Animals & Insects

Karen Fine talks about practicing Chinese medicine and acupuncture on sick pets, what "ADR" stands for, and the mental health issues many veterinarians face. Her new book is The Other Family Doctor.

Science writer Ed Yong recently won the Carnegie Medal for Excellence for An Immense World, his book about the diversity of perception in the animal world. Originally broadcast June 22, 2022.

Alexandra Horowitz is a professor of psychology and founder of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College. Horowitz's new book is called "The Year Of The Puppy." Our book critic Maureen Corrigan says it offers readers plenty to chew on.

In An Immense World, science writer Ed Yong explores the diversity of perception in the animal world — including echolocation, magnetic fields and ultraviolet vision. Originally broadcast June 2022.

Roach researched animal misbehaviors for her book, Fuzz. She says animals tend to ignore the rules we try to impose on them — and they often have the last laugh. Originally broadcast Sept. 14, 2021.

In his new book, An Immense World, Yong explores the diversity of perception in the animal world and the limitations of our own perception. He notes that each animal has access to its own sensory environment — called an "umwelt" — which creates its own "bespoke sliver of reality."

Scott Weidensaul has spent decades studying bird migration. "There is a tremendous solace in watching these natural rhythms play out again and again," he says. Originally broadcast March 29, 2021.

A pioneer in the field of evolutionary biology, Wilson explored the complex cooperation among ants, including the role of natural in their colonies. He died Dec. 26. Originally broadcast in 1994.

Blair Braverman, an adventurer and sled dog racer who finished Alaska's nearly 1,000-mile long Iditarod race in 2019, has some advice for aspiring mushers. Rule no. 1, she says, is to never let go of the sled or the dogs.

What happens when animals become criminals, at least in the eyes of humans….somebody has to deal with bears who menace campsites, Indian elephants that trample crops and kill farmers, and birds that flock in flight paths near airports. Science writer MARY ROACH's new book is Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law.

Sir David Attenborough is TV's longest-running nature host with credits than span 70 years. A new BBC America special follows his path, from a nature-obsessed kid to a world-renowned broadcaster.

Diving off the waters of South Africa everyday, where he was raised, Craig Foster cultivated a trust with a shy octopus.

What does it mean to be a woman who had a boyhood? That's the question LGBTQ activist Jennifer Finney Boylan set out to explore her new memoir, Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs.

A look at the vast, bizarre world of insects, and why we can't live without them with Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson author of the new book 'Buzz, Sting, Bite.'

When Frans de Waal started studying nonhuman primates, in the Netherlands more than 40 years ago, he was told not to consider the emotions of the animals he was observing.

Sigrid Nunez's National Book Award-winning novel is narrated by a woman grieving the suicide of her longtime friend and former writing professor, whom she slept with once.

You may be shocked by what's living in your home — the bacteria, the fungi, viruses, parasites and insects. Probably many more organisms than you imagined.

"Every surface; every bit of air; every bit of water in your home is alive," says Rob Dunn, a professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "The average house has thousands of species."

We think of whales as creatures of the sea, but scientists now believe that 40 million to 50 million years ago, whales had four legs and lived at least part of their lives on land.

Can we eat meat ethically? Journalist Camas Davis tells us how we can.

Essayist and cartoonist Timothy Kreider reflects on the relationships in his life, from past girlfriends to his beloved cat.