This week we explore the Pharaoh's tomb with Rachel and possibly discover the cause of the Curse of the Pharaoh. What's more, can it cure cancer? Rachel takes a look at Aspergillus fungus, how it causes disease but also has been used in experiments to cure Leukemia. Victoria is up next with a fascinating look at how spiders might be manipulating the flashing of fireflies in order to attract more prey. It's brand new research and wild. Kirk rounds out the show this week with a look at Mt Erebus in Antarctica. Not only is the most active volcano in the southern hemisphere, it has a permanent lava pool surrounded by snow and rains gold on Antarctica. This is a bizarre volcano. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Kirk kicks off this week's show with the amazing migration skills of the Bogong Moth. They are the first ever recorded invertebrate that uses celestial navigation for long-distance migration wayfinding. Rachel then tells us all about the Bluntnose Six-gilled Shark. This amazing creature gives birth to an incredible number of pups. Victoria rounds out this week's show with the aptly named Sword-billed Hummingbird and some of the amazing and strange adaptations it has to survive. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

This week, Kirk is back and the crew pulled together another great show. Victoria kicks things off with a creature feature on an animal we can't believe it took this long to discuss, the Dodo! Kirk, fresh from vacation spins a tale taking us back thousands of years to the eruption of Thera/Santorini in 1618 BCE and how it may have lead to the collapse of a dynasty in China. Rachel rounds out this week with spiders, so...many...spiders. Not only that, these spiders feed themselves to their young to keep the colony going. It's a fascinating look into yet another example of nature not fitting into our preconceived boxes. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.  

Hello Everyone, time for another weekly dose of weird. This week, Victoria kicks things off with a story about Brown-headed cowbirds and their amazing nesting strategy of being nest parasitizers.  Rachel then stinks up the place with a deep dive on those cuddly creatures...skunks.  Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.  

This week we've got two amazing stories that couldn't be more different. Rachel spins a tale that spans millions of years. Could the explosion of life during the Ordovician have been the result of meteor impacts? Could those meteors have come from a time when Earth had rings like Saturn? She explores this possibility this week! Victoria is up next and scoops Rachel with a topic off her secret list. This week she present to you the mysterious and strange Blue Sea Dragons. Earth is full of strange creatures. We're happy to bring them to you each and every week. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Victoria kicks off the show this week with yet another flying animal that usually can't fly. She's brought us flying snakes and flying spiders, how about flying fish? Kirk takes us on a winding journey connecting the dots over millions of years of history to connect a high-school sex-ed class with Sue the T-rex and an ancient protozoan disease. Rachel rounds out the show with the Secretary Bird. An amazing raptor that kills not with talons but with one of the most powerful kicks in the animal kingdom. Beware your skull being crushed. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Rachel brings us the beautiful and disgusting Bradford pear this week. Thank you? Victoria takes us deep underground to discover mind-blowingly large gypsum crystals discovered deep in the earth in Mexico. Kirk round out this week's show with the strange mystery of a toad with eyes in mouth. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Kirk starts off the show with the mysterious story of the Basra Grain Poisoning of 1971, a terrible story of the dangers of methylmercury. Rachel is up next with the amazing story of Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest freshwater lake on Earth.  Victoria rounds out this week's show by talking about animal asymmetry. Turns out, not all animals are symmetrical and they can get real weird. 

Victoria starts us off with a wealth of information about hermit crabs and the strange process of shell swapping. Kirk brings us the strange tale of Conan the Bacterium, a bacterium that can withstand amazing amounts of radiation and survive. Rachel wraps us up this week with...wait for it...even MORE facts about dandelions. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

What's so strange about Dandelions? That's a good question and Rachel gets to the bottom of it. Victoria is up next with some wild research into just how large of an object a snake can swallow. Kirk rounds out this week's show with a creature feature about a strange mole-like creature in Europe that is a relic of the past. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Kirk brings the strange tale of the King's Lomatia, quite possibly the oldest living plant on Earth. It is a strange tree that has lost the ability to sexually reproduce and yet...it keeps on living for thousands of years. Rachel has a doozy of a story about a man who let himself be bitten by venomous snakes over and over and over. Now he's helping scientists make a better anti-venom. Victoria travels to the stars to tell us about planets made of diamonds.  We really do cover it all this week! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

This week, Victoria starts us off with a discussion probably not suitable for all ages by talking about the massive penis of the Serotine Bat. It's a lot to take in. Kirk then shares the remarkable story of a palm tree that both flowers and fruits completely underground. Rachel rounds out this week's show talking about the fastest moving predatory appendage in the animal kingdom. The jaws of the Trap Jaw ant closes at 143 mph. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Rachel kicks off this week show with the strange colonial creatures of the sea known as "By the Wind Sailors." Victoria makes us all a bit uncomfortable talking about giant bird-eating spiders. Kirk encourages us to smack rocks with hammers as he explains the mysterious Ringing Rocks of Pennsylvania. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Kirk tells us about how scientists finally discovered the identity of a frog that had puzzled the scientific community for 80 years. Rachel tells us all about the Binturong, the bizarre bearcat that smells like buttered popcorn. In a salute to Mother's Day, Victoria tells us about the truly strange Sea Hares and her mom's research connection to them. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com

Anyone fancy a yawn? Victoria did some investigation into the strange phenomenon of social yawning. Are yawns really contagious? Kirk then brings us the story of the Bone Collector Moth. When it is a caterpillar, it creates a disguise by gluing dead bodies to itself. Yikes. Rachel rounds out the show with brand new research showing that sharks can make sounds! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com

Victoria talks about the amazing tropical super-canopy tree the Almendro that actually seem to attract lightening in order to kill off the trees around them. Talk about a bad neighbor! Kirk then brings us the strange story of the Ruff, a shorebird with three distinct versions of males. They each have their own distinct plumage and role in the mating dance. One of them even disguises itself as a female! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com

Kirk blows our minds with the age of Bristlecone Pines. Did you know there are living trees that predate the invention of written language? Victoria then has a doozy of a story about White-throated sparrows developing a new secondary sex chromosome. This bizarre occurrence means there are technically four different sexes of this bird instead of the regular two.   Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com

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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com

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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com

Are you ready for another wild episode? This week we have three wonderful stories for you. Kirk goes first with the astounding story of archerfish that not only have an amazing hunting adaptation but researchers just showed they can remember and pick out a human face when presented with over 40 options. Simply stunning. Who said fish have a bad memory? Rachel is up new with an update on one of the most dangerous spiders in the world, the Sydney Funnel Web Spider. The venom can kill a human in as little as 15 minutes. No thanks. Victoria wraps up the show this week with an amazing story of inter-species hunting cooperation all orchestrated by the Big Blue Octopus. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com