Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know…and then keeps on going. The Unexplainable team — Noam Hassenfeld, Julia Longoria, Byrd Pinkerton, and Meradith Hoddinott — tackles scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn diving into the unknown. New episodes Mondays and Wednesdays.
From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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Dark energy is the strange stuff that makes up the vast majority of the universe and will ultimately lead to the end of everything. Unless it doesn't exist at all. Guests: Adam Riess , astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, and Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille , director of the Physics Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and member of The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go t...
Much of our modern world is made of plastic, but as more signs point to its dangers to human health, what can we even do about it? Guest: Annie Lowrey, Atlantic writer and author of I fought plastic. Plastic won . For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox...
Towering walls of water sometimes appear in the ocean without warning or apparent cause. What drives their terrifying power? (First published in 2023) Guest: Ton van der Bremer , associate professor of environmental fluid mechanics. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes...
Good news can be hard to find, especially when our brains — and the media — are biased against it. Guest: Bryan Walsh , senior editorial director of Vox, and author of the Good News newsletter This episode was made in partnership with Vox’s Future Perfect team. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplaina...
If you went back 500 million years and re-ran evolution, would life be totally different today? Guests: Richard Lenski and Zachary Blount , evolutionary biologists at Michigan State University For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox...
It's easy to assume there is objective truth in basketball stats. A clear story of what happened in the past. But our friends at Pablo Torre Finds Out uncovered something that throws an entire era into question. Guest: Pablo Torre, host of Pablo Torre Finds Out For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-f...
Discover the immense promise of geothermal energy, beginning with a visit to Iceland's Blue Lagoon, a spa powered by a surprisingly clean geothermal plant. The discussion then delves into the challenges of extracting this limitless energy buried deep underground, from drilling difficulties and seismic concerns to the exciting potential of 'super hot rock' technology. Despite political hurdles, recent investments and unexpected advancements, partly driven by fracking technology, suggest geothermal could revolutionize our energy landscape, potentially creating a future free from energy scarcity, although its market competitiveness remains to be proven.
How does any animal know what to do? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on. (First published in 2022) Guest: Mark Blumberg , behavioral neuroscientist at the University of Iowa For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member...
We have a cure for tuberculosis. Why does it still kill over a million people every year? GUEST: John Green , podcaster, YouTube creator and award-winning author of Everything is Tuberculosis and many young adult novels This episode was made in partnership with Vox’s Future Perfect team. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Un...
Figuring out the perfect healthy diet remains stubbornly out of reach. Our friends at Gastropod ask: Why? Guests: Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, co-hosts of Gastropod For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Help us plan fo...
In coastal California, researchers grapple with potentially losing a landscape they love. Guests: Rebecca Johnson , Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science at the California Academy of Sciences; Peter Roopnarine , Curator of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology at the California Academy of Sciences For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com...
We love our pets. And think we understand them. Are we fooling ourselves? Guests: Alexandra Horowitz , dog cognition researcher at Barnard College; Holly Molinaro , animal welfare scientist; Jared Martin , filmmaker and dog owner For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by beco...
If pregnant people need to eat for two, why do so many of us puke morning, noon, and night? Guests: Marlena Fejzo, Ph.D., geneticist , and Research Director at the HER Foundation . For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Help us plan...
Our houses are homes to hidden worlds of bugs. And the more ecologists explore those worlds, the more they realize that some of our creepy, crawly housemates actually have a lot to teach us. (First published in 2023) Guests: Rob Dunn , ecologist at NC State University and author of Never Home Alone ; Michelle Trautwein , entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable...
Francis Collins oversaw some of the most revolutionary science of the last few decades at the National Institutes of Health. A few months ago, he suddenly resigned. One of America's foremost scientists could no longer do his job. What does that mean for the US? And for science? Guest: Francis Collins , former director of the NIH For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.c...
When bringing people to the edge of death is your day job. Guest: Adam Richman, perfusionist at the Mayo Clinic and Unexplainable listener. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Help us plan for the future of Unexplainable by filling out...
Many physicists dream of coming up with a unified theory of the universe. Rae Robertson-Anderson dreams of understanding ranch dressing, shampoo, and scrambled eggs. Guests: Rae Robertson-Anderson , a physics professor at the University of San Diego. (Find her TikToks at physics_mamma .) For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainabl...
If matter is a result of vibration, what causes the vibration? Our friends at The Gray Area ask, “Is the universe behaving like an instrument?” Guest: Stephon Alexander , theoretical physicist at Brown University For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/mem...
You’ll need your best friend, a computer in your shoe, and a working knowledge of physics. Guest: Doyne Farmer , Director of Complexity Economics at Oxford For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Help us plan for the future of Unexplainable by filling...
The answer isn’t as clear as you might think. And because of drastic cuts to climate science funding, this question might be getting even harder to solve. Guest: Umair Irfan , Vox climate science correspondent For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members H...
Florida just became the second state to ban fluoride from its water system, which has made some public health experts pretty angry. Just how risky is fluoride really, and why is it so hard for us to get on the same page? Guest: Emily Oster , professor of economics at Brown University and CEO of ParentData For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexpl...
Static electricity plays an invisible role in the natural world, and it may even help insects pollinate plants. To understand this hidden force, scientists have jumped through some pretty weird experimental hoops — and “walked” butterflies through literal hoops. Guests: Sam England , postdoctoral researcher at Berlin's National History Museum; Benji Jones , Vox's environmental correspondent To read more about this experiment, Benji recommends this great article from Quanta Magazine , where he fi...
Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. And its discovery has made scientists ask a surprising question: What is the mind’s eye even for? (First published in 2022.) Guests: Alice Coles , artist; Adam Zeman , cognitive neurologist at the University of Exeter Medical School; Joel Pearson , professor of neuroscience at the University of New South Wales; Emily Holmes , professor of psychology at Uppsala University For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, g...
Scavengers Reign, the Emmy-winning Netflix show, has done something most sci-fi shows or movies struggle to do. Build a world that feels truly alien. Guests: Joe Bennett , co-creator of Scavengers Reign, and Sean Buckelew , writer on Scavengers Reign For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becomi...
The magma chambers at the heart of volcanoes are very deep and very hot. So naturally, some researchers want to build an observatory in one. Guests: Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory ; Yan Lavallée, chair of magmatic petrology and volcanology at LMU München and scientific and technical board member of the Krafla Magma Testbed ; John Eichelberger, volcanologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and founding scientist of KMT For show transcripts, go to ...
Rumors of Neanderthal brutishness have been greatly exaggerated. Guest: Paige Madison , science writer For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members Help us plan for the future of Unexplainable by filling out a brief survey: voxmedia.com/survey . Thank you! Learn more a...
What happens when you get a life-changing device implanted into your body... and then the company that maintains it goes bankrupt? Guests: Jennifer French, Executive Director and Founder of Neurotech Network , a nonprofit focused on education and advocacy for neurotechnology, and Liam Drew , freelance science journalist who reported on abandoned neurotech for Nature For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexp...
Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year if hospitals had more blood. So scientists are racing to understand how this living fluid does what it does in order to one day grow it from scratch. Guest: Nicola Twilley , New Yorker contributor and host of Gastropod . For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member ...
We know life on Earth wouldn't be possible without the moon. Now scientists are finding the moon might even be influencing our biology on a molecular level. Guest: Rebecca Boyle , science journalist and author of Our Moon: How Earth's celestial companion transformed the planet, guided evolution, and made us who we are For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and ...
Listeners told us that eating baby carrots or telling lies can bring on the hiccups. Burping or kissing can make them stop. Um, what? (First published in 2023.) Guests: Tyler Cymet , chair of medicine at The Chicago School, and Ali Seifi , professor of neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainabl...
