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Outside/In

Outside/In

NHPR

A show where curiosity and the natural world collide. We explore science, energy, environmentalism, and reflections on how we think about and depict nature, and always leave time for plenty of goofing off. Outside/In is a production of NHPR. Learn more at outsideinradio.org
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Top 10 Outside/In Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Outside/In episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Outside/In for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Outside/In episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Outside/In - Shrimp on the line
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07/06/23 • 37 min

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.

This narrative episode goes on a journey from the fishing docks to shrimping in the bayous exploring land loss, climate change, and other issues endangering the future of the Gulf shrimp industry. We also uncover the threats imported shrimp pose to a way of life and human health.

Featuring Justin Kennedy, Thomas Gonzales, Acy Cooper, Gary Mayfield, Eddy Hayes, Donald Dardar, and Steve Morris.

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Outside/In - Shhhhhh! It’s the sound and silence episode
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07/13/23 • 29 min

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 get into spats with our neighbors, as one of our guests did...

So for this episode, producer Jeongyoon Han takes us on an exploration of three sonic landscapes: noise, silence, and something in between.

Featuring Rachel Buxton, Jim Connell, Stan Ellis, Mercede Erfanian, Nora Ma, and Rob Steadman.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).

Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).

LINKS

Behavioral ecologist Miya Warrington and her colleagues found that Savannah sparrows changed the tune of their love songs as a result of noisy oil fields in Alberta, Canada (The New York Times)

Bats have changed their day-to-day habits because of traffic noise, according to research conducted in the U.K.

Natural sounds are proven to improve health, lower stress, and have positive effects on humans. Rachel Buxton and her colleagues wrote about that in their study from 2021.

Erica Walker’s organization, the Community Noise Lab, monitors noise levels in Boston, Providence, and Jackson, Mississippi. You can read more about her work in this article from Harvard Magazine.

Are you interested in going to a Quiet Parks International-designated quiet park? The organization has a list of spaces across the world that they’ve certified.

Here’s a radio story from NPR that serves as an homage to John Cage’s 4’33”.

If you were ever curious about why bird songs are good for you... This article from the Washington Post should be on the top of your reading list!

This New Yorker piece from 2019 outlines how noise pollution might be the next public health crisis. Since that article, there’s been even more research showing that noise can take years off of our lives.

So, you’ve heard lots of sounds in this episode. But do you want to see what sounds look like? Click here — and this is not clickbait!

Ethan Kross, who is a psychologist and neuroscientist, wrote a whole book about noise — the noise in your head, to be precise. It’s called Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.

Mercede Erfanian’s research into misophonia and soundscapes is fascinating. You can hear her speak on the subject of different kinds of sounds in a show aired from 1A, or watch her presentation on the effects that soundscapes have on humans...

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Outside/In - O Possum! My Possum!
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11/24/22 • 31 min

It’s high time to shine a light on an under-appreciated nocturnal visitor to America’s backyards and garbage cans: the opossum.

The opossum is the only marsupial in North America, and they’ve been snuffling around since before the dinosaurs died. It faints at the slightest threat, yet can be struck by a venomous snake and, unfazed, turn right around and eat it.

Also, they have two vaginas, and an extra pseudo-vagina. What more do you need? The opossum’s superpower is its reproductive system, and the thing that’s really going to make you say “holy scat!” is what’s going on in that pouch.

So...what’s it going to take to get some respect for the opossum?

Featuring: Jessica Anderson, Joseph Bruchac, Danielle Draback, and Frannie Greenberg

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Outside/In - Oppenheimer's omission
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07/20/23 • 33 min

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 settled on everything: the soil, gardens, and drinking water. Cow’s milk became radioactive. Later, hundreds of people developed radiogenic cancers.

The people of Carrizozo were among the first people in the world exposed to a nuclear blast. More than 75 years later, their families are still fighting for medical compensation from the federal government.

Host Nate Hegyi traveled to New Mexico to visit the Trinity Site, and to hear the stories of so-called ‘downwinders.'

Featuring: Paul Pino, Tina Cordova, Ben Ray Lujan

Editor's note: A previous version of this description incorrectly described Los Alamos as the site of the first atomic bomb test. The actual test took place in the White Sands Missle Range.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).

Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).

LINKS

The federal government has produced a few studies on the fallout from Trinity. This one from Los Alamos found that there was still contamination in the area in 1985.

Another, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, produced one of the most in-depth histories of the fallout from Trinity and the government’s reaction.

The National Cancer Institute found that hundreds of people likely developed cancer because of the fallout.

The history of Trinity is full of strange little details, like the desert toads that were croaking all night.

You can find affidavits and first-hand accounts of the fallout from Trinity at the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium website.

This review by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists explains why it’s so hard to determine a definitive death toll for the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Nate Hegyi

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Editing help from Rebecca Lavoie, Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jeongyoon Han

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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Outside/In - The reality of History’s “Alone”
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11/17/22 • 33 min

The premise of History’s reality TV show Alone is about as straightforward as it gets. Ten people are dropped into the remote wilderness with nothing but a handful of tools, a supply of GoPro cameras, and instructions to document their entire experience.

As contestants put their wilderness skills to the test, they face some of reality television’s most intense physical and emotional stakes; struggling with isolation, cold, wild animals, and even starvation. The last person standing wins the grand prize: half a million dollars.

But while the contestants must leave the comforts of home behind, the show still carries societal baggage.

In this episode, two critics explore the subtext of History’s Alone, and the messages it might be sending about class, gender, entertainment, and human relationships with the natural world.

Featuring Eric Martin and Tracy Clark-Flory.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Subscribe to our free newsletter.

Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook

LINKS

Check our Eric Martin’s article: ALONE — What is this reality tv show really about?

And Tracy Clark-Flory’s piece for Jezebel: A Woman Alone: On History’s Survival Show, There’s No Escaping Gender, Not Even In The Woods.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi

Mixed by Taylor Quimby

Edited by Rebecca Lavoie and Nate Hegyi, with help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, The New Fools, Guy Trevino and Friends, Ambientalism, 91 nova, and Sarah the Illstrumentalist.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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Outside/In - Do your doo diligence
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06/29/23 • 26 min

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 and build a more sustainable world – whether they have any effect and what we can do instead if they don’t.

This time, we’re wrestling with a major ick factor: should I leave my dog’s poop in the woods, or put it in a plastic bag and entomb it forever in a landfill? And why do otherwise environmentally-minded folks look the other way when it comes to the impact of our furry friends?

Featuring Stephanie Chow, Anthony Drouin, Ben Goldfarb, Rebecca Perlstein, Forrest Schwartz, Jennifer Williams

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or discuss episodes in our private listener group on Facebook.
Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox. We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).

LINKS

The Leave No Trace organization studied how to get more people to pick up after their dogs in Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks.

Dog waste is a major source of water pollution.

Dogs are a beach’s worst nightmare” according to Ben Goldfarb in Hakkai Magazine.

Stephanie Chow of Pet Poo Skiddoo breaks down which dog waste bags are truly compostable here.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by Jessica Hunt.

Mixed by Taylor Quimby.

Edited by Nate Hegyi and Taylor Quimby, with help from Justine Paradis and Rebecca Lavoie.

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Spring Gang, El Flaco Collective, and Daniel Fridell.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.

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Outside/In - 13 tips on how to "surthrive" this winter
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12/01/22 • 42 min

It’s Outside/In’s annual winter show, in which the team gathers around the proverbial fire to share our best ideas towards becoming better friends with winter. The dream is to not just survive, but thrive – dare we say, to “surthrive” – and embrace the season, both the cold and the cozy.

This year, we’re joined by the wonderful Mara Hoplamazian, climate and environment reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio.

You can read our list here. We’d also love to hear your recommendations! We might even play them on the podcast or share your tips in our (free) newsletter.

Send your suggestions, ideally as a voice recording, to [email protected] or call our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER.

Featuring a few of the cold-water dippers of Maine, including Betsy Lou Dawkins, Cholla Foot, Juliet Cox, Anne Buckwalter, and the crowd at a Two Maine Mermaids full moon dip.

A word on cold water immersion

People engage in cold water dipping or swimming around the world. Many claim health benefits, like a boosted immune system and reduced inflammation. But it’s obviously not a risk-free activity.

Physiologist Michael Tipton told us a couple things to be aware of: 1) cold water shock, which prompts an involuntary gasp – bad news if you’re underwater 2) cold water exposure can send competing signals to your heart, potentially causing cardiac arrhythmia. But he also said, "I'm not sitting here as the fun police stopping people doing what they want to do. It's just we would encourage them to do it safely."

Here’s another overview of benefits and risks of cold-water swimming.

Support the show

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.

Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

Credits

Host: Nate Hegyi

Produced and mixed by Justine Paradis

Edited by Taylor Quimby

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Music for this episode by Autohacker, Nul Tiel Records, John Runefelt, Blue Dot Sessions, Smartface, Xavy Rasan, Iso Indie, and Vaain.

Special thanks to Michael Tipton, Kelsy Hartley, Caitlin Hopkins, and Judith Greene-Janse.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio.

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Outside/In - What's living under your porch
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11/14/24 • 24 min

A few months ago, producer Marina Henke saw two skunks sprint under her porch. Since then, she can’t stop wondering what’s really going on beneath her feet.

And as it turns out, she’s not the only one. Every day across the country, homeowners are waging wars with the animals who stake out our porches, decks and crawl spaces. Have we as humans inadvertently designed luxury apartments for “unwelcome” wildlife? And is that necessarily a bad thing?

In a new edition of our (long-retired!) 10x10 series we’re going under the porch. So, grab your headlamps, put on a different pair of pants and watch out for skunks.

Featuring Christopher Schell, Kieran Lindsey, Josh Sparks and Maynard Stanley.

Click HERE to buy tickets for NHPR's Holiday Raffle!

NHPR’s Holiday Raffle is open to any United States resident 18 years or older in any state where the Raffle is not prohibited by state, local or other laws. (States where raffles are not permitted: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Utah.) The grand prize winner will win a $15,000 travel voucher OR $10,000 cash. Get your tickets here.

LINKS

Want more 10x10s? We’ve got ‘em! Listen here for traffic circles, gutters, sand beaches, kettle bogs and vernal pools.

You can read more about the “biological deserts fallacy” here.

The Schell Lab at UC Berkeley is up to all kinds of urban ecology research.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported, produced and mixed by Marina Henke

Editing by Taylor Quimby

Our staff includes Justine Paradis, Felix Poon and Kate Dario

Executive producer: Taylor Quimby

Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio

Music by Blue Dot Sessions, El Flaco Collective and Spring Gang

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

We want to hear from you! Hate what’s under your porch? Love what’s under your porch? You can send a voice memo to [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).

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Outside/In - What's the most successful species on Earth?
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02/15/24 • 31 min

Editor's note: This episode was first published in July, 2022.
Humans have had an impressive run thus far; we’ve explored most of the planet (the parts that aren’t underwater anyway), landed on the moon, created art and music, and made some pretty entertaining Tik Toks.

But we’ve survived on the planet for just a fraction of the time horseshoe crabs and alligators have. And we’re vastly outnumbered by many species of bacteria and insects.

So what is the most successful species on Earth? And how do you measure that, anyway?

From longevity and happiness, to sheer numbers, we put a handful of different organisms under the microscope in hopes of better understanding what exactly it means to succeed at life on a collective and individual scale.

Featuring: Stephen Giovannoni, Rashidah Farid, and Steward Pickett

SUPPORT

Check out Stephen Giovannoni’s paper: “SAR11 Bacteria: The Most Abundant Plankton in the Oceans”

An interesting treatise on adaptability: “Why crocodiles still look the same as they did 200 million years ago”

From the NSF: “The most common organism in the oceans harbors a virus in its DNA”

More food for thought: “The non-human living inside you"

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported and produced by: Taylor Quimby

Editing by: Nate Hegyi, Rebecca Lavoie

Additional editing help from Justine Paradis, Felix Poon, and Jessica Hunt.

Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive Producer

Special thanks to everybody who answered our question at the top of the show: Josemar Ochoa, m Carey Grant, Butter Wilson, Tim Blagden, Robert Baker, Sheila Rydel, and Bob Beaulac.

Music for this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, and Jules Gaia

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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Outside/In - The secret lives of bugs
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11/16/23 • 28 min

It’s time again for our listener mail roundup, and this week, the theme is bugs, bugs, and more bugs. We discover what’s happening inside the chrysalis of a monarch butterfly, find out why fruit flies seem to spontaneously generate from over-ripe fruit, and ask if meat-eaters really are sweeter to mosquitoes. Plus, a cautionary tale about leaving the window screens open.

  1. What happens inside a chrysalis during metamorphosis?
  2. How does bioluminescence work?
  3. Are mosquitoes good for anything?

Featuring Karen Oberhauser, Deidre Gibson, and Lyric Bartholomay.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.

Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!).

Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

LINKS

Learn more about our mosquito expert, Lyric Bartholomay, in this video about her and her work.

This National Geographic article has a good overview of bioluminescence, plus some great photos.

Consumer Reports details how it tests bug spray and lists some high-performing products.

CREDITS

Host: Nate Hegyi

Reported, produced, and mixed by Taylor Quimby, Justine Paradis, and Felix Poon.

Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie

Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

Submit a question to the “Outside/Inbox.” We answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837).

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FAQ

How many episodes does Outside/In have?

Outside/In currently has 312 episodes available.

What topics does Outside/In cover?

The podcast is about Natural Sciences, Podcasts and Science.

What is the most popular episode on Outside/In?

The episode title 'Shrimp on the line' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Outside/In?

The average episode length on Outside/In is 31 minutes.

How often are episodes of Outside/In released?

Episodes of Outside/In are typically released every 7 days, 9 hours.

When was the first episode of Outside/In?

The first episode of Outside/In was released on Nov 20, 2015.

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David Leins

@DendroRadio

Jan 11

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