re: Wild

Justin Gregg is a science writer and animal cognition researcher. * [0:52] Justin Gregg's If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal: What Animal Intelligence Reveals About Human Stupidity [9:39] EuroNews: “Explained: Who has nuclear weapons in Europe and where are they?” [24:58] Arik Kirschenbaum's The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens—and Ourselves

Wyatt Williams is a writer and a former restaurant critic. * [1:19] Springer Mountain: Meditations on Killing and Eating [2:01] Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma [2:04] Food Inc. [9:45] “Will the Next Pandemic Start with Chickens?” (The New Republic) [10:58] “When the National Bird is a Burden” (The New York Times Magazine) [14:09] Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm [17:16] Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals [23:44] “What Went Wrong With Eleven Madison Park's Vegan Menu" (Bon Appetit); “Restaurant Review: Eleven Madison Park's Vegan Menu” (The New York Times) [28:39] Emma Marris’s Wild Souls

If you're anything like me, when you think of nature the first image that comes to mind is a tree. But, as beautiful as forests are, another ecosystem is even more important to human history: grasslands. For centuries, grasslands have been ignored by Western scientists, sometimes even denigrated as wastelands. Julia Rosen says that's due in part to a bias against grasslands that emerged in Europe and was exported overseas. In this episode of re: Wild, Boyce and Julia discuss grasslands — both their past and the key role they may play in our future. For further reading, see Julia's July article in The Atlantic, "Trees Are Overrated." * Julia Rosen is a freelance journalist covering science and the environment from Portland, Oregon. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Hakai, High Country News, and many other publications. Follow her on Twitter at @1juliarosen