Tell Me More

Our latest episode looks at sabkhas – seemingly uninhabitable salt flats that might help us fight climate change. These salty ecosystems can sequester four times more carbon (per square meter) than rainforests can. This episode is really timely given that the UAE is gearing up to host COP28—the 28th UN Climate Conference, also known as the Conference of Parties, where negotiato

Summer in Dubai is intense with relentless humidity and temperatures soaring close to 50°C (122°F). How did people stay cool before air conditioning? We had heard about barjeels – traditional wind towers – but we didn’t quite know how they worked, or if they were still used today. So, we went to Al Bastakiya, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, to find out more. There

What’s a forest of ghaf trees called? Are ghaf leaves and pods edible? What do ghaf trees have to do with tree huggers? What might you find if you dig around ghaf trees? This episode is dedicated to the ghaf tree, the national tree of the UAE and a symbol of tolerance. This amazingly resilient, drought-tolerant plant survives in the harshest of desert environments. Bedouins depen

For hundreds, maybe thousands of years, pearls and the sea were a very big part of people’s lives in the Gulf region. The pearl shaped the economy and the identity of the people. Language, songs, clothing and travel were all part of the culture of diving for pearls. Some people got very rich off pearl diving, while others did hard and dangerous work for little or no pay. By the e

As summer approaches in Dubai, all we can think about is staying indoors and having fun. So, during this episode we look at Sindbad’s Wonderland—an indoor arcade paradise at Al Ghurair Centre for Dubai kids in the 1980s and 1990s. Spatika and Liz never had the chance to visit Sindbad’s—it closed its doors in 1997—so they tracked down key people who were in Dubai in the 80

Dubai’s First Skyscraper Our first episode looks at Dubai’s first skyscraper -- Dubai World Trade Center. This 33-story building might seem tiny today compared to the more than 160-story Burj Khalifa and other super tall buildings. But, when DWTC opened in 1979, it was the tallest tower in the Middle East and it sent a signal to the rest of the world that Dubai was open for bus

Tell Me More is a podcast for kids and adults. Join us as we time travel through Dubai with an 8 year old, to uncover what the city looked like in the beginning, told by the people who made and experienced some of it.