Time is a concept so central to our daily lives. Yet, the closer scientists look at it, the more it seems to fall apart. Time ticks by differently at sea level than it does on a mountaintop. The universe's expansion slows time's passage. "And some scientists think time might not even be 'real' — or at least not fundamental," says NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel . In this encore episode, Geoff joins Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber to bend our brains with his learnings ...
Jan 15, 2024•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you work at home or in an office, you might spend a lot of your day sitting down and staring at a computer screen. That can have lots of negative effects – but it's hard to carve out significant time in the day to counteract that. Our friends at NPR's TED Radio Hour wanted to know if small, frequent movement breaks might do the trick instead. Along with Columbia University Medical Center, they conducted a study of over 20,000 listeners and asked them to incorporate these movement breaks into ...
Jan 13, 2024•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since they were discovered in 2019, strange, glowing circles of light in space have mystified researchers. Now called odd radio circles, or ORCs, these rings of light sit in the radio portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. They pulse out of the centers of some galaxies – and until now, no one knew why. In this episode, host Regina G. Barber talks to Alison Coil , a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California San Diego, about her latest research. They break down what ORC...
Jan 12, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Human beings are hardwired for social connection – so much so that we think of even the most basic objects as having feelings or experiences. (Yup, we're talking to you, Roomba owners!) Social robots add a layer to this. They're designed to make us feel like they're our friends. They can do things like care for children, the elderly or act as partners. But there's a darker side to them, too. They may encourage us to opt out of authentic, real-life connections, making us feel more isolated. Today...
Jan 10, 2024•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast A winter storm brought heavy rain and snow to parts of the East Coast this weekend, which got us thinking about snowflakes. Those intricate, whimsical crystals are a staple of magical wintry scenes, but how big can they really get? Well, according to the Guinness World Record keepers, the " largest snowflake " ever recorded was a whopping 15 inches in diameter. It was spotted near Missoula, Montana in 1887. But Kenneth Libbrecht , a physicist at Caltech, has long been skeptical of that record. S...
Jan 08, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The winter is usually when insects die or go into a state of paused development, but for tiny specks on the white snow called snow flies, it's time to run around, find a lover and make baby snow flies. Neuroscientist John Tuthill has been studying these creatures since he first came across them in 2016. He's found that not only can they survive in the cold, but if one of their limbs starts to freeze, they can self-amputate and pop it right off. That buys the snow fly time to find a mate and make...
Jan 05, 2024•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast In celebration of our 1000th episode, we're wrapping our heads around big numbers. Educational neuroscientist Elizabeth Toomarian talks about why humans' evolutionarily-old brains are so bad at comprehending large quantities–like the national debt and the size of the universe–and how to better equip ourselves to understand important issues like our finances and the impacts of climate change. Interested in other ways our brains make sense of the world? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more a...
Jan 03, 2024•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ever gotten a scarlet, hot face after drinking? Or know someone who has? Many people felt it as they ring in the New Year with champagne toasts. That's because this condition, commonly called "Asian flush" or "Asian glow," affects an estimated half a BILLION people, who can't break down aldehyde toxins that build up in their bodies. But what if there's a benefit to having Asian glow? Katie Wu , a staff writer for The Atlantic , has looked into the research a theory as to why the condition might ...
Jan 01, 2024•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast 2023 was filled with scientific innovation, exploration and new discoveries. A few of the biggest threads we saw unraveling this year came from the James Webb Space Telescope, the changing climate and artificial intelligence. Today, host Regina G. Barber wraps up these three areas of science news with the help of correspondent Geoff Brumfiel and All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro. Got more science news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. Listen to Short Wave on Spotify , Apple Podcasts and Googl...
Dec 29, 2023•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast As 2023 comes to a close, Short Wave teamed up with our friends at All Things Considered to round up some of our favorite stories of the year — this time, about the science behind music. First, science correspondent Rob Stein talks to researchers (and Phish's Mike Gordon) about what happens to our brains on music . Then, All Things Considered host Juana Summers and investigations correspondent Sacha Pfeiffer share a study about why lead singers, like Jeff Beck, have gotten quieter over the years...
Dec 28, 2023•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are people ever satisfied? Two social psychologists, Ethan Ludwin-Peery and Adam Mastroianni , fell down a research rabbit hole accidentally answering a version of this very question. After conducting several studies, the pair found that when asked how things could be different, people tend to give one kind of answer, regardless of how the question is asked or how good life felt when they were asked. Short Wave 's Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber digs into the research—and how it might re...
Dec 27, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Would you survive as a doctor in The Sims 4 ? What's an appropriate amount of free food to take from a public sample station before it's greedy? And how much do clock towers affect sleep? These are the types of questions answered in the Christmas issue of The BMJ — one of the journal's most highly anticipated issues each year. And we find out the answers in this very episode. So, sit back, relax and prepare to be amused by this ghost of Christmas Past (encore). Check out what's been published so...
Dec 25, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast LED light bulbs are the future. They're better for the environment and the pocket book. But for some people, certain LEDs lights — particularly holiday lights—are also a problem. They flicker in a way that causes headaches, nausea and other discomfort. Today, we visit the "Flicker Queen" to learn why LEDs flicker — and what you can do about it. Wondering about other quirks of lighting and engineering? Email us at shortwave@npr.org – we might cover it on a future episode! Learn more about sponsor...
Dec 22, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Millions of people in the U.S. are bird watchers. But a couple of years ago a satirical conspiracy theory gained popularity because of an absurd claim: That those birds were also watching people. Now, rather than being the stuff of internet memes, some engineers are, in fact, trying to reverse engineer how birds fly to eventually take what they learn to create more efficient bird-like drones. Today on the show, host Regina G. Barber talks to reporter Anil Oza about how scientists are using real ...
Dec 21, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the first time in its history, the United Nations climate conference concluded with a call to transition away from fossil fuels. But not all of the nearly 200 countries present at the meeting, known as COP28, were happy with the final agreement. Critics of the agreement had instead called for a clear path towards phasing out fossil fuels and pointed out a "litany of loopholes" in the final text. This episode, we look at the tensions and breakthroughs of the conference — and how far behind we...
Dec 20, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Does thinking about the trajectory of the climate make you have a panic spiral? If so, we have the perfect podcast for you: The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast from NPR member station KCRW. The whole conceit of the show is to move away from climate anxiety and into incremental ways you can better the planet. Today, Caleigh Wells, one of the hosts of the show, helps Regina do just that by talking through some quick tips for being greener this holiday season and then walking through how to compost year...
Dec 18, 2023•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast A team of conservation biologists from Italy recently found that current emoji options are sorely lacking when it comes to life outside of vertebrates in the animal kingdom. Sure, there are multiple dog and cat options to choose from. But when it comes to fungi, for example, the choices are limited ... to one. The study was published this week in the journal iScience argues that our emoji lexicon is in dire need of some biodiversity – which could have a real impact on the way people communicate ...
Dec 15, 2023•9 min•Ep 993•Transcript available on Metacast Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used throughout the world to predict the future. Banks use it to predict whether customers will pay back a loan, hospitals use it to predict which patients are at greatest risk of disease and auto insurance companies use it determine rates by predicting how likely a customer is to get in an accident. But issues like data leakage and sampling bias can cause AI to give faulty predictions, to sometimes disastrous effects. That's what we get into today: ...
Dec 14, 2023•14 min•Ep 992•Transcript available on Metacast Malls are designed to overwhelm our brains. Add the stress of holiday shopping, and a quick trip to pick up presents could turn into an hours-long shopping spree thanks to all the ways stores use research from fields like consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing to entice you. Retailers create urgency and scarcity to push you to give into the emotional part of your brain, motivated by the release of dopamine. But we've got your back! With the help of NPR business correspondent Alina Selyukh , we...
Dec 13, 2023•14 min•Ep 991•Transcript available on Metacast Glaciers like the ones in Greenland are melting due to climate change, causing global sea levels to rise. That we know. But these glaciers are also moving. What we don't know is just how these two processes – melting and movement – interact and ultimately impact how quickly sea levels will rise. This encore episode, Jessica Mejía , a postdoctoral researcher in glaciology at the University of Buffalo, explains what it's like to live on a glacier for a month and what her research could mean for co...
Dec 11, 2023•14 min•Ep 990•Transcript available on Metacast The U.S. is in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. And for a lot of people, the feeling is even more pronounced during the holidays. In addition to its emotional impact, chronic loneliness and social isolation have some dramatic health consequences: increased risk of heart disease and stroke, infections, cancer, even premature death. Recent research also suggests that loneliness can change the way people process the world. So today on the show, host Regina G. Barber talks to Rachel Carlson about...
Dec 08, 2023•15 min•Ep 989•Transcript available on Metacast Soon after the sun sets on winter nights, if you live in the northern hemisphere you can look into the sky and find the Orion constellation near the eastern horizon. Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance has always been drawn to a particular star in Orion: Betelgeuse, a red supergiant nearing the end of it's life on the hunter's left shoulder. But what stages of life did Betelgeuse — or any star — go through before it reached this moment? Regina G. Barber talks to Sarafina about three winter co...
Dec 06, 2023•15 min•Ep 988•Transcript available on Metacast It's easy to overlook the soil beneath our feet, or to think of it as just dirt to be cleaned up. But soil wraps the world in an envelope of life: It grows our food, regulates the climate and makes the planet habitable. "What stands between life and lifelessness on our planet Earth is this thin layer of soil that exists on the Earth's surface," says Asmeret Asefaw Berhe , a soil scientist at the University of California-Merced. In honor of World Soil Day tomorrow, we're revisiting our conversati...
Dec 04, 2023•12 min•Ep 987•Transcript available on Metacast Sleep. It's an essential biological function that has long intrigued scientists. Researchers have studied everything from mice to fruit flies in the lab to get a better understanding of what happens when animals sleep — and why so many do it. This week, scientists finally added one piece to the elusive sleep puzzle: How wild chinstrap penguins sleep amid their noisy colony. Turns out, they do it over 10,000 times in seconds-long bursts throughout the day — totaling 11 hours when all is said and ...
Dec 01, 2023•10 min•Ep 986•Transcript available on Metacast In which we meet the pioneers of one of the most exciting — and controversial — fields of biomedical research: in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG . The goal of IVG is to make unlimited supplies of what Hayashi calls "artificial" eggs and sperm from any cell in the human body. That could let anyone — older, infertile, single, gay, trans — have their own genetically related babies. As such, the field opens up a slew of ethical concerns. But that isn't stopping researchers from pressing forward. So, th...
Nov 29, 2023•15 min•Ep 985•Transcript available on Metacast As kids, some of us dream of multiple careers: being an astronaut AND the next president. Or digging up dinosaurs AND selling out concert stadiums. As we get older, there's pressure to pick one path. But what if we didn't have to? After all, John Urschel didn't. He's a mathematician and professor at MIT. But before that, he played football for the Baltimore Ravens. Today on the show, Monday night football! Host Regina G. Barber talks to Urschel about linear algebra and following his dream of bec...
Nov 27, 2023•15 min•Ep 984•Transcript available on Metacast Walking into Karen Chin's office at the University of Colorado, Boulder, one of the first things you might notice is that petrified poops are everywhere. They're in shallow boxes covering every surface and filling up shelves, cabinets and drawers. She's a leading expert in the fossils, known as coprolites. They delight her because of what they reveal about the ancient eating habits and food webs of dinosaurs — rare insights for the paleontology world. This episode, she talks with Short Wave co-h...
Nov 24, 2023•14 min•Ep 983•Transcript available on Metacast Turkey is the usual centerpiece of the Thanksgiving dinner, but it's all too easy to end up with a dry, tough, flavorless bird. For NPR science correspondent Maria Godoy , it got so bad that several years ago, her family decided to abandon the turkey tradition altogether. Can science help her make a better bird this year? That's what she hopes as she seeks expert advice from food science writers and cookbook authors Nik Sharma and Kenji López-Alt . Want to know what other delectable food secrets...
Nov 22, 2023•13 min•Ep 982•Transcript available on Metacast Every five years, the United States government releases the National Climate Assessment, a comprehensive analysis of how climate change is affecting the country. The fifth assessment was recently released. It's the first to include includes standalone chapters about climate change's toll on the U.S. economy, as well as the complex social factors driving climate change and the nation's responses. Climate reporters Rebecca Hersher and Alejandra Borunda walk us through three major takeaways from th...
Nov 20, 2023•13 min•Ep 981•Transcript available on Metacast How much salt is too much salt? Most likely, the amount you're consuming. A new study published this week in the journal JAMA found that cutting one teaspoon of salt a day results in a decline in blood pressure comparable to taking medication. Plus, other science news from this week, like the oldest confirmed black hole and how climate change and pollution are causing a big imbalance in the sexes of turtles. Got other science news for us to consider? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more ab...
Nov 17, 2023•9 min•Ep 980•Transcript available on Metacast 
