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Soon the highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope will blast off into space, hurtling almost a million miles away from Earth, where it will orbit the Sun. Decades in the making, scientists hope its mission will last a decade and provide insights into all kinds of things, including the early formation of galaxies just after the Big Bang.
Curious about the extraterrestrial facets of our universe? Email the show your questions at shortwave@npr.org. We might be able to beg Nell to find answers and come back on the show.
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As spaceflight inches closer to becoming a reality for some private citizens, science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel chats with the New York Times disability fellow Amanda Morris about why one organization wants to insure people with disabilities have the chance to go to space.
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Dr. Francis Collins talks with health correspondent Selena Simmons-Duffin about Americans' overall health, how tribalism in American culture has fueled vaccine hesitancy, and advises his successor on how to persevere on research of politically charged topics — like guns and obesity and maternal health. Selena talks with host Emily Kwong about the conversation.
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The U.S. is approaching 800,000 COVID-19 deaths as the Omicron variant spreads and the Delta variant continues to circulate. Hospital admissions are up more than 20 percent over the last two weeks. But — as NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey tells Emily — there's new survey data pointing to relaxed attitudes across the country, even amid the surges. Allison explains what all of this means for the coming weeks — especially with flu season getting started.
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Headaches, nausea, dizziness, and confusion are among the most common symptoms of a concussion. But researchers say a blow to the head can also make it hard to understand speech in a noisy room. Emily Kwong chats with science correspondent Jon Hamilton about concussions and how understanding its effects on our perception of sound might help improve treatment.
For more of Jon's reporting, check out "After a concussion, the brain may no longer make sense of sounds."
You can follow Emilly on Twitter @EmilyKwong1234 and Jon @NPRJonHamilton. Email Short Wave at ShortWave@NPR.org.
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On a rapidly changing planet, there are many ways to measure the health of an ecosystem. Can sound be one of them?
Researcher Sarab Sethi explains how machine learning and soundscape recordings could be used to predict ecosystem health around the world.
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An NPR analysis shows that since the vaccine rollout, counties that voted heavily for Donald Trump have had nearly three times the COVID mortality rates of those that voted for Joe Biden. That difference appears to be driven by a partisan divide in vaccination rates. As NPR correspondent Geoff Brumfield reports, political polarization and misinformation are driving a significant share of the deaths in the pandemic.
Read more of Geoff's reporting on vaccine misinformation:
- Inside the growing alliance between anti-vaccine activists and pro-Trump Republicans: https://n.pr/31ylGNK
- Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame: https://n.pr/3dzPzzy
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An underground lab is opening early next year in Australia. Its quest: to help detect dark matter and thereby also help answer some of physics' biggest questions about this mysterious force. It is the only detector of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Swinburne University astronomer Alan Duffy takes us on a journey to the bottom of this active gold mine, where researchers will try to detect a ghost-like particle.
E-mail us with your deep questions at ShortWave@npr.org.
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An advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has voted to recommend that the FDA approve a new antiviral drug to treat COVID-19. The FDA decision is expected soon. Host Emily Kwong chats with health reporter Pien Huang on the state of treatments and how this drug and other treatment options may change the pandemic.
For more of Pien's reporting, check out "New antiviral drugs are coming for COVID. Here's what you need to know." >
You can follow Emily on Twitter @EmilyKwong1234 and Pien @Pien_Huang. Email Short Wave at ShortWave@NPR.org.
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The end of the 2021 hurricane season was officially November 30. This year, there was a lot of hurricane activity. Today on the show, producer Thomas Lu talks to meteorologist Matthew Cappucci about this year's hurricane season — the ups, the lulls, and the surprising end. Plus — how climate change might be affecting these storms.
You can follow Thomas on Twitter @ThomasUyLu and Matthew @MatthewCappucci. Email Short Wave at ShortWave@NPR.org.
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