In 1938, two botanists, Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, made an ambitious voyage down the Colorado River driven by the desire to chronicle the plant life of the American Southwest. In her new book Brave the Wild River, science journalist Melissa Sevigny traces their expedition through the Grand Canyon, which led them through seething rapids and the occasional mishap. Journalists of the day gawked at their gender and the pair were forced to pick up chores labeled as “women’s work." Still, they managed to collect hundreds of plants that hadn't yet been catalogued by researchers. Their observations about desert ecosystems were notable even decades later, as scientists looked to them to learn about how dams had changed the Colorado. Sevigny joins us this week to share the botanists' story and the reporting behind it.
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#524 The Human Network
#523 Happy As A Clam (Garden)
#522 Home Alone?
#521 The Curious Life of Krill
#520 A Closer Look at Objectivism
#519 Animal Architects
#518 With Genetic Knowledge Comes the Need for Counselling
#517 Life in Plastic, Not Fantastic
#516 The Keys to Skeletons Lost
#515 Humanimal
#514 Arctic Energy (Rebroadcast)
#513 Dinosaur Tails
#512 All Over The Map
#511 Ok you worked out, now what?
#510 Gene Drives (Rebroadcast)
#509 Anisogamy: The Beginning of Male and Female
#508 Freedom's Laboratory
#507 Poaching, and We Don't Mean Eggs
#506 Everybody Poops (Rebroadcast)
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