Wonder, evidence, and the unknown.
Wild Thing is a measured, interview-rich exploration of big unknowns, from exoplanets and Mars to Arecibo, ancient aliens, and Indigenous futurisms. It treats curiosity seriously while keeping a clear eye on evidence, uncertainty, and the stories people build around both.
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Wild Thing is built for the kind of curiosity that can hold two thoughts at once. The universe is astonishingly large. Evidence still matters. Across its episodes, the show moves from exoplanets and Mars to Venusian phosphine, the Arecibo telescope, Indigenous futurisms, cryptozoology, and arguments over ancient-alien television. It is not a debunking machine, and it is not a credulous mystery show. Its tone is steadier than that. Long interviews give astrophysicists, archaeologists, artists, and science explainers room to explain how they think, where the evidence is strong, and where the public imagination tends to run ahead. That makes the show feel unusually humane. A conversation about Mars can carry the emotional charge of a rover landing. A discussion of Arecibo can shift from asteroid radar to the cultural memory of a message sent into deep space. An interview about ancient aliens can acknowledge the appeal of a conspiracy narrative while still asking what archaeology actually supports. Wild Thing is especially good at translating technical ideas without sanding off their difficulty. Terms like exoplanets, phosphine, the Drake equation, and von Neumann probes are treated as invitations rather than barriers. The show’s skepticism has warmth in it. It pushes against cherry-picking and fringe certainty, but it leaves room for wonder, oral history, art, and the old human wish to find company beyond Earth. Its bonus interviews can be guest-led and expansive. That gives some episodes the feeling of sitting with a smart person who has been waiting years to explain one very strange corner of the world. For PlayNext listeners, Wild Thing works as a thoughtful path through science, myth, and speculation, with enough rigor to steady the imagination and enough imagination to keep the rigor alive.
Made for: For listeners who like science stories with mystery at the edges: space obsessives, folklore-minded skeptics, and anyone drawn to careful conversations about strange claims.
What sets it apart: Wild Thing lets awe and scrutiny coexist. It gives guests room to roam, then keeps returning to the harder question: what does the evidence actually show?
Wild Thing is a long-form, narrative podcast about the obsessions that capture our imaginations. This sound-rich and deeply reported show examines the relationship between science and society—that point where scientific inquiry collides with our very human desire to find answers, even when there are none. Whether it's seeking out Sasquatch, looking skyward for extraterrestrial life, or probing the power of the atom, exploring the unknown helps us better understand ourselves. Every season, host Laura Krantz tackles a brand new topic, so be sure to start with the first episode for each one.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Laura Krantz makes scientific uncertainty concrete by tracing how evidence collides with extraordinary claims, technological ambition, and public fear.
Wild Thing follows Laura Krantz into the uneasy space between scientific evidence and the stories people want to believe. Her interviews and reported narratives move from possible life in Venus's atmosphere and exoplanet research to ancient-alien claims, the loss of the Arecibo…
A reactor accident gets the full dosimeter treatment before your curiosity is allowed near it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A patient exoplanet interview that turns a huge search into something concrete.
Wild Thing uses this bonus interview to trace one line from the Drake equation into the search for exoplanets. The episode moves cleanly from a time when planets around other stars were still mostly a theory to the more concrete era of Kepler, TESS, and James Webb.
A fallen telescope and the work it left behind.
Abel Mendez treats Arecibo as more than a famous telescope. He gives it the weight of a working instrument that mattered in astronomy, even after its collapse in 2020.
A calm, evidence-first critique of Ancient Aliens thinking that also explains why the story keeps landing.
David Anderson treats pseudo-archaeology as a case to be answered, not sneered at. He traces a lot of Ancient Aliens back to older science-fiction ideas, then shows why those stories stick: they turn experts into gatekeepers and make doubt feel like conspiracy.
A careful look at how phosphine research on Venus moved from theory to an urgent question.
Laura Krantz gives the bonus episode a patient, curious pace as it follows a strange question in modern science: whether phosphine could hint at life in Venus's atmosphere. The interview folds two threads together without losing track of either one.
A long life, a stranger-than-fiction trail, and another pass at Sasquatch.
Peter Byrne's life makes the Bigfoot story feel like one branch of a much larger expedition. Dublin childhood, African safari work, Yeti treks, and a late-life search for Sasquatch all sit in the same frame, and the episode gives him enough room to sound like an old field hand…
A reactor disaster story that keeps grief, risk, and the people around it at the center.
The SL1 explosion is treated first as a human catastrophe. Its impact reached far beyond 9.01 p.m. on January 3, 1961, and the piece keeps returning to the people who had to live with it, from Dick Lake, Jack Burns, and Richard McKinley to the wives and children left to sort…
A calm, exacting account of a reactor accident and the uneasy work of tracing its fallout.
Laura Krantz follows the blast into the harder task of tracking what escaped and where it drifted. The episode stays grounded in concrete detail: three dead men, a reactor with no containment building, radioactive material pushed into the desert air, and the patient work of…
Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant explain one topic per episode, from the bicameral mind to Boeing's MCAS.
Multi-part dramatized retellings of scandals like OceanGate's Titan and the Lehman Brothers collapse.
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins dissect Oscar races, new releases, and Hollywood news.
Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen debate new releases, classics, and their own film rankings.
Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas argue their way through terrible movies.
This episode features an interview with artist Frank Buffalo Hyde, exploring his Indigenous perspectives on aliens, art, and identity within the context of Indigenous Futurisms.
Exoplanets start with one Drake equation variable, then Laura Krantz makes the idea feel less abstract through Sara Seeger, an MIT astrophysicist who found a path from dark skies to math, physics, and work.
Arecibo starts with its ending.
David Anderson has strong feelings about Ancient Aliens.
This episode features an interview with planetary scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson discussing NASA's Perseverance rover landing on Mars and the ongoing search for signs of ancient life on the planet.
This bonus episode of Wild Thing features an interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson discussing extraterrestrial life, the vastness of the universe, and his personal journey into astronomy.
This bonus episode of Wild Thing features an interview with Joe Scott from the YouTube series Answers with Joe, discussing fascinating science topics like octopuses, tardigrades, and the rare earth hypothesis.
Phosphine starts as a very hypothetical question.
The host shares recorded letters from listeners recounting their personal encounters with mysterious, Bigfoot-like creatures in rural and wooded settings.
This bonus interview features Virginia Wade, a bestselling erotica author who writes about Sasquatch-themed romance, discussing her work, pen name, and the unexpected nature of her writing career.
This bonus interview episode revisits the 1987 film Harry and the Hendersons with its writer/director William Deere, discussing the movie's plot, rewatchability, and his personal childhood fears.
This bonus interview excerpt honors Jeff Meldrum, discussing his early exposure to Bigfoot through the Patterson-Gimlin film and how it influenced his career in anthropology.
Host interviews Bob Gimlin about his role in the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film and his search for Sasquatch.
This episode previews 'Blood Vines,' a narrative podcast investigating the Lichardi wine dynasty scandal, where a murder case intertwines with a massive fraud involving white zinfandel.
Peter Byrne is 93 and still looking.
Host Laura Krantz announces her new book about Sasquatch and shares an excerpt from the audiobook, describing an expedition into the Olympic Peninsula.
The host visits the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, exploring exhibits on nuclear weapons, energy, and pop culture.
At 9.01 p.m., the SL1 aftermath begins.
This episode examines the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters, exploring the human errors and design flaws that led to them.
This episode details the aftermath of the 1961 SL1 nuclear reactor accident, focusing on the extreme radioactivity of the victims' bodies and the challenges of handling them.
Wild Thing S3 E6, "You Look Radiant," follows the SL-1 reactor explosion and the question of how much radiation escaped into southeastern Idaho.
This episode investigates the 1961 SL-1 nuclear reactor explosion, exploring the scientific and societal implications of the accident.
This episode explores the site of America's deadliest nuclear accident, the SL1 meltdown, and its environmental and historical context.
This episode explores the dawn of the nuclear age, from the atomic bomb's creation to its societal impact.
This episode explores the scientific challenges of creating life in a laboratory and how that relates to the search for extraterrestrial life.
The episode recounts the discovery of an interstellar object by astronomer Robert Warrick and the scientific questions it raises.
Host Laura Krantz announces a new kid-friendly spin-off series, Searching for Wild Thing, and plays its first episode about a Bigfoot sighting.
Host awaits DNA test results from giant ground nests to determine if they were made by Bigfoot.
Host visits the Sasquatch Encounter Discovery Museum and explores the cultural phenomenon of Bigfoot hunting.
This episode explores the divisive debates within the Bigfoot community, particularly between scientific researchers and those who attribute the phenomenon to aliens.
Host Laura Krantz embarks on her first Bigfoot expedition in Oregon's Mount Hood National Forest, exploring the thrill and science behind the search.
This episode explores how DNA analysis can provide evidence for Bigfoot, starting with a discovery of a Denisovan finger bone.
A man recounts his 28-year-old Bigfoot sighting and the obsession that followed, exploring the intersection of science and folklore.
This episode debates the existence of Bigfoot, presenting arguments from believers and skeptics about the physical evidence.
This episode explores the history and mystery of Bigfoot, blending scientific inquiry with cultural obsession.
The host and producer travel to a secret location on the Olympic Peninsula to investigate Sasquatch sightings with a local expert.