Field Notes
Work
Field Notes explores the themes of conservation and hope through a wide lens. Our guests include a moth-er, a wine theologian, Hebrew scholar, an environmental historian and a linguistic philosopher among others. Soundtrack – Jill Phillips & Andy Gullahorn: ‘Only Say the Word’ (instrumental track) from the album ‘The Good Things.’ Used with kind permission. www.andygullahorn.com – www.jillphillips.com
4 episodes featuring Field Notes
The Rest Is Science
A kendama turns catching into a lesson in physics
The episode shows how a simple skill toy exposes the mechanics of balance, prediction, materials, and learning before extending those ideas to swimming and planetary science.
Sep 30, 2026 · 41 min
The Rest Is Science
Fire shaped human minds—and still shapes attention
The episode connects combustion’s hidden chemistry to fire’s possible role in human evolution and its unusual ability to hold attention without exhausting it.
Sep 27, 2026 · 59 min
The Rest Is Science
Victorian codebooks turned telegrams into one-word messages
The episode shows how the economics of telegraphy shaped compressed language, then applies physics and psychology to everyday questions about modern communication and survival.
Sep 16, 2026 · 58 min
The Rest Is Science
A human egg cell anchors the universe’s vastest scale
The episode turns an abstract journey from the Planck length to the observable cosmos into a meditation on scale, uncertainty, and scientific curiosity.
Sep 2, 2026 · 50 min