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Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials

A show where we uncover the strangeness right here on Earth

kids & family

All Episodes

The Night Flyer: How Bats sPOOkily Revive Forests

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/10/30

This Halloween, we’re going to the dark side. Deep in the darkest tropical forests, some of the world’s most elusive bats hang upside down in their winged sleeping bags. On a quest to find one of these flying mammals, Producerbud Ana ventures into a Puerto Rican forest and the back corridors of the American Museum of Natural History with Dr. Angelo Soto-Centeno. Why? Because while they may be scary and look kinda like Dracula, with their sharp fangs and beady eyes, these bats hold something crucial

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Maggies: The Healing Power of Baby Flies

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/10/16

Maggots are disgusting, right? Lulu has a hard time even saying the word maggot. But in this episode, we’re asking you to join us in setting our “ick” aside. If you stick with us, we promise that you’ll go from thinking these bugs are the grossest things ever to actually kinda liking them. Maybe even loving them. ER doctor Avir Mitra leads us down a rabbit hole of scientific discovery, explaining how these revolting critters have a history - and future - of saving human limbs and lives. Plus, a

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The Travelers: How Moon Trees Hide Among Us

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/10/02

In 1971, a red-headed, tree-loving astronaut named Stu ‘Smokey’ Roosa was asked to take something to the moon with him. Of all things, he chose to take a canister of 500 tree seeds. After orbiting the moon 34 times, the seeds made it back to Earth. NASA decided to plant the seeds all across the country and then… everyone forgot about them. Until one day, a third grader from Indiana stumbled on a tree with a strange plaque: "Moon Tree." This discovery set off a cascading search for all the trees that

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The Builders: How Beavers Mend Our Planet

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/09/18

Few mammals have a bigger positive impact on the planet than the beaver. With its bright orange buck teeth, the creature is an expert engineer that brings life wherever it waddles and even fights fires. Our story begins in the Bronx river, once known as the “open sewer” of New York City. After some humans decide to clean it up, we meet one of the river’s residents - José the beaver. We learn about the US government parachuting beavers out of planes into the mountains. And finally head to California

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PIZZA BFF

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/09/04

Pizza is one of the world’s most beloved foods. But as much as we love the way it tastes, the secrets of its ingredients are even yummier / are even yummier to discover. We explore the surprising sounds tomatoes make when they’re stressed, how wheat became integral to human survival and how mold is sometimes... delicious? This episode also features live tap-dancing, mind-melting cheese facts and what might be the Songbud’s catchiest song yet, Special thanks to Little Island for having us. If you’re

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The Horseshoe Crab's Secret

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/08/28

We’re back with an episode from the Radiolab archive. Horseshoe crabs have been around for a long time. They outlived the dinosaurs, survived all mass extinctions and witnessed the sprouting of the Earth’s first trees. The secret to their longevity? Their baby blue blood. Which has been saving both their lives and ours. Lulu and Radiolab co-host, Latif Nasser, head to one of these bleeding facilities to learn how horseshoe crab blood became indispensable for modern medicine. And how this vampirish

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Crabtacular! A deep dive into the Hudson River

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/07/24

Today, we splash into the Hudson River Park with our Songbud to meet all kinds of crabs. With Siddartha and Carrie from the Hudson River Park, Alan puts on waterproof rubber overalls, gets his hands dirty in the river and dives into the secret lives of Hudson crabs.Plus, CRAB WEEK is going on right now in New York City! It’s an annual shell-ebration that highlights the crabs of the Hudson River. Scuttle by for crabtastic activities throughout the park all week long! You’ll have the opportunity to

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CHOWDA: A Souper Fascinating Tale

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/07/03

Today we’re bringing you a live episode we taped in Boston. It’s about clam chowder. We’re sharing it now because we’re doing ANOTHER LIVE SHOW at Little Island in NYC on August 6th + 7th - and that one’s about PIZZA! The show’s free. There will be pizza. Join if you’re in NYC (or make this the reason you visit). Check out all of our other performances here.Lulu is a Bostonian who has never had clam chowder. Read that again. For some reason it always felt gross to her. So as an extreme challenge,

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Bugapalooza! LIVE! Jumping spiders, hissing roaches,...

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/06/06

We’re doing a bunch of LIVE SHOWS at Little Island in NYC on August 6th-7th. For free. Come join! Check out all of our performances here.Today we’re bringing you an episode we taped LIVE at The Greene Space at WNYC. In a room filled with all types of critters — scorpions, hissing cockroaches, a tarantula named Isabel and our main star… the jumping spider. Entomologist and bug lover Dr. Sebastian Echeverri tells us all about his love for the jumping spider’s dance moves. Lulu and the audience learn

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The Howler: The Dog Who Joined a Coyote Pack

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/05/15

On the outskirts of the Nevada desert, a young dog named Hades jumped his fence and ran away from home. His family lost hope, until one night, they saw Hades on the news. For almost seven months, he had been sleeping, eating and howling with a pack of coyotes.We usually view coyotes as vicious, bloodthirsty beasts. But turns out, they can be pretty friendly. They form unlikely alliances with other animals all the time. They’re so flexible they can eat almost anything and live everywhere from open

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The Invaders: Coquí Frogs Just Won't Die

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/05/08

Coquí frogs are synonymous with Puerto Rican identity. Residents of the island doze off to the high-pitched calls of coquís from dusk to dawn. There are even playlists of hours of coquí calls that lull listeners to sleep. That’s why ProducerBud Ana, a proud Puerto Rican, was confused when she saw a poster calling for the eradication of coquí frogs at a Hawaiian airport. Turns out, residents of Hawaiʻi see coquís as a nuisance, disrupting not only their sleep but their precious ecosystems. Listen

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The Snow Beast: A Mystery Animal with Latif Nasser

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/05/01

Today we bring you a story stranger than fiction. In 2006, paleobiologist Natalia Rybczynski took a helicopter to a remote Arctic island near the North Pole, spending her afternoons scavenging for ancient treasures on the ground. One day, she found something the size of a potato chip. Turns out, it was a three and half million year old chunk of bone. Keep reading if you’re okay with us spoiling the surprise.It’s a camel! Yes, the one we thought only hung out in deserts. Originally from North

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The Windbreaker: Why Farts Make the World Go Round

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/24

Farts. Trouser trumpets. Sulfur squeaks. Or toots, as Lulu insists on calling them. Smelly bubbles of air we don’t like to talk about. But Songbud Alan and Producerbud Ana are not ones to shy away from the stinky sidelines of science. First, they take us to a concert hall to meet a FARTchestra and and hear how behind some of the world’s greatest works of art lies the power of farts. Next Dr. Juan Pablo Zhenlio takes us through the ecosystem of human digestion, meeting trillions of microscopic

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The Shadow Creature: Rats Who Save Human Lives

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/17

Rats have a bad reputation. They’ve been called evil, terrifying and wicked. The lowliest and most abominable of creatures. Songbud Alan felt the same way until he heard of one rat from Tanzania named Magawa. We meet Pendo, Magawa’s human friend and trainer, who wanted to train Magawa for a battlefield of sorts. A battle to save human lives. You see, some countries have explosive landmines placed there during war. When the war is over, the landmines remain, meaning people continue to live in

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More Terrestrials Coming Soon!

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/10

Terrestrials returns Thursday, April 17th with a brand-new season!This spring, we’re diving into the wonderfully weird. Get ready to meet some of the fiercest, strangest creatures on Earth—from Hawaiian jungle goblins to New York City’s elusive sewer beasts to nine-foot-tall misunderstood snow monsters. When we take a closer look at the creatures we usually fear, we often discover a little magic, wonder, even friendship! Join host Lulu Miller and Songbud Alan Goffinski for our wildest season yet—a

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The Hybrid: A Miracle Mule

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/02

In the game of life, every species is like an action figure. You got your dogs and your dung beetles, your bald eagles and your blueberries. And for a long time scientists believed it was pretty much impossible for those action figures to mix and make a new kind of action figure that was able to have its own babies (dog beetles? Baldberries? Nah). But, today we tell the story of a four-legged beast in Kentucky whose existence is upending scientific beliefs. If you want a big fat SPOILER, here it is:

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The Water Walker: One Surfer’s Epic Escape

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/02

The ocean can be a scary place: the waves are so strong, the water so deep. But surfer and illustrator AJ Dungo tells the story of an earthling who figured out how to walk on water and literally defy the rules of gravity. If you want a big SPOILER, here it is: It’s only human for the season, the grandfather of modern-day surfing, Duke Kahanamoku. Duke’s great grandniece, Heather Kina’u Paoa tells us about what Duke’s life was really like. We learn about the physics of surfing, and how surfing is an

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The Unimaginable: How Gravitational Waves (Literally)...

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/02

Over a billion lightyears ago, in the darkness of outer space, a collision of black holes sent out a fleet of invisible waves that were headed right toward planet Earth. The waves were so powerful they could ripple spacetime but most people on Earth didn't believe the waves were real. SPOILER ALERT: The waves are called gravitational waves and…they are real! Astrophysicist Dr. Wanda Díaz Merced tells the story of what happened when they hit Earth in 2015 and how scientists came to learn to use

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The Trio: A Bald Eagle Love Story

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/02

High above the banks of the Mississippi river, a nest holds the secret life of one of America’s most patriotic creatures. Their story puzzles scientists, reinforces indigenous wisdom, and wows audiences, all thanks to a park ranger named Ed, and a well-placed webcam. If you want to spoil the mystery, here ya go: it’s a bald eagle. Actually, it’s three bald eagles. A mama bird and daddies make a home together for over a decade and give new meaning to our national symbol. Learn about the

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The Guardian: Tsetse Fly Defenders

Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials ·

2025/04/02

A singing entomologist, Dr. Sammy Ramsey, and a biologist with a knack for inventing things, Dr. Paul Mireji, tell us about one of the most fearsome animals on our planet. If you want a SPOILER of what it is, read on: It sucks our blood, spreads diseases; it's the tsetse fly. Both Sammy and Paul were afraid of this creature, but share the story of what can be gained by looking close at what scares you. In the case of the tsetse fly, we learn that these creatures give live birth, produce milk,

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Radiolab for Kids Presents: Terrestrials

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