Episódios
-
Evolution keeps making crabs. In fact, it's happened so often that there's a special scientific term for an organism turning crab-like: carcinization. But how many times has it happened, and why? When did the very first crab originate? What about all the times crabs have been unmade? And does all this mean that we, too, will eventually become crabs? In this episode, host Emily Kwong chats with Javier Luque about crabs, carcinization and change.
Want more paleontological science stories? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear your thoughts!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Patrick Anderson is widely recognized as the greatest wheelchair basketball player of all time. He's represented Canada at the Paralympics six times and led his team to win three gold — and one silver — medals. But since he first started playing in the 1990s, the sport has changed dramatically. He says that's due in part to the technological innovations in wheelchair athletics. In this episode, guest host Andrew Mambo chats with Patrick about the reasons for these changes. They also cover the origin of the sport, how the innovations that have changed gameplay and the rising popularity of wheelchair basketball around the world. Plus, the commonality between sport wheelchairs and stance cars.
Interested in hearing more about the science behind sports? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear your feedback!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Estão a faltar episódios?
-
Hurricane season is heating up: Hurricane Francine hit Louisiana last week and dumped rain across the South, and forecasters expect more stormy activity in the Atlantic in the next few weeks.
A big factor in this stormy weather is our extremely warm oceans. Scientists know climate change is the main culprit, but NPR climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher has been following the quest to figure out the other reasons. Hint: They may involve volcanoes and the sun.
Read more of Rebecca's reporting on this topic.
Questions about hurricanes or other weather disasters? Email us at [email protected] – we'd love to hear your ideas!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
We close out Climate Solutions Week with a look at the final step in the food system: waste. Roughly 30-40% of all food produced globally gets thrown out — a huge problem when it comes to climate change. Shuggie's Trash Pie and Natural Wine has answers for what to do with all that waste – be it bruised fruit and wilted greens salad or meatballs made out of beef hearts. The San Francisco restaurant describes itself as a "climate-solutions restaurant" — and they're hoping you find these dishes appealing. Or at least, that you're willing to give them a try. Shuggie's is one of a growing number of eateries trying to address this problem.
Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Climate change is contributing to erratic weather where cocoa beans are grown and threatening the global chocolate supply. Record rainfall last year led to fungal infections among cacao trees and dwindled supply of cocoa beans. Heat is also making it more difficult for cocoa beans to thrive. So, for day three of Climate Solutions Week, we look at one innovation in the food industry: chocolate substitutes.
As big chocolate manufacturers rush to stockpile cocoa beans, some companies like Planet A Foods are looking for a more sustainable solution: an alternative that looks like chocolate, tastes like chocolate and feels like chocolate... without chocolate.
You can read more of international correspondent Rob Schmitz's reporting here.
Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at [email protected] – we'd love to hear your ideas!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Since the height of the pandemic, there has been a boom in the use of food delivery services. Day 2 of NPR's Climate Solutions Week is all about the environmental impacts of how we shop for our food. So in this episode, NPR correspondent Scott Neuman reports on a question we've all wanted to know the answer to: What is the impact of getting food delivered on our carbon footprint?
Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at [email protected] – we'd love to hear your ideas!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
In California's Napa Valley, the nation's unofficial wine capital, one varietal reigns supreme: cabernet sauvignon. But climate change is threatening the small blue-black grapes for which cabernet sauvignon is named. Increasingly severe heat waves are taking a toll on the grape variety, especially in late summer during ripening.
To kick off NPR's Climate Solutions Week, climate correspondent Lauren Sommer joins host Regina G. Barber for a deep dive into the innovations wineries are actualizing — and the ways that cabernet farmers and fans alike could learn to adapt.
Climate change is affecting our food, and our food is affecting the climate. NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about the search for solutions.
Read more of Lauren's reporting on how climate change is affecting wine.
Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Hey, Short Wavers! Today, we have a special present for all of you: An episode from our good friends at NPR's Body Electric podcast all a bout artificial intimacy! Thanks to advances in AI, chatbots can act as personalized therapists, companions and romantic partners. The apps offering these services have been downloaded millions of times. If these relationships relieve stress and make us feel better, does it matter that they're not "real"? On this episode of Body Electric, host Manoush Zomorodi talks to MIT sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle about her new research into what she calls "artificial intimacy" and its impact on our mental and physical health.
Binge the whole Body Electric series here. Plus, sign up for the Body Electric Challenge and our newsletter here.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Last year, a dog named Bunny went viral on TikTok for pressing buttons with words on them to "communicate" with her owner. But can dogs even understand those words on a soundboard in the first place? A new study in the journal PLOS One seeks answers. Host Regina G. Barber and producer Rachel Carlson break down that story and more of the week's news with the help of All Things Considered's Ari Shapiro.
Have other viral headlines that you want us to put to the test for its scientific truth? Email us at [email protected] — we might cover it on a future episode!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Short Wave producer Hannah Chinn has adult-onset eczema. They're not the only one. Up to ten percent of people in the United States have it, according to the National Eczema Association — and its prevalence is increasing. Despite its ubiquity, a lot about this skin condition remains a mystery.
So today, Hannah's getting answers. They sat down with Raj Fadadu, a dermatologist at UC San Diego, to ask: What is eczema? What triggers it in the first place? And might climate change make it worse sometimes?
If you liked this episode, check out our episode on the science of itchiness. Also, follow us! That way you never miss another Short Wave episode.
Interested in hearing more about climate change and human health? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear your feedback!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Humans hallucinate. Algorithms lie.
At least, that's one difference that Joy Buolamwini and Kyle Chayka want to make clear. When ChatGPT tells you that a book exists when it doesn't – or professes its undying love – that's often called a "hallucination." Buolamwini, a computer scientist, prefers to call it "spicy autocomplete." But not all algorithmic errors are as innocuous. So today's show, we get into: How do algorithms work? What are their impacts? And how can we speak up about changing them?
This is a shortened version of Joy and Kyle's live interview, moderated by Regina G. Barber, at this year's Library of Congress National Book Festival.
If you liked this episode, check out our other episodes on facial recognition in Gaza, why AI is not a silver bullet and tech companies limiting police use of facial recognition.
Interested in hearing more technology stories? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to consider your idea for a future episode!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Just in time for the return of the school year, we're going "Back To School" by revisiting a classic at-home experiment that turns lemons into batteries — powerful enough to turn on a clock or a small lightbulb. But how does the science driving that process show up in household batteries we use daily? Host Emily Kwong and former host Maddie Sofia talk battery 101 with environmental engineer Jenelle Fortunato.
Want us to cover more science basics? Email us your ideas at [email protected] — we might feature them on a future episode!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
From Indonesia to Wisconsin, farmers all over the world struggle with a huge problem: pests. On top of that, it's tough for farmers to identify where exactly they have the pests and when. Reporter Lina Tran from NPR member station WUWM in Milwaukee joins host Emily Kwong to tell the story of how researchers in the Midwest are inventing new forms of pest detection that involve eavesdropping on the world of insects. Plus, hear what aphid slurping sounds like.
If you liked this episode, check out behind-the-scenes photos of Insect Eavesdropper experiments in Lina's digital story!
Interested in hearing more insect news? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
At first glance, the whole narrative of aquatic invasive species may seem straightforward: A bad non-native species comes into a new ecosystem and overruns good native species. But the truth? It's a little more complicated. To tear down everything we thought we knew about invasive species and construct a more nuanced picture, host Emily Kwong talks to experts Ian Pfingsten, who works on the United States Geological Survey's Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, and Nicholas Reo, a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Coastal Relationalities and Regeneration.
Check out episode where we get into the annual python challenge we referenced in this episode.
Have a favorite invasive species or one you really can't stand? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear your take!
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
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 on the show, host Regina G. Barber explores the duality of social robots with Eve Herold, author of the book Robots and the People Who Love Them.
Curious about other innovations in technology? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
New York: The city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of and more recently ... home to a mysterious ant spreading across the city — before continuing across metropolitan and even state lines. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce joins host Regina G. Barber to trace the MahattAnts' takeover, explain why they're an interesting invasive species case study. Plus, how everyday people can get involved in research efforts to learn more about these critters.
Read more of Nell's ManhattAnt story here. And if you like this story, check out our story on ant amputation!
Interested in hearing more animal news? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
Have you ever scrolled through a TikTok without finishing it? Switched between YouTube videos halfway through one or the other? Pressed "fast forward" on a Netflix episode that just wasn't holding your interest? That habit is called "digital switching" — and it might be causing the exact thing you're trying to avoid: boredom. Emily and Regina break that and more of the week's news down with the help of All Things Considered's Ailsa Chang.
Read this study on digital switching and boredom in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Interested in hearing more psychology news? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
U.S. health officials now say COVID-19 is an endemic disease. That means it's here to stay – circulating fairly regularly like the flu. Even though that changes how public health officials think about managing the virus, they say it doesn't mean being less cautious or vigilant during surges, like the current one this summer. COVID still poses significant risks for older individuals and those with underlying conditions — and anyone who gets COVID is at risk of developing long COVID.
NPR science correspondent Rob Stein reported this story. Read Rob's full story here.
Interested in hearing more COVID or health news? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
All summer long, we've been on a 10-episode odyssey through the changing universe (check out the series). But there was one big set of objects that we skipped over: moons. So now we're back, with special guest, Radiolab's Latif Nasser, to talk about yes, our moon — and the many moons and quasi-moons beyond it. Where did our Moon come from? How many moons are out there? What's this "quasi-moon" of which we speak and why is it "dancing" around space?
Also, Latif tells us about Radiolab's contest to name a quasi-moon. Read all the details and submit a name here!
Lunar questions or otherwise celestial musings you think we should cover? We'd love to hear about it! You can reach us by emailing [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy -
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 MC, Fischer-Baum S. A position paper on researching braille in the cognitive sciences: decentering the sighted norm. Applied Psycholinguistics. 2023.
- Englebretson, R., Holbrook, M.C., Treiman, R. et al. The primacy of morphology in English braille spelling: an analysis of bridging contractions. Morphology. 2024.
Interested in hearing more linguistics stories? Email us at [email protected].
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy - Mostrar mais