Short Wave
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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 su...
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Could This Exoplanet Harbor Life?
Want to be a top notch candidate for hosting alien life? Then there's a few key requirements you should be aware of: Ideally, you're a large object li...
How Replaceable Are You?
In the 1970’s TV show called Six Million Dollar Man, a test pilot is in a horrible accident. The show’s famous line goes, “We can rebuild him. We have...
The Closest Thing To A Cure For Allergies
More than 100 million people in the U.S. have some allergy each year. That’s about every 1 in 3 adults. For many, the fix is a bandaid: over-the-count...
Controversy In Yellowstone
Thirty years ago, park rangers reintroduced grey wolves into Yellowstone National Park. They wanted to restore the ecosystem and get the elk populatio...
Americans Are Not Going To The Dentist Enough
An estimated 5-10% of the U.S. population experiences a disorder with their TMJ, the joint that connects their jaw to their skull. The good news? Reli...
What Are AI Data Centers Doing To Your Electric Bill?
Electricity bills are on track to rise an average of 8 percent nationwide by 2030 according to a June analysis from Carnegie Mellon University and Nor...
Why Experts Are Racing To Learn About This Interstellar Comet
The comet 3I/ATLAS is taking a long holiday journey this year. It’s visiting from another solar system altogether. Those interstellar origins have the...
Who Should Track Their Blood Sugar?
Prediabetes is common in the U.S. — around 1 in 3 people have it. And many people may not know they have it. But last year, the FDA approved the first...
What’s In A Kiss? 21 Million Years Of Evolution
How far back in evolutionary history does kissing go? Through phylogenetic analysis, an international team of scientists found that kissing was likely...
How To Disagree Better
Many people are gearing up for holiday conversation with loved ones who may disagree with them -- on everything from politics to religion and lifestyl...
Nature Quest: The Earthquake Prediction Problem
Their whole life, producer Hannah Chinn has known about the Big One: a massive earthquake forecasted to hit the West Coast. Scientists say it’ll destr...
SNAP Delays: The Science Of Hunger And Food Insecurity
One in every eight households in the U.S. isn’t always sure where the next meal will come from. Limited food access can spell hunger – and that can af...
What's Up With Nightmares?
Dreams of flying? Nightmares of teeth falling out? Falling off a cliff? As a sleep scientist at the University of Montreal, Michelle Carr has pretty m...
The Mystery Of Inner Monologues
Emily Kwong is pretty sure she lacks an inner monologue, while the inner monologue of producer Rachel Carlson won’t stop chatting. But how well can a...
An Apple Is An Ovary: The Science of Apple Breeding
What's your favorite apple? Maybe it's the crowd-pleasing Honeycrisp, the tart Granny Smith or the infamous Red Delicious. Either way, before that app...
Mental ‘Workouts’ Could Keep Your Brain Young
Scientists have found the first compelling evidence that cognitive training can boost levels of a brain chemical that typically declines as people age...
Are we cooked? How social media shapes your language w/ Adam Aleksic (from TED Tech)
This week, we’re sharing a special episode from TED Tech exploring Gen Z slang words like "unalive," "skibidi" and "rizz." Where do these words come f...
Data Centers, Icy Moons And Chameleons
It’s another news roundup! This time, we cover how, using data analytics – and ironically, some AI – a team at Cornell University has mapped the envir...
The Future Of Immune Health Might Be Here
David Ewing Duncan has spent the last 25 years being poked and prodded in the name of science. He’s signed up for hundreds of tests because, as a jour...
What Space Dust Reveals About Earth's Ice Age
Cosmic dust can tell scientists about how ice covered Earth during the last ice age. This dust is leftover debris from asteroids and comets colliding...
Do Birth Control Side Effects Make It Worth Skipping?
Recently, health influencers on Instagram and TikTok have been vocal about the side effects of hormonal birth control. Check out the most popular vide...
Fall foliage is still a mystery: Why do some leaves turn red?
Scientists know why leaves turn yellow in the fall: Chlorophyll breaks down, revealing the yellow pigment that was there all along. But red? Red is a...
Why Some Species Survive Mass Extinctions
Around 250 million years ago, one of Earth’s largest known volcanic events set off The Great Dying: the planet’s worst mass extinction event. The erup...
The Secrets Everyday Rocks Keep
Why does the New York City skyline look the way it does? In part, because of what happened there 500 million years ago, says geologist Anjana Khatwa,...
Elections: A Big Math Problem
Ahead of Election Day tomorrow, millions of ballots are being cast in statewide, local and special elections. So, today, we're revisiting an episode a...
This Week In Science: Spiders, TV Pixels And Storytelling
Happy Halloween, Short Wavers! In today’s news round-up, we’ve got only treats. Hosts Regina Barber and Emily Kwong fill in NPR’s Ailsa Chang on a deb...
Like Being Scared? Here’s Why
Like haunted houses? Scientists do! That’s because they’re an excellent place to study how humans respond to – and even actively seek out – fear. In a...
Nature Quest: Rebuild Or Relocate Post-Disaster?
In the face of floods, wildfires and other natural disasters, when should a community relocate to avoid potential harm? Listener Molly Magid asks that...
What Works – And Doesn’t – For Hair Loss?
People may think of hair loss as a guy thing. But by some estimates, half of all women experience hair loss in their lifetime. And when your social me...
Parasites Have Haunted Us For Millions Of Years
Parasites have roamed the Earth for a long time. They were here before the dinosaurs: The oldest fossils are more than 500 million years old. Today on...
Migrating Birds Have a Big, Clear Problem
Around this time of year, every night, a quiet exodus is occurring. Hundreds of millions of birds are migrating thousands of miles south for the winte...
We Have the Cure. Why is Tuberculosis Still Around?
Tuberculosis – the world’s deadliest infectious disease – could be dormant in your system for years before you realize you have it. In the U.S., it’s...
Should Scientists Genetically Engineer Wild Species?
Some scientists looking to preserve vulnerable species have turned to a controversial technique: synthetic biology. This catchall term often means gen...
Science Says Quitting Smoking At Any Age Is Good For The Brain
The rate of smoking cigarettes has steadily declined since the 1960s – when Congress required warnings on cigarette boxes. Research shows that people...
What Happens When You're Under Anesthesia?
It's World Anesthesia Day tomorrow! So, we invite you to take a deep breathe. Picture a relaxing scene. Maybe a beach in Tahiti, your toes in the sand...
Why Legal Weed Isn’t Always Safe
Marijuana is decriminalized or legal in some form in multiple states. But, because it’s illegal on the federal level, states have had to build their o...
Synthetic Cells: The Next Bioengineering Frontier
There are more human cells in your body than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy! Cells are the fundamental building blocks of life but that doesn...
Why The Tropics Have A Weather Forecasting Problem
Weather in the tropics is decidedly different than it is in the middle latitudes. It turns out, so are the weather systems – the factors that create t...
Doing Science at the Edge of the Earth
Some scientific discoveries take place in a lab. Others are made deep in the rainforest, along the ocean floor or on the dark side of the moon. And st...
Solved: The Potato Origin Mystery
Usually, when two different species mate, it’s a disaster. At least, that’s what scientists had generally thought about hybrids, the offspring of thes...