This week on our show we've been talking about trees. We have been sending love letters to trees.

We really did run an episode a couple of days ago where we actually wrote love letters to trees.

Don't make fun of us.

Listen, trees are great.

We love them.

Everybody loves trees, except maybe our guest today.

Trees kill, man, trees kill.

This is Mary Roach, science writer and author most recently of Fuzz when Nature

Breaks the Law. Also, world known tree hater. I found three reports in the Balinese newspapers of people killed by

falling Durians. No Durian has spikes on it, you know, it's like a big heavy thing with

it's like a medieval weapon that falls on you and they like found the

murder weapon right next to the poor guy's body the bloody Durian fruit.

Yeah I don't think until I read your book that the notion of death by Pinecone had ever even crossed my mind.

Like, just the thought of it.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There's a pine called the Coulter Pine. I like that it was it named for Ann Coulter.

It's like this this is a very big heavy pine cone. It's like a bowling ball. These pine cones drop down and if that thing hits you, you're gone. Some of these groves of Coulter Pines, they'll put up a sign that says,

danger, falling pine cones, proceed with caution. I mean...

It would be hard to take seriously until you're lying unconscious on the ground.

Exactly.

I think.

Yeah. Facing that sign, most people will decide to proceed.

They're like, it's a pine cone.

...