Send us a text Subscribe and listen closely… if you can. 👂 In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tune into one of the strangest modern mysteries: the Taos Hum. Since the 1990s, people in Taos, New Mexico have reported a low, constant humming sound that only a small percentage of the population can hear. The rest? Silence. 🎧 What is the Taos Hum—and why can only some people hear it? 🌍 Is it microseismic vibrations from the Earth itself? ⚡ Could it com...

Send us a text Subscribe and embrace the glow of curiosity. 🔦 In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole investigate one of the most baffling natural light shows on Earth—the Hessdalen Lights of Norway. For over a century, glowing orbs have danced through a remote valley, pulsing, hovering, and splitting apart with no clear cause. Scientists have studied them for decades… and still, no one really knows what they are. ✨ What are the Hessdalen Lights, and how long have...

Send us a text Subscribe and let your curiosity get lost at sea (but like, safely). 🌊 In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into one of Earth’s most famous unsolved legends: the Bermuda Triangle—also known as the Devil’s Triangle. For over a century, this stretch of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico has been blamed for the mysterious disappearances of ships, planes, and the people aboard them. But is it really cursed—or just misunderstood? 🛩️ Wh...

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tackle one of the biggest unanswered questions in planetary science: how was the Moon formed? We look at what we do know—like why lunar rocks look almost identical to Earth’s, why one side of the Moon is thicker than the other, and why it’s slowly drifting away at 1.5 inches per year. Then we dig into the wild theories scientists are s...

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this final Swarms Minisode of the season, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole lose their minds (in the best way) over the most chaotic, moon-synced crab love party on Earth: the migration of Christmas Island red crabs. We’re talking: 🦀 50 to 100 million land crabs 🌧 Timed to what we're convinced is a witches curse.... 🚧 Roads shut down 🌊 Pina colada breaks (probably) 💥 And babies launche...

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this explosive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole reveal the surprising truth: sometimes, nature chooses to self-destruct—and it's all part of the plan. From exploding ants to salmon that spawn and die, and fungi that launch spores like botanical cannons, this episode dives into how death in nature isn't always failure—it's strategy. 💥 Why some creatures explode on purpose &...

Send us a text Subscribe and prepare yourself—because this time, the swarm doesn’t just chase... it devours. In this Swarms Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the world of army ants, some of the most strategic, aggressive, and terrifyingly coordinated hunters on Earth. From building living bridges to raiding the forest floor with military precision, these ants don't forage… they sweep, and anything that can’t move fast enough is gone. 🐜 Why army ants don’t build nests—but b...

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this seed-sational episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dig into the unexpectedly wild world of seed dispersal. From coconuts floating across oceans to violets launching their seeds like botanical cannons, this episode explores the many weird and wonderful ways plants get around without walking. 🌊 How coconuts evolved to sail thousands of miles 🌬️ The physics behind para...

Send us a text Subscribe if you love science, chaos, and being mildly afraid of your backyard. 🐝 In this Swarms Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover facts around the infamous “killer bees”—a.k.a. Africanized honeybees. Spoiler: they don’t look scary, but they’ll chase you, sting in overwhelming numbers, and sometimes even wait above water for you to come up for air. But is the fear justified? 🐝 What makes Africanized honeybees so aggressive? 🌎 How did a 1950s experiment i...

Send us a text Ever wonder how birds, eels, whales, or even bugs find their way without a GPS? In this episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover the jaw-dropping science behind animal navigation. From locusts using sky maps and magnetic fields, to eels migrating thousands of miles to a secret oceanic birthplace no one’s ever seen (seriously), and birds that may be using quantum mechanics to see the Earth’s magnetic field—it’s a global tour of natural way-finding. 🌎 ...

Send us a text Subscribe if you love science, chaos, and bugs that are way too confident. In this Swarms Minisode, Katy dives into the desert locust, a grasshopper that transforms—literally—into one of the most devastating swarm creatures on Earth. 🦗 What causes a peaceful insect to go full apocalypse mode? 🌾 How do they morph from shy loners to yellow, muscle-bound sky-hulks? 🌪 What triggers a swarm so massive it consumes everything in its path—eating its body weight daily?  ...

Send us a text Subscribe and brace yourself—because this week, the swarm has teeth. 🦈 In this second episode of our Swarms Minisode Series, Laura and Katy dive into a lesser-known swarm behavior: shark aggregations. From 1,400 basking sharks off New England to over 15,000 spinning sharks off the Florida coast, this episode explores the science (and chaos) behind why some of the ocean’s most feared predators travel in giant, synchronized groups. 🦈 Why do basking sharks—normally loners—form fee...

Send us a text Subscribe and let your nose lead the way. This episode stinks—in the best way possible. In this surprisingly deep dive into all things scent, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole explore how your sense of smell works, why it’s wildly underappreciated, and what makes certain smells feel amazing (or like a chemical attack). 🧠 How does smell connect to memory and emotion? 🦨 What makes skunk spray so powerful—and impossible to wash off? 🌺 Why do corpse flowers pretend to b...

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. It’s time for Swarms. In the kickoff to our Swarms Minisodes, Katy and Laura dive into one of nature’s most mesmerizing spectacles: the murmuration of starlings. These jaw-dropping bird formations swirl through the sky like smoke or liquid—but behind the beauty is a stunning system of rules, physics, and evolutionary strategy. 🐦 What exactly is a murmuration—and why do starlings do it? 🌪 How can thousands of birds turn on a...

Send us a text Subscribe and let your inner science goblin move into its own weird little ecosystem. 🦠 In the Season 12 kickoff of Wildly Curious, Katy and Laura reveal the bizarre—but very real—ecosystems thriving inside your house. From the Amazon rainforest of your belly button to the bug-filled biome behind your fridge, your home is alive in more ways than you think. 🦠 Why scientists swabbed hundreds of belly buttons to study bacteria 🍄 How household fungi can go from harmless to ha...

Send us a text Subscribe and let your brain go on a weekly field trip. No permission slip required. In this Volcano Minisode, Laura and Katy dive into the dramatic, deadly, and never-quite-dormant history of Mount Vesuvius, one of the most iconic volcanoes on Earth. From burying Pompeii in ash and pyroclastic waves to raining debris across the Mediterranean during WWII, Vesuvius has earned its title as the angriest volcano in history. 🌋 What makes Vesuvius so volatile? 🏛 What actually h...

Send us a text In this Volcano Minisode, Katy introduces one of the most extreme animals on Earth: the scaly-foot gastropod, a deep-sea snail that literally builds metal armor from volcanic hydrothermal vents. Found over a mile below the ocean’s surface, this snail survives crushing pressure, toxic heat, and total darkness—all thanks to a symbiotic relationship with bacteria and its one-of-a-kind iron shell. 🧪 How does a snail use volcanic metals to build armor? 🌋 What makes hydrotherma...

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this third Volcano Minisode, Katy digs into one of the coolest things a volcano has ever made: obsidian—a rock so sharp it's been shaping human history for 30,000 years and is still used in modern surgery. 🔪🖤 🌋 What exactly is obsidian and how is it formed? ⚡ How can lava turn into volcanic glass in a flash? 🩺 Why are obsidian scalpels sharper than steel—and still used today? 🛡 How did ancient peo...

Send us a text In this second Volcano Minisode, Laura dives deep (literally) into one of Antarctica’s strangest secrets: how volcanic heat has carved out entire networks of hidden ice caves—warm, alien worlds tucked under the frozen surface. 🧊🔥 🌋 Why does Antarctica have 18 volcanoes? 🌡 How can you go from -30°F outside to 70°F inside a cave? 🧬 What strange DNA have scientists discovered in these hidden spaces? 🚪 And could these caves hold more life—or ancient secrets—than we realize? From...

Send us a text In the first Volcano Minisode of our season break, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover one of the wildest stories you've probably never heard: how an active volcano in Mexico accidentally buried—and preserved—the world’s largest pyramid. Yes, really. 🌋 What is Popocatépetl, and why is it still puffing smoke? 🏛 How did the Great Pyramid of Cholula disappear beneath volcanic ash? 📜 What ancient secrets were hiding under a grassy hill with a church on top? ...