Episodes
Published 07/06/21
I’ve been a runner for as long as I can remember. And there’s always been a peaceful element to that sacred loneliness of the long distance runner. I’ve run tens of thousands of miles in the last three decades of training for everything from 1500m up to slow trudgery of the 100 miles. Regardless of the event, training is geared towards developing both the mental and physical strength to overcome the challenges of endurance events. Here we tackle the physical side, looking at how humans and...
Published 07/06/21
Hey there fellow naturalists and runners. Teage O’Connor here, co-host of The Single Acorn. I’ve been training to break the 100 mile world record. During the hundreds of hours and thousands of miles I’ve been put in to reach this goal, I’ve had plenty of time to think about what it takes on the mental side to compete in endurance events. In this episode, Glenn guides us through the world of trance and meditation and we try to find some overlap between our two worlds. We also talk about the...
Published 06/15/21
Hey there fellow naturalists and runners. Teage O’Connor here, co-host of The Single Acorn. I’ve been training to break the 100 mile world record. During the hundreds of hours and thousands of miles I’ve been put in to reach this goal, I’ve had plenty of time to think about what it takes on the mental side to compete in endurance events. In this episode, Glenn guides us through the world of trance and meditation and we try to find some overlap between our two worlds. We also talk about the...
Published 06/15/21
I’ve been a runner for as long as I can remember. And there’s always been a peaceful element to that sacred loneliness of the long distance runner. In the last three decades I’ve run tens of thousands of miles while training for everything from the zippy 1500m up to slow trudgery of the 100 miles. Regardless of the event, training is geared towards developing both the mental and physical strength to overcome the challenges of endurance events. Here we tackle the physical side, looking at how...
Published 06/09/21
I’ve been a runner for as long as I can remember. And there’s always been a peaceful element to that sacred loneliness of the long distance runner. In the last three decades I’ve run tens of thousands of miles while training for everything from the zippy 1500m up to slow trudgery of the 100 miles. Regardless of the event, training is geared towards developing both the mental and physical strength to overcome the challenges of endurance events. Here we tackle the physical side, looking at how...
Published 06/08/21
Hey there fellow naturalists. This is Professor Eweagey, co-host of The Single Acorn. I wanted to extend a very special and warm welcome to you all as this season is near and dear to my heart. The following episodes live at the cross section between my two greatest passions: natural history and running. In previous season, we’ve joked that it’s a fool who seeks to learn how to live by looking at the secret lives of wild creatures. But for this season we’re doing just that. We’re diving into...
Published 05/26/21
Hey there fellow naturalists. This is Professor Eweagey, co-host of The Single Acorn. I wanted to extend a very special and warm welcome to you all as this season is near and dear to my heart. The following episodes live at the cross section between my two greatest passions: natural history and running. In previous season, we’ve joked that it’s a fool who seeks to learn how to live by looking at the secret lives of wild creatures. But for this season we’re doing just that. We’re diving into...
Published 05/26/21
In a world where science has predicted 8.7 million eukaryotic species currently roam, humans have catalogued a mere 1.6 million. That leaves nearly 7 million sneaky little croutons hiding in the shadows... In the last year alone we’ve identified both the strange and the cuddly: an iridescent underground snake Achalinus zugorum; a parasitic, spider-eating wasp Actrotaphus, and the world’s tiniest and most criminally adorable raccoon, the olinguito. Seriously. You have to look it up. At least...
Published 04/01/21
In a world where science has predicted 8.7 million eukaryotic species currently roam, humans have catalogued a mere 1.6 million. That leaves nearly 7 million sneaky little croutons hiding in the shadows... In the last year alone we’ve identified both the strange and the cuddly: an iridescent underground snake Achalinus zugorum; a parasitic, spider-eating wasp Actrotaphus, and the world’s tiniest and most criminally adorable raccoon, the olinguito. Seriously. You have to look it up. At least...
Published 04/01/21
It lurks in the darkest corners of your basement, lying in wait for an unsuspecting centipede or a wayward fruit fly to become entangled in its messy cobweb. The struggling pulses a telltale vibration and the nearly blind cellar spider pounces, quickly throwing a net of webbing and lashing down the most unfortunate guest. But the spider isn’t always one to wait - for dinner, perhaps, the long-legged spider sets out in search of an arachnid stalking its prey, taking down a black widow spider...
Published 03/23/21
The ground thaws, the grass greens, and soon after a riotous flush of delightful yellows infuse our urban and suburban lawns with a warm and radiant joy. As much as many of us may try and fight the onslaught, the dandelion will forever be synonymous with our lawns. So why not sit back, grab a snack of dandelion fritters, take a sip of dandelion wine, and enjoy the show. This is the Single Acorn Podcast.
Published 03/23/21
It lurks in the darkest corners of your basement, lying in wait for an unsuspecting centipede or a wayward fruit fly to become entangled in its messy cobweb. The struggling pulses a telltale vibration and the nearly blind cellar spider pounces, quickly throwing a net of webbing and lashing down the most unfortunate guest. But the spider isn’t always one to wait - for dinner, perhaps, the long-legged spider sets out in search of an arachnid stalking its prey, taking down a black widow spider...
Published 02/23/21
It lurks in the darkest corners of your basement, lying in wait for an unsuspecting centipede or a wayward fruit fly to become entangled in its messy cobweb. The struggling pulses a telltale vibration and the nearly blind cellar spider pounces, quickly throwing a net of webbing and lashing down the most unfortunate guest. But the spider isn’t always one to wait - for dinner, perhaps, the long-legged spider sets out in search of an arachnid stalking its prey, taking down a black widow spider...
Published 02/23/21
Gray squirrels: Cute as beans, clever as crows. These ubiquitous furry little denizens of urban parks are easy to overlook. And to misunderstand. In our latest profile of urban wildlife species, we look here at the eastern gray squirrel (and yes, that’s gray with “A”). It’s squirrel parasols, shrinking testicles, color vision, devious deception, swimming squirrels, and mass migrations. Welcome to the Single Acorn Podcast.
Published 02/09/21
Gray squirrels: Cute as beans, clever as crows. These ubiquitous furry little denizens of urban parks are easy to overlook. And to misunderstand. In our latest profile of urban wildlife species, we look here at the eastern gray squirrel (and yes, that’s gray with “A”). It’s squirrel parasols, shrinking testicles, color vision, devious deception, swimming squirrels, and mass migrations. Welcome to the Single Acorn Podcast.
Published 02/09/21
Behold the humble opossum. Snout of a pig, tail of a rat, feet of a creepy baby. It’s hard to know what to make of the opossum at first blush. But on further inspection, well, it’s even harder. It’s the only marsupial representative that we have north of Mexico and I’m not sure it’s done much to endear people to these primitive mammals. On this episode we look at what makes this enigmatic beast tick and how the urbanization of America has allowed the lumbering ‘possum to expand its range,...
Published 01/25/21
Behold the humble opossum. Snout of a pig, tail of a rat, feet of a creepy baby. It’s hard to know what to make of the opossum at first blush. But on further inspection, well, it’s even harder. It’s the only marsupial representative that we have north of Mexico and I’m not sure it’s done much to endear people to these primitive mammals. On this episode we look at what makes this enigmatic beast tick and how the urbanization of America has allowed the lumbering ‘possum to expand its range,...
Published 01/25/21
“Wherever he goes, this winter, I will follow him. I will share the fear, and the exaltation, and the boredom, of the hunting life. I will follow him till my predatory human shape no longer darkens in terror the shaken kaleidoscope of colour that stains the deep fovea of his brilliant eye. My pagan head shall sink into the winter land, and there be purified.” So writes John Baker in his 1967 masterpiece The Peregrine. Here we pay homage to the fierce, enigmatic, and alluring predator from on...
Published 01/14/21
“Wherever he goes, this winter, I will follow him. I will share the fear, and the exaltation, and the boredom, of the hunting life. I will follow him till my predatory human shape no longer darkens in terror the shaken kaleidoscope of colour that stains the deep fovea of his brilliant eye. My pagan head shall sink into the winter land, and there be purified.” So writes John Baker in his 1967 masterpiece The Peregrine. Here we pay homage to the fierce, enigmatic, and alluring predator from on...
Published 01/14/21
In the shadows of our psyche lives a creature. Its form is dark, its features obscure, its expressions impenetrable. And so we project onto it our own fears, insecurities, and less savory tendencies. For most, the crow has become more myth than fact, an ill omen, a guttural scold in the background to mark a dark turn in a movie. In this profile we’re stripping away the artifice to discover the fascinating world of one of our most common urban animals, the American crow. This is the Single...
Published 12/30/20
In the shadows of our psyche lives a creature. Its form is dark, its features obscure, its expressions impenetrable. And so we project onto it our own fears, insecurities, and less savory tendencies. For most, the crow has become more myth than fact, an ill omen, a guttural scold in the background to mark a dark turn in a movie. In this profile we’re stripping away the artificae and discovering the fascinating world of one of our most common urban animals, the American crow. This is the...
Published 12/30/20
Windows and Toxins, and Cars oh my. Yeesh - City life sure is tough. And not everyone’s up to the task of living like City Mouse. So what makes City Mouse so good at city living? In this episode we lay out the Urban Wildlife Syndrome - some of the common patterns, behaviors, and adaptations wildlife have that make the city life the good life. This is the Single Acorn Podcast.
Published 12/15/20
Windows and Toxins, and Cars oh my. Yeesh - City life sure is tough. And not everyone’s up to the task of living like City Mouse. So what makes City Mouse so good at city living? In this episode we lay out the Urban Wildlife Syndrome - some of the common patterns, behaviors, and adaptations wildlife have that make the city life the good life. This is the Single Acorn Podcast.
Published 12/15/20
They paved over paradise and put up a parking lot. But what exactly paradise is, is entirely subjective. The good of the scorpion is not the good of the frog. And so as wildlands have dwindled across the blue planet, an asphalt jungle has emerged. It’s a land of milk and honey for those willing to weather the risks. Here we consider the hazards these fearless explorers face. This is the Single Acorn Podcast.
Published 12/01/20