Unexplainable

Dark matter music

29 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Pioneering musicians Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno released their latest album Liminal by broadcasting it from a 50-foot microwave antenna. Noam talks to...

I glow, therefore I am

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today on the show: a double feature — two mysteries in one episode. First, it seems like all living things emit a faint glow that disappears when th...

Is everything inflammation?

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

To hear some people tell it — especially people on TikTok — inflammation is the root of all disease. It's... not that simple. But inflammation doe...

A show about nothing

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A few months ago, we put out an episode about what silence sounds like, and it caught the attention of Rob Rosenthal, who hosts a podcast called Sound...

The Hitchhiking Microbe’s Guide to the Galaxy

15 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Can microbes travel through space on meteorites? It’s an idea called “lithopanspermia,” and to work out if it’s even feasible, some researcher...

Why did we go back to the moon?

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in over 50 years, humans have gone to the moon and back. And this time, NASA says we're going to stay. NASA's planning for more mis...

Is male birth control finally here?

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Typically, the burden of birth control falls on whoever has a uterus, but it seems like that might change — and soon! Guest: Annalisa Merelli, c...

Mi Vickicito

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Host Julia Longoria signs off from Unexplainable with one final question: Why does her grandma love Vicks VapoRub so much? A version of this episode o...

Casey gets his voice back

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Casey Harrell is a goofy, lighthearted chatterbox whose love for language helped him become an accomplished environmental activist. In 2020, he was di...

Oliver Sacks's not quite nonfiction

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Oliver Sacks was once crowned “the poet laureate of medicine” — he's known as one of the greatest science writers of our time. But when New York...

The accidental rise of Botox

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

One of the deadliest poisons known to man is now used to treat wrinkles, migraines, and even, maybe, depression. How did that happen? Guests: Jean ...

Who are we to fight the alchemy?

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Many alchemical texts are full of bizarre, metaphorical language. But what if there's interesting science hiding behind some of those metaphors? Gues...

Snow day!

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Grab some hot cocoa and a warm blanket and let’s talk about the tiny crystals that fall from the sky. Guest: Jessica Lundquist, professor of civil ...

My brain made me do it

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A man committed a crime. He admitted it. Then something alarming showed up on an image of his brain. The criminal case that followed in 1991 brought n...

The Codfather

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

How many fish are in the sea? It's a question that has had enormous consequences for the fishing community in New Bedford, Massachusetts. But one man ...

Stress ages us on a cellular level

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It's no secret that stress isn't good for you… But just how bad is it? NPR's Short Wave podcast gets some answers. Host: Regina G. Barber, host ...

The Amazing Extremophiles

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the dark depths of the Gowanus Canal, strange lifeforms lurk... Guests: Brad Vogel, volunteer at the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club; Elizabeth Hén...

Everyone does it. Why can’t I?

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

I’m about to burst. Guests: Laryngologist Dr. Robert Bastian and Noel King, co-host and editorial director of the Vox daily news podcast Today, E...

Mysterious objects near the beginning of time

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomers are putting together a new picture of the early universe. It involves a lot of very weird black holes, and it could help us understand how...

Cloud atlas

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change, but it’s essential to try. Because how clouds react to a warming world helps ...

What's good sound?

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Every hand-crafted instrument from violin maker Michael Doran holds its own unexplainable questions. Guest: Michael Doran of Doran’s Violin’s ...

No data, just vibes

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There's been a real rollback of one of the US government's most fundamental tasks: gathering data. Vox correspondents Dylan Scott and Umair Irfan take...

It's not all bad

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Things in the news have been feeling kind of…bleak, so we called in some reinforcements. Vox's senior editorial director and resident good news ex...

Superbabies?

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Parents are supposed to provide the best life possible for their kids, right? But what does that mean when genetic testing for the baby enters the pic...

The G-word

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Is geoengineering the answer to the climate crisis? Or is it too dangerous to even discuss? It’s been theoretical so far, but now, one startup says ...

Who's afraid of big, bad Yellowstone?

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Yellowstone can be a deadly place... but not for the reasons you might think. Guest: Mike Poland, scientist in charge at the Yellowstone Volcano O...

Vitamin C and the common cold

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist changed chemistry, biology, and the politics of science. But when he pushed vitamin C as a cure-all, did he g...

Your moments of silence (The Sound Barrier #5)

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is a follow-up to The Sound Barrier series, which explores our brain's relationship to sound. In our third episode of the series, we as...

Diary of a teenage brain, part 2

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As our brains develop throughout our childhood and teens, they form connections and then prune back the ones that aren't used. What can we learn from ...

Diary of a teenage brain

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What's going on in teens' heads? Scientists working on a country-wide study following thousands of young people have spent the last decade trying to a...

The trees of death

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Way back when forests first evolved on Earth... they might have triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of the planet. (Originall...

That's no moon...

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a quasi-moon. Or, a quasi-satellite. Whatever you want to call it, it's hanging out near Earth. And it could be the source of some fascinating ne...

Lost on the road to enlightenment

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

So many of us have been told that meditation can make us less stressed, more productive, and happier. But for a small group of people, it has a dark s...

Is animal grief real?

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A dog on its owner’s grave. A killer whale carrying around its dead calf. A goose that isolates when its mate dies. These behaviors in animals may l...

The Sound Barrier #4: Listen to the universe

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Wanda Diáz-Merced lost her sight as a college student, she thought her dreams of becoming an astronomer were over — until she learned to liste...

The Sound Barrier #3: What does silence sound like?

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A scientist asked people to sit in a silent room for 15 minutes. Almost half of them decided to give themselves a painful electric shock instead. Wha...

The Sound Barrier #2: The noise that isn't there

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Almost 15% of adults suffer from a persistent, often intolerable sound... that is literally just in their heads. Why does the brain do this to us? We ...

The Sound Barrier #1: The myth of hearing

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Just like optical illusions trick our eyes, audio illusions can trick our ears. It makes scientists wonder: What exactly are we hearing, when we're he...

Solve me a river

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Unexplainable or Not, Sally Helm, the newest member of our team, tries to figure out what's killing mussels, why rivers suddenly change c...

This episode is haunted and spooky

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Now why would you click on something like this? What's wrong with you?! Why are you — and so many other people — into scary stuff? Two scientists ...

Consider the shrimp

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Killing two people is worse than killing one. What about 440 billion crustaceans? Adapted from Dylan Matthews's essay on Vox.com. This story is part...

When talent vanishes overnight

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Think about the thing you’ve practiced more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s painting. Or writing. Or playing baseball. Now, imagine ...

Composing chaos

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Terry Riley's "In C" is one of the most influential pieces of music of the last century...but you'll never hear it the same way twice. Guest: Evan...

Does Tylenol cause autism?

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump and RFK Jr. seem convinced that it does. But our friends at Science Vs say the data is far more complicated. Guest: Meryl Horn, senio...

Real-life zombies

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Zombies might seem like the stuff of horror movies, but there are lots of examples of parasites taking over bugs’ bodies and bending them to their w...

How to change your personality

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Who are you, really? Our friends at The Gray Area ask whether it's really possible to change. Guest: ⁠Olga Khazan⁠, author of Me, But Better: Th...

What’s A

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The centuries-old international battle over the real sound of a musical note. Guest: Fanny Gribenski, historical musicologist and author of Tuning t...

Did we find signs of life on Mars?

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

NASA found a Martian rock that might have traces of ancient life. It's perhaps the most tantalizing revelation in the century-long search for Martian ...

The metabolism myth

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recent research — and one surprising season of The Biggest Loser — has scientists wondering whether some of the most basic things they know abou...

The Vagina Voyages

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Join our friends at The Longest Shortest Time for a deep dive into the misunderstood world of vaginas. We’ll learn about orgasm-chasing royalty, cli...

A rabbi and the Lorax walk into a bar...

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How the bedtime stories we grew up with inspire the stories we tell now. For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

Is a little alcohol bad for you?

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We spoke to two researchers who disagree about the answer to this question. But they do agree about why it's so hard to answer to begin with. Guest...

Ice Sheet Time Machine

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The US military carved a tiny city into the Greenland ice sheet. What they found, and lost, and found again, and what it tells us about climate change...

Animals in the year 20202025

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do scientists think animals might be like millions of years from now? (First published in 2021) Guests: Benji Jones, senior correspondent at Vo...

Nightmare at the end of the universe

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dark energy is the strange stuff that makes up the vast majority of the universe and will ultimately lead to the end of everything. Unless it doesn't ...

Life in plastic — not fantastic?

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Much of our modern world is made of plastic, but as more signs point to its dangers to human health, what can we even do about it? Guest: Annie Low...

When waves go rogue

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Towering walls of water sometimes appear in the ocean without warning or apparent cause. What drives their terrifying power? (First published in 2023)...

Good news for people who love bad news

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Good news can be hard to find, especially when our brains — and the media — are biased against it. Guest: Bryan Walsh, senior editorial director...

12 tiny worlds

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you went back 500 million years and re-ran evolution, would life be totally different today? Guests: Richard Lenski and Zachary Blount, evolu...

How good was Michael Jordan, really?

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to assume there is objective truth in basketball stats. A clear story of what happened in the past. But our friends at Pablo Torre Finds Out...

One weird trick to get unlimited clean energy

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is a solution to climate change…pouring water on hot rocks? Guest: Dylan Matthews, Senior Correspondent at Vox's Future Perfect This episode was m...

Who taught beavers to build dams?

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How does any animal know what to do? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on. (First published in 2022) Guest: ...

The disease we let win

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We have a cure for tuberculosis. Why does it still kill over a million people every year? GUEST: John Green, podcaster, YouTube creator and award-...

Science! Tell me what to eat!

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Figuring out the perfect healthy diet remains stubbornly out of reach. Our friends at Gastropod ask: Why? Guests: Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, ...

A magical world at the ocean’s edge

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In coastal California, researchers grapple with potentially losing a landscape they love. Guests: Rebecca Johnson, Director of the Center for Biodiv...

Ruff translation

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We love our pets. And think we understand them. Are we fooling ourselves? Guests: ⁠Alexandra Horowitz⁠, dog cognition researcher at Barnard Co...

Sick of “morning” sickness

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If pregnant people need to eat for two, why do so many of us puke morning, noon, and night? Guests: Marlena Fejzo, Ph.D., geneticist, and Research...

Your bug roommates

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our houses are homes to hidden worlds of bugs. And the more ecologists explore those worlds, the more they realize that some of our creepy, crawly hou...

Why I left the NIH

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Francis Collins oversaw some of the most revolutionary science of the last few decades at the National Institutes of Health. A few months ago, he sudd...

Mostly dead is slightly alive

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When bringing people to the edge of death is your day job. Guest: Adam Richman, perfusionist at the Mayo Clinic⁠ and Unexplainable listener. ...

We don't understand yogurt

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many physicists dream of coming up with a unified theory of the universe. Rae Robertson-Anderson dreams of understanding ranch dressing, shampoo, and ...

The musical structure of the universe

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If matter is a result of vibration, what causes the vibration? Our friends at The Gray Area ask, “Is the universe behaving like an instrument?” G...

How to beat roulette

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You’ll need your best friend, a computer in your shoe, and a working knowledge of physics. Guest: Doyne Farmer, Director of Complexity Economics a...

Is climate change really making hurricanes worse?

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The answer isn’t as clear as you might think. And because of drastic cuts to climate science funding, this question might be getting even harder to ...

Are we sure about fluoride?

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Florida just became the second state to ban fluoride from its water system, which has made some public health experts pretty angry. Just how risky is ...

The man who walked butterflies on a leash

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Static electricity plays an invisible role in the natural world, and it may even help insects pollinate plants. To understand this hidden force, scien...

Imagine a sunset, now imagine you can't

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. And its discovery has made scientists ask a surprising question: What is the mind’s eye e...

An imaginary planet that feels extremely real

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scavengers Reign, the Emmy-winning Netflix show, has done something most sci-fi shows or movies struggle to do. Build a world that feels truly alien. ...

The view from inside a volcano

07 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The magma chambers at the heart of volcanoes are very deep and very hot. So naturally, some researchers want to build an observatory in one. Guests...

Who are you calling a Neanderthal?

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rumors of Neanderthal brutishness have been greatly exaggerated. Guest: Paige Madison, science writer For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠vox.com...

Sorry, we left an implant in your brain

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you get a life-changing device implanted into your body... and then the company that maintains it goes bankrupt? Guests: Jennifer...

Blood farm

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year if hospitals had more blood. So scientists are racing to understand how this living fluid does wha...

Moon genes

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We know life on Earth wouldn't be possible without the moon. Now scientists are finding the moon might even be influencing our biology on a molecular ...

How to stop your hiccups

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Listeners told us that eating baby carrots or telling lies can bring on the hiccups. Burping or kissing can make them stop. Um, what? (First published...

A new way to listen

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We have an exciting announcement! Vox Members now get access to ad-free podcasts. If you sign up, you’ll get unlimited access to reporting on vox.co...

Intraterrestrials

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Deep inside the mud at the bottom of the ocean, scientists have found life that is so unusual they’ve had to create new branches on the tree of life...

How to talk to aliens

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists have been searching for aliens for decades. But if we ever do get a signal someday, how will we communicate back? And will anyone out there...

Good Robot #4: Who, me?

22 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What can we actually do as our world gets populated with more and more robots? How can we take control? Can we take control? This is the final episod...

Good Robot #3: Let’s fix everything

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A simple parable about a drowning child sparks a moral revolution. Is building AI the way to do the most good in the world? This is the third episod...

Good Robot #2: Everything is not awesome

15 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When a robot does bad things, who is responsible? A group of technologists sounds the alarm about the ways AI is already harming us today. Are their c...

Good Robot #1: The magic intelligence in the sky

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before AI became a mainstream obsession, one thinker sounded the alarm about its catastrophic potential. So why are so many billionaires and tech lead...

A strange signal from space

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Unexplainable or Not, the newest member of our team, Julia Longoria, tries to figure out which of three scientific mysteries about the se...

Getting malaria on purpose

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dylan got malaria on purpose. And he thinks you should, too. Guest: Dylan Matthews, senior correspondent at Vox’s Future Perfect This episode was ...

The problem with dreams

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A neuroscientist argues that the focus on dreams has held back the scientific understanding of sleep. So he took dreams out of the picture and uncover...

Is science in danger?

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Funding cuts and research censorship have shaken the foundations of America’s health and science agencies, leaving researchers shocked, confused, an...

How umami blew up taste

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For thousands of years, there have been four basic tastes recognized across cultures. But thanks to Kumiko Ninomiya (a.k.a. the Umami Mama), scientist...

What’s hiding under the Antarctic ice?

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some of the largest lakes in the world have been buried under miles of ice for millions of years. Is there life hiding down there? And if so, could li...

Biopiracy

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Genetic libraries are treasure troves of information about life from around the world. They’re helping researchers develop everything from vaccines ...

Will AI ever ... feel?

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some scientists think an explosion of AI awareness and feeling might be just around the corner. Others think it’s impossible for an AI to ever becom...

New year, new diet, live forever?

01 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s that time of year again. If you’re changing things up, there’s a lot of diets out there that claim to help you live longer. Our friends at ...