It's summertime. Most of us hope to spend time on the beach, or by a river, or a pool, and we thought we'd try to understand why? Why do we want to be by water, and why does it make us feel so good? And it’s not just us. Understanding how the power of water makes us healthier and happier is actually a growing field of research.

Today, we're diving into our human connection to oceans and how we can harness that love of water to help us protect the largest gulf in the world -- our own Gulf of Mexico. We talk with Wallace J. Nichols, author of the book “Blue Mind,” about how being around water changed us, and then we talk with deep sea explorer Mandy Joye about the wonders hidden in the Gulf of Mexico and what we can do to save them.

Today's episode was hosted by Carlyle Calhoun. Sea Change is distributed by PRX and is a part of the NPR Podcast Network.

Made possible with major support provided by the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. WWNO’s Coastal Desk is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation and the Meraux Foundation.

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