This week's science news roundup reunites All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang with Short Wave hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber to dig into the latest headlines in biomedical research, also known as cool things for the human body. We talk new RSV vaccines, vaccination by sticker and a new device helping a man with paralysis walk again. Have questions about science in the news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Priva...
Jun 02, 2023•10 min•Ep 906•Transcript available on Metacast Ice in Antarctica is melting really quickly because of climate change. That's driving sea level rise around the world, and the water is rising especially fast in the seaside city of Galveston, Texas — thousands of miles from Antarctica. Why do Antarctica and Texas have this counterintuitive relationship? And what does it mean for a $34 billion effort to protect the city from hurricanes? Read more and see pictures and video from Antarctica here . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastc...
May 31, 2023•13 min•Ep 905•Transcript available on Metacast Mora Leeb was 9 months old when surgeons removed half her brain. Now 15, she plays soccer and tells jokes. Scientists say Mora is an extreme example of a process known as brain plasticity, which allows a brain to modify its connections to adapt to new circumstances. Read more of Jon's reporting. Science in your everyday got you puzzled? Overjoyed? We've love to hear it! Reach us by emailing shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Pol...
May 29, 2023•12 min•Ep 904•Transcript available on Metacast If you ask a physicist or cosmologist about the beginnings of the universe, they'll probably point you to some math and tell you about the Big Bang theory. It's a scientific theory about how the entire universe began, and it's been honed over the decades. But recent images from the James Webb Space Telescope have called the precise timeline of the theory a little bit into question. That's because these images reveal galaxies forming way earlier than was previously understood to be possible. To u...
May 26, 2023•12 min•Ep 903•Transcript available on Metacast In February 2021, pandemic restrictions were just starting to ease in Hawaii, and Leila Mirhaydari was finally able to see her kidney doctor. Transplanted organs need diligent care, and Leila had been looking after her donated kidney all on her own for a year. So a lot was riding on that first batch of lab results. "Immediately, all my levels were just out of whack and I knew that I was in rejection," she says. "I've had to work through a lot of emotional pain, of feeling like I failed my donor....
May 24, 2023•12 min•Ep 902•Transcript available on Metacast Kwasi Wrensford studies two related species: the Alpine chipmunk and the Lodgepole chipmunk. The two have very different ways of coping with climate change. In this episode, Kwasi explains to host Emily Kwong how these squirrelly critters typify two important evolutionary strategies, and why they could shed light on what's in store for other creatures all over the globe. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 22, 2023•12 min•Ep 901•Transcript available on Metacast This week for our science news roundup, superstar host of All Things Considered Ari Shapiro joins Short Wave hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber to discuss the joy and wonder found in all types of structures. The big. The small. The delicious. We ask if diapers can be repurposed to construct buildings, how single-celled organisms turned into multi-cellular ones and how to make the best gummy candy? Have questions about science in the news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about spon...
May 19, 2023•9 min•Ep 900•Transcript available on Metacast Race is a social construct — so why are DNA test kits like the ones from 23andMe coded like they reveal biological fact about the user's racial makeup? This episode, Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to anthropologist Agustín Fuentes about the limits of at-home genetic tests and how misinformation about race and biology can come into play. Using science at home to decode your life? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com...
May 17, 2023•13 min•Ep 899•Transcript available on Metacast The COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, but millions across the globe continue to deal with Long COVID. Researchers are still pursuing basic questions about Long COVID — its causes, how to test for it and how it progresses. Today, we look at a group of researchers studying the blood of some Long COVID patients in the hopes of finding a biomarker that could let physicians test for the disease. Questions? Thread of scientific research you're loving? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd lov...
May 15, 2023•13 min•Ep 898•Transcript available on Metacast There's a lot for scientists to learn about the origins of humans' musical abilities. In the last few years, though, they've discovered homo sapiens have some company in our ability to make musical rhythm. That's why today, producer Berly McCoy brings the story of singing lemurs. She explains how their harmonies could help answer questions about the beginnings of humans' musical abilities, and what all of this has to do with Queen. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adc...
May 12, 2023•12 min•Ep 897•Transcript available on Metacast This week, the American Psychological Association issued its first-of-kind guidelines for parents to increase protection for children online. It comes at a time of rising rates of depression and anxiety among teens. This episode, NPR science correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff looks into the data on how that seismic change has shifted the mental health of teenagers. In her reporting, she found that the seismic shift of smartphones and social media has re-defined how teens socialize, communicate an...
May 10, 2023•13 min•Ep 896•Transcript available on Metacast Today on the show, we meet a prosthetic designer and a neuroscientist fascinated with understanding how the brain and body might adapt to something we haven't had before — a third thumb. Dani Clode and Tamar Makin spoke to Short Wave in Washington D.C., at the 2023 annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 08, 2023•11 min•Ep 895•Transcript available on Metacast Another week comes by, and luckily so does our roundup of science news. This time, we've got some questions about better understanding our health: Why do some people get motion sickness from virtual reality (VR) content? Do we really need to walk 10,000 steps a day? And is there real science behind ice baths? This week, Sacha Pfeiffer , legendary reporter and occasional host of NPR's All Things Considered, who joins our hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber to demystify and (in some cases) debu...
May 05, 2023•10 min•Ep 894•Transcript available on Metacast A doctor's job is to help patients. With that help, often comes lots and lots of paperwork. That's where some startups are betting artificial intelligence may come in. The hope is that chatbots could generate data like treatment plans that would let doctors spend less time on paperwork and more time with their patients. But some academics warn biases and errors could hurt patients. Have a lead on AI in innovative spaces? Email us at shortwave@npr.org ! Learn more about sponsor message choices: p...
May 02, 2023•12 min•Ep 893•Transcript available on Metacast Today on the show, next-generation energy innovators Bill David and Serena Cussen challenged us to think about the future of clean energy storage. They spoke to Emily Kwong at the 2023 annual meeting for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington D.C. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 01, 2023•13 min•Ep 892•Transcript available on Metacast California's wet winter has devastated many local communities. It has also benefited some of the state's endangered ecosystems. Those benefits are on full display in California's largest remaining grassland. Wetlands, long severed from the rivers and streams that nourished them, are being flooded with freshwater. Biologists are seeing baby salmon, fattened by new food sources in flood plains, make their way to sea. Endangered birds and waterfowl are nesting next to flooded fields. Today, NPR cli...
Apr 28, 2023•15 min•Ep 891•Transcript available on Metacast In the toxic waters of Sulphur Cave in Steamboat Springs, Colo. live blood-red worm blobs that have attracted international scientific interest. We don special breathing gear and go into the cave with a team of researchers. There, we collect worms and marvel at the unique crystals and cave formations that earned Sulphur Cave a designation as a National Natural Landmark in 2021. Then we learn how extremophiles like these worms are helping scientists search for new antibiotics, medicines and even ...
Apr 26, 2023•15 min•Ep 890•Transcript available on Metacast It's our latest roundup of science news! This time, with Ailsa Chang of NPR's All Things Considered, who joins us to discuss three stories that take us on a journey through space — from the sounds of Earth's magnetosphere, to the moons of Jupiter, to a distant phenomenon NASA calls "an invisible monster on the loose, barreling through intergalactic space." Learn more about NASA's Harp Project here: https://listen.spacescience.org/ We love hearing what you're reading and what science is catching ...
Apr 24, 2023•12 min•Ep 889•Transcript available on Metacast In the Arctic Ocean, sea ice is shrinking as the climate heats up. In the Western U.S., wildfires are getting increasingly destructive. Those two phenomena are thousands of miles apart, but scientists are uncovering a surprising connection. The ice is connected to weather patterns that reach far across North America. And as the climate keeps changing and sea ice shrinks, Western states could be seeing more extreme weather, the kind that fuels extreme wildfires. Check out the full series about ho...
Apr 21, 2023•12 min•Ep 888•Transcript available on Metacast Melting glaciers are leaving behind large, unstable lakes that can cause dangerous flash floods. Millions of people downstream are threatened. In today's episode, NPR Climate Desk reporter Rebecca Hersher and producer Ryan Kellman take Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong to a community high in the mountains of Nepal where residents are on the front lines of this new climate threat, and explains how scientists are looking for solutions that can save lives around the world. Check out the full series ab...
Apr 19, 2023•15 min•Ep 887•Transcript available on Metacast Endangered North Atlantic right whales are disappearing from their native waters, a serious danger for a species with only 340 animals left. The mystery behind this change took NPR's climate reporter Lauren Sommer 2,000 miles away to the world's second-largest ice sheet, sitting on top of Greenland. On today's episode, Lauren takes Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong on an expedition to Greenland's ice sheet and then to the Gulf of Maine to break down the ripple effects of climate change. Reach the s...
Apr 17, 2023•13 min•Ep 886•Transcript available on Metacast This week, New York City crowned Kathleen Corradi its first rat czar. The new position is part of a multipronged approach from city officials. Reporter and New Yorker Anil Oza called up rodentologists to understand — does their approach withstand the test of scientific research? We love hearing your musings and questions about the science in your everyday life. Reach us by emailing shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Apr 14, 2023•14 min•Ep 885•Transcript available on Metacast When Tove Danovich decided to dabble in backyard chicken keeping, she embraced a tried and true journalistic practice — reading everything there is to find on the subject. In her search, she found plenty of how-to guides, but what she really wanted was to know more about the science. She wanted to understand their evolution and unique relationship with humans. "As I was reading more and as I was wanting this book that increasingly it seemed like it it just didn't exist. I wound up writing it ins...
Apr 12, 2023•13 min•Ep 884•Transcript available on Metacast In 1957, the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik , the first artificial satellite. Since then, the number of objects humans have hurled toward the stars has soared to the thousands. As those objects have collided with one another, they've created more space debris in Earth's orbit. According to some estimates , all of that debris and human-made space trash, the number of objects — from satellites to screws — could be in the millions. In this iteration of our AAAS live show series, Short W...
Apr 10, 2023•13 min•Ep 883•Transcript available on Metacast In this Friday round up of science news we can't let go, not everything is as it seems. Meatballs are not made of fresh meat from the cattle range. Robots are keeping something from you. And plants have secrets they keep out of your earshot. It's deceptive science, Short Wave -style. We love hearing what you're reading and what science is catching your eye! Reach the show by emailing shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Apr 07, 2023•14 min•Ep 882•Transcript available on Metacast Katie Wu is a bona fide cat person. She has two of them: twin boys named Calvin and Hobbes. Every night, they curl up in bed with her, bonking their little noses together, rubbing their fur and whiskers everywhere, and leaving behind inevitable cat residue. It's certifiably cute ... and a little bit gross. It's also the worst nightmare for the cat-allergic. Which, just shy of a decade ago, Katie was. In a stroke of luck, Katie's debilitating cat allergy disappeared. The reasons for her immune ov...
Apr 05, 2023•14 min•Ep 881•Transcript available on Metacast The phenomenon of zoonotic spillover — of viruses jumping from animals to people — is incredibly common. The question is: which one will start the next pandemic? NPR science desk correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff brings us her reporting on Influenza D, an emerging virus spreading among cows and other livestock in the United States. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
Apr 03, 2023•14 min•Ep 880•Transcript available on Metacast Today, most climate science is done with satellites, sensors and complicated computer models. But it all started with a pioneering female physicist and two glass tubes. Eunice Foote, the woman behind that glass tube experiment, has largely been left out of the history books. Until about 10 years ago, John Tyndall was seen as the grandfather of climate science for setting the foundation for the understanding of the greenhouse gas effect. But Eunice's experiment, done three years prior, showed tha...
Mar 31, 2023•12 min•Ep 879•Transcript available on Metacast To really understand the human brain, scientists say you'd have to map its wiring. The only problem: there are more than 100 trillion different connections to find, trace and characterize. But a team of scientists has made a big stride toward this goal, a complete wiring diagram of a teeny, tiny brain: the fruit fly larva. With a full map, or connectome, of the larval fruit fly brain, scientists can start to understand how behaviors shape, and are shaped by, the specific wiring of neural circuit...
Mar 29, 2023•11 min•Ep 878•Transcript available on Metacast Rice is arguably the world's most important staple crop. About half of the global population depends on it for sustenance. But, like other staples such as wheat and corn, rice is cultivated annually. That means replanting the fields year after year, at huge cost to both the farmers and the land. For years, scientists have been tinkering with rice strains to create a perennial variety – one that would regrow after harvest without the need to be resown. Today, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barb...
Mar 27, 2023•13 min•Ep 877•Transcript available on Metacast 
