Strange by Nature Podcast

The final episode of 2025. Here's what we have for you:

Kirk kicks off the show by looking into the very strange world of insect hearing. Turns out some flies use a rotating nose to hear.

Rachel is then up and she talks about the arms race between Bats and Moths. This conflict has lead to some amazing defenses on the part of the moths.

Victoria is up third and she brings us the smallest animals on earth, Myxozoans. These little cre...

Look, we get it. This is a busy week with family for a lot of people. If you are one of those people, we sincerely hope this episode helps you hide from family and obligations and take a moment for your weird selves. We're all in this together.

On this week's show, Victoria kicks things off with a deep dive on Bats. We often think of them as predators but they are prey animals as well. She talks about some of the animals that hunt ...

Rachel keeps things light as we start off the show with a discussion of Botulism toxin just in time for the holidays. Watch out for those bulging cans.

Victoria is up next and she talks about how rare blue is in nature. She shares the very few examples of true blue pigments found in nature.

Finally, Kirk talks about birds decorating their nests with predator scat to keep away predators.

Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our s...

This week, Kirk starts us off with a strange story about mushrooms being used as computer parts. He sincerely hopes he never has to pronounce the word memristor again. 

Rachel brings us the tale of a group of 100,000 cannibal ants living in a nuclear bunker. 

Victoria rounds things out this week with research proving that at least one species of bat can catch and eat birds all while both are flying. 

Join us weekly for more strange...

Victoria starts us off this week with a bizarre story about how some animals can see without having eyes.

Kirk is up next and he tells us about Fugu, a.k.a. the pufferfish and we learn about these highly toxic fish people like to eat. Their poison seems to come from a strange source.

Rachel is up last this week and she tells us all why we should not stick our head into an active particle accelerator. Just in case, you know, you wer...

Welcome to our 250th episode!

Rachel kicks things off with a discussion of Carrion Beetles.

Victoria then tells us about fish that can climb cliffs. Say what?

Kirk finishes up with the story of how one predator uses static electricity to attract themselves to their prey like a homing missile. 

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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...

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 v...

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 u...

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 ...

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 ...

This week's show starts of with Rachel telling us about the Door to Hell. Seems like a fitting topic as we approach Halloween. But what is it? The Door to Hell is also known as the Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan. It is a pit of fire that has burned for perhaps 50 years. It is the result of a drilling project gone horribly wrong. It reminds us a bit of the Burning Mountain in Australia from Episode 68 called "Dead Man's Fingers....

Kirk keeps the Halloween month theme going by talking a bit about Black Cats big and small. What makes them strange? Why do they exist? Why were they the preferred color of cat to have on ships? All questions are answered.

Rachel is up next and she brings us to...the ocean. I know, we're all shocked. This week it is to talk about Sea Urchins. They are truly some of the strangest creatures in the ocean.

Victoria takes us underground...

Happy October! 

We've got quite a show for you this week. Victoria kicks Spooky Month off with the Worm Pearlfish. At first they don't sound too bad but it turns out that they sneak though the anus of sea cucumbers and eat their gonads. Yikes. No thanks.

Kirk keeps the ick going with an absolutely wild story about doctors restoring blind people's vision by putting their tooth in their eye. Say what? It is as weird as it sounds. War...

This week Rachel kicks things off with a discussion of Cloud Forests. This rare habitat is found only in specific parts of the world and many unique plants and animals live there. Okay, so really Rachel is just setting the scene for where next week's strange topic lives.

Victoria is up second and brings us fascinating research. Can plants hear? We've talked about this on the show when Kirk talked about plants hearing running water....

Kirk kicks off this week with predatory fungus that hunts for animals. Say what?

Rachel tells us about the massive northern elephant seal.

Victoria lets us know about the beautiful but incredibly powerfully poisonous rosary pea that is still used for jewelry to this day. 

Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! 

Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature

Email us: contact@strangebyn...

This week, Victoria takes us to the ocean to learn about a truly bizarre creature, Sea spiders!

Kirk then shares a story about the scientists giving robotic bodies to mushrooms so they can move around.

Finally, Rachel takes us back to the ocean once again to share what makes Bonnethead sharks strange.

Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! 

Support us: patreon.com/strangebynatur...

This week, Rachel starts us off with an interesting question. Can bees play? A team of researchers thinks they can. Find out what happens when they gave them balls of wood.

Kirk then makes us all thirsty with a dive into the roots of Root Beer. From medicinal medicine to soft drink, Kirk traces the history of this drink and the many natural ingredients that make it up.

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What a wild show this week. Kirk starts things off with a listener submitted story about how researchers created fake fiddler crabs to better understand sexual signaling.

CRAB VIDEO: https://youtu.be/UOFtsJkiRmE?si=eWpbJzBPtIGCpb8I

Our special guest Brett Sieberer then brings us the amazing story of a wasp that can consume enormous amounts of alcohol with seemingly no effects.

Rachel then wraps up the show with a wild mystery in a ...