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Radio Diaries

Sealab: A Home on the Ocean Floor

Radio Diaries

Radio Diaries & Radiotopia

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From ancient myths of sea monsters lurking below to Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the ocean has long been both a source of fear and fascination. For Captain George Bond, a Navy medical officer in the 1960s, the deep sea was humanity's next frontier. Undersea agriculture, deep sea mining, and human colonies on the ocean floor made up his dream for the future. 

Today we bring you the story of the U.S. Navy's little-known experiment building homes on the ocean floor. They called it, Sealab.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's Joe, and I want to tell you about something new from our fellow radiotopian, Rishi Kesheirwe.

0:06.0

Rishi Keshe is the host of Song Exploder, where he interviews musicians about their creative process.

0:12.0

He's also a musician himself, and he just released his first album in 15 years.

0:17.0

It's called In the Last Hour of Light.

0:20.0

The album is deeply personal, like a memoir in music form.

0:25.0

It's also the culmination of more than a decade of being in conversation with other artists.

0:34.1

You can see him on tour this spring and he'll be bringing the spirit of Song Exploder to the shows.

0:42.3

In addition to performing his songs, he'll talk about his work, his life, and what went into this album.

0:47.3

He'll be joined on stage by folks like actor Adam Scott, author Minjin Lee, and chef Samin Nossrat.

1:00.6

Go to SongExploder.net slash live for tickets to those shows and find in the last hour of light by Rishi Kesh Hirway in record stores and streaming platforms everywhere. Radiotopia

1:13.2

From PRX

1:16.6

From PRX's Radiotopia, this is Radio Diaries.

1:19.9

I'm Joe Richmond.

1:21.7

From ancient myths of sea monsters lurking below

1:24.4

to Jules Verne's 20,000 leagues under the sea,

1:31.3

the ocean has long been a source of both fear and fascination. Back in the 1960s, that fascination led people to try and go deeper than ever before.

1:38.3

To a surprising extent, the sea has remained a mystery.

1:42.3

We know less at the ocean of our feet where we came from

1:45.8

than we do the sky above our head.

1:48.7

That's President John F. Kennedy speaking in 1963.

1:52.4

It was the age of exploration.

1:54.5

While NASA was getting front-page headlines in its quest to put a man on the moon,

...

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