Episode notes
Alex Schmidt and Katie Goldin explore why ferns are secretly incredibly fascinating.
Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode.
LINKS FOR KATIE GOLDIN:
- Katie Goldin on Bluesky
- @ProBirdRights on Bluesky
- ‘Creature Feature’ podcast (iHeartRadio)
- When Is a Bird a ‘Birb’? An Extremely Important Guide (Audubon)
RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
- native-land.ca
- U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
- The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (Smithsonian)
- “Finding Lenapehoking” (YouTube / Hudson River Maritime Museum)
- Why Do They Call It Beacon? (The Highlands Current)
- Dutch & Native American Heritage In The Hudson River Valley (National Park Service)
RESEARCH SOURCES:
- The Plant Lover’s Guide to Ferns by Richie Steffen and Sue Olsen, in association with Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
- Peterson Field Guide to Ferns: Northeastern and Central North America, 2nd Edition by Boughton Cobb and Cheryl Lowe and Elizabeth Farnsworth
- Fern Reproduction (University of California at Berkeley Botanical Garden)
- Ferns: Curious Life Cycles and Remarkable Biodiversity — a talk by Dr. Eric Schuettpelz (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)
- Collins Dictionary definition of pteridology
- Pterosaurs: The truth about these ‘flying dinosaurs’ (Natural History Museum London)
- Pterosaur: Pteranodon (American Museum of Natural History)
- Unfurl the secrets of ferns (Natural History Museum London)
- Saving Spores (U.S. National Tropical Botanic Garden)
- Devonian Period—419.2 to 358.9 MYA (U.S. National Park Service)
- Spectacular fossil fern reveals Jurassic-era chromosomes (Ars Technica)
- Osmundastrum cinnamomeum (North Carolina State University Extension)
- Ferns of the Adirondacks: Interrupted Fern — Osmunda claytoniana L. (WildAdirondacks.org)
- ‘Weird’ Fern Shows The Power Of Interspecies Sex (NPR)
- Evolution: Fern hybrid does not mind the gap (Nature)
- Ferns in the Forest: A Fairy Tale (ForestsCanada.ca)
- Ferns: the glory of the forest (New Zealand Geographic)
- Fern Reproduction (U.S. Forest Service)
- Ferns (San Diego Zoo)
- Bracken Fern Carcinogen, Ptaquiloside, Forms a Guanine O6‑Adduct in DNA (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)
- Ferns and Fern Allies (Colorado Native Plant Society)
- Ferns’ ability to evolve ‘backward’ offers insights into the meandering path of evolution (The Conversation)
- Life Can Evolve in Multiple Directions—Even Backward, Study Says (Popular Mechanics)
- Woodwardia areolata (Missouri Botanical Garden)
- Fossil shows fish evolved to walk on land — then went back to the water (NPR)
- Humanity Is Desperate for Rare Earth Elements. This Plant Is Growing Them Right Under Our Feet. (Popular Mechanics)
- Scientists are mining metals from an unusual source — plants (Grist.org)
- Blechnum orientale (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew)
- When Ferns Were All The Rage (JStor Daily)
- How the Victorian Fern-Hunting Craze Led To Adventure, Romance, and Crime (Atlas Obscura)
- 19th-Century Fern Fever, in England and Beyond (The New York Times)
- Pikopiko (Gastro Obscura)
- Food safety tips for fiddleheads (Government of Canada)
- Fern plant infusion keeps the doctor away in Medieval Europe (University of York)
- An intimate guide to the ferns from Netflix’s ‘Between Two Ferns’ (Popular Science)
- Secretly Incredibly Fascinating: Coal
- Zack Galifianakis wearing a Maximum Fun hat on a 2026 World Cup broadcast
In this episode...
About the show
A weekly podcast about the history, science, lore and surprises that make everyday things secretly incredibly fascinating. Hosted by comedy writer, emoji creator, and ‘Jeopardy!‘ champion Alex Schmidt. Join Alex & his co-host Katie Goldin for a joyful deep dive into seeing the world a whole new way!
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@sifpod
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