Outside In Podcast: Intersection Of The Natural World & Human Curiosity

 One of the elements missing from our society is curiosity. In the last decade, people suddenly know everything about how vaccines harm people. Or why the moon landing was faked. If facts don't fit their worldview, they just change them. Why be curious when you can make up your own facts with impunity?

I am eternally grateful that a podcast like Outside/In exists. The show is a public radio podcast and radio show produced by New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) that explores the intersection of the natural world and human curiosity. It covers a wide range of topics, including science, the environment, pop culture, and policy, through engaging, narrative-driven storytelling. 

The show is designed for anyone interested in the outdoors—from backcountry enthusiasts to backyard naturalists. It expands the traditional boundaries of environmental journalism by tackling both deep, investigative reporting (such as wildlife poaching) and quirky, fascinating questions. The show has a wide angle view of the world. For example, a recent episode covered a Brownsville Texas garbage dump where people go birding.

The podcast is hosted and senior-produced by award-winning journalist Nate Hegyi. 

Mr. Heygi is in the right place at the right time because he seems to be the perfect host for the show -- curious, insightful, and always wanting to know more.

As the host and senior producer of Outside/In, Nate Hegyi says he loves stories that entertain, probe and leave you with more questions than answers — in a good way. He's traveled all over the country, from reporting on the hidden history of the world's first atomic bomb explosion in New Mexico to investigating a pair of shady competitive dogsledders in Alaska. Nate's work has aired on NPR, BBC, CBC and other outlets. Since becoming a public radio nerd nearly a decade ago, Nate has won multiple national awards for his reporting, including the 2020 Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize.

When he isn't in the field or hunched over his laptop, he likes hanging out with his three dogs and taking long trips to the Sonoran Desert with his wife, Christine.

Rebecca Lavoie, NHPR’s Director of Podcasts is also the host of her own hit podcast, Crime Writers On…, on which she moderates a panel discussing other podcasts, pop culture, true crime, and journalism, as well as the host of the Netflix podcast, You Can't Make This Up.

 Taylor Quimby is the Executive Producer of Outside/In Over the years, he has also produced important stories about topics like MySpace, men’s underwear, and the zombie apocalypse. 

  Episodes range from the natural history of specific animals and deep-dives into environmental policies to answering zany listener-submitted questions (e.g., "Why can you send live scorpions in the mail?"). One of my favorite episodes was called The problem with pickleball. 

The episode begins with this truth: "Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America. It may also be the most hated. Tennis and basketball players are complaining about losing court space because of an “invasion” of pickleballers. Residents are losing sleep because of the incessant noise. Fights over pickleball have led to a slew of petitions, calls to the police, and even lawsuits."

So why do pickleball players love this sport so much? Just how annoying is it to everyone else? And what will it take for everyone to just get along? In the show, Producer Felix Poon visited one of the most popular courts in Boston to see how the drama is unfolding there.

For anyone who has been with earshot of a pickleball court, that dull whack of ball can reverberate through the neighborhood.  

 Another episode of note was In defense of darkness. On the show, we are introduced to Megan Eaves-Egenes, who grew up under the very starry skies of rural New Mexico. During those years, she developed a deep appreciation for astronomy. 

The fascination is, of course, not hers alone. But, a starry sky requires one pretty important ingredient: darkness. One study recently reported that since 2011, the night sky has gotten brighter at about 10% per year.

All that light pollution has brought dire consequences for life on planet earth. Crickets can’t tell whether it’s day or night, bird migrations have gone haywire, and our own natural alarm clocks are constantly confused. In a world where switching on a lamp during evening hours is, as Megan writes, “almost as basic as breathing” is there hope for our night skies? Or have we illuminated our way to a point of no return? 

In addition to weekly episodes, they produce narrative investigative series. For example, Operation Night Cat is an acclaimed three-part series investigating a massive wildlife poaching case.

Outside/In has already passed 400 episodes. Episodes run about 30+ minutes, and the show seems to have a long life cycle like that of a tortoise. That's good news for those of us who don't know everything and still want to bask in the aura of being curious about the splendor of life and our world.

It's a tragedy that the current U.S. Congress stripped money from Public Radio. Despite the cantankerous whines of extremist politicians about wokeness, Public Radio shows like Outside In demonstrate how moronic these politicians are. What's "woke" about worms, oak trees, roadkill, microplastics, lab mice, the history of vanilla, and special effects on Broadway?

 When was the last time that curiosity about the natural world became a crime? The Dark Ages.