Short Wave

By NPR

What's Short Wave about?

New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, every weekday. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join host Maddie Sofia for science on a different wavelength.

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LAST EPISODE

China's Coronavirus Is Spre...

01.24.2020

Human-to-human transmission has been confirmed, but there's a lot we still don't know.

Short Wave episodes:

01.24.2020 China's Coronavirus Is Spreading. But How? Human-to-human transmission has been confirmed, but there's a lot we still don't know.
01.23.2020 The Comeback Bird: Meet the Ko'Ko' The Guam Rail is the second bird in history to recover from extinction in the wild. It took a little matchmaking and a lot of patience.
01.22.2020 Can A Low-Carb Diet Prevent A Plague Of Locusts? Farmers around the world share a terror of locusts which can devastate crops. We visit one lab in Arizona where researchers think low-carb crops could help keep these pests away.
01.21.2020 Mighty Mice Return From Space How the mighty mice got their muscles and what it could mean for helping humans.
01.17.2020 2020 So Far: Fires, Floods, And Quakes The science behind recent natural disasters in Australia, Indonesia, and Puerto Rico.
01.16.2020 Can A 100-Year-Old Treatment Help Save Us From Superbugs? When her husband is close to death from a superbug infection, Steffanie Strathdee scours scientific research for a way to save his life and comes across a 100-year-old treatment.
01.15.2020 In Mozambique, Meteorologists Can't Keep Up With Climate Change Countries with less money, like Mozambique, have to rely on weather data from weather countries. This can be a matter of life or death as weather becomes more variable and extreme.
01.14.2020 Your Brain On Storytelling Liz Neeley, the Executive Director of Story Collider, breaks down some of the science behind the power of storytelling.
01.13.2020 Space Junk: How Cluttered Is The Final Frontier? As satellites have increased, so, too, has space junk. On today's show, we talk about how space junk could pose a serious problem to the final frontier.
01.10.2020 Animal Slander! - "Blind As A Bat" And "Memory Of A Goldfish" Host Maddie Sofia and reporter Emily Kwong evaluate what truth there is to the popular phrases "blind as a bat" and "memory of a goldfish."
01.09.2020 The Link Between Kitchen Countertops And A Deadly Disease Why silicosis is emerging among workers who cut quartz countertops.
01.08.2020 What's Behind Australia's Historic Fires It's a story about climate change, ecology, and politics.
01.07.2020 Food Waste + Poop = Electricity Dairy farmers in Massachusetts are using food waste and manure to create renewable energy.
01.06.2020 A Star In Orion Is Dimming. Is It About To Explode? Scientists might pop champagne if they see signs of a supernova in the sky.
01.03.2020 Short Wave Presents: Life Kit Tips For Dealing With Anxious Kids A special adaptation of a Life Kit episode about how to help a child with anxiety. Full version at npr.org/lifekit.
01.02.2020 Compost Your Loved Ones Starting in May, it'll be legal to compost a human body in Washington state. Soil scientist Lynne Carpenter-Boggs tells us about this alternate way to put your loved ones to rest.
01.01.2020 Happy New Year! We're back with a new episode tomorrow! Hope you had a safe and happy orbit around the sun.
12.31.2019 Tennessine's Wild Ride To The Periodic Table There are rare chemical elements, and then there is tennessine.
12.30.2019 The Decade In Science It's a long time for a short podcast, but we tried!
12.27.2019 Sci-Fi Movies Of The Decade (Sort Of) Talking sci-fi films with astrophysicist (and movie fan) Adam Frank.
12.26.2019 One Of The Germiest Places In The Airport It's not where you think.
12.25.2019 Happy Holidays! Ho ho ho.
12.24.2019 A Shortwave Christmas Carol Short Wave takes on shortwave radio. How it works, how far it travels, and the use of shortwave radio for science. Plus, a tale of Antarctic Christmas caroling via shortwave!
12.23.2019 Iridium's Pivotal Role In Our Past And ... Maybe Our Future? The story of how a father and son team - one a physicist, one a geologist - used iridium to help solve a big scientific mystery. What brought the reign of dinosaurs to an end?
12.20.2019 What Happened To The American Chestnut Tree? A blight destroyed the American Chestnut Tree in the 20th century. Scientist have been altering the tree's genome to bring it back.
12.19.2019 The First African American Face Transplant Robert Chelsea is the first African American to receive a full face transplant. We talk to him and Time staff writer Jamie Ducharme, who followed his journey.
12.18.2019 And The Winner Is...Science! Over the summer, Camille Schrier competed in Miss Virginia and won with a "talent" that caught our attention. It put her love of science center stage.
12.17.2019 The Science Behind Whakaari/White Island's Eruption Volcanologist Alison Graettinger explains the science behind a hydrothermal eruption and why they can be especially difficult to predict.
12.16.2019 A Polar Expedition To The Top Of The World: Part 2 Reporter Ravenna Koenig was along for the journey.
12.13.2019 A Polar Expedition To The Top Of The World: Part 1 Physicists, chemists and biologists are all working to understand more about why Arctic ice is diminishing, and what it means for the planet.
12.12.2019 Invasive Species: We Asked, You Answered So many critters and plants in places they should not be.
12.11.2019 The Congolese Doctor Who Discovered Ebola We talk to NPR East Africa correspondent Eyder Peralta about Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a Congolese doctor — and why his crucial role in discovering Ebola is often overlooked.
12.10.2019 Aluminum's Journey From Precious Metal To Beer Can Aluminum is incredibly common but was once hard to extract. That made it more valuable than gold throughout much of the 19th century.
12.09.2019 Getting Closer To The Sun Than Ever Before A look at some potential answers to one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the sun.
12.06.2019 If You Give An Orangutan A Kazoo... Researchers discovered that a simple instrument could offer insights into the vocal abilities of orangutans — and the evolution of human speech.
12.05.2019 Is CBD Safe? The FDA Can't Say A look at CBD and a new set of warnings from the Food and Drug Administration
12.04.2019 The Evolution Of HIV Treatment A lot has changed since the first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981. We explore the evolution of treating HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, with Dr. Maggie Hoffman-Terry.
12.03.2019 An Interstellar Wanderer Is Coming Our Way Everything you need to know about interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, as told by planetary astronomer Michele Bannister.
12.02.2019 Does Your Dog REALLY Love You? Science says it's not just about food.
11.29.2019 The Science Of Smell And Memory Why can a smell trigger such a powerful memory? Biological anthropologist Kara Hoover explains what goes on in the brain. Plus, why our sense of smell is heightened in the winter.
11.28.2019 Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble.
11.27.2019 One Small Step For Cookie Baking Inside NASA's food operation, and the Thanksgiving menu for astronauts aboard the International Space Station. Also, can you bake cookies in space?
11.26.2019 The Nightmare Of Sleep Paralysis As a teenager, Josh Smith was plagued by sleep paralysis. Now he's afraid his kid might be experiencing it too. We look at the science behind this sleep disorder.
11.25.2019 Uganda's Solution For Treating Extreme Pain Uganda has come up with a low-tech solution to treat patients in a lot of pain: drinkable liquid morphine. Nurith Aizenman tell us how this model works.
11.22.2019 The CDC, Its 'F-Word' (Firearms) & Suicide Prevention How the agency's reluctance to mention guns hinders suicide prevention.
11.21.2019 Solving The Sleep & Alzheimer's Puzzle We know that people with Alzheimer's often have sleep problems. But does it work the other way? Do problems with sleep set the stage for this degenerative brain disease?
11.20.2019 That Revolutionary Gene-Editing Experiment? So Far So Good. Gene-edited 'supercells' appear to be making progress.
11.19.2019 Saving Water One Flush At A Time Moving human waste more efficiently down a toilet bowl could be one solution for reducing water consumption. For World Toilet Day, we bring you an episode full of toilet science.
11.18.2019 Bye Bye, Bei Bei: Giant Panda Heads to China The Smithsonian's National Zoo is bidding farewell to Bei Bei. The 4-year-old giant panda will be sent to China on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
11.15.2019 An Eyewitness to Extinction When Karen Lips started studying frogs in Central America as a grad student, she had no idea she'd have a front-row seat to a catastrophic animal die-off.

Older episodes

Short Wave

What's Short Wave about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Short Wave episodes:

China's Coronavirus Is Spreading. But How?

The Comeback Bird: Meet the Ko'Ko'

Can A Low-Carb Diet Prevent A Plague Of Locusts?

Mighty Mice Return From Space

2020 So Far: Fires, Floods, And Quakes

Can A 100-Year-Old Treatment Help Save Us From Superbugs?

In Mozambique, Meteorologists Can't Keep Up With Climate Change

Your Brain On Storytelling

Space Junk: How Cluttered Is The Final Frontier?

Animal Slander! - "Blind As A Bat" And "Memory Of A Goldfish"

The Link Between Kitchen Countertops And A Deadly Disease

What's Behind Australia's Historic Fires

Food Waste + Poop = Electricity

A Star In Orion Is Dimming. Is It About To Explode?

Short Wave Presents: Life Kit Tips For Dealing With Anxious Kids

Compost Your Loved Ones

Happy New Year!

Tennessine's Wild Ride To The Periodic Table

The Decade In Science

Sci-Fi Movies Of The Decade (Sort Of)

One Of The Germiest Places In The Airport

Happy Holidays!

A Shortwave Christmas Carol

Iridium's Pivotal Role In Our Past And ... Maybe Our Future?

What Happened To The American Chestnut Tree?

The First African American Face Transplant

And The Winner Is...Science!

The Science Behind Whakaari/White Island's Eruption

A Polar Expedition To The Top Of The World: Part 2

A Polar Expedition To The Top Of The World: Part 1

Invasive Species: We Asked, You Answered

The Congolese Doctor Who Discovered Ebola

Aluminum's Journey From Precious Metal To Beer Can

Getting Closer To The Sun Than Ever Before

If You Give An Orangutan A Kazoo...

Is CBD Safe? The FDA Can't Say

The Evolution Of HIV Treatment

An Interstellar Wanderer Is Coming Our Way

Does Your Dog REALLY Love You?

The Science Of Smell And Memory

Happy Thanksgiving!

One Small Step For Cookie Baking

The Nightmare Of Sleep Paralysis

Uganda's Solution For Treating Extreme Pain

The CDC, Its 'F-Word' (Firearms) & Suicide Prevention

Solving The Sleep & Alzheimer's Puzzle

That Revolutionary Gene-Editing Experiment? So Far So Good.

Saving Water One Flush At A Time

Bye Bye, Bei Bei: Giant Panda Heads to China

An Eyewitness to Extinction

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