On the mountaintop glaciers of the Pacific Northwest lives a mysterious, and often, overlooked creature. They're small, thread-like worms that wiggle through snow and ice. That's right, ice worms! NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce talks to Emily about how they survive in an extreme environment and why scientists don't understand some of the most basic facts about them. For more of Nell's reporting, you can follow her on Twitter @nell_sci_NPR . You can follow Emily @emilykwong1234 . ...
Jul 12, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Summer's here. Time for a cool treat. So, you grab a popsicle from the freezer. Ahh ... that's better. Until, out of nowhere, a sharp sudden pain rushes to your forehead. You've got brain freeze! We talk with neuroscientist Caroline Palavicino-Maggio about the science behind these short-lived cold-induced headaches. Plus, some listener mail. What are your daily science curiosities? Email the show at shortwave@npr.org ....
Jul 09, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast FEMA acknowledges that the way it distributes aid often benefits some people more than others--and those who receive less aid are those people with the fewest resources to begin with. Rhitu Chatterjee talks with NPR climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher about her investigation into FEMA and why the federal government's response to disasters may disproportionately hurt people of color and their communities. Read more of Rebecca's reporting in " Why FEMA Aid Is Unavailable To Many Who Need It The ...
Jul 08, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast People between the ages of 12 and 17 are now eligible to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and health officials expect this age group will soon be able to receive the Moderna one. So, health reporter Pien Huang and Short Wave producer Rebecca Ramirez talked to teens about their questions about the vaccine and what a strange year the pandemic has been for them. Do you have questions about the coronavirus and the pandemic? Email shortwave@npr.org ....
Jul 07, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast With the help of ecologist Rodrigo Medellín , the "Bat Man of Mexico," Rasha Aridi (former Short Waver) presents the case for why bats are the best and coolest flying creatures out there! Are you a scientist who thinks Rodrigo is wrong and that the animal you study is superior? Let us know! You can email us at shortwave@npr.org . We'd love to hear the case for your critter....
Jul 05, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast (Encore episode) The 2016 movie Arrival , an adaptation of Ted Chiang's novella Story of Your Life , captured the imaginations of science fiction fans worldwide. Field linguist Jessica Coon, who consulted on the film, breaks down what the movie gets right — and wrong — about linguistics.
Jul 02, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast When a disaster like a hurricane or wildfire destroys a house, the clock starts ticking. It gets harder for sick people to take their medications, medical devices may stop working without electricity, excessive temperatures, mold, or other factors may threaten someone's health. Every day without stable shelter puts people in danger. The federal government is supposed to help prevent that cascade of problems, but an NPR investigation finds that the people who need help the most are often less lik...
Jul 01, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast A recent study published in Nature found that 37 percent of heat-related deaths are due to climate change. Dr. Renee Salas is seeing this in the emergency room of Massachusetts General Hospital. She's treating more and more patients for heat-related illnesses like heat stroke and intensified allergies. Today, she gives us a view into her work at the intersection of human health and climate change; plus, she envisions a new health care system that takes climate change into account. To read more o...
Jun 30, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a kid, Ariana Remmel had a hard time figuring out where they fit in. So they found comfort in the certainty and understanding of what the world was made of: atoms and molecules and the periodic table of elements. Years later, they went on to become a chemist and science writer. On today's show, Ari talks with host Maddie Sofia about how chemistry has helped them embrace their mixed identities. For more, read Ari's recent essay in Catapult Magazine: 'Organic Chemistry Taught Me to Fully Inhabi...
Jun 29, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Early in the pandemic, contact tracing was viewed as one of the best options to quell the spread of coronavirus infections. The idea was to have public health workers track down people who tested positive, figure out whom they'd been in touch with and quickly get those people to quarantine. Places like Hong Kong and Singapore made headlines for their success stories. The U.S. aimed to replicate this, but came up short. Today, health reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin explains what went awry and the ...
Jun 28, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast The FDA has approved a new drug for Alzheimer's. But a lot of experts are skeptical about whether the drug works. Rhitu Chatterjee talks with science correspondent Jon Hamilton about the controversial drug aducanumab and why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it. For more of Jon's reporting, read " For Those Facing Alzheimer's, A Controversial Drug Offers Hope ." You can email Short Wave at ShortWave@NPR.org ....
Jun 25, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast The past year has been the driest or second driest in most Southwestern U.S. states since record-keeping began in 1895. Climate Correspondent Lauren Sommer reports that farms and cities have begun imposing water restrictions, but the water supply will shrink no matter what the weather brings. The supply spans tens of millions of people and the farmland that produces most of the country's fruits and vegetables. As a result, the people who manage the West's complex water systems are realizing that...
Jun 24, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tam O'Shaughnessy and Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, shared a passion for getting girls involved in STEM. It led them to co-found Sally Ride Science, a company focused on equity and inclusion in science education. But, there was much more to Tam and Sally's relationship. Tam gives us an intimate look at their decades-long partnership: how they met and fell in love, the pressures they faced as a queer couple, and their long-awaited and public coming out with Sally's death i...
Jun 23, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Health Correspondent Allison Aubrey updates us on the Biden Administration's goal to have 70 percent of U.S. adults vaccinated by the July 4. Plus, as vaccine makers plan for the possibility that COVID-19 vaccine boosters will be needed, they're pushing ahead with research into new-generation flu shots and mRNA cancer vaccines. Questions? Existential dread? Optimism? We'd love to hear it — write us at shortwave@npr.org ....
Jun 22, 2021•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The anus is an evolutionary marvel. But how and when did this organ evolve into what it is today? Today on Short Wave, Maddie gets to the bottom of these questions with The Atlantic's science writer Katherine Wu . For more of Katherine's reporting, check out 'The Body's Most Embarrassing Organ Is an Evolutionary Marvel' from The Atlantic. If you have stories ideas or comments — email us at ShortWave@NPR.org ....
Jun 21, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nearly 1 billion people speak Mandarin Chinese. But Short Wave host Emily Kwong is not among them. As a third generation Chinese American, Emily's heritage language was lost through the years when her father, Christopher Kwong, stopped speaking the language at a young age in order to adjust to life in the U.S. Now, at age 30, Emily's trying to reclaim Chinese by attending virtual Mandarin classes for the first time. In conversation with her father, Emily explores how being 'Chinese enough' gets ...
Jun 20, 2021•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey, Nerd! NPR takes Juneteenth off. We'll be back Sunday with a special episode from NPR's Where We Come From series. It focuses on Emily Kwong's relationship to her heritage language and journey to learn Mandarin as an adult.
Jun 18, 2021•33 sec•Transcript available on Metacast #BlackBirdersWeek emerged last year from a groundswell of support for Christian Cooper, a Black man and avid birder, who was harassed by a white woman while birding in Central Park. This year is all about celebrating Black joy. Co-organizer Deja Perkins talks about how the week went and why it's important to observe nature wherever you live. Send us your birding highlights! We're at shortwave@npr.org ....
Jun 17, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Becoming fluent in a second language is difficult. But for adults, is it impossible? Short Wave hosts Maddie Sofia and Emily Kwong dissect the "critical period hypothesis," a theory which linguists have been debating for decades — with the help of Sarah Frances Phillips , a Ph.D. student in the linguistics department at New York University. You can watch a related video about Emily learning Mandarin here . It's part of the Where We Come From series ....
Jun 16, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Maddie talks with physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein about her new book, The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred . In the episode, we talk quarks (one of the building blocks of the universe), intersectionality and access to the night sky as a fundamental right.
Jun 15, 2021•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast It is one of the Earth's great migrations : each year, millions of monarch butterflies fly some 3,000 miles , from their summer breeding grounds as far north as Canada to their overwintering sites in the central Mexico. It's one of the best-studied migrations and in recent years, ecologists like Sonia Altizer have been able to better answer how and why these intrepid butterflies make the journey. Short Wave brings this episode from the TED Radio Hour's episode with Sonia Altizer , with the Unive...
Jun 14, 2021•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast After hearing a vicious rumor on the internet that vegetables aren't real, Maddie goes looking for answers. Turns out, vegetables are a mere culinary construct. Still healthful and delicious, but a kinda mythic category of food. With the help of Harvard botanist Molly Edwards , Maddie and Emily break down our favorite foods from broccoli to zucchini. Take our survey ! Tell us what you love and what you would love to see more of — on our show, and also other NPR podcasts. Email the show at shortw...
Jun 11, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast (Encore episode.) Scientists have known for decades that one of the main causes of the smell of fresh rain is geosmin: a chemical compound produced by soil-dwelling bacteria. But why do the bacteria make it in the first place? Reporter Emily Vaughn answers this mystery. Read the paper on which this episode was based. Take our survey ! Tell us what you love and what you would love to see more of — on our show, and also other NPR podcasts. Other scent mysteries driving your nose wild? Email the sh...
Jun 10, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Biden Administration is working to fight climate change in a way that also address the country's economic and racial disparities. Emily talks with NPR correspondent Dan Charles about why the ground work for a climate justice plan could be laid in the city of Cleveland. For more of Dan's reporting, follow him on Twitter @NPRDanCharles . You can email Short Wave at ShortWave@npr.org ....
Jun 09, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nationwide, almost 65% of adults have had at least one vaccine shot, but vaccination rates vary significantly depending on the state. NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey gives us the latest on the country's vaccination progress: which states are on track (and which are not), new research about why it's important teenagers get vaccinated, and what we know about the possibility of booster shots.
Jun 08, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Paleontologist Yara Haridy looks at fossilized bones for a living. When she randomly walked by a scientific poster one day, she discovered an entirely new way to take pictures of her fossils. The results are shedding new light on how bones evolved.
Jun 07, 2021•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast There's big change that's happening in the field of artificial limbs: artificial limbs that both move — and feel. NPR correspondent Jon Hamilton explains why touch is so important for people who are trying to control a state-of-the art robotic arm or a prosthetic limb.
Jun 04, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Short Wave reporter Emily Kwong speaks with Janina Jeff, the host and executive producer of In Those Genes , a "science and culture podcast that uses genetics to decode the lost histories of African descendants." They discuss what a person's genetic ancestry test does and does not reveal, and the complicated intersection of genetics, history and race.
Jun 03, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Researchers say the concept of achieving herd immunity threshold isn't the right finish line to end the pandemic. It's an elusive number to define in the first place, and it changes under various circumstances. Science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel talks with Maddie about the complexities in even defining the number and what the public should focus on instead.
Jun 02, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Pride, Short Wave Listeners! Here's a fun episode from our archives to celebrate the month! It's another "Back To School" episode where we take a concept you were maybe taught in school as a kid, but didn't really learn or just forgot. Short Wave producer Thomas Lu and host Maddie Sofia go on a journey to explore what a rainbow exactly is and how we see them! We all remember ROY G BIV, right? Email us your Back-To-School ideas at shortwave@npr.org ....
Jun 01, 2021•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
