{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Life\u2019s Tough, but Dr. Martin Nweeia is TOUGHER, a dental surgeon by trade and a renowned narwhal researcher & explorer by passion!","description":"Life\u2019s Tough Media is pleased to announce the latest episode of our \u201cLife\u2019s Tough: Explorers are TOUGHER!\u201d podcast series. Hosted by Richard Wiese\u2014explorer extraordinaire and President of The Explorers Club\u2014this episode features Dr. Martin Nweeia, dental surgeon, marine mammal dental specialist and renowned narwhal researcher whose exhibition, "Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend," recently opened at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Dr. Martin Nweeia received fellowships in anthropology and vertebrate zoology at the Smithsonian and was content curator for the Smithsonian exhibit, Narwhal Revealing An Arctic Legend. Martin is also a fellow of the Explorers Club and Canadian Royal Geographic Society and recipient of the Lowell Thomas Award. He has conducted research in the high Arctic of Canada and Greenland for over 20 years as an NSF research scientist and National Geographic Explorer and represented United States\/Canada collaborative research as opening speaker at the International Pavilion in Ottawa celebrating Canada\u2019s 150th Anniversary. Rather than pursuing a childhood dream of being an orchestra conductor, Martin chose to be a dentist and marine mammal biologist instead. Martin has always been fascinated with teeth\u2014from the humankind to the 9-foot spear-shaped tusk that juts out of the narwhal, an Arctic whale. His interest in teeth and dental health deepened as a 14-year-old who read a Time Life book on health care that focused on Case Western Reserve\u2019s model of forging a new pathway in medical education. \u201cThe commitment to innovation made a lasting impression,\u201d Martin says. Martin received his dental degree at Case Western Reserve, and now has returned to Harvard and Case Western Reserve Schools of Dental Medicine and Marine Mammal Program, Smithsonian, where he lectures part time. With help from a National Geographic grant, Martin sought to uncover the secrets behind the extraordinary tusk of a whale\u2014the narwhal\u2014that resembles the horn of a unicorn. In 2000, Martin and a team of scientists discovered that the tusk is actually quite flexible and can bend one foot in any direction and that its nerve system could detect temperature, pressure, motion, and more. \u201cI love when life points you in directions that you resist,\u201d Martin explains. \u201cIt\u2019s too easy when things make sense, and life hums along. There was nothing about the narwhal that made any sense to me.\u201d In 2014, Martin and his team published what he calls their \u201castounding\u201d discovery: the narwhal tusk is a sensory organ that can detect subtle changes in the concentration of salt in the surrounding seawater, helping the animal find mates and possibly forage. Martin collaborates closely with Inuit elders and hunters of the Arctic, whose deep, traditional knowledge informs his research. His quest began 17 years ago and has taken him on more than a dozen summertime research trips to inlets in the Arctic waters of Canada\u2019s Northwest Territories. \u201cI am fascinated by teeth, all their myriad forms in nature,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat better way to learn about teeth than to better understand the one that questions all you\u2019ve learned.\u201d Join Richard and Martin for a fascinating discussion about Martin\u2019s philosophy of life and the lessons he has learned during his extensive research of the narwal, and his time spent with the Inuit people. ","author_name":"Life\u2019s Tough, Explorers Are TOUGHER!","author_url":"https:\/\/www.lifestough.com","html":"