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PODCAST

Short Wave

New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — in just under 15 minutes. It"s science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber for science on a different wavelength. Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including sponsor-free listening for Short Wave.

science life sciences

All Episodes

13:48

Learning A Second Language As An Adult

Short Wave ·

2025/05/13

Becoming fluent in a second language is difficult. But for adults, is it impossible? Science says no. In this encore episode, Short Wave host Emily Kwong dissects the "critical period hypothesis," a theory which linguists have been debating for decades — with the help of Sarah Frances Phillips, a Ph.D. student in the linguistics department at New York University. Together, Emily and former Short Wave host Maddie Sofia explore where the theory comes from, how it applies to second-language acquisition

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10:42

The Indicator: American Science Brain Drain

Short Wave ·

2025/05/12

Today, we're airing an episode of NPR's daily economics podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. It's about a group of people we know well: scientists. President Trump's federal cuts and scrutiny of academic institutions are forcing some U.S. scientists to head for the border. On today's show, an entomologist keeping America's farms safe from pests reconsiders America. And a CEO of a Canadian hospital explains how they are benefiting from the exodus. Want to learn more about the intersection of

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15:56

Could AI Go Green?

Short Wave ·

2025/05/09

Google, Microsoft and Meta have all pledged to reach at least net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Amazon set their net-zero deadline for 2040. To understand how these four tech companies could possibly meet their climate goals amid an artificial intelligence renaissance, Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong discusses the green AI movement. Speaking with scientists, CEOs and tech insiders, she explores three possible pathways: nuclear energy, small language models (SLMs) and back-to-the-future ways of

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15:12

What's The Environmental Cost Of AI?

Short Wave ·

2025/05/07

By 2028, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory forecasts that U.S. data centers could use as much as 12% of the nation's electricity. The reason: generative AI. Since 2022, AI innovation by four leading tech companies — Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon — has led to annual increases in both energy and water consumption. So, in this episode, Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong probes huge water footprint of AI. We begin with the rise of data centers, then look at how computers came to need so much water

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13:52

Science Can Make You More Creative!

Short Wave ·

2025/05/06

Do you consider yourself a creative person? If not, you may be holding yourself back. Psychologist Zorana Ivcevic Pringle says creativity isn't a trait. Creativity is a choice. After studying creativity for more than 20 years, she has some suggestions for how anyone can stick with their creative ideas. Guest host and producer Berly McCoy talks to her about her new book The Creativity Choice. Curious about more psychology research? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of

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11:19

Did Scientists Find Alien Life Or Just Controversy?

Short Wave ·

2025/05/05

Recently, a group of scientists claimed they found possible signs of life on a planet called K2-18b. The news made headlines. Researchers said they'd detected sulphur-based gases that, on Earth, are strongly associated with life. But the research caused an uproar in astronomy circles because other scientists don't think the data is strong enough to celebrate an alien find just yet. In fact, they have some real issues with how this whole thing went down, and a new analysis casts further doubt on the

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8:35

What Can Minecraft Teach Us About Learning?

Short Wave ·

2025/05/02

Minecraft is a movie and a very popular video game with iconic block graphics that characters can "mine" for building material and gems. It's also what cognitive scientist Charley Wu and his team utilized to study how people learned as they played. Their unique study focused on both individual and social learning — and they found a clear answer to which players were most successful. (Hint: Get you a player who can do both.) Their results were published recently in the journal Nature Communications

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13:51

Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?

Short Wave ·

2025/04/30

In its first 100 days, the Trump administration — specifically, the Department of Government Efficiency — shuttered agencies and slashed budgets pertaining to foreign aid, scientific research, food safety and more. How will this impact people's health and well-being both in the U.S., and around the world? To answer that question, we're calling in our colleagues: global health correspondent Gabrielle Emmanuel and health policy reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin.(P.S. If you liked this episode, check out

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13:02

Should Kids Be Taking Melatonin?

Short Wave ·

2025/04/29

A good night's sleep makes a big difference to our mental and physical health. Without quality sleep, we're less productive. Grumpy. It can even affect our hearts. Meanwhile, more and more people are having problems falling and staying asleep, including kids. So some parents are turning to a supplement called melatonin as a potential solution. But some experts worry that there isn't enough research about how regularly taking melatonin affects kids in the long term. Today on the show, we explore the

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12:15

Harnessing Spineless Sea Creatures' Superpowers

Short Wave ·

2025/04/28

From starfish and sea slugs to jellyfish and sponges, the ocean's invertebrates are some of the most ancient and diverse critters on Earth. And so are their superpowers, as marine biologist Drew Harvell calls their unique abilities. In her new book, The Ocean's Menagerie, she chronicles the amazing abilities of some of these spineless creatures and showcases how they've inspired our science and medicine. Listen to our past episode on nudibranchs — the potent slugs of the sea — HERE.Want to hear

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12:36

This Telescope Could Find "Planet 9"

Short Wave ·

2025/04/25

Some scientists are convinced that beyond Neptune, there's a planet they've yet to see. This so-called "Planet 9" is so far away, it would be a faint object. The stretch of sky researchers would have to search is huge. But a new astronomical facility on a mountaintop in Chile could help tackle the search. The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has been under construction for years. Now, scientists are finetuning its instruments so the telescope can begin its 10-year mission of taking images of almost

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10:52

Why These Salmon Are On Anxiety Meds

Short Wave ·

2025/04/23

A fish walks into a pharmacy ... well, not exactly. Fish aren't being prescribed anti-anxiety drugs. But they are experiencing the effects. Researchers have found more than 900 different pharmaceutical ingredients in rivers and streams around the world, though they're not yet sure how this could change the behavior of fish and other aquatic animals in the wild."We can't, you know, dump a bunch of pharmaceuticals into the river," says Jack Brand, biologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural

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12:36

Nature Quest: Are Flowers Blooming Early?

Short Wave ·

2025/04/22

Welcome!! This is the first episode of Nature Quest, a monthly Short Wave segment that answers listener questions about your local environment. This month, we hear from a listener in California who's concerned that the flowers in his neighborhood are blooming way, way earlier. Is that normal? And is climate change the culprit? Short Wavers Emily Kwong and Hannah Chinn investigate.Got a question about changes in your local environment? Send a voice memo to shortwave@npr.org with your name, where you

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14:14

Should Humans Live On Mars?

Short Wave ·

2025/04/21

As global warming continues and space technology improves, there is more and more talk about the growing possibility of a sci-fi future in which humans become a multiplanetary species. Specifically, that we could live on Mars. Biologist Kelly Weinersmith and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith have spent four years researching what life on Mars would look like if we did it anytime soon. In their book A City On Mars, they get into all sorts of questions: How would we have babies in space? How would we have

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9:00

Good Vibrations: How Fiddler Crabs Mate

Short Wave ·

2025/04/18

The male European fiddler crab attracts his mate by performing a courtship dance. New research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology says that dance isn't just notable for its visuals — it's notable for its vibrations, too.Researchers observed four different stages of the crab's courtship dance, each stage escalating the amount of seismic vibrational output. "It's 'come and find me in my underground house, ladies,'" says Beth Mortimer, a study author and biologist at the University of

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12:58

How Nature Makes A Complex Brain

Short Wave ·

2025/04/16

A recent series of studies suggests that the brains of birds, reptiles and mammals all evolved independently — even though they share a common ancestor. That means evolution has found more than one way to make a complex brain, and human brains may not be quite as special as we think. To learn more about this, we talk to Fernando García-Moreno about this series of studies he co-authored that came out in Science in February. Want to hear more about the complex road of evolution? Send us an email at

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7:27

Your Allergies May Be Getting Worse

Short Wave ·

2025/04/15

Plants are blooming right now – and so are people's allergies. And if it feels like those pesky symptoms are getting worse ... you're probably right. Wednesday, a review published in the journal The Laryngoscope looked at the link between climate change and increasing rates of allergic rhinitis, or hay fever. So today, we turn back to a classic Short Wave episode from Brit Hanson and Maddie Sofia, who spoke to allergy expert Dr. Juanita Mora about some quick tips for managing seasonal allergies.Want

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12:09

All Hail The Butt Flicker

Short Wave ·

2025/04/14

Did you know there's an insect that can fling its pee 40 times faster than a cheetah accelerates? We did — thanks to a comic from the Bhamla Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since 2020, principal investigator Saad Bhamla has been leading the charge to make science more accessible by publishing comics alongside every paper his lab publishes. Today, he introduces Emily to two of the most popular characters — Sheriff Sharpshooter and Captain Cicada — and shares why a comic about

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12:41

How Do Astronomers Find Exoplanets? Wiggles!

Short Wave ·

2025/04/11

Dune. Star Wars. Alien. Science fiction movies love alien worlds, and so do we. But how do scientists find planets outside our solar system in real life? One way is by looking for the stars that wiggle. Historically, astronomers have measured those wiggles via the Doppler method, carefully analyzing how the star's light shifts. Thanks to new data from the GAIA telescope, scientists have a much better picture of distant stars' wiggles — and the exoplanets that cause them.Want to hear more about

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12:58

Could Psychedelics Become Tripless?

Short Wave ·

2025/04/09

This week, we've heard from researchers trying to untangle the effects of the "trip" that often comes with psychedelics and ketamine from the ways these drugs might change the human brain. For part three of our series on psychedelic drug research, we get a glimpse into why some researchers are taking the "trip" out of these drugs altogether. You don't need to have heard the previous two episodes to understand this episode on what could be next for psychedelic medicine.Catch the rest of this series

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