Oct 7

Everything You Know About Metabolism Is Wrong

If you’ve heard of metabolism, you’ve probably heard endless tips and tricks to boost it, from working out to drinking green tea. The idea is that a slow metabolism leads to weight gain, and speeding it up makes it easier to shed pounds. But what if we told you that metabolic rat ... Show More

48 m

Sep 23

Durian Delight and Feijoa Fun: Adventures in Banned, Forgotten, and Unusual Fruit

This week on Gastropod, a feast of fruits! Specifically, feijoa and durian—and, if you haven’t heard of either, you’re not alone. Unlike the ubiquitous strawberry or banana, durian and feijoa are only popular in a handful of countries and almost unknown in the US, and we wanted t ... Show More

50m 46s

Sep 9

Talking Taco

Whether or not it's Tuesday, tacos pretty much always hit the spot—and not just in their homeland in Mexico. These days, the taco can be found all over the world, although it's acquired some strange new fillings along the way, from French fries to canned corn. It's hard to imagin ... Show More

43m 1s

Jun 2021

Presenting: Gastropod

Over the past century, we've transformed the arid lands of the American west into year-round, well-irrigated agricultural powerhouses. Today, fruits, nuts, and nearly all of our leafy greens are grown in the desert, using water diverted, stored, and supplied at taxpayer expense. ... Show More

57m 40s

May 2024

Kenya floods: how can farmers build resilience?

“We should also harvest the water, store it in the soil. Grow our crops and grow our trees. Because the storage in the soil is much, much bigger than any store we can ever put on the surface. God has already given us a huge reservoir where we can put our water.” Kenya has been ra ... Show More

18m 49s

Jan 2023

Where does the sand in a desert come from?

From Lawrence of Arabia to Star Wars via tales of intrepid adventurers traversing lonely sand-swept landscapes, deserts have always had a powerful pull on the popular imagination. But if a desert is full of sand, where did all that sand come from in the first place? That is what ... Show More

27m 56s

Jun 2021

Turning the desert green

The Sinai desert in Egypt is a dry, barren place where not much grows. But Ties van der Hoeven has come up with a scheme to turn it into a green and fertile land. It’s a plan on a huge scale which involves dredging a lake, restoring ecosystems, and even bringing back rain to the ... Show More

24m 22s

Aug 2022

Deadly drought

East Africa has endured more than two years on continuous drought. The latest predictions suggest the drought is not likely to end any time soon. We look at why climate change and weather patterns in the Pacific and Indian oceans are largely to blame. Andrea Taschetto, chief inve ... Show More

55m 7s

Nov 2023

Groundwater Wars

Kingman, Arizona, a small farming town in the desert, is a cautionary tale in the West’s water crisis. About a decade ago, large corporate farms started moving into the desert of Mohave County, growing thirsty crops like alfalfa and nuts. At the time, there were practically no ru ... Show More

33m 38s

Jun 2024

Iyris makes fresh produce easier to grow in difficult climates, raises $16M

2023 was the hottest year on record, it doesn’t look like we’re cooling down anytime soon. Rising temperatures have made farming increasingly difficult in areas that were once prime agricultural resources where heat and drought have severely impacted crops. Learn more about your ... Show More

7m 55s

Jul 2023

Understanding the Real Fight Over Water in Arizona

Arizona recently announced new constraints on housing development in the areas around Phoenix. At issue is water rights and scarcity, which have been a challenge for the US Southwest for as long as people have been living there. That being said, the region is currently in the mid ... Show More

47m 27s

Feb 2020

Water banking, rain farming and other ways to safeguard against future drought

Water banking involves the deliberate injection of surplus water into known aquifers. The idea is to repurpose the world’s many artesian basins as giant sustainable storage tanks - ones that can readily be drawn upon in times of drought. It’s just one of the ideas we explore in t ... Show More

28m 52s

Aug 2022

OS Conversations: Drought

We're seeing drought all around the world. Without significant rainfall, lakes and rivers have been drying-up, pastures are becoming dusty deserts and crops are failing to grow. As well as the devastating effect on nature, drought has an economic and human cost - particularly in ... Show More

24m 44s

Like Water in the Desert