Great Big World

The world is full of fascinating stories that don't always make our individual newsfeeds. Welcome to Mappy Hour, a new monthly segment of Great Big World where Shannon shares the global developments, unexpected discoveries, and cultural curiosities that have captured her attention.

In this inaugural edition, we're traveling from a remote Pacific island in Kiribati, where researchers are renewing the search for Amelia Earhart's missing plane, to Northern Ireland, where a decades-old dispute over an Orange Order parade on Garvaghy Road is reigniting tensions over history and identity. Finally, we head to Central Asia, where Kyrgyzstan's first national satellite launch signals new possibilities for technology, environmental monitoring, and international cooperation.

Three very different stories, each offering a new perspective on the people, places, and connections shaping our world.

In Ukraine, preserving cultural heritage has become about far more than saving historic buildings. It’s about protecting identity, strengthening communities, and preparing for the future. In this episode, Shannon sits down with historic preservationist Andrew Roblee to explore his work with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy to help build a new preservation infrastructure in Ukraine. From Soviet-era architecture and cultural heritage targeted during war to preservation as a tool for recovery, they explore what it means to protect the places that tell a nation’s story, even as that story is still being written.