Benjamin Banneker's Almanac

‘All That Breathes:’ A Story Of Two Brothers Saving New Delhi’s Raptors

The Oscars are right around the corner, and one of the nominees in the documentary category is called “All That Breathes.” It tells the story of two brothers—Nadeem and Saud—who dedicate their lives to rescuing black kites, a type of raptor that dominates the skies of New Delhi.

Since they were children, the brothers have rescued more than 25,000 of these birds, who are quite literally falling out of the thick, polluted, hazy sky. Their conservation efforts have triumphed over limited resources and periods of religious violence in New Delhi.

Guest host John Dankosky speaks with Shaunak Sen, director of “All That Breathes,” about the making of the film, and how it’s a story of urban ecology, politics, and hope.

 

 

Why Won’t Museums Return Native American Human Remains?

In 1990, the United States passed a groundbreaking human rights policy called the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—known as NAGPRA. It was designed to spur museums, universities, and federal agencies to return Native American human remains and cultural items back to the tribes they were stolen from.

NAGPRA held a lot of promise, but now—33 years later—more than 110,000 Native American, Hawaiian, and Alaskan human remains are held up in research institutions.

So why, decades later, have so many institutions failed to return remains? That’s the focus of a new report from ProPublica. ProPublica reporter Mary Hudetz joins guest host John Dankosky to discuss why NAGPRA fell short, and where to go from here.

 

Appreciating The Brilliance Of Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was a free Black man born in 1731, over a century before slavery was abolished in his home state of Maryland. Today, Banneker is perhaps best known for his role in drawing the original borders of Washington, DC.

But he was also an accomplished naturalist and polymath. He was among the first to document the cicada’s 17-year life cycle. Banneker also taught himself astronomy and math, and published one of the country’s first almanacs.

Guest host Regina Barber talks with Dr. Janet Barber, an independent researcher, writer, and social scientist (with no relation to Regina), and Dr. Asamoah Nkwanta department chair and professor of mathematics at Morgan State University, based in Baltimore, Maryland, about Benjamin Banneker’s life and scientific legacy.

 

The Supernatural Side Of Astronomical Events

Throughout history, there have been events in the sky that have made people uneasy: Think supernovas, comets, and eclipses. It’s easy to understand why. Even when astronomical knowledge was limited, the skies were readily observable. So when things changed, it sometimes led people to see these events as omens.

In ancient China, eclipses were thought to occur when a celestial dragon attacked and ate the sun. And in Incan culture, eclipses were seen as the sun god expressing displeasure, which sometimes led to human sacrifice. And in 1456, Halley’s Comet was excommunicated by the pope for being an instrument of the devil.

There are scientific explanations for these events, of course. Co-host Regina Barber speaks with Dr. Samaiyah Farid, solar physicist and project scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, about what’s behind these astrological omens.

 

 

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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