Short Wave

Independence Day is approaching! Imagine in a few days, someone has procured illegal fireworks from a couple of states over. Are you: A) first in line to light them B) content to watch while others set them off C) 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...

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Policy, an influential CDC committee that shapes U.S. vaccine policy, has become a flashpoint in recent weeks. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members and replaced them with 7 new members — many of whom do not have deep expertise in vaccines, and some of whom have spread vaccine misinformation. NPR public health correspondent Pien Huang...

Since 2004, scientific research has shown that a full night of sleep may lend itself to a burst of insight in the morning . But what about the earlier stages of sleep? And what about just a nap? A research team based in Germany found that even a 20-minute nap could deliver a "eureka" moment, and published their findings in the journal PLOS Biology this week. Have a question about sleep? Email us a...

Why did the ornithologist strap a taxidermy badger to a remote controlled car and drive it around the prairie? To interrogate the secret world of animal eavesdropping in the grasslands, of course! Today on the show, we travel to the most imperiled ecosystem on the planet to unravel a prairie mystery and find out why prairie dogs are grassland engineers worth keeping tabs on. Got a question about o...

Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on the planet, and some of them may be on the rise. At least in listener Abigail Krich-Starr's area, that's due to warmer, wetter weather — which, yes, is linked to climate change. But it doesn't stop there: Ecologists and entomologists say increased heat could also alter mosquito behavior, shift their natural habitat, and even change how pathogens incubate and...

The U.S.'s power grid — a nearly 100-year-old network of electrical circuits — is facing increased demand and weather-related stress. What will it take to modernize? We interrogate that question today with the help of Anjan Bose , an electrical engineer at Washington State University. Interested in more stories about electricity? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Listen to every episode of Short Wav...

For generations, the all-female Haenyeo divers have routinely dove into frigid waters off the coast of South Korea, holding their breath for minutes at a time, as they collect seafood to eat and sell. These women start diving as girls and continue well into old age. And recent research suggests that it's not just years of training that makes this feat possible – it's also a set of special genetic...

We are in the thick of multiple sports seasons: the NBA finals are happening, and baseball and soccer are in full swing. For devoted fans, emotions can run pretty high during a game. Cognitive anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas has long been fascinated by that intensity — and how uniform it can be across fans. So, he and fellow researchers at the University of Connecticut decided to look into what...

Since last week, Israel has been attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, along with many other targets around the country. Iran has fired hundreds of missiles in response. NPR correspondent Geoff Brumfiel has been watching all of this very closely because Israel's missile defenses have been a focus of the Trump White House. This year, President Trump requested funding from Congress for a " Golden Dom...

The skunky smell of cannabis may be going out of style. NPR's science correspondent Pien Huang visited the grow facility for District Cannabis, which sells weed in Washington D.C. and Maryland. On her tour, she learned why cannabis smells the way it does. Plus, how many strains have been bred — to smells like lavender, citrus and even cookies. Read more of science correspondent Pien Huang's report...

Take a big inhale through your nose. Now, exhale. Breathing may seem simple, but it's controlled by a complex brain network. Each inhale gives the human brain information about the external world. And now, a new research paper in the journal Current Biology suggests that humans have unique breathing patterns, almost like nasal "fingerprints." Not only that: These unique breathing patterns seem to...

Homeowners' insurance isn't just getting more expensive ... it's also getting harder to secure in the first place. Across the country, an increase in climate-related disasters like heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes is creating challenges for both insurers and their customers . One successful strategy taking hold in Alabama and other states: Climate-proofing houses — and incentivizing it with in...

Roughly 163 million people experience obsessive-compulsive disorder and its associated cycles of obsessions and compulsions. They have unwanted intrusive thoughts, images or urges; they also do certain behaviors to decrease the distress caused by these thoughts. In movies and TV, characters with OCD are often depicted washing their hands or obsessing about symmetry. Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez says thes...

The Dog Aging Project is a long-term nationwide survey on the health and lifestyles of U.S. dogs that launched in 2019. Today, the project has more than 50,000 canines and counting. Today, hear what researchers have learned from one of the largest dog health data sets and what it could tell us both about increasing the lifespan of our furry friends and us . For more information about signing your...

"Olo" does not exist in nature, nor can it be found among paint cans. But for a very select few, olo can be seen — through the intervention of careful computing and lasers. A team led by vision scientist Austin Roorda and computer scientist Ren Ng at UC Berkeley figured out a method for stimulating only one specific subset of cones of the retina. It's the only way to view this spectacular teal. Cr...

There are over 200 species of deep-sea anglerfish; some are long and thin, some are squat and round, some have fins that they use to "walk" along the sea floor, and others have huge eyes set far back into their heads. But how did all this morphological diversity first come to be? Thanks to a new anglerfish family tree, now we know. Scientists built this evolutionary tree using genetic information...

As artificial intelligence seeps into some realms of society, it rushes into others. One area it's making a big difference is protein science — as in the "building blocks of life," proteins! Producer Berly McCoy talks to host Emily Kwong about the newest advance in protein science: AlphaFold3, an AI program from Google DeepMind. Plus, they talk about the wider field of AI protein science and why r...

For hundreds of years sailors have told stories about miles of glowing ocean during moonless nights. This phenomenon is known as "milky seas," but the only scientific sample was collected in 1985. So atmospheric scientist Justin Hudson , a PhD candidate at University of Colorado, used accounts spanning 400 years to create a database of milky seas. By also using satellite images to visually confirm...

Depending on what time it is, your body responds differently to an injury or infection. During the day, you're likely to heal faster and fight infection better than at night. And historically, scientists weren't entirely sure why. That picture is starting to clear up thanks to a new study published last week in the journal Science Immunology . The research finds a missing piece of the puzzle in ne...

Around 40 million people around the world have bipolar disorder, which involves cyclical swings between moods: from depression to mania. Kay Redfield Jamison is one of those people. She's also a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and has written extensively about the topic, from medical textbooks to personal memoirs. Today on Short Wave, she joins us to talk about the...

Gen Z and younger millennials are the most climate literate generations the world has ever seen. They learned about climate change in school; now, it's part of how they plan for the future, including for jobs, housing ... and kids. So, what do experts say about how to navigate the kid question? In this installment of Nature Quest, Short Wave speaks to climate journalist Alessandra Ram about the fu...

It's Memorial Day, Short Wavers. This holiday, we bring you a meditation on time ... and clocks. There are hundreds of atomic clocks in orbit right now, perched on satellites all over Earth. We depend on them for GPS location, Internet timing, stock trading and even space navigation. In today's encore episode, hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber learn how to build a better clock. In order to do...

Riddle us this: Which animal is pink, curved beaked and a master of the physics required to create water tornadoes? If you guessed flamingos, you're right. New research out this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that across a range of harsh environments, flamingos have become masters — of physics, fluid dynamics and so much more — all in pursuit of their fi...

What's it like to get bit by a venomous snake? "It's like a bee sting times a thousand," Tim Friede says. Tim would know. Over the past few decades, he's let himself be bitten over 200 times by all kinds of venomous snakes — black mambas, taipans, cobras, kraits and more. With time, he's gradually built immunity to multiple types of venom. Could scientists help him share that immunity with others?...

The Trump administration is rewriting policies and reducing funding for multiple agencies that handle climate change, including NOAA, EPA and FEMA. We asked NPR reporters Lauren Sommer and Alejandra Borunda what that the implications of that are — and who the changes will affect. Want to hear more ways research is being impacted by the new administration? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org to let us k...