Frans de Waal: Primates, evolution and morality April 11
Hour 2 Guests: Frans de Waal Morality is not unique to humans.  Biologist FRANS DE WAAL has found ethical behavior like empathy, altruism, and fairness in chimpanzees, bonobos and capuchin monkeys.  De Waal is the director of the [...]

A conversation with Philadelphia activist and restauranteur Judy Wicks March 18
Guest:  Judy Wicks JUDY WICKS founded the White Dog Cafe on the first floor of her house along a row of threatened brownstones in West Philadelphia. Over the years she grew what began as a small muffin shop [...]

Cats and their impact on wildlife February 5
A new report says that outdoor cats are a major threat to wildlife.  Free-ranging cats, including pets that go outside, stray and feral cats, are the leading cause of death for birds and small mammals, killing billions each [...]

The Genius of Dogs February 4
If you've ever had a dog, chances are you’ve wondered what is going on in their head.  Scientists have been thinking about this too, probing the canine mind to figure out just how smart dogs really are.  And [...]

David Quammen on 'Spillover' of animal diseases into humans December 28
[REBROADCAST] Avian flu. Ebola. SARS. AIDS. All of us have been exposed, at least in the media, to diseases that have migrated from animal hosts to humans, a phenomenon scientists call "spillover. That's also the name of acclaimed [...]

Our sense of hearing and how it shaped the mind November 21
Sound is everywhere in this world – you can’t escape it.  Our ears process millions of noises all day long –laughter, car horns, music, bird calls, computer keyboard clicks, the wind.  Sound and the way we hear it [...]

David Quammen on 'Spillover' of animal diseases into humans October 16
Hour 1 Avian flu. Ebola. SARS. AIDS. All of us have been exposed, at least in the media, to diseases that have migrated from animal hosts to humans, a phenomenon scientists call "spillover. That's also the name of [...]

Elephant poaching: the dramatic rise in ivory trafficking September 27
Hour 1 Over 25,000 elephants were slaughtered last year in the growing illicit ivory trade — sometimes entire herds gunned down from helicopters.  Elephant poaching in Africa reached its highest levels in 2011 since the global ivory ban [...]

The Great Animal Orchestra: finding the music in nature August 24
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Naturalist BERNIE KRAUSE has spent 40 years listening to and recording the natural world. He’s traveled the world, capturing the sounds of over fifteen thousand species and making four thousand hours of wild music – [...]

Rabies: The story of a diabolical virus August 21
Hour 2 For most of us, the only time we think about rabies is when we take our dog or cat to the vets for vaccinations. But while rabies rarely kills people in Western countries, globally some 55,000 [...]

E.O. Wilson's provocative evolution theory, 'The Social Conquest of Earth' July 13
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] In his controversial recent book, “The Social Conquest of Earth,” which the acclaimed biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents as the capstone to his legendary career, EDWARD O. WILSON firmly and fundamentally breaks with a [...]

Red knots, horseshoe crabs & the Delaware Bay June 18
Hour 2 Spawning season for horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay Estuary and Cape May shoreline is coming to a close, ending the annual natural phenomenon of beaches clogged with the prehistoric creatures, often attached in an eons-old [...]

The buzz on beekeeping as a hobby June 12
Hour 2 City rooftops, suburban backyards, even fancy hotels like New York’s Waldorf-Astoria and Intercontinental are buzzing with bees.  Beekeeping is becoming a popular hobby across America.  In recent years, bee populations across the United States have faced [...]

A critical look at the horse racing industry June 7
Hour 1 All eyes are on Elmont, New York this Saturday for the running of the Belmont Stakes where the three-year old thoroughbred I'll Have Another is poised to win the coveted Triple Crown.  If he pulls it [...]

Friendship's evolution, in us & our animal friends May 28
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Friendship is something often associated with the human species. Most of us make dozens of friendships in our lives and gain a great deal from them – we get love, support, even, as we now [...]

The Great Animal Orchestra: finding the music in nature May 23
Hour 2 Naturalist BERNIE KRAUSE has spent forty years listening to and recording the natural world. He’s traveled the world, capturing the sounds of over fifteen thousand species and making four thousand hours of wild music – insect [...]

E.O. Wilson's provocative evolution theory, 'The Social Conquest of Earth' April 24
Hour 2 In his controversial new book, “The Social Conquest of Earth,” which the acclaimed biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents as the capstone to his legendary career, EDWARD O. WILSON firmly and fundamentally breaks with a theory [...]

Academy of Natural Sciences turns 200 April 10
Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences is celebrating its 200th birthday this year.  The renowned Academy is the oldest natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its renowned collection of 18 million plants and animals includes dinosaur fossils collected [...]

The Race to the South Pole: Roald Amundsen vs. Robert Falcon Scott April 6
Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] Just over a hundred years ago, Roald Amundsen and four companions were the first human beings to stand at the South Pole. Using skis and dog sleds they beat Robert Falcon Scott’s British expedition by [...]

High-seas slavery: Was your seafood caught by captives? March 27
Hour 2 Was that seafood on your plate today caught by slaves? That’s the troubling prospect raised by the investigative reporting of E. BENJAMIN SKINNER, senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism of Brandeis University. Skinner, [...]

Susan Orlean on dog superstar Rin Tin Tin March 2
Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] Writer SUSAN ORLEAN's recent book, "Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend," tells the fascinating story of the famous German shepherd and his enduring popularity. Rin Tin Tin was discovered as a puppy on [...]

Friendship's evolution, in us & our animal friends February 22
Hour 2 Friendship is something often associated with the human species. Most of us make dozens of friendships in our lives and gain a great deal from them – we get love, support, even, as we now know, [...]

The Race to the South Pole: Roald Amundsen vs. Robert Falcon Scott February 1
Hour 2 Just over a hundred years ago, Roald Amundsen and four companions were the first human beings to stand at the South Pole. Using skis and dog sleds they beat Robert Falcon Scott’s British expedition by just [...]

A Conversation with Dolphin Researcher Diana Reiss December 26
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] The ability to recognize oneself in the mirror is considered a sign of high intelligence and is relatively rare in the animal world.  Humans can do it and so can great apes.  But DR. DIANA [...]

The Psychology of Gift-Giving December 20
Hour 2 Better be careful what you wish for and what you give this holiday season. It turns out gifts reveal a lot about both the giver and the receiver. So as you comb the store shelves for [...]

New Dinosaur Discoveries December 19
Hour 2 It’s not only kids who are captivated by dinosaurs – the idea that gigantic reptiles walked the Earth over 65 million years ago is pretty awe inspiring. Of course, they weren’t all giants – some were [...]

Susan Orlean on Dog Superstar, Rin Tin Tin December 5
Hour 2 Writer SUSAN ORLEAN'S new book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, tells the fascinating story of the famous German Shepard and his enduring popularity. Rin Tin Tin was discovered as a puppy on a [...]

Birds and especially their amazing feathers December 2
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Feathers don’t just move birds through the air, though they do that exceedingly well. They also move markets, as the trade in feathers has had major impacts on history and bird populations. They also stir [...]

Eating what we don't want — invasive species — & what we do — oysters November 11
Hour 2 Eating with the environment in mind has fueled foodie trends like eating organically, eating locally and sustainable diet trends of all kinds. On today’s Radio Times, we explore the growing fad for eating invasive species, those [...]

Menhaden: Fighting over an underappreciated little fish October 25
Hour 2 Menhaden has been called “the most important fish in the sea,” but the bony little fish barely registers on most people’s consciousness. And, some fishermen and scientists say that the fish, also known as bunker, is [...]

The use of chimpanzees in research October 18
Hour 2 The United States is only one of two countries still using chimpanzees in biomedical research.  There are over a 1000 chimpanzees kept in laboratories in the United States.  Now a bill in Congress, the Great Ape [...]

A Conversation with Dolphin Researcher Diana Reiss October 13
Hour 2 The ability to recognize oneself in the mirror is considered a sign of high intelligence and is relatively rare in the animal world.  Humans can do it and so can great apes.  But DR. DIANA REISS [...]

The state of the world's oceans with David Guggenheim October 4
Hour 1 In his blog post on Earth Day 2011, marine scientist David Guggenheim wrote about a little known ship wreck in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean that wreaked environmental havoc around Tristan da Cuhna, a [...]

Sex on Six Legs: The Social Lives of Bugs August 24
Hour 2 If you can look past the hard exoskeleton, the antennae and the six legs, bugs and people share some surprising similarities. Although they have a brain the size of a poppy seed, insects have developed many [...]

Birds and especially their amazing feathers August 9
Hour 2 Feathers don’t just move birds through the air, though they do that exceedingly well. They also move markets, as the trade in feathers has had major impacts on history and bird populations. They also stir passions, [...]

Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle on 'The Bond' July 26
Hour 2 REBROADCAST: In his recent book The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, WAYNE PACELLE, the president of the Humane Society of the United States, speaks to the deep connection he sees between [...]

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter July 5
Hour 2 After journalist Jennifer Reese lost her job as book reviewer for Entertainment Weekly in 2008, she decided it was time to save her family some money.  So she  started cooking from scratch and making foods usually purchased in [...]

Saving the World's Sea Turtles June 30
Hour 2 All the Earth’s seven sea turtle species are endangered. The United States waters are home to six of the species, including the Gulf of Mexico, where the 2010 BP oil spill devastated much of the turtle [...]

Demon Fish: Our Fear and Fascination with Sharks June 17
Hour 2 As people flock to the beach to sun, swim and surf this summer, we thought we’d take a look at one of the ocean’s most ancient and mysterious creatures – the shark.  Ever since Jaws, few [...]

Wolves, Bats and Frogs: Animals Under Fire May 4
Hour 2 The gray wolf in the United States has made an incredible comeback.  In fact, it’s doing so well, that federal officials and some members of Congress want it removed from the Endangered Species list.  Twenty years [...]

Humane Society's Wayne Pacelle on 'The Bond' April 20
Hour 2 In his new book The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, WAYNE PACELLE, the president of the Humane Society of the United States, speaks to the deep connection he sees between humans [...]

Birds and birding in the Delaware Valley March 17
Hour 2 The Delaware Valley is home to more than 300 species of birds, and a community of birders numbering in the tens of thousands. From Cape Henlopen in Delaware to Hawk Mountain in east-central Pennsylvania, from Cape [...]

Animal Rescues and Pet Transporters January 25
Hour 2 Animal shelters have been hit hard in recent years by the recession.  Not only are they receiving more animals from people who can no longer afford their pets, but shelters have also seen a decline in [...]