Episodes

  • What Lightning And Black Holes Have In Common

    What Lightning And Black Holes Have In Common
    Oct 4 2024
    Lightning: It happens all the time, and yet the exact details of how it's made has long eluded scientists. That is, until now. New research out this week in the journal Nature holds new insights into the precursor to lightning. To figure it out, researchers flew a NASA ER-2 – essentially the research version of a spy plane – over several tropical thunderstorms. What they found: The same high energy radiation is found in places like neutron stars and around black holes.

    Want to hear more stories about the science behind natural phenomena? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

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    7 mins
  • Why Astronomers Are Teaching Climate Change

    Why Astronomers Are Teaching Climate Change
    Oct 2 2024
    Years ago, astronomy professors started noticing something that troubled them: Many of their students didn't understand climate change and the science supporting it. So a small group of professors decided to do something about it — teach climate change in their introductory astronomy courses.

    Want to hear more stories about climate change? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

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    14 mins
  • If Fungi Win, Will We Be Ready?

    If Fungi Win, Will We Be Ready?
    Oct 1 2024
    Over six million fungal species are believed to inhabit planet Earth. Outsmarting them is the work of Arturo Casadevall's lifetime. What If Fungi Win? is the question at the heart of Arturo's new book, co-authored with journalist Stephanie Desmon. In this episode, Emily and Regina take a trip to Arturo's lab at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and meet a group of scientists thinking about the fungal consequences of climate change, urban heat islands, and scooping up microbes with candy.

    Curious about fungi? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

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    12 mins
  • Do NYC Birds Hold The Clues To The Next Pandemic?

    Do NYC Birds Hold The Clues To The Next Pandemic?
    Sep 30 2024
    Most viruses that become epidemics in humans begin in other animals. It's how scientists suspect COVID-19 emerged. And now, less than five years after the start of the pandemic, some scientists are concerned about another disease that could do something similar: bird flu, or H5N1. Over the past year, the virus has spilled into cows and other animals — even infecting some people working closely with the animals. Some scientists hope to build a more resilient public health system by finding ways to detect and to track viruses as they spread in animals.

    One team in New York City is doing this by tapping high school students from underrepresented backgrounds. Together, they create a more equitable field of biologists while they also sniff out what could be the next pandemic.

    Want to know more about pandemic surveillance or virology? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might cover it on a future episode!

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    11 mins
  • Hurricane Helene Is Here And Powerful

    Hurricane Helene Is Here And Powerful
    Sep 27 2024
    Governors across the southeastern United States have declared statewide states of emergency as Hurricane Helene continues its ascent. After forming in the northwestern Caribbean Sea Tuesday, Helene escalated from a tropical storm, then to a cyclone, and finally to a Category 4 hurricane by the time it made landfall late Thursday night. We talk to hurricane climatologist Jill Trepanier about how a storm tropical storm system rapidly intensifies into a major hurricane, the impact of a changing climate on future storms — and why the devastation doesn't stop at the shore.

    Follow local updates on Hurricane Helene.

    Want to know more about the scientific underpinning of serious weather events? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might cover it on a future episode!

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    12 mins
  • The Reality Of OCD

    The Reality Of OCD
    Sep 25 2024
    Around 2% of the global population struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. That's roughly 163 million people who go through cycles of obsessions – unwanted intrusive thoughts, images or urges – and compulsions, or 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 these are often symptoms of OCD, but they're not the only ways it manifests – and there's still a lot of basics we have yet to understand. That's why Carolyn looks to include more populations in research and find new ways to treat OCD.

    Questions about the brain? Email us at shortwave@npr.org – we'd love to hear your ideas!

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    14 mins
  • Harnessing The Ghost Particles Blasting Through You

    Harnessing The Ghost Particles Blasting Through You
    Sep 24 2024
    At the beginning of the universe, annihilation reigned supreme. Equal amounts of matter and antimatter collided. There should have been nothing left. And, yet, here we all are. Matter won out. The question is: why? Scientists are probing the mysteries of a ghostly subatomic particle for answers. To do it, they'll need to shoot a beam of them 800 miles underground.

    Interested in more mysteries of the universe? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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    12 mins
  • Solving The EV Battery Recycling Puzzle

    Solving The EV Battery Recycling Puzzle
    Sep 23 2024
    Electric vehicle batteries will all, eventually, reach the end of their lives. When that happens, they should be recycled. But what breakthroughs could make that happen cleanly, efficiently — and close to home? Today, business correspondent Camila Domonoske takes us on a tour of one company trying to crack the EV battery recycling puzzle — to learn what this case study can tell us about the larger battery picture. Plus, why recycling is kind of like wresting with Lego bricks.

    Read more of Camila's reporting on EV battery recycling.

    Have a specific science story you want us to dig into? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might cover your idea on a future episode!

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    14 mins