Strange by Nature Podcast

Visit the Spider Megacity

What a wild show this week. Well, it finally happened. After approximately 700 topics, we finally had two hosts come with the same secret topic. Kirk and Victoria both brought the same story. Kirk kicks things off talking about researchers finding the largest spider web in the world in a sulfur cave. Victoria adds in some fun extra facts from her research on the topic. Rachel is up next and she discusses some of the weird things we all should know about the Pronghorn. Turns out they are so fast because they evolved with fast predators that no longer exist. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature [http://patreon.com/strangebynature] Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com [contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com [https://www.strangebynaturepodcast.com] where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Can a Snake be Venomous AND Poisonous?

Victoria starts the show this week with a look at the cyclops (cyclopses?). From Greek legend to modern reality, Victoria traces a few of the possible origins of this legendary creature. As promised last week, Kirk brings us the mighty Cave Lion. It seems strange but humans of the past living in Europe lived alongside cave lions longer than they have lived without them. Rachel rounds out this week's show with a snake that is both venomous AND poisonous. Great, now we get to worry about that. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature [http://patreon.com/strangebynature] Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com [contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com [https://www.strangebynaturepodcast.com] where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Vampire Squid from Hell

Rachel starts the show this week with a topic that almost made the Halloween show last week. She brings us the Vampire Squid from Hell. That's literally what the scientific name of this bizarre deep-sea creature means.  Victoria brings us the story of the most deadly body of water in the world. She's talking about none other than The Strid in England. It looks like an idyllic stretch of water but this river is deadly.  Kirk wraps up this week's show by talking about some of the amazing megafauna that lived with humans here in North America. Lions, Mammoths and Bears oh my! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature [http://patreon.com/strangebynature] Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com [contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com [https://www.strangebynaturepodcast.com] where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Death by Potatoes

We've been building to it all month, it is time for Halloween and we have some great topics. Kirk kicks off the show with a topic that may have you think twice about the candy you pop in your mouth this year. He talks about all of the ways that insects end up in your candy. Red food coloring from ground up beetles, excretions from the Lac beetles in your hard candy coating and maybe some bee vomit, insects are an important part of the candy business. Are your potatoes trying to kill you? Time to unlock a new fear. Rachel gives us all a new reason to be afraid of the basement. This week she teaches us about solanine, the very deadly chemical in potatoes that can kill. What could be more Halloween than bats? Victoria tells us all about Bat Flies. These strange Halloween-colored parasitic flies look like spiders, suck blood, give live birth, and live their whole lives on bats. They are truly bizarre. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature [http://patreon.com/strangebynature] Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com [contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com [https://www.strangebynaturepodcast.com] where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Ghosts in the Lab

Victoria kicks things off this week with the terrifying topic of Prion diseases. These bizarre infections can take years to manifest, are incurable, and can turn your brain into a sponge. Charming. Kirk is up next with a ghost story for this spooky season. Science wins out over superstition and in the end it ends up being a tale of how infrasound can affect human physiology and may be to blame for many ghost reports. Rachel rounds out the show with a creature feature on the most venomous and possibly most painful animal in the world, the Stonefish. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature [http://patreon.com/strangebynature] Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com [contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com [https://www.strangebynaturepodcast.com] where you can sign up for our episode emails.