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Connections
Connections

One Cubic Foot

By Racquel Stephen,
Elissa Orlando, Julie Williams
Published August 18, 2025 at 2:05 PM EDT
Five people wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man front left has short grey hair and is wearing a blue button-down shirt with khaki pants; a woman front right has long blonde hair and is wearing a white short-sleeved dress; a man back left is wearing a black baseball cap and a grey polo shirt; a man back right has a dark goatee and is wearing a yellow baseball cap and a white button-down shirt with a multi-colored fish pattern; a woman at center has short blonde hair and is wearing a large gold necklace, red long-sleeved shirt and ripped jeans.
1 of 6  — (foreground) David Liittschwager and Pamela Reed Sanchez, (background) Tom Snyder and Chris Meyer with host Racquel Stephen on "Connections"
(foreground) David Liittschwager and Pamela Reed Sanchez, (background) Tom Snyder and Chris Meyer with host Racquel Stephen on "Connections" on Monday, August 18, 2025
Mari Tuschiya / WXXI News
A murky river is surrounded by bushes and trees.
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The 2015 One Cubic Foot spot as it looked then.
Provided
A river bank has plants, trees and bushes.
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The 2015 One Cubic Foot spot as seen in 2025
Provided
The bank of a murky river is covered in trees, plants and branches.
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The chosen spot for the 2025 One Cubic Foot project
Provided
A man photographs people working at microscopes at a table under a tent.
5 of 6  — 20250815_170357 (1).jpg
Documentation of species from the project
Provided
A man photographs someone working at a microscope at a table under a tent.
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Documentation of species at the zoo
Provided

Photographer David Liittschwager and a team from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History are back in the Genesee documenting one cubic foot of the river’s environment in partnership with the Seneca Park Zoo.

In studio:

Connections
Racquel Stephen
Racquel Stephen is WXXI's health, equity and community reporter and producer. She holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Rochester and a master's degree in broadcasting and digital journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
See stories by Racquel Stephen
Elissa Orlando
Elissa Orlando is a producer for “Connections with Evan Dawson.” She returns part-time to WXXI News after stepping back from a long career in public media and in translational science.
See stories by Elissa Orlando
Julie Williams
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.
See stories by Julie Williams