Curiouser

Lizards, it seems, are good at keeping ticks free of Lyme disease, which suggests that a ecosystem that benefits lizards (and other creatures) ultimately benefits humankind, ecologist Cherie Briggs explains in this podcast.

Climatologist Chris Funk explains his findings that long-term ocean warming has created a chain reaction that is likely to permanently dry out East Africa.

Safety officials may have overreacted in preparing for Hurricane Irene, but that's the best course of action, says evacuation expert Micah Brachman.

Anthropologist Christopher von Rueden's studies of a Bolivian tribe suggest that men's instinctive drive for power is a strategy to seed their descendants thickly.

Biologist Graham Slater explains that the evolution of whales into behemoths of the sea occurred in evolutionary spurts and not in a slow and steady process.

Pest ecologist Scott Merrill discusses the bizarre adaptions of insects who feast on our crops, and how some organic farming practices may make life easier for them.

Economist Benjamin J. Cohen discusses the ramifications of the debt crisis in Greece, one of the four PIGS — Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain — whose debt problems threaten economic stability in Europe and the United States.

While the Arab Spring spotlight has marched on to Syria and Libya, pioneering Egypt's first steps have by followed by little-noticed stumbles.

By studying pig-tailed macaques, physicist Simon DeDeo untangles the hidden structures underlying conflict in social animals — including humans.

In predicting presidential voting in the United States, don't sweat the small stuff, political scientist Nathan Collins explains to Curiouser & Curiouser host Jai Ranganathan.

Where does the idea of marriage — monogamous marriage specifically — come from? Anthropologist Laura Fortunato has some answers.

Marine biologist Steve Katz has tapped a Russian family's multigenerational measurements of the temperature of a Siberian lake to explain how climate there is part of climate everywhere.

Are we at greater risk now from massive disease outbreaks? It's a vital question after a wave of deadly E. coli infections in Germany has put hundreds in the hospital and killed more than 20. Disease ecologist Sadie Ryan explains how societal changes are aiding the bugs.

Ecologist Andrew Gonzalez explains that experiments on yeast suggest that threatened species may be able to evolve fast enough — under the right conditions — to survive.

With climate change set to wreck agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, what will happen to the world's poorest people?

Geneticist Adam Boyko walks us through the DNA maze that produces dogs of all shapes and sizes from a very few genes.

Biogeochemist Molly Redmond discusses the state of the Gulf of Mexico a year after the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil spill, looking at what's still unknown and how some lucky breaks kept damage from being even worse.

Over its short lifetime, nuclear power has migrated from being the miracle of America's energy future to an at times unruly nuclear demon, says historian Patrick McCray.

In this last of a three-part podcast, Dr. Theo Theofanous talks about the health impacts of radiation leaking from the crippled Japanese nuclear power plant and about the future of nuclear power.

In the second of three parts, engineering professor and nuclear risk expert Theo Theofanous discusses the options Japan has to avert even greater catastrophe at the badly damaged Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

Engineering professor Theo Theofanous, long recognized for his work on risk and accident analysis specifically focused on nuclear reactors, begins the first of three podcasts on the Fukushima incident with Curiouser & Curiouser host Jai Ranganathan.

With the help of seismologist Chen Ji, Curiouser & Curiouser host Jai Ranganathan examines the tectonic roots of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Marine biologist Tim McClanahan asks if poor Kenyan fishermen can improve themselves without destroying local coral reefs? (Hint: yes)

Stanford geographer Holly Gibbs discusses the challenge of preserving natural areas while still feeding an increasingly hungry world.