Advertise on podcast: Wonder Cabinet

Writer and ecologist Sophie Strand thinks at a scale that can feel dizzying—in the best way. In a single conversation, she can move from the chemical structure of cells to mushroom spores, from ancient weather gods to mycorrhizal fungi, from Bronze Age collapse to the slow intelligence of soil. In this episode of Wonder Cabinet, we talk with Strand about wonder that doesn’t float upward but roots downward—into bodies, ecosystems, decay, and deep time. We begin with her essay “Your Body Is an Ancestor,” published shortly before Halloween and the Day of the Dead, and follow her imagery into our shared prehistoric past.  The conversation also explores how Strand’s experience of chronic illness reshaped her understanding of nature, selfhood, and health. Rather than seeing the sick body as broken, she turns to ecological metaphors: spider webs, soil structures, caterpillars dissolving inside cocoons. What might it mean to understand ourselves not as machines that fail, but as landscapes that change? Along the way, we talk about fantasy and “romantasy,” Tolkien, Harry Potter, Dramione fan fiction and communal storytelling rituals.  This is a conversation about wonder with dirt under its fingernails: embodied, mythic, ecological, and deeply alive to the cycles of death and regeneration that bind us all. --- Substack: "Your Body is an Ancestor": https://sophiestrand.substack.com/p/your-body-is-an-ancestor Sophie Strand’s website:  https://sophiestrand.com/ You can follow her work on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmogyny/ Follow her on Substack:  https://substack.com/@sophiestrand Order her memoir:  https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sophie-strand/the-body-is-a-doorway-a-memoir/9780762487417/?lens=running-press --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Meet Sophie Strand00:04:34 Body as Ancestor00:10:08 Roots of Sin00:18:21 Spores and Consciousness00:27:49 Stories We Can't Explain00:35:39 Science as Wonder --- If you love Wonder Cabinet, sign up for email updates and never miss an episode. https://wondercabinetproductions.com/

You know that moment of amazed surprise when you encounter something so unexpected that it feels almost magical? Welcome to “Wonder Cabinet,” the new podcast from the creators of the Peabody Award-winning public radio show “To the Best of Our Knowledge.”  Each week, Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson host intimate conversations with leading scientists, poets and philosophers about the mystery of the cosmos, the deep intelligence of the Earth, and ideas to re-enchant everyday life. These are expansive interviews about experiences of wonder and transcendence – and ideas that open new doors.  We’re living through a period of turbulent change, so there's a question we’re asking: what would happen if we let wonder be our guide -- not as an escape from reality, but as a way to inhabit it more deeply?  The first two episodes of “Wonder Cabinet” premiere on January 31, and new editions will be released weekly on Saturdays.  Visit https://wondercabinetproductions.com

Anne and Steve’s new podcast will be about nature, science and wonder – plus, myths, fairy tales, poetry and the unconscious. Anne gives us a quick preview and promises more to come. Wonder Cabinet will drop right here in this feed in January 2026, so keep your subscription active! To follow Wonder Cabinet, sign up here:  https://wondercabinetproductions.com/