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Swimming With Piranhas at Feeding Time

By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, May 14, 2009.

Maybe Richard Conniff has a death wish. The award-winning nature writer has spent decades traveling the world for National Geographic, Smithsonian and other smart publications. His passion is courting dangerous animals: letting African wild dogs sniff at his neck, sticking his hand in a fire-ant mound, and flinging chicken carcasses into piranha-infested waters before diving in himself.

That last encounter provides the title for his new book, Swimming With Piranhas at Feeding Time: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff With Animals. And he joins us from his home in Connecticut for a journey into his exotic and mildly twisted world.

Christian Science Monitor: "Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time "

(Photo by lcrf via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.