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The Wild Quiet: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Bre Harris
The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it. Host Bre Harris follows her curiosity into conversations with scientists, gardeners, writers, farmers, artists, herbalists, naturalists, and other people who help us look more closely at the world around us. Some episodes are conversations; others are shorter explorations of ordinary things that turn out to be surprisingly strange. Together, they ask what changes when we slow down, pay attention, and reconsider what we thought we already knew about nature. New Episodes Every Tuesday and Friday.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 3 days ago19 min
When Does Medicine Become Magic?
Humans were using plants as medicine—and poison—long before anyone knew what an alkaloid was or how the nervous system worked.So how did we know what plants could do before we understood why they worked?For this Halloween companion episode, I’m following that question through screaming mandrakes, poisonous nightshades, witches’ flying ointments and foxglove—a plant people were using medicinally long before science could explain what it was doing to the heart.Along the way, we’ll get into what atropine and scopolamine actually do to the nervous system, why plants make these chemicals in the first place, how people learned about medicinal plants before modern pharmacology, and why the popular story that accused witches were really persecuted herbalists is a whole lot messier than it sounds.Because sometimes humans know that something works long before we know why.And somewhere in that gap, we tend to tell stories.The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.
- 6 days ago32 min
Monsters in Nature: What Were We Actually Seeing? - W/ Matt Kaplan
Where did we get monsters?Dragons. Werewolves. Vampires. The Kraken. A whirlpool that could swallow a ship. Strange lights floating over a swamp.Humans are very good at making things up—but we didn't necessarily make all of this up.This week, I’m talking with science writer Matt Kaplan, author of The Science of Monsters, about the real animals, fossils, diseases and natural phenomena hiding underneath some of our oldest monster stories.We get into ancient Greek monsters showing up on actual maps, the surprisingly gross science behind vampires, what rabies may have had to do with werewolves, whether a giant squid could really sink a ship, and why sometimes a monster was simply a really effective way of saying: don't go over there.Because the more you dig into these stories, the question gets really interesting:How much of a monster comes from the thing that's actually out there—and how much do we add to it?Plus, Finn has a very important Kraken question.Guest: Matt Kaplan, science writer and author of The Science of Monsters, Science of the Magical, and I Told You So: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right.The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.
- 1 weeks ago15 min
Do Animals Have Names for Each Other?
Do animals have names for each other—or is naming one more human idea we keep trying to find reflected in the rest of nature?After giving a backyard downy woodpecker named Needo an entire family life and personal history, Bre begins wondering what other woodpeckers might call him.This episode follows the evidence from bottlenose dolphin signature whistles and socially learned parrot calls to receiver-specific elephant rumbles and the scientific debate surrounding marmoset “names.” Together, these animals reveal several possible ways of communicating something very close to: you, specifically.Because “we cannot translate it” is not the same as “nothing is being said.”This is a companion episode to Why Does a Wild Animal’s Life Feel Different Once We Know Its Name? — with Samantha MillerListen and consider: Is a signal only a name if it works the way a human name does?Follow The Wild Quiet:Instagram: @thewildquietpodSubstack: https://thewildquietco.substack.com/
- 1 weeks ago53 min
Why Does a Wild Animal’s Life Feel Different Once We Know Its Name? — with Samantha Miller
Why does a wild animal’s life feel different once we recognize it as an individual?P-22 was not simply a mountain lion. Grizzly 399 was not simply a bear. Jackie was not simply one Bald Eagle among many.Once we learn an animal’s name, recognize its face or follow its family over time, information begins attaching itself to a particular life. It survived that winter. It crossed that road. It returned to that nest. It raised those young.But why do we so often need to recognize one individual before we care about what happens to the rest?In this episode of The Wild Quiet, Bre talks with Samantha Miller, Senior Carnivore Campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity.Together, they explore how individual animals can become doorways into much larger conservation stories—from P-22 and Southern California’s wildlife crossings to Grizzly 399, Yellowstone’s Mollie’s pack, Colorado’s Copper Creek wolves, and Jackie and Shadow’s Big Bear Valley habitat.They also examine the risks that come with wildlife celebrity. Familiarity can create empathy and political action, but it can also encourage crowds, expose an animal’s location and tempt humans to turn a wildlife into a character expected to behave according to our story.In this episode:Why Samantha once asked Santa Claus to save mountain lionsHow one recognizable animal can make a population-level issue feel realP-22, urban development and wildlife connectivityGrizzly 399 and the complicated effects of wildlife celebrityThe young Copper Creek wolf who survived a winter aloneMollie’s pack and the invisible boundary surrounding YellowstoneWhy names and numbers can influence how humans understand wild animalsHow Jackie and Shadow helped make an entire landscape visibleThe difference between witnessing wildlife and demanding access to itWhy calling an animal a “problem” can prevent us from examining the human side of a conflictWhich animal would arrive at a wildlife commission meeting most prepared—and most outragedAbout Samantha MillerSamantha Miller is the Senior Carnivore Campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, where she works on carnivore issues nationwide with a focus on state-level progress.Her career spans wildlife commission reform, political advocacy and coalition building to advance carnivore policy across the American West. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside, and a Master of Public Policy from Pepperdine University.Find Samantha and Her WorkCenter for Biological Diversity:https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/biodiversitycowgirl/https://www.instagram.com/savingwolvesorg/https://www.instagram.com/centerforbiodiv/Listen to Wildlife Wire:https://wildlifewire.podbean.com/Saving America’s Wolves:https://savingwolves.org/Wolf Planning:https://www.wolfplanning.org/Continue ExploringRead the episode article:Why Does a Wild Animal’s Life Feel Different Once We Know Its Name?Watch Shadow and Kaydee on the official Big Bear Bald Eagle livestream:https://friendsofbigbearvalley.org/livestream/Companion episode: Do Animals Have Names for Each Other?Available Friday, October 23.Your TurnIs there one particular wild animal you have followed over time? Did learning its story change how you thought about the rest of its species—or the place it lived?Find The Wild Quiet on Instagram at @thewildquietpod.The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.This is The Wild Quiet. Until next time, stay curious.
- 2 weeks ago15 min
Does A Butterfly Remember Being A Caterpillar?
A caterpillar and a butterfly are the same animal—but they barely seem to have anything in common.One crawls around chewing leaves. The other flies, drinks nectar through a proboscis and may travel thousands of miles.In this solo episode of The Wild Quiet, Bre goes inside the chrysalis to explore what really happens during metamorphosis, why a caterpillar does not completely dissolve into “insect soup,” and whether anything it learns can survive the transformation.Along the way, we meet Catty Kathy, a monarch caterpillar living in Bre’s milkweed patch, and tobacco hornworms that were trained to associate an odor with danger—and still remembered that connection after becoming moths.Because the butterfly is not a reward waiting at the end of a caterpillar. It is the caterpillar’s life continuing.In this episode:Whether a caterpillar and butterfly are truly the same animalThe difference between a chrysalis and a cocoonWhat really happens inside a monarch chrysalisWhy a caterpillar does not completely dissolve into soupImaginal discs and the adult structures already developing inside a larvaHow an insect’s nervous system changes during metamorphosisThe experiment testing whether moths remember something learned as caterpillarsThe difference between learned associations and autobiographical memoryWhy we value the beautiful butterfly differently from the hungry caterpillarHow monarchs navigate toward a destination they have never visitedThis episode accompanies Bre’s conversation with cartoonist and educator Peter Kuper: Can Art Change How We See Nature—and Ourselves?RESOURCESRetention of Memory Through Metamorphosis:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001736Monarch Growth and Development — Monarch Joint Venture:https://monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/monarch-life-cycleMonarch Biology FAQ — Monarch Joint Venture:https://monarchjointventure.org/faqMonarch Migration — Monarch Joint Venture:https://monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/monarch-migrationExplore Peter Kuper’s work:https://www.peterkuper.com/Monarch’s Journey — American Museum of Natural History:https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/monarchs-journeyFollow The Wild Quiet on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/thewildquietpod/Read the episode companion:Can Art Change How We See Nature—and Ourselves?This is The Wild Quiet—curious conversations about nature, and our place within it.
- 2 weeks ago1h 1m
Can Art Change How We See Nature—and Ourselves? — with Peter Kuper
What would humans look like inside a museum curated by insects?Cartoonist and educator Peter Kuper uses art, storytelling and humor to change who appears to be observing whom. A 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Peter has written and illustrated SPY vs. SPY for MAD magazine since 1997, co-founded World War 3 Illustrated and created more than two dozen books, including Insectopolis: A Natural History, Ruins and Wish We Weren’t Here: Postcards From the Apocalypse.In this episode, we explore whether imagining another creature’s experience can change how we value its life—and what art can make visible that information alone sometimes cannot.We get into:The cicadas that captured Peter’s attention as a childHow comics and wordless images communicate across age and languageWhat a monarch sees when it crosses highways, power plants and human bordersWhy humor can help us stay present with frightening environmental issuesThe New York City cockroach that revealed how much Peter’s perspective had changedThe overlooked people who helped build our knowledge of insectsWhy dung beetles are sacred, ecologically essential and extremely funnyWhat insects might place inside a museum exhibit about humansPeter’s exhibition, Monarch’s Journey, opens October 16, 2026, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.Explore Peter’s work:https://www.peterkuper.com/Follow Peter on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kuperart/Learn about Monarch’s Journey:https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/monarchs-journeyEpisode Companion:Can Art Change How We See Nature—and Ourselves?What animal have you already placed into a category—and what might change if you looked at it a little longer?The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.Instagram: @thewildquietpodSubstack: The Wild Quiet Co.
- 3 weeks ago14 min
Why Does a Moth Fly Toward a Light?
Years ago, hundreds of moths appeared inside a tiny cabin in the Black Hills. They covered the walls, flew around the beds and held what appeared to be the annual meeting of every moth in South Dakota directly above a terrified three-year-old. That kid...was my stepdaughter.It was chaos—but it also raises a question most of us have never thought very hard about:Why does a moth fly toward a light?The answer is stranger—and much less embarrassing for the moth—than we’ve been led to believe.In this companion episode to my conversation with author Leigh Ann Henion, we explore research suggesting that moths and other flying insects may not be deliberately steering toward artificial light. They may be trying to keep the brightest part of the world above their backs—and becoming trapped when humans put the sky in the wrong place.We’ll also meet moths away from the porch light: moving pollen through the dark, feeding young birds and using some spectacular defenses against hunting bats.IN THIS EPISODEThe night hundreds of moths filled a cabin in the Black HillsWhy moths may not actually be choosing to fly toward artificial lightHow flying insects use light to determine which direction is upWhat happens when humans mount a miniature sun beside the garageThe microscopic scales covering moth wingsThe overlooked work moths do as nighttime pollinatorsWhy moth caterpillars are important food for young birdsThe evolutionary argument between bats and mothsHow a luna moth’s tails can misdirect a bat’s attackThe effects artificial light can have on moths and their caterpillarsSimple ways to return some darkness to the nightKEEP EXPLORINGListen to my conversation with Leigh Ann Henion:What Happens After Dark? - W/ Leigh Ann HenionExplore the full episode companion—with photographs, resources and something to try after dark:What Happens After DarkWhy flying insects gather around artificial light:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-44785-3Mothing 101 from National Moth Week:https://nationalmothweek.org/mothing-101/Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting:https://darksky.org/resources/guides-and-how-tos/lighting-principles/YOUR TURNThe next time you see a moth circling a porch light, turn it off for a while if you can. Give its eyes a chance to find the real sky.What changes when you let the night actually be dark?Follow The Wild Quiet Co.Instagram: @thewildquietpodSubstack: https://thewildquietco.substack.comThe Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.
- 3 weeks ago38 min
What Happens After Dark? — with Leigh Ann Henion
Once the sun goes down, even a familiar backyard can feel like an entirely different place.We often talk about darkness as if it is empty—or as if danger automatically arrives when the lights go out. But darkness is not simply the daytime world with the lights turned off. It is alive with its own flowers, sounds, relationships and living light.In this episode, Bre talks with author Leigh Ann Henion about her book Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark.After traveling around the world in search of natural wonders, Leigh Ann turned her attention toward the nighttime world close to her home in southern Appalachia. Together, we explore why darkness makes so many of us uneasy, what our artificial lights may look like from the other side and how much of our own familiar landscapes we have never truly met.IN THIS EPISODEWhy darkness can make familiar places feel frightening or unknownGlowworms, moon gardens and the living lights of southern AppalachiaWhat changes when we allow our eyes to adjust to the darkWhy nighttime is not simply a quieter version of daytimeHow artificial light changes life for nocturnal plants and animalsWhat our homes and cities may look like from another creature’s perspectiveThe difference between seeking wonder far away and noticing it close to homeHow stepping outside after sunset can reshape our relationship with darknessABOUT LEIGH ANN HENIONLeigh Ann Henion is the author of Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark and the New York Times bestseller Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World. Her work explores wonder, place and the extraordinary lives unfolding within the natural world.LEARN MORELeigh Ann Henion:https://leighannhenion.com/Explore Night Magic:https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/leigh-ann-henion/night-magic/9781643753362/Episode companion:Moths, Moon Gardens, Glowworms— What Appears After Dark?YOUR TURNStep outside after dark and give your eyes time to adjust. What appears when you stop treating darkness as something to get through—and actually go out to meet it?Tell me what you notice. You do not need to know its name. Noticing comes first.FOLLOW THE WILD QUIET CO.Instagram: @thewildquietpodSubstack: https://thewildquietco.substack.comThe Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.
About The Wild Quiet
The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it. Host Bre Harris follows her curiosity into conversations with scientists, gardeners, writers, farmers, artists, herbalists, naturalists, and other people who help us look more closely at the world around us. Some episodes are conversations; others are shorter explorations of ordinary things that turn out to be surprisingly strange. Together, they ask what changes when we slow down, pay attention, and reconsider what we thought we already knew about nature. New Episodes Every Tuesday and Friday.
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