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It's Memorial Day, Short Wavers. This holiday, we bring you a meditation on time ... and clocks. There are hundreds of atomic clocks in orbit right now, perched on satellites all over Earth. We depend on them for GPS location, Internet timing, stock trading and even space navigation. In today's encore episode, hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber learn how to build a better clock. In order to do that, they ask: How do atomic clocks really work, anyway? What makes a clock precise? And how could that process be improved for even greater accuracy?
- For more about Holly's Optical Atomic Strontium Ion Clock, check out the OASIC project on NASA's website.
- For more about the Longitude Problem, check out Dava Sobel's book, Longitude.
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Riddle us this: Which animal is pink, curved beaked and a master of the physics required to create water tornadoes? If you guessed flamingos, you're right. New research out this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that across a range of harsh environments, flamingos have become masters — of physics, fluid dynamics and so much more — all in pursuit of their filter-fed prey. Short Wave host Regina G. Barber sits down with biomechanics researcher Victor Ortega Jiménez to hear all of the incredibly involved lengths these birds go through to get their prey.
Want to hear about more physics or animal discoveries? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org to tell us what areas of science you'd be interested in.
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What's it like to get bit by a venomous snake? "It's like a bee sting times a thousand," Tim Friede says. Tim would know. Over the past few decades, he's let himself be bitten over 200 times by all kinds of venomous snakes — black mambas, taipans, cobras, kraits and more. With time, he's gradually built immunity to multiple types of venom. Could scientists help him share that immunity with others?
Science reporter Ari Daniel joins Short Wave to explain how antivenom works, what scientists discovered and where the research may lead. Plus, what does Tim Friede have in common with Princess Bride?
Want to hear about more medical discoveries? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org to tell us what areas of science you'd be interested in.
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The Trump administration is rewriting policies and reducing funding for multiple agencies that handle climate change, including NOAA, EPA and FEMA. We asked NPR reporters Lauren Sommer and Alejandra Borunda what that the implications of that are — and who the changes will affect.
Want to hear more ways research is being impacted by the new administration? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org to let us know — and we may cover your idea in a future episode!
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In science fiction, wormholes are hyperspace subway tubes linking one part of a galaxy directly to another, distant point. But could they actually exist? To find out, we talk to theoretical physicist Ron Gamble, who says wormholes aren't just a matter of science fiction — and they have big implications about the shape of space itself.
Want to hear about more hypotheticals physicists have to confront in their work? Email us at shortwave@nprg.org — we might turn your idea into a whole episode!
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Approximately 80% of orange cats are males, including the four orange cats owned by the Short Wave team. Scientists have long suspected that orange color was a sex-linked trait — hiding somewhere on the X chromosome. Now, scientists at Stanford University and Kyushu University in Japan have characterized the mutation responsible for orange cat coloration. Both groups published their results in the journal Cell Biology this week.
Have a question about the animals all around us? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!
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Most bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt, but some use their ears for another trick: eavesdropping.
"And then these frog-eating bats, for example, they are actually listening in on the mating calls of frogs that are much, much lower in frequency," says behavioral ecologist Rachel Page.
But how the bats knew this eavesdropping trick was a mystery. So she set up and experiment with baby bats and a speaker.
Have a question about the animals all around us? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!
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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 and what it means for Emily's efforts to learn Mandarin Chinese as an adult.
Have a linguistics or neuroscience question? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!
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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 science and the economy? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
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