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Radio Expeditions A co-production of NPR and the National Geographic Society. Explore our world's environments, cultures, and wildlife through interviews, narrative, and sounds. Subscribe to the Radio Expeditions RSS feed.

Radio Expeditions

Diversions

Philadelphia's Gum Tree Cut Down

For the first installment in a series on unlikely landmarks, the BPP talks to business owners on Philadelphia's South Street about what locals call the "gum tree." For years, it was a repository for chewed gum. But the neighborhood is sprucing up, and the tree has been cut down.

Philadelphia's Gum Tree Cut Down

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Changing the Sound of Public Radio

The nonprofit Public Radio Exchange is seeking to change the stereotype of public radio being flat and drowsy. Nine months ago, it launched a contest to find the best new voices in public radio.

Changing the Sound of Public Radio

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'Day to Day' in Kansas City

Same Name, Two Very Different Cities

As Day to Day prepares for its three-day visit to Kansas City, Alex Chadwick poses the question, "Am I in Kansas or in Missouri?" Turns out, a little of both ... and the two are different.

Same Name, Two Very Different Cities

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Obituaries

Thousands Pay Tribute to Lady Bird Johnson

About 2,000 mourners gather at a church in the Texas Hill Country to remember Lady Bird Johnson. Earlier, a family spokeswoman says nearly 10,000 visitors streamed past the casket as it lay in repose at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, Texas.

Thousands Pay Tribute to Lady Bird Johnson

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Cooling U.S. Market Sends Tomb Raiders Abroad

The world's second oldest profession? Tomb raiding. To combat the problem, American dealers and museums increasingly require a paper trail documenting a relic's ownership, but looters are just taking their business to Japan and Europe.

Cooling U.S. Market Sends Tomb Raiders Abroad

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Tomb Raiders Threaten Mayan City's History

In archaeological sites throughout the world, antiquities are plundered for sale. U.S. agents says the looting is epidemic. One archaeologist working in Guatemala has launched a battle to save an ancient city from looters.

Tomb Raiders Threaten Mayan City's History

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Biologist Keeps Track of Iran's Rare Cheetahs

It's not easy to track down one of the fastest and rarest great cats in the world. But one biologist is working to attach radio collars to cheetahs living in remote areas of Iran. With fewer than 100 of the animals left, they are among the most imperiled great cats on Earth.

Biologist Keeps Track of Iran's Rare Cheetahs

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A Resurgence of Wildlife in Northern Tibet

Biologist George Schaller is the first to survey wildlife in Tibet's remote Chang Tang reserve in the winter. Schaller spoke with Alex Chadwick about some surprising findings from his 1,000-mile journey.

A Resurgence of Wildlife in Northern Tibet

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Protecting the Snow Leopard from Poachers

Snow leopards are among the world's most endangered big cats, with only several thousand left. In Mongolia's southern Gobi desert, the snow leopard is a sign of a healthy ecosytem. But poaching remains one of the area's more lucrative businesses.

Protecting the Snow Leopard from Poachers

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Ancient Village Lifts Some of Stonehenge's Mystery

A settlement once home to hundreds has been unearthed near England's Stonehenge. Archaeologists think the builders of the huge stone circle may have lived in the village. It dates to the same time period.

Ancient Village Lifts Some of Stonehenge's Mystery

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Adventurers Cross the Globe by Foot and Hand

It took them two years, but Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei are the first people to circumnavigate the globe completely by self-propulsion. That means they rowed across the Atlantic -- no sails. And biked and hiked across Siberia.

Adventurers Cross the Globe by Foot and Hand

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Up Close and Personal with the Albatross

In literature, albatrosses represent weighty, inescapable burdens. But in real life, the huge seabirds use wind energy to cruise around the planet's oceans. Photographer Frans Lanting and writer Carl Safina report from one of the world's largest albatross colonies.

Up Close and Personal with the Albatross

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Exploring Tennessee's Caves for New Species

Running underneath the rolling hills of Tennessee lies a still-mysterious and remote network of caverns. Many of those caves shelter fragile ecosystems, and biologist Jerry Lewis is helping to discover and protect some of those ecosystems from man's destruction.

Exploring Tennessee's Caves for New Species

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Remembering Conservationist Mingma Norbu Sherpa

Mingma Norbu Sherpa was one of 24 conservationists killed in Nepal this week in a recent helicopter crash near Kathmandu. A child of the Himalayas, Sherpa, 50, was an official with the World Wildlife Fund who helped change conservation practices around the world.

Remembering Conservationist Mingma Norbu Sherpa

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Interviews: Searching for the Poisonous Pitohui

Conservationist Bruce Beehler is pushing through a wild and previously unexplored jungle in search of a mysterious and poisonous bird native to Papua New Guinea, the pitohui. His only lead and guide is a local shaman, who uses poison from the bird in his rituals.

Interviews: Searching for the Poisonous Pitohui

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Scores of Elephants Killed by Poachers in Chad

National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Fay has uncovered a staggering loss: During a survey of Chad -- a country of vast spaces at the heart of Africa -- he stumbled on at least 100 dead elephants near an elephant preserve, killed for their ivory tusks.

Scores of Elephants Killed by Poachers in Chad

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The Green Heart of Sumatra

The Leuser Ecosystem, one of the world's richest yet least-known forest systems, is increasingly threatened by logging and encroachment by a burgeoning population. We fly into the heart of the forest to profile the conservationists trying to keep it pristine for future generations.

The Green Heart of Sumatra

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Saving Sumatra's Wild Orangutans

Some scientists believe the orangutan — a Malay word that translates to "man of the forest" — may soon become extinct, wiped out by the humans it so closely resembles. We travel to the Indonesian island of Sumatra to profile competing plans to save the great ape.

Saving Sumatra's Wild Orangutans

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50 Years On, a Passion for the Wild Endures

In July of 1956, wilderness activists Olaus and Mardy Murie made an expedition to the upper Sheenjek River of Alaska's Brooks Range to inventory an untouched wilderness. Five decades later, one of their young disciples returns to find the beauty intact.

50 Years On, a Passion for the Wild Endures

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The Savage, Beautiful World of Army Ants

The ant photographs of Mark Moffett, a Harvard-trained ecologist, are often compared to art. He talks with Alex Chadwick about his latest article for National Geographic magazine on the hidden world of one of the most aggressive species of ant.

The Savage, Beautiful World of Army Ants

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Program Aims to Protect Tigers -- and Their Prey

The Wildlife Conservation Society announces a new approach to tiger conservation: Scientists will focus not only on the tigers, but also on the safety of their prey and the actions of their human neighbors.

Program Aims to Protect Tigers -- and Their Prey

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Fighting in Nepal Threatens Rhino Population

A promising conservation effort to save Nepal's endangered rhinos is now in serious trouble, due to poachers and fighting between government forces and Maoist insurgents. But a new truce is giving conservationists hope for the future.

Fighting in Nepal Threatens Rhino Population

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