Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Venus And Earth: A Tale Of Two 'Twins'
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Planetary scientists announced some big news this week about our next-door neighbor, Venus. For the ...
Tweeting Directly From Your Brain (And What's Next)
18 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our friends at NPR's TED Radio Hour podcast have been pondering some BIG things — specifically, th...
Flying Into Snowstorms ... For Science!
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the past few winters, researchers have been intentionally flying into snowstorms. And high in th...
Could de-extincting the dodo help struggling species?
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As a leading expert on paleogenomics, Beth Shapiro has been hearing the same question ever since she...
It's Boom Times In Ancient DNA
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Research into very, very old DNA has made huge leaps forward over the last two decades. That has all...
How To Bake Pi, Mathematically (And Deliciously)
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This March 14, Short Wave is celebrating pi ... and pie! We do that with the help of mathematician E...
How Well Does A New Alzheimer's Drug Work For Those Most At Risk?
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new drug for Alzheimer's disease, called lecanemab, got a lot of attention earlier this year for g...
Ocean World Tour: Whale Vocal Fry, Fossilizing Plankton and A Treaty
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Why are more animals than just ...
'Are You A Model?': Crickets Are So Hot Right Now
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered how biologists choose what animal to use in their research? Since scientists ...
The Race To Save A Tree Species
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The whitebark pine is a hardy tree that grows in an area stretching from British Columbia, Canada so...
The $20 Billion Deal To Get Indonesia Off Coal
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of coal for electricity. And it's also an emerging econom...
Rome wasn't built in a day, but they sure had strong concrete
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Roman Colosseum is a giant, oval amphitheater built almost two thousand years ago. Despite its a...
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's Disordered Cosmos
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical physicist at the University of New Hampshire. It's her job...
Honoring The 'Hidden Figures' Of Black Gardening
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Abra Lee became the landscape manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, she ...
This Navy vet helped discover a new, super-heavy element
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As a kid, Clarice Phelps dreamed of being an astronaut, or maybe an explorer like the characters on ...
What DNA kits leave out: race, ancestry and 'scientific sankofa'
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Population geneticist Dr. Janina Jeff is the host and executive producer of In Those Genes, a hip-ho...
Measuring Health Risks After A Chemical Spill
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public hearing about its remediatio...
Ancient Seeds: A Possible Key To Climate Adaptation
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon, there is a giant walk-in fridge housing tens of thousands of ...
Seriously...what IS life?
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this Back To School episode we consider the "List of Life": the criteria that define what it is t...
Understanding Earthquake Aftershocks
22 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Monday another earthquake struck southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border. This time, the quake r...
The Fungal Science Behind HBO's 'The Last of Us'
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The video game series that spawned the new hit HBO drama, The Last of Us, is the zombie genre with a...
Life Kit: Help Save The North American Bird Population
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us are off today for President's Day. In the meantime, we want to share this episode from ou...
News Round Up: Chocolate, A Solar Valentine And Fly Pheromones
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Is chocolate really that ...
The Science Fueling Disney's 'Strange World'
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Disney's new animated feature 'Strange World,' a band of multigenerational explorers journeys to ...
Congrats! It's A Tomato
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A few years ago, a team of scientists set out on a field expedition in the rugged, dry Northern Terr...
Mix Up LOVE, And You Get V-O-L-E
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard of the "love hormone," or oxytocin. But you may not know that scientists have rel...
Meet One Engineer Fixing A Racially Biased Medical Device
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During the COVID-19 pandemic, one measurement became more important than almost any other: blood oxy...
Lightning Protection: Lasers, Rockets or Rods?
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every year, lightning is estimated to cause up to 24,000 deaths globally. It starts forest fires, bu...
The Social Cost of Carbon Is An Ethics Nightmare
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most important tools the federal government has for cracking down on greenhouse gas emiss...
Why Can't We Predict Earthquakes?
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria, many scientists have been saying this are...
Who Gets The First Peek At The Secrets Of The Universe?
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The James Webb Space Telescope is by far the most powerful space-based telescope ever deployed by th...
Can You See What I See?
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone sees the world differently. Exactly which colors you see and which of your eyes is doing mo...
A Dirty Snowball, Cancer-Sniffing Ants And A Stressed Out Moon
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A green comet, cancer-sniffing ants, stealthy moons ... hang out with us as we dish on some of the c...
A Fatal Virus With Pandemic Potential
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Nipah virus is on the World Health Organization's short list of diseases that have pandemic pote...
The Ancient Night Sky And The Earliest Astronomers
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Moiya McTier says the night sky has been fueling humans' stories about the universe for a very long ...
Can you teach a computer common sense?
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past decade, AI has moved right into our houses - onto our phones and smart speakers - and ...
Gas Stoves: Sorting Fact From Fiction
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gas stoves are found in around 40% of homes in the United States, and they've been getting a lot of ...
Meet The Bony-Eared Assfish And Its Deep Sea Friends
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yi-Kai Tea, a biodiversity research fellow at the Australian Museum in Sydney, has amassed a social ...
6 Doctors Swallow Lego Heads ... What Comes Out?
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As an emergency physician at Western Health, in Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Andy Tagg says he meets a ...
The Math And Science Powering 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Film directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively: Daniels) reimagined the multiverse mo...
Our Perception Of Time Shapes The Way We Think About Climate Change
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most people are focused on the present: today, tomorrow, maybe next year. Fixing your flat tire is m...
Fossil CSI: Cracking The Case Of An Ancient Reptile Graveyard
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This mystery begins in 1952, in the Nevada desert, when a self-taught geologist came across the skel...
New Tech Targets Epilepsy With Lasers, Robots
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
About three million people in the United States have epilepsy, including about a million who can't r...
What Cities Should Learn From California's Flooding
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Winter storms have flooded parts of California, broken levees and forced thousands to evacuate. Clim...
Time Is So Much Weirder Than It Seems
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Time is a concept so central to our daily lives. Yet, the closer scientists look at it, the more it ...
A Course Correction In Managing Drying Rivers
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Historic drought in the west and water diversion for human use are causing stretches of the Colorado...
How You Can Support Scientific Research
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We're off today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the meantime, we want to share this...
Things Could Be Better
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are humans ever satisfied? Two social psychologists, Ethan Ludwin-Peery and Adam Mastroianni, fell d...
Behold! The Mysterious Ice Worm
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Inside the mountaintop glaciers of the Pacific Northwest lives a mysterious, and often, overlooked c...
How Glaciers Move
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There's always a moment of intense isolation when Jessica Mejía gets dropped off on the Greenland i...
Zircon: The Keeper Of Earth's Time
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The mineral zircon is the oldest known piece of Earth existing on the surface today. The oldest bits...
Redlining's Ripple Effects Go Beyond Humans
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Dr. Chloé Schmidt was a PhD student in Winnepeg, Canada, she was studying wildlife in urban ar...
An Atmospheric River Runs Through It
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From space, it looks almost elegant: a narrow plume cascading off the Pacific Ocean, spilling gently...
The Period Talk (For Adults)
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Every month, 1.8 billion people menstruate globally. For those people, managing periods is essential...
Houston, We Have Short Wave On The Line
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Speaking to Short Wave from about 250 miles above the Earth, Josh Cassada outlined his typical day a...
Time Cells Don't Really Care About Time
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Time is woven into our personal memories. If you recall a childhood fall from a bike, your brain rep...
A New Year's Mad Lib!
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To ring in the new year, producer Berly McCoy brings host Emily Kwong this homemade science mad lib!...
I'm Crying Cuz... I'm Human
30 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From misty eyeballs to full-on waterworks, what are tears? Why do we shed them? And what makes human...
The Woman Behind A Mystery That Changed Astronomy
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell made a discovery that revolutionized astronomy. She detected the radio...
Pumpkin Toadlet: Neither Pumpkin, Nor Toad
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Being small has its advantages - and some limitations. One organism that intimately knows the pros a...
TikTok's favorite zoologist quizzes us on the most dangerous animals
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mamadou Ndiaye uses comedy to teach animal facts, but there's nothing funny about these deadly ones....
A Holiday Fact Exchange!
26 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Host Emily Kwong and editor Gisele Grayson exchange the gift of facts - in this quick hello from us ...
Climate Change Stresses Out These Chipmunks. Why Are Their Cousins So Chill?
23 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kwasi Wrensford describes the subjects of his research as "elfin": skittish little squirrel-cousins ...
Can COP 15 Save Our Planet's Biodiversity?
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) wrapped up in Montreal, Canada. Nations from arou...
Brain Scientists Are Tripping Out Over Psychedelics
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Psychedelic drugs – like LSD, salvia, ayahuasca, Ibogaine, MDMA (AKA ecstasy), or psilocybin (AKA ...
Confessions Of A Math Convert
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Math is a complex, beautiful language that can help people understand the world. And sometimes math ...
Your Multivitamin Won't Save You
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dietary supplements — the vitamins, herbs and botanicals that you'll find in most grocery stores —...
The Hope For Slowing Amazon Deforestation
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brazil's president-elect, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is renewing calls to protect the Amazon and rei...
A Step Closer To Nuclear Fusion Energy
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Dec. 5 at 1 o'clock in the morning local time, researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab...
From Scientific Exile To Gene Editing Pioneer
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gene editing was a new idea in the mid-1970s. So when Harvard and MIT planned new research in recomb...
You Know That Gut Feeling You Have?...
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
TFW when you're so excited you get those butterflies in your stomach - or maybe when you see somethi...
The Myth of Plastic Recycling
12 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For many, recycling feels like a tangible way to personally combat climate change and to positively ...
DART: The Impacts Of Slamming A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If an asteroid were hurling through space, making a beeline straight to Earth, how would humans prev...
The Biologist Who Talks With Cells
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The human body is made up of more than 30 trillion cells, but how do they all work together? It's al...
What Makes Hawaii's Erupting Volcanoes Special
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just after Thanksgiving, for the first time in almost 40 years, Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano erupted. ...
'One Mississippi...' How Lightning Shapes The Climate
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When lightning strikes a giant tree in the tropical rainforest, there's usually no fire, no blackene...
Don't Call It Dirt: The Science Of Soil
05 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy to overlook the soil beneath our feet, or to think of it as just dirt to be cleaned up. Bu...
Arts Week: Physics Meets The Circus
02 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Julia Ruth's job takes a lot of strength, a lot of balance, and a surprising amount of physics. She'...
Arts Week: The Life Cycle Of A Neuron
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An exhibit that blended science and technology for an immersive art experience went on display in Wa...
Arts Week: The Literary Magazine Dissecting Health And Healing
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
New York's Bellevue Hospital is the oldest public hospital in the country, serving patients from all...
Arts Week: How Art Can Heal The Brain
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Arts therapies appear to ease a host of brain disorders from Parkinson's to PTSD. But these treatmen...
Arts Week: Harnessing Bacteria For Art
28 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pull out your art supplies because it's time to get crafty—with agar! We're beginning Arts Week at...
Happy Thanksgiving, All!
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Emily and Aaron wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and explain how you can help the show. Hint: It's giv...
Three Takeaways From The COP27 Climate Conference
23 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The climate meeting known as COP27 has wrapped. Representatives from almost 200 countries attended t...
A Taste Of Lab-Grown Meat
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The idea came to Uma Valeti while he was working on regrowing human tissue to help heart attack pati...
A Deeply Personal Race Against A Fatal Brain Disease
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the mornings, Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel's first job is to get their two garrulous kids awake...
Science Couldn't Save Her, So She Became A Scientist
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The first time Sonia Vallabh understood something was very wrong with her mother Kamni was on the ph...
Killer Proteins: The Science Of Prions
17 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Prions are biological anomalies – self-replicating, not-alive little particles that can misfold in...
Where Do Climate Negotiations Stand At COP27?
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Climate negotiations continue at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Tens of thousands of attendees fro...
Searching For A New Life
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we pass the mic to our colleagues at All Things Considered to share the first piece in their ...
Corey Gray Is Picking Up Cosmic Vibrations
14 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A pivotal week in Corey Gray's life began with a powwow in Alberta and culminated with a piece of hi...
Climate Tipping Points And The Damage That Could Follow
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If Earth heats up beyond 1.5 degrees, the impacts don't get just slightly worse--scientists warn tha...
Depression And Alzheimer's Treatments At A Crossroads
10 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers are launching a make-or-break study to test the conventional wisdom about what causes Al...
Why Do We Cry?
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, Short Wave explored the evolutionary purpose of laughter. Now, we're talking tears. From...
Traditional Plant Knowledge Is Not A Quick Fix
08 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Regina G. Barber talks with Dr. Rosalyn LaPier about ethnobotany--what it is and how traditional pla...
COP-out: Who's Liable For Climate Change Destruction?
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
World leaders have gathered in Egypt this week to begin climate talks at the 27th Conference of the ...
Control: Eugenics And The Corruption Of Science
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, a book about the evolution of non-human ...
Should Daylight Saving Time Be Permanent?
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Correspondent Allison Aubrey talks to host Emily Kwong about the pros and cons of adopting permanent...
Allergic To Cats? There's Hope Yet!
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Katie Wu is a cat person. She has two of them: twin boys named Calvin and Hobbes. But up until grad ...
Saving The Pacific Lamprey
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Pacific lamprey have lived on Earth for about 450 million years. When humans came along, a deep rela...