From early diving bells to Oceangate, our history beneath the waves has been a tug-of-war between finding riches and breakthroughs, and paying a dreadful price in pursuit of them. It's a history marked by astonishing discoveries, technological achievements, missteps and expeditions that traded precautions for progress.

This is part one of a two-part series examining why, despite the crushing pressure and freezing cold, despite failures and fatalities, despite the deep sea turning the very chemistry of our bodies against us, the world underwater stirs in us what Jules Verne called "that tendency which disposes the human mind in favour of the marvelous."

Written and produced by Steven Carson

Cover Art by Bree Seeley

Music by Audionautix.com

In this short Fieldnotes episode of Why We Explore, we correct some inaccuracies from our last episode, share some stories that didn't make the cut, and give an introduction to the writer who might as well be the patron saint of this podcast: Jules Verne.

Written and produced by Steven Carson

Cover Art by Bree Seeley

Music by Incompetech.com

The study of Mars, especially life on Mars, has always been fueled just as much by dreams as data. It's equal parts romance and rocket fuel. Tall tales and telescopes. Speculation and starships. I could do this all day, but we have a question to answer: is there life on Mars?

Today we'll take a look at the ways we've tried to answer this question in the past, why we think there might be life up there at all, what evidence of its existence it might leave behind, and how maybe, just maybe, the first shreds of that evidence have already been found.

Written and produced by Steven Carson

Cover Art by Bree Seeley

Music by Incompetech.com

This is Why We Explore: a podcast about all the places humanity has gone, the journeys and discoveries made along the way, the stories that inspired us to keep going, and where that inspiration might take us in the future.

Written and produced by Steven Carson

Title Artwork by Bree Seeley

Music by audionautix.com