Wonderstruck

Plants are our ancient teachers, whispering and nudging… if only we’d listen. Dr. Monica Gagliano is an evolutionary ecologist who has turned the green world into something wonderfully surprising. Her research reveals plants that listen, remember, make choices and even teach one another. Some can sense eclipses before they happen. Others communicate in ways we’re only just beginning to catch up with.

In 2008, Monica did something bold: she stepped out of academia and followed her curiosity into the forest, literally. Blending scientific experimentation with Amazonian plant ceremonies and the guidance of shamans, she helped spark the field now known as plant intelligence. Since then, her work has captured imaginations around the world, appearing in The New York Times and the National Geographic. 

In this episode, we explore:

✦ Pushing back against the scientific status quo

✦ Letting nature show you what it knows

✦ Welcoming indigenous plant teachings into scientific practice

✦ Paying attention as a joyful act of devotion

Monica invites us into a playful and daring question: what do plants actually know… and what might they be trying to tell us?

Chapters

0:00 Intro: Science, wonder, and pushing boundaries

03:03 Initiation on the Great Barrier Reef

12:53 “Plants rescued the scientist in me”

20:57 Monica’s first experiments with plants

27:10 Bringing empathy into science

32:37 "More-than-human" is a place

37:33 It's the human that needs saving

42:44 Indigenous science and plant communication

50:54 The ancient tree that spoke to her

56:14 Trees synchronize during solar eclipse

01:03:51 Attention is the beginning of devotion

Follow Monica:

Mark Vernon is a former priest turned psychotherapist who has spent the last 30 years exploring one central question: how do we find meaning in a secular age?

After a crisis of faith pulled him away from the Church’s inner sanctum in his youth, Mark turned to Plato and Jung in pursuit of a deeper understanding of purpose, connection, and the soul. Today, his writing bridges ancient philosophy, religion, and modern psychology, a powerful triad he also applies to his work as a therapist.

In this episode, we discuss: 

✦  The overwhelm of conflicting meanings and remembering the sacred

✦  The spiritual thread connecting Dante, William Blake, and Jesus

✦  How wonder helps us access the divine

✦  Why psychotherapy is a path for ‘spiritual intelligence’

Mark's work invites us into the depths of wonder and spirituality as a necessity for the soul.

Chapters

0:00 Intro: The modern crisis of meaning

5:08 Psychotherapy and the vertical dimension of life

11:25 The cloud of unknowing and mystical experiences

18:19 Kairos time: Moments of spiritual significance

23:01 William Blake on joy and eternity

27:04 Death as a transcendent and transformative experience

33:08 Early Christianity's deeper mysteries and meanings

40:44 Humility as an expansive spiritual virtue

50:56 Owen Barfield and the evolution of consciousness

57:35 Ontological shocks and transformative experiences

1:02:41 Outro: The importance of sacred experiences

Follow Mark:

What if the cracks in our world aren't flaws, but thresholds into the unknown? In this episode of Wonderstruck, we sit with philosopher, poet, and playful trickster Bayo Akomolafe. Bayo's vision invites us to linger in mystery rather than rush to solutions. He takes us into the unfolding terrain of post-activism, where possibility, not certainty, becomes our guide.

In this conversation, we explore:

✦ How physics becomes philosophy… and poetry offers a new way of seeing

✦ How AI unsettles our ideas of consciousness and what it means to be human

✦ His vision of an “autistic politics,” shaped by those who move differently through the world

✦ The role of sanctuary and sacred spaces in times of upheaval

This is less a conversation of answers than of reimagining; an invitation to pause, to listen otherwise, and to encounter the mystery shimmering inside the fractures of our time. In these transformational times, Bayo is a rare and radical voice, urging us to reimagine how we see the world.

This episode of Wonderstruck invites you into that space. 

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

5:31 Autistic perception and expanded awareness

12:30 AI is redefining intelligence

18:58 The Ship of Theseus and posthumanism

25:50 A moment of wonder at the moon

40:00 Second sound and postactivism 

55:38 Liminality and the Cracks

1:06:50 Death, Eshu and Jesus as trickster 

1:14:51 Making sanctuary and examining life's glitches

Follow Bayo:

Fungi are everywhere. Under our feet, in our food, in our medicines. Yet they remain one of the most overlooked kingdoms of life. 

In this episode of Wonderstruck, we speak to mycologist Giuliana Furci, a self-taught champion for fungi and founder of the first NGO in the world dedicated to fungal conservation, the Fungi Foundation. She reveals how mushrooms shape ecosystems, inspire culture, and hold ancient knowledge. They are alchemists of decay, transforming death and toxins into the fertile ground of new life. From sacred candlelit ceremonies to songs created with a cloud forest that has rights, Giuliana’s stories may change how you see the world forever.

We explore:

• How fungi sustain life on Earth and make our survival possible
• Documenting indigenous relationships with fungi, from birth control to healing
• The Song of the Cedars with Robert Macfarlane, Cosmo Sheldrake, César Rodríguez-Garavito 
• Sacred mushrooms, Mazatec culture and Maria Sabina
• Why protecting fungi may shape the future of our planet

Giuliana’s story is a testament to what can happen when we follow our calling and, in the words of Giuliana's mother, that something doesn't have to be done in order for us to do it! 

Chapters: 

0:00 Intro: A fateful encounter with fungi

5:56 Mycology 101: Fungi's role in life on Earth

9:37 Studying fungi with experience and intuition

15:07 Don Pfister’s invitation to Harvard

23:13 The Song of the Cedars and forest rights

30:13 Documenting indigenous relationships with fungi

37:38 Surprising fungal uses across cultures

41:27 Fungi communication and sacred ceremonies

47:49 National Geographic award and impact

Follow Giuliana: 

A lot of what Jeffrey Kripal writes about and explores doesn’t fit into our current worldview. A professor at Rice University, where he holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought, Jeff specializes in extreme religious experiences, a new comparativism in the study of religion, the paranormal, and the extraordinary dimensions of human existence. He helped create the groundbreaking GEM Program (Gnosticism, Esotericism, and Mysticism) and serves on the board of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California.

From UFOs/UAPs to near-death experiences, psi phenomena, and mystical visitations, Jeff’s work challenges us to rethink reality itself. As he puts it, “The paranormal is trying to get our attention. Reality is not what we think it is.” His 13 books, including Authors of the Impossible, Mutants and Mystics, The Flip, How to Think Impossibly, and the upcoming three-volume set The Super Story, invite readers to explore the limits of current-day thought and the vast potential of the unknown.

In this conversation, we dive into grief, humor, and the transcendent. Jeff suggests that laughter can help us step outside our worldview, grief can open us to the impossible, and humanity’s tendency to dismiss the extraordinary may actually conceal profound truths. With meaningful observations like “Certainty is a big problem” and “Reality is transcending itself,” Jeff invites us to embrace the mysteries that defy explanation and to see the impossible as a gateway to deeper understanding.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro: Reality is not what we think

5:31 Psychoanalysis and spiritual experiences

13:17 John Mack's UFO research at Harvard

18:06 The impossible and expanding worldviews

24:04 Consciousness: brain vs. perception models

29:31 Grief, humor and paranormal experiences

36:44 UFOs as a "wedge issue" in science

43:17 Historical perspectives on UFO phenomena

50:46 Wonder, awe and the "impossible"

About Wonderstruck:

The Wonderstruck Podcast with Elizabeth Rovere is a deep yet lighthearted exploration of the mystical, metaphysical, transcendent, transformative, esoteric, and ecstatic aspects of human experience. It bridges science, spirituality, and philosophy through engaging conversations with scientists, scholars, experts, and experiencers.

In this season of the Wonderstruck Podcast, we delve into the profound mysteries of existence, exploring the depths of human consciousness, spirituality, and the interconnectedness of life. Through engaging conversations with professors, neuroscientists, comedians, healers, poets, psychotherapists, group therapists, philosophers, activists, and authors,we invite listeners to challenge conventional thinking and embrace a multidimensional understanding of reality.

Wonderstruck Links:

https://wonderstruck.org

https://www.instagram.com/wonderstruckpod/

https://www.youtube.com/@wonderstruckpod

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wonderstruck/id1671879661

https://open.spotify.com/show/6fS5boWGwYTShddG7SKlVw