When We Talk About Animals
When We Talk About Animals
Law, Environment & Animals Program at Yale Law School
When We Talk About Animals is a series of in-depth conversations with leading thinkers about the big questions animals raise about what it means to be human. Supported by the Law, Environment & Animals Program at Yale Law School and the Yale Broadcast Studio.
Ep. 51 – Novelist Ned Beauman on venomous lumpsuckers and the price of extinction
Fiction can provide the most profound, incisive truths about the absurdities of our reality. In his most recent novel, Venomous Lumpsucker, Ned Beauman, a master of finding the humor and the fantastical in even the most devastating facets of human nature, has crafted a chilling—and deeply funny—look into what our future relationship with animals might … Read More Read More
Apr 11, 2023
1 hr 5 min
Ep. 50 – Australian Biologist Danielle Clode on the Extraordinary World of Koalas
Upon seeing an adorable Koala sitting on an eucalyptus branch in Australia, few would expect the beloved marsupial to emit a booming bellow to alert potential mates or rivals of its presence. But this powerful roar is just one of koalas’ many surprises, which delight and astonish in Australian biologist Danielle Clode’s new book, “Koala: … Read More Read More
Feb 21, 2023
51 min
Ep. 49 – Dog Cognition Expert Alexandra Horowitz on the Quiddity of Puppies
Most books on puppies are dog-improvement manuals, guiding readers ‘How to Raise the Perfect Dog’ or how to achieve ‘Perfect Puppy in 7 Days.’ Alexandra Horowitz’s profound and totally delightful new book is not that type of book. It’s an unprecedented look at the complex, chaotic, fascinating, and often hilarious journeys of puppies becoming themselves. … Read More Read More
Oct 5, 2022
1 hr 3 min
Ep. 48 – Patrick Rose on the Fight to Save Florida’s Manatees
Grazing peacefully through shallow waterways, the Florida manatee is one of the state’s most beloved creatures. Due to a multitude of compounding, human-caused crises, the last couple years have been some of the deadliest on record for manatees. Years of worsening water quality from Florida’s unfettered agricultural pollution and real estate development have resulted in … Read More Read More
Aug 2, 2022
1 hr 2 min
Ep. 47 – Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil on writing love letters to nature
Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s exuberant book of essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Other Astonishments, has unlocked protective passion for nature among readers since its release in 2020. In the book’s thirty dazzling essays, Nezhukumatathil weaves love stories about being a daughter, a partner, a mother, and a teacher with reverence … Read More Read More
May 24, 2022
56 min
Ep. 46 – Paleobiologist Thomas Halliday on the Animals of Ancient Worlds
The fossil record acts as both a memorial to life’s spectacular possibilities and as a warning to humanity about how fast dominance can become forgotten history, according to our guest, Scottish paleobiologist Dr. Thomas Halliday. Halliday’s research investigates long-term patterns in the fossil record, particularly in mammals. In his magnificent and daring new book “Otherlands: … Read More Read More
Mar 21, 2022
57 min
Ep. 45 – Rob Dunn on what the laws of biology predict about our future
Amid the cataclysms of the Anthropocene, an era defined by humans’ attempts to control the natural world, it’s easy to forget that we remain as subject as ever to the ecological laws that govern living things. Like the laws of physics, paying attention to our planet’s biological laws empowers us to understand how the world … Read More Read More
Feb 2, 2022
1 hr
Ep. 44 – Rick McIntyre on the stories of Yellowstone’s greatest wolves
In 1995, the U.S. government took unprecedented actions to restore the wolf population of Yellowstone National Park, which it had brutally destroyed seventy years prior. More than thirty wolves from multiple packs were captured in Canada, transported to the park, and released in a grand experiment that would become the most successful wildlife reintroduction effort … Read More Read More
Nov 22, 2021
1 hr 25 min
Ep. 43 – Cynthia Barnett on our world of seashells
From tiny cowries to giant clams, seashells have gripped human imaginations since time immemorial. In her magnificent new book, The Sound of the Sea, journalist Cynthia Barnett tells the epic history of humanity’s interactions with shells and the soft-bodied animals who make them. These stories of how we have treasured, traded, plundered, and coveted shells … Read More Read More
Sep 22, 2021
1 hr 3 min
Ep. 42 – Edie Widder on the ocean’s spectacular light
Most of us land-lubbers assume that light-making among ocean creatures is an exotic and rare phenomenon. But that’s wrong. The majority of animals in the ocean, which means the majority of animals on the planet, are capable of making light. From top to bottom, the ocean is teeming with unforgettably beautiful and extraordinarily diverse light … Read More Read More
Aug 16, 2021
50 min
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