The Natural Curiosity Project: Recent Episodes
Dr. Steven Shepard
I photograph, record, and write about the natural world. I see, I listen, I write. I fundamentally believe that curiosity can save the world—so I publish stories to make people curious. Ultimately, curiosity leads to discovery, discovery leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to insight, and insight leads to understanding. Please enjoy!
A lot has been written about the ages of human existence, beginning with the Stone and Iron and Bronze Ages, then going all the way through to the Information Age. But I believe that there are actually more identifiable periods that aren’t talked about—13 of them in fact. In this episode, I’m going to talk about them and why I think they’re important. I’m also going to discuss how they relate to one another and what their contributions and liabilities have been.
It’s all around us. It lies beneath our feet, it gets embedded in our clothing and skin, and the air is filled with it. It makes us sneeze. Great clouds of the stuff are lifted from the African Sahara by harmattans and sciroccos and carried high into the atmosphere, where great westward-flowing aerial rivers carry it across the Atlantic to South America, where it falls like rain and feeds the equatorial rainforest. Weird, right? I’m talking, of course, about soil, or as most of us call it, dirt. This is the first part of a two-part series on soil and what lives in it. Enjoy.
In 1940, author John Steinbeck and his good friend and marine biologist Ed Ricketts set off on a six-week collecting expedition in the Sea of Cortez. The book that resulted from that journey isn't well known, but it is wonderful. Here I offer a few thoughts about the book and their journey.
Well, that's hard to ignore. So, Liz made an email introduction, and the next thing you know, I was on another Zoom call, this time with Jennifer. And boy, was Liz right. What started with a personal tragedy turned into something very, very special.
When I was a commercial diver in California, I often found myself surrounded by great swarms of marine mammals--seals and sea lions, mostly. But every once in a while we were rewarded by a sea otter, the most iconic of all marine mammals. Hunted almost to extinction (their numbers went from 300,000 to 50, then bounced back), they are a charismatic keystone species that hold a special place in my heart.
It was an assignment to photograph the 50th anniversary of the San Francisco Bay Bridge from atop one of the towers. Who knew they didn't have an elevator?
At various times in the past, I’ve talked about the partnership between the NCP and the Silverback Digest, an online journal published by my friend and fellow Vermonter Stephen Morris. Stephen, or Step as his friends call him, defines eclectic: gardener, traveler, writer, musician, editor, publisher—a man of many talents, vocations and avocations. Eclectic also defines the Silverback Digest. It reflects his broad spectrum of curiosity—which is probably what brought us together in the first place. Anyway, Stephen recently published a piece called “Clixed-up Michés,” a play on words of “Mixed-up Cliches.” He wrote it a few years ago. It made me laugh out-loud, so I thought I’d share it with you—the audio version.
Mexico is rich with mysterious tradition, a culture where magic and mysticism are as present as Catholicism and the lingering Aztec voices that are woven into the wind. But nowhere is it as evident as it is in Xochimilco, especially at La Isla de las Muñecas—the Island of the Dolls.
Do the actions of a single individual matter? If you subscribe to the fundamental tenets of negativism, pessimism, resignation, and snark, the answer to that question is decidedly ‘no.’ But let’s reconsider that.
One of the themes in my new novel, “The Sound of Life,” is interspecies communication—not in a Doctor Doolittle kind of way—that’s silly—but in a more fundamental way, using protocols that involve far more listening on our part than speaking.The ability to communicate with other species has long been a dream among scientists, although as I observed in an earlier Podcast episode, we might not be pleased with what other species have to say to us. But that aside, I find it pretty exciting that we’re on the bleeding edge of being able to engage in a form of two-way communication with other species. So, in this episode, I want to tell you a bit about where we are, and why 2026 is widely believed to be the year we make contact.
Lately, we’ve had more displays of the Aurora than usual up here in northern Vermont. I wondered why, and ended up going down one of my occasional rabbit holes in search of the reason. Along the way, I discovered something very interesting. Let me introduce you to the Centennial Gleissberg Cycle—and why you might want to familiarize yourself with it.
Thank you for a great year! I this final episode of 2025, I review some of the highlights of past episodes. Thank you for joining me!
Join me on a tour of the Essex Junction Water Treatment Facility. It's a lot more interesting than you might think!
The ocean has always been a center-point in my life, a place where I feel the most comfortable. I began SCUBA-diving professionally in 1977, and soon became a dedicated underwater photographer. But it wasn't long before I began to pay more attention to the sounds of the underwater world than I did the sights, and the result was life-changing. Please enjoy.
This is an audio essay, presented in three parts, about the need to balance the forces of industry and the forces of conservation. We need both, so what I'm about to say, I think, is important. Let me begin by telling you what this audio essay is not about. It is not another tiresome, ‘Chicken Little the Sky is Falling’ story of environmental doom. It is not another finger wagging, how-dare-we-mistreat-the-planet-this-way paean of conservation woe. It is not yet another in a long line of left-wing assaults on the energy sector, nor is it an attack on the right-wing playerswho want to drill, baby, drill. We are living in a time when society seems to believe that our future MUST be binary. “We can reduce our dependency on oil, or we can be global leaders in conservation and climate change. In fact, “we can reduce our dependency on oil, and we can be global leaders in conservation and climate change.” Here’s how.
This is an audio essay, presented in three parts, about the need to balance the forces of industry and the forces of conservation. We need both, so what I'm about to say, I think, is important. Let me begin by telling you what this audio essay is not about. It is not another tiresome, ‘Chicken Little the Sky is Falling’ story of environmental doom. It is not another finger wagging, how-dare-we-mistreat-the-planet-this-way paean of conservation woe. It is not yet another in a long line of left-wing assaults on the energy sector, nor is it an attack on the right-wing playerswho want to drill, baby, drill. We are living in a time when society seems to believe that our future MUST be binary. “We can reduce our dependency on oil, or we can be global leaders in conservation and climate change. In fact, “we can reduce our dependency on oil, and we can be global leaders in conservation and climate change.” Here’s how.
This is an audio essay, presented in three parts, about the need to balance the forces of industry and the forces of conservation. We need both, so what I'm about to say, I think, is important. Let me begin by telling you what this audio essay is not about. It is not another tiresome, ‘Chicken Little the Sky is Falling’ story of environmental doom. It is not another finger wagging, how-dare-we-mistreat-the-planet-this-way paean of conservation woe. It is not yet another in a long line of left-wing assaults on the energy sector, nor is it an attack on the right-wing playerswho want to drill, baby, drill. We are living in a time when society seems to believe that our future MUST be binary. “We can reduce our dependency on oil, or we can be global leaders in conservation and climate change. In fact, “we can reduce our dependency on oil, and we can be global leaders in conservation and climate change.” Here’s how.
Like every part of our planetary geography, oceans have identifiable regions. Beginning at the beach and gradually dropping to about 650 feet is the continental shelf. This shallow region of the ocean is called the sunlit or Epiplagic zone. From sunlight we move into the beginnings of oceanic darkness: we leave the continental shelf and step onto the much steeper continental slope where we enter the twilight or Mesopelagic zone, which descends to about 4,000 feet—the better part of a mile. Here, light from the surface disappears.We continue in darkness down the continental slope into the midnight or Bathypelagic zone, all the way to 13,000 feet—a crushing depth of nearly two miles. But we’re nowhere near the bottom yet.At 13,000 feet, the slope begins to level as it becomes the continental rise on its way to the sea floor, at about 20,000 feet. This is the Abyss, or the Abyssopelagic zone, the dwelling place of creatures that are the stuff of nightmares. Even their names conjure darkness: gulper eels. Angler fish. Vampire squid. Coffinfish. But this is still not the deepest part of the ocean. That honor goes to the Hadal zone, named after Hades, the underworld. These are the ocean’s deep trenches, and they descend to unimaginable depths of nearly 37,000 feet. Mount Everest could be dropped into these canyons and its peak would lie under deep water. In this program, we look at these deep regions, at the organisms that lives there, and at the sounds of the deep.
Because I do so much work in the world of sound, I’m always looking for resources that will inspire and challenge me. One of them is earth.fm, an online resource for people who appreciate the sounds of the natural world. Sound recordists from all over the world—and I mean ALL over the world—contribute tracks to earth.fm to be shared with anyone who wants to listen. They have a great Web site, which is just earth-dot-fm, and a terrific app, available in your favorite app store. In the process of getting to know them I got to know Melissa Pons, their primary content curator. Melissa is enormously talented: beyond earth.fm, her award-winning work as a sound designer and content creator has been featured on the BBC and NPR, among others. But as I got to know Melissa’s work, I began to think of her as much more than a skilled recordist: I also saw her as a thoughtful and deliberate listener. Her field recording albums cover the acoustic waterfront, and her contributions to earth.fm are as varied as they are beautiful.So, I asked Melissa, who is based in Portugal, to join me for a conversation about field recording, sound design, and the importance of going outside, being quiet, and listening to the voice of the natural world. In the program, you get to meet Melissa Pons.
Weird, isn't it, that wind is completely silent--silent, that is, until it hits something. Then, it bursts out in myriad voices.
In this episode we travel from central Turkey, the region known as Anatolia, to northern Norway, on the island of Svalbard, to visit two extraordinary subterranean places.
IT's hard to believe that I have created 300 episodes of the Natural Curiosity Project. Thank you so much--SO much--for staying with me on the adventure. In this episode, Pete Mulvihill recalls some of his favorite episodes--and asks me for mine.The episodes mentioned in the program are 84 (Bud and the tumbleweeds); 77 (How to Read Movie Credits with Bob Verlaque); 181 (Rob Prince and Dark Winter Nights); 206 (Dewitt Jones); 15 (How Trees Work); 16 (Forest Bathing); and 97, 99 and 109 (Letter-writing). Enjoy!
that are abbreviations. But they differ from abbreviations because they can be pronounced like a word. Many of these acronyms, like the 'ZIP' in 'Zip Code,' aren't even known as acronyms anymore. In this episode, my friend Pete Mulvihill helps me decode some of the most common acronyms in modern lexicon.
Author John Stilgoe exhorts us to go outside, take a walk or a bike ride, and tune in to the world before us that we miss when we whiz by in a car. I implore you to do the same thing--but instead of paying attention to what you see, pay attention to what you hear.
I was listening to music the other day while driving to and from the dump, and one of my favorites came on: Mr. Bojangles, by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Like most of the songs that rise to the top of my favorites list, Mr. Bojangles has the best qualities of storytelling. But as I listened, I started thinking, something that always gets me in trouble. And, it did. I wanted to know: Who was Mr. Bojangles? Was he real? Well, it turns out that yeah, he was, but there’s a lot more to the story than a single person.
I spent a great deal of my life in Monterey, California, most of it under the water while teaching SCUBA diving. I recently discovered a Monterey story that held me spellbound. It begins like this: A marine biologist, a mythologist, and a novelist walk into a bar...
This essay contains an important story for the ages. Given current events, and the absolute truth that history does repeat, the lesson is plain, and chilling. 1492 and the years leading up to it in Medieval Spain, were times that should not be repeated. And yet…
Sometimes, curiosity, awe and wonder are the only tools we have. But when it comes to the majesty and magnitude of the night sky, of all the things about it we can’t possibly comprehend, they’re actually the best tools we can have. In this episode we talk about the magic and wonder that happens late at night, when it’d just you, the sky, and pure awe.
I recently had a conversation about technology’s impact on research today. It’s an argument I could make myself—that technology has resulted in access to more data and information. For example, before the invention of moveable type and the printing press, the only books that were available were chained to reading tables in Europe’s great cathedrals—they were that rare and that valuable. BUT: Does technology give me access to BETTER data and information? I believe the answer to that is no, for a very specific reason: It leaves out the all-important human element in the knowledge molecule, the element that makes sense of the data and then converts it to information. Have a listen.
It’s human nature for each generation to criticize the generation that preceded it, often using them as a convenient scapegoat for all that’s wrong in the world. The current large target is my own generation, the Baby Boomers. I recently overheard a group of young people—mid-20s—complaining at length about their belief that the Boomers constitute a waste of flesh who never contributed much to society. Respectfully, I beg to differ; this is my response, along with a plea to ALL generations to think twice about that conclusion.
Short and Sweet: A challenge to our government and our politicians--all of them--to do their jobs. In good conscience, I can't NOT post this audio essay.
I read something the other day that had a reference in it to a new book that had just come out. The book’s called, “Sing Like Fish,” and it’s written by author and science writer Amorina Kingdon. Needless to say, I immediately ordered the book, and I have to tell you, I burned through it in three days. The subtitle is, “How Sound Rules Life Underwater,” which you can imagine, as a wildlife sound recordist, really caught my attention. Actually, a few things in the book caught my attention, including this quote:“For all the wonders and worries of this subject, the truth is that noise does not match the deep threat posed to the oceans by climate change. And yet, neither issue is monolithic or exists in a vacuum. Warming or acidifying waters will conduct sound differently: Sound’s effect on ecosystems like reefs or Arctic food webs will ricochet into animals’ responses to climate change.Yet I believe that it is never a waste to examine the world though a new lens, through a new sense.”That’s powerful writing. So, as I tend to do, I went looking for the author, and I found her north of the border in British Columbia. Amorina and I had a nice chat, discovered that we have a lot of common interests, including, of all things, the acoustic work done by Bell Laboratories, and she agreed to be on the program. Our conversation wandered all over the landscape—I recorded more than three hours of tape—but I edited it down to the most important points. Here's Amorina.
On a warm fall day in eastern Nebraska, I met up with wildlife biologist Bethany Ostrom of the Crane Trust. As we talked, we took a long walk along the banks of the Platte River, watching as small grasshoppers by the hundreds boiled out from under our feet like popcorn, listening to meadowlarks and bobolinks calling from the scrubby brush along the river.The Crane Trust monitors the health and welfare of North America’s population of both migratory sandhill cranes, which number in the hundreds of thousands, as well as the highly endangered whooping cranes, which number less than a thousand in the entire migratory population.The health of the crane population is a bellwether for other species, and underlines the importance of the work done by Bethany and her colleagues.
Imagine a place right here on Earth—not on Mercury or Venus—where it’s not particularly unusual for the summer temperature to soar to 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 degrees C). Now imagine a 20-meter or 60-foot-tall building in that hellish place where ice can be safely stored, completely frozen, for the entire summer. Oh—I should also add that the building has no electricity and is made out of mud, goat hair, ash, and egg whites.These buildings exist, and they’re called Yakhchals. They’re found in the Middle East, mostly in Iran, in places where it gets very cold in the winter, when ice can be made, and very hot in the summer. They’re a type of evaporative cooler—in the dry parts of the American south, a similar technology is called a swamp cooler—and these Yakhchals been in continuous use since at least the fourth-century BCE.
Every once in a while, an idea hits me that causes one of those stop-the-presses moments, usually caused by some triggering event—in this case, the senseless, ongoing attacks on and defunding of scientific research by a group of decision-makers who aren’t sure if there’s an ‘I’ in the word ‘science.’ They make me think of a line from the movie Armageddon, in which the Air Force general says to Billy Bob Thornton, one of the NASA executives, “You’re asking me to put the future of the planet into the hands of a group of people that I wouldn’t trust with a potato gun.” The world reveres art, especially music and the artists who create it. The same is true of sports figures. Look at the way we hold up rock musicians and professional athletes as if they were celestial deities, sitting beside Zeus and Apollo and the rest of the pantheon. But when’s the last time we saw such reverence for science and the scientists who strive to understand the ways of the universe? In fact, I know you can name musicians and sports figures. But how many scientists can you name, once you get past Einstein, and maybe Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson? It’s time to change that, don’t you think?
I just got a package in the mail, which contains a signed copy of a brand-new book that just came out from science fiction author Rob Dircks, called “Sunnyside,” along with a cloth patch that I can sew onto a shirt or a baseball cap. The patch says, “HISTORY REPAIR TECHNICIAN: CORRECT THE PAST, PROTECT THE FUTURE.” I won’t give it away, but it’s related to Sunnyside.As you’ve probably already figured out, Rob is my guest my guest in this episode. I’m already halfway through the eBook version of Sunnyside, which came out before the physical book did, but Rob was kind enough to send me a physical copy as well, and that’s what just got here. Man, I love this patch.In this episode, Rob and I are going to talk about writing with a focus on science fiction, but we’re also going to talk about curiosity, creativity, and the challenge of balancing work and the creative pursuits that feed our souls.But there’s more to Rob Dircks that just being a science fiction author and Podcaster. Yes, he’s written a lot of material, and talk about diverse! His books include “You’re Going to Mars!”, a trilogy called “Where the Hell is Tesla,” and “The Wrong Unit.” And those are just his science fiction titles. He’s also the author of “Alphabert: An A-B-C Bedtime Adventure, and “Unleash the Sloth: 75 Ways to Reach Your Maximum Potential by Doing Less” (And I DARE you to hear that title and NOT check it out, along with Rob’s other books).
Curiosity can lead to some weird and wacky places—how about Sopchoppy, Florida, home of the American Worm Gruntin’ Festival? But there’s more to this story than that. Have a listen.
HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED that every child, by the time they’re 13 or so, should have a good grounding in three specific skills. They should be able to read well; they should have a decent understanding of their individual rights, especially freedom of speech and the sanctity of a free press; and they should understand the scientific method and how it works.Science is real, and it is as accurate as anything can possibly be BECAUSE it is designed to be ferociously self-critical. What if our political system worked the same way? Wow—what an amazing thing THAT would be! Let me say that another way: what if we were to unleash the scientific method on POLITICAL science? What would THAT look like! In this episode, I take a look at that, with the help of none other than Carl Sagan. Have a listen.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates underwater microphone arrays throughout the world's oceans, going them th ability to listen to goings-on below the surface. Many sounds capture by those hydrophones they recognize--but some, they don't. In this episode I'll share some of these mysterious sounds with you. What do YOU think they are?
To combat disease, we have the opportunity to go to the doctor and get a vaccine, which helps us create antibodies to resist disease. But how do we inoculate ourselves against a very different and insidious attacker--bias and disinformation? I'll tell you.
Anyone who has listened to more than two episodes of this program knows that I’m about as weird and geeky as they come. I’m a sucker for science and nature, and in spite of the fact that as a kid I would have rather looked for turtles and snakes in the vacant lots around our town than play sports, a fact that led to more than a few schoolyard brawls, my passion and curiosity have never left me—and hopefully, never will. One of the best things I ever built, one of the most magical, was something called a crystal radio. And listen: if you have a young person in your life, pay attention—this is a great project to do together.The very best resource I’ve found online about crystal radios is maintained by Professor David Goldenberg at the University of Utah. You can find his page at https://goldenberg.biology.utah.edu/fun.shtml.This episode's cover image is from my good friend, Kenn Sato.
One of the most effective yet most overlooked and under appreciated techniques for assessing the biodiversity of an environment is sound--the voice of the place. In this episode, I describe why sound is such a powerful and accurate indicator of bioacoustics health.
Jared Blake is one of the most important human voices in the natural world today. His unceasing commitment to exhort us all to slow down and listen to the voices of the natural world, to work hard to understand what we're being told, is a cause and effort to be celebrated. in this episode, Jared tells us about his months-long recording expedition to the American Southwest, and about the extraordinary, often eerie, voices he heard while in the wild.
Here’s a childhood question for you. And I should qualify that—for the most part I’m talking to people who were kids during the 60s, and who shared the books they read with their own children. Here’s the question: What do Carolyn Keene, Franklin W. Dixon, Kenneth Robeson, Laura Lee Hope, and Victor Appleton have in common? Hopefully, you remember some of those names. The answer is that they’re all well-known authors to anyone who read The Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, Doc Savage, the Campfire Girls, The Happy Hollisters, and a few others. The other thing they have in common? None of them exist, and they never did. They’re all pseudonyms. Here's why.
Remember the movie, “Tombstone”? There’s a scene where Val Kilmer, who plays Doc Holliday, confronts the outlaw, Johnny Ringo. Doc says, “I’m your huckleberry,” which causes Johnny Ringo to go pale as a ghost, because he knows that people don’t generally walk away from a gunfight with Doc Holliday. But here’s the thing: that’s not what he said. The other evening, Sabine told me what he actually said, and that got me thinking about words—you know how I am with stuff related to language—and the next thing I knew I had assembled a list of words that I had never heard in my life, but that now I can’t wait to find a reason to use. Here you go.
Were you aware that deep in the Amazon Jungle of Brazil there lies an abandoned American town, built in the 1920s by none other than Henry Ford? Check it out.
A few months ago, I did an interview on the program with Sarah and Derek Solomon, who are safari guides in southern Africa. If you listened to that episode, you may recall that their work is pretty unique. First, in addition to doing traditional photo and wildlife viewing safaris, they also do sound safaris, usually at night. Their safari guests can’t see the animals, but they can hear them, thanks to special microphones mounted on the front of the safari vehicle and headphones at each seat.Then, they met a young South African filmmaker who was producing a documentary about a remarkable young South African girl, blind since birth, and her experiences of seeing the world through sound. Brett, the filmmaker, needed a safari guide to help this young girl “see” African wildlife in her own way—with her ears, rather than with her eyes. Sarah and Derek were perfect for the job.The film, “Call of the Wild,” has been a big hit at film festivals ever since its release. But equally important is the impact that the experience has had on Sarah and Derek. After working with Brett, and the young girl, Annika, A thought struck them: Why not offer sound safaris for people who can’t see? Well, after a great deal of effort and planning, their idea has become a reality. I reached out, and asked them to give me an update on how things are going.
As most of you know, I released a new novel reently called Russet. It’s my fourth book of fiction; all my prior titles have been about technology, history, photography, writing, sound recording, biography, and a few other genres. The book is doing well; it’s my first science fiction book, and I had a blast writing it.For the last six weeks or so, pretty much since Russet hit the shelves, I’ve been getting an unusual number of emails and messages from people, asking me how to write a book. Actually, they’re asking more than that. Many feel like they have a book inside themselves begging to be written, and want to know how to get it from mind to paper. Or, they have an idea that they think would make a good book, but don’t know how to bridge the gap between their idea and a finished work. And others want to know how I manage to jump between genres in my writing. It’s true—I write about a lot of different things. Well, I’ve thought about these questions, because they intrigue me, too, and I’ve assembled some thoughts about them.
Jerry Berrier is a birder, a wildlife sound recordist, and an outspoken advocate for the natural world. And, he’s been blind since birth. In this episode he tells his remarkable story, and explains how his blindness, while clearly not an advantage in the modern world, does not slow him down.
I saw a story headline last week that inspired this episode. It told me that Elwood Edwards had died at 74. Don't know who he is? He received $200 to record all the original AOL sounds and inspired at least one really great movie.That got me thinking about other sounds from the more-or-less recent past, so I dove into my sound archives and found a bunch of them. And what I didn’t have, Wikipedia did, so hats off to them for being such an important archive in so many different ways. By the way, if you use Wikipedia, even once a month, please send them the five bucks they ask for each year. We’re talking about the cost of a cup of coffee here, folks—they deserve it.So—sounds. I’ve collected a bunch of them here for your nostalgic listening pleasure. I’ll tell you what they are at the end of the program, but for now, just have a listen. These are not in chronological order, by design; they’re just sounds of the technological past.
I had the opportunity today to sit down with someone who is truly an expert in navigating the turbulent waters of global geopolitics. He's an expert in one particularly troublesome region, a place that most of us are quite familiar with. Not only does he describe the kinds of threats that can be encountered there, but he also explains scenarios and techniques for dealing with them. This is a great episode--enjoy.
A couple of months ago I was wandering around a small bookstore here in Vermont, where I ran across a book with the magnetic title, “Abandoned Vermont and New Hampshire,” by one Marie Desrosiers. I picked it up and started reading; the next day, I finished it.The book was so compelling that I found Marie online and sent her a message. A few days later we had a chat about her work, and she agreed to do an interview about the books she writes and the photographs of she makes of abandoned places—a field she calls the study of abandonment. Please enjoy.
Sabine and I just came back from a big, looping three-week road trip that took us as far west as the sand hills of Nebraska, where I wanted to record the sounds of the prairie in the early fall. But we also spent a lot of our time trying to see the country differently than we ever have. Because we’ve both lived in more than one country, we live by Mark Twain’s quote, that “travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrowmindedness.” We’re in a pretty weird political time right now, so we wanted to get a better understanding of just what this country, this place, is. I’m not sure if we actually managed to do that—I don’t that anyone can—but we definitely came home more enlightened than we were when we left.
According to many sources, Apollo 11, which landed on the Moon in July 1969, drew the attention of the entire world. But subsequent missions to the Moon and other ambitions efforts by NASA and its partner agencies drew far less attention. How quickly the sense of awe and wonder wanes. We take computers for granted; our mobile phones are orders of magnitude more powerful than anything that got Apollo to the Moon—and trust me on this, the Apollo on-board computers were wondrous devices for the time, automatically controlling pitch and yaw and roll and the firing of thrusters and retrorockets at precise times. Flying around the world has become mundane, more a chore than an incredible opportunity. We even have electric cars on the road. That’s a different scale of wonder, but you know what I mean. People pay no attention to space launches, yet they’re impressed by cars that run on batteries and can go 250 miles without recharging.But here’s the thing. It ain’t all that impressive. Sorry, Elon. Electric cars are a good idea, and they’re good for the environment—mostly—but they’re not a new idea. In fact, the first truly electric vehicle—a car—was built in 1965. And it wasn’t designed for smooth, modern highways, with conveniently spaced charging stations along the way. No, it was designed to be driven on the Moon. And it did. In fact, three of them made the trip.Let me tell you the story, with a little help from NASA.
The best thing about doing this Podcast is that it forces me to constantly be on the lookout for topics and the people associated with them that might lead to interesting episodes. So, when I learned during a meeting of the Williston Historical Society that South Ridge, the neighborhood where I live in Vermont, yielded archaeological artifacts during the planning, site preparation, and excavation of the neighborhood, I got curious, and went in search of the archaeologists who I assumed were called in to ensure that sacred or culturally significant sites weren’t being disturbed. And that’s how I found Douglas Frink. Douglas is an archaeologist, but more than that, as you’ll hear, he’s a soil scientist. But he’s even more than that. He’s sort of a soil whisperer, because he believes that if we pay attention to the soil, we pay attention to the history.
Occasionally, in the course of developing topics and themes for this program, I run across a genuine treasure. So, full disclosure—as if you need me to tell you this—I’m a pretty serious, card-carrying geek of the highest order. I like science, I tend to geek out on it, and I’m always looking for new sources of knowledge about topics that most people don’t care much about. So, you can imagine my delight when I ran across Brian Malow.Brian is equal parts science enthusiast, educator, speaker, comedian, and a few other things, as you’re about to hear. I heard him speak at a conference years ago in Berkeley, and recently, I asked him if he’d join me on the program sometime. He said yes, so here’s our conversation. By the way, you can learn more about Brian's work and booking him for your event (an excellent idea!) at https://sciencecomedian.com.
What is it about that sound of a foghorn, or a bell buoy, or a whistle or gong buoy? For some people, like Dianne Ballon, these sounds are magical, and mystical, hearkening to a world that most of us don’t know. Dianne is a Maine-based artist who shares a passion for the sea—and most specifically, a passion for the devices whose voices warn fog-cloaked vessels about the presence of hazards. Not just foghorns, but also bell, whistle, and gong buoys. I came across Dianne Ballon while I was in the middle of one of my down-the-rabbit-hole projects, researching the history of lighthouses and foghorns. I was looking for foghorn sounds to augment my own recordings, and the Maine Maritime Museum’s Web site popped up, because Dianne has an ongoing exhibit there about the sounds of the Maine coast. I reached out to her, and Dianne agreed to chat with me. You can learn more about Dianne's work at https://www.dianneballonsound.com.
The sun was barely above the horizon by the time I reached the meadow during my morning walk. The bright, flat light hit the tall grasses and wildflowers from the side, creating a silhouette effect that made them glow. But that wasn’t all: the horizontal light also backlit the dozens of orb weaver webs that stretched between the tall plant stems, bejeweled by the droplets of dew that had condensed on them as tiny, transparent, concentric strings of pearls.I was entranced by these gorgeous structures. So—rabbit hole time. How do spiders build those things? How do they know to create THAT shape? Are the webs strictly structural and for capturing prey? In this episode, we walk briefly through their remarkable physiology—and how scientists are looking intensely at spider silk for a range of applications.
My newest novel, "Russet," has just been released. It's a 600-page saga about mounting a mission to Mars, an unimaginably complex undertaking. Sending astronauts to the Moon took four days; Mars is a one-way journey of at least five months. How could we possibly build a ship large enough and safe enough to accommodate their needs, for a round-trip journey of at least 18 months? In my story, NASA has the answer—an extraordinary plan to put 30 people on the Red Planet—unless those who oppose the mission can destroy the ship first.
The year was 1977. The top selling cars were the Ford LTD and the Chevy Impala. The top movies were Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever. Gas was 65 cents a gallon. Stephen King published The Shining, and Farrah Fawcett published the poster. Meanwhile, over at NASA, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were carried aloft for a five-year mission. Yet here we are, 47 years later, and they’re still going strong. Voyager I is 15.2 billion miles from Earth; Voyager II is 12.7 billion miles away, and both are traveling at about 35,000 miles-per-hour. And as amazing as all that is, that’s not what I want to talk with you about in this program. I want to talk with you about the payload they both carry—specifically, the golden record.
I read a lot. It fuels my writing, gives me a better view of the world, and is a great way to travel through time and space. Every once in a while, I run across a book that really hits me as a must-read. Episode two was about Sam Kean’s book, The Disappearing Spoon; Episode eleven was about The Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes; and Episode 255 was about William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways. In this program, I’m going to talk about Lynda Rutledge’s novel, West with Giraffes, which I finished last night. Sabine recommended this one to me; as I closed the back cover, I realized that there were tears on my face. This is one great book.But there’s more to the story of this episode. The book made me think about current events in the context of past events and made me realize that we’re far better off now than we were in 1938—or any year hence. Those who feel otherwise and who look to the past to find “the good old days” won’t find them, because they don’t exist: “The Good Old Days” is a dangerous and misleading myth. Better days only lie ahead, in our collective future, and it is our job to make them real. Please have a listen—this is an important message.Note: Image copyright San Diego Zoo Global.
I know, tilting at windmills again, but as we enter this next political cycle, I have to once again take a shot at the corrosive power of labels and how we should avoid them--not just during election season, but in our lives in general. this is short, but hopefully will give you something to think about.
This Podcast is all about Curiosity and why it’s important. I was looking through one of the local paper a few months back, and saw a photo of an interesting looking guy who was practically lying on the ground at the shore of Lake Champlain with a microphone extended over the water, and a beast of a recorder next to him. He’s Wren Kitz, and as you probably already know, he’s a curious guy. I got in touch, we chatted, and he agreed to do an interview.Wren is a musician, field recordist, filmmaker with his partner Abby, and a bread bakerIf you’d like to hear more of Wren’s work, please visit his Bandcamp site, which is at WrenKitz.Bandcamp.com. And if you happen to be in the area and want to taste some amazing bread, Seek out Tremolo. He sells it at local farmer’s markets in the summer, and a few local restaurants.
One evening in 1982, Sabine handed me a book that had come out two weeks before, saying, “Read this. It has you written all over it.” The book was called, “Blue Highways: A Journey into America,” by previously unknown (and quirkily named) author William Least Heat-Moon. If you haven’t read the book, stop whatever you’re doing right now and go buy a copy. I’ve read it 19 times, and I’ll read it a few more times, I’m sure. Today, 42 years after its release, it’s one of the most important American books of the 20th century. And today, as we enter yet another mindless political screaming match, it’s a good book to read. Listen to hear why.
There’s been a lot of chatter in the press lately about advances in interspecies communication and our soon-to-arrive ability to translate what our non-human neighbors are saying. That’s quite a breakthrough, considering how much trouble I often have understanding what other HUMANS are saying. But there’s another factor: even though AI, machine learning and large language models give us extraordinarily powerful abilities to analyze unimaginably large volumes of data, and to perhaps decode non-human communications, I’m not convinced we should. Have a listen.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Anthropologist Loren Eiseley. He said, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” In this episode I’m going to prove it.A lot of you probably know that the first stage of my professional career was as a SCUBA instructor and commercial diver. I spent thousands of hours under the surface of the Pacific Ocean, enthralled by what my hero Jacques Cousteau called The Silent World. We divers used to laugh good-naturedly at that, because the ocean is anything but silent. It’s filled with noise, and I’m not talking about boats and such, although there’s plenty of that, too. I’m talking about snapping shrimp, parrotfish, ocean waves and swells passing overhead, the clicks of dolphins, the eerie call of whales, and all the other sounds we used to listen to and wonder about. But it isn’t just oceanic creatures that make noise. As you’re about to learn, it turns out that freshwater ponds are filled with sound. Yes, that still, calm little pond over there may be quiet above, but most likely, below the surface, there’s a whole symphony going on.My guest on this program is an acoustic ecologist who has studied aquatic sound, but more than that, he has come up with ways to use sound as a predictor of freshwater environmental health—and as a tool for the restoration of ponds in areas where human activity has degraded them.
Not long ago I got a request from a young student to do an episode on the Podcast about roly polies, which happened to be this student’s favorite animal in the universe—his words. So, I did. And that kicked off a flurry of other requests, which I dutifully fulfilled. This episode is the result of a request from a junior high student who wanted to know about the field of geology. So, I started to do some research on the topic, and after about 30 minutes of digging, I had an epiphany, which caused me to go stand in front of a mirror and slap myself a few times for being an idiot. My Dad is a retired hard rock geologist, so rather than research the field, I decided to go straight to the horse’s mouth, as it were, and ask him. So, in this episode, I’d like to introduce you to my dad, Bob Shepard. I asked him to share his story with me, as a way to answer the question that came in from Andrea in Oklahoma City. So, without further ado, here’s my dad!
Tim Brookes is many things: accomplished author with many prestigious publishing credits to his name; woodworker; college professor and program director; and the founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project. We've all heard about languages disappearing, especially those that have no written form. Well, alphabets are also disappearing--and Tim is on a mission to save them.
It's hard to believe that over the course of 70 months--from September 2018 to this episode in June 2024--I have published 250 episode in tis crazy journey of discovery. thanks for being along for the ride--there's lots more to come!
My guest in this episode is Tom Biegalski. Tom’s a photographer and videographer, but to say that is like saying that 'Ansel Adams took snapshots.' He specializes in photographing things that can’t be seen with the naked eye, using techniques that fall into Arthur C. Clarke’s well-known quote that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. His Web site, TTBPhoto.com, is filled with examples of his work. Please take a few minutes to visit the galleries there, and be sure to click on the YouTube link at the bottom of the home page to see his videos. The slow-motion dragonflies are mesmerizing.
Remember the show, Big Bang Theory? Of course you do. Best—television show—ever. Do you remember when Sheldon Cooper and his girlfriend Amy Farrah Fowler produced their Web TV show, "Fun with Flags? “I’m Dr. Sheldon Cooper, and this is Fun with Flags.”Well, in keeping with that, I have a similarly geeky fascination with geography. So, I’m Dr. Steven Shepard, and this is Fun with Geography.I am constantly running across fascinating little factoids about the world. Most of ‘em fall into the ‘really interesting but not sure how it’s useful’ category, other than the priceless value of information and knowledge. When I worked at Hill Associates, we used to talk about quodlibetic information—information that is really interesting, but that has no earthly use. So, this episode is your periodic dose of quodlibetic information.
The amazing and mystifying life cycle of ants--and why they do the things they do. This is an amazing story!
Have you ever dreamed about going on an expedition? And I don’t mean a walk in the deep woods—I mean, going to places most of us couldn’t find on a map, and living under some pretty rugged conditions.Well, my guest on this program has done that. In fact, he’s been on more than one expedition, to some of the roughest places on the planet. Meet Tony Baylis. Tony is an Australia-based wildlife sound recordist who sometimes bills himself as a ‘bird vocabularist’—meaning, someone who specializes in the unique calls of individual species. I caught up with him recently while he was in the UK, visiting our mutual friend Roger Boughton, and we had a great conversation.
Sometimes there are no words. In this case, I editorialize about theme I believe deserves attention: the corrosive power of disinformation and lies, and those who wield them.
Episode 242 - Interview With Musician And Field Recordist Madeline Reilly by Dr. Steven Shepard
As you know, the tag line of this program is that this is the place for stories that matter. Well, this story matters more than most. Not only is it about experiencing the wonders of the African bush, it's about a young woman, sightless from birth, who taught others how to see.
What's the largest thing on earth--the blue whale? Nope, not even close. Here's a hint: it weights 233 times what a blue whale weighs.
A message from an 8th grader asked me to look into antlions. So, I did, and with lots of memories of these little critters from my own childhood, here you go!
This is an important audio essay (at least, I think it is). It’s a bit longer than my usual diet, but it will be worth your time to listen and, as Winnie-the-Pooh would say, think a little think about it. Thanks, in advance.
Described as the most resilient creatures on earth, tardigrades are funny little critters that can withstand just about any threat we toss at them--and shake it off as if nothing happened. They can be frozen, boiled, left in the vacuum of space, exposed to radiation--and nothing seems to affect them. In this episode we talk about these little critters. Enjoy!
Dudley Edmondson is a gifted nature photographer with a passion for telling nature's story through his books and images. He's also a Black Man in America, and wrestles with all that that means as someone who often feels more comfortable in the wild than he does standing in his own front yard. Listen to his story--and think about what it means.
Another track that’s mostly for the kids, this one thanks to a student request about the lowly dung beetle—a much smarter little critter than we give it credit for. Enjoy!
Imagine walking into the library because you’re interested in finding a book that will help you better understand a particular topic. You walk up to the circulation desk, tell the librarian what you’re interested in learning more about, and they say, “I’ve got just the book for you. Wait here.”So, the librarian walks into the back and returns with the book. Only in this library, the books—are people. Because this is the human library.You’re not going to hear from me a lot in this episode, because I want to leave the story to the people who are best equipped to tell it: the founder of the organization in Copenhagen, the manager of the New York City Human Library, and Brian Belovitch, one of their books.
In response to a query from a young student, I decided to talk about roly polies. Hey, it’s Friday—celebrate with something fun!
I love it when I discover a language all its own—typically related to a craft, or activity. Have a listen—and learn all about the jargon of the three-masted sailing ships. After doing this research, I’m astonished at the complexity of these gigantic works of art. I LOVE this stuff, and I’m not a sailor!
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, as in quantum physics. It even has a name: Synchronicity.Join me and my friend Tom Myers as we chat about the strange world of coincidences. Or are they?
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 called him. He agreed to be on the program, and this is my interview with him. You’re going to want to hear this one—and you’re going to want to read the book.
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 guest on the show. Like many people I interview on this program, John’s a wildlife sound recordist. I asked him the usual questions, but as we got into the interview, I had to call an audible (You like that? That’s a Podcast joke), because he was going off-script. Suddenly, I’m discovering that this guy I’m having a very interesting conversation with is also a physical therapist, an author, was a city councilman for more than 20 years, spends months in a motor home every year with his wife, traveling around North America recording wildlife, has produced a large number of CDs full of his bird recordings, and has had an outsized impact on his country—and I’m not talking about the U.S. John lives in British Columbia, in western Canada, on an island, and man, does he have a story to tell.
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 driving south along the west coast of Africa, all the way to Capetown, a distance of 12,000 kilometers. Sounds kind of daunting, doesn’t it? Perhaps; but that’s precisely the trip that Ario and Axel Drioli have undertaken. Axel is a wildlife sound recordist; his brother, Ario, is a photographer and cinematographer. I caught up with them and asked them to introduce themselves and tell us about themselves and their trip.
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 antique typewriters, Rick does it all.
A few thoughts about broadcast television (especially the commercials), see through the eyes of Alexis de Tocqueville.
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 big Hollywood production He also produces sounds for the video game industry, which is far more complicated than you may think.
My guest is George Vlad. I learned about George’s work a few years ago when I ran across a photograph of him standing on the lip of a volcano with a boom pole extended over the rim. He has recorded soundscapes all over the world: the Amazon Basin, Borneo, the Arabian Desert, the rainforests of west Africa, Madagascar, and all over Europe, including in his native Romania. You can learn more about George and his work, and listen to some great tutorials, at mindful-audio.com, or at his YouTube site. But first, meet George. I caught up with him for this interview at his home in London.
Thomas Meinen 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 from the Antarctic.” He’s my guest on this program, and you’re in for a terrific ride.
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, motivate them, reward them, discipline them, and develop them—and that’s not to mention the degree to which we successfully attract them as customers and compete with them in the market. This two-part program describes generations and offers techniques for taking best advantage of the power and value that all generations bring to society and the workplace.
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, motivate them, reward them, discipline them, and develop them—and that’s not to mention the degree to which we successfully attract them as customers and compete with them in the market. This two-part program describes generations and offers techniques for taking best advantage of the power and value that all generations bring to society and the workplace.
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 years. When they emerge, the clock starts ticking, because from that moment onward, they have about six weeks to live, during which time they mate, lay eggs, and start the cycle once again.They also sing. As I stand here, headphones on my head, I can almost hear them saying, “17 years I waited for this. Mate? Absolutely. Lay eggs? Sure. But first? A little music.”
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 falsehood. So, I’ve been digging around, looking for tools to help me clearly separate the two, and I’ve run across some things that I want to share with you—not just because they’re interesting, but because they might be useful in the months ahead. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.
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's an amazing and quite beautiful thing--have a listen.Program notes are here: https://stevenshepardcom.files.wordpress.com/2023/03/episode-212-dendrites.pdf.
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 Al Qaeda operatives intent on destroying them.
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.
Just to mess with your mojo from the earlier Parker River track, here's something on the opposite end of the sonic spectrum: A freight train barreling through Norway, Iowa, something that happens about every 20 minutes or so. Headphones again, please, to experience the spatial effect of the train's coming and going. Careful with the volume--it gets a bit loud.
Sabine and I have a discovered a new favorite place: Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, in Massachusetts, just over the border from New Hampshire. One of the first, if not THE first, refuges in the national system, it's been around so long that the original brochure (which you can download from the refuges Web site) was written by none other than Rachel Carson. Anyway, put on your headphones and enjoy this ambisonic, surround-sound track of a couple of minutes of gentle surf.
After reading Paul Woodruff’s book, Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue, I found myself thinking about the concept of reverence and what it means in modern society. Woodruff defines it as equal parts awe, respect, and shame. What I walked away with after lots of time spent thinking about the concept is this: Reverence, which has nothing to do with religion, is perhaps the single most important foundational element in modern society. Woodruff elegantly ties together reverence, and ceremony, and community, pointing out that we revere the ceremonies that define a community, because they stand for who and what we are as a family, a town, a nation, or a business. When reverence disappears, ceremony becomes meaningless ritual.My contention is that the intransigent polarization that we’re currently experiencing is happening because of a loss of reverence. I don’t have to agree with the other side’s position, but I do owe them my respect, which manifests as my willingness to listen to what they have to say—again, even if I don’t agree. Please listen to this episode, and then help me start a conversation. This, I believe, is important.You can download the script of this program here: https://steven-shepard.com/2023/03/09/thoughts-on-reverence-and-democracy/.
Darrin Wassom made an envious (and courageous) career change: He went from a long, successful career as a cybersecurity specialist to being a newly-minted recordist, capturing and sharing the sounds of the natural world. His story is more than just the story of a shifted career: it's the story of someone for whom passion, and balance, and family, and life are more important than career. This is an important story; I hope you enjoy it. You can find Darrin's work at NatureIsMyJam.net, and his Podcast of the same name is available wherever you get your Podcasts. #NatureIsMyJam. @DarrinWassom
After four intensive years of medical school, a grueling residency, and surgical specialization in urology, Bevan Choate was on top of his game as a full-fledged urologist. Then, on December 3rd of 2020, the music stopped for Bevan. At 36, he suffered a life-threatening stroke. After nearly dying twice, undergoing three brain surgeries, and months in the hospital, followed by endless rehab, he finally went home in February of 2021. During months of therapy, Bevan wrote The Stroke Artist, his book about recovering from a catastrophic brain injury, from the perspective of a young surgeon. But it’s more than that: Bevan’s book is not only about physical recovery: It’s about the things he learned about himself, his life, and the incredible gift of friends and family.
Back around 2007 or thereabouts, one of my customers asked me to be one of several keynote speakers at a big annual sales event they were holding. Thankfully, it worked with my schedule, because Dewitt Jones was also keynoting the event—and I got to hear him speak. I didn't know Dewitt, but it turned out that I knew his work. Boy, did I know his work.Dewitt photographed for National Geographic for 20 years. He shot some of my favorite stories, and as I listened to his presentation, I was captivated by his message: That the world is filled with possibility, and that we should go out of our way to celebrate what's right with the world, rather than wallow in what's wrong with it. Not long ago, I asked Dewitt if he would join me on the program, and he graciously accepted. We hopped on a Zoom call, I, in my office in snowy Vermont, Dewitt at his home on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai. His windows were open, the birds were singing, and for about two hours, we just talked. This is our conversation. Dewitt's wisdom is a gift to us all. Please, really, really listen to what he has to say. And if you're looking for a speaker for an event, look no farther: this is your guy. Check him out at DewittJones.com.
A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through some photographs, and I came across some pictures I took of the Goodyear Blimp, anchored in Carson, California, right next to the freeway. Those pictures got me thinking. What must it have been like to fly in the big dirigibles of the 1930s, those gigantic, hydrogen-filled airships that were sometimes called flying ocean liners? People took long trips on those things—and not a few people. By the time the Hindenburg met its fiery end in New Jersey, more than 3,500 people had made commercial flights aboard the Hindenburg or its sister ship, the Graf Zeppelin; in fact, when the Hindenburg burned, it was in its second season of transatlantic flight.In this episode, we talk about life aboard these behemoths, as John Geoghegan refers to them in his book about these massive airships, When Giants Ruled the Sky. John Geoghegan agreed to join me on this program, as did Alexander Rose, whose book, Empires of the Sky: Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men’s Epic Duel to Rule the World, tells the story of the battle between zeppelins and airplanes in the early days of commercial flight.
Invention vs. innovation--what's the difference? In this episode we discuss these two forces of social change, and share a handful of amazing stories from each camp. We also hear from John Geoghegan, the author of several books on what he calls "White Elephant Technology," or "WETech." You can learn more about John at https://www.johnjgeoghegan.com. I also welcome my old friend Paul Whalen to the episode; Paul will be joining me on a few more programs in the near future.
In 1989, author John McPhee published his seminal work, “The Control of Nature.” Written in three long but highly informative and entertaining chapters, McPhee tells tales of human hubris, demonstrating conclusively that when humans begin to see themselves as being greater, stronger than, or superior to nature, nature will put us in our place, every time.In this episode, Natural Curiosity Project host Steven Shepard talks about McPhee’s book in the context of what we’re experiencing today—and shares a few practical things that we can do to set things right.
John Geoghegan is an author, journalist, historian, storyteller, archivist, and exhaustive researcher. His books and articles cover broad territory, from Japanese underwater aircraft carriers (Operation Storm) to giant American dirigibles in WWII (When Giants Ruled the Sky) to innovations and inventions that, while often extraordinary, never made it to market. Another interesting fact about John is that he’s deaf. His book, Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow, tells the story of a man who, like many of us, depended on his hearing to earn a living, overcame the obstacle and continues to be an exceptional writer, researcher, and of course, family man.
One of the best ways to track the long-term health of a species or group of species, and to understand how biologically diverse they actually are, is to map the organism’s genome—the roadmap of genetic diversity. About a year I introduced you to Jacob Job, a professor at Colorado State University who had recently completed his Voices of a Flyway Project. Over the course of several months, Jacob traveled from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to the Boundary Waters region of northern Minnesota along the Mississippi flyway, recording the voices of the natural world and interviewing everyone from oil field workers to Audubon volunteers about the remarkable ways that they all engage with the non-human citizens of the natural world.Jacob has now moved on to another project: The Bird Genoscape Project, which, through the collection and analysis of feathers, is creating a genomic database of all the birds in North America—and, perhaps, beyond.
Today is a day of celebration! This is the 200th episode of the Natural Curiosity Project, which I started back in 2018. Thank you SO MUCH for continuing to listen--I hope you know how much it means to me. But we're not stopping here--I already have 15 new episodes queued up for release, and there are some great interviews in there. So thank you again--see you on the programs!
Jay Weiser, whom you met in the last episode a bout deafness and the miracle of cochlear implants, joins me to talk about his Five Leadership Superpowers. If you work for a business where leadership matters (and what business doesn't have that characteristic), you're going to want to hear this episode. You can learn more about Jay, the Five Leadership Superpowers, and his work at www.JayWeiser.com
Jay Weiser is an Atlanta-based leadership consultant and the creator of the Five Leadership Superpowers, which we’ll talk about in the next episode. Jay is also profoundly deaf. In this episode, Jay and I have a conversation about hearing loss, cochlear implants, and how he manages to be an extremely effective leadership consultant, in spite of having lost his hearing. You can learn more about Jay and his work at www.JayWeiser.com.
When the Great Depression hit in 1929, jobs disappeared by the millions. Unemployment lines and bread lines became common; the economy was badly wounded, and without jobs, without the machinery that made money move through the economy, its chances of recovery were slim.So, as part of the Second New Deal, and driven by a presidential order from Franklin Roosevelt, the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, was signed into law on May 6, 1935. But there’s another part of the Works Progress Administration that most people have never heard of, and it’s kind of important in its own right. It was called Federal Project Number One, and it had one goal: To protect and preserve the artistic and cultural elements of American society. It had five divisions, one of which was the Federal Writers Project. This episode is about the extraordinary content that the program made possible.
Ever since she was little, Michelle Fullner has been a nature enthusiast. She was always the kid who wandered off into the woods, crawling around on the ground, looking under rocks and logs and rooting around in the mud. Today, in addition to teaching English, Michelle is the creator and host of the Golden State Naturalist Podcast. Not long ago, she decided to enroll in the California Naturalist Program, which reminded her how much she loves nature. To prove it, she started her Podcast. I strongly recommend listening to it. Every episode is a mini-field trip, with fascinating guests who talk about a wide range of topics that span every aspect of the natural world. You can learn more about Michelle and her work at www.goldenstatenaturalist.com. The program is available wherever you get your Podcasts.
Rob Bender wears many hats: film director and producer, conservationist, songwriter, musician, and world-class birder. Rob and I met on a film shoot many years ago, and I recently caught up with him in his LA-based studio to talk about his own non-linear career. You can find his music on all the major streaming providers, as well as on Bandcamp: https://robbendermusic.bandcamp.com.
Imagine what life would be like if every time you hear the sound of a robin, you instantly taste salt. Or you hear someone’s name, and the color blue pops into your head. Or, when you hear the sound of the ocean, the taste of apples overwhelms your taste buds. Or, you rub your hands over gravel, and taste pineapple. Or, imagine this: You’re out for dinner with with two other people, and one of them touches the other—and you feel the touch, as well. Welcome to the weird condition called Synesthesia.
If you've ever watched a craft cocktail being made, and the mixologist reached for a small bottle on the back bar and sprayed a mist across the top of the drink, she was probably adding an essential bit of magic to her creation that was made by Alice and the Magician, a small company founded by brothers Aaron and Sam Wisniewski in Burlington, Vermont. They make fragrances--and the process by which they're made is part witchcraft, part organic chemistry, and all passion. This is a great story--enjoy!
I routinely extol the virtues of curiosity—it is, after all, the point of this Podcast. But there is a downside to curiosity: Awareness. Join me, please, for an exploration of the relationship between curiosity and our senses.
This is a repeat of an earlier episode that got great reviews, and lately I've received several requests to re-post the program. Our daughter Cristina is a Yoga instructor, and she recorded a relaxation program and shred it here on the Podcast. It's wonderful--I listen to it several times a week for focus and peace. Enjoy it.
A Thanksgiving gift to you and yours, in celebration of the true meaning of the holiday. Enjoy!
I’ve spent the bulk of my career in the hallways of technology, and while I admire it, and it often generates wonder, I’ve also been around it long enough to have developed healthy skepticism about elements of it, when that skepticism is important. One such area is AI, or artificial intelligence. I believe that it’s a critically important technological advancement, but intelligence? Not so much. And while the position I’m about to take is controversial, my belief is that an AI can be taught, but it doesn’t really learn—at least, not in the human sense. And therein lies the challenge. Have a listen.
Ever wonder why some of the States in the US have such weird shapes, like West Virginia, or Maryland? I mean, what were they thinking? Well. In this episode, Steve digs into the history of some of the weirdest of them and finds answers. It’s kind of interesting, and the answers may surprise you.
The Singing Planet is a film by my friend Liz McKenzie, with naturalist, sound recordist, and anthropologist Richard (Nels) Nelson, and Hank Lentfer, Nels’ best friend and a gifted wildlife sound recordist in his own right. The Singing Planet celebrates the voices of the natural world, focusing on the extraordinary richness of the wildlife in Alaska.
You can rent or buy The Singing Planet on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/thesingingplanet/761242788); Please do. Put on your headphones, sit back, and immerse yourself in the voice of the planet. You’ll be so glad you did.
I like people who draw from many different interests and skills to create the career that they ultimately pursue. Nathan Wolek is equal parts musician, programmer, researcher, wildlife sound recordist, and professor at Stetson University in north-central Florida. When he’s not creating music, or writing computer programs, or working with students, he’s in the field, recording everything from NASA rocket launches to shells swirling musically in a natural spring. Listen and enjoy—Nathan’s quite a guy.
Time for a new EPA--the Digital Environment Protection Act. We already regulate banking, pharmaceuticals, air travel, smoking, motor vehicle safety, alcohol, aviation, and a host of other things—including environmental noise. Now, we need a law to regulate digital noise.
Any arguments?
When Pacific Bell accepted the gift of two mated pairs of swans to live in the lakes around their new headquarters building in San Ramon, California, in the early 80s, little did they know that the birds would develop a taste for human flesh. Have a listen.
60 years ago, Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring," was released. It created a firestorm of controversy that ultimately led to the formation of the modern environmental movement, and helped push Richard Nixon--yes, THAT Richard Nixon--to create the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act, and the Noise Abatement Act. It's time to revisit Ms. Carson's work. Happy 60th anniversary, Silent Spring.
Rob Prince teaches documentary filmmaking at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. But he’s also the host of the wildly popular Podcast, “Dark Winter Nights: True Stories from Alaska.” In this episode, Rob and host Steve Shepard talk about documentary filmmaking, the power of the free press, the role of curiosity, the importance of relying on diverse news sources, and of course, his amazing Podcast.
Luke Pearson is a composer, musician, naturalist, educator, and wildlife sound recordist. He works as a nature educator, where his combined skills and background, including recording and listening trips in South Africa, help him open kids’ eyes to the wonders of the natural world.
Why is an excellent customer experience so difficult to deliver? It isn't--if you know what to do. In this entertaining episode, Steve tells the story of a tiny hotel in Los Angeles that has cracked the code and delivers what is perhaps the best customer experience in the country. Have a listen--and take notes.
Just about a year ago, I released my 97th book and second novel, The Nation We Knew. It quickly became the number one best-selling title in political fiction on Amazon, worldwide. The theme? What could the world look like, if we were to set aside out political differences and focus on the future—on creating the kind of place we want to leave for our children and grandchildren. In this retrospective, Steve talks about the experience of publishing a book that has been both praised and condemned. Enjoy!
Will Gillespie first appeared in episode 129 with his family, talking about their efforts to balance their cattle ranch against the needs of the natural world. They not only raise cattle, but they also support and maintain the Prairie Ridge Wildlife Refuge next door—both of which are prospering and flourishing.
But there’s more to Will than that. He’s also an engineer, a coal mine inspector, and the author of a terrific book called “Cows I have Known.” Join me for this short interview with Will as we explore his decidedly non-linear career.
You can order Will's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Cows-Have-Known-William-Gillespie-ebook/dp/B06XKFJZWP/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LMXSIZFFAQ6G&keywords=Cows+I+Have+Known&qid=1660339678&sprefix=cows+i+have+known%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-1.
Brian Ashley is a licensed Clinical Psychologist who sat down with me recently to talk about his world. Have you ever wondered about the difference between psychiatry and psychology? Or how mental health professionals think about the world they inhabit? or about the extraordinary process of helping people deal with some of the most difficult things thy'll ever face in their lives? This is one of the most interesting and thoughtful episodes I have ever done--it deserves a careful listen.
Brian acknowledges the work of others in his field and offers his thanks to them. “I want to acknowledge the sources of so many of the ideas I have shared in this interview: David Malan and Harvey Barten for their development of psychodynamic practice and theory, Christopher Bollas for giving us the Unthought Known and a radical re-imagining of how to work with and through the emotion of breakdown, and the pioneering developers of Open Dialogue at Keropudas Hospital in Tornio, Finland.”
Okay, this is a fun episode about something that we've all heard about but have rarely seen. Have you ever noticed in movie credits that there's somebody called the Foley Artist? Well this episode is about those people. Almost 100% of the sounds that are recorded on a movie set during production are actually replaced by Foley artists, in some amazing, remarkable, wacky ways. Enjoy. This is one to talk about.
The Internet of Things, IoT, is not well understood, so here's a quick description, by popular request, with some very interesting examples.
Worried that technology might take your job? Here's a better question to ask: If I could hand off some of my work to technology, what might I be able to accomplish? In this episode, Steve Shepard paints two scenarios, both real, both very similar, yet captured two decades apart. Enjoy.
Here's a dirty little secret for you: All generations want the same things in work and life. They want a good job, in some cases a career; they want some kind of education; they want to raise a family; they want to be comfortable, eat well, go on vacation, and make money. They want to be recognized and rewarded for a job well done, and they want to feel like they’re growing personally and professionally. In other words, they want to live their best lives. So: Want to have a strong, loyal, and productive workforce? Learn how to tell the difference between them, and act accordingly.
In March 2021 I published my novel, “The Nation We Knew.” It’s built around a simple question: What would happen if a new president came into power, a president with a commitment to the people, not the party, a president consumed with the idea of building progress on a platform of common sense. How might this president reinvent healthcare, infrastructure, education, corrections, foreign policy, transportation, and the government itself, if she (that’s right—she) could get Washington to leave the elephants and donkeys outside to tear up the lawn and focus on where the nation needs to be, not where it is? What would that look like? Happily, the book became a best-seller.
A month after the book came out, I received a call from Randell Hynes. Randy is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District. He told me that he had read my book, and that it aligned very much with his goals as a political candidate—to focus on people, not party, and do the right thing for the nation by doing the right thing for its citizens.
A few days ago, I interviewed Randy. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Jim Winninger and I have known each other for a long time. We share interests in teaching, music, photography ... and the power of passion. Jim thinks about it all the time, and has a lot to share about the subject. And folks, if any of you are parents, you might want to listen to this one with your teenage kids. It applies to them as much as it does to you.
Human-generated noise is every bit a pollutant as noxious chemicals in the water and soil and air. But rarely is it considered to be a problem. In this episode, on Earth Day, 2022, I talk a bit about the things we can do to help--and about how I got into recording wildlife sound in the first place. Thanks for listening!
What kinds of leaders are most effective at compelling others to help them achieve their goals? The warm-blooded kind. There's an interesting corollary here between leadership and biology. Have a listen.
Every once in a while, I have the honor to interview someone who’s not only an expert in their field—and it is invariably a VERY interesting field—but who is also a great speaker, a great person, and someone who truly knows how to tell a story, which, anyone who knows me knows that I place a very high value on that. Such is the case with Mike Isham. Mike is a farmer, and while he does a lot of traditional farming things, he is also a premier maple syrup producer. I’m willing to bet you don’t know just how complicated—and fascinating—the process is that converts maple sap to maple syrup. Well, you’re about to find out.
Not too long ago, Gary Kessler and I sat down to chat about the idea that when knowledge is shared widely and broadly within an organization, the organization is better prepared to respond to unexpected events.
One of those unexpected events, of course, is a cyberattack. As networks and computing resources became more pervasive, and as they went from being technical curiosities to strongholds of intelligence, money, and competitive information, they also became targets. In response, organizations began to appear, charged with creating coordinated defenses against these attacks.
But there’s more to the story, much of it historical, and all of it interesting.
Take a walk through Mud Pond, a nature refuge near my home in Vermont, and listen to the voices of the forest.
Over the course of the last year or so, I've worked with a range of diverse organizations to develop a sense of what the future of work looks like, given that there are as many opinions about the topic as there are people thinking about it. In this episode, I consolidate much of the research I’ve done and present it in a series of scenarios that lay out where the world of work is going. My thoughts include work models, the evolving relationship between employer and employee, the role of technology, and the need to create balance between work and life. There are some surprises here—hope you find it helpful.
Chris Helzer is the Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy in Nebraska. He spends a lot of his time focused on prairie management and conservation, sharing what he learns with public and private landowners. But as Chris observes during the program, prairies are seen by many as a place to “drive through on the road to someplace interesting.” In fact, that’s profoundly wrong. Not only are prairies every bit as interesting as forests or coral reefs—and in many ways, more so—they play a huge role in protecting the overall ecosystemic health of North America.
I think we’ve all had the experience of running across a childhood toy, or a photograph, or having a conversation with a childhood friend who makes you think of ANOTHER childhood friend who hasn’t popped into your head in a long time. That happened to me recently, and after a bit of sleuthing, I found him, and we reconnected after 55 years. Ed Cotham is a really interesting guy for a lot of reasons—one of which is that he wrote the very first book about the history and meaning of Juneteenth. But that’s just the beginning of his story. Have a listen.
To say that Jacob traveled to Create Voices of a Flyway is kind of like saying that David Attenborough is a newscaster. One of the largest bird migration routes in North America is the Mississippi Flyway, which the Audubon Society describes as a “river of birds.” Every year, more than a billion birds make the round-trip journey from their breeding grounds in Canada and the northern US to their winter habitats along the Gulf of Mexico and in Central and South America.
As he made his way from Louisiana northward, Jacob’s conversations with the people he met along the way shattered stereotypes left and right. For more than two months, he traveled along the Mississippi flyway, interviewing oil workers, commercial fishing crews, ornithologists, farmers, environmentalists, Wildlife and Fisheries employees, conservation land managers, scientists, concerned citizens, Audubon volunteers, and dozens of others. All had a story to tell, but one theme stood out: they all agreed that we have a collective responsibility to balance our impact as a species with the needs of the natural world. But he didn’t go on the journey to advocate: he went to listen.
Mark Brennan is a great example of someone whose non-linear career has been catalyzed by passion and curiosity and a love of the natural world. Mark’s a Nova Scotia-based artist, a painter, but he’s also an equally gifted wildlife sound recordist, a photographer, and a videographer, and, as you’ll soon hear, sometimes he’s all of them at the same time. You can find his work in all its beautiful forms at MarkBrennanFineArt.ca.
I was sitting with my three-year-old grandson the other day, coloring with Crayons. It was great fun, and brought back a flood of childhood memories. As I sat there, the names of the colors I loved came back: Cornflower. Red-orange. Burnt orange. Burnt sienna. My mind started to wander, and soon I was deep into curiosity-driven research about colors, how they’re formulated, and how we see them. I discovered some amazing facts. Enjoy the episode. Oh—if you get a chance, check out this site: www.crayola.com/explore-colors.
What do reading, cattle, telephones, railroads, and barbed wire have in common? They were the basis for one of the most important elements of modern telephone systems in the United States in the late 19th century. This is really interesting—enjoy!
Have you ever given any thought as to the origins of the famous Mother Goose rhymes that we all heard as kids, or even read to our own kids or grandkids? Well, you should. Brace yourself--they're not what you think. Have a listen.
My friend Ken Dravis is a musician, music producer, and commercial pilot who recently chose to temporarily clip his own wings and go for a walk in the woods with his wife, Allie: they hiked all 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. But there’s a lot more to Ken’s story than a long hike. Have a listen.
When I was a SCUBA instructor back in the 70s and 80s, I had a good friend, Jack Garrett (still a good friend, I should add), who was one of my assistant instructors, among many other things. But somewhere along the way, Jack gave up neoprene and a weight belt and instead, put on chain mail and now carries a broadsword. He’s ferociously curious, and his interest in history and culture led him to become a Viking reenactor. You’ll enjoy this: Interview with a Viking.
This one is a mind-bender and guaranteed to win you bets in a bar. Guaranteed, I promise.
We've all been led to believe that lobbyists are--well, not our favorite people. But my interview with Mike Hutfles, who lobbies for, among other things, healthcare organizations and small, independent telephone companies, might change your mind. Do you really know what a lobbyist does? You're about to find out.
It’s no secret that I’m curious about people who have had what I like to call ‘non-linear careers’—meaning people who are driven by curiosity and passion to find their path in life. Phil Asmundson is one of those people. Try this on for size: degrees in geology and physics; degree in accounting; career with Deloitte, rising to deputy chair of the firm; and vineyard operator and winemaker with his wife, Kim. The only thing that would make his career any more non-linear would be if he became, I don’t know, a successful novelist. Oh wait—he did.
There’s a lot to be learned in this interview with my friend Phil. Please listen and enjoy.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine and I were kidding around, and he asked me if I had any evidence of the existence of a higher power in the universe.
“Absolutely,” I told him. “Nutmeg.”
He looked at me like I was crazy. I said, “Have you ever smelled freshly ground nutmeg? Because if you had, you wouldn’t look at me like that.”
In this episode we look into the amazing world of spices. Wars have been fought over them because there have been times when they were worth more than gold. Besides, they taste good!
Dr. Russ Willis is a technologist, ethicist, pastor, teacher, administrator, and poet. Any questions? In this episode Russ and I have a conversation about the meaning of ethics, and about what we perceive to be an ongoing migration in human society from village to tribal behavior—and the implications of that migration. Russ brings some wonderful insights in this episode; please enjoy.
I love science, but there are times when I wish we knew less than we actually do about how the world works. Why? Because while science is the most extraordinary gift that has ever been visited upon human beings, it does have one drawback: it kills wonder. The more we know, the less we are inclined to be awed by what we see; magic and mysticism get pushed to the back. But that isn’t always bad. Have a listen.
It’s being called The Great Resignation, but I call it The Great Reckoning. Why? Because in a fascinating turn of events, and in keeping with the idea that art imitates life, we are watching technology serve as a weapon that is leveling the playing field between companies, employees and customers. Have a listen—I think this is important.
When Michelle and David Poretti decided to adopt a dog, they ended up with Reuben, a 70-pound mass of wrinkles--A Shar Pei. But this isn't about Reuben--it's about the journey he had to take from Tijuana in northern Mexico to their home in Edmonton. What a story--enjoy!
Have you ever been curious about the measures we use to track size and length? Have you wondered what a chain, furlong, hectare, or for that matter, actually are? It turns out that they have fascinating histories--going back to colonial America. Have a listen and enjoy. And thank you!
Amazing what you learn by just wandering around reading books, magazines and articles about nature. this hodge-lodge of facts about the natural world will make you smile, and make you elbow the person next to you to tell them what you just learned. Enjoy!
Today, we are constantly bombarded by media that compete for our attention: Email, texting, instant messaging, phone calls, Zoom calls, news alerts, other humans, social media, television, radio, books, magazines, Podcasts, and plenty of other distractions. This constant tugging at our attention makes it difficult for us to focus and be effective. In this episode we sure a few stories about being in the moment--and some techniques on how to maintain that all-important focus.
Jerry Power is the founder of the i3 Consortium, an organization dedicated to making the most of new technologies, especially Internet of Things and the analytical capabilities it brings, with a focus on the needs of cities. In this interview he talks about what i3 is doing and the promise he sees for the world of analytical technologies.
Jim Metzner has been producing the radio show, Pulse of the Planet, since 1988. But he’s so much more than that: he’s a musician, an author, a traveler, and a dedicated and insightful supporter of the natural world. In this episode we catch up with Jim via Zoom at his home in Kingston, New York. Jim’s a master storyteller—don’t miss this one.
My latest book, "The Nation We Knew," has enjoyed amazing success--not just because it's a good story, but because it's making people think about things just a little bit differently. That's always been my goal; I never want to change someone's mind about something, I just want to broaden it a bit. The responses to the book have been wonderful--and, in some cases, a bit negative, because it pokes at the status quo just a bit too much, apparently. And for that, I'll take full credit. This is one of those 'I couldn't help myself' episodes. Call it editorial, call it storytelling...call it whatever you like, but the message is important. Thank you for listening.
Jim Mulvihill spent his entire career in the US Navy, and if there’s one thing I’ve discovered to be true, it’s that sailors have the best stories—and they’re true. Sit back and enjoy a series of amazing stories, told by a master storyteller. And along the way, learn a few things you didn’t know.
Jared Blake is as passionate about the natural world as they come. One of the ways he works to protect it is by capturing the sounds of nature and sharing them with the world. He is equal parts technician, advocate, videographer, recordist, and teacher. Enjoy the post--his captures are magical.
You know, of course, about the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, or perhaps about a show that’s specific to your particular industry. But I’ll bet you don’t know about some of THESE shows. Have a listen.
From my work in the world of emerging tech, I offer this very human, non-technical exploration of artificial intelligence, sometimes called AI, and robotics. Together, they are poised to change many things—but not quite yet. Enjoy!
A nice, relaxing soundscape of blackbirds and frogs in the marsh at the bottom of my neighborhood. Thanks to my friend Roger Boughton, who helped me bring down the occasional traffic sounds with his magical parametric equalizer.
Sandy Hughes works with individuals to help them get the most from their ideas, products and services. She calls them 'Solopreneurs'--and has had great success in this unique and fast-moving space. In this episode, I chat with Sandy and explore her philosophy of the Solopreneur. Great insights for business leaders in this program!
I caught up once again with my friend and colleague Gary Kessler to talk about current issues in cybersecurity, and the things that organizations and individuals should do to protect themselves against an increasingly complex threat horizon.
Steve Shepard's newest novel, The Nation We Knew, is a hot seller right now, because of its theme: What would the United States look like—what would it represent—if leadership suddenly put country before party, possibility before dogma, and created a vision of a better future and then executed against that vision? In this thought-provoking book, a new president takes the country to task—and reinvents government, healthcare, job creation, foreign relations, transportation infrastructure, and education, and with the help of her unlikely cabinet, shows the nation—and the world—what could be, rather than what is. In this episode, Steve explains why he wrote the story, an idea that came to him eight years ago.
One of the things that makes this Podcast so much fun to produce is the opportunity I have to meet talented people who do interesting things. In this episode we meet Mary Sullivan, whom you have most likely never heard of. She works with Mike Rowe, whom you have most certainly heard of. Mary is the President of mikeroweWORKS, a foundation that donates tens of thousands of scholarship dollars to people who seek a job in the skilled trades. But Mary is much more than a corporate executive: she is a gifted and compassionate leader, an attorney, a biologist, a Hollywood agent, and a force to be reckoned with. She lives one of the ideals of her own foundation: When hard work follows passion, magic happens. In this episode, Mary shares her nonlinear journey from growing up in Maryland to working with Mike Rowe and helping hundreds of people achieve their dreams. There are some serious messages and compelling lessons in this episode—enjoy. And please visit the mikeroweWORKS Foundation to see the remarkable things they do for so many: www.mikeroweWORKS.org.
Amazing what you can hear when you place the right microphone in just the right place--in this case, right in the middle of a major battle between competing ant colonies. Never mind the fact that these ants are less than two millimeters long...
The Gillespie Farm in southern Illinois is more than 800 acres of agricultural fields; it also includes carefully managed prairies, wetlands, and woodlands. Jim and Patty Gillespie run the family farm, but the whole family is involved in caring for the natural world that surrounds them and provides them with their livelihood. Daughter Sarah is a nature-inspired artist; son Bob is a biologist and the site manager of the Prairie Ridge Nature Preserve; and son Will works with mining companies to help them reclaim land so that it can be returned to the wild.
In this third episode with Scott Luria, we catch up to him on his 15,000-mile, one-year journey across the United States.
Want to make your business, product, or service better? Set up a competitor. In this episode we explore the idea of competing with yourself as a way to make yourself or your organization better--with zero risk. Experimentation as self-c competition--what a concept!
In this episode, Steve’s cousin Michael tells the story of a life-threatening challenge that affects four billion people on this planet: that’s half of the human population. But it’s also the story of one very simple thing that, if implemented, will change every one of their lives. And you can be part of it.
In this episode I interview Chris Boyer, Executive Director of the National Association for Search and Rescue, an all-volunteer organization that provides education, training and support services for search-and-rescue organizations all over the world. Chris' stories are extraordinary. Please check out NASAR at www.NASAR.org.
In this first leg of Scott's journey, we catch up to him in upstate New York, and hear about his adventures so far.
In this first of a series, Steve interviews his friend and neighbor Scott Luria, who has just departed Vermont on a one-year, 15,000-mile trip by bicycle. Steve will interview Scott along the way, hearing his stories from the road about the people he's met, the food he's eaten, and what he's learned.
In this episode, frequent guest Pete Mulvihill turns the tables and interviews Steve Shepard about his newest book, "The Nation We Knew."
In 1863, Byron Hot Springs opened its doors as a health spa in eastern Contra Costa County in northern California. In 1941, it was taken over by the US Army, for a very different purpose--to serve as a secret POW interrogation center for Japanese and German soldiers during WWII. Bob Morton, my guest on this episode, grew up at the resort--and tells us what it was like.
Natural Curiosity Project host Steve Shepard, Doug Standley of nioLabs, and Glen Almendinger of Harbor Research have a far-ranging conversation about the interplay among some of the most important technologies of our time, and the societal impacts they will undoubtedly lead to. There's a touch--just a touch--of Sheldon Cooper in this episode, but just enough to make the case about the importance of the topic at-hand. Hope you enjoy the questions we answer--and raise.
My friend Tim Washer is a pretty technical guy who has worked for some of the leading tech firms in the world, including Xerox, IBM and Cisco, helping them develop their stories for the market. But he has another skill—a superpower, if you will. He’s a comedy writer who has written for David Letterman, John Oliver, Conan O’Brian, and Saturday Night Live. These days, when he’s not on stage, he spends most of his time working with corporations and their leadership teams to help them understand the crucial role that comedy plays (and should play) in business today. In this episode, I offer a conversation with Tim. Sit back—you’ll enjoy this!
The Federal Government recently released its National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan, a step in the right direction for securing a crucial but vulnerable element of the global supply chain. In this episode, Cyber expert Gary Kessler talks about what the plan means and how we make the most of its proposed actions.
It's time for a newfound appreciation of the trades, because they are every bit as important as college degrees--and in some cases, even more so. In this episode we explore the relationship between Knowledge, Skill, Wisdom, Insight, and Understanding, and how to make the most of all of them in our lives.
Birders are a funny lot: They will go out of their way to help novice birders learn, without reservation. Wouldn't it be nice if business leaders and managers developed their people as effectively? In this episode, Steve recounts an recent experience where his lack of knowledge was on sharp display--but he was rescued by a fellow birder with far more knowledge.
Sometimes the best language to learn when you're traveling is food. In this episode, I discuss some of the exotic and strange foods I've eaten during my long career as a traveler and storyteller, and the incredible gifts of friendship that people have bestowed on me--through food.
More often the not, we're more alike than we are different, but the labels we glue on each other's foreheads get in the way of seeing that. Here are the results of a little experiment I did.
Think the tech industry is geeky? Maybe. But what has come out of the telecom world may surprise you. Mobile phones are one tiny slice of their creative output. In fact, some of the things that were created at Bell Laboratories will surprise you.
The animals we know today didn't always have the names that we know them by, and some of the older original names are arguably better than the ones they have today. Have a listen.
Ben Link Collins is a sound recordist who’s also an architect—or maybe he’s an architect who also likes to tramp around in the woods and listen to the sounds of nature. But he does a lot more than that. For example, not long after we met, I received a package in the mail from Huntsville, Alabama, where he lives. In it was a bottle of the best habanero hot sauce I’ve ever tasted. Ben grew the peppers and brewed them with a handful of ingredients to create the sauce. In this episode, we hear from a multitalented, very interesting guy. Enjoy!
What happens when you write a letter to someone you've never met--a great challenge for us all.
Scientists are working feverishly to develop a coronavirus vaccine to help our immune systems ward off disease. Perhaps what we need as well is a vaccination against ignorance and pseudoscience. Oh wait, we have one. Have listen.
As we increasingly rely on digital tools to stay connected with one another, many believe that they are driving us apart. I disagree--I believe that digital tools are actually making us closer, as I discuss in this episode.
Recently, the news has been peppered with stories about cyberattacks on maritime assets. It makes sense: they’re among the most vulnerable of all physical assets. Ports, by their very design, must be open. In this interview with my friend and colleague (and co-author) Gary Kessler, we take a look at one specific attack mechanism: Ransomware.
Shazad Ahmad was one of my students, but quickly became a good friend as out conversations wandered all over the landscape. Equal parts VERY technical resource, author, philosopher, spouse and parent, Shazad has a lot to say—as you’ll hear. This is one of my favorite interviews—enjoy. http://awesomelifebook.com/
In this follow-on episode to the last one, we dive a little bit deeper into the technology behind nio.
Doug Standley is one of the smartest people I know--and one of the most technical. Yet he is passionate about farming, then environment, clean water, and the future of the planet. Join me as I interview him in this episode--this is an episode not soon-forgotten.
Steve interviews his old friend and colleague Bob Dean of Dean Learning (and formerly of EY, Grant Thornton and Heidrick & Struggles), about the state of the online learning world and the importance of rigor in business writing.
My interview with Danny Olusegun Ojedokun, the graphic artist in Nigeria who does my book covers, business, cards, etc. He talks about what it's like to work for Fiverr, a well-known platform, and about the challenges of working in Nigeria with clients who are all over the world.
To celebrate the 100th episode of this Podcast, I bring together a handful of stories and a plea for common sense. Enjoy--and thank you SO MUCH for staying loyal to the program!
I part two of our series on letter-writing, I introduce my friend Kenn Sato and have a chat about the craft of letter-writing. We also talk about some of the weird things that people used to be able to mail--like people, for example.
In this episode, I resurrect the long-lost art of letter-writing, and challenge my listeners to pick someone they care about--and write them a letter. As in, by-hand!
In the same way that bacteria are taken over by viruses and turned into virus factories, books are the host for viral ideas. Today, while we're all in lockdown, is a great time to start reading again. In this episode, I talk about the importance of reading today. And for those of you who are lamenting the fact that we can't travel, relax--let a good book transport you!
Today, while we're all sequestered at home, business operations continue. Without the benefit of face-to-face communications, our ability to influence and indeed create relationships with others is a serious challenge. One truth is that we are all writing more than we ever have before--emails, white papers, blogs, and other forms of communication. Those written communications form part of our personal and professional brand, but we often rush through them, leading to less-than-ideal results. This Podcast covers Steve's top-ten writing rules for business people. As the author of more than 80 books, he knows what he's talking about.
Steve speaks with wildlife sound recordist Roger Boughton about curiosity, wildlife sound recording, and the sound that sap makes as it rises in a tree.
Interesting sense, smell. Ever wonder why turkey vultures hover over pipelines? They do. Find out in this episode.
It is time to raise our collective voices against the specter of racism that has come to dominate and define our country. Please listen, then act. As James Nachtwey says, "An abundance of means, but a confusion of aims, is the tragedy of our time."
I recently met Dumbledore. Actually, his name is Dick Todd, but he could be Albus Dumbledore’s brother. Not only do they look alike, with the white beard and long white hair, the places where they work are very similar. Every surface in his workshop is buried under mountains of car parts, oddly-shaped pieces of metal and plastic and rubber and glass, tools that I couldn’t begin to name, much less tell you their purpose, coffee cans full of odds and ends, and books, magazines, and drawings.
But the thing that captivates me most about Dumbledore—I mean, Dick Todd—is his curiosity and energy for whatever catches his attention.
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
This collection of recordings accompanies the text of "Capturing Wildlife Sound: A Useful Guide."
Two lessons from the Age of Corona: now that we are becoming increasingly virtual in our dealings with others, here are some thoughts on ways to do it well--and to take advantage of the virtual environment's characteristics. And, some thoughts on what to do during this economic slowdown to actually get value from the downtime, both personally and professionally.
Actor and essayist (and good friend) Bob Verlaque joins the Natural Curiosity Project to share an essay he wrote on Earth Day, 2020, as the world is caught in the grips of both a global pandemic and a period of inexorable warming. HIs message is both heartwarming and challenging. Please listen--I hope you enjoy it.
For 400 years, the Georges Bank in the North Atlantic was sustainably fished by numerous countries, and the fishing stocks remained healthy. But in the mid-20th century, something happened, and fish stocks plummeted. What a story of human greed and hubris--and a great example of the phenomenon known as "The Tragedy of the Commons."
As we all adjust to life in this weird new world of stay-at-home, maintain social distance, wave at your neighbors, and so on, one of the things that we’re all having to adjust to, as well, is the growing use of digital collaboration and communication tools. They’ve been around for a long time, and we’ve all engaged with them to one degree or another, but with the increasingly urgent need to maintain physical, personal distance, and the equally important need for businesses to continue to operate as best they can, one of the things I’m getting lots of questions about is just how to use these tools most effectively. I answer them here.
A handful of unrelated stories that get at the heart of natural curiosity. Don't look for a theme here (OK, much of one); just look for good storytelling.
Just a few thoughts on dealing with the angst from the Corona virus--and how it relates to an experience I once had in the data center. You'll enjoy this--some great food for thought here.
Plants are remarkably adaptive organisms that have mastered the ability to travel. In this episode, we start with the lowly tumbleweed, and then move on to other remarkable botanical voyagers.
Some of the most important inventions were, in fact, accidents. The scientific method is alive and well, and we're all thankful for it. But sometimes, it leads us in some unexpected directions. This episode explores some of these unexpected twists and turns.
This is a departure from my usual material. As I write this, the uncertainty and fear over the spread of the corona virus is taking root. But remember, our children take their cues from us--if we're scared, so are they. This story is a selection from a book of children's stories that I'm working on at the moment. I thought it might be a nice gift to everyone out there who has kids, a little escape from reality--and hey, even you adults might appreciate it! Let me know what you think. Don't let this pandemic define us: let's show our kids what good people and kindness look like.
Photographers view the world through a variety of lenses—normal, telephoto, zoom, wide angle, and tilt-shift, each of which gives the artist a very different perspective on the same subject. It’s amazing how our human perspective changes when we look at the same subject matter through different lenses—an important lesson for all of us.
In this episode, we chat with Lang Elliott, one of the world’s gifted soundscape recordists who bills himself as equal parts a naturalist, author, speaker, poet, recordist, sound producer, photographer, cinematographer, and moviemaker. He explains his technique, how he developed his craft, and introduces us to his new app, Pure Nature 3D Soundscapes, available on the Apple Apps Store.
The voices of nature are an important indicator of the health and welfare of the natural world. Right now, our stewardship is lacking, as evidenced by the relative health of the earth's ecosystem. In this episode we talk about a few things that we can do to make inroads in this all-important responsibility, and we introduce Lang Elliott, a soundscape recordist who makes it his life mission to record the soundscapes that provide the natural music of planet earth.
Ever wonder what all those credits and titles actually mean when you watch a movie? In this episode, we chat with my friend Robert Verlaque, a celebrated actor who also understands the movie and TV business from an academic perspective. Listen and enjoy--now you'll finally know what a gaffer does!
In this second track, Davyd Betchkal, Senior Bioacoustician at Denali National Park, speaks about the need to balance preservation and conservation.
In this first of a two-episode interview with Davyd Betchkal, Senior Bioacoustician at Denali National Park in Alaska, Davyd talks with us about his job with the National Parks Service and his commitment to preserving the wildness of his home state.
Richard Nelson, anthropologist, naturalist, sound recordist, lover of the natural world, and friend, died last week. This is my remembrance of him.
Ixtoluca is the only term I have ever searched for on Google that returned precisely zero hits--that's right, none. The name refers to a structure built by Cortez, south of Mexico City, in the early 16th century, as a place to process silver. Today, it's a little-known ruin that is one of the most spectacular, eerie, and beautiful places I've ever stumbled upon.
An interview with Essex County, Massachussetts-based Sound Recordist Phil Brown. The introduction and closing sounds are from his impressive collection.
A few minutes of escape from the mundane...a soundscape recorded at the peeper pond on our friends' property in northern Vermont. Sit back and relax...it's something we don't do often enough.
Dr. Lynda Ulrich is a dentist in the small town of St. Albans, Vermont. She is also the founder of Ever-Widening Circles, An online resource for interesting knowledge nuggets, insights, and just plain good news. In this episode, host Steve Shepard interviews Dr. Ulrich.
What would it be like if we harvested avian and terrestrial species the same way we do marine life? It might surprise you--have a listen, and think about it.
A few clips from my many conversations with taxi drivers (and a few others) while traveling. They're the heart and soul of our country--of ANY country--and they're immigrants, all.
An homage to the voices for the natural world who inspire us to be better: Jane Goodall, Sylvia Earle, EO Wilson, and Sir David Attenborough.
Have you ever thought about becoming a commercial diver? You know, the ones that wear those helmets and all that cool gear and dive to incredible depths? In this episode, we talk about what it's like--and what you have to know to do it well.
If you’re thinking about taking a SCUBA class, you’ll have to know a little bit about the science behind it before you can do it safely. As a former diving instructor and commercial diver, I can tell you that, yes, there are some hazards involved in diving, but if you take a course, you understand the physics behind the journey from above the surface to below it, and you practice the techniques, you’ll have the time of your life. In this first of a two-part series, we talk about sport diving; in part two, we talk about the commercial side of diving.
Computer and network security are topics that have never been more in the news than they are today. On the one hand, we all want to be connected, to have access to other people and information, to be part of the globally connected planet. On the other hand, every connection, every facet of online presence is a potential attack point through which hackers can gain access to personal data. The good news is that there are common sense things that everyone can do to protect ourselves—but we have to actually DO them to be safe. In this episode, Computer and Network Security Specialist Joe Plunkett walks us through the best practices for safe connectivity.
Some of the best advertising campaigns ever done were somewhat accidental. This is one of the best I can think of. Enjoy--a story from the early 20th century.
In 1971, my custom, hand-built Spanish guitar was destroyed by a baggage claim belt in Dallas. The man who rebuilt it is one of the best examples of passion and curiosity I know. But there’s a lot more to this guy than meets the eye. I could ask the question, how did an engineer become a guitar repair guy? Even that’s only half of the story. You’ll enjoy this one.
Language, they say, is the window into the soul of a country or a culture. Based on what we talk about in this episode, souls and cultures must be pretty funny places.
Sometimes, looking at something from different perspectives can change the way we think about it. In this episode, we look at the origins of genetics, a little botany, and ultimately, turn our attention to genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs. Things are not always what they seem.
This is the third Podcast in a series of three about one of the technology ecosystems that’s profoundly changing the world. In our first episode of the series, we talked about the technologies that live in this ecosystem: The Internet of Things, Big Data, Analytics, Cloud, machine-to-machine communications, and artificial intelligence. In the second episode, we looked at one application of this ecosystem that’s truly planet-changing: the protection of fresh water.
In this third and final episode, we’re going to talk with a few people who have deep insights into the advantages and challenges that new technologies bring to the table.
1968: What a culturally iconic period in America. On the one hand, the Summer of Love, the Monterey Pop Festival, and the Civil Rights Law of 1968 were happening, and the astronauts of Apollo 8 saw the far side of the moon for the first time. But dark things were happening, as well: Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy fell to assassins, riots fractured the country, Vietnam was in full swing, and young people began to question the old school thinking that ran the country. A great migration began, as thousands of people headed west to California. One of them was Jim Driscoll, a musician intent on becoming a rock star. He had no money, so planes, trains, and buses were out; they were too expensive. And he had no driver’s license, so he couldn’t drive west. His only option? The Gray Rabbit. And that’s where our story begins.
A high-speed train designed in the shape of a kingfisher. Paint colors based on hummingbird feathers. Water purification systems designed by a beetle. Photosynthesis that creates plastic. All these and more are real--we're actually doing these things--because we're paying attention to nature.
The Earth's most precious resource is water--yet we waste a HUGE percentage of it because of leaks in municipal water systems, inaccurate agricultural watering practices, and other practices. In fact, 60% of the water pumped out of the ground worldwide for agriculture never reaches the plants. Yet Deep Sky Vineyard, a tiny (by agricultural standards)vineyard, in the dry heat of Arizona, saved more than 1.5 million gallons in 2018 alone, because of sophisticated field monitoring practices, thanks to the technology created by nioLabs. In this episode we show how they did it. It's quite a story. This is part two of a three-part series.
There's a family of technologies emerging on the scene that will change the way we think about the role of technology in our lives. They include Internet of Things, Big Data, Analytics, and a few others. Technology is remarkable, but even more so when we assign it to a specific challenge, then stand back and watch. In this episode, we see what happens when we pair a small business--Deep Sky Vineyard in Arizona--with technology offered by nioLabs in Denver. The results are staggeringly important. This is the first in a series of three episodes about emergent technologies.
Climate change, or global warming, or whatever you want to call it, is one of the most emotion-charged topics on the table today. It has become politically weaponized, yet it shouldn’t be, because it’s one of the greatest threats we face as inhabitants of this planet. If you believe that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the problem, you’re partially correct—but only partially. There’s another challenge, and it’s a far bigger problem—it’s called entropy.
When I first decided to dig into this topic, I thought I understood climate change. I didn’t, as it turned out, so I took the time to let my curiosity get the best of me until I really DID understand it. You should do the same. And that’s what this episode is about.
On February 26, 1975, disaster struck in lower Manhattan when the AT&T switching center that served the area was consumed by fire. 104,000 customers and 170,000 telephones were out of service. A restoration of that magnitude should have taken a year, but the Bell System marshaled its resources and service was restored in 22 days--a true Miracle on Second Avenue. This is the story. You can see a documentary of the recovery here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_AWAmGi-g8.
In 1885, 350,000 head of cattle traveled overland from Fort Worth, Texas to Abilene, Kansas. In 1886, there were none. Why? This episode looks back at the great cattle drives of the American Southwest--and what led to their demise. The reasons will surprise you.
I sometimes run across little bits of interesting information that aren’t enough for a Podcast on their own, but they’re too good to ignore. So for this episode, I’ve pulled a bunch of them together into a long stream of just interesting stuff. Hope you like it.
Steve interviews his friend and colleague Josh Stevens, an authority on network and computer security--and that elusive, mysterious technology called Blockchain--which, as it turns out, is not all that mysterious and is in fact pretty important.
There's very little that is as enjoyable as a day outside. There's also very little that's as rewarding as a day spent taking part in a BioBlitz. Have a listen.
One of the coolest technologies on the near-term horizon is the quantum computer--an amazing device capable of doing so much more than traditional digital computers. In tis episode, we explain what they are, how they work, and where they're going. Grab a drink--this is a wild ride.
Welcome to the Natural Curiosity Project! I'm Steve Shepard, and as your host, I'll take you on journeys of discovery to learn just how awe-inspiring this planet really is. Hope you'll come along for the ride!
Three minutes of snow geese on Lake Champlain, November 2018. Close your eyes, listen, enjoy.
Thomas Young--the last man who knew everything. What else would you call a guy who translated the Rosetta Stone, contributed to physics, figured out how the eye works, and wrote a comparison of the grammar of 400 languages?
Did you know that HG Wells invented the World Wide Web? Sorry, Tim Berners-Lee--he beat you by about 100 years!
You know how we always take a deep breath after a rainstorm, and think about that wonderful smell of ozone? Newsflash--it ain't ozone: it's something else entirely, and it's VERY important. Have a listen.
It's amazing to me that I can find these tiny little creatures, much smaller than a pinhead, hopping around on the snow in the middle of deep winter. To see a short video of springtails--well, springing, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNSWFmLMVXk.
History is full of amazing people. What's equally amazing is the number of them that most of us have never heard of.
I met Lujan in a small village in Guatemala. What he taught me about --well, just about everything--is priceless. I'd like to share it with you.
I can't imagine a better opportunity to learn than being immersed as I was at the University of California at Berkeley in the early 70s. But much more valuable than my academic learning was how the experience taught me to think critically, and to listen to ideas that I didn't necessarily agree with--and, in fact, was often strongly opposed to. It's a lesson that more people need to learn today in our hypersensitive society.
Millions of species have disappeared from the planet over the eons, because natural selection says that it's time for them to leave. There's nothing that says we can't be next.
It took me a while to start Yoga. But my daughter Cristina, who teaches small group, therapeutic Yoga, finally convinced me. If you're just the least bit curious--and you are listening to a Podcast about curiosity, after all--listen to this episode. Just don't be driving.
This track departs from the norm, but some things need to be said. I'll get back on track next time, I promise. Just listen and reflect.
Darwin never said or wrote the phrase, 'survival of the fittest.' he did, however, say that the organisms that survive will be those most adaptable to change. This is true for a corporation as it is for a living thing. Enjoy.
Sometimes you have to step away from the world and immerse yourself in a bit of storytelling. I wrote this a while ago; it recently won an honorable mention in the Writers Digest National Fiction Writing Contest. Hope you like it--I had a ball writing it.
A machine, thousands of years old, pulled from the bottom of the Aegean and discovered to be the oldest computer ever built. And, it's more accurate than modern machines. Have a listen.
Did you know that all children's books are about leadership? There is nothing more powerful that a well-told story, and good leaders know this. See how they use storytelling to maintain their positions of influence.
The first submarine communications cable was laid across the northern Atlantic in the 1800s. The project was plagued by intrigue, sabotage, nasty winter storms, and the fact that there was no ship in existence at the time that could hold all the cable required to cross the ocean. What to do?
What's the difference between 'leadership' and 'those who lead?' The answer, as it turns out, is a lot.
There's something more than a bit eerie about a mushroom that glows in the dark.The science behind it, and the promise that it holds for the future of such things as smart cities, is even more amazing.
In Japan, company employees are encouraged to take time to get out of the office and go for a walk in the forest--on company time. Why? Because it lowers blood pressure, heightens the senses, and makes for better employees. And there's ample scientific proof that it works.
Since bread is square, why is sandwich meat round? Did Adam and Eve have navels? Why do they put Braille instructions and labels on drive-up ATM machines? Why don’t we have A and B-cell batteries, since we do have AAs, AAAs, Cs, Ds, and whatever those big blocky things are called? And why don’t 9-volt batteries have a letter designation, like all the others? What makes the Teflon stick to the pan? Answers to all of these--and more.
Few writers (or scientists) have affected me more than Loren Eiseley. Equal parts paleontologist, archaeologist, poet, essayist, and observer of the human condition, his words strike me deeply. I hope they will you, as well.
A discussion about the future of 5G technology, which will provide gigabit speed to mobile devices to support new, media-rich applications. It also makes driverless cars work properly--in case you're interested!
Ever wonder where terms like ten-gallon hat, hoosegow, Key West, and lariat come from? Listen and learn--this one is fascinating!
Sam Keane's Disappearing Spoon recounts extraordinary tales from the world of science--chemistry, mostly--that fundamentally changed what we know about the world. But we take it to the next level in this episode, adding a few other interesting (and amazing) stories.
All children's books are about leadership--and none are more illustrative of this that Kipling's "The Elephant's Child." Join us on a journey of discovery as we listen to the narration of parts of the story.
There's something magical about the language used to describe the natural world. It's also a bit infuriating--as you'll see as we explore a local wetland.
We've all heard of 3D printers being used to create toys and novelty items. But what happens when we start printing living tissue?
A few years ago, I was working on a project in Singapore. Thanks to a series of serendipitous events, I found myself with the enviable opportunity to spend a few days aboard the Wave Venture, a cable-laying ship. For a technologist, or just about anyone else, really, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Here's the story.
Interesting thing, the slime mold--especially one called 'dog vomit slime mold.' Here's the best part: they move. As in, they can crawl arounds. And, they're good to eat. Really. Have a listen.
Sometimes, you just have to escape from the dry world of work and immerse yourself into the sounds, and smells, and energy of the natural world. I do it regularly, and always come out energized. Join me.
Perhaps I'm channeling Sheldon Cooper a bit too much, but I am fascinated by lichens--those crusty organisms that form colorful mosaics on rock faces, cemetery stones, trees, and old fence lines. But here's what's interesting: thy are actually two organisms living as a single symbiotic creature, and they can survive under the harshest conditions imaginable--including in outer space.
In Richard Holmes' "The Age of Wonder" (one of the best books I have ever read), we meet the remarkable people who lived on the edge of scientific discovery--and who ultimately changed the world--during the Romantic Age. Every scientist he profiles had a best friend, and in most cases, those friends were artists, poets, authors, and dreamers. Who said the arts and sciences don't need each other?
We are watching a natural tragedy unfold across the globe: the deaths of millions of amphibians, frogs, mostly, because of an insidious fungus called chytrid. It burrows under the skin of frogs and destroys their ability to produce keratin--a critical component of their skin. But the loss of frogs is only part of the story--please listen, this is important.
Fire Protection Engineer and old friend Pete Mulvihill joins me for a far-ranging conversation about the power of knowledge and curiosity.
They may drive you more than little crazy in the summertime, but the little critters that surround us are pretty smart--and they're remarkable engineers, to boot.
Some thoughts about technology, vision, and leadership--all while hiking in the high country of New Mexico. Sorry for being breathless!
Just a few minutes of music from one of our most beautiful birds, the Northern Cardinal.
Black vultures flapping and squabbling, with a sharp-shinned hawk alarming at my approach.