Episodios

  • Episode 304-Interview with Melissa Pons

    Episode 304-Interview with Melissa Pons
    Dec 3 2025
    Because I do so much work in the world of sound, I’m always looking for resources that will inspire and challenge me. One of them is earth.fm, an online resource for people who appreciate the sounds of the natural world. Sound recordists from all over the world—and I mean ALL over the world—contribute tracks to earth.fm to be shared with anyone who wants to listen. They have a great Web site, which is just earth-dot-fm, and a terrific app, available in your favorite app store. In the process of getting to know them I got to know Melissa Pons, their primary content curator. Melissa is enormously talented: beyond earth.fm, her award-winning work as a sound designer and content creator has been featured on the BBC and NPR, among others. But as I got to know Melissa’s work, I began to think of her as much more than a skilled recordist: I also saw her as a thoughtful and deliberate listener. Her field recording albums cover the acoustic waterfront, and her contributions to earth.fm are as varied as they are beautiful. So, I asked Melissa, who is based in Portugal, to join me for a conversation about field recording, sound design, and the importance of going outside, being quiet, and listening to the voice of the natural world. In the program, you get to meet Melissa Pons.
    Más Menos
    34 m
  • Episode 302-The Wind's Many Voices

    Episode 302-The Wind's Many Voices
    Nov 22 2025
    Weird, isn't it, that wind is completely silent--silent, that is, until it hits something. Then, it bursts out in myriad voices.
    Más Menos
    9 m
  • Episode 301-Two Underground Stories

    Episode 301-Two Underground Stories
    Nov 22 2025
    In this episode we travel from central Turkey, the region known as Anatolia, to northern Norway, on the island of Svalbard, to visit two extraordinary subterranean places.
    Más Menos
    10 m
  • Episode 300-300 Episodes

    Episode 300-300 Episodes
    Nov 22 2025
    IT's hard to believe that I have created 300 episodes of the Natural Curiosity Project. Thank you so much--SO much--for staying with me on the adventure. In this episode, Pete Mulvihill recalls some of his favorite episodes--and asks me for mine. The episodes mentioned in the program are 84 (Bud and the tumbleweeds); 77 (How to Read Movie Credits with Bob Verlaque); 181 (Rob Prince and Dark Winter Nights); 206 (Dewitt Jones); 15 (How Trees Work); 16 (Forest Bathing); and 97, 99 and 109 (Letter-writing). Enjoy!
    Más Menos
    20 m
  • Episode 299-When Acronyms Become Words

    Episode 299-When Acronyms Become Words
    Nov 21 2025
    Acronyms are "words" that are abbreviations. But they differ from abbreviations because they can be pronounced like a word. Many of these acronyms, like the 'ZIP' in 'Zip Code,' aren't even known as acronyms anymore. In this episode, my friend Pete Mulvihill helps me decode some of the most common acronyms in modern lexicon.
    Más Menos
    48 m
  • Episode 298-What Do You Hear?

    Episode 298-What Do You Hear?
    Nov 21 2025
    Author John Stilgoe exhorts us to go outside, take a walk or a bike ride, and tune in to the world before us that we miss when we whiz by in a car. I implore you to do the same thing--but instead of paying attention to what you see, pay attention to what you hear.
    Más Menos
    12 m
  • Episode 297-The Real Mister Bojangles

    Episode 297-The Real Mister Bojangles
    Oct 14 2025
    I was listening to music the other day while driving to and from the dump, and one of my favorites came on: Mr. Bojangles, by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Like most of the songs that rise to the top of my favorites list, Mr. Bojangles has the best qualities of storytelling. But as I listened, I started thinking, something that always gets me in trouble. And, it did. I wanted to know: Who was Mr. Bojangles? Was he real? Well, it turns out that yeah, he was, but there’s a lot more to the story than a single person.
    Más Menos
    8 m
  • Episode 296-More Thoughts on Writing

    Episode 296-More Thoughts on Writing
    Oct 14 2025
    Some additional thoughts on the craft of writing.
    Más Menos
    9 m