Pizza is one of the world’s most beloved foods. But as much as we love the way it tastes, the secrets of its ingredients are even yummier to discover. We explore the surprising sounds tomatoes make when they’re stressed, how wheat became integral to human survival and how mold is sometimes... delicious? This episode also features live tap-dancing, mind-melting cheese facts and what might be the Songbud’s catchiest song yet.

Special thanks to Little Island for having us. If you’re in NYC, go check them out. It’s free to wander around, there are hidden musical instruments to see, gorgeous plants and so much more. Visit littleisland.org to learn more.

And huge thanks to our guest performers - tap dancer John Manzari, who you can catch performing or teaching tap lessons around NYC, percussionist Caitlin Cawley from Mantra Percussion, Josh Windsor, the Associate Director of Caves at Murray's Cheese in New York City, a world-famous cheese shop with tons of cheeses, classes and fun family events, and WNYC’s very own David Gebel.

This episode was originally produced and developed in front of a live audience at Little Island with Producing Artistic Director Zack Winokur and Executive Director Laura Clement.

PLUS, TERRESTRIALS WILL BE BACK IN TWO WEEKS - STARTING SEPTEMBER 18TH – WITH BRAND NEW EPISODES DROPPING EVERY OTHER WEEK. Visit terrestrialspodcast.org to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on instagram @terrestrialspodcast for updates.

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Terrestrials is made possible in part by listeners like you. Support the show by joining Radiolab’s membership program, The Lab—and we’ll send you a special thank-you gift from our team!

We’re back with an episode from the Radiolab archive. Horseshoe crabs have been around for a long time. They outlived the dinosaurs, survived all mass extinctions and witnessed the sprouting of the Earth’s first trees. The secret to their longevity? Their baby blue blood. Which has been saving both their lives and ours.

Lulu and Radiolab co-host, Latif Nasser, head to one of these bleeding facilities to learn how horseshoe crab blood became indispensable for modern medicine. And how this vampirish relationship humans have with the crabs might also be crucial to keeping them alive.

Terrestrials will be back in September 2025 with all new episodes airing every other week! SIgn up for our newsletter here and follow us on Instagram @terrestrialspodcast for updates.

If you want to learn more about how miraculous horseshoe crabs are, check out:

Alexis Madrigal, "The Blood Harvest" in The Atlantic, and Sarah Zhang's recent follow up in The Atlantic, "The Last Days of the Blue Blood Harvest"

Deborah Cramer, The Narrow Edge

Deborah Cramer, "Inside the Biomedical Revolution to Save Horseshoe Crabs" in Audubon Magazine

Richard Fortey, Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms

Ian Frazier, "Blue Bloods" in The New Yorker

Lulu Miller's short story, "Me and Jane" in Catapult Magazine

Jerry Gault, "The Most Noble Fishing There Is" in Charles River's Eureka Magazine

Glenn Gauvry's horseshoe crab research database

HEY GROWN-UPS!
Love the show? Leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review on your podcast app—it helps curious listeners find us!

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts about Terrestrials with us.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for bite-sized essays, activities, and ways to connect with the show.
Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for behind-the-scenes extras and more.
Listen to original music from Terrestrials on Spotify, Apple Music, or our music page.

Got a badgering question for the team? Email us at terrestrialspodcast@wnyc.org or submit a voice memo with your name, age, and your question using this form!

Terrestrials is made possible in part by listeners like you. Support the show by joining Radiolab’s membership program, The Lab—and we’ll send you a special thank-you gift from our team!

A color-changing creature many people assumed to be brainless outsmarts his human captors. SPOILER: The creature is an octopus! Author Sy Montgomery tells the story of one octopus named Inky who makes us question who we consider intelligent (and kissable) in the animal kingdom.

Learn about the storytellers, listen to music, and dig deeper into the stories you hear on Terrestrials with activities you can do at home or in the classroom on our website, Terrestrialspodcast.org.

Find MORE original Terrestrials fun on Youtube.

And badger us on Social Media: @radiolab and #TerrestrialsPodcast

Terrestrials is a production of WNYC Studios, created by Lulu Miller. This episode is produced by Ana González, Alan Goffinski and Lulu Miller. Original Music by Alan Goffinski. Help from Suzie Lechtenberg, Sarah Sandbach, Natalia Ramirez, and Sarita Bhatt. Fact-check by Diane Kelley. Sound design by Mira Burt-Wintonick with additional engineering by Joe Plourde. Our storyteller this week is Sy Montgomery. Transcription by Caleb Codding. Our advisors are Theanne Griffith, Aliyah Elijah, Dominique Shabazz, John Green, Liza Steinberg-Demby, Tara Welty, and Alice Wong.

Terrestrials is supported in part by Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation.

HEY GROWN-UPS!
Love the show? Leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review on your podcast app—it helps curious listeners find us!

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts about Terrestrials with us.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for bite-sized essays, activities, and ways to connect with the show.
Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for behind-the-scenes extras and more.
Listen to original music from Terrestrials on Spotify, Apple Music, or our music page.

Got a badgering question for the team? Email us at terrestrialspodcast@wnyc.org or submit a voice memo with your name, age, and your question using this form!

Terrestrials is made possible in part by listeners like you. Support the show by joining Radiolab’s membership program, The Lab—and we’ll send you a special thank-you gift from our team!