Podcasts about piano music

Relax by a peaceful lake as the sun sets on a quiet summer evening. This soothing lakeside ambience is blended with a calm ambient piano melody to create a gently relaxing soundscape, perfect for helping you fall asleep and block out distracting noises in your environment. We've blended in 2 Hz delta wave binaural beats to promote deep relaxation and sleep. The 8+ hour listening time will ensure you stay asleep all night. Press play and let this calming lakeside ambience guide you into a night of deep and rest.

Contemporary Piano Music Ep196 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026http://www.djpuppeteer.com/0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Ripples of Calm Disheveled Air0:04:13 - Ira Stain – Continuum0:07:18 - Ludovico Einaudi – MONDAY0:13:07 - Yiruma – Poemusician0:16:23 - Moon Ate The Dark – Explosions In A Four Chambered Heart0:27:05 - Christopher Ferreira – Waves0:31:53 - Renara Akhoundova – Impression0:39:01 - Didier Merah – Testament0:51:08 - Clara Ponty – The Embrace0:54:55 - Mary Martin Stockdale – Appearances

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton's Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton's Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology, with NYU media and disability studies professor Mara Mills. Professor Mills teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopa from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The panel continues with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton's Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton's Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology, with NYU media and disability studies professor Mara Mills. Professor Mills teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopa from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The panel continues with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton's Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton's Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology, with NYU media and disability studies professor Mara Mills. Professor Mills teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopa from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The panel continues with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton's Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton's Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology, with NYU media and disability studies professor Mara Mills. Professor Mills teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopa from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The panel continues with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On May 13, 2026, Princeton's Center for Human Values hosted a day-long conference titled Audio & Ideas: Exploring the Possibilities for Scholarly Podcasting. It was co-sponsored by Princeton's Journalism program, and the NYU Podcast Initiative. Over the course of four panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology, with NYU media and disability studies professor Mara Mills. Professor Mills teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopa from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The panel continues with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contemporary Piano Music Ep195 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026https://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Intoxicating Rememberances Fluttering0:04:58 - Clara Ponty – Time To Say Farewell0:07:54 - Danny Wright – Cipolla0:12:05 - The Tumbled Sea – a growing recognition of the genius of birds0:15:14 - Suzanne Ciani – Sogno Agitato0:18:24 - Gary Girouard – Miracles0:22:04 - Samantha Bouquin – And Blind Shadows Now See0:25:00 - Joe Bongiorno – Mystical0:29:35 - craig armstrong – heatmiser 20:31:23 - Ola Gjeilo – Crystal Sky0:35:01 - Yuki Murata – pitter-patter0:38:15 - Christopher Ferreira – White0:42:05 - Michael Logozar – The First Drop of Rain0:45:47 - Eiko Yamashita – Stars0:50:50 - Michael Gettel – Aspens In January

Contemporary Piano Music Ep194 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026https://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Lorelei's Chamber of Verdure and Blossom0:03:10 - Karen Marie Garrett – The Piano Called0:06:21 - Luigi Rubino – Voice In The Eyes0:10:18 - Michael Logozar – Through the Fog0:15:01 - Dmitry Evgrafov – While the Glacier Was Melting0:18:19 - Keiko Matsui – Ever After0:23:55 - Ludovico Einaudi – UNO0:27:37 - Joe Bongiorno – Never Forgotten0:31:30 - Joep Beving – Zoetrope0:35:18 - Ola Gjeilo – January0:37:42 - Michael Nyman – The Promise0:41:52 - Rick Wakeman – The Grey Havens0:45:52 - Moon Ate the Dark – Bellés Jar0:50:24 - Brian Crain – Rain0:54:51 - Gary Girouard – August

Contemporary Piano Music Ep193 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026 - Newagehttps://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – As Anastasia Shimmered Unearthly0:03:03 - Renara Akhoundova – Life0:12:41 - µ­²´ÊÕ²Ø – In The Grey Of The Sky0:15:46 - Sophie Hutchings – Sunlight Zone0:20:29 - Eiko Yamashita – Fantasia0:27:07 - David Lanz – Return to the Heart0:30:22 - Brian Crain – Snow0:34:04 - Bing & Ruth – And Then It Rained0:38:50 - Arc Of Doves – Outro0:46:08 - Yuhki Kuramoto – Lonely Passing Through The Flower Valley0:51:50 - aeterna nox & gothic nox – the walk at the underground kingdom

If you're someone who sleeps better with calming sounds in the background, you'll love this episode from the Sleep Sounds Meditation for Women podcast. With soothing music, nature sounds, and gentle rhythms, it's designed to help you drift off naturally—so if it helps, be sure to follow it. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sleep-sounds-meditation-for-women/id1561823609 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contemporary Piano Music Ep192 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026https://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Where Tides Defy the Moon0:05:37 - Niklas Paschburg – Oceanic0:09:18 - Balmorhea – Baleen Morning0:12:39 - Dominique German – Alone with Him0:15:42 - Philip Wesley – The Unknown0:20:43 - Fryderyk Chopin – Nocturne No.20 - Op.P1 No.16 - in C#m (BI 49)0:24:36 - Dmitry Evgrafov – Shapes of Dying Stars0:27:43 - Hideyuki Hashimoto – With Blue0:31:00 - Naoyuki Onda – Temple In The Twilight0:34:54 - Josh Kramer – No Longer Your Home0:40:01 - Renara Akhoundova – Jerusalem0:48:45 - Alex Kozobolis – But The Clouds Were Indifferent To His Tears0:51:47 - Danny Wright – As the Years Pass0:55:34 - Ola Gjeilo – Aeon

Aunque el repertorio de Rodolfo Ritter abarca a muchos compositores, se ha especializado en la música para piano de Ponce. Charlamos con él en este podcast acerca de su nueva grabación con el primer volumen de las obras para piano de Ponce. 

Contemporary Piano Music Ep191 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026https://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – A Soft Shadowed Innocence0:04:19 - Michael Nyman – Nyman: The Piano - The Heart Asks Pleasure First0:05:49 - craig armstrong – childhood 20:07:30 - Amy Lauren – August0:12:24 - Clem Leek – Trying Too Hard0:14:53 - Mathias Grassow & Bruno Sanfilippo – Piano & Drones 10:24:48 - Daniel Robbins – Prison Stars0:29:32 - Hiroshi Yoshimura, Satsuki Shibano – Afternoon Walk0:34:30 - Dustin O'Halloran – Opus 200:41:37 - µ­²´ÊÕ²Ø – A Tale From The Past0:43:50 - Stephen Peppos – The Essence Of0:49:40 - Moon Ate the Dark – Sleepwalk

Contemporary Piano Music Ep190 - Modern - New Age - Neoclassical Piano mix 2026https://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Said the Sun to the Moonblind Shadows0:03:58 - Josh Kramer – Finding You0:06:22 - Mathias Grassow & Bruno Sanfilippo – Piano & Drones 30:14:50 - craig armstrong – satine's theme0:19:40 - Vangelis – To a Friend0:24:57 - Sophie Kazandjian – Lights Appear0:27:12 - Stephen Peppos – Silhouette0:30:56 - Dominique German – In Your Presence0:36:46 - Erik Satie – Gymnopédie No.30:39:16 - Eiko Yamashita – Eternal Dream0:44:26 - Carlos Cipa/Sophia Jani – Anouk's Dream

Drift into profound rest with Piano & Thunder for the Perfect Deep Sleep, a deeply calming soundscape blending ambient piano music, a soothing thunderstorm ambience, and powerful 1 Hz delta wave binaural beats. Soft, slow piano melodies create a warm and peaceful emotional atmosphere, while steady rainfall and distant rolling thunder provide a comforting natural rhythm that quiets the mind and masks distractions. Beneath it all, 1 Hz delta waves gently guide the brain into the deepest stages of restorative sleep, supporting full-body relaxation, recovery, and uninterrupted rest throughout the night. -- ✨ ⁠Support the show with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium (Ad-Free)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Contemporary Piano Music Ep189 - Modern - NewAge - Solo Piano mixhttps://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Ripples of Calm Disheveled Air0:04:13 - Oskar Schuster – Les Sablons0:06:50 - Kevin Kern – Imagination's Key0:10:05 - Hideyuki Hashimoto – Earth0:13:01 - Pill-oh – Notebook0:16:55 - Mary Martin Stockdale – Healing0:20:58 - Niklas Paschburg – De tweete Gleem0:24:23 - The Tumbled Sea – emily's song0:28:58 - Gary Girouard – Winter's Wonder0:32:50 - Luigi Rubino – Before Love0:35:35 - Ann Margaret Hogan – Earth0:41:58 - Min Ti – On Sleepless Nights0:44:27 - Ola Gjeilo – Stone Rose0:48:47 - Lee Siwon – The Family Is Sleeping0:51:21 - Philip Aaberg – Elegy0:54:13 - Amy Lauren – Summer's End

Contemporary Piano Music Ep188 - Modern - New Age - Solo Piano mixhttps://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – The Siren's Final Serpent0:05:12 - Bosques de mi Mente – Todavía hay esperanzas para las aves0:08:58 - Helen Jane Long – If I Could0:11:22 - Fryderyk Chopin – Nocturne No.9 - Op.32 No.1 - in B0:16:15 - masakatsu takagi – Kaze Kogi (Piano)0:20:20 - Clara Ponty – Fifer's Tale0:24:23 - Joep Beving – Day Dream 0:28:22 - Ralph Zurmühle – La Plana0:37:31 - Mathias Grassow & Bruno Sanfilippo – Piano & Drones 70:43:31 - Vangelis – Moonlight Reflections0:46:36 - Yuki Murata – cherry blossoms0:50:26 - Hans Peter Neuber/Lutz Ambrosius/Paulo Arantes – Pianeubica

Contemporary Piano Music Ep187 - Modern - New Age - Solo Piano mixhttps://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Requiem for Annissa0:04:10 - Suzanne Ciani – 4 O'Clock in the Morning0:07:53 - Luigi Rubino – Last Dance0:11:00 - Fariborz Lachini – Parandeh (Solo Piano)0:16:23 - Hiroshi Yoshimura, Satsuki Shibano – Voice Coming0:19:43 - Anna Rose Carter – Sesom0:22:48 - Luke Howard – Nocturne0:26:08 - Ann Margaret Hogan – Nocturne0:30:15 - Yuki Murata – in the morning0:34:25 - Fryderyk Chopin – Nocturne No.8 - Op.27 No.2 - in Db0:40:35 - Hans Peter Neuber/Lutz Ambrosius/Paulo Arantes – Loving The World0:51:28 - Dominique German – Meditational Song I

Contemporary Piano Music Ep186 - Modern - New Age - Solo Piano mixhttps://www.youtube.com/@NewAgePianoMusicmixes0:00:00 - Abandoned Toys – Aisles of Broken Magic0:05:03 - Dmitry Evgrafov – Peals of Thunder0:08:15 - Alexandra Stréliski – Valse Pour Maman0:10:28 - masakatsu takagi – Tamame0:15:55 - David Nevue – Hymn Of Remembrance0:21:18 - Ben Woods – From Blue to Grey0:28:34 - craig armstrong – sunrise0:32:18 - Fennesz + Sakamoto – 03220:37:47 - Luigi Rubino – D'Inverno0:40:33 - Yiruma – Falling0:43:58 - bartois – when i wonder0:48:27 - Clara Ponty – Bridge Of Clear Light0:52:07 - Brian Crain – Fire0:56:26 - George Winston – Night, Part Three: Minstrels

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sound-studies

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism

This is a special edition of the New York Institute for the Humanities' Vault podcast. On October 10, 2025, NYU's Journalism Institute hosted a day-long conference titled Podcast Intellectuals: Producing Original Scholarship with Audio. Over the course of three panels, scholars, podcasters, and journalists discuss how academics might employ the techniques of narrative audio as part of their research. In the first panel, podcaster Benjamen Walker discusses his work with NYU media studies professor Mara Mills as they produce Tuning Time, a podcast about the politics of time stretching technology. Professor Mills is an interdisciplinary scholar in the fields of disability studies, Science and Technology Studies, and sound studies. She teaches in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication and is Director of the NYU Center for Disability Studies. Her work on “disability and media” spans disability arts and technoscience, with a focus on the history, politics, and cultures of electronics and digital media. Benjamen Walker is a radio writer and producer. He is one of the co-founders of the podcast network Radiotopia from PRX, and for a decade hosted and produced his award winning program Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. The first panel concluded with a presentation by NYU musicologist Fanny Gribenski in which she discusses her current project, The Elephant in the Piano: Music, Ecology, Empire. The book, and podcast, is an investigation of the 19th century piano through a material history of its primary components: ivory, wood, felt, and metal. Professor Gribenski is a historical musicologist who specializes in the history of musical and sonic practices. Her first book, L'Église comme lieu de concert. Pratiques musicales et usages de l'espace (Paris, 1830–1905) analyzes the role of music in the production of sacred spaces. Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859-1955 (University of Chicago, 2023) traces the rocky path towards international pitch standardization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Topic: Art & Religion in Liszt's Piano Music (https://go.nd.edu/273a1e) Discover the profound intersection of faith and music in the life of Franz Liszt. A recent event featuring musicologist Nick Chung and pianist Isaac Parlin explored how the composer's deep Catholic faith shaped his masterpieces, challenging the narrative of 19th-century art as a substitute for religion.Featured Speakers:Nicholas Teh, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre DameIsaac Parlin, Master's Student of Music in Piano Performance, The Juilliard SchoolNicholas Chong, Assistant Professor of Musicology, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers UniversityRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/e43512. This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled On Catholic Imagination. (https://go.nd.edu/78e374)Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Hello Beautiful, I'm so grateful you're here with me.

Summary: You are what you eat, right? Find out what tuatara eat and how they eat it in the seventh episode of Tuatara.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Tuatara” Royal Ontario Museum, https://collections.rom.on.ca “Microstructure of dental hard tissues and bone in the Tuatara denture, Sphenodon punctatus,” by J.A. Kierser, T. Tkatchenko, M. C. Dean, M. E. H. Jones, and N. J. Nelson. Front Oral Biol. 2009:13:80-85. https://pubme.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19828975 Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. We have made it to the seventh episode of Tuatara and the seventh thing I like about these super cool reptiles is their diet and dentition. We have hinted a bit about what they eat but today we'll take a closer look at what that is specifically and how their teeth help.  Let's start with food. Tuatara are carnivores. They eat mainly invertebrates like worms and arthropods such as beetles, millipedes, spiders, and weta. Weta are insects native to New Zealand that look similar to crickets but like crickets on steroids. Weta have big bodies, spiny legs, and tusks. They look kind of like a cricket and a warthog had a baby.     The majority of the tuatara diet is made up of invertebrates but they will also eat lizards, seabird eggs and chicks, and occasionally they venture in to cannibalism and will eat young tuatara. Because of this, juvenile tuatara are active during the day while adult tuatara are active at night. I mean, really, if your relatives might eat you at night, then who wouldn't want to avoid them.  Humans that live on the islands where tuatara are found always know when they've been hunting because they will see headless birds. Definitely not something you want to come across on a relaxing walk in nature. Why is this the indicator of the tuatara? The tooth pattern of the tuatara is unique. Just like almost everything else about them. They have two incisor like teeth in front of their top jaw. And they have three rows of teeth (I was not able to find an actual count but am guessing it's around 85 teeth). One row of teeth lines the bottom jaw and two rows line the top jaw. The bottom row of teeth fit neatly into the two upper rows of teeth when the jaw is closed. Wait for it, we almost have our answer. The jaw motion of the tuatara is also unique. Instead of an up and down motion, like chewing, they have a forward and backward motion, like sawing.  And there it is! This is why the birds that tuatara hunt are missing heads. They saw them off with their unique teeth. Hah! Didn't see that coming did you? Besides the unique pattern of teeth, the structure of their teeth is also unique. They have acrodont teeth which means they are rootless and attached directly to the bone of the jaw. They kind of emerge from the actual bone. This is unlike any other reptile teeth alive today. The teeth are serrated which helps with the sawing motion. Tuatara cannot replace lost or cracked teeth. Once the tooth is gone, it is gone. As tuatara age their teeth wear down from use. They are eating crunchy invertebrates and bony vertebrates, so they do take a beating. Tuatara can live for up to 100 years, so the older tuatara have to switch their diet to softer prey as their teeth wear down.  Now for a long time, we thought they didn't have real teeth. We thought they were just bony protrusions that stuck out of the jaw, but some researchers in 2009 looked more closely at the teeth. They looked at teeth from a juvenile as well as an adult and found layers of typical tooth material. This was a surprise. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy, which is a sophisticated imaging technique that uses an electron beam to examine the surface of various materials, researchers found evidence of enamel containing dentine tubules, dentine, and cementum. All of these are found in other types of teeth. It's not just serrated, bony material sticky up in their mouths. They have actually teeth. They are different then your average tooth, but they are teeth none-the-less. These tuatara are just full of surprises! I hope you enjoyed our dental adventure because my seventh favorite thing about the tuatara is what they eat and how they eat it!   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Hello Beautiful, I'm so grateful you're here with me.

Summary: The term “living fossil” is a bit controversial but does it fit the tuatara? Join Kiersten to find out.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “New study shows modern tuatara are little changed from 190 million year old ancestors.” Harvard University Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, March 2022. https://www.oeb.harvard.edu/news Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. The sixth thing I like about the tuatara is how long they have lived. Just like another animal we have talked about, the coelacanth, the tuatara appears in the fossil record from way back in time. The first time we see the tuatara in the fossil record is during the Jurassic period. Now, of course, a certain book and movie series has made this a very popular time in Earth's history, so you may be familiar with this time period. It is famous for being the age of dinosaurs, at least some of the most popular and recognizable dinosaurs.  The term living fossil has been tossed around in reference to the tuatara, as well as the coelacanth, but this term is controversial. It is quite the romantic phrase actually. To think that an animal is so well adapted to the world it lives in that is hasn't changed since the first time it appeared on this planet is a notion that a lot of us want to believe, but is it true? The first major problem with this concept, is that there is no real definition of what makes an animal or plant a living fossil.  Charles Darwin coined the term “living fossil” in 1859. According to Darwin's definition a living fossil is a species or group of species that is so little changed that it provides an insight into earlier, now extinct, forms of life. A living fossil can also be described as an organism that has remained relatively unchanged over millions of years, or one that has no, or very few, close surviving relatives. It certainly sounds like we have stumbled on another controversy here. In the last episode we answered the question of whether the tuatara is a lizard or not. Spoiler here, listeners, if you haven't heard the previous episode and you don't want a spoiler to this question, stop listening now and go back and listen to last week's episode. With that warning, let's move on. We have established that tuatara are not lizards, they are reptiles but not lizards for various reasons. Shall we jump into the next controversial question then? Are tuatara living fossils? Let's look at Darwin's definition first. How much  have tuatara changed since they first appeared in the fossil record? A 2022 study from Harvard University's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology may give us some insight. Tuatara are the last remnant of the Rhynchocephalians. These reptiles peaked in abundance in the Jurassic period. Then they disappeared from the fossil record.   Two researchers were looking through the archives in the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and came across something that had been sitting in the drawers for decades, a tuatara fossil. This fossil was discovered in northern Arizona in the Kayenta Formation of the United States in 1982. Professor Stephanie Pierce and postdoctoral fellow Tiago Simoes jumped into examining this forgotten fossil. They used micro-CT scans to examine the fossil in three dimension. Then they digitally pieced the puzzle together revealing a full unflattened skull. It greatly resembled the modern day tuatara. It had rows of interlocking teeth that extended directly from the bone and it had two holes behind the eyes, just like the modern day tuatara.  Pierce and Simoes named the fossil Navajoshenodon sani which means “old age” in the indigenous language of the Navajo. This fossil provides the first nearly complete skull of any fossil sphenodontine in the world. It also places the tuatara in the Late Triassic. They may be older than we thought.  So how does this help us determine the answer to the living fossil question? It does give support for both descriptions. The modern day tuatara is similar enough to the fossil that it gives us insight into a long dead relative, and it seems to have changed very little from the long ago fossil of a creature that roamed the planet with dinosaurs.  Unlike the coelacanth, which is definitely not a living fossil, maybe the tuatara is a living fossil. It is food for thought and that is one of the reasons I started this podcast. I hope you will continue to think about this small living fossil controversy because it is my sixth favorite thing about the tuatara. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Is the tuatara a lizard? We have hinted at it for a few episodes. Join Kiersten to find out if the tuatara is or is not a lizard.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “It's not a lizard or a dinosaur: the tuatara is something else entirely,” by Bec Crew. Australian Geographic, https://www.australiangeographic.com.au “New study shows modern tuatara are little changed from 190 million year old ancestors.” Harvard University Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. https://www.oeb.harvard.edu Parietal Eye, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/parietal-eye Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. During the last few episodes of tuatara, I have asked the question of whether the tuatara is a lizard or not a lizard. Today we are going to answer that question. The fifth thing I like about the tuatara is the unusual quirks that make them a unique reptile. We have established that the tuatara is in an order of reptiles all by itself, Order Rhynchocephalia. This means that they have no living relatives. That in itself doesn't mean they are not lizards, it just means they are not related to any living lizards. So let's look at a few more attributes of the tuatara that will help us answer our question. In the last episode we discussed the third eye, or parietal eye of the tuatara. Now other species of reptiles, mainly lizards, have a third eye as well. Certain iguanas, skinks, and monitors have a parietal eye, but their third eye is primitive and is not visibly seen at any stage of their development. The basics of the eye are there but it is hidden under a scale. The tuatara's eye is much more developed and is exposed in young hatchlings. For more in depth discussion of the tuatara's this eye, please listen to the previous episode. There are several things about the tuatara's skeleton that also sets it apart from lizards.  One is the teeth. The tuatara has three rows of teeth. One row in the lower jaw and two in the upper jaw. When the tuatara bits down the lower teeth fit into the groove between the two rows of upper teeth. That is very unusual and as far as we currently know, no other reptile has a tooth formation like this. The teeth are fused to the jaw and have no roots, which is unlike most lizard teeth. Tuatara teeth are not replaced during their lifetime and as they age and their teeth wear down, they have to switch to softer prey.  Another strange and interesting thing about the tuatara's jaw is that when it eats the jaw doesn't open and close in the typical chewing motion of most animals. It moves forwards and backwards slicing their prey like a saw. Locals of the islands where tuatara live always know when the reptiles have been hunting because they find birds with their heads sawed off.  Another unique attribute of the tuatara skull is the complete lower temporal bar that closes the lower temporal fenestra. The temporal fenestra is the opening in the skull behind the eye socket. Most modern lizards do not have a complete temporal bar. Researchers believe the complete bar in the tuatara is used to stabilize the skull during biting. It's a unique jaw motion and it makes sense that the skull needs a bit more support. As we travel down the skeleton of the tuatara we see some more unique features. The spine is made up of hourglass shaped vertebrae. This shape can be found in fish and amphibians but is unique reptiles to the tuatara. Each vertebrae has a tiny hole through which a rennet of the notochord passes. This was typical in early fossil reptiles but not in modern ones.  Could there be more unique features of this amazing reptile? Yes. We are not done with the odd features of the tuatara. Their ribs have some unique features as well. They have extra ribs, or rib-like bones, called gastralia that are not attached to the ribcage. These are also found in a few lizards and crocodiles. The tuatara have unicate processes on the actual ribs that are indicative of birds, and are found in modern bird skeletons, but are found only in the tuatara in the reptilians. The pelvis and shoulder girdles of tuatara are also completely different from lizards. Tuatara have a different rotational angle that allows them to push their body up off of the ground to move, should they choose to, where as lizards have a more sprawling motion when they walk. Tuatara don't often hold themselves up to walk as it is tiring. Tuatara are also equipped for a cooler habitat than lizards. They have a unique hemoglobin structure that allows them to survive very cold temperatures. One last unique attribute of tuatara that I will mention in this episode is how long they live. Tuatara can live up to one hundred years! That is definitely longer than any lizard we know of today.   So knowing about all these different and unique attributes of the tuatara, we come back to the question of whether they are lizards or not lizards. Science says, no they are not lizards and those that study the tuatara are definitely offended when they are called lizards. If anyone ever asks or incorrectly refers to the tuatara as a lizard, you can now politely inform them that they are incorrect. Tuatara are not lizards, reptiles yes, lizards no. My fifth favorite thing about the tuatara is that they are truly not lizards. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Are tuatara eyes like every other reptile's eyes? Maybe. Join Kiersten to find out what makes tuatara eye so special.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “The lonely eye,” by I R Schwab and G R O'Connor. Br J Ophthalmic. 2025 Mar:89(3):256. Doi:10.1136/bio.2004.059105 “Reptilian Eyes and Orbital Structures,” Jeanette Wyneken. 2012 Proceedings Association of Reptiles and Amphibian Veterinarians. https://cdn.ymaws.com Parietal Eye, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/parietal-eye Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. As I begin episode four, I want to remind you of the question I posed at the beginning of the third episode. Is the tuatara a lizard or not a lizard? It is definitely lizard like. This episode, episode four, we will be talking about an attribute that might shed some light on the answer to this question. The fourth thing I like about the tuatara is their eyes, all three of them. To start, let's look at the anatomy of the general reptile eye. Reptilian eyes are similar to other vertebrate eyes in the fact that they are layered, filled with fluid, and have a lens that focuses light on a retina. The structure of the eye includes three chambers. The anterior chamber is the fluid-filled space inside the eye between the iris and the cornea's innermost surface. The posterior chamber is a small space directly behind the iris, close to the lens, and bordered by the ciliary muscles. The anterior and posterior chambers are filled with aqueous humour. The third chamber is the vitreous chamber located between the lens and the retina and filled with vitreous humour.  Tuatara have two lateral eyes, one on each side of the head, that rest in a bony orbit. They are separated by a cartilaginous interorbital septum. A periorbital membrane lines the orbital bones and septum that connects to the orbital membranes and the internal parts of the upper and lower eye lids. Whoa! We got a little scientific for a moment there, but anatomy can do that! These two lateral eyes are placed on the opposites sides of the head so they can have a wide perspective of their environment. Typically we see this eye position in prey animals and not all lizards are prey animals, but many of them are. Tuatara, as full grown adults, don't have to worry too much about being eaten, but this eye placement is very helpful, none the less.    Most diurnal reptiles can see some amount of color, whether they see color the same way other vertebrates see color is still being studied, but the presence of cones is proof that they can see colors. Cones are useful in bright light, so reptiles active during the day will have more cones that those that are crepuscular, active at dawn and dusk, and those that are nocturnal. More rods are present in the eyes of nocturnal animals and these help pick up light and dark shades. Tuatara are active during the day and night, but are most active after dark; therefore, they most likely have more rods than cones.  They do have both upper and lower eyelids and are capable of closing their lids. They do not appear to have a nictitating membrane, which is another protective lens that can open and close over they eye, that some other reptiles have. They also have pupils that can contract and expand to allow various levels of light into the eye. When looking at close up photos of the tuatara's eye the pupil is circular or oval along the vertical horizon. Interestingly, pupil shape in reptile eyes varies with behavior of the animal. Diurnal reptiles tend to have to have round pupils while nocturnal hunters have slits. Reptiles with slit pupils will have a pupil that is perpendicular to their orientation because that offers the best focus. The shape of the pupil has a profound influence on the retinal image because of the way light is allowed into the eye. Who knew the anatomy of the reptilian eye could be so fascinating. Okay, let's get to that third eye I mentioned. There are actually two orders of reptiles that have a third eye, Order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes, and Order Rhynchocephlia, which includes only the Tuatara. Lizards and the tuatara are the only reptiles that we know of that have third eyes. The third eye is also called the parietal eye and is found on the dorsal portion of the skull. It is smack dab in the middle of the top of the skull, because where else would a third eye be found? Anatomically speaking the parietal eye cannot focus on images like lateral eyes, so the third eye is not used for vision. At least not the parietal eyes on the current living tuatara. But this eye is more similar to lateral eyes than you might expect. The parietal eye is ventral to a parietal plug that is very similar to a cornea. Immediately below the plug is a lens that is remarkably similar to the lens in the lateral eyes. Below the lens are layers of pigment and photoreceptors. Photoreceptors detect light. Now we see where we are going with this whole third eye anatomy, maybe.  For a long time we thought that the parietal eye was used to detect light. It helped the animal tell when it was day and when it was night, and probably helped set animal's the circadian rhythm. It helps the tuatara determine the changing of the seasons based on differences in the light cycle. But is that all there is to it? Some researchers believe that the third eye might be included in melatonin synthesis was well as other hormones. What it truly does is still a mystery. So….does this help answer our question about whether the tuatara is a lizard or not? Some lizards do have third eyes, just like the tuatara so leaning towards yes? Before you comment though, let me through out one more thing about the tuatara's third eye. When they are newly hatched the third eye is  exposed and looks just like their lateral eyes. I'm not joking, search for tuatara hatchling third eye and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's very cool! As the tuatara ages the third eye is covered over with a clear scale obscuring it from view.  I hope you have enjoyed this discussion about tuatara eyes because it's my fourth favorite thing about these interesting reptiles. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Join Kiersten as she takes you on a slow look at tuatara reproduction.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Novel mating behaviors in male tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) expand our understanding of reptile courtship,” by Sarah K. Lamar, Diane K. Ormsby, and Nicola J. Nelson. Austral Ecology, vol 49, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec13496 “Tuatara.” San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, https://animals.sandiegozoo.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Welcome back to Ten Things I Like About after a year end break. I hope the new year treats you well and opportunities abound. Let's get started! We will continue with Tuatara. The third thing I like about tuatara is reproduction. As we travel along with the journey of discovery with tuatara, I want to pose a question to you. Is the tuatara a lizard? Or is it something else? Based on the physical description I outlined in the first episode, they seem to be lizards, if not very lizard like. But I want you to keep this question in the back of your mind as we progress through each new episode. We will revisit this question at the end of this series and see what we all think. Okay, let's talk about how baby tuatara are made. Tuatara mating and reproduction is not like anything else in the reptile world. Long incubation periods, extensive maturation, and unusual consummation marks the reproductive cycle of the tuatara. It all begins sometime between January and March when males begin showing off to attract a mate. Remember those spines that they have on their neck and back, well they are there for pretties. They can fan out and shake the larger crest of spines in hopes of attracting a lady. For a long time we thought this was all the males did during the breeding season, but a study that looked more closely at males on Takapourewa Island revealed many more tricks they use to catch the ladies eye.  Boys will come a courting at a female's burrow and it can get complicated and lengthy. It might be a good idea that she gets to stay at home once all the excitement begins. First, the male adopts body positions that make him look big, such as inflating the body and gular region (that's the chin area), elevating his body off the forest floor (the up part of a push-up), and erecting those spines on his neck and back. Next, the male will begin the slow proud walk, also known as stolzer Gang, in a circle around the female. He'll perform this slow exaggerated walk in concentric circles, pausing occasionally, and decreasing the circle circumference with each pass. If the female is interested, she will leave her burrow entrance, allow the male to paw at her, and then mount her from behind. If there are obstacles in the male's circular path, they will climb over, or go around. If the obstacle is too big to conquer, they'll just shorten the circle to a semi-circle. I mean you gotta give them props for not getting distracted from their goal. The proud walk can last up to 44 minutes.    A few novel behaviors were observed by researchers studying the Takapourewa population. Mirrored head bobbing between the male and female was observed a few times, something that has not been seen in reptiles before. The male would bob his head a specific number of times and when he paused, the female would bob the small numbers of times. This was a very exciting discovery that will need more research to determine what it means and if it is found in other populations of tuatara, but how very interesting. Vocalizations in tuatara are typically limited to croaks emitted when handled, or during aggressive moments between males, but these researchers encountered several males that purred during the mating process. We aren't sure what this means or if this is a wide spread behavior but it is another exciting discovery. Once the female has accepted the male and he mounts her from behind, he positions his pelvis so that both of their cloacas come in contact. This is how he spreads his sperm to her. Males do not have special reproductive organs like most other reptiles. So they perform the cloacal kiss to pass their sperm to the female. Male sperm are fast swimmers. They are actually the fastest sperm in the reptile kingdom, moving two to four times faster than any other reptile's sperm. The female can store the sperm for 10 to 12 months.  Before all this happens, the female has been working on creating the eggs inside her body. It can take three years for a female to create and egg with yolk and an additional 7 to 8 months to create the shell. A female is only able to successfully breed every three to five years.  Once the eggs are ready and fertilized, the female can lay 1 to 19 soft-shelled, white eggs in her burrow. Incubation is extremely long at 12 to 15 months! Yes, it takes a year or more for baby tuatara to hatch into the world. This is unheard of in reptiles. Maybe not the best survival tactic for a species, but as we can see tuatara don't do anything quickly. Similar to some other reptiles, temperature during incubation is important to the sex of a hatchling. Warmer temperatures produce males while cooler temperatures create females.  The eggs are on their own during incubation and the hatchlings have to fight for life alone as soon as they emerge from the burrow. Neither parent remains at the nest to protect the eggs or hatchlings. If they survive their early years, they have to wait ten to twenty years before they can join the reproductive cycle.  In this episode, I think we've proven that tuatara don't do anything fast and that's why their reproductive cycle is my third favorite thing about them.     If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Where do tuatara live? Can I see one in MY backyard? Join Kiersten to find out if you can see a tuatara in your own backyard.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Distribution of tuatara”, Te Ara: https://teara.govt.nz/en/map “Tuatara” by Marc E. H. Jones and Allison Cree. Current Biology, Vol 22, Issue 23, PR986-R987, Dec 4, 2012. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.049, https://www.cell.com/current-biology “Sphenodon punctatus (Tuatara)” Animal Diversity Web: https://www.animaldiversity.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Last week's overview of the tuatara probably made you want them in YOUR backyard, but they are only found in a small section of the world. This week we are going to find out where the tuatara live. The second thing I like about the tuatara is where they are found.  To see a tuatara in the wild you will have to visit New Zealand. They are found on different islands surrounding the main island of New Zealand as well as on the mainland. Those found on the mainland are there due to a reintroduction program begun in 2005.  The islands where you can find tuatara are fairly inaccessible which probably helped save them from extinction. The ones on the mainland were extinct before Europeans ever came to the island.  There are about thirty islands surrounding New Zealand where you can find tuatara today. Those island include Poor Knights Island, Hen and Chickens Island, Little Barrier Island, Cuveir Island, Mercury Island, The Alderman Island, Karewa Island, Plate Island, Moutoki Island, Moutohora Island, and Tiritiri Matangi Island. These are all off the northern coast. Sphenodon punctatus occurs naturally on all of these islands except Moutohora and Tiritiri Matangi Islands where the Northern Tuatara were introduced to help increase their population. Tuatara can also be found on Stephens or Takapourewa Island, Trio Island, Titi Island, The Brothers Island, and Matiu or Somes Island. Sphenodon guntheri occurs naturally on The Brothers Island and was introduced to Titi and Matiu Islands to boost their population. Please excuse any mispronunciations.  A scientific paper published in December of 2012 states that “there are about 32 natural populations of tuatara living on small offshore islands, a few island reintroductions, and at least one reintroduced mainland colony on the North Island [of New Zealand]. Most of the populations include just tens or hundreds of animals, but there are estimated to be at least 30,000 on Takapourewa Island.” End quote. The habitat that tuatara live in is an odd choice for a reptile as the islands are riddled with cliffs and exposed to strong winds. The vegetation is salt and wind tolerant; therefore, are pretty tough plants. The average temperature is below what the typical reptile can tolerate but tuatara are adapted to survive temperatures as low as 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  They spend their days in burrows that are dug by seabirds such as petrels, prions, and shearwaters when they are available or they will dig their own burrows. They also spend time soaking up the sun on the cliffs. Tuatara are more active at night leaving their burrows or basking spots to hunt for food. This episode is a bit shorter than my usual episodes and I do apologize. I will make it up to you in future episodes of the tuatara. Thank you for visiting with me to find out where the tuatara lives. It is my second favorite about this seriously cool animal. As the holiday season is upon us, I will be taking a break until the new year. We will pick up where we left off with the tuatara in January 2026. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me in January 2026 for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: Tua-what? Join Kiersten to find out what the tuatara is.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Sphenodon punctatus (Tuatara)” Animal Diversity Web: https://www.animaldiversity.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  My name is Kiersten and I have a Master's Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you've become an advocate for that misunderstood animal. This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. The next unknown animal I have chosen takes us on a journey through ancient times. We haven't ventured this far back in time since we talked about the coelacanth. Welcome to the first episode of tuatara. The first thing I like about this unknown animal is their continued existence.  You may be saying tau-what? Tuatara is our next animal. Let's jump right into the classification which will answer some of your initial questions. Like what the heck is a tuatara? Remember classification is the way scientists identify different living things including animals and plants so that we all know who exactly we are talking about.  The classification of the tuatara is as follows:   Kingdom: Animalia (that's the animals) Phylum: Chordata (chordates) Subphylum Vertebrata (that's the animals that have an internal skeleton or the vertebrates) Class: Reptilia (that's the reptiles) Okay! Now we're getting somewhere. Tuatara must be a reptile! Order: Rhynchocephalia (there is only one reptile in this order) You guessed it! The tuatara. Family: Sphenodontidae Genus: Sphenodon Species: punctatus The scientific name for the tuatara is Sphenodon punctatus.  There are two recognized species of tuatara. The Brother's Island Tuatara is Sphendon guntheri. The first tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, is referred to as the Northern tuatara.  Now, we know this animal is a reptile, but what does it look like? Is it small? Is it large? Is it green, brown, or purple?  Tuatara can be green, olive, or brick red in color. Their adult size ranges from 15 inches, or 40 cm, in the female to 24 inches, or 60cm, in the male. Both male and female have two crests of dull-edged spikes that travel down the back of the head to the neck with the second on the middle of the back along the spine. The male's crests will be larger than the female's which helps to distinguish the sexes from each other. They have four short legs and a long tail that usually exceeds the length of their body. They look a lot like a lizard, but they aren't exactly lizards. We will dissect that statement in a future episode. They have no external earhole but they do have ears. They have two eyes that can focus independently and are placed on the sides of the head.  They have a variety of scale structures along their body giving them a dinosaur-ish look. There are a few attributes that set tuatara apart from other species of reptiles. One of those is their third eye. Yes, they have a third eye, a parietal eye, right in the middle of the top of their head. It has a retina and is functionally similar to a normal eye. In juveniles it is exposed but as it ages a scale grows over it. We are currently uncertain of its purpose.  Another attribute that sets the tuatara apart is their teeth. Tuatara teeth are fused to the jaw bone, unlike any other toothed reptile. This is an acrodont tooth structure. This speaks to the age of this species of reptile. The tuatara is the only living specimen of Rhynchocephalia. All of them, expect the tuatara, went extinct in the late Cretaceous period. We will dive into this topic in a future episode.  One last thing about the tuatara before we end the first episode of this new series. One tuatara, many tuatara. When talking about the tuatara, the singular is the same as the plural.  Thank you for choosing to start this series with me. We are going to have a fun time with the tuatara. My first favorite thing about them is them!   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week to find out where the tuatara are found.   (Piano Music plays)   

In 1882, inventor Edward Johnson set up a one-of-a-kind Christmas display in his New York City home...and it changed the face of Christmas as we know it.Music in This Episode"Vessel Five" — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive"In the Saloon" — Piano Music, via Pixabay"Whispers of the Heart" — Lite Saturation, via Free Music Archive"Vessel One" — Blue Dot Sessions, via Free Music Archive"Sunday Morning" — Maarten Schellekens, via Free Music Archive"World of Dreams" — Tune Tank, via PixabayOrder your copy today! Of Christmases Long, Long AgoConnect with Me Links to all the things https://christmaspastpodcast.com/links Email: christmaspastpodcast@gmail.com BooksOf Christmases Long, Long Ago: Surprising Traditions from Christmas Past (2025, Lyons Press and Recorded Books) It's Christmas as you've never seen it before, and it makes a great gift for all the Christmas lovers in your life. Christmas Past: The Fascinating Stories Behind Our Favorite Holiday's Traditions (2022, Lyons Press and Recorded Books)

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Summary: Do ants need conservation efforts? Join Kiersten to find out.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. The final episode of ants has arrived. As my loyal listeners know, this episode is typically about conservation and how we can help the animals or plantsman highlighted in this series, but the question I have about ants is whether they need conservation or do we need to conserve other animals and plants against ants. Let's find out. The tenth thing I like about ants is conservation. The answer to this question may be both. Within our lifetimes it is thought that some species of ants have gone extinct, but not much research has been done on invertebrate extinction. I cannot say why, maybe it doesn't happen often, maybe invertebrates that were undiscovered are the one that go extinct, or maybe no scientist has taken the time, or had the funding, to research this topic. One species of ant that was thought to be extinct was Myrmecia apicalis, a bull ant found outside of Australia. The only species of bull ant found outside of Australia. Somehow this species was able to cross an ocean and settle in New Caledonia. You probably noticed that I said it was thought to be extinct. Our ant hero Edward O. Wilson was on a trip with other scientists that happened to find a colony of Myrmecia apicalis on an island proving that it had not gone extinct. It was a joyful discovery but not one without concern. The ants had survived when we thought they had succumbed, but other ants, invasive ants had also come to the island and the excitement at finding Myrmecia apicalis was tempered with the knowledge that the invasive fire ant neighbors might wipe them out.  As Edward Wilson said in his book Tales from the Ant World, “The dark fate of this exquisite little species is entirely up to humanity. Myrmecia apicalis can be saved, along with other species still unrecognized, only if the little fire ants are halted and pushed back, and if the woodlands where the New Caledonian bull ant and probably other endangered species yet to be identified live are turned into carefully monitored reserves.” End quote. I could not say it any better. On the other side of conservation efforts are invasive species. An invasive species as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Interior is an exotic species that is introduced, non-native or alien and is also harmful in some way to the environment or to humans or both. I definitely think fire ants qualify. Solenopsis invicta, more commonly known as The fire ant, is one of the most successful invasive species of all time. Solenopsis invicta was probably introduced into the United States in the 1930s somewhere in Alabama. They establish themselves quickly and new colonies grow quickly. They can create new queens and more colonies within a year. By the 1940s it was well on its way to dominating the entire southern United States and found its way to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and China. It also spread south onto the islands of the Lesser Antilles.  Anywhere fire ants go, destruction follows. They are omnivorous and eat anything and everything that gets in their way. In pineland habitats, imported fire ants attack and consume small mammals and ground nesting birds. In the 1950s the U.S. Department of Agriculture said we must stop this destructive invasive species by any means. They decided to spray pesticides everywhere the ant was found all at one time. That would surely get rid of the problem. But that would also kill every other insect in the vicinity, poison mammals, birds and other vertebrates, pollute water sources, and expose humans to debilitating poisons. If even one fire ant colony survived it was all for not because that colony could start the process all over again within a few years. Thank goodness Rachel Carson and Edward Wilson spoke out against this option and widespread pesticide use was discontinued before more damage could be done. One thing we can thank fire ant for here in the United States is the launching of the new era of environmentalism. A time of more thought and less gut reaction. So how do we combat imported fire ants? One mound at a time. If we kill off the queens before they make more queens, then we can help. We will probably never extinguish them in their introduced habitats but we can fight the good fight by implementing targeted insecticide use and boiling hot water.  Another ant that has dominated the planet is the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. This ant is native to Northern Argentina and has been found on almost every piece of land on the planet. They have colonies that can span hundreds of square kilometers and they are indomitable. A quote form Mark Moffet's book Adventures Among Ants give us a glimpse of the Argentine ant problem, “Argentine ants are as tenacious in the wars they wage with other ant species as they are in battles with their own, annihilating even California ants with far bigger and meaner workers. Though the Argentines can't sting and are too small to bite humans, they use the energy-rich honeydew from their homopteran herds as fuel to quickly find and dominate every food resource they can reach, thereby leaving the competition hungry. But their depredations go further than that, for even when native species don't vie for the same resources and offer no physical threat, the Argentine ants plunder their brood for an easy meal.” End quote. Isn't it great that this species of ant made it around the world?  I guess the answer to the conservation question about ants isn't as straight forward as some of the other species of animal and plant I have highlighted, but what we can say is that yes, they are in need of conservation whether from habitat loss or the invasion of other ants. Humans do have a role in the future of ants. Thank you for listening to the final episode of ants because the tenth thing I like about ants is conservation. I do have one final comment before signing off and that is a recommendation to read the books I have been referencing for this series. Any of the books by Edward O. Wilson will change your mind about ants, which I hope this series has at least partially done, and the photography and storytelling in Mark Moffet's book Adventure Among Ants gives you a look into the ant world that will blow your mind. It is well worth your time. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me in two weeks for another exciting series about an unknown or misunderstood creature.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: Ants are such diverse organisms that extremes have evolved. Join Kiersten to learn about some ant extremes.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. In this penultimate episode I thought we'd talk about the extremes of ants. The fastest, the slowest, the fiercest, and maybe a few more. The ninth thing I like about ants is the extremes. Edward O. Wilson studied ants for his entire life, give or take a few years when he was still in diapers, and that was 92 years. He discovered species we didn't know about and described ant behaviors that boggled our human minds. It is no surprise that he included some of the extremes of ant life in his writings.  Something I had no idea about when I decided to pick ants as my next topic was that each species of ant has it's own tempo. Not unlike music, this is the speed at which worker ants get things done. Some colonies are speedy as a tornado and others are as slow as molasses in winter, but they all get the job done. Each tempo fits the niche that a specific species fills in their habitat. Sometimes fast wins the race while other times slow persistence fairs better.  The fastest ants on Earth may very well be the workers of the genus Ocymyrmex. There are 34 known species in this genus and are found in most of eastern and southern Africa. Their chosen habitats are hot, hot, and hotter. Ocymyrmex, or swift ants, have streamlined bodies with very long legs attached with thick segments at the base. The mandibles are narrow and fit tightly against the head when folded. Their spiracles, air holes through which they breathe, are large. Ocymyrmex are built to be sprinters.  On a trip to Gorongosa National Park in Africa, Edward Wilson came across a colony of Ocymyrmex and wanted to grab a few for the Harvard University Lab. By this time in his career he'd caught a lot of ants, so he was well versed in the best ways to snatch a few specimens. The first obstacle he had to overcome was the extreme heat emanating from the mud flat on which the ants were running. It felt like a stove top, so kneeling down to catch some ants was going to be a challenge, but he was up for it. He positioned himself above the workers, readied his forceps, and caught not one single ant. The workers were just moving too fast. He could barely follow them with his own eyes much less grab them with forceps. A quote from his book Tales from the Ant World, “The ants were moving like a sizzle of water droplets in a frying pan, difficult even for the eye to keep track.” End quote. Those are some fast ants! Ocymyrmex are made for sprinting but another ant, which is a double extremist, is made for marathons. Ants in genus Cataglyphis are long-distance runners and Cataglyphis bicolor is one of the most heat tolerant animals known to western science. These ants live in the Sahara desert and are mainly scavengers. They search for dead insects and other arthropods that have succumbed to the heat of the desert to dismantle and bring back to the nest.  Cataglyphis bicolor can withstand temperatures up to 158F,  or 70C, but they must keep moving. If they stop, they fry. Talk about a good reason to keep moving. Let's look at the opposite side of tempo, the slowest ants in the world. Ants in genus Basiceros are as slow as ants can get without dying. These ants are found in Central and South America. They are not well studied and; therefore, poorly understood. The main problem is they are incredibly difficult to find. If you can't find it, you can't study it.  What we do know is Basiceros ants are medium in size and rely on their camouflage to survive. Their opaque brown color closely matches the fallen leaves and mold in which they live. They do hunt for food and like any other slow moving predator they are ambush predators. They simply wait for prey to come to them, lunge, strike, and seize it. They will stalk prey, as well, just at a very slow pace. If they are discovered by something, or someone, uncovering their hidden pathways under the leaf litter they freeze and will remain still for minutes at a time to protect themselves. Edward O. Wilson says of them, “Their tempo may be as slow as an ant species can employ and still survive.” End quote. The Basiceros ants are also an extremist twofer. They are the slowest ants and also the dirtiest ants, which may be a linked trait. When Edward Wilson stumbled across some Basiceros in Costa Rica and transferred a colony to Harvard to study, they realized that the brown color of the ants wasn't just camouflage to blend in with the dirt, it was dirt. The bodies of these ants are covered in coiled and feather-shaped hairs that essentially collect dust and debris. They use the dust and debris to hide amongst the leaf litter.   The colony of Basiceros studied at Harvard demonstrated this in an unexpected way. At the university, the colony that was brought back and housed in tunnels made of plaster of Paris. Within several weeks of living in the man-made tunnel the ants had turned white! They had replaced their dirt colored garments with the white plaster of Paris so they could blend in with their new habitat! For the last extreme we will discuss lets's look at timidity and fierceness, both serve ants well in different situations. Dolichoderus imitator is probably the most timid, or least offensive, ant in the world. This small ant lives in the Amazon rainforest of South America. Most colonies typically consist of a few hundred workers and a rarely seen queen. They nest in random cavities of decaying leaf litter and do not set up permanent colonies. If they are disturbed, by person or predator, they scatter in all directions. Nothing seems to be directed; although, they do pause long enough to pickup the closest larva or pupa to take with them. The individuals will shelter in any covered place they find nearby waiting for the danger to pass. The colony will reconvene in another random clump of leaves elsewhere. Maybe the transience of their nests breeds timidity for survival reasons.  On the other side of the coin is fierceness. There are several candidates for the fiercest ants in the world. Our first candidate is the bull ants from Australia. They are in the genus Myrmecia and the largest workers are the size of hornets. They nest in craters of soil and are not intimidated by any creature that comes near, including something as big as a human. Edward Wilson has seen them lock their large eyes onto an animal simply walking by the nest. Sentries will turn and watch and if you come close, they walk toward you. If they catch you, you will regret it. When the interloper makes the correct decision to leave, they follow up to 10 meters, or 32 feet, to make sure you don't come back.  Bull ants are pretty scary due to their size, but ants that live in symbiosis with a specific bush or tree are even scarier, especially if you come in contact with them in their home. The guardian ant, Pseduomyrmex triplar, are found in palo alto trees common in Colombia. In 1770 Jose Celestino Mutis happened upon these ants in an unpleasant encounter. He paused under a palo alto on a hot sunny day and quickly found himself covered in red ants that were continuously stinging him. There were so many and they were stinging so fiercely that he had to remove all of his clothes and jump into the nearest body of water.  Edward Wilson gives his vote for most ferocious ant to the tree-dwelling Amazon ant Camponotus femoratus. These ants are also know as the epiphyte garden-ants. They live in the trees and use soil and vegetable detritus gathered from the ground and surrounding branches to build spherical ant-gardens around certain species of epiphytes. Epiphytes are plants that grow on the surface of another plant but does not harm the host plant. The ants' nest is held together in part by the roots of the epiphyte. A quote from Edward Wilson's book Tales from the Ant World tells us all we need to know about why he voted these as the fiercest ants in the world. Quote, “When I turned and walked downwind toward the colony, a swarm of workers erupted almost instantaneously. As I came closer, but still without touching the nest, the defenders went berserk. Piling up on top of one another, they reached out toward me with the abdomens of many pointing in my direction and spraying a cloud of formic acid.” End quote. I see what he voted the garden ants as the fiercest ants in the world! There are many more extremes in the ant world, but I have already gone over time for this episode. I'm glad you joined me for my ninth favorite thing about ants, their extremes.  If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

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Description:Settle in for a truly peaceful experience with this episode, where you'll enjoy 10 hours of gentle rain sounds blended seamlessly with soothing piano music. Designed to help you unwind, drift off to sleep, or simply find a moment of calm, this soundscape is perfect for relaxation, meditation, or background ambiance while you study or work. Let the calming melodies and the soft patter of rain create the ideal atmosphere for rest and restoration.Take a moment to pause, breathe deeply, and let your stress melt away as you listen. Whether it's bedtime, a midday break, or you just need a peaceful environment, this episode is your companion for serenity and better sleep.Stay tuned for more episodes designed to bring peace and relaxation to your daily life.DISCLAIMER

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