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.
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- Update frequency
- every 2 days
- Average duration
- 12 minutes
- Episodes
- 1345
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
'Are You A Model?': Crickets Are So Hot Right Now
Have you ever wondered how biologists choose what animal to use in their research? Since scientists can't do a lot of basic research on people, they study animals to shed light on everything from hum…
00:13:45 |
Thu 09 Mar 2023
The Race To Save A Tree Species
The whitebark pine is a hardy tree that grows in an area stretching from British Columbia, Canada south to parts of California and east to Montana. It's a keystone species in its subalpine and timber…
00:10:52 |
Wed 08 Mar 2023
The $20 Billion Deal To Get Indonesia Off Coal
Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of coal for electricity. And it's also an emerging economy trying to address climate change. The country recently signed a highly publicized, $20 billion in…
00:11:53 |
Tue 07 Mar 2023
Rome wasn't built in a day, but they sure had strong concrete
The Roman Colosseum is a giant, oval amphitheater built almost two thousand years ago. Despite its age and a 14th century earthquake that knocked down the south side of the colosseum, most of the 150…
00:13:12 |
Mon 06 Mar 2023
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's Disordered Cosmos
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a theoretical physicist at the University of New Hampshire. It's her job to ask deep questions about how we — and the rest of the universe — got to this moment.
Her new bo…
Her new bo…
00:15:51 |
Fri 03 Mar 2023
Honoring The 'Hidden Figures' Of Black Gardening
When Abra Lee became the landscape manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, she sought some advice about how to best do the job. The answer: study the history of gardening. That l…
00:14:48 |
Thu 02 Mar 2023
This Navy vet helped discover a new, super-heavy element
As a kid, Clarice Phelps dreamed of being an astronaut, or maybe an explorer like the characters on Star Trek. Her path to a career in science turned out to be a bit different than what she expected,…
00:12:31 |
Wed 01 Mar 2023
What DNA kits leave out: race, ancestry and 'scientific sankofa'
Population geneticist Dr. Janina Jeff is the host and executive producer of In Those Genes, a hip-hop inspired podcast that uses genetics to uncover the those lost identifies of African descended Ame…
00:15:29 |
Tue 28 Feb 2023
Measuring Health Risks After A Chemical Spill
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public hearing about its remediation plan for cleaning up chemicals in and around East Palestine, Ohio. It follows the derailment of a…
00:11:54 |
Mon 27 Feb 2023
Ancient Seeds: A Possible Key To Climate Adaptation
In the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon, there is a giant walk-in fridge housing tens of thousands of seeds. They belong to the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).…
00:14:02 |
Fri 24 Feb 2023
Seriously...what IS life?
In this Back To School episode we consider the "List of Life": the criteria that define what it is to be a living thing. Some are easy calls: A kitten is alive. A grain of salt is not. But what about…
00:10:56 |
Thu 23 Feb 2023
Understanding Earthquake Aftershocks
Monday another earthquake struck southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border. This time, the quake registered as a magnitude 6.3 — an order lower than the initial, devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquak…
00:10:17 |
Wed 22 Feb 2023
The Fungal Science Behind HBO's 'The Last of Us'
The video game series that spawned the new hit HBO drama, The Last of Us, is the zombie genre with a twist. Instead of the standard viral pandemic or bacterial disease that's pushed humanity to the b…
00:13:02 |
Tue 21 Feb 2023
Life Kit: Help Save The North American Bird Population
Many of us are off today for President's Day. In the meantime, we want to share this episode from our friends at NPR's Life Kit podcast. In it, they discuss the importance of birds as an "indicator s…
00:18:44 |
Mon 20 Feb 2023
News Round Up: Chocolate, A Solar Valentine And Fly Pheromones
After reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Is chocolate really that good for your health? How do solar flares affect life on earth? And what's the big deal about scien…
00:12:03 |
Fri 17 Feb 2023
The Science Fueling Disney's 'Strange World'
In Disney's new animated feature 'Strange World,' a band of multigenerational explorers journeys to the center of their fantastical homeland. Along the way, they fend off, make friends with, and unea…
00:13:53 |
Thu 16 Feb 2023
Congrats! It's A Tomato
A few years ago, a team of scientists set out on a field expedition in the rugged, dry Northern Territory of Australia. There, they found a plant that was both strange and familiar hiding in plain si…
00:10:02 |
Wed 15 Feb 2023
Mix Up LOVE, And You Get V-O-L-E
You may have heard of the "love hormone," or oxytocin. But you may not know that scientists have relied on cuddly rodents like the prairie vole to help us understand how this protein works in our bra…
00:11:19 |
Tue 14 Feb 2023
Meet One Engineer Fixing A Racially Biased Medical Device
During the COVID-19 pandemic, one measurement became more important than almost any other: blood oxygen saturation. It was the one concrete number that doctors could use to judge how severe a case of…
00:14:17 |
Mon 13 Feb 2023
Lightning Protection: Lasers, Rockets or Rods?
Every year, lightning is estimated to cause up to 24,000 deaths globally. It starts forest fires, burns buildings and crops, and causes disruptive power outages. The best, most practical technology a…
00:12:18 |
Fri 10 Feb 2023
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