Short Wave

Mouse Vs Scorpion: A Mind-Blowing Desert Showdown

05 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This one doesn't end the way you'd expect. Inspired by the Netflix documentary series "Night On Earth," we learn everything we can about a mouse and s...

Coronavirus Is Here. Will Quarantines Help?

04 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Despite quarantines and other measures, the coronavirus keeps popping up. What makes it so hard to control?Learn more about sponsor message choices: p...

When The Tides Keep Getting Higher

03 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As sea levels rise from climate change, coastal communities face a greater risk of chronic flooding. Climate scientist Astrid Caldas and her colleague...

A Tale Of Two (Very Different) Drug Prices

02 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

NPR Pharmaceuticals Correspondent Sydney Lupkin joins us to talk about a dad who learned his daughter needed an expensive drug — but there was a nea...

Short Wave Presents: Life Kit's Tips To Prepare For The Coronavirus

29 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How can you protect yourself and your family as the coronavirus spreads around the globe? Today we're featuring an episode from our friends over at NP...

A Short Wave Guide To Good — And Bad — TV Forensics

28 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Raychelle Burks is a forensic chemist AND a big fan of murder mysteries. Today, we talk pop culture forensics with Raychelle and what signs to look fo...

Vaccines, Misinformation, And The Internet (Part 2)

27 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the second of two episodes exploring anti-vaccine misinformation online, Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory explains why the Intern...

Vaccines, Misinformation, And The Internet (Part 1)

26 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the first of two episodes exploring anti-vaccine misinformation online, we hear the story of what happened to Cincinnati-area pediatrician Nicole B...

This NASA Engineer Is Bringing Math And Science To Hip Hop

25 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

NASA engineer Dajae Williams is using hip hop to make math and science more accessible to young people. We talk with Dajae about her path to NASA, and...

Australia's Next Danger: Mudslides

24 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With many of Australia's hillsides stripped bare by fire, scientists are rushing to predict where mudslides could be triggered by rainfall. NPR scienc...

A Board Game Where Birds (And Science) Win

21 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wingspan is a board game that brings the world of ornithology into the living room. The game comes with 170 illustrated birds cards, each equipped wit...

Foldscope: Science From Curiosity And A Little Paper

20 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Manu Prakash is the co-inventor of the Foldscope, a low-cost microscope aimed at making scientific tools more accessible. We chat with him about why h...

Harvard Professor's Arrest Raises Questions About Scientific Openness

19 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Harvard chemist Charles Lieber was arrested in January on charges he lied about funding he received from China. Some say the case points to larger iss...

Can Taking Zinc Help Shorten Your Cold?

18 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's possible — but it depends on a few key factors. NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey explains, and tells the story of the scientist who unco...

Is This Love? Or Am I Gonna Fight A Lion.

14 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ever wonder what's causing all those reactions in your body when you're falling in love with someone? We certainly did. So, we called up Adam Cole, wh...

The Weedkiller That Went Rogue

13 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A few years ago farmers started noticing their crops were developing damaged leaves. Turns out the culprit was dicamba, a weedkiller being sprayed by ...

Does Your Cat Really Hate You?

12 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's the latest installment of our series, "Animal Slander," where we take a common phrase about animals and see what truth there is to it. The issue ...

A Tiny Satellite Revolution Is Afoot In Space

11 Feb 2020

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...

There's A Plan To Drive Down Global Insulin Prices. Will It Work?

10 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Diabetes is a growing global problem, especially in low and middle income countries. Half of the 100 million in need of insulin lack reliable access. ...

A Coronavirus Listener Q&A Episode

07 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How does the coronavirus spread? Does wearing a face mask actually help? And why is the virus getting so much media coverage? This episode, we answer ...

Service Animals In The Lab: Who Decides?

06 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Joey Ramp's service dog, Sampson, is with her at all times, even when she has to work in a laboratory. It wasn't always easy to have him at her side. ...

Discovering 'Stormquakes'

05 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Seismologist Wenyuan Fan explains the accidental discovery — buried deep in seismic and meteorological data — that certain storms over ocean water...

Sepsis Is A Global Killer. Can Vitamin C Be The Cure?

04 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Every day, approximately 30,000 people die globally of sepsis. The condition comes about when your immune system overreacts to an infection, leading p...

From Stream To Sky, Two Key Rollbacks Under The Trump Administration

03 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Trump Administration has rolled back dozens of environmental regulations, which it regards as a burden to industry. Today on Short Wave, NPR Natio...

The Surprising Origin Of Some Timely Advice: Wash Your Hands

31 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today we know that one of the easiest and most effective things you can do to protect yourself from the cold, flu, and other respiratory illnesses (in...

Where The 2020 Democrats Stand On Climate Change

30 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With the Iowa caucuses around the corner, we give you a Short Wave guide (with some help from our friends at NPR Politics) to where the top-tier Democ...

A Decade of Dzud: Lessons From Mongolia's Deadly Winters

29 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Mongolia has a many-thousand year history of herding livestock. But in the past two decades, tens of thousands have left the countryside because of a ...

A Brief History (And Some Science) Of Iran's Nuclear Program

28 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With the Iran nuclear deal in further jeopardy, we take a look at how the country's nuclear program began with NPR's Geoff Brumfiel. (The United State...

Archaeology...From Space

27 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Parcak explains how she uses satellite imagery and data to solve one of the biggest challenges in archaeology: where to start digging. Her book ...

China's Coronavirus Is Spreading. But How?

24 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A deadly virus believed to have originated in China was found in the US this week. NPR global health correspondent Jason Beaubien explains what we kno...

The Comeback Bird: Meet the Ko'Ko'

23 Jan 2020

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. ...

Can A Low-Carb Diet Prevent A Plague Of Locusts?

22 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Swarms of locusts can destroy crops and livelihoods. Right now, countries in East Africa are dealing with the threat. At a lab in Tempe, Arizona, rese...

Mighty Mice Return From Space

21 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Some very unusual mice with big muscles are back on Earth after a month on the International Space Station. NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton sha...

2020 So Far: Fires, Floods, And Quakes

17 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Already this year, natural disasters have wreaked havoc in Australia, Indonesia, and Puerto Rico. We look at some science behind the wildfires, floods...

Can A 100-Year-Old Treatment Help Save Us From Superbugs?

16 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 2015, Steffanie Strathdee's husband nearly died from a superbug, an antibiotic resistant bacteria he contracted in Egypt. Desperate to save him, sh...

In Mozambique, Meteorologists Can't Keep Up With Climate Change

15 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Accurate weather forecasting can be a matter of life or death. So countries with less money like Mozambique face a big challenge. They can't build and...

Your Brain On Storytelling

14 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Storytelling can be a powerful tool to convey information, even in the world of science. It can also shift stereotypes about who scientists are. We ta...

Space Junk: How Cluttered Is The Final Frontier?

13 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Since the dawn of Sputnik in 1957, space-faring nations have been filling Earth's orbit with satellites. Think GPS, weather forecasting, telecommunica...

Animal Slander! - "Blind As A Bat" And "Memory Of A Goldfish"

10 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Host Maddie Sofia and reporter Emily Kwong evaluate what truth there is to the popular phrases "blind as a bat" and "memory of a goldfish." Hint: The ...

The Link Between Kitchen Countertops And A Deadly Disease

09 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's called silicosis, and it's been known about for decades. So why is it now emerging in new numbers among workers who cut kitchen countertops? NPR ...

What's Behind Australia's Historic Fires

08 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Biologist Lesley Hughes from Macquarie University in Australia explains why the recent bushfires there could change the country forever. Hughes is a f...

Food Waste + Poop = Electricity

07 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Some dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste and manure to create renewable energy. Each farm produces enough to power about 1,500 homes. ...

A Star In Orion Is Dimming. Is It About To Explode?

06 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Okay, it wouldn't technically be an explosion. And if it's "about" to happen, it already happened. About 650 years ago. We'll explain, with astronomer...

Short Wave Presents: Life Kit Tips For Dealing With Anxious Kids

03 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When is your kid just scared of the dark and when are they dealing with a larger anxiety disorder? On today's Short Wave, we're featuring our friends ...

Compost Your Loved Ones

02 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There aren't that many options for putting your loved ones to rest. There's burial. There's cremation. Now, later this year in Washington state, it'll...

Happy New Year!

01 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We're back with a new episode tomorrow! Hope you had a safe and happy orbit around the sun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.co...

Tennessine's Wild Ride To The Periodic Table

31 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

There are rare chemical elements, and then there is tennessine. Only a couple dozen atoms of the stuff have ever existed. For the 150th anniversary of...

The Decade In Science

30 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As 2019 draws to a close, we enlisted the help of two NPR science correspondents — Nell Greenfieldboye and Joe Palca — to look back on some of the...

Sci-Fi Movies Of The Decade (Sort Of)

27 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Astrophysicist Adam Frank is a big fan of science and movies. He's even been a science adviser to Marvel's "Doctor Strange." So we asked Adam to give ...

One Of The Germiest Places In The Airport

26 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Hint: it's not the bathroom. Niina Ikonen and Carita Savolainen-Kopra from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare studied high-traffic areas in ...

Happy Holidays!

25 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Maddie and Emily wish you Happy Holidays and share some science facts you can show off at your next holiday party. Plus, a little reminder of how you ...

A Shortwave Christmas Carol

24 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On Christmas Eve, scientists at field stations across Antarctica sing carols to one another...via shortwave. On today's episode, the Short Wave podcas...

Iridium's Pivotal Role In Our Past And ... Maybe Our Future?

23 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The story of how a father and son team - one a physicist, one a geologist - helped solve a big scientific mystery. What brought the reign of dinosaurs...

What Happened To The American Chestnut Tree?

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 20th century, a blight fungus wiped out most of the 4 billion American chestnut trees on the eastern seaboard. The loss was ecologically ...

The First African American Face Transplant

19 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In 2013, Robert Chelsea was hit by a drunk driver and sustained third-degree burns on more than half of his body. Nearly six years later, he became th...

And The Winner Is...Science!

18 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Camille Schrier, a 24-year-old pharmacy student, competed in the Miss Virginia pageant over the summer with a "talent" that caught our attention. It p...

The Science Behind Whakaari/White Island's Eruption

17 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The volcano of Whakaari or White Island in New Zealand erupted just over a week ago. More than a dozen people were killed, including tourists to the p...

A Polar Expedition To The Top Of The World: Part 2

16 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Our journey continues on MOSAiC: the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate. Physicists, chemists, and biologists are ...

A Polar Expedition To The Top Of The World: Part 1

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A massive scientific mission is underway in the Arctic. Physicists, chemists, and biologists are studying the changing region, so they can better pred...

Invasive Species: We Asked, You Answered

12 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We couldn't stop at the spotted lanternfly! (We covered that invasive species in an earlier episode.) We wanted to hear about the invasives where you ...

The Congolese Doctor Who Discovered Ebola

11 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Jean-Jacques Muyembe is a Congolese doctor heading up the response to the current Ebola outbreak in Congo. Back in 1976, he was the first doctor to co...

Aluminum's Journey From Precious Metal To Beer Can

10 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We've been celebrating 150 years of the Periodic Table. This episode, the rise of aluminum! The element is incredibly common, but was once hard to ext...

Getting Closer To The Sun Than Ever Before

09 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

An ambitious mission to get a spacecraft close to the sun has revealed a strange region of space filled with rapidly flipping magnetic fields and rogu...

If You Give An Orangutan A Kazoo...

06 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you give an orangutan a kazoo, will it produce a sound? Researchers discovered that this simple instrument could offer insights into the vocal abil...

Is CBD Safe? The FDA Can't Say

05 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Use of CBD — cannabidiol, the non-psychoactive component in cannabis — has exploded in the last few years. But while it's marketed as a solution f...

The Evolution Of HIV Treatment

04 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A lot has changed since the first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981. Globally, AIDS-related deaths have dropped by more than 55% since 2004, the dea...

An Interstellar Wanderer Is Coming Our Way

03 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Comet 2I/Borisov will reach its closest approach to the sun on December 8, 2019. We talk to planetary astronomer Michele Bannister about where the hec...

Does Your Dog REALLY Love You?

02 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Clive Wynne, founding director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, draws on studies from his lab and others around the wo...

The Science Of Smell And Memory

29 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Why can a smell trigger such a powerful memory? Biological anthropologist Kara Hoover explains what's going on in the brain when we smell, how smell i...

Happy Thanksgiving!

28 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Maddie and Emily wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and explain how you can support the show. Find and donate to your local public radio station at donate...

One Small Step For Cookie Baking

27 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine having your Thanksgiving meal in microgravity? That's the reality for the six astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Today, we loo...

The Nightmare Of Sleep Paralysis

26 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

As a teenager, Josh Smith was plagued by sleep paralysis. Now he's afraid his kid might be experiencing it too. In this listener questions episode, Jo...

Uganda's Solution For Treating Extreme Pain

25 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Uganda has come up with a low-tech solution to treat patients in a lot of pain: drinkable liquid morphine. Nurith Aizenman tell us how this model work...

The CDC, Its 'F-Word' (Firearms) & Suicide Prevention

22 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Congress prohibits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using any of its funding to promote or advocate for gun control. NPR science co...

Solving The Sleep & Alzheimer's Puzzle

21 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We know that people with Alzheimer's often have sleep problems. But does it work the other way? Do problems with sleep set the stage for this degenera...

That Revolutionary Gene-Editing Experiment? So Far So Good.

20 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this month NPR health correspondent Rob Stein introduced us to Victoria Gray, the woman at the center of a groundbreaking medical treatment us...

Saving Water One Flush At A Time

19 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Happy World Toilet Day! Flushing toilets can consume a lot of water, so Tak-Sing Wong, a biomedical engineer at Penn State University, is trying to mi...

Bye Bye, Bei Bei: Giant Panda Heads to China

18 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The Smithsonian's National Zoo is bidding farewell to Bei Bei. The 4-year-old giant panda will be sent to China on Tuesday, Nov. 19. While born in cap...

An Eyewitness to Extinction

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

While doing field work in Central America in the 1990's, biologist Karen Lips noticed the frogs she was studying were disappearing. Scientists in othe...

You Asked About The Flu

14 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How can you tell if you have the flu, or the common cold? Why does your arm hurt after you get the flu shot? And can getting the flu shot actually giv...

SpaceX's Satellite Swarm: Could It Hurt Astronomy?

13 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The private space company run by Elon Musk launched 60 satellites into orbit this week. Science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel explains why astronomers ...

Most U.S. Dairy Cows Come From 2 Bulls. That's Not Good.

12 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

NPR science correspondent Dan Charles explains why most of the dairy cows in America are descended from just two bulls, creating a lack of genetic div...

Can Global Shipping Go Zero Carbon?

11 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of the stuff we buy in the U.S. comes by ship — ships that use a particularly dirty kind of fuel. Now a big shipping company says it wants to ...

The Mind-Bending Ascent Of Helium — And Why It's Running Low

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Helium is the second-most common element in the cosmos, but it's far rarer on planet Earth. As part of our celebration of the periodic table's 150th b...

Life After Whale Death

07 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

What happens after a whale dies? Their carcasses, known as "whale falls," provide a sudden, concentrated food source for organisms in the deep sea. Bi...

Fighting An Insect Invasion With... An Insect Invasion

06 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The spotted lanternfly is eating its way through trees and crops in eastern Pennsylvania. NPR science correspondent Dan Charles explains how scientist...

The U.S. Wants Out Of The Paris Agreement

05 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It's official, but not a surprise. The U.S. has told the United Nations it wants to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the global accord to fight clim...

A Revolutionary Experiment To Edit Human Genes

04 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Gray has sickle cell disease, a painful and debilitating genetic condition that affects millions of people around the world. But an experimen...

When A Listener Calls...

01 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

It's our first-ever listener questions episode! On this Short Wave, listener Charlotte asks why some people seek out scary experiences. We reached out...

The Zombies That Walk Among Us

31 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The idea of human zombies probably seems pretty far-fetched. But there are real zombies out there in the animal kingdom. Ed Yong of The Atlantic creep...

Crows Don't Forget

30 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Crows have gotten a bad rap throughout history. Think about it. A group of them is called a "murder." To get some insight into crows and perhaps set t...

Wildfire Season Is Here To Stay

29 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Californians face a terrible new normal as wildfire season grows longer and more intense. Jennifer Montgomery, head of the California's Forest Managem...

Meet Two MacArthur 'Genius Grant' Scientists

28 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

We meet two scientists working on opposite sides of the world, both thinking creatively about rising sea levels and our changing oceans. Andrea Dutton...

Seen Any Nazi Uranium? These Researchers Want To Know

25 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel shares the story of Nazi Germany's attempt to build a nuclear reactor — and how evidence of that effort was...

Adversarial AI

24 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial intelligence might not be as smart as we think. University and military researchers are studying how attackers could hack into AI systems b...

Logging 'The Lungs' of North America

23 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The world's largest intact temperate rainforest is in a place you may not expect: southeast Alaska. The Trump administration wants to eliminate a long...

Finally, An All-Female Spacewalk

22 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir completed the first all-female spacewalk last week. The historic moment came 35 years after Kathryn Su...

Randall Munroe's Absurd Science For Real-World Problems

21 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Randall Munroe, the cartoonist behind the popular Internet comic xkcd, finds complicated solutions to simple, real-world problems. In the process, he ...

Exploring The Rainforest With 'TreeTop Barbie'

18 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Pioneering ecologist Nalini Nadkarni takes us up into the canopy — the area above the forest floor — where she helped research and document this u...

The Squishy Science Behind ASMR

17 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The science is nascent and a little squishy, but researchers like Giulia Poerio are trying to better understand ASMR — a feeling triggered in the br...