Monogamy... a myth?

Great Hornbill pair

Seeing as how I just got hitched... I have the idea of  life-long commitment in mind. So for the October 11th show (click here for podcast) we covered the subject of monogamy in the animal world. Back in the day, animal behaviorists assumed that certain animals, particularly birds, were monogamous because they often witness pairs tending the nest. Little did they know that it was common for both males and females to sneak out for a rendezvous with another bird when their mate was not looking. These "cheating" events are termed "extra-pair copulations", or EPCs, and genetic techniques have revealed just how prevalent they can be! Perhaps one exception is the Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis). The  impregnated females of this species enclose themselves into a tree cavity by plugging up the hole with mud and droppings. Her mate then delivers food to her and nestlings as the breeding season unfolds over 4 months! For a video depicting this process, click here.

 As for the news...

• Biggest genome found in a plant
• New Orleans suspends the use of police dogs
• Is fidelity in our genes?

For the sound quiz, we heard from some critters that are known for their strong pair bonds, or lack thereof. They included the Great Hornbill, Golden-mantled Tamarin, Meadow Vole (in lieu of the Prairie Vole), and the Red-winged Blackbird (pictured).

Music artists featured included The Velvet Underground, Amandine, The Accidental Clearinghouse Story, The High Fidelity, Silver Jews, The Fidelity Wars, and more!

The life microscopic

What a wonderful world it is under a microscope. For the September 27th show (click here for podcast) we explored the invention of the light microscope and all the wonderful things we can see underneath it. For a taste of the worlds that it reveals, visit this blog. For more information on how it all functions, visit How Stuff Works.

As for the news...

• A cure for the distracted driver?
• New Zealand rescuers save 14 whales from a stranded pod
• When did you and your pet evolutionarily diverge? -  there's an app for that.

Musical artists featured were TV on the Radio, Interpol, Yo La Tengo, The Cure, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Microscopic Septet, Architecture in Helsinki, Travis, and more!

Lovely Lucinda

Lucinda Williams

A sweet friend took me to the Lucinda Williams concert at George's Majestic Lounge on September 19th. She has always been one of those artists that I've meant to listen to, but I've never gotten around to it. Well, let me tell you... a live acoustic set was not a bad way to get exposed to Lucinda! She has an amazing ability to write lyrics, and I will admit that I was moved to tears a time or two. As we watched the moon rise through the retractable roof at George's, I said to myself, "I'm gonna feature this lady on my show tomorrow night!". So here you go... the September 20th show (click here for podcast) with lots of music from Lucinda - covering albums from Essence to Little Honey.

Later in the show, we talked a little bit about the genetically modified "frankenfish" that's been proposed for sale at local supermarkets. Other stories in the news were:

• Women with the baby blues process emotion differently
• Wal-mart is getting greener with thin-film solar technology
• Pirates were scientists, too!

Other musical artists featured included:  Fiona Apple, Deerhoof, Miles Davis, Aphex Twin, The Books, Louis Jordan, and the Decemeberists.

The poetry of the earth is ceasing never

Autumn on the Buffalo River Trail, Arkansas

The catalog of nature poetry in any library is extensive! Nowadays, you can just go online to find some amazing works. For the September 13th show (click here for podcast), I read some beautiful poems by the likes of John Keats, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, John Ruskin, and E.E. Cummings. Oh it was a good time! Here's one of my favorites by Keats...

THE POETRY of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead
In summer luxury,—he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

And in the news...

• UA author ruminates on the evolution of mammal teeth
• Getting a better grip on lab mice
• These dance moves are irresistible



Tui


For our weekly dose of sounds from nature - we listened to a promo for NZ Nature Sounds. Some critters we heard included the Tui and the Saddleback - two interesting birds from the land of the long white cloud. These birds are some of my favs :D

Artists we heard from included Bjork, Bowie, Fischerspooner, Horse Feathers, Joanna Newsom, Mother Mother, Goldfrapp, Brush!, and more...

Natural Folk

Doc Watson

Folk music and nature have always been buddies... with natural imagery and settings playing an integral role in the story-telling for which folk music is so well known. For the September 1st show (click here for podcast), I played songs from folk artists, ranging from traditional folk to  contemporary indie-freak-folk. Give it a listen to hear some old friends of folk, and maybe you'll discover some new ones! Do you have some artists that you would like to hear on the show? Please email me at naturewithmojo@gmail.com with recommendations.

As for the news...

• Tazmanian devil euthanized after tumor found
• Pot-growers mistake wildlife officials for suppliers



Blue Jay

• Altruistic bacteria?

We also listened to a track from Peterson Field Guides Birding by Ear in order to learn about the calls and songs of some common bird species such as the Blue Jay, Canada Goose, and House Sparrow.

Artists featured included: Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Devendra Banhart, Andrew Bird, Alela Diane, Joanna Newsom, Apostle of Hustle

Connect with nature through the OCC!

Kenny Williams, graduate assistant at OCC

Whether you're a seasoned veteran of the outdoors or a newbie still breaking in your first pair of boots, the Outdoor Connection Center at the University of Arkansas is a great resource to help you connect with nature. On the August 25th show (click here for podcast), Kenny Williams from the OCC stopped by to chat with us about the services they provide to the UA community.

The OCC is a place to try your hands (and feet) at climbing and bouldering on their indoor walls. You can also rent just about any piece of equipment for your kayaking, canoeing, backpacking, and cycling adventures. Speaking of bikes, they have a full service bike shop where you can have the staff check out your bike or put it on a stand and fix it yourself. And if you're not one who likes to travel solo, check out the event calendar to find out what sort of trips and clinics are on the horizon.

Check out the OCC website for more information!

In the news...

• Colored lice are for the birds
• New microbes discovered eating Gulf oil spill
• Four-legged biosensors sniff out bird flu

Some of my colleagues are currently in Brazil at a conference so in honor (and jealousy) of their trip, I featured some Brazilian mammals in the sound quiz. Some players included the Brazilian Bare-faced Tamarin (pictured right), the Southern Amazonian Red Squirrel, and the White-lipped Peccary.

Musical artists included: Animal Collective, Wire, DJ Shasow, Suni Paz, Mos Def, Joy Division, and more!

The B-team of mythical creatures

So we all know about elves, gnomes, unicorns, fairies, centaurs, etc... but if one was to delve a little deeper into the lore of different countries, she might discover some very interesting characters that remain relatively unknown. This was an adventure we undertook for the August 18th show (click here for the podcast). Some of the creatures we found included the Alp-luachra, an evil Irish fairy that transforms into a newt, crawls down a sleeping person's throat and feeds off the food in their stomachs. Or how about the Basilisco Chilote (pictured left) - a Chilean half chicken, half serpent that lives under houses and feeds off the phlegm and saliva of its inhabitants! Listen to the podcast to hear more about some wacky creatures of myth!

In the news...

• Ancient birds jabbed at prey with axe-like beaks
• A sperm bank for corals
• Invasive species let other species disrupt the environment

Music featured included: Akron/Family, Flook, Dervish, Frankie Gavin, Hum, Boards of Canada, Gustavo Santoalla, Ryan Adams, Fruit Bats, The Shins, Frente!, Department of Eagles, Like a Fox, and more

Wild child

Stories of children raised by animals have been around for centuries (remember Romulus and Remus?). Video documentation has brought current stories of feral children to life. Now we can observe and appreciate how "wild" these children behave. For instance, check out this video of Oxana, a girl who was cruelly penned up with only dogs for company for five years as a young girl. Her movements are remarkably similar to those of her canine companions. For an update on Oxana, read this article put out by the Telegraph in 2006.

For the August 11th show (click here for podcast), we explored several stories of feral children. The struggles these individuals face when trying to integrate back into society are great, and often the outcome is undesirable. These stories highlight the importance of human interaction during the early years of development.

In the news...

• Preventing homosexuality in the womb?
• Arkansas researchers find a GM crop that has escaped into the wild
• Blue whales synchronize song pitch

In the last bit of the show, we heard some songs from our friends the wrens (Family: Troglodytidae). These songsters have some of the most complex and, in my opinion, interesting vocalizations of the bird world.

Artists featured included Tindersticks, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, Animal Collective, Mariee Sioux, Cab Calloway, Headlights, Echo and the Bunnyman, Broadcast, and more.

Hotter 'an hell.

My oh my... it has been a summer of record-breaking heat! The cool thing about being human is that we have mastered air conditioning and so we find ways to beat the heat with technology. Our plant and animal friends do not have this advantage and thus they must adapt to their environments. On this hot hot August 4th evening, we cruised through some interesting ways in which plants and animals have adapted to hot temperatures and the aridity that often accompanies the heat. Specifically, we talked about desert survival, making use of information from the Desert USA website. For example, did you know that the enlarged, vascularized ears of a jack rabbit (pictured above) allow it to dissipate heat more effectively? Click here to listen to the podcast.

In the news...

• Solar salamander: photosynthetic algae found in the cells of a vertebrate for the first time
• Hope for the Gulf as BP plugs the well - most of the oil gone
• Physics students reveal a bias for male lecturers

In the sound quiz, we heard from desert southwest creatures such as the Phainopepla (pictured right) and the Rock Squirrel.

Music featured included Hot Chip, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, The Reverend Horton Heat, Lou Reed, Mother Mother, Siz Organs of Admittance, and more!

That's a big'un

The trees they do grow high... and round! For the July 28th show (click here for podcast), we learned about champion trees. We listened to a Nature Stories podcast called "Virgin Forest" in which the search was on for trees in the eastern forests of the US that could take the title of biggest tree. We also talked about where to go to find some of these champs (e.g. the big black oak at Lake Fayetteville, pictured left), and what to do if you want to submit a candidate tree to the national register. Perhaps you're thinking "It's not all about size!"? Well, if you have a tree that you feel deserves recognition for its historic value, then you can submit that tree to America's Historic Tree Register. If you're in Arkansas, consider submitting it to the Arkansas Famous and Historic Tree Program.

In the news...

• Plankton are on the decline :(
• "Room-temperature" ice?
• Frogs don't just bump their butts a'hoppin, the also belly-flop!

No time for a sound quiz this week, but we heard from artists such as The Books, Fleet Foxes, Lost in the Trees, Michael Nyman, Joan Baez, Songs: Ohia, Damien Jurado, TV on the Radio,  The Cure, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.