Short Wave

Maybe you’ve wondered about it late at night as a mosquito buzzes in your ear. Or when you kick over a rock and watch dozens of little critters crawl away: How many types of insects are there in the world? Scientists have been interested in answering this question for years. A new study — based on a census of tiny and, frankly terrifying, parasitoid wasps — suggests there’s way more than previousl...

A valuable NASA satellite observatory is falling to Earth faster than scientists expected. It’s called the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, or “Swift” for short, and it can respond to celestial events much faster than its sky-gazing counterparts. To save Swift and test out a first-of-its-kind technology, NASA partnered with an Arizona-based startup to launch a refrigerator-sized robot, aptly named...

Every dog lover’s greatest fear is inevitably losing their pet to time. We want our furry pals to stick around as long as they can. That wish may soon become reality with a new pill from a company called Loyal. It aims to extend the lives–and health–of dogs. This new drug also serves as a pitstop on a much bigger quest: to eventually lengthen human lives. Interested in more science about your pets...

Taking an air taxi to the airport may become as simple as ordering a ride share today. In our first episode in our summer series Tech Camp, we explore how a futuristic vehicle that transforms from helicopter to propeller plane is already taking flight in New York and San Francisco. This new kind of commuting might be here sooner than you think: A law just went into effect to build infrastructure f...

Independence Day is approaching! Imagine if someone has procured illegal fireworks from a couple of states over. Are you: 1. first in line to light them? 2. content to watch while others set them off? 3. going to find a fire extinguisher — just in case — while loudly condemning the activity? Ken Carter , a psychologist at Oxford College of Emory University, says everyone has a different level of s...

The U.S. generates 292 million tons of trash each year – and that trash has to go somewhere.  Sometimes, that’s to an incinerator, where it’s burned and turned into electricity. Proponents of incineration applaud the ability to generate energy from waste and divert garbage from landfills. Opponents worry about the potential health risks, especially to minoritized communities. Today on the show, we...

In the grand scheme of things, Lyme disease is a fairly new scientific discovery. It was first traced back to ticks in the late 70s and early 80s. The tick-borne illness can cause a rash, fever, pain, neurological complications, and even facial paralysis. It’s spread by only two of the nearly 50 species of ticks in the United States. Historically, most Lyme cases were limited to a small region, in...

For many, being able to work from home is a boon: saving time on your commute, working in your sweatpants, throwing in a load of laundry before a meeting. People say it makes them happier. But a new study suggests that, despite all the advantages, working from home isn’t creating a happier workforce. It’s making people more socially isolated. We get into all the details with NPR mental health corr...

There’s an object in space 25 times the size of Jupiter that’s stumped scientists for years. They haven’t been able to figure out if it’s a planet or a failed star. But scientists are one step closer to an answer thanks to the powerful James Webb Space Telescope. After analyzing data collected by the telescope, astronomers have uncovered unexpected new clues floating light years away from us: Salt...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing – and is likely larger than official numbers show. The deadly disease spreads through bodily fluids, on average killing half the people it infects. And while officially declared in May, the case numbers point to the virus circulating for months without being detected. To make matters worse, there’s not a vaccine for this specific sp...

One evening in May of 2011, tornado sirens went off in a small Missouri city called Joplin. Thousands of homes were destroyed in the tornado, about a third of the town’s 50,000 residents were displaced and around 160 people died. And in the months following the tornado, the town became known not just for the destruction, but the kindness and cooperation that led to its recovery. Scientists who hav...

Janet Jones has been fascinated by horses since childhood. She’s now a horse trainer and a neuroscientist, which allows her to explore the minds of the animals to which she’s devoted her life. She even recently wrote a book all about their brains . She says there’s an enormous gap between the way humans have relied on horses for tens of thousands of years – and what we actually know about their br...

Two tiny transforming robots landed on the moon! These baseball-sized bots accompanied Japan's first successful lunar lander. They rolled out of SLIM as balls and transformed into a rover. The bots cracked down the middle to reveal a little camera in the center. The halves then acted as spinning wheels that helped them waddle, bounce and roll over hard terrain as they explored. In this roundup of...

The war in Iran has disrupted the global fuel supply. That has sent airline prices soaring and cancelled scores of flights. This got Short Wave host Emily Kwong wondering: Could another fuel source help take us to the skies? Today on the show, we explore the chemistry and cost of sustainable aviation fuel. Along the way, we highlight two initiatives to create a regional SAF supply – one in Washing...

Summer is here, your windows are open and the smell of…car exhaust and the latest wildfire are wafting in. This air pollution is harmful to almost every organ , including the brain. Today on Short Wave , we talk about one way air pollution may cloud your memory. Interested in more episodes about how where we live affects us? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org and we may turn it into an ep...

Could standardizing chocolate help small-scale farmers? Chocolate scientist Julien Simonis thinks it could help persuade consumers to pay for higher quality chocolate, in turn helping out these growers. Every cacao bean is different, and for a long time, there wasn't a standard way of comparing the quality of chocolate. But in 2009, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit started a program called Caca...

Until this week, the United States hadn’t approved a new sunscreen ingredient in over 20 years. That changed Tuesday, when the FDA approved a new chemical for U.S. sunscreens. It’s called bemotrizinol, and NPR science correspondent Maria Godoy joins us to tell us all about it — including the soonest it’s expected to hit shelves. Interested in more science news? Email us your question at  shortwave...

Every year, tens of millions of people in the U.S. get the flu vaccine. That’s because the virus changes year-to-year and protection only lasts around six months. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre wants to change that. He’s one scientist working on a universal flu vaccine that could provide decades of protection against all flu illnesses – but only if his team can find the resources that disappeared when U.S....

We tend to think of the DNA strands that contain our genetic code as consistent, stable units. But in reality, the cells that make up our bodies are constantly replicating and changing. Even as you read this sentence, in fact, the genes within your cells are mutating. So, what causes these mutations and what’s the impact? Science writer Roxanne Khamsi examines the answers in her new book, Beyond I...

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 person know their inner self? And what does science have to say about it? We dig in in this encore episode of Short Wave. To learn more about Charles Fernyhough’s research on voice hearing,  visit the project website .   If you liked this episode, ch...

More than a century ago, all that people knew about European eels was that they lived in the rivers and streams for decades — until they swam out to the ocean and never returned. Eventually, tiny eels would show up and the cycle would start again. Where did the adult eels go? Where did the baby eels come from? Did they even reproduce at all or just spontaneously emerge into being? Science now has...

In our latest science news roundup: how nature adapts, for better or worse. When faced with pests, plants may not be able to run away – but that doesn’t mean they’re defenseless. Some have thorns or spines, others have poisonous leaves or berries, and still others have…elaborate chemical defense alarm systems? In a recent study , researchers discovered that the common bean plant, P. vulgaris , has...

Healthy forests help combat climate change, provide humans with drinking water and even improve mental and physical health. But it’s hard to imagine an entire forest in the middle of a big city. That’s where micro-forests come into play — public forests on a smaller scale, filled with native plants. They exist around the world, and producer Rachel Carlson went to visit the largest micro-forest in...

You pick up your phone to do one quick task, and suddenly 20 minutes have flown by without you even noticing. How do apps do that to you? Science journalist Michaeleen Doucleff felt like her phone had superglue on it, holding her on it for hours each day while draining her of time and energy. Turns out, that feeling isn’t accidental. In her new book, Dopamine Kids , Michaeleen describes four featu...

For many astronomers and astrophysicists there are two distinct, important periods: before the James Webb Space Telescope – and after. It has powered many scientific discoveries since it came online, including two at the heart of this episode: insights into one of Neptune’s moons and a “hot Jupiter” exoplanet orbiting another star. This exoplanet has a strange weather system with high winds and cl...