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Wildly Curious

Katy Reiss & Laura Fawks Lapole

176 episodes

1 week ago

Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to learn something you will never un-know. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole spotlight two researchers whose work sounds ridiculous… until you realize it’s brilliant. Meet Dr. David Hu and Dr. Patricia Yang, engineers who study fluid dynamics by asking the questions no one else would: Why do almost all mammals pee in the same amount of time?Why is wombat poop shaped like a cube?And how can studying anima...

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Natural Sciences

All content for Wildly Curious is the property of Katy Reiss & Laura Fawks Lapole and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to learn something you will never un-know. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole spotlight two researchers whose work sounds ridiculous… until you realize it’s brilliant. Meet Dr. David Hu and Dr. Patricia Yang, engineers who study fluid dynamics by asking the questions no one else would: Why do almost all mammals pee in the same amount of time?Why is wombat poop shaped like a cube?And how can studying anima...

Show more...

Natural Sciences

Episodes (20/176)

Wildly Curious

The Scientists Who Studied Pee, Poop, and Won Prizes

Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to learn something you will never un-know. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole spotlight two researchers whose work sounds ridiculous… until you realize it’s brilliant. Meet Dr. David Hu and Dr. Patricia Yang, engineers who study fluid dynamics by asking the questions no one else would: Why do almost all mammals pee in the same amount of time?Why is wombat poop shaped like a cube?And how can studying anima...

1 week ago

16 minutes

Wildly Curious

DNA Explained: How Genetics Shape Who You Are (and Why It Matters)

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. DNA isn’t magic—but it is one of the most powerful instruction systems in the universe. In this deep-dive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole break down genetics, DNA, and inheritance in a way that actually makes sense—no lab coat required. From the tiny molecular code inside your cells to the ethical questions surrounding modern gene editing, this episode connects the science t...

2 weeks ago

46 minutes

Wildly Curious

Whale Earwax Holds a Hidden History of the Ocean

Send us a text Subscribe and prepare to learn something you absolutely did not know existed. In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss dives into one of the strangest—and most important—jobs in science: whale earwax archivist. Yes. That’s a real thing. Certain whales build massive earwax plugs over their lifetime, adding a new layer every six months. And scientists have learned how to read those layers like tree rings—revealing a whale’s age, stress levels, exposure to p...

3 weeks ago

15 minutes

Wildly Curious

The Science of Swearing: Can Cursing Actually Help You?

Send us a text Subscribe and let your curiosity swear a little. We won’t tell. 😉 In this Wildly Curious minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole kick off their new Niche Scientists series with a deep dive into Dr. Richard Stephens—a psychologist who studies something we all do (sometimes loudly): swearing. From pain tolerance to powerlifting, Dr. Stephens’ research shows that strategic cursing can actually make you stronger, tougher, and maybe even a little bit smarter about when to drop a...

1 month ago

11 minutes

Wildly Curious

The Science (and Chaos) Behind Turkeys, Pumpkins, and Thanksgiving

Send us a text Subscribe and stuff your brain before you stuff your turkey. 🦃🥧 In this Wildly Curious Thanksgiving special, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole serve up the surprisingly scientific and hilariously human history of America’s favorite feast. From how pumpkins nearly went extinct after the Ice Age to why turkeys were almost wiped out (and then made a comeback), this episode is a buffet of weird facts, origin stories, and seasonal science. 🍂 How mastodons helped evolve pumpkins &nbs...

1 month ago

35 minutes

Wildly Curious

Could You Fight That? Round 2 – Science, Strategy & Total Chaos

Send us a text Season 13 is here… and it’s fight night. (Hypothetically, of course.) 🥊 Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole are back with Could You Fight That? Part 2, the follow-up to one of Wildly Curious’ most beloved (and ridiculous) episodes. This time, the matchups get even wilder—from kangaroos and cassowaries to anteaters and octopuses—as the duo debates whether they could theoretically survive these encounters. It’s all fun, all hypothetical, and all rooted in animal science and pure c...

1 month ago

1 hour 10 minutes

Wildly Curious

The Taos Hum: The Sound Science Can’t Explain

Send us a text Subscribe and listen closely… if you can. 👂 In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tune into one of the strangest modern mysteries: the Taos Hum. Since the 1990s, people in Taos, New Mexico have reported a low, constant humming sound that only a small percentage of the population can hear. The rest? Silence. 🎧 What is the Taos Hum—and why can only some people hear it? 🌍 Is it microseismic vibrations from the Earth itself? ⚡ Could it com...

2 months ago

11 minutes

Wildly Curious

The Hessdalen Lights: Science’s Strangest Unexplained Glow

Send us a text Subscribe and embrace the glow of curiosity. 🔦 In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole investigate one of the most baffling natural light shows on Earth—the Hessdalen Lights of Norway. For over a century, glowing orbs have danced through a remote valley, pulsing, hovering, and splitting apart with no clear cause. Scientists have studied them for decades… and still, no one really knows what they are. ✨ What are the Hessdalen Lights, and how long have...

2 months ago

18 minutes

Wildly Curious

The Truth About the Bermuda Triangle: Science vs. Mystery

Send us a text Subscribe and let your curiosity get lost at sea (but like, safely). 🌊 In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into one of Earth’s most famous unsolved legends: the Bermuda Triangle—also known as the Devil’s Triangle. For over a century, this stretch of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico has been blamed for the mysterious disappearances of ships, planes, and the people aboard them. But is it really cursed—or just misunderstood? 🛩️ Wh...

3 months ago

16 minutes

Wildly Curious

How the Moon Was Formed: A Science Cosmic Mystery

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this Nature Mysteries Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole tackle one of the biggest unanswered questions in planetary science: how was the Moon formed? We look at what we do know—like why lunar rocks look almost identical to Earth’s, why one side of the Moon is thicker than the other, and why it’s slowly drifting away at 1.5 inches per year. Then we dig into the wild theories scientists are s...

3 months ago

13 minutes

Wildly Curious

Crabs on the Move: The World’s Strangest Mass Migration

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this final Swarms Minisode of the season, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole lose their minds (in the best way) over the most chaotic, moon-synced crab love party on Earth: the migration of Christmas Island red crabs. We’re talking: 🦀 50 to 100 million land crabs 🌧 Timed to what we're convinced is a witches curse.... 🚧 Roads shut down 🌊 Pina colada breaks (probably) 💥 And babies launche...

3 months ago

19 minutes

Wildly Curious

Nature’s Self-Destruct Button: When Death Means Survival

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this explosive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole reveal the surprising truth: sometimes, nature chooses to self-destruct—and it's all part of the plan. From exploding ants to salmon that spawn and die, and fungi that launch spores like botanical cannons, this episode dives into how death in nature isn't always failure—it's strategy. 💥 Why some creatures explode on purpose &...

3 months ago

51 minutes

Wildly Curious

Swarms: Why Army Ants Are the Forest’s Most Ruthless Hunters

Send us a text Subscribe and prepare yourself—because this time, the swarm doesn’t just chase... it devours. In this Swarms Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the world of army ants, some of the most strategic, aggressive, and terrifyingly coordinated hunters on Earth. From building living bridges to raiding the forest floor with military precision, these ants don't forage… they sweep, and anything that can’t move fast enough is gone. 🐜 Why army ants don’t build nests—but b...

4 months ago

14 minutes

Wildly Curious

Seeds on the Move: How Plants Travel the World Without Legs

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it. In this seed-sational episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dig into the unexpectedly wild world of seed dispersal. From coconuts floating across oceans to violets launching their seeds like botanical cannons, this episode explores the many weird and wonderful ways plants get around without walking. 🌊 How coconuts evolved to sail thousands of miles 🌬️ The physics behind para...

4 months ago

44 minutes

Wildly Curious

Swarms: Why Killer Bees Are So Scary (and So Misunderstood)

Send us a text Subscribe if you love science, chaos, and being mildly afraid of your backyard. 🐝 In this Swarms Minisode, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover facts around the infamous “killer bees”—a.k.a. Africanized honeybees. Spoiler: they don’t look scary, but they’ll chase you, sting in overwhelming numbers, and sometimes even wait above water for you to come up for air. But is the fear justified? 🐝 What makes Africanized honeybees so aggressive? 🌎 How did a 1950s experiment i...

5 months ago

15 minutes

Wildly Curious

How Animals Navigate Without GPS (Magnetic Fields, Instinct & More)

Send us a text Ever wonder how birds, eels, whales, or even bugs find their way without a GPS? In this episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole uncover the jaw-dropping science behind animal navigation. From locusts using sky maps and magnetic fields, to eels migrating thousands of miles to a secret oceanic birthplace no one’s ever seen (seriously), and birds that may be using quantum mechanics to see the Earth’s magnetic field—it’s a global tour of natural way-finding. 🌎 ...

5 months ago

57 minutes

Wildly Curious

Swarms: The Science Behind Biblical Locust Plagues

Send us a text Subscribe if you love science, chaos, and bugs that are way too confident. In this Swarms Minisode, Katy dives into the desert locust, a grasshopper that transforms—literally—into one of the most devastating swarm creatures on Earth. 🦗 What causes a peaceful insect to go full apocalypse mode? 🌾 How do they morph from shy loners to yellow, muscle-bound sky-hulks? 🌪 What triggers a swarm so massive it consumes everything in its path—eating its body weight daily? ...

5 months ago

13 minutes

Wildly Curious

Swarms: Why Thousands of Sharks Suddenly Gather

Send us a text Subscribe and brace yourself—because this week, the swarm has teeth. 🦈 In this second episode of our Swarms Minisode Series, Laura and Katy dive into a lesser-known swarm behavior: shark aggregations. From 1,400 basking sharks off New England to over 15,000 spinning sharks off the Florida coast, this episode explores the science (and chaos) behind why some of the ocean’s most feared predators travel in giant, synchronized groups. 🦈 Why do basking sharks—normally loners—form fee...

5 months ago

9 minutes

Wildly Curious

Why You Smell What You Smell: The Science of Scents, Skunks & Memory

Send us a text Subscribe and let your nose lead the way. This episode stinks—in the best way possible. In this surprisingly deep dive into all things scent, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole explore how your sense of smell works, why it’s wildly underappreciated, and what makes certain smells feel amazing (or like a chemical attack). 🧠 How does smell connect to memory and emotion? 🦨 What makes skunk spray so powerful—and impossible to wash off? 🌺 Why do corpse flowers pretend to b...

6 months ago

41 minutes

Wildly Curious

Swarms: Why Starlings Move Like Liquid

Send us a text Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. It’s time for Swarms. In the kickoff to our Swarms Minisodes, Katy and Laura dive into one of nature’s most mesmerizing spectacles: the murmuration of starlings. These jaw-dropping bird formations swirl through the sky like smoke or liquid—but behind the beauty is a stunning system of rules, physics, and evolutionary strategy. 🐦 What exactly is a murmuration—and why do starlings do it? 🌪 How can thousands of birds turn on a...

6 months ago

16 minutes