about poison ivy. They discuss whether its really an ivy, why we call it "poison," and how humans and animals react differently to the plant.

Natural Selections podcast (Environment)