When We Talk About Animals

This episode explores poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil's book 'World of Wonders,' which celebrates nature and animals through essays that weave personal stories with reverence for the natural world.

This episode explores how humans have reshaped the planet and our dependence on ecological laws, featuring insights from biologist Rob Dunn on biodiversity and conservation.

This episode features Gene Baur discussing Farm Sanctuary's mission to transform human-animal relationships by rescuing farm animals from factory farming and promoting ethical treatment.

Paleobiologist Thomas Halliday discusses his book exploring Earth's extinct worlds through fossils and cutting-edge science, revealing the fragility and unpredictability of life's history.

This episode features free diver Fabrice Schnoller discussing his life-changing encounter with sperm whales off Mauritius and exploring their remarkable intelligence and brain structures.

This episode features attorney Amanda Hitt discussing the critical role of whistleblowers in exposing wrongdoing in the animal agriculture industry and other public health issues.

This episode explores the philosophical implications of the Anthropocene era through a discussion of Dale Jamieson's book 'Love and the Anthropocene', examining how human-driven environmental changes challenge traditional notions of human exceptionalism.

This episode features Dr.

This episode explores how marine bioluminescence is far more common than previously thought, featuring ocean explorer Dr.

This episode features Gay Bradshaw discussing Charlie Russell's unique relationship with grizzly bears and exploring animal emotions, trauma, and human-animal connections.

Investigative journalist Ian Urbina discusses the lawlessness of international waters, where human rights abuses like slavery and trafficking are common in industries like fishing.

This episode explores the lack of legal protections for farm animals in the U.S., featuring insights from David Wolfson on pioneering farm animal law and the staggering scale of animal agriculture.

This episode features Yale Law professors Doug Kysar and Jon Lovvorn discussing their work expanding legal frameworks to address animal welfare, environmental protection, and future generations through the Law, Ethics, and Animals Program (LEAP).

This episode features science journalist Michelle Nijhuis discussing her book 'Beloved Beasts', which explores the complex history and evolution of the wildlife conservation movement through the stories of figures like Aldo Leopold, John Muir, and Rachel Carson.

This episode explores the historical and mythological reverence for dolphins across cultures, examining how these narratives intersect with scientific understanding of dolphin intelligence and consciousness.

Investigative journalist Christopher Ketcham discusses how unregulated capitalism and private interests are threatening public lands in the American West, as documented in his new book.

This episode features Bernie Krause discussing his transition from a successful music career to pioneering bioacoustics by recording and preserving the sounds of wild habitats.

This episode features an interview with author Rebecca Giggs about her book 'Fathoms,' exploring how whales reveal profound connections between humanity, science, and environmental issues.

This episode discusses Ned Beauman's satirical novel 'Venomous Lumpsucker,' which explores a dystopian future where extinction has become a market-driven industry through extinction credits, following two characters on a quest to find a surviving intelligent fish species.

This episode features filmmaker Christopher Quinn discussing his documentary 'Eating Animals' and exploring the environmental, ethical, and historical implications of factory farming.

This episode explores the dramatic decline of insect populations and features an interview with Dr.

This episode features an interview with Lisa Margonelli about her book 'Underbug', which uses termites as a lens to explore big questions in science, technology, and morality.

This episode explores the impact of Australia's 2019-2020 bushfires on koalas, highlighting their vulnerability to climate change and habitat destruction while discussing human compassion and the need for greater understanding of this iconic species.

This episode features Patrick Rose discussing the urgent fight to save Florida's manatees from human-caused threats like boat strikes and pesticide contamination.

This episode explores the emerging scientific perspective that plants possess intelligence, senses, and agency, challenging traditional Western views that treat them as passive objects.

This episode explores the international wildlife trade's role in biodiversity loss and disease transmission, using examples like COVID-19 origins and the Tiger King documentary to highlight systemic issues.

This episode explores journalist Ferris Jabr's revival of the Gaia hypothesis, which views Earth as a living organism, and discusses its implications for understanding evolution, climate change, and humanity's impact on the global ecosystem.

This episode explores philosopher-musician David Rothenberg's lifelong journey of playing music alongside animals like birds and whales to understand animal communication and what it reveals about humanity.

This episode features Rick McIntyre discussing the emotional lives of Yellowstone's wolves and the historical extermination campaign that wiped them out from the park.

This episode features Cynthia Barnett discussing how seashells reveal insights about the environment, oceans, and human relationships through history and science.

This episode explores how Indigenous nations in Canada are leading conservation efforts to protect caribou herds and ecosystems through collaborative agreements like UPCART, blending traditional knowledge with Western science.

This episode features fishery scientist Daniel Pauly explaining how industrial overfishing operates like a Ponzi scheme, depleting ocean species through technological advances and government subsidies while expanding geographically and taxonomically.

This episode explores how to create a warning system for nuclear waste that lasts 10,000 years, featuring Robert Macfarlane's insights from his book 'Underland' about deep time and our responsibility as ancestors.

This episode explores the dramatic decline of hedgehog populations in the UK, examining threats like habitat loss from industrial agriculture and urban development, and discussing broader ecological implications.

This episode features author Margaret Renkl discussing how backyard nature provides wonder, grief, and inspiration through everyday encounters with wildlife.

This episode features an interview with Dr.

This episode explores how octopuses, as distant evolutionary cousins, challenge ancient assumptions about consciousness and intelligence.

This episode explores puppy development and cognition during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring insights from dog cognition expert Alexandra Horowitz on how puppies rapidly mature into complex companions.

This episode explores filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite's documentary 'Blackfish' and its impact on exposing the ethical issues surrounding orca captivity at SeaWorld.

This episode features an interview with primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, exploring bonobo communication and cognition, focusing on the famous ape Kanzi's ability to understand and use language with humans.

This episode explores the extraordinary navigational abilities of animals like pigeons and desert ants, featuring insights from author David Barrie on how these creatures perform feats that humans can only achieve with instruments.

This episode explores philosopher Anthony Weston's perspective on the Fermi Paradox, suggesting that the apparent silence of the universe reveals more about human challenges in understanding non-human minds than about the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Bathsheba DeMuth explains how 19th-century New England whaling transformed Beringia, where bowhead whales had supported Indigenous communities for at least 2,000 years.

This episode explores Jakob von Uxkull's bio-philosophical concept of animals as instruments in nature's symphony, with guest Charles Siebert discussing how to translate these interconnected life worlds.

This episode features investigative journalist Sonia Shah discussing how environmental and social factors drive the spillover of animal microbes into human pandemics, using COVID-19 as a key example.

This episode features Dr.

Natalie Koffler explains how a CRISPR gene drive can push a trait through 100% of a wild population.