Our Fear and Fascination around Snakes

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When writer Stephen S. Hall was a child, he would capture snakes—much to his mother’s chagrin. Now the science journalist is returning to his early fascination In his latest book, Slither: How Nature’s Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World. The book explores our long, complicated relationship with snakes. Plus, Hall chats about humans’ and other animals’ evolved reactivity to the presence of snakes and the adaptations that keep snakes alive in even the most extreme environments. Recommended reading: Slither is out now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/stephen-s-hall/slither/9781538741337/ An Evolutionary ‘Big Bang’ Explains Why Snakes Come in So Many Strange Varieties https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-evolutionary-big-bang-explains-why-snakes-come-in-so-many-strange-varieties/ Venomous Snakes May Spread into Vulnerable Communities because of Climate Change https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/venomous-snakes-are-spreading-because-of-climate-change/ E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:42.1	For scientific American science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:55.1	People are funny about snakes. I remember being taught the rhyme,
0:57.3	Red touches black, you're okay Jack,
0:59.3	red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow in elementary school.
1:03.0	Never mind the fact that we absolutely did not have coral snakes in New Jersey.
1:08.7	My guest today has spent a lot of time exploring our cultural aversion
1:12.7	to and fascination with snakes. Stephen S. Hall is a science writer and the author of seven books.
1:19.8	He's also a teacher of science communication at New York University, Rockefeller University,
1:24.8	and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. His latest book, Slither, How Nature's Most Maligned
1:30.4	Creatures illuminate Our World, is on sale now. Thank you so much for coming into chat. I'm really
1:36.2	looking forward to it. My pleasure to be here. Thank you. First question, why snakes?
1:41.0	There's several answers to that question. One of them is that as a kid, like many kids, I caught snakes, brought them home, put them in terrariums in the garage until my mother screamed when they would get loose and that sort of ended that experiment. I was always fascinated by them because they were so different from other animals and also so beautiful.
2:03.9	There was a real fascination and attraction there.
	...

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