The Natural Curiosity Project

By: Dr. Steven Shepard
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • I photograph, record, and write about the natural world. I see, I listen, I write. I fundamentally believe that curiosity can save the world—so I publish stories to make people curious. Ultimately, curiosity leads to discovery, discovery leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to insight, and insight leads to understanding. Please enjoy!
    All rights reserved
    Show more Show less
activate_WEBCRO358_DT_T2
Episodes
  • Episode 260 - The Magic Of Spider Webs

    Episode 260 - The Magic Of Spider Webs
    Sep 8 2024
    The sun was barely above the horizon by the time I reached the meadow during my morning walk. The bright, flat light hit the tall grasses and wildflowers from the side, creating a silhouette effect that made them glow. But that wasn’t all: the horizontal light also backlit the dozens of orb weaver webs that stretched between the tall plant stems, bejeweled by the droplets of dew that had condensed on them as tiny, transparent, concentric strings of pearls. I was entranced by these gorgeous structures. So—rabbit hole time. How do spiders build those things? How do they know to create THAT shape? Are the webs strictly structural and for capturing prey? In this episode, we walk briefly through their remarkable physiology—and how scientists are looking intensely at spider silk for a range of applications.
    Show more Show less
    17 mins
  • Interlude: My New Book: Russet, A Novel

    Interlude: My New Book: Russet, A Novel
    Aug 29 2024
    My newest novel, "Russet," has just been released. It's a 600-page saga about mounting a mission to Mars, an unimaginably complex undertaking. Sending astronauts to the Moon took four days; Mars is a one-way journey of at least five months. How could we possibly build a ship large enough and safe enough to accommodate their needs, for a round-trip journey of at least 18 months? In my story, NASA has the answer—an extraordinary plan to put 30 people on the Red Planet—unless those who oppose the mission can destroy the ship first.
    Show more Show less
    10 mins
  • Episode 259 - Voyager's Golden Record

    Episode 259 - Voyager's Golden Record
    Aug 28 2024
    The year was 1977. The top selling cars were the Ford LTD and the Chevy Impala. The top movies were Star Wars and Saturday Night Fever. Gas was 65 cents a gallon. Stephen King published The Shining, and Farrah Fawcett published the poster. Meanwhile, over at NASA, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were carried aloft for a five-year mission. Yet here we are, 47 years later, and they’re still going strong. Voyager I is 15.2 billion miles from Earth; Voyager II is 12.7 billion miles away, and both are traveling at about 35,000 miles-per-hour. And as amazing as all that is, that’s not what I want to talk with you about in this program. I want to talk with you about the payload they both carry—specifically, the golden record.
    Show more Show less
    11 mins
Show more Show less

What listeners say about The Natural Curiosity Project

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available