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About
Natural Selections
On Natural Selections each week, join a short conversation on the natural world. Topics range from evolutionary biology to geology and wildlife, from climate science to animal and human behavior.
The program is hosted by NCPR news director Martha Foley joined by naturalist Dr. Curt Stager of Paul
Smith's College.
Support for Natural Selections is provided by the Glenn
and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation, dedicated
to improving the quality of life for year-round residents
of the Adirondack Park, and by Paul Smith's, the College of the Adirondacks.
New Book: Deep Future
"The course we take in the coming decades will affect not just the next hundred years, but the next hundred thousand years of life on this planet." --Curt Stager
In bookstores now
Order at: Amazon | Borders
Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million | Powell's Books
And please remember your local independent booksellers. Find one near you.
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 Natural Selections
Natural Selections with hosts Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager airs Thursday mornings during The Eight O'Clock Hour and Sundays on FM in the Morning.
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Recent Natural Selections programs
Animation of a diaphragm exhaling and inhaling. Source: John Pierce via Wikipedia
(03/08/12) We all take thousands of breaths each day without thinking about it, yet it's one of the human body's most complex and interesting functions. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss what is actually happening when we breathe.
Female songbirds prefer "baritones" to "tenors"
(03/01/12) The sound environment has a big effect on animal behavior. The prevalence of low-pitched machine sounds in an urban environment may cause male birds to raise the pitch of mating calls. And birds in an environment where the sounds of predators are common will be less successful in breeding and nesting. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss soundscapes.
(02/23/12) In Song of Myself, Whitman says, "For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." Given that the world atom supply is finite, more or less, Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager explore the notion that all of us are made up of some atoms that were found in William Shakepeare, the dinosaurs, and each other.
Whales retain a vestigal pelvis and femur disconnected from the spine—a remnant of their time on land.
(02/16/12) We think of evolution as moving in a linear progression from the sea to the land. But some creatures, such as whales and dolphins, clearly adapted to the land, then returned to the sea. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley talk about convergent evolution.
Photo: Bksimonb, Wikipedia Commons
(02/09/12) In the second in our series about the biological marketplace, Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager look into the beehive. While some worker bees might try to "cheat," introducing their own eggs into the genetic pool of the hive, other workers will detect and destroy them. The queen presides over a society that shares her DNA, but it is run more like a police state than a family.
Indian Pipe is a symbiote
(02/02/12) Symbiotes are species that must collaborate with another to survive. But some partners are more equal than others. Martha Foley and Curt Stager talk about how organisms can monitor cheaters in symbiotic relationships. It's the first of two conversations about the biological marketplace.
Nerve tissue may be part of our original equipment. Photo: wikipedia
(01/26/12) With our bodies replacing most cells over a period of a few years, it raises the question "Is any part of us original equipment?" According to Curt Stager and Martha Foley, the answer is yes--parts of the eyes and teeth, as well as many nerve and (bad news for dieters) fat cells.
The squid has helical muscles in its tentacles that act like springs.
(01/19/12) Vertebrates get around by using their muscles to apply leverage to the bones. But how does an animal move when there are no levers, only muscles? Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley look at some boneless examples: the worm, the elephant's trunk, and the squid.
(01/12/12) Chipmunk, cluckmunk? Chipmunks and many animals have a variety of sounds used to express different things. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager sample the vocabulary used by this common denizen of North Country woods and villages.
(01/05/12) Horns and antlers are more than different variations on animal head gear. Antlers are temporary and contain no actual bone. Horns are for keeps. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss pointy-headed creatures.
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Nature features
Curt Stager on On Point
 Listen to Dr. Curt Stager as the guest on On Point, 3/24/11, talking about his new book, Deep Future: the Next 100,000 Years of Life on Earth.
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Curt's Save the Carbon Blog
Partial ice-out on Lower Saint Regis Lake , March 22, 2012.Record-high March temperatures have driven the ice... moreWe've been having a difficult time with weather this year in the North Country. But let's not... moreSpread your arms out sideways and your hands will be roughly one meter apart. Use that span to sculpt an... moreSix days after Irene drove the Ausable River and its tributaries over their banks, Kary and I visited the heavily... moreFormer hurricane ("tropical storm") Irene did relatively little damage last Sunday near my home in Paul Smiths, here in... more
 Natural History
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