But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids

By Vermont Public Radio

Kids & Family

What's But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids about?

But Why is a show led by kids. They ask the questions and we find the answers. It’s a big interesting world out there. On But Why, we tackle topics large and small, about nature, words, even the end of the world. Know a kid with a question? Record it with a smartphone. Be sure to include your kid's first name, age, and town and send the recording to questions@butwhykids.org!

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Why Do Trains Run On Tracks?

06.21.2019

How do trains work? What about electric trains? Steam trains? Bullet trains? Why do they have to go on tracks? How can trains go so fast even though they're so heavy? And why don’t trains have seat belts? We’re traveling ...

But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids episodes:

06.21.2019 Why Do Trains Run On Tracks? How do trains work? What about electric trains? Steam trains? Bullet trains? Why do they have to go on tracks? How can trains go so fast even though they're so heavy? And why don’t trains have seat belts? We’re traveling ...
06.07.2019 Why Are Boys Boys And Girls Girls? This week we're answering questions about gender. We've gotten a lot of questions about the differences between boys and girls so we're tackling them with Vanderbilt anthropologist Anna Catesby Yant and Dr. Lori Racha of UVM Medical Center. This is ...
05.24.2019 How Do Mussels Get Their Shells? We're heading to the coast of Maine to learn a little bit about why the sea is salty and how mussels get their shells with Zach Whitener, a research associate at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine. ...
05.10.2019 Why Am I Afraid Of The Dark? Lots of people are afraid of the dark, including many kids who have shared that fear with us. In today's episode we explore the fear of the dark with Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, the author of the ...
04.26.2019 Why Is Sugar Bad For You? Why do we need to eat and how does food give us energy? Why do you have to eat vegetables? Why does junk food taste so good? So many questions about food and nutrition. We get answers from Wesley Delbridge, ...
04.12.2019 "Do Skunks Like Their Own Smell?" And Other Stumpers! Today, 10 questions with one answer in common: "That's a good question!" We've picked 10 stumpers, like: Why don't we suffocate in cars when we're driving? How do we know where our mouths are? Why are there more boys than ...
03.29.2019 Who Makes The Laws? Who makes the laws? That's what 5-year-old Paxton from Kelowna, British Columbia wants to know! We learn about laws with Mike Doyle of the Canadian organization Civix, and Syl Sobel, author of How the U.S. Government Works. We also answer ...
03.15.2019 Still Funny: Why Do We Laugh? Why do we laugh? Why do you feel ticklish when someone tickles you? Why can't you tickle yourself? In this episode, originally from 2018, we learn about how humor develops with Gina Mireault of the Infant Laughter Project at Northern ...
03.01.2019 How Is But Why Made? What Is Sound? In this episode of But Why, we're answering your questions about...us! Why do you make But Why? How are podcasts made? And we're answering questions about the physics of sound and radio. What is sound and how is it made? ...
02.15.2019 Why Is There A Big Patch Of Garbage In The Pacific Ocean? Why is there a big patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean? Four-year-old Leon has heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and he wants to know what the deal is. So we speak with someone who's actually been there! ...
02.01.2019 Why Do Elephants Have Trunks? Why Do Giraffes Have Purple Tongues? We're exploring two different animals in today's episode. One has a long neck and the other has a long trunk! We'll answer: Why are elephants so big? How do their trunks work? Why do they have tusks? Why is elephant ...
01.18.2019 Why Do Days Start At 12 O'Clock? How was time created? How did one minute become 60 seconds and one hour became 60 minutes? Why is time segmented into 12-hour periods? How do clocks work? Why is a year 365 days? Why is there an extra day ...
01.04.2019 Why Do We Sometimes See The Moon During The Day? Why does the moon change shape? How much does the moon weigh? What color is the moon? Why does the Earth only have one moon? Why does the moon have holes? Where does the moon go when we can't see ...
12.21.2018 What Is It Like To Be An Adult? What is it like to be an adult? It's a big question from a young mind! We invited adults who listen to share their perspectives and Nora McInerny, host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking, helps guide us through ...
12.07.2018 Why Do We Poop And Fart? How does your body make poop? How many germs are in an ounce of poop? Why do people fart and why are farts stinky? Look, everybody does it, so today we're going to tackle one of the areas kids seem ...
11.20.2018 Circle Round: 'Armadillo's Song' This week, instead of a normal episode, we're bringing you an episode from one of our podcast friends, Circle Round, from WBUR in Boston. Circle Round features folk tales from around the world, and we've selected one we think you'll ...
11.09.2018 Why Don't Spiders Get Stuck In Their Webs? Why don't spiders stick to their own webs? How do spiders walk up walls and on ceilings without falling? Why do spiders have eight legs and eight eyes? How do they make webs? And silk? What's a cobweb? How do ...
10.26.2018 Why Do We Celebrate Halloween? Why do we celebrate Halloween? Who created this holiday? Where do pumpkins come from and why do we carve them? This week we're answering your Halloween questions with a professor of all kinds of scary and creepy things, Regina Hansen ...
10.12.2018 Living With A Brain Tumor: 11-Year-Old Twins Share Their Story In today's episode we're not answering any questions. Instead, we're going to talk with 11-year-old twins Isabelle and Sophie Posner-Brown. When Sophie was two, she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. She's had three surgeries and lots of chemotherapy, ...
09.28.2018 Why Do People Get Cancer? A cancer diagnosis can be scary, and for kids it can be bewildering. We've gotten some questions about cancer and in this episode we answer them with Dr. Donald Small, director of pediatric oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. ...
09.14.2018 Kangaroos, Koalas, and Wombats! Why Don’t They Live In Cities? We'll learn about the kinds of animals that live in urban environments and the challenges they face! One young Australian listener wants to know why wombats, kangaroos and koalas hang out in the countryside rather than the city. Dr. Mark ...
08.31.2018 Why Is Fire Orange? We visit Fireman's Hall Museum in Philadelphia and get answers to a dozen questions about fire from Philly firefighter Lisa Desamour. She tells us what fire is, why matches work to start fires, and why fire is often orange. Plus: ...
08.17.2018 Why Do People Like Different Types Of Music? In this episode of But Why, we hear music from Music for Sprouts' Mr. Chris, Drummer Seny Daffe, and cellist Emily Taubl and answer questions about strings, percussion, and the magic of music itself. Get ready to dance.
08.03.2018 Why Do Turtles Need Shells? Why Do Frogs Hop? Why do turtles need shells? Why do turtles move so slowly? Why do frogs hop? Why are frogs green? Why are colorful frogs poisonous? Why do frogs inflate their throats? What some of the biggest threats are to amphibians and ...
07.20.2018 How Was The Universe Created? But Why explores the Big Bang, earth, stars and black holes in this call-in episode that aired live on Vermont Public Radio. Astronomer John O'Meara tackles the big bang, the origins of the universe and how we know humans landed ...
07.06.2018 An Introduction To VPR's Timeline In this episode we want to introduce you to another show made at VPR that we think you're really going to like. It's called Timeline and it explores the history of western music. Host James Stewart has just made 4 ...
06.22.2018 Why Is Milk White? 'But Why' heads to the farm to answer a whole herd of animal questions: How do cows make milk? Why do cows moo? Why do some animals eat grass? Why do pigs have curly tails? Why do pigs have more ...
06.08.2018 Why Do Ants Bite? Why do ants bite? Do both male and female ants have stingers? Do ants sleep? What do they do in the winter? In this episode we learn all about the fascinating world of ants with Brian Fisher , curator of ...
05.25.2018 Hoots And Screeches And Whistles, Part 2 How fast can the fastest bird go (and what bird is it?) Why do birds have wings? How do they fly? Why are birds so colorful? And why do they sing at dawn and dusk? In the second part of ...
05.25.2018 But Why LIVE: Hoots And Screeches And Whistles, Part 2 How fast can the fastest bird go (and what bird is it?) Why do birds have wings? How do they fly? Why are birds so colorful? And why do they sing at dawn and dusk? In the second part of ...
05.11.2018 Hoots And Screeches And Whistles, Part 1 How do owls eat? Why are owls nocturnal and how do they see in the dark? How do owls swivel their heads all the way around? Why do birds move their heads back and forth when they walk? This episode ...
05.11.2018 But Why LIVE: Hoots And Screeches And Whistles, Part 1 How do owls eat? Why are owls nocturnal and how do they see in the dark? How do owls swivel their heads all the way around? Why do birds move their heads back and forth when they walk? This episode ...
04.27.2018 Why Is Tape Sticky? Why is tape sticky? How do erasers erase? We'll tackle arts and crafts in this episode, answering not just those two questions but learning how to make paint out of rocks and spit!! Vermont artist and wildcrafter Nick Neddo joins ...
04.20.2018 Podcast Extra: Heterotaxy and Hearts After hearing our episode about hearts, 3yo Ethan Chandra, from Middlesex, NJ, wanted to share the story of his own heart. In this podcast extra, Ethan and his 5yo sister Zoe and their mother, Ali, talk about what it's been ...
04.13.2018 How Does Your Heart Work? How does your heart keep you alive? How does it pump blood? Why is blood so important? Why do children have heart surgeries? Why is a baby's heartbeat faster before it's born? Why does blood rush to your head when ...
03.30.2018 Why Do We Laugh? Why do we laugh? Why do you feel ticklish when someone tickles you? Why can't you tickle yourself? We learn about how humor develops with Gina Mireault of the Infant Laughter Project at Northern Vermont University.
03.16.2018 Why Do People Dream? Why do people dream? Why do people have nightmares? How do dreams happen? Can people who are blind can see in their dreams? In this episode of But Why, we're answering dreamy questions with psychiatrist Dr. David Khan of Harvard ...
03.02.2018 Why Do We Need To Sleep? Why do people need to sleep? How do we actually go to sleep? How does sleeping get rid of toxins in the brain? And how come when it's nighttime I don't want to go to sleep but when it's morning ...
02.16.2018 What Are Olympic Medals Made Of? Why Does Every Country Have A Flag? What are Olympic medals made of? Why does every country have a flag? The 2018 Winter Olympics are underway in PyeongChang, South Korea. We reached out to medal-winning Olympians Elana Meyers Taylor, Andrew Weibrecht and Hannah Kearney to reflect on ...
02.02.2018 How Do Fish See? How Do Fish Sleep? How Do Fish Breathe? How did the first fish get into the ocean? How do fish breathe under water? If you put a fish's head underwater, but not its tail, would it survive? How do fish get diseases? How do fish see underwater without ...
01.19.2018 Circle Round: 'The Lion's Whisker' Instead of an episode of But Why, we're going to check out an episode of one of our other favorite podcasts. Circle Round is a storytelling show from WBUR, a public radio station in Boston. On Circle Round, they find ...
01.05.2018 Are There Underground Cities? In this episode, we answer a question from 5-year-old Wyatt in Los Angeles and learn about ancient underground cities in Turkey, the subterranean passageways of Montreal and the dug-out houses of Coober Pedy, Australia. Also in this episode: Why is ...
12.22.2017 Why Do Snowboards Look Like Skateboards? We're marking the winter solstice with an episode all about snow! Why do snowboards look like skateboards? We get an answer from Burton Snowboards. How is snow made? Why is snow white? Why are all snowflakes different? We'll hear from ...
12.08.2017 Why Is Money So Important? In this episode of But Why we visit a credit union to learn what money is all about and Slate Money hosts Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski and Jordan Weissman answer questions about why money plays such a big role in ...
11.22.2017 What Is The Biggest Number? What's the biggest number? Who was the first mathematician? Why is seven a lucky number? Why is fifth grade math so hard? We're tackling something new: questions about math! With us to offer some answers and some mind-blowing concepts is ...
11.10.2017 Why Do We Have Daylight Saving Time? Why do we have daylight saving time? And why are days longer in summer and shorter in winter? Daylight saving time is really just a trick. At least, so says Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of ...
10.27.2017 Looking For More Kids Podcasts? We've Got You Covered On this special episode of But Why, we're going to introduce you to some of our kids podcast classmates. We've all gotten together to create one big podcast episode that gives you a little flavor of what each one of ...
10.27.2017 Why Do Leaves Change Color In The Fall? Why do leaves change color in the fall? Why are leaves green? Why don't leaves turn all of the colors of the rainbow? In this episode of But Why, we're talking about fall leaves, and how trees go from green ...
10.13.2017 Why Do People Die? Questions About Death This episode of But Why is a serious one. We're talking about death. Why do people die when they get too old? What happens to people when they die? What does it feel like when you're dead? Our guide is ...
10.02.2017 Listen: Talking To Kids About Violence In the News In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas on Sunday, we're re-releasing our special episode for parents. We speak with Dr. Robin Gurwitch about how to answer questions children may have about violence they ...

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