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About
Natural Selections
On Natural Selections each week, join a short conversation on the natural world. Topics range from evolutionary biology to geology and wildlife, from climate science to animal and human behavior.
The program is hosted by NCPR news director Martha Foley joined by naturalist Dr. Curt Stager of Paul
Smith's College.
Support for Natural Selections is provided by the Glenn
and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation, dedicated
to improving the quality of life for year-round residents
of the Adirondack Park, and by Paul Smith's, the College of the Adirondacks.
New Book: Deep Future
"The course we take in the coming decades will affect not just the next hundred years, but the next hundred thousand years of life on this planet." --Curt Stager
In bookstores now
Order at: Amazon | Borders
Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Powell's Books
And please remember your local independent booksellers. Find one near you.
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 Natural Selections
Natural Selections with hosts Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager airs Thursday mornings during The Eight O'Clock Hour and Sundays on FM in the Morning.
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Recent Natural Selections programs
The giant ground sloth in this diarama from the Iowa Museum of Natural History weighed up to 800 pounds—peanuts compared to its cousin Megatherium, which could weigh in at three tons.
(05/17/12) During the last Ice Age North America was home to many varieties of "super-sized" mammals, megafauna. Giant beaver, 'possums, bear, sloths and other creatures joined the more familair wooly mammoth in the land bridge migration. Dr Curt Stager and Martha Foley look at the question, "Why so big?"
P. fumarii live in deep ocean thermal vents such as this "black smoker" in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Photo: NOAA
(05/10/12) Some bacteria like it hot, geyser hot, and some like it cold, refrigerator cold. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley look at bacteria that thrive in extreme environments.
Texas blind salamander. Photo: Joe N. Fries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(05/03/12) Curt Stager and Martha Foley do some imaginary spelunking and talk about the peculiar variations of animal life in caves.
Fox bringing home dinner. Photo: Amy Cook, from Photo of the Day archive
(04/26/12) Join Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley for a discussion about foxes--their homes, their diets and other fox facts.
<em>Turdus migratorius</em>, the American Robin. Photo: Mgiganteus
(04/19/12) Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss the varieties and habits of American robins. There are half a dozen different kinds, including albinos. How do they arrive so early in the spring? Sometimes it's because they never leave.
Circle of diatoms on a slide (detail). Source: Wipeter via Wikipedia Commons
(04/12/12) Diatoms are fascinating creatures that share some qualities of both plant and animal. Dr. Curt Satger and Martha Foley talk about these water-borne oddities that inhabit the base of the food chain in geometric "glass houses" of their own construction.
Spotted salamander on a leaf. Photo: USDOT
(04/05/12) The first warm, rainy night of spring is the best time to spot this amphibian, while they migrate to forest pools for mating. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss this northern forest native and its curious boreal nuptials.
(03/29/12) Some people claim immunity from tickling, and no one seems to be able to tickle themselves. The ribs, underarms and feet are the most effective tickle targets. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley continue their discussion with the anatomy of tickling.
Laughter by tickling. Photo: David Shankbone
(03/22/12) How you react to tickling depends on who is doing the tickling. Martha Foley and Curt Stager return to their continuing conversation on this sensitive social topic.
(03/15/12) A common (if unwelcome) sight on trees in the apple and cherry family is the nest of the tent caterpillar, whose voracious appetite can completely strip a tree of foliage. These moth larvae are unusual, both in their engineering feats and their social organization. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager explore the life cycle of this nemesis of orchard and yard.
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Nature features
Curt Stager on On Point
 Listen to Dr. Curt Stager as the guest on On Point, 3/24/11, talking about his new book, Deep Future: the Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth.
Launch in player
Curt's Save the Carbon Blog
Partial ice-out on Lower Saint Regis Lake , March 22, 2012.Record-high March temperatures have driven the ice... moreWe've been having a difficult time with weather this year in the North Country. But let's not... moreSpread your arms out sideways and your hands will be roughly one meter apart. Use that span to sculpt an... moreSix days after Irene drove the Ausable River and its tributaries over their banks, Kary and I visited the heavily... moreFormer hurricane ("tropical storm") Irene did relatively little damage last Sunday near my home in Paul Smiths, here in... more
 Natural History
Can the repeated brain injuries suffered by some athletes cause problems with brain function later in life? A new play, <em>Headstrong</em>, opening next week in New York, looks at athletes and head trauma, and the high price some... Filmmaker Alastair Fothergill spent three years in Western Africa, following a group of wild chimps. His Disney nature film <em>Chimpanzee </em>showcases a baby chimp named Oscar and the relationships he develops within his clan. In a new book, <em>Relics: Travels in Nature's Time Machine</em>, Harvard entomologist and photographer Piotr Naskrecki documents his travels, from New Guinea to New Zealand and beyond, looking for organisms whose genes can tell us... The first <em>Homo sapiens</em> appeared on the planet some 200,000 years ago. But even though they looked fully human, they didn't act fully human until they began creating symbolic art, some 100,000 years later. Paleoanthropologist Ian... New York City has been referred to as a concrete jungle. But researchers say it is more 'jungle' than you might think. A panel of experts discuss the plant and animal life found in city waters and green spaces. They also discuss the impact of...
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