Welcome to Pulse Picks, where you can find more in-depth content on some of your favorite subjects. Based on a listener survey and an analysis of the past year's searches on the Pulse of the Planet web site, we found that you've been asking for a variety of topics; some we would have expected, and some surprised us!
 Oil Spill What should and shouldn't we be doing to clean up the mess? What lessons have we still not learned? Stories from the past and present provide clues. ...more |
 The Annapurna Circuit, Nepal It takes about a month, starting in a sultry, almost rain forest environment, ascending through terraced farmland and on past the timberline up to Thorung La, a mountain pass, and then on down to the lowlands again. ...more |
 Singing Up the Sun: Cherry Festival, Karánou, CreteAlthough the legacy of its distant past is a powerful drawing card, the real magic of Crete is in its vibrant culture – as is evidenced by a visit to a cherry harvest celebration held in the northwestern region of the island. ...more |
 Unraveling Silk: Primordial Magic, Bursa, Turkey It was one of the cities on the Silk Road, the fabled route which brought the finest cloth in the world from the East to West. ...more |
 When the Sun Stands Still: Celebrating December This month, we offer some sound memories of global holidays past, which coincide with the start of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. ...more |
 Offering Thanks: Japan, Thailand, and the United States This month we look at a few celebrations around the world, all of which occur in November. ...more |
 The Pantanal: Earthly Paradise "Welcome to Paradise!" A pair of binoculars dangling from his neck, ornithologist Reggie Donatelli stands on the lawn of the Fazenda Rio Negro and invites me to survey the surroundings. ...more |
 Cajun Mardi Gras: "Tickling Society" It's 5 a.m., too early in the morning to think about revelry, and yet here are dozens of people gathering at a ranch just outside of Elton, Louisiana. ...more |
 Casa de la Trova: Cuba's Down-home Music Salon In 2001, photographer Phil Metzidakis and I traveled to Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba. It was part of an exchange program that allowed Americans to learn some of the dynamics and intricacies of Cuban music and dance.. ...more |
 City Out of Time: Fez, Morocco Walk through the Bab Bou Jeloud, the Blue Gate, and wander through the streets and narrow passageways of Fez el Bali (Old Fez), and it’s not hard to imagine you’ve gone back in time. ...more |
 African Ceremonies: Niger, Senegal and Ethiopia Photographers Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have traveled to nearly every corner of Africa over the last 30 years, witnessing tribal ceremonies rarely seen by outsiders. ...more |
 Australian Cloud Forest Rare birds and frogs, a cool evening breeze, stinging trees, leeches. It’s all in a day’s work for climate researchers in a cloud forest. ...more |
A Few of Your Favorite Things
Based on our survey and the past year’s searches on the Pulse website, you’re interested in holidays and festivals like Los Posadas, and the food and drink that we consume during these times. You’re interested in the remote places that most of us simply can’t visit, like the Gobi Desert. You asked for more information about animals, especially birds and large predators, like lions and tigers and bears. Surprisingly to us, many of you asked about artificial voice simulators. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of interest in global warming. You asked about the Iroquois, and other indigenous people, as well as about dinosaurs, naked mole rats, cicadas, penguins, Nile Perch, moon rings, swarming bees, and many other topics. To give us more input for future topics, go to the Feedback Loop on the Science Diaries page and let us know what you’d like to hear more about.
