Short Wave
New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — in just under 15 minutes. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber for science on a different wavelength.
If you're hooked, try Short Wave Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/shortwave
- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 12 minutes
- Episodes
- 1345
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Peep The Delightful Science Of Chickens
When Tove Danovich decided to dabble in backyard chicken keeping, she embraced a tried and true journalistic practice — reading everything there is to find on the subject. In her search, she found p…
00:12:40 |
Wed 12 Apr 2023
Launching Into Space — Sustainably!
In 1957, the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. Since then, the number of objects humans have hurled toward the stars has soared to the thousands. As those ob…
00:12:54 |
Mon 10 Apr 2023
News Round Up: Mammoth Meatballs, Stressed Plants And Apologetic Robots
In this Friday round up of science news we can't let go, not everything is as it seems. Meatballs are not made of fresh meat from the cattle range. Robots are keeping something from you. And plants h…
00:14:15 |
Fri 07 Apr 2023
Allergies Are Weird. So Are Cats
Katie Wu is a bona fide cat person. She has two of them: twin boys named Calvin and Hobbes. Every night, they curl up in bed with her, bonking their little noses together, rubbing their fur and whisk…
00:13:40 |
Wed 05 Apr 2023
Why We Should Care About Viruses Jumping From Animals To People
The phenomenon of zoonotic spillover — of viruses jumping from animals to people — is incredibly common. The question is: which one will start the next pandemic? NPR science desk correspondent Micha…
00:14:24 |
Mon 03 Apr 2023
Eunice Foote: The Hidden Grandmother Of Climate Science
Today, most climate science is done with satellites, sensors and complicated computer models. But it all started with a pioneering female physicist and two glass tubes. Eunice Foote, the woman behind…
00:11:53 |
Fri 31 Mar 2023
Why Scientists Just Mapped Every Synapse In A Fly Brain
To really understand the human brain, scientists say you'd have to map its wiring. The only problem: there are more than 100 trillion different connections to find, trace and characterize. But a team…
00:11:29 |
Wed 29 Mar 2023
Perennial Rice: Plant Once, Harvest Again And Again
Rice is arguably the world's most important staple crop. About half of the global population depends on it for sustenance. But, like other staples such as wheat and corn, rice is cultivated annually.…
00:12:30 |
Mon 27 Mar 2023
News Round Up: Algal Threats, An Asteroid With Life's Building Blocks And Bee Maps
After reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Why did the Virgin Islands declare a state of emergency over a large blob of floating algae? What can a far-off asteroid tel…
00:10:55 |
Fri 24 Mar 2023
Why Pandemic Researchers Are Talking About Raccoon Dogs
A few weeks ago, raw data gathered in Janaury 2020 from Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China — the early epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic — was uploaded to an online virology database. I…
00:14:17 |
Thu 23 Mar 2023
If ChatGPT Designed A Rocket — Would It Get To Space?
From text churned out by ChatGPT to the artistic renderings of Midjourney, people have been taking notice of new, bot-produced creative works. But how does this artificial intelligence software fare …
00:13:14 |
Wed 22 Mar 2023
What we lose if the Great Salt Lake dries up
Dotted across the Great Basin of the American West are salty, smelly lakes. The largest of these, by far, is the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
But a recent report found that water diversions for farming, c…
But a recent report found that water diversions for farming, c…
00:12:31 |
Tue 21 Mar 2023
Venus And Earth: A Tale Of Two 'Twins'
Planetary scientists announced some big news this week about our next-door neighbor, Venus. For the first time, they had found direct evidence that Venus has active, ongoing volcanic activity.
"It's …
"It's …
00:14:27 |
Mon 20 Mar 2023
Tweeting Directly From Your Brain (And What's Next)
Our friends at NPR's TED Radio Hour podcast have been pondering some BIG things — specifically, the connection between our physical, mental, and spiritual health. In this special excerpt, what if you…
00:19:55 |
Sat 18 Mar 2023
Flying Into Snowstorms ... For Science!
For the past few winters, researchers have been intentionally flying into snowstorms. And high in those icy clouds, the team collected all the information they could to understand—how exactly do wint…
00:13:29 |
Fri 17 Mar 2023
Could de-extincting the dodo help struggling species?
As a leading expert on paleogenomics, Beth Shapiro has been hearing the same question ever since she started working on ancient DNA: "The only question that we consistently were asked was, how close …
00:11:51 |
Thu 16 Mar 2023
It's Boom Times In Ancient DNA
Research into very, very old DNA has made huge leaps forward over the last two decades. That has allowed scientists like Beth Shapiro to push the frontier further and further.
"For a long time, we th…
"For a long time, we th…
00:13:58 |
Wed 15 Mar 2023
How To Bake Pi, Mathematically (And Deliciously)
This March 14, Short Wave is celebrating pi ... and pie! We do that with the help of mathematician Eugenia Cheng, Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and author of th…
00:13:04 |
Tue 14 Mar 2023
How Well Does A New Alzheimer's Drug Work For Those Most At Risk?
A new drug for Alzheimer's disease, called lecanemab, got a lot of attention earlier this year for getting fast-tracked approval based on a clinical trial that included nearly 1,800 people. It was th…
00:13:46 |
Mon 13 Mar 2023
Ocean World Tour: Whale Vocal Fry, Fossilizing Plankton and A Treaty
Reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Why are more animals than just humans saddled — er, blessed — with vocal fry? Why should we care if 8 million year old plankton fo…
00:10:37 |
Fri 10 Mar 2023
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