Strange by Nature Podcast (Strange by Nature)

Hey Everyone, it is our first show of 2025!

Kirk starts us off this week with a medical mystery from Australia. Can Victoria guess what it is? Spoiler, it is the Paralysis Tick!

Rachel (no surprise here) takes us to the bottom of the ocean to lean about a strange bone eating worm that feasts on dead whales.

Victoria also takes us underwater this week to Doggerland, a hidden submerged world at the bottom of the North Sea that used to be dry land and home to humans during the last ice age.

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This week Kirk answers the question, "Can plants smell?" by looking at some really interesting experiments.

Rachel then decides to rise to the occasion of talking about the weird world of yeasts.

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This week, Kirk breaks our brains a bit by revisiting the color purple and thinking about how strange it is that we can see it at all. Rachel then reels in the largest sunfish in the world and you won't believe how bit it can get. 

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You may have seen this one in the headlines. Kirk does a deep dive on the science behind this fascinating phenomenon. Scientists have turned the skin of mice completely transparent in a simple reversible technique using the same dye that makes Doritos orange. This strange result could have huge impacts on science and medicine.

Rachel also talks about a creature this week but it isn't invisible, just very difficult to find. She tells us about the strange critically endangered Northern Bald Ibis. This strange shorebird nests on cliffs and castles and scientists have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the population going.

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Welcome to another exciting week of weird. Victoria starts off this week's show with the story of an Ignobel prize wining study showing that mammals can breathe through their butts. 

Kirk then takes us to the ocean to learn about animals that can drink saltwater without dying like us humans would.

Rachel rounds out this week by returning again into the ocean to introduce us to the bizarre looking antarctic scale worm. It is beautiful and awful all at once. Perfect, just how we like it right?

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This week, Rachel rolls on in with strange tales of Tumbleweeds, Victoria thaws out a very recent (and silky) wooly mammoth and Kirk introduces us to a super cute animal with the power to photosynthesize. So much goodness here!

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Victoria kicks things of this week with a fascinating new study on Potter wasps showing that the males actually can defensively "sting" even though they don't have a classic stinger. If you are a fan of defensive genitalia, this story's for you!

Kirk keeps it with insects and defense this week and tells us a bit about the irritating hairs of caterpillars, how some of them have toxins and and how they can get into your eyes. No thanks. 

Rachel takes us to a small island off the coast of Yemen to introduce us to the endangered Dragon's Blood Tree. It isn't just rare, it is strange too. 

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This week, Kirk takes us back to the end of the dinosaur age and how the asteroid impact may have set up just the right conditions to create the world's first farmers. Ants, it turns out, beat humans to the idea of agriculture by about 65 million years.

Rachel then takes us to one of the most remote islands in the world, Nightingale Island, to hear about the amazing effort going to to save the endemic Wilkins's Bunting. It is a monumental task that included saving forests by raising and introducing killer wasps.

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Victoria weaves a tale of a strange ancient desert plant, Kirk talks about magnets in the heads of fish, and Rachel tells us why the sky is blue.

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Rachel details bizarre research that gave ants stilts, Victoria talks about planet-wide magnetic field reversal and Kirk does a deep dive on Sea Monkeys. This one's got it all!

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Kirk shares the possible real-world origin of Blood Rain, Rachel shares the story of The Old Man of the Lake in Crater Lake and Victoria tells the tale of the fatal death cap mushroom. 

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Did you know that most other animals make their own vitamin C and we're the weirdos who don't? You won't find a goat or lemur with Scurvy. Kirk tells us all about it. Rachel then brings us on a journey of discovery under the sea to learn about the Sea Horse.

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Being eaten alive while paralyzed, mites living (and loving) on your face, and being turned into a zombie by a worm. This one has it all. 

Victoria takes on a listener question about Brood X Cicadas, Kirk introduces us to the Many Assed Hydra Worm and Rachel explores (the history of) the anus. 

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This week, Victoria talks about the time nature created a naturally occurring nuclear reactor, Kirk takes on the very real magic "Bezoars" from Harry Potter and Rachel explains why a Banana is a berry but a Strawberry is not. 

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Kirk brings some new science around Bamboo. Are we on the verge of a massive die-off? Rachel talks Cheetahs! Are they strange? Yup!

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Subscribe now! Season 1 begins March 10th. 

Kirk starts things off with pyromaniac raptors who set wildfires, Rachel gives us a quick primer on Wolverines and Victoria talks about the mysterious phenomenon of Seneca Guns (aka mysterious booms from the sky.)

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Rachel shares the story of the first ever broad-leafed tree (that is still with us today), Victoria digs on the Tasmanian Tiger and Kirk does a deep dive on these strange molecules called Carotenoids. 

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This episode is really cool. (apologies for all the puns) Victoria illuminates the cool light of bioluminescence, Kirk takes us thousands of feet under the chilly Antarctic ice for a change scientific discovery and Rachel fills us in on immortal human cells. 

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This week Victoria blows our mind with a story of beetles moisture farming though their anus, Kirk goes on a rant about the color of the sun and Rachel tells us a tale of a cool hermit crab with connections to the film/book Howl's  Moving Castle. 

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Pulsars, Things that Eat Dragonflies and Cookie Cutter Sharks. How's that for a diverse set of topics this week?

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We're just a week away from the launch of the podcast. Here's a few more tasty excerpts. Be sure to subscribe. 

We're all over the place this week. Victoria is back and she brings a mind blower talking about how the length of the day and the number of days in a year have changed dramatically over time. Kirk then brings things back to birds (of course) with a talk about the amazing Ostrich. Rachel rounds out this week's show talking about the tiny but mighty Mottled Cup Caterpillar, a little critter that packs a potent sting.

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Rachel kicks things off by taking us to the ocean to meet the insanely colorful Mandarin Dragonet. Victoria talks about animals that can both shrink and grow their brains. Kirk cuts through the waves with the weirdness that is Storm Oil. We hope you enjoy eclectic topics! 

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Rachel really kicks things off this week by telling us about the "human fish" that live in caves. Victoria is back this week and looking at how the gender of scientists can skew the results of research. Kirk rounds things off this week by talking about how hippos sweat a pseudo-blood to use as sunscreen. 

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Victoria kicks things off with a bizarre story about Fire Beetles, a strange animals that actually goes TOWARD fire instead of away from it. Kirk then shares some disturbing news about powerful solar storms that could disable society and Rachel rounds out this week's show with the spookiest of near-Halloween topics...mistletoe? Oh yeah, we also answer a strange listener question about Pineapple. Amanda, how dare you? 

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This week, Victoria brings us a mysterious case of a chimeric mother, Kirk brings the mystery of the 26 second pulse and Rachel brings us...The Emu War. 

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Kirk finally brings us stories of Tardigrades, Rachel blows our minds with the explosive and poisonous Dynamite Tree and Victoria talks about giant spiders falling from the sky.

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This week, Victoria talks about the bird pirates of the sea, the Great Skua. These birds have an incredible memory for people they don't like and they have also been known to steal other animals eyeballs. Woah.

Kirk is up next with a story about the epic battles waged by Pavement Ants. These colonies go head to head battling colony vs colony but their strange behavior is acutaly making them highly dominant in their urban habitats.

Rachel is up last and she tackles the topic of Fireflies. It turns out there's more to their dispaly than jut pretty lights. They are flashing their butts to find a mate (or maybe a meal.)

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Victoria kicks things off this week with a surprising story about Garlic Mustard that goes against everything we thought we knew. 

Kirk then really stretches our minds by talking about extended cognition in spiders. 

Rachel rounds out this week's show talking about a new discovery around dolphin language. 

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This week, Rachel kicks things off with truly bizarre looking sharks, Victoria pushes out brains to the breaking point with recursive islands, and Kirk brings us the bizarre tale of hibernating birds. 

This episode was made possible by the generous support of our patrons.

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Rachel tells us the story of the Man who married a White-naped Crane, Victoria has an explosive story about the Yellowstone Supervolcano and Kirk shares another story about interesting research into bird migration using smell. 

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Victoria blows us away with facts about the Tunguska Event, Kirk shares new research on how fungus kills and farms insects to feed their nitrogen to plants and Rachel tells us why you don't want to go to a night club that uses spittle bug spittle for the foam on the dance floor. 

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On this week's show, Kirk tells us about a fascinating discovery that may mean feathers are older than dinosaurs.

Rachel is up next with the story about a rare Tiger Quoll that suddenly showed up in an unexpected spot.

Victoria rounds out this week's show with an amazing tale of a man who narrowly escaped death after eating the poisonous Spotted Water Hemlock.

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This week Kirk brings us the adorable pokemon of a mammal the Lowland Streaked Tenrec, Rachel tells us why the color Magenta doesn't really exist and Victoria talks about bizarre teeth of Chitons. You'll just have to listen to figure out where the episode title comes from!

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This week Kirk starts us off with a bizarre story about the weirdly human trait of blushing when we are embarrassed. He then tells us about a wild new study that had teenage girls blushing while in an MRI machine all though the magic of Karaoke.

Rachel this week tackles pollination and flips the script on how and why we think it happens. It turns out, once again, nature laughs at our little boxes and loves to do things different than we expect.

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In this week's episode, Victoria tells us about lakes that will kill you from miles away, Kirk does a sand-striker worm redux and Rachel lays down some facts about an 80,000 year old tree. 

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Here's your weekly dose of weird.

Up first, Victoria revisits slime molds so she can tell us about a truly massive single cell organism.

Kirk is up next answers the question, snakes can be venomous but can they be poisonous? We get to the bottom of this sneaky snake question.

Rachel rounds out this week's show with a truly strange bird, the horned screamer. Find out all about it and hear the funky sounds it can make.

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This week Rachel and Kirk share some incredible stories. Rachel starts us of with some amazing facts about the Albatross. They are truly giant and amazing birds that spend much of their life at sea. 

I know, you thought Rachel had turned a page and wasn't going to do a story about the ocean but alas, even when she talks about birds she finds a way to make it about the sea. 

Kirk shares this week about the Epomis Beetle, a truly bizarre little creature that turns the table on the predator-prey relationship by sneak attacking frogs and other animals that try to eat it. What happens next is pretty horrifying. Hint: it involves liquefaction. 

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Victoria starts us off this week with the surprising reason that blue-eyed white cats are often deaf. The reason is truly bizarre.

Kirk brings us the story of an amazing adaption recently discovered in Hummingbirds. Researchers just discovered that the White-necked Jacobin have babies who's feathers perfectly mimic dangerous caterpillars in order to scare away predators.

Rachel rounds out this week with a discussion of the tallest trees in the world, the coastal redwoods.

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This week, Kirk starts things off by telling us about the newly discovered largest organism in the world, Rachel finishes up pride month with a rainbow colored tree and Victoria dives into the briny sea to fetch us a handful of poisonous cone snails. 

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This week Victoria tells us about a mysterious and giant plant that is missing major plant parts, Kirk talks about the dolphins that work for the US Navy and Rachel get down with the puzzle of what makes cacti so strange. 

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This week Rachel brings the amazing story of the relationship between humans and birds called Honeyguides. Victoria looks into the strange story of bird respiration and Kirk discusses the process of how volcanic islands become lush and green.

Kirk kicks us off with the story of Krakatoa, possibly the most famous volcanic explosion of all time. We then all bond over our collective dislike of Pineapple (which is Rachel's topic), and Victoria tells us the mysterious tale of the Army Ants with two butts. 

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Kirk tells us about the Tree of Death, Rachel shares about the thermogenic Skunk Cabbage and Victoria discusses how Vikings navigated using sun stones. 

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Victoria shares some fascinating research about Zebra Stripes, Kirk peeps on the science behind Fall Colors and Rachel talks about another living fossil, this time, the Tuatara.

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Victoria is with us this week and she brings us the tale of giant Coconut Crabs that just may have eaten Amelia Earhart.

Not to be outdone, Kirk tells us about the mysterious disappearing Y chromosome. Will it eventually disappear all together? What does that have to do with the platypus?

Rachel takes a look at the weird jobs ribs play in snakes from digestion to locomotion to defensive displays like the cobra hood. So strange.

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Two great topics this week. Rachel tells us about mysterious rivers that flow under the ocean and Kirk tracks the history and evolution of the tongue!

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This week, Victoria tracks down the mystery of where eels come from, Kirk bring us the tale of Australian Camels, and Rachel also heads down under for a story about Idiot fruit. 

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Rachel unravels the history of the Unicorn, Victoria explains albinism and related weirdness and Kirk debunks a myth about carrots that goes back to WWII propaganda. 

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This week Kirk kicks us off with a discussion of Samurai Crabs and realizes they sound familiar because of a strange childhood connection involving a cartoon rabbit. 

Rachel then dives into prions and Chronic Wasting Disease. Fear not, she has good news. 

Victoria rounds out this week by telling us about the missing continent of Zealandia. 

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Rachel is up first this week with a lighthearted study that investigated why banana peels are so slippery when stepped on.

Victoria then swerves into Rachel's lane and takes us to Australia to investigate the origin of the Dingo.

Kirk is up last and brings us the story of a newly discovered wasp from millions of years ago that had an amazing adaptation for trapping insects like a venus flytrap.

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What a treat, this week we are joined by Brett Sieberer. You may know him as the quiz master behind our anniversary shows but he's an incredible professional naturalist as well.

Rachel kicks things off this week by taking us on a journey to discover just how high an insect an fly.

Brett then takes us to the depths of the ocean in search of a mysterious unknown species of whale.

Kirk rounds things off by making everyone squirm as he goes into details on why you really really don't want to get a tape worm from pork. Enjoy!

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Kirk kicks things off this week with surprising news about a familiar parasite shaping wolf pack dynamics at Yellowstone. 

Our guest James from Science Night Podcast brings us the tale of Zenobots, robots made out of animal tissue. 

Rachel rounds out the episode revealing that antlers really are stranger than you think. 

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In this very special episode we hang out with Vikram Baliga from the Planthropology Podcast. We ponder whether or not plants can see, learn about insects that look like plants and delve into the bizarre world of carnivorous plants.

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Kirk kicks things off this week with a mysterious sound being heard in Tampa, Florida. What is it? Likely the sound of hundreds of mating black drum fish. Keep it weird Florida.

Rachel then presents us with a pretty little Puss Caterpillar. It looks harmless enough but just touching it can make you feel like your bones are breaking. Do not touch.

Victoria surprises us this week with a miracle healing substance we've know about for over a century but don't currently use very often. The Human Placenta! 

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Victoria is up first with a mystery part of the cell and we have no idea what it does or why it is there but it is inside you right now. Learn more about the strange "Vaults" in our cells.

Kirk is second this week and he brings us some new research into the strange social urination of animals.

Rachel rounds out the episode with a creature feature on Kangaroo Rats/Kangaroo Mice.

This week Kirk brings us the story of mysterious Blue Lava, Rachel discusses the strange shoebill and Victoria takes us on a search for 10,000 feet of missing rock. 

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This week we're looking back at our first 100 episodes in the nerdiest way possible, a quiz show. Three rounds, 18 questions. Can our fearless hosts remember all of the strange topics they've brought to your ear holes? Can you?

Thank you everyone for coming along on this journey!

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Kirk just can't help himself and goes with another episode about a parasite. Ladies and Germs, we present, the Rat Lung Worm. 

Rachel keeps the infection theme going by talking about the first ever case of a cross-kingdom infection when a man was found to have a fungus growing in his throat. 

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Our 40th Episode! Thanks everyone! On today's show Victoria talks about the Wallace Line, an explanation for why Australia is so different than everywhere else. Kirk shares an "ah ha" moment that involves goldfinches smelling like Maple Syrup and Rachel does a deep dive on Moray Eels. 

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On this week's show, Victoria kicks things off with a discussion of Chirality and how the study of the "handedness" of molecules could actually lead to the creation of completely new forms of life. It's a bizarre thought experiment with very real and dangerous consequences.

Rachel brings us a creature feature, the fish-scaled gecko. This strange creature has an amazing defense mechanism that is both fascinating and gross.

Kirk ends things with a salute to Groundhog Day and he dives into the possible science behind why we think these giant ground squirrels can predict the weather.

This week Kirk kicks off the show with the tallest canine in the world, the strange Maned Wolf. Rachel then takes us off the planet to the outer reaches of the solar system to learn about Haumea, a strange dwarf planet shaped like a giant rugby ball. 

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It's that time again, the end of another year of Strange by Nature. So, as usual, we're joined by professional naturalist Brett Sieberer and he takes over the show to quiz us about the past year of shows and other bizarre nature knowledge. Yes, we play the ever popular game, Eat, Ride, Jacket.

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Kirk brings us a malodorous mystery, Rachel gets into the Halloween spirit with Vampire Bats and Victoria talks about a possible real world candidate for the mythical Minhocão. 

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Rachel talks ghost flowers, Victoria chats about spiders flying with electricity and Kirk brings weather extremes on Earth. 

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This this episode, Victoria introduces the concept of cryptically extinct animals, Kirks looks are the relationship between mosquitoes and blood type and Rachel talks about the possible real-world historical roots of the mythical Phoenix.

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This week we ended up with the accidental theme of things being bigger than we expected.

Kirk tells us the tale of coming face to face with enormous coastal manta rays while swimming in the ocean at night and Rachel blows Kirk's mind with the world's tallest sunflower.

Everything's huge.

Kirk gives us all deja vu with a story about an accidental discovery in Antarctica, Rachel talks hearts for Valentine's Day and Victoria talks about female sexual selection and interesting experiments to prove it exists. 

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This week on the show, Kirk talks about how Beer saved his life (and yours.) Rachel then has a mystery animal that isn't anything like you would suspect from the name. The Mountain Chicken doesn't live in mountains, and isn't a chicken. It isn't even a bird. It is the biggest frog in the world. Weird. 

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Kirk breaks our brains with a simple question about humidity, Rachel nerds out on the Cassowary and Victoria brings us flying snakes. Why...why must there be flying snakes?

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We made it! This episode marks the end of year two of the podcast and the beginning of year three. Thanks for coming along for the ride. There have been almost 325 different topics on the show so far and we're not stopping. We are, however, taking a pause this week to bring back fan favorite naturalist Brett Sieberer. He takes over the show asking us bizarre questions and having us play games like Eat, Ride or Jacket. Here's your chance to get to know your hosts better. We resume regular programming next week. Thanks everyone! 

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Victoria starts off this week making us squirm with the story of a worm in a woman's brain. Kirk then shares some strange facts about the Fossa, the main antagonist in the kids movie Madagascar that for sure did NOT make it into the cartoon and Rachel wraps things up this week where else but the ocean where she shares about an amazing and enormous colonial animal.

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Rachel kicks things off this week with the most ridiculous looking spider ever. Seriously. This thing is bizarre and cool and completely stupid looking. Listen as we learn about the Pelican Spider.

Kirk takes us on a real-life Hero's Journey to the briny depths of the Galapagos Spreading Zone where biologists got a little help finding a rich biological treasure below the waves. 

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Welcome to the beginning of year 5 of the podcast. We're happy to have all of our amazing listeners along for the ride.

Rachel kicks things off this year with the bizarre story of a fish that spends more time on land than in water. Welcome to the world of mud skippers.

Victoria probes the depths of the ocean to unravel the mystery of Dark Oxygen. This finding has big implications for rare earth mining.

Kirk wraps things up this week by asking the question, can frogs see rainbows? The answer may explain why Kermit the Frog wants to know why people sing some many songs about them.

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Kirk shares some ingenious research on bird migration, Rachel horrifies us with the Sarcastic Fringehead (and learns a geography lesson in the process) and Victoria brings on a plague of locusts. 

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Not just Cannibals, this one also has a sugar cartel robbed in the largest heist in Canadian history and Kirk denies he is "The Banana Slasher."

This week Kirk kirk kicks things off by talking about a fungus showing up somewhere unexpected. 

Speaking of unexpected, Rachel shares a story about two species that were accidentally cross-bred in a lab when it shouldn't have been possible. 

Victoria rounds out the show this week by talking about how weirdly we're all getting cooler over time. 

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Fresh off Halloween and still on a sugar high, Rachel and Kirk dive into the mysteries of the planet.

Rachel heads back to the ocean to visit the Twilight Zone and talk about the bizarre Barrel-eyed fish. This fish has a see-through head and looks like something out of Avatar or some other sci-fi alien movie. Truly bizarre.

Kirk also delves into the waters of the ocean to bring us some fresh research on comb sea jellies and their incredible regenerative properties. Scientists cut them in half and discovered they merged bodies with their neighbors to survive. It is an incredible story that makes us think about what it means to be able to tell when your body ends and your neighbor's begins.

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This week, Victoria talks about a strange interaction between dolphins and an anaconda. Kirk takes on the concept of time and Rachel brings us one of the strangest creatures ever on the show. 

Space Travel Time Calculator: https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/space-travel

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Rachel bring us monkey eating Harpy eagles, Victoria explains how we know what we know about the core of the Earth and Kirk explains the connection between Jurassic Park and California Condors (Hint: parthenogenesis)

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Rachel kicks things off this week by finally talking about the Kiwi (the bird). Our guest this week, Noah, shares two topics, Chaga and Squirrels. Kirk rounds out this week with the most complex chimera known to science. 

Link to the paper Kirk discussed: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdfExtended/S0960-9822(23)00458-X

Check out Noah's music:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hgXZx0yIUsI5cQN92gUp2

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-751656453

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Kirk gets to start us out this week and he's all ears. Ears are weird but all those shapes actually mean something. Learn how the shape of an animal's ears can tell us about their habitat and behavior.

Rachel is up next and she goes on on the ice to tackle the question of why does ice on lakes crack in the winter? It turns out it relates to some of the very strange properties of frozen water.

Victoria  introduces us to The Hot Chocolate Effect. Did you know that hot water sounds different than cold water when it is poured, stirred or moved through pipes? It all comes down to bubbles.

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On this week's show, Kirk talks about the uncomfortable middle path. How does ambiguity shape our choices? Why do things that are not quite one thing or the other make us uncomfortable.

Up second, Rachel takes us to New Zealand to talk about the heaviest parrot in the world. the Kākāpō aka, the Moss Chicken.

Enjoy these two very different and strange topics this week!

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This week Rachel kicks things off with a story about the amazingly fast growing invasive Japanese Knotweed. Our guest, Marika Bell then takes a fascinating look at how different animals perceive colors. Finally, Kirk rounds out the show describing a bizarre prehistoric fish that could cut you in half in less than the blink of an eye! We're all over the board this week and we couldn't be happier about it. 

Listen to Marika's show: https://www.thedealwithanimals.com/

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This week Rachel kicks things off with a story about the Unicorns of the Sea, Narwhals!

Guest Jarrod Klopp tells us about a newly discovered superfood fungus found in the Grand Prismatic pool at Yellowstone that may end up feeding humans in space.

Kirk rounds out the week with by examining questions of Astrobiology. Is Earth-like life inevitable? 

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Rachel does a deep dive on the evolutionary history of whales, Victoria rummages around the evolutions junk drawer and Kirk talk about meat eating Hippos. 

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This is one of our first five episodes. The audio was a little rough back then but thanks for liking the show so much you've going back to the beginning. Enjoy!

This week Rachel kicks things off with The Platypus, Victoria beings us the bizarre brain-changing story of Toxoplasmosis Kirk let's us in on the story behind Maple Syrup. Do not combine these three things anywhere else but here. 

This week, Victoria regales us with the tale of how she accidentally cut the end of her finger off which lead to learning about human finger regeneration, Kirk takes us to the real-life Mount Doom in New Zealand and Rachel kicks off an October of creepy creatures with the Northern Stargazer fish. 

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It's true, we know the secrets of the fire swamps, we've lived there quite happily for some time.

This week, Kirk takes on Phagiomimicry, Rachel gets us unstuck from quicksand lore and Victoria tells the story of an amazing woman who can smell multiple diseases. 

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This week Rachel brings nightmares to life with a land shark. That's right, a shark that walks on land. Listen to this week's show to learn more about epaulette sharks!

Not to be outdone, Kirk tells us about the new discovery of a beetle that can be eaten by a frog and survive a trip through the digestive tract and crawl out the other end.

Truly a bizarre week of stories. Thanks for being along for the ride.

Naked Mole Rats, Coelacanths and Space fairing lichens. 

Rachel starts off with Bleeding Tooth Fungus, Victoria looks at the connections and myths behind Willow bark and Aspirin and Kirk tells us the strange tale of unexpected consequences in a redwood forest. 

Where does uterus fumigation come in? You'll have to listen!

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Victoria kicks us off this week with a story about flesh eating vulture bees. Kirk talks about Mt. Tambora, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history and Rachel finishes her two-parter on the bizarre world of anaerobic respiration. 

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Kirk tells us all about the amazing but extinct Elephant Bird, an incredible bird that could grow to a massive 2000 pounds. Rachel next brings us an absolutely astounding story of a researcher who wanted to answer the question of why snakes strike and bite and that research involved stepping on snakes 40,000 times. Victoria rounds out this week by telling us about mushrooms and the intriguing cases where the edible Morel mushrooms ended up being poisonous.

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Rachel introduces us to the oldest shark in the world, Victoria discusses using human waste as fertilizer and Kirk blows our minds with an alternative evolutionary possibility. 

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This week Rachel tackles different pupil shapes in nature, Victoria brings us the shocking story of the spot on Earth with non-stop lightening, and Kirk talks about the amazing memories of crows. 

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