Right now, there's a "heat dome" lingering over the southwestern U.S. – a high pressure system that pushes hot air down and traps it, raising the temperature. Heat is becoming increasingly lethal as climate change causes more extreme heat. So in today's encore episode, we're exploring heat. NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer talks with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about how the human body copes with extended extreme heat and how today's heat warning systems could better protect the public. With scientists predicting a very hot summer, if you can, stay cool out there, dear Short Wavers.

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It feels like this is the summer of space launches. So, it's only appropriate that we kick off our new series Space Camp with a look at space launches. Throughout the series, Regina and Emily will plumb our universe to uncover the strange, wonderful things happening all around us. This episode, that entails answering a series of questions about getting to space: What does hurtling into space feel like? What physics are involved? And what's the "junk" in Earth's orbit?

Space Camp episodes drop every Tuesday in the Short Wave feed in addition to our regular episodes happening every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

For a full explainer of Newton's third law of motion, g-forces and visuals on his cannonball thought experiment, check out our digital story.

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Wildlife trafficking is one of the largest and most profitable crime sectors in the world. The illegal trade estimated to be a multi-billion dollar industry. On a high level, that illegal trade causes problems for everything from global biodiversity to local economies and the balance of entire ecosystems. And on the immediate level, authorities are tasked with caring for confiscated animals and placing them in long-term care facilities.

One network launched last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association for Zoos and Aquariums hopes to help. And with wildlife trafficking surging globally, the organizations are now in talks to expand the program to other parts of the country.

Read more about illegal wildlife trafficking and check out more photos in climate correspondent Nate Rott's full story.

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Kyne Santos was a student at the University of Waterloo when she began her math and her drag careers. She compares her double life to Hannah Montana, doing math equations at school by day and drag at night. You may already know Kyne from TikTok, where she makes educational videos about math, science, history and drag. And now, in her new book Math in Drag, Kyne explores the connections between math and drag: How both can be creative, beautiful and most of all, fun.

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June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy and took the Nazis by surprise in the largest sea-to-land invasion in history. This would be remembered as D-Day and would ultimately lead to the end of World War II in Europe. However, this planned attack wouldn't have been possible without deep knowledge of ocean tides! We get into the whole story, including why tides sit at the intersection of astronomy and marine ecology — and why understanding tides are key to a greener future.

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People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may soon have a new treatment option: MDMA, the chemical found in ecstasy. In August, the Food and Drug Administration plans to decide whether MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD will be approved for market based on years of research. But serious allegations of research misconduct may derail the approval timeline.

NPR science reporter Will Stone talks to host Emily Kwong about the clinical trials on MDMA-assisted therapy research and a recent report questioning the validity of the results.

Read Will's full story here.

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A silky shark named Genie traveled from the Galapagos Islands out to the open ocean and back – over 17,000 miles – over the course of a year and a half. That's an average of 31 miles per day, making Genie's journey the longest recorded migration for a silky shark.

Marine scientist Pelayo Salinas de León and his team named Genie in honor of the late marine biologist Eugenie Clark – also known as "The Shark Lady." She devoted her life to the study of sharks and to improving their reputation.

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Humans rely on our symbiotic relationship with good microbes—in the gut, the skin and ... the vagina. Fatima Aysha Hussain studies what makes a healthy vaginal microbiome. She talks to host Emily Kwong about her long-term transplant study that asks the question: Can one vagina help another through a microbe donation?

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Each year 84,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with melanoma. About 90% of these skin cancers are linked to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Sunscreen does protect the skin, but dermatologists have found six very common mistakes people make when it comes to using it. NPR science correspondent Allison Aubrey talks to host Regina G. Barber about the science behind sunscreen and how to avoid making these mistakes this summer. They also get into which sunscreens may be better than others.

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After the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 triggered Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began fleeing from the North of Gaza to the South. As they fled, many Palestinians reported passing through checkpoints with cameras. Israel had previously used facial recognition software in the West Bank, and some Palestinians reached out to The New York Times reporter Sheera Frenkel to investigate whether the same was happening in Gaza.

Science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel talks to Frenkel about how Israel launched this facial recognition system in Gaza late last year with the help of private companies and Google photos.

Read Frenkel's full article.

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