It's Monday, July 30th, 2018, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds. I'm Andrevis Gontas.

And I'm Kishore Hari. Each week, we bring you a new, in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.

We endeavor to endeavor. We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.

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What is the national animal of America? I would guess the eagle? That's probably a good guess. I'm sure we could look it up in 10 seconds. What about Canada? I don't know, like an elk or something like that. So a lot of people think it's the moose. It's not. It is the beaver. And I think Canadians, even though we have, you know,

it's hard to find Canadian culture because the country is so diverse. And we have these kind

of stereotypical things like hockey and maple syrup. But beavers figure pretty prominently in our culture. And

most Canadians are pretty proud of their beavers. So you might be surprised that this week,

I talked to Ben Goldfarb and he wrote a book recently about the secret lives of beavers.

And it's based almost entirely in the U.S.

I don't think listeners can see my face, but are we doing a show on the science of beavers?

Yep.

Okay, I'm confused.

Why?

Why?

Why beavers?

What's going on with them?

So beavers, first off, are remarkably

similar to humans in many ways in which they alter their environment to suit their needs.

...