Short Wave
Episodes
Pandemic Could Roll Back Advancements For Women in STEMM
19 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In general, there are more men in STEMM fields than women. Representation in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine is even lower for wo...
Too soon? The CDC Relaxes Mask Guidance For Fully Vaccinated
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many Americans are baring their faces in public again, following new CDC recommendations that fully vaccinated people don't need them in most settings...
Racism, Opioids And COVID-19: A Deadly Trifecta
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore.) Drug overdose deaths are on the rise all around the country, including in Chicago, Illinois. ProPublica Illinois reporter Duaa Eldeib explai...
Animal Slander! The Origins Of "Badgering" Will Bum You Out
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's the latest installment of our series, "Animal Slander," where we take a common saying about animals and see what truth there is to it. The case b...
In The Pandemic, Children Face A Mental Health Crisis
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the proportion of emergency department visits by children in mental health crises w...
SCOOP: There's A Dirt Shortage
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mud and dirt have often been treated as waste products from excavation or dredging sites. But these days, coastal communities need massive amounts of ...
Pediatricians Work To Persuade Parents And Teens To Get COVID-19 Vaccine
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some colleges and universities have announced that COVID vaccination will be mandatory (with some exemptions) and the FDA has authorized the Pfizer CO...
The Past, Present and Future of mRNA Vaccines
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are the first authorized vaccines in history to use mRNA technology. The pandemic might've set the s...
'Everyone I Know Has Lost Someone': An Update From India
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The numbers are staggering. India has been reporting more than 300,000 COVID-19 cases each day for the past two weeks, and recently topped more than 4...
A Fragile X Treatment May Be On The Horizon
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Katie Clapp and Michael Tranfaglia's son was born with a genetic disorder that affects brain development. It makes it hard to learn language and basic...
Why Some Countries Have Low Vaccination Rates
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We've been talking a lot about COVID in the US. Now, we want to look at how things are going in some other countries. NPR's correspondents — Jason B...
A Vaccination Update And The CDC's Latest Guidance On Masks
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The rate of vaccination in the U.S. continues to slow. Maddie Sofia talks with NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey about that and what can be done...
Burnout: The Crisis Plaguing Health Care Workers
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, NPR's mental health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee guests hosts Short Wave. She talks to Dr. Arghavan Salles about burnout among health care wo...
The Viral TikTok Explaining mRNA Vaccines With ... Forks!
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We at Short Wave are sometimes a little too aware of how difficult it can be to explain science to a general audience. So when we came across Vick Kri...
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster: 10 Years Later
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2011, villages and towns around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant in Japan were evacuated because of a series of meltdowns caused by a tsunami. T...
5 Ways To Cut Carbon Emissions At Home
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Feeling green? If you'd like to do something to slow down climate change, even if it's just a small thing, you can get started in your own apartment o...
The U.S. Vaccination Rate Continues To Slow
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Short Wave's Emily Kwong talks with NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey about some of the latest coronavirus news, including the return of the Joh...
A 142-Year-Old Science Seed Caper
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On April 15, at four o'clock in the morning, a small group of scientists found their way to a secret location. A light wintry mix of rain and snow was...
U.S. Renews Its Commitment To Addressing Climate Change
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Biden is hosting dozens of world leaders for a virtual climate summit on Thursday and Friday. The administration is trying to regain ground...
Medicine And The Horseshoe Crab
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Horseshoe crabs have been around for 450 million years — nearly unchanged. And their blood has helped the medical world make some fascinating discov...
Micro Wave: Why Hair Turns Gray
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why does hair turn gray? Stress? Age? Genetics? We turn to dermatologist Dr. Jenna Lester for answers.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcas...
Half Of U.S. Adults Have Gotten A Vaccine — But Hurdles Remain For Herd Immunity
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, NPR Health Correspondent Allison Aubrey offers perspective on how to think about the latest coronavirus news. On one hand, half of U.S. adults ...
A Classroom Where Math And Community Intersect
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of mathematicians, do you think of lone geniuses scribbling away at complex equations? This myth is one mathematician Ranthony Edmonds ...
Why Scientists Are Racing To Save Historical Sea Level Records
16 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore episode.) Archival records may help researchers figure out how fast the sea level is rising in certain places. Millions of people in coastal c...
Why Baltimore Is Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore episode.) Earlier this year, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by the city of Baltimore against more than a dozen major oil ...
A Rising Tide of Violence Against Environmental Activists
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore episode.) Global Witness documented that 212 environmental and land activists were murdered in 2019. Over half of those documented murders too...
What Happens When The Tides Get Higher
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore episode.) As sea levels rise from climate change, coastal communities face a greater risk of chronic flooding. Climate scientist Astrid Caldas...
Debating When The 'Age Of Humans' Began
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Humans have changed the Earth in such profound ways that scientists say we have entered a new geological period: the Anthropocene Epoch.Learn more abo...
The Resurgence Of Psychedelic Psychiatry
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Psychedelics like ketamine and psilocybin are getting a second look as a way to treat psychiatric problems like depression, anxiety, substance use dis...
Smell Therapy
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A curious symptom of COVID-19 that can stick with patients for a long time is loss of smell. Researchers don't know exactly how prevalent the loss of ...
The Queen's Squeak
07 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Dialects" is one of those words tossed around a lot when talking about human language. They indicate where a speaker is from. But dialects aren't exc...
Vaccinations Are Up, But So Are COVID-19 Cases
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than 61 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. We're also now averaging over 3 million shots per day. But at the same ...
How To Reach Out When Someone You Know May Be At Risk Of Suicide
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Currently, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. But research shows that suicide is preventable. Host Emily Kwong talks with NPR healt...
Micro Wave: Are Seasonal Allergies Getting Worse?
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We ask allergy expert Dr. Juanita Mora if seasonal allergies are getting worse. Plus, some quick tips for managing those pesky allergy symptoms.Email ...
Meet The Dermatologists Advancing Better Care For Skin Of Color
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many skin conditions, from rashes to Lyme disease to various cancers, present differently on dark skin. Yet medical literature and textbooks don't oft...
Fulgurite: What A Lightning-Formed Rock May Have Contributed To Life On Earth
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When lightning strikes the ground, it can leave behind a root-like rock called a fulgurite. Host Maddie Sofia talks with NPR science correspondent Nel...
What We Can Learn From Microscopic Life In Antarctica
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our colleagues at the TED Radio Hour introduce us to wildlife filmmaker Ariel Waldman. She says the coldest continent is brimming with invisible life ...
Is The Future Quantum?
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel takes us to IonQ, one of the companies betting on a quantum computing future. Along the way, Geoff explains w...
The Purple Urchins Don't Die
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer explains how scientists are getting creative to deal with the hordes of urchins overtaking kelp forests in the...
Brood X: The Rise Of The 17-Year Cicadas
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The cicadas are coming! After 17 years, Brood X is emerging this spring to mate. If you're in the eastern part of the United States, get ready to be s...
Meet The 'Glacier Mice'
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore episode.) In 2006, while hiking around the Root Glacier in Alaska, glaciologist Tim Bartholomaus encountered something strange and unexpected ...
A Look Inside The World's Biggest Vaccine Maker
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
NPR's international correspondent Lauren Frayer takes us on a tour of the factory of the world's largest vaccine maker: Serum Institute of India. The ...
How A New Deal Legacy Is Building Clean Energy In Rural North Carolina
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In North Carolina, a rural electric cooperative is reliving its New Deal history, bringing technologies like fast Internet and clean, low-carbon heati...
The U.S. Has A History Of Linking Disease With Race And Ethnicity
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
(Encore episode.) The coronavirus is all over the headlines these days. Accompanying those headlines? Suspicion and harassment of Asians and Asian Ame...
Reflections On Coronavirus A Year In
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's been about a year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. The world has learned a lot in that time — about how...
A Quick Dive Into How Submarines Work
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Submarines can descend thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean, but to do so, they have to deal with an enormous amount of pressure. In this ...
What Earth Looked Like 3.2 Billion Years Ago
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Encore episode. The surface of the Earth is constantly recycled through the motion of plate tectonics. So how do researchers study what it used to loo...
Our Pandemic Future
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's been about a year since the coronavirus pandemic started to take hold in the United States. Recently, NPR science correspondent Rob Stein has bee...
A Year Into The Pandemic, The Incarcerated Among The Most Vulnerable
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the year since the pandemic began, the coronavirus has severely impacted inmates and staff in U.S. jails and prisons. According to The Marshall Pr...
The Importance Of Diversifying Alzheimer's Research
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alzheimer's disease affects more than 6 million Americans and a disproportionate number are Black. NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton explains why...
CDC's Do's and Don'ts For Fully Vaccinated People
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The CDC released new guidance Monday, allowing people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to resume some pre-pandemic activities, including gathering in...
One Key To Healthy Oceans? Sharks
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Shark scientist Melissa Christina Marquez explains just how important sharks are to keeping the oceans healthy, including their role in mitigating cli...
Millions Of U.S. Homes Face An Expensive Flooding Threat
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than 4 million U.S. homes face substantial risk of expensive flood damage, according to new research. On top of that, NPR climate reporter Rebecc...
Is The Sperm Race A Fairy Tale?
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of us were taught that conception happens with a survivor-style sperm race — the fastest and strongest sperm fight to make it to the egg first...
The Fight Over The Future Of Natural Gas
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A growing number of cities are looking at restricting the use of gas in new buildings to reduce climate emissions. But some states are considering law...
Pandemic Dispatches From The ER, One Year Later
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus has disrupted all of our lives, and that's especially true for healthcare workers. We hear reflections from Dr. Jamila Goldsmith and M...
Vaccine Distribution: An Equity Challenge
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Biden Administration has prioritized speed in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Also, a priority...distributing those doses to the populations most im...
Code Switch: A Shot In The Dark
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we present a special episode from our colleagues at Code Switch, NPR's podcast about race and identity. As the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines unf...
Micro Wave: Let's Talk About Urine
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are lots of misconceptions around urine. Can urine cure athlete's foot? Or really treat a jellyfish sting? Today on the show — we'll talk abou...
The Legacy of Trauma: Can Experiences Leave A Biological Imprint?
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Descendants of trauma victims seem to have worse health outcomes. Could epigenetics help explain why? Bianca Jones Marlin and Brian Dias walk us throu...
Magnets: The Hidden Objects Powering Your Life
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's likely there's a magnet wherever you're looking right now. In fact, the device you're using to listen to this episode? Also uses a magnet. Which ...
James West On Invention And Inclusion In Science
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James West has been a curious tinkerer since he was a child, always wondering how things worked. Throughout his long career in STEM, he's also been an...
Coronavirus Vaccine Q&A: Variants, Side Effects, And More
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Can people who are vaccinated still carry and transmit the coronavirus to other people? How effective are the vaccines against coronavirus variants? A...
BONUS: Throughline — Octavia Butler: Visionary Fiction
20 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To round out our celebration of Black History Month, we're bringing you a special episode featuring acclaimed science fiction writer Octavia Butler fr...
Micro Wave: I'll Peanut Jam Your Brain
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Today, what happens in your brain when you notice a semantic or grammatical mistake, according to neuroscience. Sarah Phillips, a neurolinguist, tells...
Why Tech Companies Are Limiting Police Use of Facial Recognition
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In June 2020, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM announced that they were limiting some uses of their facial recognition technology. In this encore episode, Ma...
Anti-Racist Science Education
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the most prestigious scientists in history advanced racist and eugenicist views, but that is rarely mentioned in textbooks. Maddie and Emily s...
The Creation Of The Magnificent Makers
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Author and neuroscientist Theanne Griffith talks with Maddie about her children's book series, The Magnificent Makers, which follows two intrepid thir...
A Week Of Black Excellence
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In honor of Black History Month, Short Wave is focusing on Black scientists and educators — people doing incredible work and pushing for a world whe...
Bring Me Chocolate Or Bring Me Dead Stuff
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Valentine's Day from Short Wave! We've got something special for the holiday, Maddie and Emily exchange the gift of science facts - from the pro...
Saving Sea Level Records: What Historical Records Tell Us About The Rising Ocean
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Archival records may help researchers figure out how fast the sea level is rising in certain places. Millions of people in coastal cities are vulnerab...
When Defending The Land Puts Your Own Life At Risk
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Global Witness documented that 212 environmental and land activists were murdered in 2019. Over half of those documented murders took place in Colombi...
Why 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths May Not Feel Any Different
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why is it so hard to feel the difference between 400,000 and 500,000 COVID-19 deaths—and how might that impact our decision making during the pandem...
What's In A Tattoo? Scientists Are Looking For Answers
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Three in 10 people in America have a tattoo, and those in the 18 - 34 age bracket, it's almost 40 percent. But what's in those inks, exactly? NPR scie...
When Life Gives You Lemons...Make A Battery
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're going "Back To School" today, revisiting a classic at-home experiment that turns lemons into batteries — powerful enough to turn on a clock or...
Biden Promises To Grapple With Environmental Racism
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
People of color experience more air and water pollution than white people and suffer the health impacts. The federal government helped create the prob...
Opioids, COVID-19 And Racism: A Deadly Trifecta
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Drug overdose deaths are on the rise all around the country, including in Chicago, Illinois. ProPublica Illinois reporter Duaa Eldeib explains how the...
The Lost Joys Of Talking To Strangers
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With a lot of us stuck at home, trying to physically distance from each other, one part of daily life has largely disappeared: bumping into strangers....
The Complex Decisions Around Rebuilding After A Wildfire
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The year 2020 saw a record-breaking wildfire season. With those wildfires came many destroyed homes. Rebuilding with fire-resistant materials reduces ...
FACT SMACK: Spider Edition
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With the help of spider scientist Sebastian Echeverri, Maddie presents the case for why spiders are the best and coolest animal. Spoiler alert: some t...
How Bonobos Help Explain The Evolution Of Nice
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How did humans evolve some key cooperative behaviors like sharing? NPR Science Correspondent Jon Hamilton reports back from a bonobo sanctuary in the ...
What The Spread Of Coronavirus Variants Means For The U.S.
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Different versions of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus are emerging. Some are spreading quickly around the world, others more slowly — but several have th...
The Surprising History of Handwashing
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Washing your hands. It's one of the easiest and most effective things you can do to protect yourself from the coronavirus, the flu, and other respirat...
A Pesky Rumble: Pink Bollworms Vs. Cotton Farmers
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The pink bollworm — an invasive species that plagues cotton farmers around the world — has been successfully eradicated from much of the U.S. and ...
Our More-Than-Five Senses
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You're familiar with touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. But your body moves through the world with more than five senses. NPR Short Wave reporte...
Baltimore Is Suing Big Oil Over Climate Change
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case brought by the city of Baltimore against more than a dozen major oil and gas companies including...
The Social Side of Stuttering
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President-elect Joe Biden has spoken publicly about his childhood stutter. An estimated 1% of the world's adults stutter, yet the condition — which ...
Let's Go Back To Venus!
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1962, the first spacecraft humans ever sent to another planet — Mariner 2 — went to Venus. The first planet on which humans ever landed a probe...
Micro Wave: How 'Bout Dem Apple...Seeds
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many folks eat an apple and then throw out the core. It turns out, the core is perfectly ok to eat - despite apple seeds' association with the poison ...
How COVID-19 Affects The Brain
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many patients who are hospitalized for COVID-19 continue to have symptoms of brain injury after they are discharged. For many, brain function improves...
Should Black People Get Race Adjustments In Kidney Medicine?
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As the U.S. continues to grapple with systemic racism, some in the medical community are questioning whether the diagnostic tools they use may be cont...
CubeSat: Little Satellite, Big Deal
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Meet the CubeSat: a miniaturized satellite that's been growing in sophistication. In the last 20 years, over 1,000 CubeSats have been launched into sp...
This Teen Scientist Is TIME's First-Ever 'Kid Of The Year'
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fifteen-year-old Gitanjali Rao is a scientist, inventor, and TIME Magazine's first-ever 'Kid Of The Year.' She shares why she didn't initially think s...
Micro Wave: What Makes Curly Hair Curl?
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hair scientist Crystal Porter explains the science behind curly hair (hint: It involves mushy cells in teeny-tiny tunnels). Plus, a bit of listener ma...
The Hunt For The World's Oldest Ice
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists think the world's oldest ice is hiding somewhere in Antarctica. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce tells us how researchers pla...
One Page At A Time, Jess Wade Is Changing Wikipedia
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By day, Jess Wade is an experimental physicist at Imperial College London. But at night, she's a contributor to Wikipedia — where she writes entries...
How COVID-19 Has Changed Science
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2020 was a year like no other, especially for science. The pandemic has caused massive shifts in scientific research – how it's being done, what's b...
Meet The Ko'Ko', The Comeback Bird
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For nearly forty years, the Guam Rail bird (locally known as the Ko'Ko') has been extinct in the wild — decimated by the invasive brown tree snake. ...
Happy New Year from Short Wave!
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To kick off the new year right, Maddie fills out a Short Wave mad lib crafted by Emily. It's a little tribute to you, our awesome listeners. We're ba...
How Will Climate And Health Policy Look Under Biden?
31 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today, something special...an episode of The NPR Politics Podcast we think you might appreciate. Our colleagues take a look at Joe Biden's approach to...