Overheard at National Geographic

For centuries, the Northwest Passage, the long-sought sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through northern Canada, was a holy grail of Arctic exploration. Even now, sailing through it isn’t guaranteed. Mark Synnott, a National Geographic Explorer, writer, and adventurer, attempted to sail his own boat through the Northwest Passage to retrace the doomed 1845 expedition of British explorer Sir John Franklin. None of the Franklin expedition’s 129 men made it home, but what exactly happened remains a mystery.   For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Get the inside scoop on Mark’s Northwest Passage voyage and see gorgeous photos in the August issue of National Geographic. Watch Explorer: Lost in the Arctic, premiering August 24 on National Geographic and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. And to go even deeper, Mark will tell the full story in his book Into the Ice, coming fall 2024 from Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group. Also explore: On paper, Sir John Franklin’s expedition seemed to lack for little. There were ironclad ships, steam engines, libraries totaling 2,900 books, and even animal companions—two dogs and a monkey. Here’s how it all went wrong. Explore another polar expedition gone wrong—Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica aboard Endurance—in the Overheard episode “What the Ice Gets, the Ice Keeps.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s a lost continent waiting to be explored, and it’s right below our feet. We’ll dig into the deep human relationship to the underground—and why we understand it from an instinctive point of view, but not so much from a physical one. (Hint: We’re afraid of the dark.) In an episode originally published November 2021, National Geographic photographer Tamara Merino will take us subterranean in Utah, Australia, and Spain, where modern-day cave dwellers teach us how to escape the heat. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Go below ground with National Geographic Explorer Tamara Merino to see how these communities have been living—quite comfortably—for a very long time. In Vietnam photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer Martin Edström created 360 images of the world’s largest cave, Son Doong. It’s so big that a forest grows inside of it. Ever zip-line to a remote island? Cartographers did, 30 miles west of San Francisco. What did they see when they mapped the hard-to-reach landform known as the Farallon Islands? Caves. China is home to some of the most intricate cave systems on the planet. These explorers used a laser scanner to capture never before seen images of undocumented caves. Also explore: South Dakota is famous among cavers for its web of cave mazes. Take a look at what they’ve found under the Black Hills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades, the U.S. government evangelized fire suppression, most famously through Smokey Bear’s wildfire prevention campaign. But as climate change continues to exacerbate wildfire seasons and a growing body of scientific research supports using fire to fight fire, Indigenous groups in the Klamath Basin are reviving cultural burning practices that effectively controlled forest fires for centuries. In an episode originally published June 2022, National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan introduces us to people bringing back this cultural practice and teaching the next generation how to use fire. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? If you want to hear more from Kiliii, you can also listen to a previous Overheard episode where he shares stories from the many weeks he spent camping on sea ice with Native Alaskan whale hunters. And if you’re dying to see his photography, check out his website to see portraits of Indigenous people, Arctic wildlife, and more. Also explore: To learn more about Margo Robbins and her efforts to revive cultural burns, check out our article on the subject. The practice of cultural burning is just one of many subjects that Kiliii and writer Charles Mann covered about the ways Indigenous groups are trying to reclaim sovereignty. Read that cover story here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts is inspired by the stories of the Clotilda, a ship that illegally arrived in Mobile, Alabama, in 1860, and of Africatown, created by those on the vessel—a community that still exists today. The archaeologists and divers leading the search for the Clotilda lay out the steps it took to find it. In this last episode of the Into the Depths podcast, which published in March 2022, Tara talks to the living descendants of those aboard the ship. She admires their enormous pride in knowing their ancestry, and wonders if she can trace her own ancestors back to a ship. She hires a genealogist and visits her family’s small hometown in North Carolina. The surprising results bring a sense of belonging to a place that she never could have imagined. Want more? Check out our Into the Depths hub to listen to all six episodes, learn more about Tara’s journey following Black scuba divers, find previous Nat Geo coverage on the search for slave shipwrecks, and read the March 2022 cover story. And download a tool kit for hosting an Into the Depths listening party to spark conversation and journey deeper into the material. Also explore:  Dive into more of National Geographic’s coverage of the Clotilda with articles looking at scientists’ ongoing archaeological work, the story that broke the discovery of the ship, and the documentary Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship. Meet more of the descendants of the Africans trafficked to the U.S. aboard the Clotilda, and find out what they’re doing to save Mobile’s Africatown community in the face of difficult economic and environmental challenges.  Read the story of Kossola, who later received the name Cudjo Lewis, in the book Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” by author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Learn more about the life of abolitionist Harriet Jacobs, author of “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl,” who escaped Edenton, N.C., through the Maritime Underground Railroad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sound on! From conch shells to bone flutes, humans have been making musical instruments for tens of thousands of years. What did prehistoric music sound like? In an episode originally published in November 2021, follow us on a journey to find the oldest musical instruments and combine them into one big orchestra of human history. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want More? A conch is more than just a musical instrument. A mollusk lives in that shell, and it’s a staple food in the Bahamas—so much so that overfishing is threatening their existence, but a few simple solutions may solve the problem. The oldest musical instrument was once thought to be a cave bear bone flute made by Neanderthals, but recent evidence suggests that the holes were made by animals rather than tools. More information about each instrument: The organization First Sounds found and brought to life the recordings of Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Head to their website to learn more about that project. Bettina Joy de Guzman travels the world, composing and performing music on ancient instruments. You can read more about her work on her website. More information about the bells of Bronze Age China can be found at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. Check out a virtual version of their collection.  The conch shell sounds you heard were research recordings of the approximately 3,000-year-old Titanostrombus galeatus conch shell horn—excavated in 2018 by John Rick and a team from the UNESCO World Heritage archaeological site Chavín de Huántar, in Perú. You can read more about that research at the Chavín de Huántar Archaeological Acoustics project website. National Geographic Explorer Jahawi Bertolli is collecting the sounds of rock gongs from all over the African continent. Learn more about his rock project on Jahawi’s website. Flutist Anna Potengowski specializes in recreating the sounds of ancient flutes. You can hear more of her work on her Spotify page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Blood-sucking villains. Spooky specters of the night. Our views of bats are often based more on fiction than fact. Enter National Geographic Explorer at Large Rodrigo Medellín, aka the Bat Man of Mexico. For decades, he’s waged a charm offensive to show the world how much we need bats, from the clothes we wear to a sip of tequila at the end of a long day. The COVID-19 pandemic caused even more harmful bat myths and gave Medellín the biggest challenge of his career. In this episode originally published in 2021, learn why the world must once again realize that bats may not be the hero everyone wants—but they’re the hero we need. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? See how Rodrigo uses a multi-pronged approach—involving field research, conservation, and tequila—to help protect bats.  In a Nat Geo short film, Rodrigo ventures into an ancient Mayan ruin to find two rare species of vampire bat. Curious about the connection between bats and Covid-19? Explore why it’s so tricky to trace the disease’s origins.   Also explore: Learn more about bats: They can be found nearly everywhere on Earth and range in size from lighter than a penny to a six-foot wingspan.    Why do bats get a bad rap? See how Spanish conquistadors and Dracula convinced us bats are more fright than friend.  Bat myths have real-world consequences. In Mauritius, a government campaign culled tens of thousands of endangered fruit bats.  For more bat info, follow Rodrigo on Instagram @batmanmedellin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why would a scientist brave the stench of a car full of rotting meat on a 120-degree day? What can a unique whistling language teach us about humans’ connection to the natural world? And how does queer identity shape the research of National Geographic Explorers? In this episode celebrating Pride, we hand the mic to two Explorers: Christine Wilkinson, who studies hyenas and other large carnivores and created the TikTok series “Queer is Natural,” and Rüdiger Ortiz-Álvarez, whose soundscapes from the Canary Islands encourage us to slow down and listen to the world around us. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Why do some people prefer LGBTQIA+ instead of LGBT? See how society’s understanding of diverse sexual identities and gender expressions has grown more inclusive—and so has the acronym used to describe them. Before the Nazis rose to power, a German institute cemented itself as gay liberation’s epicenter. Discover the great hunt for the world's first LGBTQ archive. Although a large group of LGBTQ people celebrating their sexual orientation in public had been unthinkable just a few years before, the first Pride parades began in 1970 as marches commemorating the 1969 Stonewall uprising. See more National Geographic coverage of Pride at natgeo.com/Pride.  Also explore: Learn more about spotted hyenas, which live in female-led clans of up to 80 individuals. Practice your whistling and head to La Gomera in the Canary Islands, home to the Silbo Gomero whistling language and Garajonay National Park. Find Christine Wilkinson’s “Queer is Natural” series on her TikTok, @scrappynaturalist. And follow along with Rüdiger Ortiz-Álvarez on his Instagram, @rudigerortiz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For centuries, Mexican gray wolves roamed the Southwest. But as cattle ranches spread, wolves became enemy number one, and by the 1970s the subspecies was nearly extinct. But after the Endangered Species Act was passed, the U.S. embarked on an ambitious plan to save the iconic predators. We’ll meet the Texas trapper who switched from killing wolves to catching them to breed. And we’ll follow a team of biologists into the Gila Wilderness to introduce captive-born wolf pups into the wild. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Check out Peter Gwin's feature article on the Gila wilderness. Thinking of visiting the Gila yourself? We've put together a travel guide for you. Also Explore In 2021, a Mexican wolf named Mr. Goodbar crossed the border from Mexico into the United States, raising questions about how the border wall will affect animal migration. The Gila wilderness is also famous for one of the only venomous lizards in the world, the Gila monster. But climate change and human activity is threatening this charismatic reptile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On assignment in the canyons of the Gila Wilderness, Nat Geo photographer Katie Orlinsky has a fireside chat with Overheard host Peter Gwin about telling stories through pictures. She chronicles how she found her way—from growing up in New York City to covering workers' rights in rural Mexico to the world’s most grueling dogsled race in Alaska.  For more information on this episode, visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard. Want more? To see some of Katie's photos from the Gila, take a look at Peter Gwin's article How to visit the Gila Wilderness. In her work on the Yukon Quest sled dog race, you can see what it looks like to cross 1,000 miles of Alaska on dog power. On Katie’s personal website, you can see more images, including from her time in Juárez. Also explore: And magazine subscribers can see Katie’s photos in our recent story about thawing permafrost. Sometimes that thaw creates pockets of methane under frozen lakes that scientists test by setting on fire. That story was also featured in our podcast episode about how beavers are changing the Arctic. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For nearly 50 years, a group of Hawaiians have been sailing on traditional voyaging canoes using the methods that early Polynesian explorers relied on to navigate the Pacific Ocean—without maps and modern instruments, and relying on the stars, ocean waves, birds, and other natural elements to guide them. We meet National Geographic Explorer Lehua Kamalu, the first woman to captain a long-distance voyage on Hōkūleʻa, a double-hulled Polynesian canoe that was built in Hawaii in the 1970s. She describes what it’s like to navigate in incredibly rough waters, what it means to keep Polynesian navigation alive in the 21st century, and about her next big adventure: a four-year circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Learn about the Polynesian Voyaging Society and their upcoming voyage, Moananuiākea, a 47-month circumnavigation of the Pacific.  Read about Hōkūleʻa’s 2022 journey to Tahiti, which involved traveling 3,000 miles over three weeks.  Also explore:  A small number of people speak ‘ōlelo, Hawaii’s native language, which teetered on extinction during the mid-20th century. Learn about how some young Hawaiians are using TikTok and Instagram to make the language more accessible.  Hear Nat Geo Explorer Keolu Fox on a previous Overheard episode share how he’s working with Polynesian and Indigenous communities to study how their genomes have been shaped by history and colonialism, and how that data can help them reclaim land and improve health outcomes for their communities.  Visit National Geographic for more stories throughout Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most people have heard the name Anne Frank, and many have read her diary, which details her and her family’s time spent in hiding during the German occupation of Amsterdam in World War II. Less known are Miep and Jan Gies, two people who helped shelter the Frank family and preserved Anne Frank’s diary after she was captured. In this episode, Alison Leslie Gold, who co-authored Miep’s memoir, shares their history and what we can take away from their stories. And we’ll hear from the co-creators and star of the National Geographic limited series A Small Light about how anyone can step up and be a hero. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? The first episode of A Small Light is streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu. New episodes premiere Mondays on National Geographic and stream the next day. Learn more about the book Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies and Alison Leslie Gold. Gold also wrote Memories of Anne Frank about Anne Frank’s childhood friend Hannah Goslar and A Special Fate about Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Lithuanian Jews during the Holocaust.  Also explore: How did the Holocaust—which murdered six million Jews and stripped millions more of their livelihoods, their families, and even their names—happen in plain sight? Learn more about the history and how Jews continue to fight anti-Semitism.  Visit natgeo.com/JewishAmerican for more National Geographic stories throughout Jewish American Heritage Month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Asian elephants have been captured and tamed by people in Southern Asia for thousands of years as war machines, beasts of burden, and part of religious festivals. It’s a practice that continues to this day, but some activists are beginning to rethink its impact on this endangered species. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want More? Check out even more coverage on elephants this month, including Secrets of the Elephants, a four-part National Geographic series streaming April 22 on Disney+. Visit NatGeo.com/elephants to learn more. Also explore: In addition to a film Sangita Iyer has also written a book, Gods in Shackles: What Elephants Can Teach Us About Empathy, Resilience, and Freedom. You can check it out as well as her other work at the website of her organization, the Voices for Asian Elephants Society.  More information about Jyothy Karat and her films and photography can be found on her website. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the CEO of WildlifeDirect, Paula Kahumbu has dedicated her life to saving space for wildlife to thrive in Africa and building healthy relationships between humans and wild elephants. Paula got her start in wildlife conservation by measuring Kenya’s stockpile of elephant tusks confiscated from poachers—12 tons in all. And it turns out poachers aren’t the only threat to this endangered species. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want More? Check out even more coverage on elephants this month, including Secrets of the Elephants, a four-part National Geographic series streaming April 22 on Disney+. Visit NatGeo.com/elephants to learn more. Also explore: To learn more about Paula Kahumbu and her work introducing the next generation of Kenyans to wildlife, listen to our previous episode, “Kenya’s Wildlife Warriors.” If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For almost 50 years, National Geographic Explorer Joyce Poole has been carefully watching the elephants of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. Over that time she’s gotten to know them by name and has started decoding their sounds, smells, and body language to figure out just what the world’s largest land animal is talking about.  For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want More? Check out even more coverage on elephants this month, including Secrets of the Elephants, a four-part National Geographic series streaming April 22 on Disney+. Visit NatGeo.com/elephants to learn more. Also explore: Joyce Poole has a lot more to say about elephants. To learn more about her work and to hear more of the sounds she collected in the field, take a look at her website, Elephant Voices If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Follow a day in the life of an astronomer searching for planets beyond our solar system as she explains how she observes Ramadan and celebrates her family’s traditions. Astronomer, astrophysicist, and National Geographic Explorer Munazza Alam is the daughter of a Pakistani father and Indian mother, and a postdoctoral researcher at the Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory in Washington, D.C., focusing on exoplanets. She also shares insights from co-hosting Nat Geo’s How We Explore podcast, which introduces kids to the work of National Geographic Explorers around the world. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Follow Munazza's work on her website. Find out why Ramadan is the most sacred month in Islamic culture, discover five unique traditions Muslims bring to Ramadan celebrations, and learn why these five sites are among the holiest in all of Islam.  Also explore: Learn about some of the ways Muslims around the world celebrate the end of Ramadan in this Nat Geo article.  Visit the world’s most exquisite mosques and discover the incredible historic, cultural, and religious insight they provide. And see how American Muslims celebrate Islam’s holiest holiday in Eid al-Fitr celebrations across the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

National Geographic photographer David Guttenfelder is no stranger to dangerous situations. After graduating from college, he left his life in rural Iowa to cover the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an experience that kicked off a decades-long career of reporting on war, conflict, and major news events all around the world. But when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down travel to most countries, he took an assignment close to his roots—paddling the treacherously unpredictable waters between the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. He describes what it was like visiting historic lighthouses and sea caves, and shares some surprising lessons he took away from that experience. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? For more on the Apostle Islands and their history, read writer Stephanie Pearson’s piece and see the stunning images David Guttenfelder captured while kayaking out there.  Guttenfelder is also one of the few Westerners who has spent an extensive amount of time in North Korea. The photos he took there show a side of the country people rarely get to see.  Also explore: He’s also been covering the war in Ukraine. You can check out some of his photographs from the front lines in this story for The New Yorker.  You can follow David Guttenfelder on Instagram @dguttenfelder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Photographer Mark Thiessen, who’s worked on staff at National Geographic for over 30 years, likens his job to a Swiss army knife—versatile enough to tackle many kinds of assignments. Even when the subject is challenging, he approaches each assignment with a lot of curiosity and creativity, whether it’s shooting smoke jumpers who leap out of planes to fight wildfires or making “rain” in the studio to take a unique portrait of an Explorer. And as a special treat, Thiessen will take us up a flight of stairs from the photo studio to show us one of his favorite hobbies: beekeeping. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Follow Mark on Instagram at @Thiessenphoto.  See what it takes to put out a wildfire in this Nat Geo article, and follow smokejumpers out of a plane in this article.  Hear more of Mark on the Overheard episode “An Accidental Case of the Blues,” about the discovery of the first blue pigment since Thomas Jefferson was president.  Also explore:  Did you know that people steal bee hives? Find out why in the Overheard episode “Honeybee Chop Shop.”  Want to take better photos at home? Nat Geo staff photographer Becky Hale explains how. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With 224 million people, Nigeria is Africa's most populous country. By 2050, it could crack the global top three with some 375 million people. In the second of our two-part series on the global population passing eight billion, National Geographic photographer Yagazie Emezi describes scenes she captured in Lagos, Africa’s biggest city—including intimate close-ups of a family raising four children in a one-room apartment and women receiving prenatal care. Plus, a Nigerian demographer explains how the country's soaring birth rate could make it an economic powerhouse, but only if the country finds new ways to invest in its youthful population. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? See Yagazie Emezi’s photos—and other scenes from a world with 8 billion people—in the April issue of National Geographic.   For a previous National Geographic assignment, Yagazie photographed the women stepping up to remake Rwanda. Follow her on Instagram @yagazieemezi. Also explore: With a get-rich spirit that fuels the continent’s largest economy, see why Lagos has become Africa’s boom town. Read more from Akanni Akinyemi, including how Africa will shape the future of the planet’s population.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are more than 8 billion humans on Earth, according to the United Nations. And for decades, China has had more people than any other country. But now, China’s population is declining. As soon as this year, it could lose its place as the most populous nation in the world. National Geographic photographer Justin Jin shares what he observed in this pivotal moment for China; he captured scenes where many young women are choosing not to have children, and instead are spending their money on doggie daycare and on karaoke nights with friends and male escorts. As we head into Women’s History Month, we’ll explore why Chinese women are taking a different path, despite the government campaigns pushing them to get married and have children. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard Want more? See Justin Jin’s photos—and other scenes from a world with 8 billion people—in the April issue of National Geographic. Earth's growing population belies vastly different types of demographic change taking shape around the globe. Here’s why demographers don’t agree on what will happen next. Also explore: Follow Justin on Instagram @Justin.Jin. Learn about Chinese propaganda targeting women—and how more women are pushing back—in Leta Hong Fincher’s books Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China and Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is part four of The Soul of Music—Overheard’s four-part series focusing on music, exploration, and Black history. Our guest this week is Meklit Hadero, a Nat Geo Explorer and Ethio-jazz musician. Meklit is the creative force behind the transmedia storytelling project Movement, which explores the intersection of migration and music. She and fellow Explorer and music producer Jahawi Bertolli talk about migration, the ancient instruments known as rock gongs, and how their music is inspired by nature. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Learn more about Meklit Hadero and the Movement project at her website meklitmusic.com. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram @meklitmusic.  Learn more about Jahawi Bertolli and his First Rock project on his website jahawi.com. You can follow him on Instagram @jahawibertolli.  Check out the Overheard episode “Ancient Orchestra” to learn more about Jahawi and the sound of rock gongs. And keep listening to songs featured in The Soul of Music as well as a few bonus tracks in this Spotify playlist.  Also explore:  Follow FREEK and his music on instagram @freektv.  The “star sounds” you heard were provided by Jon Jenkins, co-investigator for data analysis for the Kepler Mission. Learn more about the Kepler Mission and star sonification on their webpage.  Learn more about ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astake in this Nat Geo article.  Thinking about traveling to Ethiopia? This Nat Geo travel guide can help you plan your trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices