For the Love of Peat

In 1998, the recording industry was thriving. But the company pressing more compact discs than anyone else in America wasn't a record label…it was an internet company: America Online. The AOL Disc was a marketing coup—hugely successful. It’s not an overstatement to say that it’s ... Show More

Esperanto is what linguists call a “constructed language.” It isn’t attached to a nation or a region, and it didn’t evolve from another language over time. Instead, nearly 150 years ago, someone decided to sit down and design the whole thing from scratch. That someone was L. L. Z ... Show More

In 1932, the Women's House of Detention—New York City's first women's prison—opened in the heart of Greenwich Village. It was opened to make "wayward" women quiet, private, and properly feminine. And the building had one unique feature originally meant to be a sort of kindness—a ... Show More

Sam Fenwick explores why peat is such an important carbon store and whether it’s use in compost should be banned. Sam visits a peat bog in the UK and speaks to garden centres in Japan and India, where like many parts of the world gardening boomed during the pandemic. She also hea ... Show More

What lurks under the surface of the dense black peat pits strewn across northern Europe? Bog bodies, naturally mummified humans, have fascinated archeologists for decades as they offer unique insights into ancient cultures.Tristan Hughes is joined by Professor Melanie Giles to ex ... Show More

<p>Think you have moss figured out? You probably don't. Join Josh and Chuck in this classic episode as they explore some of the surprising aspects of these most ancient and important plants on the planet.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheart ... Show More

Dense tropical rainforest in central Africa's Congo Basin is humid and rainy for much of the year. Underfoot lies one of the world’s biggest carbon sinks – muddy soil built up from layers of partly decomposed plant matter. Remote and uncultivated, the peatlands have survived for ... Show More

Trees pull and store carbon, but lots of land that could support them is deforested. Learn how researchers think planting trees could help mitigate climate change in this episode of BrainStuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio ... Show More

The peatlands of Africa's Congo Basin are a vast expanse of swamp and greenery that act as one of the world's most effective carbon sinks -- and they're under threat of environmental destruction. Economist Vera Songwe explains how putting a price on the carbon stored in the peatl ... Show More

Traditionalists consider the real Black Country to only include the region just west of Birmingham where the 30ft coal seam comes to the surface - a product of once living trees, compressed and buried for millions of years, returning to the surface like an irrepressible secret.<b ... Show More

<p>It’s pretty amazing to see a human walk over a bed of hot coals – until you learn the physics beneath it. Then it’s just fairly impressive.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com">https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com</a><p ... Show More

A 15-year study of where carbon lies in boreal forests has unearthed a surprising finding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices