Orange teeth! Multi-purpose tails! Architecture with twigs! Field naturalist, conservationist, wildlife tracker and “beaver believer” Rob Rich works with the National Wildlife Federation’s coordination of the Montana Beaver Working Group and answers all of our Castorological questions about: baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, beavers throughout history and in your dreams forever.

Cultural burns. Prescribed blazes. A healthy forest. What exactly is “good fire?” Let’s ask Indigenous fire scientist Dr. Amy Christianson, who is a co-host of the podcast ...Good Fire. This wonderfully generous and informed scholar took a quick break from her Canadian wilderness vacation to fill me in on Indigenous history, thoughts on cultural burns, flim-flam, evacuations, hunting strategies, land stewardship, learning from Indigenous wildfire fighters, Two-Eyed Seeing and more. Huge thanks to her and Matt Kristoff -- who also hosts the Your Forest Podcast -- for allowing us to use excerpts from their Good Fire interview. Subscribe to both podcasts to get more ecological knowledge in your ears.

As Smashmouth said, “My world’s on fire, how ‘bout yours?” Why yes, Mr. Mouth, it is, indeed, on fire. As so many of us around the globe are sharing in this burning sensation, what better time than now to sit down and fire off a lot of questions at Fire Ecologist, Dr. Gavin Jones. We talk about what fire is, how hot it burns, fire trends, tinderboxes, lots and lots of forest fire flim-flam, tolerant wombats, cunning pine cones, thick bark, Indigenous fire stewardship and more. This episode might get you pretty heated but that’ll only release seeds of new ideas and hope, because it's serotinous. That bad joke will make sense after you listen.

Wasps!? Don’t even THINK of skipping this one, my beautiful chickens. You’re about to change your outlook on the most maligned winged sky babies, and we are delighted that author, bug dude, and spheksologist Eric Eaton is about to change your mind and fill your heart with respect and appreciation. Hunker down for itty bitty critters, papery nests, stinger myths, bug corsets, gardening secrets, and snack vaults. Get ready to hear about the misunderstood and beautifully diverse world of wasps, from the teeny tiny to the large and legendary. Wasps: they’re not as mean as you think.

It’s invisible. It’s mysterious. It’s all around us – and no one knows what it is. Let’s stretch our brains by pondering Dark Matter! The world’s most affable and endearing theoretical particle physicist, Dr. Flip Tanedo makes matter, energy, and gravity make sense. Also: Galactic origins, space ghosts, multiverses, dimensions, and more. You’ll leave with a newfound wonder and the desire to read physics journals for the secrets of life.

If you think you like sea turtles, get ready to become wildly obsessed with them. Cheloniologist Dr. Camryn Allen met up with Alie on a tropical island (ok, in a hotel room on a tropical island) to chat about flipper slappings, nesting BBs, current surfing, sleeping under water, boopable noses, eggs, hatchlings, mind-boggling navigation, what you can do to help them, and the many mysteries that still remain. Take a deep dive into the world of seartles. Or is it surtles?

What's a tortoise? What's a turtle? Why do they live so dang long? What's up with their shells? Wildlife biologist and testudinologist Amanda Hipps studies gopher tortoises and dishes about turtle nomenclature, cliques, roommates, behavior, burrows, evolution and more. If you don't dig tortoises yet, you're about to fall deep into a turtle tunnel in love with them.

Sweet! Salty! Sour! Umami? Why do some people love their greens more than others? Can something taste “hot?” Come down to flavortown and let’s talk tongues. Gustologist Dr. Gary Beauchamp is a chemosensory scientist and an expert in taste. We chat about tastebud flim-flam, celebrity grade hot wings, super tasters, how much of taste is really smell, acquiring a taste for foods, and whether our four-legged companions have a sweet tooth. Delicious facts, served up hot.

Ancient dogs! Domestic wolves! Anthropology! Archaeology! It’s all Ethnocynology: when and why humans and dogs became BFFs. The wonderful and iconic David Ian Howe is an educator and professional archaeologist whose focus is canines and people. So let’s curl up and be cute – like dogs – as we listen about breed histories, how wolves tamed themselves, why our relationships with canines make us what we are, talking dogs, if it’s fair to ask your dog to love you back, and why your dog is trying to make fetch happen.

Secret ciphers. Hidden treasure. Mysterious manuscripts. And … hog Latin. Cryptology expert and author of “The Code Book,” Simon Singh finally lets me ask him about Indigenous code-talking war heroes, hidden messages, extinct languages, the oldest of codes and the mathematical padlocks keeping the internet secure. Also: the personalities of letters and words??