Overheard at National Geographic

Come dive into one of the curiously delightful conversations overheard at National Geographic’s headquarters, as we follow explorers, photographers, and scientists to the edges of our big, weird, beautiful world. Hosted by Peter Gwin and Amy Briggs.

Latest Episodes:

Exploring Pristine Seas Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

National Geographic Explorer in Residence Enric Sala quit academia to explore and protect the sea. On his journey to keep the ocean pristine, he has swam with jellyfish in Palau, gone diving in the Arctic, and got acquainted with sharks at Millennium Atoll. Sala’s explorations have led to 24 marine preserves—with a combined area more than twice the size of India. But the hard work is far from over, as Sala aims to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

Want more?

Learn more about the work of Pristine Seas on their website.

Learn more about the recovery of the coral reefs around the southern Line Islands in November’s National Geographic magazine. There will be an in-depth article written by Enric, with some gorgeous photographs of this pristine ecosystem. The article is also available online here.

Also explore:

Dive deeper with two other Overheard episodes about the ocean:

In “The Secret Culture of Killer Whales,” photographer Brian Skerry swims with killer whales and discovers these apex predators have unique cultures that aren’t that different from our own.
In “The Gateway to Secret Underwater Worlds,” discover how Jacques Cousteau opened up the deep sea to humanity and left a legacy that continues to drive underwater exploration today.

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What the Ice Gets, the Ice Keeps Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

In 1915 Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, sank off the coast of Antarctica, stranding the crew on drifting sea ice. Shackleton’s desperate rescue mission saved all 28 men. But for more than a century afterward, the location of Endurance eluded archaeologists—until this year. National Geographic photographer Esther Horvath was there, and recounts the moment when the ship was located 10,000 feet beneath the polar ice.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

Read the inside story of the discovery of Endurance, including reactions from the lead researchers and Horvath’s photos from the farthest reaches of the Southern Ocean.

See rare photos from another fabled Antarctic voyage: Robert Falcon Scott’s race to the South Pole in 1912.

Also explore:

Technology has made it easier to find sunken ships and their undiscovered treasures. See how preservationists protect them—and why “finders keepers” doesn’t apply.

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.

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What You Do Counts Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

Some of the most crucial countries in the global fight against climate change are in Latin America, and yet there are few resources on the crisis for Spanish speakers. Eyal Weintraub, a 22-year-old National Geographic Young Explorer and climate activist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, is working to change that. Guest host Jordan Salama joins Weintraub to talk about his popular podcast, Lo Que Haces Cuenta, which unpacks the climate crisis in bite-sized episodes—and explores the everyday ways people can fight it.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

Learn more about Eyal Weintraub by following him on Instagram @eyalwein and follow Jordan Salama @JordanSalama19.

Listen to Lo Que Haces Cuentawherever you get your podcasts.

Also Explore:

For more content celebrating Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month, visit NatGeo.com/HLAHM.

Listen to some other Overheard episodes that feature Latin America like “The Guerrilla Cyclists of Mexico City” and their efforts to build DIY bike lanes or “Solving the Mystery of the Boiling River” about Explorer Andrés Ruzo’s search for an Incan legend.

For subscribers:

Since a 2016 peace deal, nearly 1,300 Colombians living in former guerrilla territories have been killed resisting mining, logging, and drugs. Read Jordan Salama’s article about the Colombian environmentalists risking their lives to defend their land.

New York City has a rich and storied maritime history. Now, after centuries of degradation, both people and wildlife are finding their way back to city waters. Jordan explains how life is returning to New York's coastline in this article.

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Searching for a Butterfly in a Conflict Zone Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

Photographer Rena Effendi’s father, a Soviet entomologist, collected 90,000 butterflies in his lifetime. But there was one species he couldn’t capture—Satyrus effendi. Effendi takes on the quest to track down the endangered butterfly named after her father, but to do so, she must navigate its home territory, a conflict zone in Azerbaijan.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

To see Rena Effendi’s photography, take a look at her portfolio.

Also explore.

We only briefly touched on the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which you can read more about in Rena Effendi’s article. Through words and photos, she followed the half a million Azerbaijanis who lost their homes in the conflict.

Plus, learn more about how the COVID-19 pandemic had a big effect on Armenians and Azerbaijanis already struggling with the conflict.

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A Man of the World Sep 13, 2022

Show notes

Go behind the yellow border to meet the family that made National Geographic an American institution. Gilbert M. Grosvenor’s 60-year career followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather—but he learned that sometimes he had to do things his own way. In his new memoir, A Man of the World, Grosvenor recounts a crucial decision that made him rethink the way National Geographic covers the world. Grosvenor also shares an unforgettable conversation with Jacques Cousteau and how he witnessed Jane Goodall’s transformation from unknown young scientist to, well, Jane Goodall.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

Check out Gil Grosvenor’s new memoir, A Man of the World: My Life at National Geographic.

From his first day of work in 1899, Gil’s grandfather, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, put National Geographic on the map. A behind-the-scenes photo from our archives shows Grosvenor testing a state-of-the-art camera in 1913.

Gil’s commitment to environmental storytelling is now a part of National Geographic’s DNA. See how we continue that legacy with initiatives like Planet or Plastic and our special issue, Saving Forests.

Also explore:

Learn more about seminal explorers Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall in our previous episodes, “The gateway to secret underwater worlds” and “The next generation’s champion of chimps.”

Subscribers can also read about the development of Cousteau’s Aqua-Lung, which threw open the undersea world, and revisit Goodall’s groundbreaking 1963 National Geographic article, “My Life With Wild Chimpanzees.”

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Inside the Epic World of Bertie Gregory Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

In a collaboration with National Geographic television, we follow 29-year-old adventurer and filmmaker Bertie Gregory on a nail-biting journey to some of the harshest, most spectacular corners of the world. Join guest host Drew Jones as he sits down with Gregory to discuss coming face-to-face with buffalo-hunting lions in Zambia, searching for the largest gathering of whales ever filmed in Antarctica, diving in dangerous Costa Rican waters to film hammerhead sharks, and spreading the message of conservation in the face of nature’s greatest challenges.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

Watch Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory on Disney+, and check out some of the amazing photos Bertie and his crew have captured from his adventures, including his tree nest in Kasanka National Park, and swimming alongside whales with the help of an underwater scooter.

Learn more about Bertie’s career as an explorer and photographer, which started with a childhood obsession with nature, and his extensive use of drones and other filming methods to capture spectacular landscapes and peculiar animal behaviors.

Also explore:

The annual migration of fruit bats to Zambia’s Kasanka National Park is a critical to Africa’s environment. This article in The Guardian shows how wildlife protectors and conservationists are working against threats from poachers and deforestation, even in the face of violence.

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Playback: Why War Zones Need Science Too Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

It’s a jewel of biodiversity, the so-called Galápagos of the Indian Ocean, and might also hold traces of the earliest humans to leave Africa. No wonder scientists want to explore Socotra. But it’s also part of Yemen, a country enduring a horrific civil war. Meet the Nat Geo explorer with a track record of navigating the world’s most hostile hot spots who’s determined to probe the island—and empower its local scientists before it’s too late.

Want more?

See Socotra’s wonders—including the dragon’s blood tree—through the eyes of National Geographic explorers. And check out human footprints preserved for more than 100,000 years, which could be the oldest signs of humans in Arabia.

Ancient caravan kingdoms are threatened in Yemen’s civil war. Their storied legacy—including temples built by the queen of Sheba—is entwined with the fate of modern Yemenis. Read more here.

Also explore:

Learn more about Yemen’s civil war. One Yemeni photographer explains why she looks for points of light in the darkness. And for subscribers, go inside the country’s health crisis and the life of violence and disease the war has brought to many civilians.

Also, learn more about Ella Al-Shamahi’s new book, The Handshake: A Gripping History, and visit Horn Heritage, Sada Mire’s website preserving heritage in Somalia, Somaliland, and the Horn of Africa.

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.

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The Problem With Superchickens Aug 23, 2022

Show notes

Scientists recently discovered a fascinating paradox: when they bred together superproductive, egg-laying hens, they found the chickens produced fewer eggs. We examine what went wrong with these so-called superchickens, and we look at human examples of this phenomenon—a high school Model UN team and a retail giant.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

David Sloan Wilson’s theories on competition and cooperation go far beyond superchickens. Take a look at an article he wrote about rethinking economics on Evonomics.com, a website started by one of his former students. And for more on his work, visit davidsloanwilson.world.

Plus, retail has been through a lot over the last 50 years. To learn more about that world from the inside, check out his book,Remarkable Retail: How to Win and Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption, and his podcast, the Remarkable Retail Podcast. And read a Bloomberg article that goes into detail about what happened at Sears.

Also explore:

Darwin transformed the world with his evolutionary theories. He also got a lot wrong. To learn how modern science is building on his work, see our article on the subject.

For subscribers:

Evolution hasn’t stopped, but it is changing. Discover how humans are using technology to shape their own evolution in our article.

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What It Takes to Keep America Beautiful Aug 16, 2022

Show notes

The U.S. is home to some of the most beautiful, incomparable places on the planet, from the pristine Shi Shi Beach at the Makah Reservation in Washington State to the Couturie Forest in New Orleans. But as climate change and development continue to threaten the country’s natural treasures, we explore the limits of traditional conservation and learn how innovation and Indigenous knowledge could shift how we protect the environment in the 21st century.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

Learn about the Makah’s efforts to resume their practice of hunting gray whales, which was banned in the mid-1900s, in this article by Emma Marris.

See even more of America’s most spectacular locations and diverse species in America the Beautiful. Hosted by Michael B. Jordan, this docuseries is now streaming on Disney+.

As massive wildfires continue to wreak havoc in the American West, Indigenous people are reviving centuries-old cultural burning practices to protect their communities. Learn more about cultural burning in the Overheard episode “This Indigenous Practice Fights Fire With Fire.”

Also explore:

See more of photographer Stephen Wilkes’s Day to Night photos and learn about how he creates them in this article.

Read Emma Marris’s article about the Indigenous people living in Peru’s Manú National Park.

For subscribers:

Check out Emma Marris’s article on conservation in the upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine. Available online here in September.

How many counties in the contiguous U.S. have water or land worth conserving? Every single one. Explore this map to see what value each has for conservation.

If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremoreto subscribe today.

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The Triumph and Tragedy of Indian Independence Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

When India and Pakistan gained their independence from Britain, a border was drawn between the two new countries. The split started a chain reaction of violence that led to one of the largest forced migrations in human history. More than 1 million people died in the tragedy. Both countries are now approaching 75 years of independence, and the people who were there to remember it are reaching their twilight years. This may be our last chance to hear directly from the eyewitnesses who lived through the victory of independence and the subsequent tragedy of partition.

National Geographic Explorer Sparsh Ahuja has been documenting the stories of people who were forced from their homes during partition and is bringing them back to their ancestral home—if not in person then through virtual reality.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

To learn more about Sparsh Ahuja’s work and to hear more interviews with survivors of partition, take a look at the website for Project Dastaan.

The end of British colonial rule birthed two sovereign nations—but hastily drawn borders caused simmering tensions to boil over. Read about how 75 years later, memories of partition still haunt survivors, and see on a map where those borders were drawn.

Also explore:

India struggled under British rule for more than 200 years, not always peacefully. Read about India’s first war of independence and the Indian rani (queen) at the center of it all.

You’ve probably heard of Mahatma Gandhi, the nonviolent leader of the Indian independence movement, but how much do you know about him? We’ve put together an explainer about his life and ideas.

If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremoreto subscribe today.

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