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Subscribe and brace yourself—because this week, the swarm has teeth. 🦈

In this second episode of our Swarms Minisode Series, Laura and Katy dive into a lesser-known swarm behavior: shark aggregations. From 1,400 basking sharks off New England to over 15,000 spinning sharks off the Florida coast, this episode explores the science (and chaos) behind why some of the ocean’s most feared predators travel in giant, synchronized groups.

🦈 Why do basking sharks—normally loners—form feeding spirals?
🌊 What caused 15,000 blacktip and spinner sharks to swarm near Florida in 2013?
🧲 Could Earth’s magnetic fields (or sonar) influence shark migration patterns?
🎯 And do predators swarm for the same reasons as prey?

This minisode is a fast, fascinating look at how even apex predators can get caught up in the group dynamic—and what it means for scientists, beachgoers, and Shark Week fans alike.

👉 This is episode 2 of 6 in our Swarms series—short, science-packed episodes exploring how and why animals move as one.

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Subscribe and let your nose lead the way. This episode stinks—in the best way possible.

In this surprisingly deep dive into all things scent, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole explore how your sense of smell works, why it’s wildly underappreciated, and what makes certain smells feel amazing (or like a chemical attack).

🧠 How does smell connect to memory and emotion?
🦨 What makes skunk spray so powerful—and impossible to wash off?
🌺 Why do corpse flowers pretend to be rotting meat?
🍪 And why can one person love the smell of cookies while someone else smells… socks?

From pregnancy nose powers to extinct olfactory genes, this episode blends biology, psychology, and botany into a surprisingly aromatic mix of weird science and fun facts.

🎧 This is Season 12, Episode 2 of Wildly Curious—and your nostrils will never forget it.

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Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. It’s time for Swarms.

In the kickoff to our Swarms Minisodes, Katy and Laura dive into one of nature’s most mesmerizing spectacles: the murmuration of starlings. These jaw-dropping bird formations swirl through the sky like smoke or liquid—but behind the beauty is a stunning system of rules, physics, and evolutionary strategy.

🐦 What exactly is a murmuration—and why do starlings do it?
🌪 How can thousands of birds turn on a dime with no leader?
🧠 What’s “scale-free correlation” and how does it keep the group alive?
🎭 And what does Shakespeare have to do with a Central Park starling invasion?

From predator evasion to 3D modeling, this minisode explores the science, chaos, and choreography behind one of nature’s most hypnotic behaviors.

👉 This is episode 1 of our Swarms series—six short episodes exploring how animals move together, from birds to bugs to bacteria.

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Subscribe and let your inner science goblin move into its own weird little ecosystem. 🦠

In the Season 12 kickoff of Wildly Curious, Katy and Laura reveal the bizarre—but very real—ecosystems thriving inside your house. From the Amazon rainforest of your belly button to the bug-filled biome behind your fridge, your home is alive in more ways than you think.

🦠 Why scientists swabbed hundreds of belly buttons to study bacteria
🍄 How household fungi can go from harmless to harmful
🪳 Which invertebrates are living behind your fridge—and why it’s a full ecosystem
🕷 And how centipedes and silverfish play unexpected roles in your home’s food web

This episode takes you room by room, crevice by crevice, revealing how even your cleanest spaces might be teeming with microbial life. But don’t panic—some of your grossest roommates might actually be the good guys.

🎧 Listen now to discover how your home is more alive than you thought—and what you can do to keep the ecosystem in balance.

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Subscribe and let your brain go on a weekly field trip. No permission slip required.

In this Volcano Minisode, Laura and Katy dive into the dramatic, deadly, and never-quite-dormant history of Mount Vesuvius, one of the most iconic volcanoes on Earth. From burying Pompeii in ash and pyroclastic waves to raining debris across the Mediterranean during WWII, Vesuvius has earned its title as the angriest volcano in history.

🌋 What makes Vesuvius so volatile?
🏛 What actually happened in 79 AD—and why didn’t anyone leave?
🔥 How has it erupted 31 times since forming only 17,000 years ago?
🌲 And why might trees be our new secret weapon in predicting eruptions?

From Roman cities turned to ash to trees tipping us off from space, this episode is a molten-hot blend of science, history, and nature’s chaos.

👉 This is episode 5 of 6 in our Volcano Minisodes series—bite-sized, bizarre, and bubbling with explosive facts.

🎧 Listen now and meet the volcano that refuses to hit snooze.

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In this Volcano Minisode, Katy introduces one of the most extreme animals on Earth: the scaly-foot gastropod, a deep-sea snail that literally builds metal armor from volcanic hydrothermal vents. Found over a mile below the ocean’s surface, this snail survives crushing pressure, toxic heat, and total darkness—all thanks to a symbiotic relationship with bacteria and its one-of-a-kind iron shell.

🧪 How does a snail use volcanic metals to build armor?
🌋 What makes hydrothermal vents so hostile—and so essential to life?
🧫 And who’s really in charge here… the snail or the bacteria living inside it?

This episode is a deep dive into extreme evolution, powered by volcanoes and gut flora. It’s weird, real, and one of the coolest stories in nature.

👉 This is episode 4 of 6 in our Volcano Minisodes series—bite-sized, bizarre, and bursting with molten-hot science facts.

🎧 Listen now to meet Earth’s most metal mollusk.

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Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it.

In this third Volcano Minisode, Katy digs into one of the coolest things a volcano has ever made: obsidian—a rock so sharp it's been shaping human history for 30,000 years and is still used in modern surgery. 🔪🖤

🌋 What exactly is obsidian and how is it formed?
⚡ How can lava turn into volcanic glass in a flash?
🩺 Why are obsidian scalpels sharper than steel—and still used today?
🛡 How did ancient people turn this into tools, weapons, and even mirrors?

From Stone Age scrapers to eye surgery scalpels, obsidian proves that volcanoes don’t just destroy—they create tools that changed the course of human evolution.

👉 This is episode 3 of 6 in our Volcano Minisodes series—bite-sized, bizarre, and bursting with molten-hot science facts.

🎧 Listen now to discover why this rock deserves way more credit.

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In this second Volcano Minisode, Laura dives deep (literally) into one of Antarctica’s strangest secrets: how volcanic heat has carved out entire networks of hidden ice caves—warm, alien worlds tucked under the frozen surface. 🧊🔥

🌋 Why does Antarctica have 18 volcanoes?
🌡 How can you go from -30°F outside to 70°F inside a cave?
🧬 What strange DNA have scientists discovered in these hidden spaces?
🚪 And could these caves hold more life—or ancient secrets—than we realize?

From steaming caves to undiscovered species, it’s a chilling (and thrilling) glimpse into one of Earth's least understood frontiers.

👉 This is episode 2 of 6 in our Volcano Minisodes series—bite-sized, bizarre, and bursting with molten-hot science facts.

🎧 Listen to find out why you’ll never look at Antarctica the same way again.

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🎉 Support us on Patreon to keep the episodes coming! 🪼🦤🧠 For more laughs, catch us on YouTube!