Panel: Richard Collins, Éanna Ní Lamhna and Niall Hatch
Reporters: Terry Flanagan and Jim Wilson
In addition to listening to us on RTÉ Radio One at 22:00 every Monday night, don't forget that you can also listen back to each of our programmes any time you like at www.rte.ie/mooney. There, you will find an extensive archive of past broadcasts, conveniently split into different topics and segments.
Tonight's programme features a report from Jim Wilson about a newly arrived invasive alien seaweed species that appears rapidly to be taking hold around the Irish coast. With this in mind, our suggestion from Mooney Goes Wild archives this week is another report from Jim about seaweed. First broadcast in April 2023, it features Jim in conversation with aquatic biologist Frances Gallagher about some of Ireland’s key seaweed species and the amazing benefits that they bring to nature.
To listen to this report from the Mooney Goes Wild archives, visit https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/22242330-seaweed/.
We look at a fascinating new book about trees
We are all big fans of natural history books here at Mooney Goes Wild, as are many of our listeners, we know. A particularly interesting new publication called The Genius Of Trees: How Trees Mastered The Elements And Shaped The World recently came to our attention, and we think that the book-lovers amongst you will enjoy it very much.
Later in tonight’s programme we will be speaking to the book’s author, British tree science consultant Harriet Rix, but Éanna kicks off tonight’s programme by telling us a bit more about what the book reveals about how trees have shaped the world around us. This prompts a fascinating discussion about how plants and other organisms influence evolution and the very course of life on our planet.
For a review of Harriet Rix’s book The Genius of Trees, visit https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/aug/08/the-genius-of-trees-by-harriet-rixreview-how-trees-rule-the-world.
Are trees responsible for humans having fingerprints?
One of the most memorable parts of the book The Genius Of Trees is the suggestion by author Harriet Rix that the logistics of living in trees, where having a good grip is essential, led to the evolution of fingerprints in our primate ancestors, a trait which has been passed down to us modern humans today. As our panellists discuss, other primates, including Chimpanzees, also have fingerprints, as do a few completely unrelated tree-dwelling, non-primate mammals, such as Koalas, suggesting that there very well may be an evolutionary advantage to having wrinkly fingertips. Essentially, according to this theory, no trees would have meant no fingerprints!
For more information about Koala fingerprints and their uncanny resemblance to those of humans, visit https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/koala-fingerprints/.
Why has a new invasive alien seaweed been appearing along our coasts?
Next on tonight’s programme, we go to Cork Harbour, from where Jim Wilson reports on the unexpected appearance of a new species of seaweed on the local mudflats. He has spotted this unusual wire-like plant in increasing quantities in recent years. Wanting to know more, he spoke to renowned Cork-based biologist Pat Smiddy, about this invasive alien species – the catchily named Agarophyton vermiculophyllum – and how it has come to thrive along parts of Ireland’s coast.
Pat recently published a paper about this invasive species, which originally hails from the Sea of Japan, in the Irish Naturalists’Journal. It would appear that international shipping has resulted in the inadvertent transportation of this seaweed to new, far-flung locations, including North America. However, it seems that it was the importation of shellfish for farming purposes that initially brought the species to Ireland, where it was first documented in around 2010. Since then, it has spread rapidly and appears to be thriving. As Pat tells us, stopping it now is impossible; we will just have to learn to live with it.
For more information about the occurrence of Agarophyton vermiculophyllum in Ireland, visit https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Dataset/397/Species/310270.
For more information about the Irish Naturalists’ Journal and to subscribe, visit https://irishnaturalistsjournal.org/.
Domain of the Dinosaurs exhibition
On Saturday 15th November, a fantastic new exhibition will be launched at University College Cork. Entitled Domain of the Dinosaurs, it will be the biggest fossil exhibition ever held in Ireland, and the first to feature Irish dinosaurs. In total, over 5 tonnes of material, including nine huge skeletal casts and over 250 real fossils of dinosaurs and other long-extinct creatures, will be on display, making it a must-visit attraction for anyone with an interest in these prehistoric life.
In the coming weeks, we will be broadcasting a special programme dedicated to this fantastic exhibition, which will run until 12th April 2026. To whet your appetites, as we hear tonight, on next week’s programme we will be giving you a sneak peek of what to expect.
For more information about the Domain of the Dinosaurs exhibition, visit https://www.glucksman.org/exhibitions/domainofthedinosaurs.
Autumn leaves feature on new seasonal stamps from An Post
The beauty of autumn leaves changing colour has been captured by An Post, thanks to its new seasonal stamp issue, called Changing Leaves. Featuring three native species, namely Silver Birch, Rowan and Hawthorn, the colourful leaves depicted on the stamps are embossed with gold foil for extra impact on letters, cards and parcels.
One of Ireland’s foremost botanical artists, Yanny Petters, created the leaf images. The stamps feature her paintings of the distinctive leaf shapes of these common and widespread Irish trees and the vibrant colours they exhibit during the months of autumn.
For tonight’s programme, our roving reporter Terry Flanagan travelled to meet up with Yanny and with Anna McHugh, Head of Corporate Communications with An Post, to find out more.
For more information about An Post’s new Changing Leaves seasonal stamp issue, visit https://www.anpost.com/Shop/Special-issue-stamps/Changing-Leaves-Strip-of-3- National-Stamps.
The Genius of Trees
We know there is so much we have to be thankful for when it comes to trees. They give us the oxygen we breathe and the soil beneath our feet, of course... but there is even more to them than that.
In her new book, The Genius of Trees, British tree science consultant Harriet Rix informs readers about the many, many other things we owe to these remarkable plants that most of us never think about, ranging from the swirl of our fingerprints to perhaps even our dreams.
On tonight’s programme Éanna Ní Lamhna speaks to Harriet about how trees have literally transformed our planet, the effects they have on weather and the transportation of water around the globe and their enormous influence on the ongoing evolution of life on Earth.
For more information about The Genius of Trees, see https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/460052/the-genius-of-trees-by-rixharriet/9781847927828.