Wild Thing
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Wild Thing
Wild Thing is a long-form, narrative podcast about the obsessions that capture our imaginations. This sound-rich and deeply reported show examines the relationship between science and society—that point where scientific inquiry collides with our very human desire to find answers, even when there are...
Nedavne epizode
40 epizoda
Letters From Listeners—S1 Bonus
Wild Thing is rereleasing its bonus episodes! In Ep. 2 of Wild Thing, I mentioned that people went crazy about the gorilla. They even wrote songs abou...
The Saucy Side of Sasquatch—S1 Bonus Interview
**THIS EPISODE CONTAINS EXPLICIT MATERIAL**
Wild Thing is re-releasing its bonus interviews! We talk to Virginia Wade, author of a series of Big...
Revisiting Harry & the Hendersons—S1 Bonus Interview
Wild Thing is re-releasing its bonus interviews! We hear from William Dear—director of "Harry & the Hendersons"—about how he tried to capture the magi...
Remembering Jeff Meldrum—S1 Bonus Interview
On September 10, 2025, Jeff Meldrum passed away after a battle with brain cancer. I interviewed him multiple times for the first season of Wild Thing...
S1 Bonus Interview: Talking with Bob Gimlin
Wild Thing is re-releasing its bonus interviews! Hear an extended conversation with Bob Gimlin, half of the famous duo that shot the Patterson-Gimlin...
S1 Bonus Interview: In Memory of Peter Byrne
In memory of Peter Byrne, the longest-surviving member of the Four Horsemen of Sasquatchery. After looking for Bigfoot for decades, the 97-year-old tr...
S3 Bonus Preview - Mutants
A faulty reactor overheats, melting through its containment unit and poisoning a nearby town with radioactive gas. A spacecraft pushes further into de...
S3 E9: An Atomic Future
What were the long-term effects of the SL-1 explosion? Nuclear power is a shrinking part of America’s energy picture; accidents and fear have tarnishe...
S3 E8: Risky Business
Incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima are often what comes to mind when we think about nuclear energy. Thankfully, events like these actually very ra...
S3 E7: Half-Life
The aftermath of SL-1 highlighted a problem that we still haven’t solved, despite decades of searching for a solution: what to do with the waste. Our...
S3 E6: You Look Radiant
As firefighters and medical personnel staged operations at SL-1, a plume of radioactive gas silently made its way over the Idaho desert, creeping towa...
S3 E5: Trust Issues
The only three people who really knew what had transpired at SL-1 were dead, and it would take months to determine what likely happened—plenty of time...
S3 E4: Chain Reaction
Two of the men working the reactor that night had personal problems. They hated each other. They fought with their bosses. And those problems could ea...
S3 E3: A New(clear) Hope
The horrifying devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved the destructive capabilities of nuclear power. But, in the aftermath of World War II, we s...
S3 E2: Out Of Little Things
How did we figure out that such a tiny particle—an atom—held all that power? For that matter, what is an atom? A primer on the basics of atomic energy...
S3 E1: Close To Home
Two dead men. One man missing. A hole blown in the side of the reactor. A cloud of radioactive gas so hot, it was off the charts. What happened with t...
S3 Wild Thing: Going Nuclear Trailer
Back for its third season, Wild Thing uses science, history and culture to probe the realities of nuclear energy today, while analyzing our own fascin...
S2 E10: The Truth Is Out There
'Oumuamua is long gone—out of sight and almost impossible to reach. The excitement over it generated endless fascination about what (and who) might be...
S2 E9: You Gotta Have Faith
Our views on aliens can often be uplifting, offering a glimpse of a better, technologically-bright future, or a glimmer of hope about our ability to s...
S2 E9: You Gotta Have Faith
Our views on aliens can often be uplifting, offering a glimpse of a better, technologically-bright future, or a glimmer of hope about our ability to s...
S2 E8: Popular Science (Fiction)
American culture is saturated with extraterrestrial and UFO references—and we still can’t get enough. Hollywood has raked in billions on alien-themed...
S2 E7: E.T. Phone Home
We’ve been broadcasting our presence for about 85 years now, with radio, television, and radar, essentially spamming space with all kinds of messages....
S2 E6: Hear No Aliens, See No Aliens
To really look for intelligent extraterrestrial life, say scientists, we have to look way far out into space. A new set of initiatives—the Breakthroug...
S2 E5: Independence Day
In 2017, the nation’s prominent newspapers published outlandish-sounding stories about a secret UFO program run by the Pentagon. We talk to retired Na...
S2 E4: Roswell
For all the people who think there’s life somewhere out there in space, there are also those who think the best place to look for it is closer to home...
S2 E3: Doing The Math
What’s the actual likelihood of extraterrestrial life? Especially intelligent life? 60 years ago, astronomer Frank Drake took a crack at calculating t...
S2 E2: What Is Life?
We’re surrounded by life here on Earth—and given how huge the galaxy is, it’s got to be out there on other planets, too, right? But where to look? Wha...
S2 E1: Out Of This World
'Oumuamua almost slipped past Earth before an astronomer caught sight of this weird object. What was it? Some scientists thought it was just a comet;...
S2: Wild Thing: Space Invaders Trailer
Back for its second season, Wild Thing: Space Invaders turns our eyes skyward in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Coming September 17, 20...
S1 Extra: Wild Thing... For Kids!
Introducing Searching for Wild Thing! This is the first episode of a kid-friendly version of Wild Thing that host Laura Krantz made in collaboration w...
S1 E9: Why We Want To Believe
Bigfoot researchers remain optimistic that Sasquatch is out there; that the creature will one day be found. Why? Why do people continue to believe? We...
S1 E8: $a$quatch
Chances are, you’ve already seen Bigfoot. On pizza boxes, advertising jerky, drinking beer, driving monster trucks. There are a lot of people who real...
S1 E7: Taboo
Bigfoot can be tongue-in-cheek fun - but what happens if you take it seriously? There are the people who’ve risked their professional careers and pers...
S1 E6: Bump In The Night
Tired of waiting around for other people to find Bigfoot, Laura goes into the woods (with some experts). This particular outing is led by Cindy Caddel...
S1 E5: A-C-G-T Spells B-G-F-T
Everywhere you go, you leave bits of yourself behind - and Bigfoot would no different. But now, those DNA droppings are easier than ever to analyze, m...
S1 E4: Eyewitness
A Bigfoot sighting can apparently change your life and even lead to obsession. Thousands of people claim to have laid eyes on Sasquatch over the past...
S1 E3: The Evidence
Let’s look at the evidence. There are footprints and sounds, grainy pictures, and the notorious Patterson-Gimlin film—that shaky 1967 video of a big,...
S1 E2: Distant Relatives or Kissing Cousins?
Just what is Bigfoot? Descendant of ancient apes? Close human ancestor? Evolution might hold the answer to this question. Homo sapiens may rule the pl...
S1 E1: Grover
Laura Krantz is a veteran public radio editor and producer. So how did she end up in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, eyeballing some giant ground...
Wild Thing Trailer
Wild Thing, a new podcast about our collective fascination with Bigfoot - even if we're not sure it exists. Coming October 2.