HeyJaredWild Origins
Welcome to Wild Origins - a podcast about how life got weird, and how that weirdness made the world we live in.Each episode follows a discovery in nature.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 9
- Latest publication
- Aug 31, 2026
- Audience
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest episodes
How Randomness Shaped Earth's Minerals (opens the original)
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In this episode, we tackle a groundbreaking debate that bridges geology and philosophy: Is the variety of our planet's minerals a statistical certainty, or is it the result of pure, chaotic luck? For over half a century, the standard scientific approach treated minerals purely as fixed chemical formulas. But today, a radical new "evolutionary system of mineralogy" is revealing that rocks have histories, and that minerals developed and changed alongside Earth itself. We pull apart the microscopic
Meet World's Most Dangerous Bird (opens the original)
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In this episode, we venture into the dense rainforests of Australia and New Guinea to meet the southern cassowary. Part emu, part giant turkey, and part living velociraptor, this flightless giant has built a terrifying, mythic reputation for violence. From explicit World War II military warnings to rare, high-profile fatal attacks, the cassowary is widely feared as a ruthless rainforest monster. But how much of this fearsome reputation is actual science, and how much is fiction? We break down th
Cave Paintings: Peeking into Minds of Early Humans (opens the original)
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In this episode, we venture into the dark, resonant chambers of prehistoric caves to uncover the true origin of human expression. We begin with the dramatic 1879 discovery of the Altamira cave paintings in Spain, where an eight-year-old girl stumbled upon a stunning prehistoric stampede—only for her archaeologist father to be ridiculed and accused of fraud by a skeptical scientific establishment. But the traditional, Eurocentric narrative of human art has officially unraveled. Armed with non-des
How to Help Endangered Animals Save Themselves (opens the original)
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In this episode, we venture into the emerging field of conservation behavior to explore how scientists are borrowing a page from human psychology to "nudge" animals toward safety without building walls. From the plains of Zambia to the rainforests of Australia, we follow researchers who are rewriting the rules of wildlife protection by changing the world around an animal rather than forcing its compliance. We examine the fascinating mechanics behind these behavioral interventions. You'll hear ho
Why Bacteria Are Effectively Immortal (opens the original)
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In the scorched expanse of the Atacama Desert, one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, scientists have discovered life that defies the traditional boundaries of time. While most organisms operate on a scale of days or years, certain deep-subsurface bacteria have entered a state of "biostasis" so profound they are effectively millions of years old. These "forever bacteria" do not grow or divide in the traditional sense; instead, they exist in a metabolic "idle," consuming just enough energy
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