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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... more

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Episodes

No Regrets Coyote

Coyotes are incredibly adept at living among humans. So how do we get better at living among them?

19 Dec 2024 · 31 minutes
What Remains: More MOVE remains found

After more MOVE remains were found at the Penn Museum last month, we got in touch with curator Rachel Watkins... more

12 Dec 2024 · 21 minutes
Making the most of ‘stick season’

It’s not fall. It’s not winter. It’s somewhere in-between. The Outside/In team has ideas for living your best life through... more

05 Dec 2024 · 50 minutes
Shhhh! It’s the sound and silence episode

The world is literally getting noisier. How can we manage our sonic landscapes?

28 Nov 2024 · 29 minutes
The Ballad and the Flood

How disasters offer a glimpse into another way to live with each other.

21 Nov 2024 · 38 minutes
What's living under your porch

Have we accidentally made luxury apartments beneath our feet? And, is that a bad thing?

14 Nov 2024 · 23 minutes
The Night Owls

The federal government wants to kill one owl to save another.

07 Nov 2024 · 30 minutes
Postmortem: The Stolen Bodies of Harvard

How an elite university became a gruesome stop on a nationwide network of human remains trading.

31 Oct 2024 · 27 minutes
What Remains, Part 2: In Memoriam

A scholar and an activist make an uncompromising ultimatum.

24 Oct 2024 · 46 minutes
What Remains, Part 1: No Justice, No Peace

A classroom display of human skulls sparks a reckoning at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.

17 Oct 2024 · 36 minutes
What Remains: What's Past is Prologue

A visit to a modern-day bone library, and a fight over the future of ethical science.

10 Oct 2024 · 32 minutes
"Primitive, Unconfined Recreation"

A map, a compass, a smartphone, an adaptive bike… What counts as “technology” on the trail?

03 Oct 2024 · 33 minutes
Ghosts in the machine

The team checks our voicemail and makes a shocking discovery.

26 Sep 2024 · 31 minutes
The cold, hard truth about refrigeration

Refrigerated food used to be seen as unnatural. Now, it’s warped our very definition of the word “fresh.”

19 Sep 2024 · 29 minutes
The Mississippi Cyborg

How we turned one of our country’s biggest rivers into a machine - and what happens when that machine starts... more

12 Sep 2024 · 23 minutes
The $1,000 balloon

The coolest and most uplifting element is rarer than you might think.

05 Sep 2024 · 36 minutes
Why we get scared—and why we like it

When fear is almost fun... and when it’s just plain terrifying.

29 Aug 2024 · 35 minutes
The not-so-secret life of plants

How new findings in plant behavior science are raising questions about plant life, awareness, and even “intelligence.”

22 Aug 2024 · 35 minutes
This is your brain on GPS

We’re outsourcing one of the most important human skills to satellites and smartphones. What would happen if GPS disappeared?

15 Aug 2024 · 28 minutes
The fifth sense

What the nose knows, why smells have such a powerful connection to memory, and Nate’s fix for garlic breath hypersensitivity.

08 Aug 2024 · 30 minutes
Saving the tallest trees on Earth

Can scientists foster old-growth redwoods… by cutting some of the younger ones down?

01 Aug 2024 · 39 minutes
Hot Olympic Summer: Is Paris Greenwashing the Games?

Paris wants a gold medal in sustainability. Should they get one for greenwashing instead?

25 Jul 2024 · 26 minutes
Every bite is a story

Poet and author Aimee Nezhukumatathil dishes up three flavors that have connected her to others – one familiar, one sweet,... more

18 Jul 2024 · 25 minutes
Introducing “The Youth Development Center”

From the station that makes Outside/In, a powerful new series about one of the biggest youth detention scandals in American... more

11 Jul 2024 · 31 minutes
The new space race

There are more than 9,000 satellites orbiting the planet. The vast majority are owned and operated by one company: Starlink.

04 Jul 2024 · 35 minutes
The Potato Show

In which we reconsider the humble spud.

27 Jun 2024 · 35 minutes
Ed Yong and The Spoonbill Club

Ed Yong won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the pandemic. Now, he’s found another way to help: birding.

20 Jun 2024 · 21 minutes
The Winter Rangers

Could your relationship survive twelve winters in the most remote areas of Yosemite National Park?

13 Jun 2024 · 35 minutes
Wolves, water, and global weirding

We open the mailbag to answer your questions about dog drool and waste-water treatment, plus, we debunk a climate narrative... more

06 Jun 2024 · 21 minutes
Dead bird rabbit hole

Want to know how hundreds of millions of birds die every year? Just look out the window.

30 May 2024 · 30 minutes
The Department of Living Animals

From the near-extinction of bison to “panda diplomacy": the story of our National Zoo

23 May 2024 · 27 minutes
The papyrus and the volcano

How often do you think about the Roman Empire?

16 May 2024 · 32 minutes
The Kings and Queens of "the Water Prom"

The Colorado River is disappearing – can one Gen Z dealmaker help save it?

09 May 2024 · 41 minutes
The Element of Surprise

From Napoleon's cutlery to the WWII occupation of Greenland, we dig up the hidden history behind the most abundant metal... more

02 May 2024 · 27 minutes
‘Til the landslide brings it down

What happens when the growing threat of landslides collides with a housing crisis?

25 Apr 2024 · 29 minutes
The mystery of the missing extinctions

If we’re in the middle of a mass extinction, shouldn’t more species be going extinct?

18 Apr 2024 · 40 minutes
Meet the meatfluencers

Some social media influencers tout the all-meat diet and say that plants are making people sick. The science says otherwise.

11 Apr 2024 · 54 minutes
Reefer madness, the CBD bubble, and the future of hemp

Is hemp overhyped? Or is it a planet-saving super plant?

04 Apr 2024 · 26 minutes
Songbird accents, eating rats, and why we need the moon

In which we consider Flaco the Eurasian eagle owl, impulse goat purchases, and a big night for salamanders. Plus, our... more

28 Mar 2024 · 32 minutes
In search of an ethical 401k

The SEC is trying to make sustainable investing easier. But can you save for retirement in a way that’s both... more

21 Mar 2024 · 24 minutes
The story you won’t hear in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”

Host Nate Hegyi looks at the hidden history behind the world’s first radioactive fallout.

14 Mar 2024 · 34 minutes
You can make kids hike, but you can’t make them hikers

We gather tips on how to manipulate — er, inspire kids into liking the outdoors, and stories of what happens... more

07 Mar 2024 · 34 minutes
The disappearing dunes of 'Dune'

Grass is the sand-killer.

29 Feb 2024 · 33 minutes
Hunters do cry

Producer Felix Poon exits his comfort zone and picks up a crossbow, to find out if one weekend in the... more

22 Feb 2024 · 36 minutes
What's the most successful species on Earth?

Who should wear the crown of GSOAT (Greatest Species of All Time), and are humans even in the running?

15 Feb 2024 · 31 minutes
The edge of the ice

Life on a scientific mission to one of Antarctica’s most remote glaciers.

08 Feb 2024 · 27 minutes
The plot thickens

What’s the greenest way to die: casket, cremation, or compost?

01 Feb 2024 · 32 minutes
Blue is the loneliest color

Roses are red, violets are… red-absorbing? We tackle your questions on the illusory essence of nature’s most elusive color.

25 Jan 2024 · 26 minutes
Not everyone is wild about wild horses

What happens when a symbol of the American West is also a nuisance?

18 Jan 2024 · 28 minutes
Pigeons are weird

Thought these frequently frowned-upon birds were boring, metropolitan pests? Think again.

11 Jan 2024 · 27 minutes
The Oatly Chronicles

In 1994, the world’s first oat milk company was born in Sweden. Three decades later, Oatly is on a high-stakes... more

04 Jan 2024 · 32 minutes
Dragons, trolls and pine trees

How game designers created the 'natural world' of Skyrim

28 Dec 2023 · 36 minutes
Baby it’s GREAT outside: 12 more tips for embracing winter

The weather outside is frightful, but don’t let that stop you from having a wonderful winter.

21 Dec 2023 · 38 minutes
Is 'Yellowstone' ruining Montana?

‘Yellowstone’ is one of the most popular television shows in the country. What does it get right – and wrong... more

14 Dec 2023 · 29 minutes
Dear ChatGPT: Are you a climate solution? Or climate problem?

AI is a powerful tool for climate science. It’s also a dangerous distraction.

07 Dec 2023 · 30 minutes
How does the National Weather Service work?

A brief history of the national agency tasked with predicting the future

30 Nov 2023 · 32 minutes
Why did the road cross the chicken?

From turtles to cougars, the answer to the roadkill epidemic might require more infrastructure, not less.

21 Nov 2023 · 28 minutes
The secret lives of bugs

We peek inside the chrysalis and answer your questions about mosquitoes, fireflies, and more.

16 Nov 2023 · 28 minutes
As American as hard apple cider: an immigrant food story

What if apples have more in common with American immigrants than they do colonial heritage?

09 Nov 2023 · 31 minutes
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana

Let’s do the time warp again

01 Nov 2023 · 34 minutes
Bat Out of Hell Ranch

Nate discovers a colony of bats living in the siding of his new house and is forced to either evict... more

26 Oct 2023 · 21 minutes
Environmental disinformation is getting weirder

We tracked down the people fighting fake news on social media to ask them how they do it. .

19 Oct 2023 · 25 minutes
Do airports dream of electric planes?

Please fasten your seatbelts. The future of decarbonized aviation is preparing for take-off.

12 Oct 2023 · 33 minutes
Close Encounters with Mato Tipila

Endless Thread’s Ben Brock Johnson is obsessed with a National Monument that goes by many names.

05 Oct 2023 · 39 minutes
Where there’s smoke, there’s ire

Republicans say the solution to wildfires is more logging. Are they right?

28 Sep 2023 · 27 minutes
The greatest disaster story of all time

You think the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was bad? Wait until you hear about the Siberian Traps.

21 Sep 2023 · 30 minutes
The last great trip

Can psilocybin help cancer patients confront their feelings about death?

14 Sep 2023 · 31 minutes
Let's talk boundaries

Spaghettification by black hole, the power of animal urine, and the end of an era.

07 Sep 2023 · 23 minutes
After the avalanche: rescue gone wrong

How do wilderness EMTs cope when a rescue goes wrong?

31 Aug 2023 · 34 minutes
Of lab mice and men

The story of how a leading eugenicist and a handful of wealthy automakers helped engineer the modern lab mouse.

24 Aug 2023 · 38 minutes
What the heck is El Niño, anyway?

We’re talking about the OG climate mystery known as El Niño. What is it? How did it get its name?... more

17 Aug 2023 · 20 minutes
Drilled: The Panic

A true crime story about Big Oil, climate action, and the invention of “corporate free speech.”

10 Aug 2023 · 34 minutes
If houseplants could talk: communication and the natural world

From ultrasonic beats made by tomato plants to the nose of the shark and the migration of the monarch butterfly,... more

03 Aug 2023 · 23 minutes
What's really in your wine?

It's not just grapes.

27 Jul 2023 · 27 minutes
Oppenheimer's omission

With the film ‘Oppenheimer’ coming out this week, host Nate Hegyi takes a look at the hidden history behind the... more

20 Jul 2023 · 33 minutes
Shhhhhh! It’s the sound and silence episode

The world is literally getting noisier. How can we manage our sonic landscapes?

13 Jul 2023 · 29 minutes
Shrimp on the line

We eat more shrimp than any other seafood in this country. So times should be really good for shrimpers, right?... more

06 Jul 2023 · 37 minutes
Do your doo diligence

You’re hiking with your dog when poop happens. It’s natural to let it decay in the woods, right? Or is... more

29 Jun 2023 · 26 minutes
The Call of the Void

When you're standing on the edge of a cliff, have you ever felt an inexplicable urge... to jump?

22 Jun 2023 · 26 minutes
The carbon in your closet: cotton vs. polyester and other fabricated dilemmas

Synthetic clothes are made from fossil fuels, and cotton is water intensive. But figuring out what fabrics are best for... more

15 Jun 2023 · 30 minutes
When protest is a crime, part 2: city in a forest

A drag show in rural North Carolina, a plot to attack the power grid in Baltimore, and a forest in... more

08 Jun 2023 · 47 minutes
When protest is a crime, part 1: the Standing Rock effect

The first of two episodes exploring the changing landscape of environmental protest in the United States, from Standing Rock to... more

01 Jun 2023 · 43 minutes
Is Biden a good climate president?

President Joe Biden has kept – and broken – a lot of promises on climate change.

25 May 2023 · 25 minutes
Just try not to breathe

A parajumper candidate finds himself facing elimination for the most surprising reason: he can hold his breath way too long.

18 May 2023 · 42 minutes
A tale of two deserts: Are Saudi cows to blame for Arizona's water crisis?

Arizona is rapidly depleting its water sources – is a Saudi Arabian alfalfa farm to blame?

11 May 2023 · 24 minutes
It's not easy being evergreen

Our latest round of listener questions has us exploring xeriscaping, green roofs, and the evolution of the human eye.

04 May 2023 · 24 minutes
The city inside a glacier

The Cold War mission to extract the world’s first complete ice core.

27 Apr 2023 · 34 minutes
The Race to Net Zero: building a car-free future

Electric vehicles are part of the solution to climate change. But what if they’re also part of the problem?

20 Apr 2023 · 32 minutes
The Race to Net Zero: will EVs get us there fast enough?

We need to electrify transportation if we’re going to avoid the worst climate impacts. Will we make it in time?

13 Apr 2023 · 29 minutes
The Underdogs Ep3: You sell your soul

What caused the Peranos to abandon their dogs and screw so many people over? Nate enlists the help of a... more

30 Mar 2023 · 45 minutes
The Underdogs Ep 2: 'It has to be earned'

Nate flies to Minnesota to follow a new lead about the New Zealand racing team.

23 Mar 2023 · 46 minutes
The Underdogs Ep1: Honey and vinegar

Outside/In host Nate Hegyi gets a surprising tip that leads him into the frozen and tight-knit world of competitive sled... more

16 Mar 2023 · 30 minutes
Outside/In presents The Underdogs

“We’re just one dead body away from Tiger King.”

09 Mar 2023 · 2 minutes
Scents & sensibility

Wherefore art thou, potpourri?

02 Mar 2023 · 38 minutes
Who owns the sky?

“Whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell."

23 Feb 2023 · 35 minutes
Worm Wars! Invasive species and the stories we tell about them

When a producer learns about a "toxic, self-cloning worm”, she starts sounding the alarm about impending eco-doom. Until, that is,... more

16 Feb 2023 · 37 minutes
Groundhogs: incidental archaeologists, mystical meteorologists

Despite being the only rodent with a holiday to its name, groundhogs are often considered pests.However, these natural-born diggers have... more

31 Jan 2023 · 23 minutes
The “extreme” beat: whale hearts, mudslides, and more

We explore the outer limits of life on Earth and answer your “extreme” questions in another edition of the Outside/Inbox.

26 Jan 2023 · 26 minutes
The ocean is a place of queer possibility

It's always ourselves we find in the sea.

19 Jan 2023 · 29 minutes
Dinner reservations: how to eat sustainably (and does it even matter?)

Reducing your dinner plate’s carbon footprint is easy, but putting its impact into perspective is anything but.

12 Jan 2023 · 27 minutes
Cold t*ts, warm hearts: the cold water dippers of Maine

“I remember getting out of the water, laughing like I hadn't laughed in years.”

29 Dec 2022 · 18 minutes
Hot dam! Climate news that isn’t terrible

The third rail of environmental activism, the unlikely last-minute deal at COP27, and why tearing down renewable energy is sometimes... more

22 Dec 2022 · 29 minutes
How a chicken saved my life

“I knew that I had to find my way back to that bird.”

15 Dec 2022 · 24 minutes
13 tips on how to "surthrive" this winter

Winter is coming. The team advises on living your best life.

01 Dec 2022 · 42 minutes
O Possum! My Possum!

Wait… an opossum has how many vaginas?

24 Nov 2022 · 31 minutes
The reality of History’s “Alone”

“If the money was right, I’d die out here for my family.”

17 Nov 2022 · 33 minutes
Legends of the fall: fallout shelters, dreams of falling, and autumnal vibes

You’ll never hear the term “leaf-peeper” on this show again.

03 Nov 2022 · 24 minutes
Why we get scared (and why we like it)

When fear is almost fun – and when it’s only terrifying.

27 Oct 2022 · 36 minutes
The curious case of the missing extinctions

If we’re in the middle of a mass extinction, shouldn’t more species be going extinct?

13 Oct 2022 · 41 minutes
The last veterinarians in town

Veterinarians and vet technicians are being forced to choose between taking care of animals and taking care of themselves.

06 Oct 2022 · 27 minutes
The olive & the pine

Planting a tree often is almost a shorthand for doing a good deed. But such an act is not always... more

22 Sep 2022 · 52 minutes
Why do we stare at fire and other existential questions

Of fire and ice, seagulls and dog poop.

15 Sep 2022 · 28 minutes
Your Wildest Wildlife Encounters

Animal stories that will make you laugh, sweat, and want to stay on the boat.

08 Sep 2022 · 21 minutes
Yardwork: A bitter melon grows in Boston

For some, the Berkeley Community Garden is a multicultural oasis. To others… it’s just a pile of trash.

25 Aug 2022 · 35 minutes
Yardwork: Gardening is heavy metal

Is it safe to grow vegetables in your backyard garden?

18 Aug 2022 · 23 minutes
Yardwork: Lawn and Order

Americans love a lawn. But keeping the grass green comes at a cost — especially in the desert.

11 Aug 2022 · 27 minutes
The most successful species on Earth?!

A debate about evolutionary “success.” Who should wear the crown of GSOAT (greatest species of all time), and are humans... more

28 Jul 2022 · 31 minutes
The National Park Service

Nearly a hundred million acres of the truth about America.

21 Jul 2022 · 31 minutes
The first national park

How Yellowstone came to be.

14 Jul 2022 · 41 minutes
Is climate journalism experiencing a Great Resignation?

Last summer, former Outside/In host Sam Evans-Brown quit journalism to become a lobbyist for clean energy.

30 Jun 2022 · 43 minutes
Life and Death at a Human Decomposition Facility

Meet the people who study dead bodies at a human decomposition facility.

23 Jun 2022 · 35 minutes
Update: Happy the Elephant is Not a Person

The New York State Court of Appeals has ruled against expanding human rights to animals.

17 Jun 2022 · 5 minutes
Six Foot Turkey: What Jurassic Park Got Wrong (And Right) About Dinosaurs

Do blockbuster movies have an obligation to accurately represent science?

09 Jun 2022 · 36 minutes
Et Tu, Brute? The Case for Human Rights for Animals

A court case about a Bronx Zoo elephant could pave the way for animals to gain basic human rights.

02 Jun 2022 · 24 minutes
Frog Sex, Tree Soap, and Other Signs of Spring

“Can I say that on public radio?”

26 May 2022 · 28 minutes
After the Avalanche

How do wilderness EMTs cope when a rescue goes wrong?

12 May 2022 · 32 minutes
Call of the Void

When you're standing on the edge of a cliff, have you ever felt an inexplicable urge... to jump?

28 Apr 2022 · 26 minutes
The So-Called Mystery of Rapa Nui (AKA Easter Island)

Three hundred years ago this Easter, Europeans landed on what they called “Easter Island.” Countless stories have been told of... more

14 Apr 2022 · 51 minutes
How to Build a Solar-Powered Website

What if the internet was only available 95% of the time?

07 Apr 2022 · 35 minutes
Frankenfish

Could genetic modification change conservation as we know it?

31 Mar 2022 · 24 minutes
Outside/In
The So-Called Mystery of Rapa Nui (AKA Easter Island)
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Description

Three hundred years ago this Easter, Europeans landed on what they called “Easter Island.” Countless stories have been told of the island... more