Points North
Points North is an award-winning podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. Through narrative, sound-rich journalism that is deeply rooted in a sense of place, each episode entertains, informs, and surprises listeners everywhere.
Natural Sciences
Science
Personal Journals
Society & Culture
Social Sciences
Nature
Documentary
News
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 17 minutes
- Episodes
- 98
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
The Iceman Giveth, The Iceman Taketh
This is a tale of two cyclists, one legendary race, and an unlikely rivalry.
00:18:46 |
Fri 06 Dec 2024
Saving David
One minute David Holtfreter was kayaking on Lake Michigan; the next he was in the water, fighting for his life. A fisherman saw David struggling from the shore and swam out about 200 yards to rescue …
00:22:22 |
Fri 22 Nov 2024
Presenting Atlas Obscura: The Mysterious Sinkholes of Mount Baldy
One family’s visit to a famous Indiana sand dune turns into a wild tale of a missing boy and mysterious tunnels.
00:12:28 |
Fri 08 Nov 2024
The Biggest Buck That Maybe Never Was
In 1998, a hunter named Mitch Rompola claimed he’d shot the biggest whitetail in North America. It was all over the news, and people waited in anticipation for it to be entered in the record books. B…
00:17:44 |
Fri 25 Oct 2024
A New Hope for Anishinaabemowin
Last December, Theresa Eischen was watching the news when a story caught her attention. The original Star Wars film was being translated into Anishinaabemowin, an endangered language. Theresa had zer…
00:15:20 |
Fri 11 Oct 2024
The Last to Leave
A researcher in Ohio was surrounded by hundreds of dead ash trees. They had been wiped out by this beetle called the emerald ash borer. But then, in that same forest, she found a lone tree thriving. …
00:14:36 |
Fri 27 Sep 2024
Labor of Mixed Emotions
For more than 20 years, Nic Theisen has spent his days on his hands and knees in the dirt farming. It’s a tough way to make a living, and for years Nic didn’t always know if the farm would make it. U…
00:16:51 |
Fri 13 Sep 2024
A Natural Ending
Peter Quakenbush’s dream is to create a conservation burial forest – a place that would both preserve the woods and give people the option to be buried in nature. But not everyone is on board with th…
00:17:56 |
Fri 30 Aug 2024
Frankenfish
Lake trout are on life support in Lake Michigan. Every year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spends tens of millions of dollars raising and stocking them. But what if there was another way: geneti…
00:22:34 |
Fri 16 Aug 2024
Shooting a Unicorn
Two guys are hunting coyotes in Michigan. All of a sudden, they say they lure in the biggest coyote they’ve ever seen and kill it. But, it turns out, it’s not a coyote at all; it’s a federally endang…
00:19:49 |
Fri 02 Aug 2024
Pedaling to the Beat of His Own Drum
There’s this biker in the Upper Peninsula. Seems like everybody knows him or knows of him. He competes in some of the most challenging mountain bike races, but he doesn’t even ride a mountain bike. H…
00:14:27 |
Fri 19 Jul 2024
Presenting Curious City: Lake Michigan’s Legendary ‘Shark Attack’
We think of the Great Lakes as shark-free, but as legend has it, a young boy named George Lawson was attacked by a shark while swimming in Lake Michigan near Chicago in 1955. Is this story true or ju…
00:09:22 |
Fri 05 Jul 2024
Copper Country’s Conundrum
Copper is a key metal for renewable energy, and experts say we’re going to need a lot more of it to transition to clean energy. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is Copper Country. Some see copper mining as…
00:22:27 |
Fri 21 Jun 2024
To Catch An Arsonist
It’s a dry spring – 1984 in Wisconsin – and all these suspicious fires are popping up. A conservation warden named Dave is pretty sure it’s arson, but he can’t catch a break. So, he and a pilot decid…
00:14:21 |
Fri 07 Jun 2024
A Struggle for Justice
More than 120 years ago, a Native American village in northern Michigan was burned down at the behest of a white land speculator. Now, the descendants of that village want the federal government to k…
00:27:03 |
Fri 24 May 2024
Presenting Out There: Too Good To Be True?
Donna Martino stuck a photograph from the newspaper of a handsome kayaker on her fridge. A few months later, Donna matched with the guy on a dating website, and they decided to go out. This story is …
00:24:08 |
Fri 10 May 2024
More Than a Filet of Fish
Iceland has figured out how to use almost 100% of every fish caught – not just the filet. By making things like durable leather, beauty products, and skin graft bandages, it’s increased the value of …
00:16:06 |
Fri 26 Apr 2024
The Quest for Kiyi
Small, silvery fish called kiyi used to roam the deep, cold waters of nearly every Great Lake. Remnant populations still exist in Lake Superior, and scientists are wondering: Can we find them? And br…
00:11:20 |
Fri 12 Apr 2024
Not Always the Apex Predator
When hunter Ben Karasch sees something move out of the corner of his eye, he assumes it’s a deer. But as Karasch gets a better look, he realizes it’s not a deer, it’s a cougar. And it’s slowly creepi…
00:13:41 |
Fri 29 Mar 2024
Olympic Dream Takes a U.P. Village
When U.P. snowboarder Nick Baumgartner lost in a qualifying round at the 2022 Olympics, he broke down on national TV. It was his fourth Olympics, he’d never medaled, and he was 40 years old. He might…
00:19:39 |
Fri 15 Mar 2024
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