You think you’re stressed about finding the perfect gift for your picky spouse? Nonhuman animals feel the pressure too, but they have gift-giving down to an adaptive skill.  Find out who gets the spitball … and who gets the mouse kebab.

Click above to listen to part 1 of Handling the Holidays, featuring Adam South, research assistant professor at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, describing the gift-giving behaviors of various animal species.

Handling the Holidays:
Part 1: Adam South / The Season for Giving
Part 2: Mitch Ratcliffe / A Bad Wrap
Part 3: Julie Norem / Positively Pessimistic
Part 4: Steve Ilardi / Candy Crash
Part 5: Elizabeth Margulis / Tis the Earworm

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2026 Webby Award Nominee
for our three part series on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Big Picture Science is an immersive radio show and podcast that reveals the unexpected connections in science.

Our Skeptic Check episodes take a critical look at extraordinary science claims and pseudoscience.

Don’t settle for a science snapshot. Get the big picture. 

Hosted By

Molly Bentley Executive Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science  

Seth Shostak Producer and Co-Host, Big Picture Science
Senior Astronomer, SETI Institute

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