Allie Ward

So let's escape to tales of spooky lakes with illustrator, science communicator, author, artist, and expert in the good soup of haunted hydrology, Gio Rutherford.

Cool.

And your mom is I saw in your book, your mom's Sandra, right?

A science mom.

Well, you're also in the Midwest.

So you got tons of lakes out there.

Yeah.

What's the difference between a reservoir and a lake?

I didn't realize that.

And I didn't realize until your book that a pond is just a very small lake and it's kind of just up to whomever, right?

What about the ones that are seas like the Dead Sea, Salty?

Do salty lakes, do those just keep evaporating until they're a big mud flat for Burning Man?

Like, do those just become saltier and saltier and then they're bye-bye?

Is a bog a lake that's been kind of filled in?

And yes, we need a bogology episode, but a quick rundown according to the article Bogs and Fens.

What's the difference, for Pete's sake, via greatecology.com?

The primary driver that distinguishes a bog from an alkaline fen is that bogs form above the water table from precipitation, but fens are fed mostly through this mineral-rich ground or surface water.

Now, if you've heard of a bog body or a mummified corpse, well, yes, that is a thing.

And it's due to the cold and really acidic water of a bog, which can preserve and then tan the skin.

Now, if you're ever in Dublin, there is a natural history museum there that has bog bodies on display.