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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

This episode is part three of The Soul of Music—Overheard’s four-part series focusing on music, exploration, and Black history. Our guest this week is Grammy-nominated trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, formerly known as Christian Scott. Chief Xian sits down with National Geographic Explorer and archaeologist Justin Dunnavant to discuss Xian’s childhood in New Orleans, how he created a new instrument, and what he calls stretch music. For more information on this episode, visit...

This episode is part two of The Soul of Music—Overheard’s four-part series focusing on music, exploration, and Black history. Our guest this week is Sampa The Great, a Zambian-born rapper, singer, and songwriter. Sampa spent most of her childhood living in Botswana, and her music career took off in Australia; but when the pandemic hit, Sampa returned home to Zambia where she recorded her album As Above, So Below. This album sees Sampa shedding her mask and getting personal. Sampa is joined by...

This episode is part one of The Soul of Music—Overheard’s four-part series focusing on music, exploration, and Black history. Our guest this week is two-time Grammy award winner Rhiannon Giddens, a singer, songwriter, and banjo and fiddle player. A self-described “armchair historian,” Rhiannon chats with Nat Geo Explorer and spoken-word poet Alyea Pierce about the origins of the banjo, her new opera Omar, and how she finds inspiration through history.  For more information on this episode,...

National Geographic turns 135 in 2023. In February 2023, to celebrate exploration and commemorate Black History Month, National Geographic’s flagship podcast, Overheard, will feature musicians and National Geographic Explorers in conversation on music and exploration. This is just one of many celebrations planned for this milestone anniversary.  Hosted by Overheard producer Khari Douglas, these four episodes (every Tuesday in February) will feature world-famous musicians Rhiannon Giddens,...