Stay ConnectedNew 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.
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It's easy to take city parks for granted, or to think of them as separate from nature and from the Earth's changing climate. But the place where many of us come face-to-face with climate change is our local park. On today's episode, Ryan Kellman and Rebecca Hersher from NPR's Climate Desk team up with Short Wave producer Margaret Cirino to spend 24 hours in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.
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In movies, asteroids careening towards Earth are confronted by determined humans with nuclear weapons to save the world! But a real NASA mission wants to change the course of an asteroid now (one not hurtling towards Earth). The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, launched in 2021 and on Monday, September 26, 2022, makes contact with the celestial object. In 2021, NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce talked about what it takes to pull off this mission and how it could potentially protect the Earth in the future from killer space rocks, and that's what you'll hear today. And stay tuned - when NASA has the results of contact in a few weeks, Short Wave will bring Nell back to tell us all about it!
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Dinosaurs ruled the earth for many millions of years, but only after a mass extinction took out most of their rivals. Just how that happened remains a mystery — sounds like a case for paleoclimatologist Celina Suarez! Suarez walks us through her scientific detective work, with a little help from her trusty sidekick, scientist-in-residence Regina G. Barber.
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In the final episode of Short Wave's Summer Road Trip series exploring the science happening in national parks and public lands, Aaron talks to National Park Service Director Charles Sams, who recently issued new policy guidance to strengthen the ways the park service collaborates with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes, the Native Hawaiian Community, and other indigenous peoples. It's part of a push across the federal government to increase the level of tribal co-stewardship over public lands. Aaron talks with Sams, the first Tribal citizen to head the agency, about how he hopes this will change the way parks are managed, how the parks are already incorporating Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and what national parkland meant to him growing up as a member of the Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon.
Listen to more episodes about all the amazing research taking place on public lands, where we hike up sky islands and crawl into caves in search of fantastical creatures, by visiting the series website: https://www.npr.org/series/1120432990/road-trip-short-wave
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The water advice is everywhere - how much to drink (8 cups a day - really?), what to drink, when to drink, and all its benefits. On this episode we produced with our colleagues at Life Kit, hosts Aaron Scott and Emily Kwong take some cherished hydration beliefs and get to the reality behind the science of hydration and the actual best ways to quench our thirst.
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Nearly a decade ago, Karen Douthitt and her sisters June Ward and Susie Gilliam set out to learn why Alzheimer's disease was affecting so many of their family members. Since then, each sister has found out whether she carries a rare gene mutation that makes Alzheimer's inescapable. Jon Hamilton talks to Emily about the sisters and how all three have found ways to help scientists trying to develop treatments for the disease.
Thoughts or comments? Get in touch — we're on Twitter @NPRShortWave and on email at shortwave@npr.org.
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Last week, Lauren Sommer talked with Short Wave about the dangerous combination of heat and humidity in the era of climate change and how the heat index can sometimes miss the mark in warning people how hot it will feel. That reminded us of producer Thomas Lu's conversation about relative humidity with Maddie Sofia. He digs into why some meteorologists say it's important to pay attention to dew point temperature and how moisture in the air and temperature influence the way our body "feels" when we're outside. (Encore)
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The world has been warily watching the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. The nuclear complex is being held by Russian forces, while the plant itself is being run by an increasingly ragged and exhausted Ukrainian workforce. Shells have fallen on the complex, and external power sources have been repeatedly knocked out, endangering the system that cools the nuclear reactors and raising the specter of a meltdown. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from inside Ukraine.
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Heat—it's common in summer in much of the world, but it's getting increasingly more lethal as climate change causes more extreme heat. NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer talks with Short Wave's Regina G. Barber about how human bodies cope with extended extreme heat and how current information on how hot it feels need updating.
Follow Short Wave on Twitter @NPRShortWave. Or email us — we're at shortwave@npr.org.
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A century ago, astronomers were locked in a debate about the scope of our universe. Were we it?
The answer is no. There are other galaxies beyond the Milky Way, and they are speeding away from us. Answering that question left astronomers with an even bigger puzzle. Why is everything sprinting away from us and what does that mean for the center of the universe? Today, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber brings back astronomer Dr. Vicky Scowcroft for the final episode in our series on cosmic distances and humanity's place in the universe. It's a big one: The mystery of our expanding universe.
If you haven't heard the other two episodes in the series yet, check them out here:
- Venus And The 18th Century Space Race
- The Stars that Settled The Great Debate
Curious about other intergalactic goings on? Tweet us @NPRShortWave or email us at shortwave@npr.org.
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