About the Podcast

Wild Thing is a podcast about the unusual things that capture our imaginations. It’s about the relationship between science and society. And it’s about weird places, interesting people, and strange ideas. Because whether it’s seeking out Bigfoot or gazing skyward to look for extraterrestrial life, the search for the unknown helps us better understand ourselves. Season 1: Believe in Bigfoot? Think it’s total BS? For Season 1 of Wild Thing, host Laura Krantz spent a year in the woods and in the lab, trying to answer that question. What she found might surprise even the staunchest non-believer. This legendary creature represents a mystery that still captures our imaginations and Sasquatch is as popular now as it’s ever been. Part of this is tongue-in-cheek—Bigfoot as hipster accessory. But many people take Sasquatch seriously—perfectly rational people who swear to its existence. Why does this creature ignite our imagination? Where does that fascination come from? And why does it persist? S2: In 2017, an interstellar object entered our solar system and Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb suggested it *might* be an alien spacecraft. The world went bananas. Just a few months later, the Pentagon admitted to running a secret UFO program. And if highly-respected scientists and the Department of Defense seem to be thinking about aliens? Well, maybe we all should be. For season two of Wild Thing: Space Invaders, host Laura Krantz turns her eyes skyward in search of extraterrestrial life, to better understand where we’re looking, what we’re looking for, and why we hope we're not alone.

About the Host

Laura Krantz

Laura Krantz is a journalist, editor and producer, in both radio and print. The first season of her podcast, Wild Thing received critical acclaim, including from The Atlantic, which named it one of the best podcasts of 2018, while season two has been named a podcast to listen to by media outlets as varied as Rolling Stone and Scientific American. Laura has been in audio for over a decade; aside from her own podcast work, she was recently the interim science editor for PRX. Prior to that, she edited and produced at NPR in Washington, DC, where she worked on multiple shows including Morning Edition and Weekend Edition; later she served as the lead editor for Take Two at KPCC in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in Popular Science, Smithsonian Magazine, Outside, High Country News, Newsweek and the Archie McPhee Catalog. In 2014-15, Laura was a Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder. She earned her undergraduate degree from Whitman College and has an MA in international relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

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