Bugs Life

For as long as she can remember, June Bug and her father have traveled the back roads of the country in their beat-up RV, spending many nights parked at Walmart. One morning, as she walks past the greeter at the front of the store, her eyes are drawn to the pictures of missing children, where she is shocked to see herself. This discovery begins a quest for the truth about her father, the mother he rarely speaks about, and ultimately herself.

The deeply personal and complex human traits of worthiness, deserving, self-worth, and self-esteem, govern our success. How we value ourselves plays such a critical role in what opportunities we pursue that it can hardly be overstated. Self-worth is an ever-changing pair of glasses that broadens or limits our view of the world, colors every life experience, and propels us to take action or grounds us in stagnation. Self-worth is the foundation of all our choices, all our reactions, and all our efforts.

With its trillions of connections, the human brain is more beautiful and complex than anything we could ever build, but it’s far from perfect: our memory is unreliable; we can’t multiply large sums in our heads; advertising manipulates our judgment; we tend to distrust people who are different from us; supernatural beliefs and superstitions are hard to shake; we prefer instant gratification to long-term gain; and what we presume to be rational decisions are often anything but.

The vineyard has been restored and Ladybug Farm Winery is on the verge of bottling its first vintage. Their friends Paul and Derrick are building a house next door. High school and college graduations are just around the corner for the two young people they have shepherded for the past four years. Life couldn't be more perfect. But Ladybug Farm still holds a few surprises for them all...

One of the most infamous of the gangsters during this era was George “Bugs” Moran, who bore all the qualities of a stereotypical 20th-century mobster. They didn’t call him “Bugs” for nothing, as the man was a vindictive ticking time bomb who unleashed hell upon anyone who dared cross him. One of the most prolific career criminals of his time, he was convicted and incarcerated at least three times before his 21st birthday.

When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother Ellis went missing the summer he graduated high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture in the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later. From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’s girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep.

In the singular world of the young, deaf narrator of Bug, there are just a handful of people who try to understand him when he gets into trouble at school. His father, a data analyst for Nutella whose real job is to pinpoint terrorists, is clueless about humans in real life. His brilliant brother, called IQ in public and Robin Hood in the hackersphere, has his back but is ever busier training his robot.

Dandelion is embarrassed to find out that her mother will the weeklong substitute teacher for her fourth grade class.

Chester’s mom teaches him a song about fireflies. Learn the song along with Chester. One, two, three.…

The story of evolution as you’ve never heard it before. What’s the easiest way to tell species apart? Check their genitals. Researching private parts was long considered taboo, but scientists are now beginning to understand that the wild diversity of sex organs across species can tell us a lot about evolution. Menno Schilthuizen invites listeners to join him as he uncovers the ways the shapes and functions of genitalia have been molded by complex Darwinian struggles.

Follow the lives of individual bugs as they fly, hunt, hide, and scuttle their way through their day. Bug expert Dr. Jessica L. Ware introduces characters from cicadas to butterflies in the style of a nature documentary, with a sprinkling of simple science explanations perfect for future zoologists.

Listeners will laugh themselves silly as they learn to find their inner calm and settle for sleep—even when they wake in the night—as they also discover the difference between nocturnal and diurnal animals.

More than a hundred million years ago, the Sahara Desert was a rain forest and home to SuperCroc.

¡Hola! Soy una mariposa monarca. Seguramente me has visto revoloteando por ahí, pero ¿te has puesto a pensar de dónde vengo? Aprende más sobre el ciclo de mi vida desde oruguita chiquita hasta bella mariposa.

Ben Folds is an internationally celebrated musician, singer-songwriter and former front man of the alternative rock band Ben Folds Five, beloved for songs such as ‘Brick’, ‘You Don’t Know Me’, ‘Rockin’ the Suburbs’ and ‘The Luckiest’. In A Dream About Lightning Bugs Folds looks back at his life so far in a charming, funny and wise chronicle of his artistic coming of age, infused with the wry observations of a natural storyteller.

Ben Folds is an internationally celebrated musician, singer-songwriter and former frontman of the alternative rock band, Ben Folds Five, beloved for songs such as ‘Brick’, ‘You Don’t Know Me’, ‘Rockin’ the Suburbs’ and ‘The Luckiest’. In A Dream About Lightning Bugs, Folds looks back at his life so far in a charming, funny and wise chronicle of his artistic coming of age, infused with the wry observations of a natural storyteller. He opens up about finding his voice as a musician, becoming a rock anti-hero, and hauling a baby grand piano on and off stage for every performance.

Dandelion and her friend, Tomiko, are playing outside when they discover her brother’s man cave. Together, they decide to spy on her brother and his friends, and film all the silly things they do! While they’re spying, though, they hear the boys devise a plan to scare them. Will they be able to thwart the boys’ plan and teach them a lesson?

Doodlebug and Dandelion are preparing for their school’s pet show! Their cat, Choo-Choo, quickly learned her trick and their owl, Kazoo’s trick is almost perfect. Their dog, Don’t, is still confused and cannot even do one leap! Will he learn his routine in time for the show?

Meet Hum Bug, the grumpy little bug who always says, "I can't!" But what happens when he starts to think positively and says, "I can!"? Listen on to discover how this simple shift changes Hum Bug's life and the lives of those around him.

In a vibrant and colorful garden bordering a small wood along the Bold Coast of Maine, where the flowers bloom in a rainbow of hues and the air is filled with the soft hum of nature, lives the wee humble bumblebee. But not just any bee—she has a heart full of curiosity and a love for making new friends. Every day, she sets off on her tiny wings to explore the garden’s many nooks and crannies, discovering the beauty and wisdom of the flowers and shrubs that call this place home.