Ep. 18 — Anthony Weston on animals, aliens and the silence of the universe

Ep. 1 – Natalie Kofler asks: What role should humans play in editing nature?: A few years ago, our guest, Dr. Natalie Kofler, was completing her postdoctoral training in molecular biology at Yale University. She was actively using CRISPR gene-editing technology to study the mammalian cardiovascular system to try to develop bette... by When We Talk About Animals

53 min listen

Ep. 7 – “Eating Animals” film director Christopher Quinn on the hidden costs of factory farming: Award-winning film director, writer, and producer Christopher Quinn’s new film, “Eating Animals,” based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s acclaimed nonfiction book, traces the environmental, economic and personal consequences — on human and nonhuman animals — ... by When We Talk About Animals

59 min listen

Ep. 6 – Gale Ridge on bringing peace to humans’ befuddling relationships with bugs: A concert pianist-turned-entomologist and bedbug expert, Dr. Gale Ridge is an insect detective. She solves mysteries and helps thousands of perplexed, struggling people with all varieties of bug problems — from bedbugs to agricultural pests to imaginar... by When We Talk About Animals

53 min listen

Ep. 0 – Coming soon: When We Talk About Animals: Conversations with thinkers whose work has challenged us to rethink our place in the animal kingdom. Subscribe on iTunes or Soundcloud. by When We Talk About Animals

2 min listen

Ep. 2 – Peter Godfrey-Smith asks: What can the octopus teach us about consciousness?: Dr. Peter Godfrey-Smith is professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney and the author of Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and The Deep Origins of Consciousness. We discuss how our distant evolutionary cousins, by When We Talk About Animals

61 min listen

Ep. 3 – Sue Savage-Rumbaugh on learning from humanity’s closest living relatives: Twenty minutes southeast of Des Moines, Iowa, you’ll find a large, unassuming cement complex with fenced in grounds. You’d never know it, but inside are five bonobos—including the world-famous Kanzi—thought to be the only remaining nonhuman apes capabl... by When We Talk About Animals

65 min listen

Ep. 4 – Irene Pepperberg on revolutionizing what humans think of bird brains by When We Talk About Animals

57 min listen

Ep. 18 — Anthony Weston on animals, aliens and the silence of the universe: In 1950, a physicist posed the question that has come to be known as the Fermi Paradox: given the high mathematical probability that other intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe, why is there no evidence that they exist? by When We Talk About Animals

54 min listen

Ep. 10 – Dale Jamieson on love and meaning in the age of humans: In their book, Love in the Anthropocene, our guest, the environmental philosopher Dale Jamieson, and his co-author Bonnie Nadzam invite us to imagine a not-too-distant-future in which our technologies have continued to transform the face of the planet.... by When We Talk About Animals

54 min listen

Ep. 8 – Charles Siebert on translating nature’s symphony: During his travels in South America at the close of the 18th century, the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt came upon a parrot speaking the words of a lost Indian tribe. The encounter inspired our guest, by When We Talk About Animals

58 min listen

Ep. 15 – Gay Bradshaw on Charlie Russell, grizzly bears, and the search for truth: Bears, like other carnivores, are typically cast as unthinking, emotionless killers. But the late naturalist Charlie Russell believed this tragic misperception hides the truth about who bears really are. Charlie’s life story changed how humans perceive... by When We Talk About Animals

60 min listen

Ep. 16 — Thomas Seeley on the lives of bees: In the spring of 1963, when our guest Dr. Thomas Seeley was not quite 11 years old, he lived — as he still does today — in a wooded stream valley just east of Ithaca, New York. One day, he heard a loud buzzing sound and saw a bread-truck-sized cloud of... by When We Talk About Animals

49 min listen

Ep. 11 – Diana Reiss on recognizing the dolphins in the mirror: In mountainous regions of the world, there are human societies that use whistled languages to transmit and understand a potentially unlimited number of meanings over great distances. While in graduate school, Dr. by When We Talk About Animals

59 min listen

Ep. 14 – David Wolfson on pioneering the field of farm animal law: In the United States today, 10 billion land animals are raised and killed for food annually. That’s over 19,000 animals per minute. About 1.1 million animals during the length of this podcast. Yet as far as federal law is concerned, by When We Talk About Animals

64 min listen

Ep. 17 – Fabrice Schnoller on free diving with sperm whales: In 2007, our guest, Fabrice Schnoller, was sailing off the coast of Mauritius when he had an encounter that would change his life and open a new frontier in marine biology. As his boat neared land, huge pillars of steam burst out of the water. by When We Talk About Animals

54 min listen

Ep. 31 – Zak Smith on ending the international wildlife trade: The repercussions of the international wildlife trade, which is a primary driver of our planet’s biodiversity crisis, have recently hit close to home. With the society-altering impacts of Covid-19, which scientists think originated in wild animals, by When We Talk About Animals

54 min listen

Ep. 21 – David Barrie on the wonders of animal navigation by When We Talk About Animals

60 min listen

Ep. 26 – Ian Urbina on the Outlaw Ocean: Over 40 percent of the Earth’s surface is open ocean that is over 200 miles from the nearest shore. These waters exist outside national jurisdiction and are almost entirely beyond the reach of law. Our guest, investigative journalist Ian Urbina, by When We Talk About Animals

55 min listen

Ep. 20 – Gabriela Cowperthwaite on the legacy of “Blackfish”: Film director and producer Gabriela Cowperthwaite did not set out to make a film that would force a national moral reckoning over how we keep whales in captivity, slash the profits of Sea World, and make her the unexpected enemy number one of a multi-b... by When We Talk About Animals

48 min listen

Ep. 23 – David Rothenberg on playing music with whales and nightingales: Philosopher and musician David Rothenberg has spent decades collecting and studying the calls of birds and whales. In the early 2000s, he began playing along with them, taking his clarinet and saxophone to some of the furthest corners of the planet. by When We Talk About Animals

52 min listen

Ep. 19 – Robert Macfarlane on being good ancestors across deep time: “Books, like landscapes, leave their marks in us,” Robert Macfarlane once wrote. “Certain books, though, like certain landscapes, stay with us even when we left them, changing not just our weathers but our climates. by When We Talk About Animals

49 min listen

Ep. 22 – Ferris Jabr on reviving the Gaia hypothesis: In the 1970s, scientists proposed what has become known as the Gaia Hypothesis: the idea that earth is best understood not as a passive substrate or background to life but as a life form in its own right. Our guest, journalist Ferris Jabr, by When We Talk About Animals

54 min listen

Ep. 33 – Valérie Courtois on Indigenous-led land and wildlife stewardship: As wildlife across Canada face unprecedented pressures from climate change and industrial development, Indigenous Peoples, who have relied upon and managed these animals for millennia, are leading the way on ensuring their protection. by When We Talk About Animals

55 min listen

Ep. 24 – Christopher Ketcham on the abuse of the American West: For the past ten years, journalist Christopher Ketcham has documented the confluence of commercial exploitation and government misconduct on public lands across the West, the role of the livestock and energy industries in their despoliation, by When We Talk About Animals

51 min listen

Ep. 28 – Bathsheba Demuth on capitalism, communism and arctic ecology: In her acclaimed first book, “Floating Coast,” historian Bathsheba Demuth explores how capitalism, communism and ecology have clashed for over 150 years in the remote region of Beringia, the Arctic lands and waters stretching between Russia and Canada.... by When We Talk About Animals

59 min listen

Ep. 25 – Doug Kysar and Jon Lovvorn on law in the Anthropocene: Professors Doug Kysar and Jonathan Lovvorn are the Faculty Co-Directors of the Law, Ethics & Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School. Launched in fall 2019, LEAP is a multidisciplinary “think-and-do” tank dedicated to empowering Yale scholars and stu... by When We Talk About Animals

50 min listen

Ep. 37 – Monica Gagliano on plant intelligence and human imagination: Are plants intelligent? Can they think? Can they hear, see, feel, smell and taste? Throughout history, most Western philosophers and scientists answered those questions with a resounding “no.” Plants have long been treated as passive, by When We Talk About Animals

54 min listen

Ep. 35 – J. Drew Lanham on finding ourselves magnified in nature’s colored hues: As Dr. Joseph Drew Lanham writes in his beautiful and deeply moving memoir, The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, from his earliest days growing up in the piedmont forests and fields of Edgefield, South Carolina, by When We Talk About Animals

60 min listen

Ep. 32 – Gene Baur on changing hearts, minds and laws about farm animals: Amid the systematic cruelties and alienating conditions which define our factory farm system, Farm Sanctuary stands out as an exemplar of human kindness. Over the past thirty years, Farm Sanctuary — co-founded and led by our guest, by When We Talk About Animals

53 min listen

Ep. 30 – Sonia Shah on how animal microbes become human pandemics: Roughly two-thirds of emerging infectious diseases — including COVID-19 and almost all recent epidemics — originate in the bodies of animals. Microbes have spilled over from animals to humans for time immemorial, but, by When We Talk About Animals

60 min listen

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Ep. 18 — Anthony Weston on animals, aliens and the silence of the universe

Ep. 18 — Anthony Weston on animals, aliens and the silence of the universe

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