The Mollusk that Build New York

Guest: Mark Kurlansky, journalist, historian and author of "The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell"

Oysters are a deliciously controversial food—exquisitely slippery and tasting of the sea, but maybe not for everyone.  But for New Yorkers, from the city's birth until the early 1900s, they played an unquestionably important role.

The World's Deadliest Pathogen is Devastating Frogs

Guest: Dan Greenberg, PhD candidate in Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University

Scientists have discovered the world’s deadliest pathogen. It eats through skin, it spreads through water, it can be passed to victims through touch. The good news is that it doesn’t affect humans. The bad news is that it’s killing the world’s amphibians.

City Lost in the Jungle for 500 Years

Guest: Tom Weinberg, author, "Chasing the Lost City: Chronicles of Discovery in Honduras"

We talk to a real-life Indiana Jones who spent 20 years studying the legends of a lost civilization and finally, in his 70s, got to unearth the city’s remains. 

Fighting Slavery After the Civil War, in San Francisco's Chinatown?

Guest: Julia Flynn Siler, author, "The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown"

Slavery was formally abolished in the state of California with the 13th Amendment in 1865. But despite the abolition of slavery, there were still people being sold in the twentieth century. Not African-Americans—these were young Chinese women and girls trafficked as domestic servants and sex workers in San Francisco. This is the story of the women who escaped from and fought the practice. 

Life as a Turkey

Guest: Joe Hutto, naturalist, wildlife artist, and author of "Illumination in the Flatwoods," the book that inspired the documentary film "My Life As a Turkey"

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a wild turkey? Perhaps not, but naturalist Joe Hutto did and he found out. By adopting a brood of turkeys, Joe became their mother and they became his personal wildlife tour guide, showing him a side of the wilderness that few people have ever experienced before.