We're sharing a selection of stories from the show's early days, including an edition of Eat the Invaders and our earliest installments of our 10x10 series looking at vernal pools and traffic circles.
10x10: Puddles in the Woods
Sam Evans-Brown & Taylor Quimby
For our first foray out into the woods, we checked out the fascinating world of vernal pools. Vernal, meaning springtime, and pools as in... pools. These are little (and sometimes not so little!) pools that form when spring rains combine with winter snow-melt to make some really wet spots. These puddles might look a little gross, especially after they have been sitting there for a few weeks--and are full of all sorts of sliminess--but they are absolutely essential to all sorts of bizarre critters.
You'll never hear spring peepers the same way again.
Check out more photos and videos here.
This story was produced in 2016.
Moose Whisperer
Megan Tan
According to the Portland Press Herald, Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife received 65,634 applications for a moose-hunting permit in 2020 - an 11% increase from last year, and a 15-year high. If you’re one of the lucky ones who has waited 20+ years for this moment, you’re going to want an expert on your team. You’re going to want a moose whisperer.
Check out more photos here.
This story was produced in 2015.
10x10: Traffic Circle
Sam Evans-Brown & Taylor Quimby
Two busy lanes of traffic curve around a median of weedy grass, and highways stretch out in four different directions. A McDonald's squats on one corner, a Wendy’s on the opposite side. And in the middle, what appears to be the world’s least interesting island, which is our subject today.
It’s easy to be ho-hum about spaces like these, but if you look closely, you’ll discover that this ordinary traffic circle has the structure of a shortgrass prairie, more than twenty higher plant species, and a hidden world containing billions of microbes.
Check out photos of the traffic circle and the microbiology lab here.
This story was produced in 2016.
Eat the Invaders: Lionfish
Sam Evans-Brown & Logan Shannon
Eat The Invaders is our occasional segment where we take a bite out of invasive species populations. On the menu today, we explore one of the scariest, most voracious and intractable invaders out there: the lionfish.
Find more photos and recipes here.
This story was produced in 2016.
The episodes in this broadcast were produced in 2015-2016 by Sam Evans-Brown, Taylor Quimby, Megan Tan, Maureen McMurray, Logan Shannon, Jimmy Gutierrez, and Molly Donahue.
