For blind and low vision adults, the ability to read braille can be life-changing. Braille literacy is directly linked to higher rates of academic success and better employment outcomes for them. But there's a problem. The U.S. is facing a national shortage of qualified braille teachers and there's a lack of scientific research around braille overall. An interdisciplinary team led by linguist Robert Englebretson wants to change that. Read some of the team's work here: - Englebretson R, Holbrook ...
Aug 19, 2024•13 min•Ep 1115•Transcript available on Metacast Some weapons used by the United States military are so powerful, they can pose a threat to the people who fire them — even in training. When weapons are fired, an invisible blast wave travels through the brains of anyone nearby. Exposure to lots of these blasts over time — even low level ones — has been shown to cause brain health problems for service members. If you liked this episode, consider checking out some more episodes on the brain, including its waste system , face blindness and the neu...
Aug 16, 2024•13 min•Ep 1114•Transcript available on Metacast Over the next week, forecasts project extreme heat across much of the South, Midwest and parts of the West. So, this episode, health correspondent Pien Huang helps us take heat training cues from Olympians, many of whom spent weeks preparing for a sweltering Paris Olympics, by training in the heat to get their bodies used to hot, humid weather. But heat training is not just for competitive athletes. It's recommended for people in the military and those who work outdoors in hot weather — and it c...
Aug 14, 2024•12 min•Ep 1113•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we're bringing you the final installment of our space summer series ... with the end ... of EVERYTHING. Will the universe end in a huge cosmic unraveling? A slow and lonely dissolution? Or a quantum-level transition that breaks the laws of physics? Theoretical astrophysicist Katie Mack breaks down three possible scenarios for how the universe as we know it will finally come to an end. To celebrate the end of our Space Camp series, we also made a QUIZ! Check it out at npr.org/spacecamp . Q...
Aug 13, 2024•13 min•Ep 1112•Transcript available on Metacast Grizzly bears in the contiguous United States have been taken off — then put back on — the endangered species list twice since they were first labeled as threatened almost 50 years ago. Now, the issue is on the table again. Today, we get into the complicated science behind grizzly recovery, how humans have sliced up their habitat and what it will take to stitch that habitat back together again. Interested in more charismatic megafauna? Email shortwave@npr.org . We've love to consider covering yo...
Aug 12, 2024•13 min•Ep 1111•Transcript available on Metacast We at Short Wave have been following all things Olympics, from the medals and new records to the ugly accusations that two women boxers aren't really women. Last year, the boxers failed gender tests, according to the International Boxing Association. The IBA claims the women have a "hormonal imbalance" that gives them women an unfair advantage. The International Olympic Committee has condemned these claims and defended the boxers' right to compete in the women's category. But this Olympics is fa...
Aug 10, 2024•14 min•Ep 1110•Transcript available on Metacast How do you study unmapped areas of the ocean and identify critical habitat for an endangered species? You include the study animal in the scientific process! Researchers from the University of Adelaide fitted endangered Australian sea lions with cameras and tracking devices to better understand where they spent their time. The information could help scientists protect critical sea lion habitat and could give researchers a new tool for mapping the ocean. Interested in more underwater science? Ema...
Aug 09, 2024•9 min•Ep 1109•Transcript available on Metacast In the last week, we've seen swimmers diving headfirst into the 2024 Paris Olympics pool, limbs gracefully slicing through the water. And yet, world and Olympic records weren't broken at quite the rate some expected, leading many on social media to speculate: Was the pool the culprit? With the help of NPR correspondents Bill Chappell and Brian Mann, we investigate. Read Bill Chappell's full story about this here . Want us to cover the science behind more Olympic sports? Email us at shortwave@npr...
Aug 07, 2024•12 min•Ep 1108•Transcript available on Metacast The Big Bang: The moment when our universe — everything in existence — began....Right? Turns out, it's not quite that simple. Today, when scientists talk about the Big Bang, they mean a period of time – closer to an era than to a specific moment. Host Regina Barber talks with two cosmologists about the cosmic microwave background, its implications for the universe's origins and the discovery that started it all. Interested in more space science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about s...
Aug 06, 2024•14 min•Ep 1107•Transcript available on Metacast Rates of depression and anxiety have risen among teens over the last decade. Amid this ongoing mental health crisis, the American Psychological Association issued guidelines for parents to increase protection for teens online. In this encore episode, NPR science correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff looks into the data on how that change has impacted 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, ...
Aug 05, 2024•13 min•Ep 1106•Transcript available on Metacast Another Olympics, another set of stellar performances by the U.S. women's artistic gymnastics team. Thursday, the team won two medals in the women's all-around final: a gold for Simone Biles and a bronze for Sunisa Lee. The medals add to the team's overall count, which also includes a gold for the women's team final. Simone and Suni are expected to lead the team to more medals in the coming days. Each day the gymnasts compete, we are left to pick our jaws off the floor and wonder: How do they do...
Aug 02, 2024•13 min•Ep 1105•Transcript available on Metacast The Rubik's Cube was created 50 years ago by Hungarian inventor Ernő Rubik. Since then, over 500 million of them have been sold. We dive into this global phenomenon that's captured the imagination of countless people around the world and inspired all kinds of competitions — even solving with your feet! But no matter the cube, the process of solving one involves math — specifically, algorithms. Roman Chavez loved Rubik's Cubes so much, he founded the Jr. Oakland Cubers in high school. Now a mathe...
Jul 31, 2024•14 min•Ep 1104•Transcript available on Metacast Black holes are one of the most mysterious cosmological phenomena out there. Astrophysicist Priya Natarajan calls them "the point where all known laws of physics break down." On the list of perplexing qualities: The origins of supermassive black holes. That story was only confirmed within the last year. Check out more of our series Space Camp on the weird and mysterious in space at npr.org/spacecamp . Interested in more space science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Listen to Short Wave on Spoti...
Jul 30, 2024•14 min•Ep 1103•Transcript available on Metacast Generally, we at Short Wave are open-minded to the creepies and the crawlies, but even we must admit that leeches are already the stuff of nightmares. They lurk in water. They drink blood. There are over 800 different species of them. And now, as scientists have confirmed ... at least some of them can jump! Interested in more critter science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to consider your animal of choice for a future episode! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices....
Jul 29, 2024•13 min•Ep 1102•Transcript available on Metacast Chimpanzees are humans' closest living relatives. But does much of their communication resembles ours? According to a new study published earlier this week in the journal Current Biology , chimpanzees gesture back-and-forth in a similar way to how humans take turns speaking. The research presents an intriguing possibility that this style of communication may have evolved before humans split off from great apes, and tells researchers more about how turn-taking evolved. Interested in more science ...
Jul 26, 2024•9 min•Ep 1101•Transcript available on Metacast As a kid, Sabrina Imbler loved the ocean. They'd swim and snorkel, following around parrotfish in the water. Later, they tried to learn everything they could about the brightly-colored tropical fish – how some create a mucus cocoon at night to protect it from parasites, or how they help keep coral reefs healthy. As they got older, their fascination with sea creatures only grew. Imbler released a collection of essays in 2022 called How Far The Light Reaches: A Life In Ten Sea Creatures . Each cha...
Jul 24, 2024•13 min•Ep 1100•Transcript available on Metacast Lower gravity. Higher radiation. No ER access. These are just a few of the challenges that humans face in outer space. Emily and Regina talk to a NASA astronaut (and astronaut scientist) about the impact of spaceflight on the human body. Plus, we learn about telomeres (hint: They change in space)! Check out more of our series on space: https://www.npr.org/spacecamp Interested in more space science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adcho...
Jul 23, 2024•14 min•Ep 1099•Transcript available on Metacast Scientists have long studied the relationship between sleep and the brain, and why poor sleep is linked to neurological diseases like Alzheimer's. NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton talks to host Regina G. Barber about the brain's washing system and the particular sound researchers have found that seems to turn it on in mice. Read Jon's full piece here . Interested in more science about the brain? Email us at shortwave@npr.org . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/ad...
Jul 22, 2024•13 min•Ep 1098•Transcript available on Metacast More than a hundred years ago, a British engineer proposed linking two rivers in India to better irrigate the area and cheaply move goods. The link never happened, but the idea survived. Today, due to extreme flooding in some parts of the country mirrored by debilitating drought in others, India's National Water Development Agency plans to dig thirty links between rivers across the country. It's the largest project of its kind and will take decades to complete. But scientists are worried what mo...
Jul 19, 2024•14 min•Ep 1097•Transcript available on Metacast Every year for two weeks between mid-May and mid-June, Congaree National Park in South Carolina is home to a fairy-tale-like display of flashing lights. These rhythmic performances happen all because of thousands of fireflies, flashing their belly lanterns at exactly the same time. According to the National Park Service, there are just three types of these synchronous fireflies in North America, making the experience all the more magical for the lucky visitors who get the chance to see them. Fir...
Jul 17, 2024•14 min•Ep 1096•Transcript available on Metacast The universe — everything in existence — is expanding every second! It's only been about a hundred years that humanity has known this, too — that most galaxies are traveling away from us and the universe is expanding. Just a few decades ago, in the late 1990s, scientists started to notice another peculiar thing: The expansion of the universe is speeding up over time. It's like an explosion where the debris gets faster instead of slowing down. The mysterious force pushing the universe outward fas...
Jul 16, 2024•15 min•Ep 1095•Transcript available on Metacast The Human Genome Project was a massive undertaking that took more than a decade and billions of dollars to complete. For it, scientists collected DNA samples from anonymous volunteers who were told the final project would be a mosaic of DNA. Instead, over two-thirds of the DNA comes from one person: RP11. No one ever told him. Science journalist Ashley Smart talks to host Emily Kwong about his recent investigation into the decision to make RP11 the major donor — and why unearthing this history m...
Jul 15, 2024•14 min•Ep 1094•Transcript available on Metacast TikTok is fuel for many trends, including a skin care craze among teens, pre-teens — okay, and us. The "glass skin" trend calls for a multi-step routine, often involving pricey products. It's all in pursuit of dewy, seemingly poreless, glowing complexion – like glass. But some dermatologists say these attempts can backfire, irritating, burning and even peeling sensitive pre-teen skin. As teens and tweens have become major consumers of skin care products, dermatologists are seeing more of these c...
Jul 12, 2024•9 min•Ep 1093•Transcript available on Metacast Some ants herd aphids. Some farm fungi. And now, scientists have realized that when an ant injures its leg, it sometimes will turn to a buddy to perform a lifesaving limb amputation. Not only that — some ants have probably been amputating limbs longer than humans! Today, thanks to the reporting of ant enthusiast and science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce , we behold the medical prowess of the ant. Want to hear more cool stories about the tiny critters among us? Email us at shortwave@npr.org ...
Jul 10, 2024•14 min•Ep 1092•Transcript available on Metacast The universe is so much bigger than what people can see. Visible matter — the ground, the Sun, the screen you're reading this on — makes up only about 4 or 5 percent of our known universe. Dark matter makes up much more of the universe. It's all around us even though we can't see it. So what is it? What's it made out of? How do we even know it exists? Host Emily Kwong and Rebecca Ramirez try to find out with the help of astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan . This episode is part of our series Spa...
Jul 09, 2024•14 min•Ep 1091•Transcript available on Metacast It's that time of the year again: Shark Week. The TV program is so long-running that if you're under 37, you've never known a life without it. In honor of this oft misunderstood critter, we revisit our conversation with shark scientist Melissa Christina Marquez. She explains just how important sharks are to keeping the oceans healthy, including their role in mitigating climate change. Plus, there may be some talk about shark poop. Have another animal with a bad rap you want us to clear the reput...
Jul 08, 2024•11 min•Ep 1090•Transcript available on Metacast When's the last time you were in a place that was quiet — really quiet? No roadway noise, construction work or even the hum of a refrigerator. Our world is full of sounds, some of which are harming our health. The World Health Organization says "noise is an underestimated threat." Today, host Emily Kwong talks to health reporter Joanne Silberner about those health costs, what is too loud and some of the history of legislation to limit noise pollution in the United States. Read Joanne's full arti...
Jul 05, 2024•13 min•Ep 1089•Transcript available on Metacast Black Americans have been underrepresented in most genomic studies of neurological disorders. As a result, scientists don't know much about whether African ancestry affects a person's risk for these disorders or their response to a particular treatment. To help close this gap, the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, African American community leaders in Baltimore, and researchers from Duke University and Morgan State University created the African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative in...
Jul 03, 2024•13 min•Ep 1088•Transcript available on Metacast Before the '3 Body Problem' became a bestselling book and a smash TV show ... it was a physics concept, with big implications for how we understand planetary orbits. In this episode, we learn about the science behind the screen. Plus, why it's plausible a nearby, mysterious planet could hold life. This story is part of Short Wave 's Space Camp series about all the weird, wonderful things happening in the universe —check out the full series . Curious about other science behind the things you love...
Jul 02, 2024•14 min•Ep 1087•Transcript available on Metacast Perfecting your grilling technique ahead of the Fourth of July? Chefs will tell you that cooking is not just an art — it's a science. And the spirit of summer barbecues, NPR science correspondent Sydney Lupkin brings us this encore piece about how understanding the chemistry of cooking meat can help you perfect your barbeque. It's all about low and slow cooking. This story was originally reported for NPR by Gisele Grayson. Read her reporting . Curious about other science powering the things you ...
Jul 01, 2024•12 min•Ep 1086•Transcript available on Metacast 
