Pop Omnivore
Inspired by an Arctic assignment for National Geographic, photographer James Balog chronicled disappearing glaciers through a three-year, three-million-dollar project called the Extreme Ice Survey that resulted in the new film Chasing Ice. He spoke to Pop Omnivore about the surprising drama and otherworldly beauty of glaciers—and about confronting the reality of climate change.
How do you bring the Dust Bowl back to life? Get Ken Burns to make a film about it. The preeminent documentarian’s latest act, The Dust Bowl, airing November 18 and 19 at 8 p.m. on PBS, is a two-part, four-hour look at “a decade-long natural catastrophe of biblical proportions.” In the 1930s, America’s agricultural…
Can you imagine spending your life encased in 750 pounds of iron? The new film The Sessions is based on the true story of Mark O’Brien, a poet who was largely confined to an iron lung. Learn more about the history of iron lungs…
As a magazine of geography, we were interested in finding out about Gangnam: Where (and what) is it? Gangnam means “south of the river” in Korean. It’s a ritzy district that lies just below the Han river in South Korea’s capital, Seoul. To gain more insights into Gangam style, we spoke with a few former residents of Seoul.
There are some National Geographic photographers whose work never fails to dazzle even the most jaded eye. One of them is Paul Nicklen, just named 2012 Wildlife Photographer of the Year…
By Catherine Zuckerman Frog: It’s what’s for dinner. Frog fallopian tubes, to be exact. On a recent episode of The Amazing Race, contestants jetted off to Shanghai and had to down a Chinese delicacy known as hasma. Described as “frog fallopian tubes,” the meal looked daunting—picture a mound of small, milky-white, jiggling blobs. To kick…
Paul Simon Looks Back on the Anniversary of the Amazing “Graceland”
Posted by Pop Omnivore on October 11, 2012 This year, Paul Simon released a 25th anniversary album edition of Graceland in a boxed set. In honor of this special occasion, we spoke with Paul Simon about what has changed in the quarter of a century since he first set foot Under those African Skies…
Pop Omnivore visited the Small Press Expo (SPX) in Bethesda, Maryland, looking for environmentally minded comics. Here’s what we found…
If you’re in the DC area, stop by National Geographic headquarters this weekend for a cultural treat: The All Roads Film Festival (Sept. 27-30), featuring compelling stories from indigenous and minority cultures. The films take viewers around the world, from the rural Philippines and Tibet to South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Inspired by the movie The Amazing Spider-Man, Pop Omnivore wondered: What can a real spider bite do to a real human being? To find out, we asked Dana DeRoche, an arachnid specialist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, which spider species have the worst—and weirdest—bite.
Pop phenom Rihanna took to Twitter on June 23 to share her new ink: a tattoo of an Egyptian Falcon perched on her right ankle. “Falcon: a light that shines in the darkness! Never close their eyes during sleep,” Rihanna tweeted. Which begs the question: Do falcons really sleep with their eyes open?
The movie For Greater Glory depicts a war that many Americans have never heard of: Mexico’s Cristero War of 1926–1929, aka La Cristiada. The war began when president Plutarco Elias Calles started enforcing anti-religious sections of the country’s constitution. For NGM intern Antonia Rico, the war is familiar…
In the new movie 21 Jump Street, two young cops are sent back to high school as undercover police officers. The pair are shocked to find that in the few years they’ve been away, the social strata have been seismically restructured: Biking to school, recycling and otherwise showing concern for the environment makes you a Cool Kid. To find out whether this depiction of the new cool is accurate, Pop Omnivore spoke with National Geographic Emerging Explorer Juan Martinez.
Disney’s movie John Carter is a wild interplanetary tale about a Civil War veteran who ends up on Mars. Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society and author of The Case for Mars, was inspired by stories of John Carter to become an astronomical engineer, so we asked him to assess the movie’s depiction of life on Mars…
Saving Face, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short, highlights the issue of acid attacks against women in Pakistan. About 150 cases are reported each year in that country, which is one of a dozen or so to experience this form of violence. But incidents are likely underreported…
The movie version of the Dr. Seuss’s classic conservation story The Lorax tells the story of the tree-loving Lorax, who used to say, “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” It turns out National Geographic has its own Lorax: Meg Lowman, an NG grantee and director of the Nature Research Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. She is currently working to conserve forests in Ethiopia…
This weekend, National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project presents the film series, Women Hold Up Half the Sky, notable films by award-winning female directors, screening at NG headquarters in Washington, D.C. Here are previews of three of the films, “My Wedding and Other Secrets,” “Here I Am,” and “A Small Act.”
The newly minted Oscar winner for best documentary, Undefeated, has left many critics gushing—with praise, but also tears. The true-life sports tale follows a struggling high school football team in a poor area of Memphis, Tennessee, whose fortunes begin to turn under the guidance of a devoted and determined coach. The emotional story has reduced…
Among the winners at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was Valley of Saints, an environmental drama that casts light on the toll that human habitation and tourism have taken on Kashmir’s lovely Dal Lake. The plot centers around a boatman named Gulzar and his best friend, who are planning to run away from the conflict…
The plot of the new movie War Horse is driven by the deep, powerful bond between a boy named Albert and his horse, Joey, who both end up serving in World War I. Watching it made us wonder: What do we really know about horses’ emotions? Carissa Wickens, an assistant professor in equine science at the University of Delaware, provides answers…
By Mel White Word got out months ago that a movie was in the works based on the book The Big Year, which recounts the true exploits of three birdwatchers competing to find the highest number of species in North America in a single calendar year. This wasn’t some made-for-TV cheapie destined for an obscure…
The popular new movie Dolphin Tale tells the touching story of a young dolphin named Winter who loses her tail and survives with a prosthetic one. It’s based on a true story—Winter plays herself—but some parts were fictionalized to make it more appealing to young viewers. Which parts? To find out, we contacted one of Winter’s real-life rescuers,
Teresa Mazza from the Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute in Melbourne Beach, Florida.
Join Sir David Attenborough for a LIVE interview on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation: Science Friday” today, September 30 at 2 pm ET. Attenborough and host Ira Flatow will discuss the North American launch of “Flying Monsters 3D,” recent findings surrounding pterosaurs, and Sir David’s illustrious career. In the meantime, watch the trailer, read a Q&A, and see photos from the film.
Set in 1873, the summer blockbuster Cowboys & Aliens follows an outlaw (Daniel Craig), a cattle baron (Harrison Ford), and an Apache chief (Raoul Trujillo) as they fight a technologically superior foe from a foreign world. Filmed largely on location in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico, the film features breathtaking desert landscapes, gun-toting cowboys, and…
Could something like the plot of the movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes really happen? To find out, we spoke with Luis P. Villarreal, professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at the School of Biological Sciences at University of California, Irvine, and director for the Center for Virus Research, about gene therapy, how viruses can be helpful, and why we probably won’t be battling hyper-intelligent apes anytime soon.
