Unexplainable
Episodes
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 ...
Mysteries we can’t stop thinking about
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The wildest stories that never made it into our episodes. Until now. Guests: Amy Boddy, anthropological scientist at the University of California, San...
Who let the wolves in?
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dogs were the first domesticated animal in history, emerging from wolves some 20,000 years ago. But how did wolves become dogs? To find the answer, sc...
Where to meet a Neanderthal
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We know Neanderthals and early modern humans coupled up. But when did they meet, exactly? And where? Some fossilized smoke and a baby tooth might hold...
Pinky and the (lab-grown) Brain
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not great to be a lab rat. And it turns out, lab rats might not be that great for science either. Could the future be little lab-grown brain cl...
Why are there lefties and righties?
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Unexplainable or Not, we’ve got three scientific mysteries all about left and right. Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox’s new podcast Explai...
Placebos work. Why?
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can give patients placebos...
Why is horror so fun?
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It makes sense that we run away from scary things. That’s a good way to stay alive. But why do some people also love scary things? Why do people gra...
Are psychedelics breaking science?
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Drugs like ecstasy and mushrooms have shown promise as mental health treatments, but they’re also exposing some major cracks in how scientists study...
Your gut’s feelings
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How we feel emotionally may be influenced by unseen troves of microbial life that live inside us. Is it possible to harness this gut power? (First pub...
Is insurance doomed?
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the world gets warmer and storms get worse, insurance companies are jacking up rates — or refusing to cover homeowners altogether. Is the future ...
My animal heart
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Doctors have started transplanting animal organs into people, hoping this experimental procedure could one day solve an organ shortage crisis that kil...
How hot could the world get?
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have lots of ways to try to answer that question, and lots of different predictions. So how do they figure out one set of numbers we can al...