National Geographic Explorer Danielle Lee takes us on a tour of potential research sites around her home in the St. Louis area, sharing her passion for witnessing how wildlife (particularly rodents) thrives in neglected urban spaces—along with the reality of doing fieldwork as a Black scientist and how she hopes to inspire young African Americans to join her. 

For more information on this episode, visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard.

Want More? 

Check out Danielle’s Ted Talks on how African pouched rats can help people find land mines and using hip-hop to communicate science. 

And you can watch National Geographic’s video on Danielle’s work with field mice. 

Also explore: 

If you’re interested in the emerging field of segregation ecology, learn about how access to green space is affecting the behavior of urban coyotes. And here’s the scientific summary of the study on raccoons in St. Louis. 

You can also listen to stories Danielle’s told live on stage for The Story Collider podcast: one on a terrible exchange with a science website editor and another on her experiences in Tanzania. 

 And read her thoughts on science outreach at her Urban Scientist blog on Scientific American.

 Find Danielle Lee’s Twitter @DNLee5.

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