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 ... Show More
Jul 2023
Trapped in the icy waters of the Northwest Passage
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 adv ... Show More
34m 16s
Jul 2023
Playback: Modern Lives, Ancient Caves
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 e ... Show More
28m 39s
Jun 2023
Playback: This Indigenous Practice Fights Fire with Fire
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 ... Show More
29m 8s
Oct 2019
8. The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities
In the dusts of Iraq, the ruins of the world's first civilization lie buried. This episode, we travel into the extremely distant past to look at the Sumerians. These ancient people invented writing and mathematics, and built some of the largest cities that the world had ever seen ... Show More
2h 29m
Sep 2020
The sheng: An age-old reed instrument
In ancient times, Chinese instruments were usually divided into eight groups, depending on what they were made from, including stone, wood, silk, metal, bronze, soil, leather and gourd.
In this episode, we will get some insight into a representative instrument of the gourd typ ... Show More
34m 24s
Sep 2023
188: The Osireion
Sety at Abydos (Part 3). The Osireion is an intriguing monument, one that attracts a huge amount of debate, discussion, and speculation. Its discovery was unexpected, its excavation was an enormous undertaking, and there are many uncertainties about its purpose, history, and over ... Show More
2h 34m
Aug 2023
Jiahu Bone Flutes: the early sounds of human civilization
In this episode, we unravel the enchanting story of the Jiahu Bone Flutes, or Gudi, an ancient instrument that emerged over 8,000 years ago. Rediscovered in the 1980s, these flutes illuminate a rich musical heritage that has long been forgotten...
14 m