When a Smithsonian archaeology intern opened a dusty box of bones in a Panamanian warehouse, she didn't expect to find a mystery, let alone a potential crime scene. But Nina Hirai’s discovery of a tapir skull riddled with what appeared to be bullet holes sparked an investigation that would lead her several miles up the Panama Canal and nearly forty years into the past. Join us as we unspool the strange, unresolved story of a tapir named Alice, and ask what it means to live with uncertainty when the past refuses to explain itself.

Guests:

Nina Hirai, former archeology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Nicole Smith-Guzmán, archeology curator at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Ashley Sharpe, research archeologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Aureliano Valencia (“Yeyo”), archeological research technician at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Phyllis (Lissy) Coley, professor emerita in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Utah and research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Monica Brenes Lynan, former veterinarian at Parque Municipal Summit in Panama

Andres Ramos, lider de guardabosques del Monumento Natural Barro Colorado / head park ranger at Barro Colorado Island

What does it look like for something to be made in America?

Through the photography of Christopher Payne, we journey across the past, present and future of American manufacturing to answer this question. From centuries-old textile mills to modern assembly lines, Payne’s photographs offer a rare, behind-the-scenes view of how everyday objects—from pencils to airplanes to marshmallow Peeps—are made.

With the help of Smithsonian curator, Susan Brown, and author, Rachel Slade, we also explore the history behind these factories, and how the story of American manufacturing is the story of our nation itself.

Guests:

Christopher Payne, Industrial photographer

Susan Brown, associate curator, and acting head of textiles at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum; curator of the exhibition Made in America

Rachel Slade, author of the book Making it in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (and How it Got That Way)

Something dark and invisible makes up as much as 90 to 95 percent of the universe—and it took a little girl staring out a bedroom window at the night sky to bring it to light.

As a child, Vera Rubin built her own telescope. As an adult, she uncovered a problem no telescope could solve: stars at the edges of galaxies were moving just as fast as those near the center. The math contradicted everything astronomers expected to see...unless the universe was filled with unseen matter.

This is the story of how Vera Rubin pushed through the gender barriers of the 1950s and turned a fringe idea into one of astronomy’s biggest open questions. What is dark matter? How did Rubin help prove it was real? And what does it mean that most of the universe is made of something we can’t see?

Guests:

Ashley Yeager, Associate News Editor at Science News and Author of Bright Galaxies Dark Matter and Beyond: The Life of Astronomer Vera Rubin

Ramona Rubin, Granddaughter of Vera Rubin

Deidre Hunter, Astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona

Amruta Jaodand, Astrophysicist at the Chandra X-Ray Center in the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory