{"podcast":{"title":"Wonder Cabinet","slug":"wonder-cabinet-7409328","podcast_index_feed_id":7409328,"rss_url":"https://publicfeeds.net/f/120/wondercabinet","website_url":"https://www.wondercabinetproductions.com","image_url":"https://f.prxu.org/120/images/68baf269-f9b6-40c1-be6c-30911ff8037b/Show_Cover-Wonder-Cabinet.png","author":"Wonder Cabinet Productions (hello@wondercabinetproductions.com)","episode_count":19,"summary":"Wonder Cabinet is an independent podcast from Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson, Peabody Award-winning creators of public radio's To The Best Of Our Knowledge. For 35 years, that show brought long-form conversations to 200+ stations nationwide; its interviews are now archived in the Library of Congress . Episodes feature intimate, long-form conversations with scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists who are re-imagining our relationship with the planet. Some study black holes or quantum entanglement; others map mycelial networks or count ancient tree rings. And some explore dream worlds, myths, and fairy tales to revive ways of knowing that challenge what we think we understand about the nature of reality. The name references Enlightenment-era cabinets of curiosities—private collections of shells, fossils, astronomical instruments, and saints' relics that existed at a moment when the scientific revolution was still in conversation with older ways of knowing the world. Today, another shift is taking place, as mechanistic models give way to more holistic, relational understandings of life on a sentient planet. Wonder Cabinet lives at that threshold. About the hosts Anne Stra…","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T10:21:12.700956+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328"},"episode":{"title":"Robert Macfarlane: The Soul of Rivers and the Rights of Nature","slug":"robert-macfarlane-the-soul-of-rivers-and-the-rights-of-nature","published_at":"2026-03-07T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328/robert-macfarlane-the-soul-of-rivers-and-the-rights-of-nature","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328","url":"https://wondercabinetproductions.com/robert-macfarlane-the-soul-of-rivers-and-the-rights-of-nature/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/48/dovetail.prxu.org/120/47f7afd3-92b3-4783-8ed6-7f7c684f91ae/MacFarlane_mix_01.mp3","summary":"What if a river is alive–but we’ve forgotten how to recognize it? This is the radical idea at the heart of the global “rights of nature” movement, which seeks to grant rivers, forests and ecosystems legal standing. Rooted in ancient traditions and emerging in modern law, it challenges the notion of nature as property and a resource to be exploited. In “Is a River Alive?” , acclaimed writer and explorer Robert Macfarlane travels to remote waterways in Ecuador, India and Canada, meeting mycologists, Indigenous river-keepers, and activists who see the natural world as animate and ensouled. Known for celebrated books like “Underland,” “The Old Ways,” and “Mountains of the Mind,” Macfarlane blends storytelling, natural history and philosophy in an invitation to reimagine our relationship with the living Earth. If rivers have rights—and perhaps even a kind of consciousness—how would that change the way we see the world? — To the Best of Our Knowledge – Macfarlane describes the allure and our fascination with the underground world of caves, mines, catacombs and glacial shafts beneath the earth's surface. To the Best of Our Knowledge - Macfarlane offers a book recommendation: “The Living Mountain” by the Scottish poet and writer Nan Shepherd. University of Cambridge – Robert Macfarlane’s faculty page — 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:00 Is a River Alive? 00:10:50 Ecuador's Cloud Forest 00:19:40 Chennai's Dying Rivers 00:24:15 Wild River in Quebec Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter.","meta_description":"What if a river is alive–but we’ve forgotten how to recognize it? This is the radical idea at the heart of the global “rights of nature” movement, which s…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2267,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wonder-cabinet-7409328/episodes/robert-macfarlane-the-soul-of-rivers-and-the-rights-of-nature/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328/robert-macfarlane-the-soul-of-rivers-and-the-rights-of-nature.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}