Short Wave

Workers in Japan started releasing treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday. Reactors at the plant began melting down after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit the area. To stop the meltdown, plant workers flooded the reactors with water. But even now, when the plant is offline, the reactors need to be cooled. All that water—abo...

A journey through some of the latest science stories catching our eyes. This time, we consider the Russian and Indian lunar landing attempts, how scientists are reconstructing music from people's brains and lessons from wildfires that contributed to a mass extinction of North American land mammals 13,000 years ago. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data f...

One name has been on millions of minds — and all over the news — in the past week: Hilary. It's been decades since a storm like this has hit Southern California, so even some scientists were shocked when they heard it was coming. In today's episode, Regina Barber talks to Jill Trepanier , who studies extreme climatic events — like hurricanes and climate change — at Louisiana State University. She...

It's no secret that our electric grid is a flaming hot mess — and in order to reduce emissions, the U.S. needs to get a lot more renewables onto the grid. But there's a problem: Our electric grid is too old and outdated to handle this new technology. In fact, many of the copper wires on transmission lines are using technology from as far back as the early 1900s! Because of this, thousands of wind...

Today we enter into the plot of a summer blockbuster adventure movie. Regina talks to NPR reporter Emily Olson about the recently uncovered ancient Maya city, Ocomtun. The large site, which researchers found using LiDAR technology, even seems to have "suburbs," flipping their expectations about how robust the Maya civilization was — and where it was. Read Emily's full story here. Have a science my...

Kids ask, "Why?" all the time. Why does 1+1=2? Why do we memorize multiplication tables? Many of us eventually stop asking these questions. But mathematician Dr. Eugenia Cheng says they're key to uncovering the beauty behind math. So today, we celebrate endless curiosity and creativity — the driving forces of mathematicians. Regina G. Barber and Eugenia talk imaginary numbers, how to go beyond sim...

There's the birds and the bees. And then there's what happens after . The process that leads to the beginning of pregnancy has a lot more twists and turns than a happenstance meeting. Today on Short Wave , NPR health reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin talks about the science of the very first week of pregnancy. Read Selena's full explainer by clicking this link . Or download and print it here . Have a...

All Things Considered host Juana Summers joins Regina G. Barber and Berly McCoy to nerd-out on some of the latest science news buzzing around in our brains. They talk NASA shouting across billions of miles of space to reconnect with Voyager 2, the sneaky tactics trumpetfish use to catch their prey and how climate change is fueling big waves along California's coast. What science story do you want...

How do we really get happier? In a new review in the journal Nature Human Behavior , researchers Elizabeth Dunn and Dunigan Folk found that many common strategies for increasing our happiness may not be supported by strong evidence. In today's Short Wave episode, Dunn tells co-host Aaron Scott about changes in the way scientists are conducting research, and how these changes led her team to re-exa...

The ability to create wrought iron cheaply has been called one of the most significant innovations in the British Industrial Revolution. It's known today as the Cort process, named after British banker Henry Cort, who patented the technique. But Dr. Jenny Bulstrode , a historian at University College London (UCL), found that Cort stole the innovation from 76 Black enslaved ironworkers in Jamaica....

Ever felt like you were watching yourself and the rest of the world from outside of your body? Or floating above yourself? Well, scientists finally know what part of your brain is causing that sensation. NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton shares the tale of the discovery with host Aaron Scott . Plus, they talk about why it may be helpful to occasionally venture outside of your bodily self. See...

For decades, humans have harvested the blood of horseshoe crabs, which is used to test whether many of our vaccines and medicines are contaminated with harmful bacterial toxins. But the horseshoe crab harvesting industry has few regulations and a lot of secrecy. NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner talks to us about expansion of this industry and why synthetic alternatives to the blood aren't...

Would you survive as a doctor in The Sims 4 ? What's the appropriate amount of free food to take from a public sample station before it's considered greedy? And how much of an impact do clock towers have on sleep? These are the hard-hitting questions that researchers ask and answer in the Christmas issue of The BMJ , formerly known as the British Medical Journal . What started in 1982 as an experi...

In this special episode, we hear from the high school grand prize winner of NPR's Student Podcast Challenge: Georgianna McKenny. A rising senior at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, the 17-year-old rings an alarm on the water crisis in Jackson, through the lens of young people. Emily, who was one of the judges of this year's contest, talks to Georgianna about her winning podcast...

For most infants, introducing peanuts early can help prevent allergies later on — but a new study reveals most caregivers don't know that. Why? Plus — some summertime advice for keeping pets cool in the heat, and avoiding beaches contaminated with poop. (A lot of them are.) All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly joins Regina G. Barber and Aaron Scott to discuss those stories in our science n...

In which we metaphorically enter the UCLA Language Acquisistion Lab's recording castle, guided by linguistics researcher Dr. Megha Sundara . NPR science correspondent Sydney Lupkin temporarily takes over the host chair to talk to Sundara about all things baby babble. Along the way, we learn why babies babble, how that babbling can change with exposure to new languages — and if there are any lesson...

Scorpions: They're found pretty much everywhere, and new species are being identified all the time. Arachnologist Lauren Esposito says there's a lot to love about this oft-misunderstood creature. Most are harmless — they can't even jump — and they play a critical role in their diverse ecosystems as a top invertebrate predator. (encore) Want to hear us talk about other newly identified animal speci...

Christopher Nolan's new film 'Oppenheimer' chronicles the life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and so-called "Father of the Atomic Bomb." The movie does not shy away from science — and neither do we. We talked to current scientists at Los Alamos about the past and present science of nuclear weapons like the atomic bomb. Read more about the...

For people with endometriosis—a mysterious disease where endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus—medical visits can be especially frustrating. It takes some patients years (on average, ten years) to get a diagnosis and treatment options are limited. There are currently no cures. One researcher, Dr. Kate Lawrenson , is trying to change that. She and her team of researchers have created a cel...

Trash from humans is constantly spilling into the ocean — so much so that there are five gigantic garbage patches in the seas. They hang out at the nexus of the world's ocean currents, changing shape with the waves. The largest is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. These areas were long thought to have been uninhabited, the plastics and fishing gear too harmful to marine life. But researchers have r...

Science in the headlines: An amazingly preserved sea squirt fossil that could tell us something about human evolution, a new effort to fight malaria by genetically modifying mosquitos and why archeologists are rethinking a discovery about a Copper-age leader. All Things Considered host Adrian Florido nerds-out on those stories with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber and science correspondent Geoff B...

Canada is having its worst fire season in modern history. The fires have burnt more than 20 million acres, casting hazardous smoke over parts of the U.S. and stretching Canadian firefighting resources thin. Public officials and many news headlines have declared the fires as "unprecedented," and in the modern-sense they are. But NPR climate correspondent Nate Rott has been talking to researchers wh...

In the Port of Baltimore, a ship is docked that hasn't transported passengers for more than 50 years. It's the NS Savannah and it's designated a National Historic Landmark. That's because it was the first—and only—nuclear-powered passenger ship to have ever been built. Science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel tells us about his recent tour of the ship and why it was a symbol of peace in it's time. To...

20 years ago, the cult classic movie 'The Core' was released in theaters. From the start, it's clear that science is more a plot device than anything — but some scientists love it anyway. Today, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber has a friendly laugh with geologist Jackie Caplan-Auerbach about the creative liberties writers took to make the movie's plot work. P.S. We're biased here, but we do...

We hope you had a restful holiday! Maybe even got outside for some relaxing fresh air. If so, you might've come across cute and not-so-cute critters like ticks. With ticks in mind, we're heading to Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. Among the trees and trails, researchers like Adela Oliva Chavez search for blacklegged ticks that could carry Lyme disease. She's looking for answers as to why ti...