x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Natural Connections

Natural Connections is a weekly newspaper column created by Emily Stone, the Naturalist/Education Director at the Cable Natural History Museum in Cable, Wisconsin. In each episode, Emily reads her fun and informative weekly column about Northwoods Nature.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

05:04

230 - The Magical Mesic Forest

Natural Connections ·

2022/08/11

With a nice mix of clay, silt, and sand, these loamy mesic, or middle moisture, soils are not too dry and not too wet. They form the foundation for the rich variety of plant life in the northern mesic forest, where hardwood trees such as sugar maples, basswoods, and yellow birch mix with Eastern hemlock and eastern white pine.

en

06:24

229 - #$%& Deer Flies

Natural Connections ·

2022/08/04

Deer flies are the bane of summer here in the Northwoods—and around the world. Only Iceland, Greenland, and Hawaii are safe. Just as the black flies become a distant memory and the mosquitoes are relegated to “mosquito hour” in the evening, the deer flies start interfering with our beautiful, sunny days above 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason we dislike deer flies so much is that the females need a blood meal to fuel egg development. Unlike the precise, syringe-like mouth of a mosquito, deer flies

en

06:09

228 - Pretty Pipsissewa

Natural Connections ·

2022/07/28

Each nodding flower contained a lime green center pistil shaped like a stocking hat, surrounded by a lovely pink brim, with a fringe of ten pairs of pink anthers, all ringed by five white petals arching gracefully toward the sky. They were just as beautiful as I’d remembered. It’s hard to begrudge pipsissewa a little bit of stolen sugar, when that energy allows their sweet flowers to brighten up their dark forest home.

en

05:44

227 - Adventures with Princess Entelegyne

Natural Connections ·

2022/07/21

As the sheer, white curtain material of my mom’s homemade insect nets unfurled, small children seemed to materialize out of nowhere as if called by the Pied Piper. The wooden dowel handles with bent coat hanger frames were longer than any of the kids was tall. The nets were light, though, and the long handles allowed us to keep feet and bare legs firmly planted in mowed grass while reaching into the tall field of goldenrod, rattlesnake master, and other flowers of the restored prairies in Honey

en

05:31

226 - Carnivorous Caterpillars

Natural Connections ·

2022/07/14

“Their caterpillars eat woolly alder aphids,” explained Cade, as we both crept closer to the Harvester butterfly with our cameras ready. “And the adults sip on the aphids’ honeydew.” I felt a little twinge of dismay. Woolly alder aphids are one of my favorite creatures! In the fall they float around like little fairies covered in wispy strands of white wax. I’ve written about them before. Just like most aphids, woolly alder aphids suck plant juices from a host. The alder shrub harvests sunlight,

en

06:32

225 - European Skipper Butterfly

Natural Connections ·

2022/07/07

It was like something out of a fairytale. Hundreds of tiny orange butterflies rose up in waves before me as I walked down the grassy path. Each fluttered delicately for a moment before sinking back to rest on the green blades, the lupine leaves, and almost every surface in the community garden. Their name, however, gives them away as an interloper. European skippers are native to many places—Europe, Scandinavia, North Africa, and Central Asia—but they aren’t native here.

en

06:11

224 - Stinky Stonewort

Natural Connections ·

2022/06/30

“Can’t you smell that?” asked Cade from the bow of the canoe. A warm breeze tickled the back of my neck and blew any odors away from me. He’d brought up a small piece of an aquatic plant with a similar structure to the bladderwort leaves I’ve examined recently. The central, green stem bore whorls of thin leaves. As Cade placed the curiosity on the blade of my canoe paddle, the breeze swirled, and I caught more than a whiff of sulfur. “It’s chara!” he declared. Also known as muskgrass or skunkweed

en

05:52

223 - Bladderwort Turions, Mysteries in the Fen

Natural Connections ·

2022/06/23

“Oh!” I exclaimed happily, as a submerged plant caught my eye. Its thin, branching, bottle-brush leaves looked somewhat similar to coontail or even watermilfoil, but I knew better. “Bladderwort!” I exclaimed. I’ve written about this carnivorous plant with yellow snapdragon-like flowers before. Pulling up the whole plant—this species grows as a free-floating leafy stem less than a foot long—I found the namesake bladders. Smaller than an apple seed and of a similar shape, the translucent capsules

en

05:42

222 - Cotton Not from Cottonwood

Natural Connections ·

2022/06/16

Off the cuff, many folks would tell you that the white fluff flying on the breeze this time of year is from cottonwood. The thing is, Eastern cottonwood—Populus deltoides—is pretty rare in the northern third of Wisconsin. But, as it turns out, the white fuzz is a family trait, and local relatives abound.

en

05:05

221 - Nature’s Drumbeat

Natural Connections ·

2022/06/09

Columnist’s Note: Anne Torrey, of Gordon, WI, participated in a Natural Connections Writing Workshop I led last fall, and is continuing to hone her craft. I hope you enjoy her unique account of witnessing a common event—the drumming of the ruffed grouse. While the first drumming reached our ears months ago, the subtle beats still echo through the woods as males assert their territories and make sure they’ve attended to all of the ladies. –Emily Stone, Naturalist/Education Director at the Cable

en

05:24

220 - The Sunny Chemistry of Marsh Marigolds

Natural Connections ·

2022/06/02

It’s hard to imagine all of what goes on at a chemical level in nature. Here is a common plant, growing in mucky wetlands, that uses carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and energy from the sun to make food, chemical weapons, and pharmaceuticals.

en

06:09

219 - Bees and Breeches

Natural Connections ·

2022/05/26

Newly emerged queen bumble bees have strong legs and a long tongue that allow them to access the nectar hidden deep in Dutchman’s breeches flowers. These early flowers rely on fuzzy bumble bees for pollination—few other insects are active during cool spring days. Dutchman’s breeches flowers hide their nectar away in the tips of their pantaloon-shaped flowers. Hungry bees who are too small to access the nectar properly will simply chew holes to access the nectar. This episode originally aired in

en

06:05

218 - Growing Up WILD -- Dragonflies

Natural Connections ·

2022/05/19

“Lakes are cradles for all sorts of babies as they grow up,” I told the group. “How many of you like to play in the mud and water as you grow up wild?” The little ones—only 3 and 4 years old, grinned. One student looked up at his teacher. “I love mud best!” I chuckled in agreement. Then we all transformed ourselves into dragonfly eggs by hugging our knees. We wiggled, and grew, and hatched into crooked-legged-nymphs. The nymph stage of a dragonfly’s life is essentially their childhood.

en

05:40

217 - Robins and Hermit Thrushes

Natural Connections ·

2022/05/12

The robin woke me up again today. He’ll likely be my alarm clock for the rest of the summer as he rushes to raise up to three broods of chicks. Hermit thrushes will soon join the chorus, too. Hopefully, as Thoreau predicted, “whenever he [or she] hears it, it is a new world and a free country.”

en

05:20

216 - Curious Cottontails

Natural Connections ·

2022/05/05

This week we’ll spy on a bunny.

en

05:48

215 - Prairie Fire

Natural Connections ·

2022/04/28

As a campfire-poking kid, I love the idea that setting fires has a scientific and ecological purpose. Fire clears out the thick thatch that can smother new sprouts. Black ashes absorb sunshine, warm the soil, and provide prairie plants with an extra boost. Fire is a form of decomposer, and makes nutrients from dead vegetation available for new growth. Deep below the blackened soil, a web of roots, burrows, insects and more bide their time. The fire’s destruction would soon become renewal.

en

05:31

214 - Turkey Vulture

Natural Connections ·

2022/04/21

In addition to antibacterial behaviors, turkey vultures have developed excellent immune systems that can ward off and even destroy the microbes that cause botulism, anthrax, cholera, and salmonella. Their stomachs, gross as they may seem, help purify our world. Can you imagine a world in which dead things all rotted slowly in place? Turkey vultures embody the fact that “the secret name of every death is life again.” (Mary Oliver, Skunk Cabbage) The story of the vultures—of winter’s rotting wounds

en

04:56

213 - Spring Reminders about Pollinators and Oak Wilt

Natural Connections ·

2022/04/14

Spring is coming, albeit slowly, to the Northwoods. Now is the time to finish up work in the woods that could potentially damage oak trees and allow for infection by oak wilt. Now is not the time to clean out your gardens, though, since pollinators and other beneficial insects need longer stretches of warmth in order to emerge from hibernation safely.

en

05:45

212 - Chipmunks--A Furry Sign of Spring

Natural Connections ·

2022/04/07

Eastern chipmunks hibernate in underground burrows throughout the winter, but pop out at the first sign of spring. Learn more about their little lives!

en

05:55

211 - Golden Eagles in NW Wisconsin

Natural Connections ·

2022/03/31

When Ryan Brady initiated a spring raptor count at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center (NGLVC) while a student at Northland College in 1999, his ornithology professor, Dick Verch, had never documented a golden eagle near Ashland, WI. The first bird Ryan spotted, on the very first day, showed the slightly V-shaped silhouette, small dark head, and dark tail of a migrating golden eagle. Both birders were thrilled! Recently in Duluth, 41 golden eagles flew over in a single day! This week, I talked

en

200 results

Similar Podcasts

Classic Radio Science Fiction

solgoodmedia.com

Mission to Mars

Inception Point Ai

The 365 Days of Astronomy

365DaysOfAstronomy.org

Creek Devil

william Jevning

UFO Chronicles Podcast

Nik Hunter