Outside/In

In the late 1950s, engineer Herb Ueda Sr. traveled to a remote Arctic military base. His mission? To drill through nearly a mile of ice, and extract the world’s first complete ice core.To finish the job, he and his team would endure sub-zero weather, toxic chemicals, and life inside a military base… which was slowly being crushed by the glacier from which it was carved. In this episode (first released in 2023) Daniel Ackerman takes us inside Camp Century, and explains how a foundational moment in climate science was inextricably linked with the United State's military interest in Greenland.Featuring Curt La Bombard, Julie Brigham-Grette, Herb Ueda Jr., Don Garfield, and Aleqa Hammond.Produced by Daniel Ackerman. For a full list of credits and transcript, go to outsidinradio.org.  WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

A magician spins a black top hat to show their audience it’s empty. Then, with the wave of a wand and a few magic words, PRESTO: a snow white rabbit pokes its ears over the brim. Compared to sawing a person in half, pulling a rabbit out of a hat is a joyful bit of magic that entertainers have been doing for more than 200 years. But after the applause dies down, one is left wondering: where did the rabbit come from? And where did it go? Today, in honor of the Easter Bunny (who doesn’t actually appear in this episode), we’re pulling a handful of rabbit stories out of our proverbial hat. But be warned: these are dark tales of disappearing pets, occult eugenicists, and animal sacrifice. The secrets behind some magic tricks are more shocking than others. Featuring Nicole Cardoza, Gwyne Henke, Suzanne Loui, Sally Master, Ana DiMaria, Tanya Singer, and Meg Crane. Produced by Nate Hegyi, Marina Henke, Kate Dario, and Justine Paradis. For full credits, photos, and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. SUPPORTTo share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKSJoin us for NHPR’s 3rd Annual Climate Summit! The theme is “Healthy Connections,” and we’ve got a great lineup of speakers and breakout sessions PLUS a trivia night. And the best part? It’s all FREE. Learn more and register here. Check out this video of magician and storyteller Nicole Cardoza performing for a group in Chicago in 2024. You can check out Gwyne Henke’s childhood rabbit poetry on our website. Tanya Singer reported on the history of Project Angora for Tablet. You can also learn more about Helena Weinrauch and her blue sweater here. Read more about the history of pregnancy testing in this paper on Egyptian grain method, rabbit tests, and more, and in A Woman’s Right to Know by Jesse Olszynko-Gryn, available as a free ebook from MIT Press.The story of Meg Crane’s Predictor test can also be found in the excellent Designing Motherhood, a book and exhibit on human reproduction through the lens of design.Pagan Kennedy’s New York Times article, which prompted Meg Crane to start sharing her story—and Pagan’s follow-up, which does include Meg. WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Allergies have been documented in historical records dating as far back as 2,400 years ago, when Hippocrates wrote about “hostile humors” in some people who suffered badly after eating cheese. But why do we experience them to begin with? What even is an allergy? Are allergies on the rise? And why are some mere nuisances, while others are deadly?This episode is a roundup of allergy stories—from the mundane to the frightful—and a round up of allergy questions we’re asking Dr. Theresa MacPhail, author of Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World, to answer for us.Featuring Beni Osei Duker, Theresa MacPhail, Dwayne Smith, and Lily Ko.Produced by Felix Poon. For a transcript and full list of credits, go to outsideinradio.org.Correction: An earlier version of this episode suggested that bee pollen and local honey could only be effective as a form of immunotherapy at the site of the allergy, i.e. in your nose. In fact, immunotherapy is commonly administered as a subcutaneous (under the skin) injection to treat nasal allergy symptoms. A more relevant reason why they don’t work as immunotherapy is that hay fever is caused primarily by wind-carried pollens rather than insect-carried pollens that bees gather, among other reasons. SUPPORTOutside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKSCheck out Theresa MacPhail’s book, Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World.Read up on the different hypotheses on why we get allergies in the first place:The parasite hypothesisThe toxin hypothesisThe hygiene hypothesisThe old friends hypothesisLearn about the history of the EpiPen. WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Venom is full of dualities. According to the UN’s World Health Organization, snakebite envenoming causes somewhere between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths per year, and even that is likely an undercount. Yet research into venom has yielded treatments for diabetes, cancer, erectile dysfunction, and even the celebrity favorite diabetes slash diet drug, Ozempic. In this episode, we explore the world of venom, where fear and fascination go hand-in-hand, and the potential for healing comes with deadly stakes. This is part II of our “Things That Can Kill You” miniseries, which also explores poison and allergies.Featuring Sakthi Vaiyapuri. Thanks to Iva Tatić for her question.Produced by Justine Paradis. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. SUPPORTTo share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram, BlueSky, Tiktok, or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKSHere’s more on Sakthi Vaiyapuri’s community awareness programs in India and his team’s research on the socioeconomic impacts on rural populations in Tamil NaduThe UN’s World Health Organization’s fact sheet on snake envenoming as a high-priority neglected tropical diseaseA great breakdown on why snakebite deaths are undercounted and the problem of missing data, written by global health researcher Saloni Dattani on SubstackA Nature article on potential advances in antivenomCheck out this Science Friday film on the cool research on cone snails and the non-opoiod painkillers derived from their venom. More on Ozempic and lots of other innovations with roots in venom research (New York Times)  WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

A few months ago we got an email from a listener who tried a bit of a very poisonous apple and lived to tell the tale. Ultimately, he was fine, but the incident left him full of questions. We figured, why not run with that curiosity? We put a call out for all of your poison related queries and you delivered: How much should you worry about those green potatoes in your pantry? Could our car tires be poisoning the environment? It’s another Outside/Inbox roundup on the show this week. Buckle up. This is the first part of a “Things That Can Kill You” mini-series. Up next we tackle venom and allergies.Featuring Hussein Elgridly, Deborah Blum, Andy Robinson, Angela Mech, Kyle Lombard and Heejung Jung.Are green potatoes toxic?Are invasive browntail moths expanding their range?Is hydroxyapatite an effective substitute for fluoride?How much toxic airborne pollution is contributed by vehicle tires?For our next Outside/Inbox roundup, we’re looking for questions about sound! Dream big here: we’re talking animal sounds, traffic noise, the sounds of space… Send us your questions by recording yourself on a voice memo, and emailing that to us at outsidein@nhpr.org.  Or you can call our hotline: 844-GO-OTTER.For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.  WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Sgt. Tibbs, a fluffy, 19-year-old Maine Coon with tiger stripes, soft eyes, and a chipped tooth, is missing on the streets of Manchester, New Hampshire. His owner, Rose, fears the worst. But when she finds out her cat was never missing at all – the truth turns out to be worse than she feared.From our friends over at the Document team at New Hampshire Public Radio, this is the first in a four-part series about what we owe our pets – and what we owe our neighbors.For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.SUPPORTOutside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.  Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook. WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

After the Irish fought for and won their independence from the British in 1921, they had a problem. Centuries of exploitation had left the island one of the least forested nations in Europe, with less than 2% tree cover. So, they started planting a non-native American tree: fast-growing Sitka spruce capable of rebuilding their timber resources in record time. And it worked. Today, about 12% of the island is forested. But in the rural areas where iconic rolling hills have been replaced by rows and rows of conifers, farmers are not happy. Outside/In host Nate Hegyi takes us to County Leitrim, an area of Ireland hit hard by the Troubles and the Great Famine, to meet the townspeople who are fighting what they say is a new wave of colonialism: Sitka spruce plantations. Produced by Nate Hegyi. For a transcript and full list of credits, go to outsideinradio.org. Featuring: Justin Warnock, Brian Smyth, Donal Magner, Liam Byrne and Jodie Asselin SUPPORTTo share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.Follow Outside/In on Instagram or BlueSky, or join our private discussion group on Facebook LINKSDonal Magner wrote a book covering the history of Ireland’s forests and timber industry. Sitka spruce plantations are controversial in other parts of Ireland as well, including Cork. There are also efforts to rewild parts of Ireland with entirely native trees and to protect and restore carbon-sequestering bogs. It can be really tough to figure out exactly what was growing in Ireland thousands of years ago – but these scientists used ancient pollen counts to figure it out. Researchers at University College Dublin produced  a detailed socio-economic impact report on sitka spruce plantations and County Leitrim in 2019. WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Recently, our producer Justine Paradis noticed something. Humans really like to sing together in groups: birthday parties, sports games, church hymns, protest chants, singing along to Taylor Swift at the Eras concert… the list could get very long.But… why? Did singing play a part in human evolution? Why does singing together make us feel so good?Featuring Hannah Mayree, Ani Patel, Dor Shilton, and Arla Good. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. SUPPORTTo share your questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member.Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.Follow Outside/In on Instagram or BlueSky, or join our private discussion group on Facebook LINKSBobby McFerrin in 2009 at the World Science Festival, demonstrating the intuitive power of the pentatonic scale, and in 2010, improvising in a stadium in Germany with 60,000 singers.A short documentary about Sing For Your Life! and OneVoice Circle Singers.Check out Hannah Mayree’s music and work.Dor Shilton and Ani Patel collaborated on a paper (currently preprint) examining four societies where collective music-making is rare.Dor Shilton’s paper on the evolution of music as an “interactive technology” and open-access analysis of patterns in group singing.This journal presented the hypothesis of music as a mechanism for social bonding as part of an ongoing conversation. SingWell’s forthcoming research on group singing, aging, and Parkinson’s disease. WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.

Join Lindsay Patterson, co-host of the science podcast Tumble, as she dives into the fascinating world of animal play! Discover how playful behaviors extend beyond familiar pets like dogs and cats to include unexpected creatures like rats and bumblebees. Lindsay outlines a five-part checklist that scientists use to identify play across species. Plus, learn why turn-taking is essential for cognitive development. This entertaining discussion reveals the critical role of play in social connections and evolutionary importance across the animal kingdom.

In New Hampshire, the most beloved swath of public land is the White Mountain National Forest. People interact with it as they would a national park – hiking, swimming, camping, and more. But a national forest is NOT a national park. The difference comes down to a fundamental concept: the “multiple-use” land mandate. In the WMNF, you’ll find parts of the forest preserved for wildlife conservation, recreation, climate resilience, and, most controversially, logging. This episode looks at one patch of forest from three different perspectives: a conservationist who would like to see cutting halted in the WMNF, loggers who would like to see it ramped up, and the US Forest Service that has to somehow appease them both. Featuring Zack Porter, Jeremy Turner, Charlie Niebling, Jasen Stock, Jim Innes, and Luke Sawyer.SUPPORTTo share questions and feedback with Outside/In, call the show’s hotline and leave us a voicemail. The number is 1-844-GO-OTTER. No question is too serious or too silly.Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Follow Outside/In on Instagram or join our private discussion group on Facebook.LINKSZack Porter references this study that shows the potential carbon storage in Eastern forests by 2100. Conservation groups and logging advocates filed an amicus brief together against Standing Tree’s lawsuits. In 2024, the Southern Environmental Law Center sued the Forest Service over its timber targets. NHPR has been covering the legal fight in the White Mountain National Forest over the past year. You can read some of our previous coverage here and here. CREDITSProduced by Kate Dario. Full credits and transcript available on outsideinradio.org. WIN A NEW CAR OR 25K IN CASH DURING NHPR'S SUMMER RAFFLE! GET YOUR TICKETS HERE.