Medical historian Howard Markel traces the careers of two brilliant young doctors—Sigmund Freud, neurologist, and William Halsted, surgeon—showing how their powerful addictions to cocaine shaped their enormous contributions to psychology and medicine. He also examines the physical and emotional damage caused by the then-heralded wonder drug, and how each man ultimately changed the world in spite of it.
One of the most biologically diverse and ecologically significant landmarks in America, the Potomac Gorge, near Washington, D.C., has held an important place in human history since the Ice Age. Naturalist and author Melanie Choukas-Bradley leads a virtual journey along the most dramatic section of the 405-mile-long river: the 15-mile stretch in which it originates at Great Falls in Maryland and Virginia and flows, often through dramatic cliffs and bluffs, to Theodore Roosevelt Island in the District.
Join Keith Tomlinson, garden educator and naturalist, on a virtual tour of Assateague Island National Seashore and neighboring Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. He kicks off the series with a focus on parks in Utah, New Mexico, and California. This program spotlights the Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah.
Discover the spring splendors of the Potomac Gorge, a 1,900-acre natural area spanning Maryland and Virginia, and one of the most geologically diverse places on Earth. Join naturalist and author Melanie Choukas-Bradley on a hike along one of the most scenic sections of the river, trekking north from Turkey Run Park along the Potomac Heritage Trail. Along the way, you can admire lush upland forests, view floodplains brilliantly decorated by Virginia bluebells, and keep an eye out for great blue herons and other native fauna.
Robert Oppenheimer never really thought about the ethics of the atomic bomb until the successful test of a plutonium device at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945. Then, one of the most highly educated men of the 20th century felt an inrush of ethical anguish and spent the rest of his life trying to come to terms with what he, what America, and what humankind had done. Historian Clay Jenkinson examines the gated world of Los Alamos, the race to build the bomb, Oppenheimer’s ethical quandary about nuclear warfare—and the price he paid for it.
Birding fans are familiar with year-round feathered friends such as northern cardinals and blue jays, but there’s a secret world of neotropical birds that temporarily make their home in North America. Migrating hundreds of miles overnight, these warblers look for any suitable habitat to drop into as dawn approaches. Join naturalist Matt Felperin to learn more about why these birds undertake such a dangerous journey, how to find them in the wild—and enjoy some fantastic warbler photographs.
Brooklyn offers plenty of delights for lovers of art, music, nature, and of course, food. On this two-day visit, arts journalist and former Brooklynite Richard Selden introduces you to several of the borough’s top attractions.
A narwhal tusk and a meticulous painting of a tulip might seem to have little in common, but they were among the wonders of nature and artifice displayed proudly in Renaissance collections of marvels. These early private collections, or cabinets of curiosity, ultimately led to the genesis of the modern museum. Biologist Kay Etheridge describes how this passion for collecting provided naturalists with centers of study and source material for their quest to find order in nature.
Curiosity drives basic scientific research, is the engine behind creativity in all disciplines, and provides a necessary ingredient in every form of storytelling. Astrophysicist Mario Livio interprets cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience that explores the origin and mechanisms of human curiosity. His own curiosity on the topic led him to interview linguist Noam Chomsky and the virtuoso lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, Brian May (who holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics).
Chris Thorogood clambers over cliffs and up erupting volcanoes and treks through typhoons—it’s just part of the job for this field botanist. He shares details of hair-raising excursions, brings his travels to life with his vivid paintings, and explains the vital work he and other botanists are doing to protect the world’s plants.
Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. He kicks off the series with a focus on parks in Utah, New Mexico, and California. This program spotlights the Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico.
Using powerful sensors and computers—and even a repurposed particle accelerator—cultural heritage researcher Michael B. Toth and his colleagues in humanities and science mine everything from ancient manuscripts to fossils to lacquerware panels for new information about their content and creation. Past projects include the earliest known copy of work by Archimedes, Gutenberg and other early Bibles, and Muslim manuscripts.
Today more than 3 million people have pacemakers, with over 600,000 implanted yearly. Tom Choi, a pediatric cardiologist and electrophysiologist, and Carolyn Ramwell, an electrophysiology nurse clinician, discuss the fascinating past, present, and future of this small but essential lifesaving device, covering the experimental history of the modern pacemaker and defibrillator, the current applications of both, and the future implications posed by artificial intelligence and technological advances.
In Peacock’s The End is Nye, Bill Nye, aka “the science guy,” uses camera magic to venture into large-scale global disasters, both natural and unnatural, as he demystifies them. Hear Nye, along with showrunner and executive producer Brannon Braga as they discuss the making of the series and hopeful, scientifically informed ways forward from some of today’s possibly most devastating disasters. Clips from The End is Nye illuminate the conversation.
Complexity theory addresses the mysteries that animate science, philosophy, and metaphysics: how the teeming array of existence, from the infinitesimal to the infinite, is a seamless living whole and what our place, as conscious beings, is within it. Physician, scientist, and philosopher Neil Theise discusses this “theory of being,” one of the pillars of modern science, and its holistic view of human existence.
Unicorns and centaurs—and other animals, both mythological and real—prance through the Physiologus (The Naturalist), a compilation written in Greek by an anonymous author, probably in Alexandria in the 3rd century A.D. Ilya Dines, a medieval manuscripts specialist, delves into the treatise’s text, illuminations, and legacy.
What makes for a long, happy, meaningful, and good life? The simple but surprising answer is relationships. It’s based on 85 years of work by the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which is still active. Marc Schulz, the study’s associate director and co-author of the new book The Good Life, Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, highlights findings from the Harvard Study as well as others that point to the critical role of relationships in shaping happiness and health.
Enjoy a spring morning walk on a natural oasis in the Potomac with Melanie Choukas-Bradley, the author of the book Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island. The nearly 2-mile path follows the island’s shore and moves deep into the swamp and tidal inlet along the boardwalk where willows, bald cypresses, and cattails frame views of Washington, D.C. She shares an overview of the landscape’s fascinating mix of trees, wildflowers, birds, and other wildlife and highlights the island’s history and the legacy of the naturalist and conservationist president it memorializes.
The colorful history of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which was in use for almost 100 years, is the focus of this excursion. Get a close-up view of the canal’s stunning natural features, tour a rehabilitated lockhouse, and learn about the lives of the lockkeepers, boat captains, and laborers who lived and worked along the canal. Your guides are Aidan Barnes, director of programs and partnerships for the C&O Canal Trust, and other Trust and National Park Service staff.
High elevation and precipitation levels in the mountains of Garrett County, Maryland, create avian habitats that closely resemble those found hundreds of miles farther north—providing birdwatchers an opportunity to observe a myriad of nesting species typically found in New England and Canada. Join naturalists and birding leaders Matt Felperin and Joley Sullivan for a full day of exploration—and bird sightings—in the Maryland panhandle region bordering Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Join geologist Kirt Kempter as he explores the geology of Western National Parks over the course of 2023, with an in-depth look at one location every month. He kicks off the series with a focus on parks in Utah, New Mexico, and California. This program spotlights the Death Valley National Park in California.
Washington, D.C.’s National Mall provides a world-class showcase for a diverse collection of American architectural styles, landscape design and use—and building materials. Join geologist Kenneth Rasmussen on a 3-mile walking tour that views buildings and monuments created from 1791 to the present as he sets the Mall’s evolution in geological context and traces how its vision as public space reflects plans developed over the centuries.
For centuries, the coastal location and diverse landscape of Maine’s Acadia National Park have drawn people in search of beauty and inspiration. The region also has been a haven for scientists, whose written records, specimen collections, and oral histories have provided baselines for understanding environmental change. Author and scientist Catherine Schmitt shares the story of science in Acadia.
We used to think of fossils as being composed of nothing but rock and minerals, but we were wrong. Today, scientists and the science of ancient biomolecules—pigments, proteins, and DNA that once functioned in living, but now extinct, organisms—are opening a new window onto the evolution of life on Earth. Dale E. Greenwalt, a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, is your guide to these astonishing breakthroughs.
Water has shaped civilizations and driven centuries of advances in science, technology, health, and medicine. But these achievements brought consequences: unsustainable water use, ecological destruction, and global climate change. Scientist and water expert Peter Gleick outlines how the lessons of the past can be the foundation of action to support a sustainable future for water and the planet.
Whether early stone carvings or produced by satellite imagery, maps are part science and part art—and an indispensable reflection of the way we view our world and ourselves. Geographer John Rennie Scott, author of Cartographic Encounters: Indigenous Peoples and the Exploration of The New World, chronicles the dramatic evolution of mapmaking over the course of human history.
The pterosaurs are the flying reptiles so often mistakenly called pterodactyls. Although pterosaurs’ fossils are rarer than those of their dinosaur cousins, we still have a remarkable range of them, from sparrow-sized babies to giants with wingspans of nearly 33 feet. Paleontologist David Hone dives into what we know about these fascinating flying reptiles.
With their forward gaze and quiet flight, owls are often a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, and foresight. But what does an owl really know? And what do we really know about owls? Jennifer Ackerman, author of the New York Times bestseller The Genius of Birds, pulls back the curtain on the nature of the world’s most enigmatic birds as she explores the rich biology and natural history of owls and examines remarkable new scientific discoveries about their brains and behavior.
Sometimes scary but always intriguing, the world’s top predators also are quite necessary. Robert Johnson, a wildlife specialist and conservationist; Sharon Gilman, a biology professor specializing in vertebrates and science education; and Dan Abel, a marine science professor and shark specialist, share facts and tell stories about these fearsome and often misunderstood animals.
