Natural Selections

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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.

Ellen Rocco
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

Deep Future
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.

 

Nature features

Curt Stager on On Point

Curt StagerListen 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.

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Curt's Save the Carbon Blog

Spring, 2012: Just A Fluke, or A Taste of the Future?

Partial ice-out on Lower Saint Regis Lake , March 22, 2012.Record-high March temperatures have driven the ice... more

The weather of 2011: a waste or a wake-up call?

We've been having a difficult time with weather this year in the North Country.  But let's not... more

The Power of Moving Water

Spread your arms out sideways and your hands will be roughly one meter apart.  Use that span to sculpt an... more

Upper Jay, six days after Irene.

Six days after Irene drove the Ausable River and its tributaries over their banks, Kary and I visited the heavily... more

Irene devastates the Ausable Valley

Former hurricane ("tropical storm") Irene did relatively little damage last Sunday near my home in Paul Smiths, here in... more


Natural History
Insects May Be The Taste Of The Next Generation, Report Says
A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says insects offer a huge potential for improving the world's food security. Peter Menzel, co-author of <em>Man Eating Bugs</em>, describes some insect-based cuisine and the western...
 
What Did I Do Last Summer? Oh, I Discovered How To Make Babies Without Sex. And You?
Sex is nice, but can animals make babies without it? One summer, two little boys, their tutor and the tutor's two friends did an experiment to explore this question. What they discovered, back in 1740, shocked the world.
 
Michael Pollan: You Are What You Cook
Food writer Michael Pollan once advised "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Now, he tells us how to cook it. In his new book <em>Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation</em>, he takes a tour of the most time-tested...
 
He Helped Discover Evolution, And Then Became Extinct
Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution. But another British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, played a major role in developing the theory of natural selection before fading into obscurity. A trip to what's now Sulawesi in Indonesia,...
 
Utah's Fossil Finds Describe an Ancient World
Once upon a time, giants roamed the planet — many of them in what is now Utah. A panel of paleontology experts describes some of the state's ancient treasures, from massive long-necked sauropods to the Utahraptor, a predator that would put...
 
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Natural Selections with hosts Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager airs Thursday mornings during The Eight O'Clock Hour.

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Hamster at day job. Photo: Sualk61 via Flickr, some rights reserved
Hamster at day job. Photo: Sualk61 via Flickr, some rights reserved

Natural Selections: Hamsters

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jul 19, 2012 — All the pet hamsters in the world derive from a small wild population collected in Syria in the 1930s. Martha Foley and Curt Stager talk about hamsters, in the wild and working the wheel.  Go to full article
Pitcher plants at Beaver Lake Nature Center, Baldwinsville NY. Photo: Don Rogers via Flickr, some rights reserved
Pitcher plants at Beaver Lake Nature Center, Baldwinsville NY. Photo: Don Rogers via Flickr, some rights reserved

Natural Selections: Pitcher Plants

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jul 12, 2012 — Most carnivorous plants, such as the pitcher plant commonly found in Adirondack bogs, live in poor soils. Unwary insects are drawn to a sweet bait to supplement their diet. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss these botanical oddballs, which may live as long as 50 years.  Go to full article
Atmospheric carbon-14 spike caused by nuclear testing.
Atmospheric carbon-14 spike caused by nuclear testing.

Natural Selections: Fallout and carbon dating

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jul 05, 2012 — Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss radiocarbon dating. Fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons has distorted the background levels of the radioactive isotope carbon-14, used by archaeologists to date organic materials. But it has an upside, providing a new scale by which to date more recent events, helping researchers track cell turnover in different parts of the body and in testing the age of everything from vintage wine to elephant ivory.  Go to full article
Using parallax to measure stellar distance
Using parallax to measure stellar distance

Natural Selections: stellar distances

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jun 28, 2012 — Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about stars and the very clever ways we can tell their distance from the earth.  Go to full article
Pleiades Star Cluster. Photo: NASA, Palomar Observatory
Pleiades Star Cluster. Photo: NASA, Palomar Observatory

Natural Selections: the Pleaides

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jun 21, 2012 — The Greeks called them "The Seven Sisters," but a look at the Subaru logo shows the Japanese saw them differently. This familiar star cluster constellation actually contains thousands of stars when viewed through a telescope, as well as brown dwarf proto-stars and dust nebulae and newly-forming solar systems. Martha Foley and Curt Stager look at the night sky.  Go to full article
"Black" Eastern Grey Squirrel in Toronto.
"Black" Eastern Grey Squirrel in Toronto.

Natural Selections: Black squirrels

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jun 14, 2012 — Black squirrels are becoming more common throughout the St. Lawrence Valley. They are a normal variation of the more familiar gray squirrel species. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss melanism, an increase in the pigmentation of some species that can be a response to environmental factors.  Go to full article
From <em>Anatome Testudinis Europaeae</em> (1821) by Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus
From Anatome Testudinis Europaeae (1821) by Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus

Natural Selections: Turtle anatomy

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, Jun 07, 2012 — Turtles breathe backwards; that is, when they relax their diaphragms, they inhale rather than exhale. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss the oddities of anatomy that arise from living in armor.  Go to full article
Snapping turtle crossing the road. Photo: Matt Foley (submitted to NCPR's Hurricane Irene album)
Snapping turtle crossing the road. Photo: Matt Foley (submitted to NCPR's Hurricane Irene album)

Natural Selections: Turtles

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, May 31, 2012 — Snapping turtles aren't really that vicious, unless they are provoked. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk about their peculiar anatomy, safe ways (for turtle and human) to help them across highways, and more.  Go to full article

All Before Five: 05/30/12

by Natural Selections
May 30, 2012 — We'll continue our series on literacy in the North Country with a visit to story time for kids at one of our local libraries. Brian Mann reports from Montreal on the ongoing student demonstrations in that city, and the response to them. And, Heard Up North, undoing what beavers do best...  Go to full article
How fluids move in plants.
How fluids move in plants.

Natural Selections: Plant blood

by Natural Selections
Paul Smiths, NY, May 24, 2012 — Do plants have blood? How does the human circulatory system compare to that of plants and trees? Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager tackle the question.  Go to full article

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