The future is bright for origami, the centuries-old art of paper folding. In recent decades, scientists, engineers, and designers have pushed origami beyond its traditional roots and applied its patterns to fascinating technologies like foldable kayaks and tiny robots that can fit into a pill capsule. We’ll fold cranes with National Geographic writer Maya Wei-Haas, who will share the latest advancements with origami and what the future holds for this art form in science. For more information...

The 1619 Project was a New York Times Magazine endeavor that explored the ways the legacy of slavery still shapes American society. The story exploded into cultural consciousness in 2019, and has since become a book, a podcast, and now, a documentary series. For the project’s creators, that meant great success, but it also meant facing pushback and surprises. We talk to journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones about how politics affected The 1619 Project and what it means to be in the middle of this...

Cameras that drop miles beneath the ocean surface. Handmade art that reveals the secrets of archeological sites and extinct animals. For 135 years, National Geographic has pioneered new ways of exploring and illuminating our world—and now you can meet a few of the people who make it possible. Join Nathan Lump, National Geographic’s editor in chief, and Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the National Geographic Society, for a tour of the cutting-edge Exploration Technology Lab and a look inside the...

Last summer, Disney Cruise Line released its fifth and most technologically advanced cruise ship yet: Disney Wish. We’ll meet Laura Cabo, a creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, who shares the excitement and challenges in designing a cruise ship that’s nearly as long as the Eiffel Tower, and how Imagineers turn visions into reality. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? The documentary Chad made with Laura and other Disney Imagineers is called...

When Nat Geo Explorer Gibbs Kuguru was in college, he found himself trying to choose between two terrifying futures: going free diving with sharks off the coast of South Africa or, even scarier, studying for the MCAT. Since then, he’s become devoted to sharks. His genetic research has shown they can do remarkable things, like change color to become more effective predators. And he’s also become a staunch advocate for shark species as they grow more vulnerable to overfishing and the effects of...

For 17 years, nurse Karen Barry’s office at National Geographic headquarters has served as an important stop for journalists, photographers, and explorers in need of vaccines and medical advice before they set out on expeditions all over the globe. We’ll head down to the medical office to listen to her stories of helping explorers out in the field—and we’ll hear from one of her most frequent “customers,” Dangerous Encounters host Brady Barr, who over the years has dealt with multiple animal...

Scientists are hard at work trying to understand what causes aging and how to help people stay healthy for longer. Biologist Matt Kaeberlein breaks down the science of longevity and tells us how he’s using a robot to test 100,000 aging interventions a year on microscopic worms and a long-term study on the aging of pet dogs. Then we’ll leave the lab to visit Willie Mae Avery, the oldest person in Washington, D.C., to hear what it’s like to live such a long life.  For more information on this...

Today we bring you a high-stakes story from ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcasts—a tale of women’s rights, history, and soccer. As Iranian women took to the streets in fall 2022 to fight gender inequality, they also targeted sports. Iranian women have been banned from attending games in stadiums for more than four decades. In ESPN’s series Pink Card, creator, host, and executive producer Shima Oliaee follows Iranian women who dare to defy the ban, from protesting at the gates to sneaking into soccer...

National Geographic photographers seldom do their work alone, especially those who journey out to far-flung places. This week, we’re shining a light on local collaborators—people whose names don’t show up in the credit line for a photo but who are key to helping our photographers get the breathtaking shots you see with our stories. We’ll hear about their extraordinary adventures—which include fighting off an alligator to save a camera—and how they’ve helped photographers navigate and...

Sure, we love bears when they show up in books or cartoons. But what if one is outside our window? Human-bear encounters are becoming far more frequent as development continues to spread and people and bears seek similar resources of food, water, and shelter. National Geographic Explorer and large-carnivore ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant dispels a few myths about bear behavior, describes what it’s like to cuddle a bear cub, and offers tips on what to do if you find a bear in your backyard—or bump...

In the basement of National Geographic’s headquarters, there’s a lab holding a secret tech weapon: Tom O’Brien. As Nat Geo’s photo engineer, O’Brien adapts new technologies to capture sights and sounds previously never seen or heard before. In this episode, originally published in June 2021, O’Brien leads us on a tour of his lab as he designs and builds an underwater camera and shows us some of his favorite gadgets—including a camera lens that flew over Machu Picchu in a blimp, a remote...

Every year, National Geographic rolls the year into a collection of photos for its “Pictures of the Year” issue. It’s a mysterious process, and we’re about to share it with you. We’ll see what baby carriages are like in Greenland, witness the moment SpaceX burst into a cypress swamp, and make a new four-legged friend as deputy director of photography Sadie Quarrier shares with us the choice photos for this year. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want...

The fictional, fearsome, and all-female Dora Milaje in the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were inspired by a real group of African warriors: the Agojie. Nat Geo contributing writer Rachel Jones shares the history of the Agojie and discusses the way that movies and pop culture can shape our understanding of the world. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Learn more and check out photos of the Agojie in Rachel Jones’s article.  Also, in 2019 Rachel...

National Geographic Explorer Keolu Fox grew up hearing stories about his ancestors, Polynesian navigators, and the men who in the late 1970s led the first Hōkūleʻa voyage to Tahiti. As the first Native Hawaiian with a Ph.D. in genomic sciences, Fox tells us how genetic data can help reveal powerful narratives about the history of Indigenous people and their achievements, and empower communities to use data to improve public health and preserve their culture. For more information on this...

National Geographic Kids' Greeking Out is a kid-friendly retelling of some of the best stories from Greek mythology. This episode, "Akhenaten The Heretic King," is all about King Tut's father and how he attempted to reset Egyptian religion and politics. You can listen to more episodes of Greeking Out on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back next week with a regular episode of Overheard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One hundred years since the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, archaeologists are still puzzling over the mysteries of his mummy. Why was he covered in “black goo” and buried without a heart? And how did his tomb remain hidden for so long? To answer these questions, we head to the National Geographic Museum’s King Tut exhibit with Archaeologist in Residence Fred Hiebert to hear his take on what happened to Egypt’s boy king and hear from mummy expert Salima Ikram about how recent...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...