Can DOGS talk? Plants feel and talk (NOVA PBS)

• Plants are conscious, emit sounds, and can TALK?

Can Dogs Talk? | full documentary | NOVA | PBS

Of course we can talk! Are y'all deaf?

(NOVA PBS Official) Premiered Feb. 4, 2026: Do speech buttons really allow dogs to talk to us? Scientists investigate.

Imagine a world where our furry best friends could tell us exactly what they're thinking. A growing number of dog owners claim this is already happening, thanks to innovative word buttons that seem to unlock a new realm of canine communication.

What is it, Fido? - Umm, you gonna eat that?

But are these dogs truly understanding what we’re saying — and talking back? Are they really thinking creatively, applying words in new contexts? Or is this just clever conditioning?

What is he trying to say, Venerable? - He's tired during our 2,300-mile Peace Walk.

.

We've been talking all along.

To find out, scientists are conducting the largest animal communication study in history, analyzing millions of button presses from thousands of dogs worldwide.

Witness astonishing moments that challenge our assumptions about animal intelligence, from dogs that seem to engage in conversations to those who learn new words with incredible speed.

Viewers must prepare to question everything they thought they knew about the minds of dogs and discover just how far their linguistic abilities might stretch.

CHAPTERS

• 00:00 Introduction
• 05:37 Studying button-pushing dogs
• 16:06 Do dogs understand words?
• 24:26 Human-dog relationships
• 34:33 Multi-button responses: productivity
• 49:54 Conclusion

© 2026 WGBH Educational Foundation. All rights reserved. This program was produced by GBH, which is solely responsible for its content. This program is made possible by viewers like your neighbor. Support local PBS station: pbs.org/donate. #novapbs

• There's the Israeli Mossad Agent Jeffrey Epstein-supporting Jewish MIT linguist Prof. Noam Chomsky, but who's Nim Chimpsky?
• The Secret Life of Plants: A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man
• Plants are conscious, emit sounds, TALK
• NOVA (PBS), Feb. 4, 2026; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

'Fight till Death' in Human/Animal World

Countless worlds in 31 Planes of Existence

What deeds (karma in Buddhism) lead to rebirth in the animal womb (tiracchana yoni). The simple answer is breaking any of the Five Precepts. Upholding these moral precepts is the basic minimum to ever be reborn on the human plane.

Animals in the Buddhist worldview are believed to inhabit a distinct "world" (loka) that is separat from humans. But the dividing line is not in space. Rather, it is in terms of state of mind. This "Animal Womb" (Sanskrit Tiryag-yoni, Pāli Tiracchāna-yoni) World is part of the downfall (apaya).

Rebirth as an animal is considered very unfortunate -- even though some animals are very beautiful, long lived, and treated well due to previous karma. In general, rebirth as an animal involves much more suffering than is found in the human world (manusya-loka).

The real "human world" we don't see

Humans live long lives in peace and prosperity...not here, but in other human worlds.

 

We think we understand the "human plane" because we are living on it. We do not. We do not understand even a fraction of human life on this plane, which we are told is a "plane(t)" and no one is allowed to question that and be taken seriously.

There are countless "human" worlds existing in "world systems" in all directions in space. But just here, wherever "here" is, the Buddha spoke of four "lights" or "islands" (dipas, usually translated as "continents," but they are more likely other divisions, places, dimensions because the strange beings that inhabit them are very different from the ordinary "humans" we take for granted all around us). What is behind the Ice Wall, the next human subdivision or "continent"?

• FOUR "HUMAN" WORLDS right here, main divisions: (1) Jambu-dīpa, located in the south (of the axis mundi Mt. Sumeru (a "mountain" too big to be an actual peak here like holy Mt. Kailash, K2, Everest, or the even taller Mauna Kea when measured from base to peak as one would normally measure anything), named after the Jambu tree, with human beings who are five to six feet tall and length of life currently at 120 years (though varying between 10 years at its lowest ebb and 80,000 at its height); (2) Pubbavideha located in the east, named after the acacia tree, similar to Yggdrasil the "world tree" in Norse mythology, with humanoid people about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in height, living for an average of 700 years; (3) Aparagoyāna located in the west, named after a giant Kadamba tree (Anthocephalus chinensis), with humanoid inhabitants living not in houses but sleeping on the ground, standing about 24 feet (7.3 m) tall and living for 500 years (though usually 500 just means "a long time"); (4) Uttarakuru, located in the north, with a giant tree called a Kapparukkha, an "aeon-tree," because it lasts for the entire kappa (Pali) or kalpa (Sanskrit) with humanoid inhabitants living in cities built in the air/sky/space (akasha), extraordinarily wealthy, not needing to work for a living – with food that grows by itself – having no private property, standing about 48 feet (15 m) tall and living for 1,000 years under the protection of Vaiśravaṇa.
• (Does any of this sound like "our 'planet' or 'human world,'" the one we know as we travel around? Or maybe The Jetsons were onto something.) More unbelievable details: The Earthly Realms in Buddhist cosmology
• There are almost certainly more of these, as spoken of in Vedic, Hindu, and Jain texts, with a series of planes inside, below ground: Agartha (Hollow Earth).

The Animal World

Help, I'm drowning, I'm drowning in samsara!

The Buddhist commentaries (tika) depict the many types of suffering associated with the animal world. Even when human beings are not present to torture, imprison, slaughter, and devour them, they are attacked by other animals and ripped to shreds -- or live in fear of it. They endure extreme changes of environment throughout the year and have no secure habitation.

Animals that live among humans are often groomed, molested, experimented on, then slaughtered for their bodies, or captured and forced to work with beatings until they are slaughtered at the premature end of their miserable lives.

This is nice. Diane and I are rich and live well!

Moreover, animals as a rule suffer from ignorance even more than humans, not knowing or understanding with any clarity what is happening to them or why. And they are unable to do much about it, acting primarily on instinct, if they can manage to figure anything out. Some animals understand what is going on, remembering past lives and wondering why humans cannot hear them or respond to their feelings and cries and complaints. (See an animal communicator if this seems impossible to believe). More

• Animals in Buddhism
• Animals in Buddhist mythology
• Animals talk in the Buddha's Jataka Tales
• Buddhist vegetarianism
• Sentient (feeling) beings (Buddhism)
• Animal rights in Indian religions
• Saṃsāra (Wheel of Rebirth and Death)
• Hayagriva (Buddhism)
• Cattle slaughter in Buddhist Sri Lanka

Slayer: “Fight till Death”

(Slayer) We were living like animals "In Praise of Death," only living to die (and Hell Awaits)

Will the Eagle conquer the Serpent?

Metal and men clash once more to the end/ Warriors above, with the power to kill, descend/ Militia of blood, troops of hate march to die/ Soldiers of Hell, veterans of death arise

[CHORUS:] Prepare for attack/ Your body will burn/ Endless war/ There's no return/ Prepare for attack/ Death will arrive/ Your orders are clear/ No way to hide/ Fight till death

Senseless death of all mankind overtakes/ Armored assassins destroy, at will, your escape/ Children of sorrow are trampled into the grave/ There is no future, no fucking world to be saved [CHORUS]

 

To reign in Hell [guitar solo: Jeff Hanneman]/ Gods of steel unleash their destruction on man/ Reign of death, what is the final command?/ Scepters of hate are dropped upon this Earth/ Clouds of terror destroy all hope of rebirth [CHORUS]

Prepare for attack/ Your body will burn/ Endless war/ There's no return/ Prepare for attack/ Death will arrive/ Your orders are clear/ No way to hide/ Fight till death/ Fight till death/ Fight till death/ Fight till death.

• Slayer; Seth Auberon, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Wolves are a keystone species to save

Justine Block | Facebook: Wolves need to be relisted on the endangered species list.

It's counterintuitive, but it'll work.

If I had to give one good reason to relist wolves on the endangered species list, it would be because they are a keystone species. Full stop. Their reintroduction will save the forest. The Native Americans knew it, and we forgot it and nearly lost all the wooded land. Now it's time to bring them back by protecting them as a vital part of nature. Join me in the campaign to save all animals but particularly the species central to the health of our woodlands.

Forget wolves. We're charismatic megafauna apex predators

• Wolves are a critical Keystone Species in a healthy ecosystem | Wolf Conservation Center

Wolves: A Critical Keystone Species

Nature knows best. Bring back the animals.

An ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. It includes all of the living things interacting with each other and non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere) in a given area. In an ecosystem, all species rely on each other, and each organism has its’ own niche or role to play. A keystone species is a plant or animal that plays a disproportionately large role in the ecosystem – impacting both the prevalence and population levels of other species within their community. More

How wolves, apex predators, change and can save rivers

The only good wolf is a wolf that doesn't mess with my livestock

• Wolves, A Keystone Species - Living with Wolves
• The Importance of Wolves | California Wolf Center
• The surprising role of gray wolves in ecosystem dynamics | ASU News
• Wolves: A Violent Past and a Promising Future for a Vital Keystone Species
• Celebrating National Wolf Awareness Week: Honoring these essential keystone species | Born Free USA

Wendigo...Werewolves: 'W' flesh-eaters

This is a real Texas security cam image showing a witch skin-walker? Wendigo? Hoaxer? Dogman? Werewolf/wolfman cryptid with odd gait for a man in a costume? (magazine.todo)

Nothing to see here. Oh, that? That's just light and shadow illusion. Tree stump? Loose bark?

.

The Buddha reasons with abusive Alavaka.

What does Buddhism know about cryptids? Buddhism, like the other older Dharmic religions Vedic Brahmanism (now morphed into Hinduism) and Jainism, have long history of acknowledging non-human creatures in, on, and above the earth. There are monsters, ogres, reptilians, shapeshifters, gnomes, fairies, avians, and giants (maras. yakkhas, nagas, petas, kumbhandas, bhumi-devas, garudas, and asuras respectively). Among these, the cannibal ghouls known as ogres (yakkhas, yakshas, rakshasas, yakshis, yetis) are very smart humanoid creatures.

Ancient Greek Dolon lycanthrope (lekythos)

They are able to communicate with humans, take human "wives," and be reasoned with except in their ferocity and rapacity. They are sometimes in possession of advanced ET technology and dwellings, with psychic powers and preternatural strength, fierce emotions and lust. They are very dangerous and liable to attack humans. The most famous one found in Buddhist sutras is the Yakkha Alavaka. Others dwell in the Himalayas and in woodland, forests, and wilderness areas.

Some Natives not only saw them, they interacted and sometimes intermarried. They're human.

Is the cryptid Yeti ("Asian Bigfoot") a man or a bear? It is a meh teh (a "man bear")

Joshua Cutchin/Timothy Renner

Dogmen (lycanthropes, humanoid wolves) are real, and the wendigo goes by many W names, according to different Algonquin tribes. Others may have the Sasquatch tribe (hominin cryptids) to contend with, some of which are cannibal rapists and skin-walkers. Not all Bigfoot are bad, just it seems the unattached juveniles wilding and running rampant in the forest, stealing food and violating boundaries.

Not simply an animal species

The elder yakkhas and rakshasas ("forest guardians," "nature protectors") -- with fierce females of the species, the yakshis and yetis -- can't always rein in the youths entering puberty or their rutting season and must cut them loose. They then violate a cardinal rule to avoid human tribes.

Because these creatures are not strictly flesh and bone but in possession of technology or the paranormal ability to transform into orbs, alight in the middle of a field after a long set of footprints or enter the earth through crevices, caves, caverns, tunnels, or straight into rock (as with the rock-dwelling Tahquitz), tracking them is dangerous and confounding. Search parties become cases of high strangeness.

• Native American soul-stealing beast 'Tahquitz' comes alive in Riverside art exhibition | KPCC: NPR News for SoCal

Windigo: The Flesh-Eating Monster of Native American Legend | Monstrum

.

Portals: Teleport in, phase shifted disappearances

(Storied) This cannibal monster (yakkha, yakshi, rakshasa, naga, yeti, sasquatch) hunts during the coldest time of the year, traveling with the snow to terrorize humans with its insatiable hunger.

Ignore folklore. Come into the woods 

Armed with sharp claws and teeth and capable of running with incredible speed, the wendigo, or windigo, is a lesson in excess and a manifestation of the anxieties that emerge in the harsh realities of winter — to survive it.

Explore the symbolic interpretations of the wendigo with Dr. Emily Zarka, who explains how this Native American legend can teach us about the spiritual beliefs and social values of the early indigenous peoples of North America.

Forest Service puts up joke signs, pamphlets?

#windigo #wendigo #cannibal #MonstrumPBS #wendigomovie #wendigoart 

Huge thanks to Dr. Will Oxford (Department of Linguistics at the University of Manitoba) for his time and assistance with the various pronunciations and spellings of the Algonquian languages used in this episode.

Islam knows wilderness monster jinn (djinn, genies)

Ancient Asian depictions of ogres (the jinn, djinn)

Killer origins of the werewolf | Monstrum

(Storied) Long before a full moon could transform a human into a beast, the werewolf (lycanthrope) was present across the literature, lore, and mythologies of ancient Europe. Whether a punishment for the wicked, a cure for the unlucky, or a blessing for the strong, the human to wolf shapeshifter is almost always violent. Real wolves posed a real threat to humans and their livestock, but how did these predators come to be associated with cannibalism, sorcery, and mental illness (lunacy)? The first in a two-part series, featuring werewolf expert and Gothic scholar Dr. Kaja Franck, this episode tackles the rise of the werewolf in its myriad forms, looking at what happened when Catholicism/Christianity interceded and turned the werewolf into the embodiment of evil — a change that reached its devastating climax with the persecution and execution of accused werewolves and the murder of countless wolves. #werewolf #mythology #werewolftrials #MonstrumPBS

The jinn are as real to Muslims as drags were to ancient Christians

(Storied) Monstrum takes a look at Nordic history of trolls

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• 

  American Cryptids (K.W. Irish)

  Algonquian Spirit: Contemporary Translations of the Algonquian Literatures of North America, Ed. Brian Swann, University of Nebraska Press, 2005.
• Atwood, Margaret. Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature, Clarendon Press, 1995.
• Barnick, Adam. “The Shape of the Wendigo.” Glass Eye Pix, YouTube, 17 Oct. 2015, • THE SHAPE OF THE WENDIGO.
• Blackwood, Algernon. “The Wendigo.” The lost valley and other stories…Illus. W. Graham Robertson, Vaughan & Gomme, 1914, pp. 71-132.
• DeSanti, Brady. “The Cannibal Talking Head: The Portrayal of the Windigo ‘Monster’ in Popular Culture and Ojibwe Traditions.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Vol. 27, No. 3, Fall 2015, pp. 186-201.
• Englehart, Steve. “Spawn of the Flesh-Eater!” The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1, Issue 162, April 1973.



Bigfoot and the Tripwire

• Harring, Sidney. “The Wendigo Killings: The Legal Penetration of Canadian Law into the Spirit World of the Ojibwa and Cree Indians.” Violent Crimes in North American, Ed. Louis A. Knafla, Praeger Publishers, 2003, pp.75-104.
• Johnson, Basil. The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway, HarperCollins, 1995.
• Schwarz, Herbert T. Windigo and Other Tales of the Ojibways, Illus. Norval Morrisseau, McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1969.
• Smallman, Shawn. “Spirit Beings, Mental Illness, and Murder: Fur Traders and the Windigo in Canada’s Boreal Forest, 1774 to 1935.” Ethnohistory, Vol. 57, No. 4, 2010, pp. 571–596.
• “The Orders of the Dreamed”: George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth, 1823, Eds. Jennifer S.H. Brown and Robert Brightman, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1988.
• Vess, Charles. “Cry of the Wendigo!” Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 1, Issue 277, June 1986. Windigo: An Anthology of Fact and Fantastic Fiction, Ed. John Robert Colombo, Western Producer Prairie Books, 1982.
• Written and hosted by Dr. Emily Zarka. Director: David Schulte. Executive Producer: Amanda Fox. Producer: Stephanie Noone. Illustrator: Samuel Allen. Editor: Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios. Instagram: monstrumPBS
• Monstrum, Storied, Oct. 21, 2021, PBS; Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Why would anyone hate SSSniperWolf?

Spill, 11/16/24; Bela, Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

YouTube's biggest react creator loses it, commits crime on livestream (SSSniperWolf)

(Spill) The jacksfilms versus SSSniperWolf saga has taken a dark turn, escalating from virtual feud to real-world criminality.

Is she really a wolf, or is it just an act?

The public is outraged, causing thousands of fans to unsubscribe amid the backlash. A petition to deplatform the creator Wolfie has almost reached its goal.

And past drama resurfaces, revealing SSSniperWolf’s questionable behavior. When a feud verges on dangerous grounds, what point is it too far? Let’s unravel the feud gone wrong.

[Music Licenses] Code: F796XAJOKLDWAJEG, W0QGMSMKRSQ5KV7I, JVYGBQ6RXIDB28I1, RNEAYX1QABG3XDIP, WJJKEHK6CV7XN5PX, UCI4FN8DYTQYSA7Vk, OEWWF2XBQOEBANQW, EQX0JFX74MJKQGWC, ZIIVUDHN0NNV5CZU, NNHG6PJLOSZXI6C7, GSHQOKE62HBH7XU2, H3L2E5IVOFUJXICF, UXZEMLZCH3EZP6TT, P44FFCBIPONG2QRM

Native American poetry with Justine Chan

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Xochitl (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Firehouse (@thefirehousejt)

In the spring as Beth Upton's Joshua Tree meditation retreat was winding down at Dhamma Dena, we realized that civilization was not that far away. On one side there are the Joshua Tree Festival Grounds by the dry lake (home of BhaktiFest). On the other is an odd building with big doors. It's an oasis of culture in the high desert called The Firehouse, a performance space where a firehouse used to be. Justine Chan was reading.

Should You Lose All Reason(s) by poet and Zion National Park Ranger Justine Chan (justinechan.com) is at times scorching, at times brimming with awe and desire. Her topic? Coyote-centric Southern Paiute tribe folktales.

• Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin

This debut book of poems resonates with a brilliance, retelling ancient Native narratives, handed down for generations as American Indians explained the natural world to themselves.

Everyone was striving for jhana with Upton.

Seattle resident Justine Chan worked as a park ranger at Zion National Park, where she was very moved by the native flora, fauna, and culture. As the only Asian American ranger at Zion, she chose to retell a Southern Paiute Native American folktale for her weekly evening program on coyotes.

The more that long, hot summer unfolded, the more time she spent alone in the desert, the more she retold the story, the more the story became her life.

In that mental space, she began to write. Should You Lose All Reason(s) is unafraid of looking hard -- back, down, towards, around, forward, at the stories we tell, at herself, at the desert, at the sun, at everything.

Forty days in, we breathed, and the pic snapped.

In conversation with that ancient Southern Paiute folktale handed down through the generations, she weaves together a triptych of poems, works both always on the move and stuck, exile in the wilderness.

Drawing from her experiences serving in AmeriCorps, working many summers as a park ranger, and traveling across the United States, she explores race, loneliness, stories, hauntings, family, landscapes and cityscapes, climate change, survival, music, resilience, the West, and America itself. More

Park ranger poet Justine Chan

ABOUT: Justine Chan is a writer, poet, and singer-songwriter from Chicago, who currently lives in Seattle. Should You Lose All Reason(s) (Chin Music Press, 2023) is her initial release. Her work has appeared in Baltimore Review, Beecher’s, Booth, Poetry on Buses, and Midwestern Gothic, among others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Washington and has worked many seasons as a park ranger with the National Park Service.

• Should You Lose All Reason(s) | Justine Chan

Missing native and indigenous women (video)

Xochitl, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

20 days missing in plain sight: The story of Selena Not Afraid

(The Missing Enigma) May 30, 2023. This video covers the case of Native American teenager Selena Not Afraid in Bighorn County, Montana.

• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA facebook.com/mmiwusa
• Patreon: patreon.com/themissingenigma
• Email: YTthemissing@gmail.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php...
• Instagram: instagram.com/the_missing...
• Twitter: twitter.com/MissingEnigma
• Special thanks to Fxllxng for audio support (open.spotify.com/artist/5ynqo...)