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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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Epizody
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- AI could help hospitals diagnose PTSD in real time · 12 minEvery year, millions of people in the United States develop PTSD from a traumatic event—like a car crash, an assault or freak accident. A lot of those people end up in the ER…
- Can scientists reverse your age? · 14 minReversing aging may sound like science fiction, but scientists have already found a way to do it—at least, theoretically. Based on a 2012 Nobel-prize winning discovery…
- How this year's record El Niño could hit your wallet · 10 min · Epizoda 1584Peru’s anchovy industry, the largest single-species fishery in the world, is being rocked by the ongoing El Niño . It’s not the first time the fishery has been impacted by the…
- An ‘Ozempic baby boom’? The GLP-1 pregnancy plot twist · 12 minThe explosion of GLP-1 drugs has created a gray zone for pregnancy. That recently prompted the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to issue its first ever…
- Predicting elections is getting harder. What did the midterms teach us? · 13 minFamously, polls got the 2016 election wrong. And they’d been off for multiple elections since. So, Monday night, political scientist Jack Rametta nervously refreshed his Senate…
- AI is changing mathematics -- but not how you think · 14 minMath has created some of humanity's oldest intellectual challenges. And AI is completely changing the game. This year AI solved one of math’s most difficult problems. Since then…
- OpenAI whistleblowers on the fight over AI safety | Machine Gods · 32 minCheck out NPR’s newest podcast, Machine Gods. It’s the official podcast of the singularity, meaning — the hypothetical future when machines will outpace our own intelligence…and…
- Could virtual reality speed up learning? · 10 minDoes swinging a lightsaber help us learn? New research from Florida Atlantic University and Brown University found that movement dramatically helps with certain kinds of complex…
- Is your favorite crime show rooted in fake science? · 15 min · Epizoda 1578If you’ve ever seen a crime show, you probably know how the plot unfolds: A victim is found, an investigation ensues and police conduct a high-stakes search for the culprit…
- MAHA’s midterm report card · 13 minIt’s been just over two years since the rise of Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA. The movement united a coalition of moms, wellness influencers and voters across the political…
- You Can See Everything and the science of spotting liars · 14 min · Epizoda 1576It feels like everyone we know is talking about the new documentary You Can See Everything. It tracks the effort of comedian and documentarian Nathan Fielder to suss out how…
- The battle between matter and antimatter · 11 minAt the beginning of our universe, in addition to matter, there was also an equal amount of antimatter, matter's opposite. But today, there's lots more matter than antimatter. So…
- The dormant viruses in all of us may help explain long COVID · 14 minVirtually every human on Earth has a slew of different types of dormant viruses in our bodies. They are remnants of past infections and are—generally—harmless. Unless they wake…
- Can planting more trees make allergies worse? · 12 minTrees provide shade and clean air in congested cities, so planting more of them seems like a straightforward solution. But trees also produce a natural pollutant— pollen. In this…
- What are the odds we're not alone in the universe? · 15 min · Epizoda 1572There are hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy we live in. Many of them have their own exoplanets. So why haven’t we found proof of alien life yet? And what’s the…
- What the world's leading researchers think about saunas · 14 minSaunas have gone from a Scandinavian tradition to a global wellness phenomenon. But how long should a person endure heat? Do saunas actually work? And if so, what are their…
- The terrifying physics of prehistoric sea monsters · 9 minWhile dinosaurs roamed the earth, giant monsters roamed the sea. Mosasaurs were like the deadly T-rexes of the ocean: They grew up to the size of a bus and chased down their…
- What's at stake if we can't regrow our forests · 14 minIn 2022, parachutist Luigi Cani dropped 100 million seeds over the Amazon rainforest while skydiving. He did it to raise awareness about deforestation and help regrow the forest…
- What Flock cameras really see – and how · 16 min · Epizoda 1569Police departments across the U.S. are installing Flock cameras, saying the surveillance devices help deter theft and solve crimes, like helping find stolen property and missing…
- The sound of fear: Why so many animals scream · 13 minIt's Halloween season — and what better way to celebrate October 13th than to explore the haunting sound of fear? That's exactly what we do in this episode, where host Regina G…
- One of the toughest parts of ADHD is left out of the diagnosis · 12 minADHD diagnoses are on the rise in the United States, but what if professionals are missing a key part of the disorder? In the 1970s, some clinicians recognized a lot of their…
- What's missing from the lethal injection conversation · 15 min · Epizoda 1565You might have seen the news that Christa Pike, a convicted murderer in Tennessee, did not die from the injections given to her as part of her death penalty sentence last week…
- Science-backed guidance for healthy screen time · 13 minWe’re all aware – and wary – of doomscrolling. Lots of screen time can be bad for us. But what if that’s not always the case? We spoke with the author of a study that found a…
- The genetic secret helping bats survive a deadly epidemic · 14 min · Epizoda 1563We’re easing you into Halloween season with an episode about bats. There’s a silent serial killer decimating little brown bats as they hibernate. White nose syndrome has driven…
- Eating alone may be secretly spiking your blood sugar · 10 minBeing more social has a ton of benefits: lower stress, decreased inflammation – even living a longer life! Recently, some scientists have added lowering your blood sugar to the…
- How much of Earth's life is still undiscovered? · 14 minIf you, like us, clicked on the cute cat photos posted everywhere recently, announcing the discovery of the first new cat species in more than a century, you might have wondered…
- What social media gets wrong about inflammation · 15 min · Epizoda 1560Inflammation is all over our feeds. Influencers claim it’s the reason you're bloated or fatigued, the source of digestive problems and the cause of more serious illnesses like…
- A fall mystery: why do only certain leaves turn red? · 14 minLeaves turn yellow in the fall because Chlorophyll breaks down, revealing the yellow pigment that was there all along. But why red? Red is a different story altogether. Leaves…
- 'Super' El Niño is coming. What should you expect? · 13 minThe world is bracing for the worst effects of a Super El Niño. Or a Godzilla El Niño. But what does that really even mean? For millennia El Niño has shaped weather across the…
- Vaccinated or not, we’re on the brink of a measles epidemic · 14 min · Epizoda 1557Measles is making a comeback. Ongoing outbreaks in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah have documented hundreds of cases, mostly among unvaccinated people. And while…
- The science of self-worth (and how to boost yours) · 13 min · Epizoda 1556Your self-worth today can be affected by your memories. But you have power over those memories – when you re-experience them. By doing that, you can reshape your self-esteem for…
- Why we should all be 'bookmaxxing' · 11 minRemember your mom, dad and teachers telling you to read because it’s good for you? Well, a compilation of the latest research shows they were right. “Reading is one of the…
- The latest on AI panic — and whether it's justified · 15 min · Epizoda 1554AI is in the news again – for its potential to end civilization. A researcher at Anthropic resigned very publicly last week, citing concerns about the accelerating capabilities…
- When batteries get a facelift, so does renewable energy · 13 minFor years, renewable energy companies have faced a problem: How to store the mass amounts of energy they produce for later use. Batteries may be just the solution. In California…
- Why you'll probably be misdiagnosed in your lifetime · 13 minNearly every person will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime. That means either a delayed diagnosis, a wrong diagnosis – or no diagnosis at all. That’s…
- Should race affect BMI guidelines? Doctors are split · 14 minBMI is a quick, cheap way for doctors to estimate body fat and screen for conditions like heart disease and diabetes. But medicine has long known that BMI is problematic and…
- How scientists discovered that animals are doctors, too · 13 min · Epizoda 1550When people are sick, we seek out medications and treatments to help heal. For a long time, scientists thought that was a uniquely human ability. But it turns out, many other…
- Lindsay Clancy and postpartum psychosis · 14 minThe trial around Lindsay Clancy may be over for now, but it still leaves us with questions. On today’s episode, we talk to psychiatrists and patients to answer them: What is…
- How hurricanes triggered lizard evolution · 11 min · Epizoda 1548Hurricane season is upon us and it turns out that these powerful storms can quickly affect the biology of animals. After hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the islands that make up…
- When is your brain actually 'adult'? · 14 minSummer is winding down and school is back. And all of that has us thinking about this idea that something happens in the human brain when we turn 25. Suddenly, we can rent a car…
- A new investigation shows heat is even deadlier than we thought · 15 minHot weather isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s killing thousands more Americans than show up in official records. That’s the finding from a new NPR investigation, in partnership…
- The science of emotional regulation — and how to do it better · 12 minDo you ever feel like your emotions control you instead of you controlling them? Maybe you lash out at someone after a long day at work or indulge to avoid a stressful situation…
- What can seashells teach us about the health of our oceans? · 13 minSeashells: They're beautiful remnants to carry home from the beach—and so much more! According to environmental journalist Cynthia Barnett, seashells record history more…
- Football is here – and so is a new study on CTE · 15 min · Epizoda 1543The NFL season begins this week, but America’s favorite sport has been on our minds for other reasons recently. New research released in the journal BMJ reveals that 1 in 4…
- NASA's newest telescope has a top secret past · 14 minThe new Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is slated to launch this weekend. It was originally built for the National Reconnaissance Office as a spy satellite, but was never…
- How your metabolism could alter your mental health · 12 minIn 2009, medical student Shebani Sethi watched a patient in a weight loss program make a remarkable recovery. The dietary intervention she underwent alleviated her schizophrenia…
- AI-made viruses could be the future of medicine · 12 minThe era of AI-generated viruses is here. Some scientists are using AI to design viruses that can attack bacteria. The hope is that these tailor-made viruses can fight…
- How much has the U.S.’s wildlife changed since Lewis and Clark? · 14 minEver wish you could have been part of the Lewis and Clark expedition? Us too. The Corps of Discovery came across scores of plants and animals that were new to Western science…
- Why scientists are stoked about mysterious black hole stars · 12 minYou've heard of black holes. You've heard of stars. But have you heard of the newly discovered black hole stars that may explain multiple mysteries of the universe? We just did…
- More men are taking testosterone. What gives? · 15 min · Epizoda 1537If you’re a guy – or even just friends with a guy – and on the Internet, you may have noticed that testosterone discourse is everywhere. There’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth…
