Unexplainable - Vox - TopPodcast.com

Is telepathy real? May 18, 2022

A groundbreaking study claims to have found a way for a fully paralyzed person to communicate entirely via thought. Today, Explained breaks down the science and asks: Is it too good to be true?

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Why do we dream? May 11, 2022

Dreams are weird, but can they be a scientific tool? Can they teach us anything about humanity? About ourselves?

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Should I take a DNA ancestry test? May 04, 2022

What are the scientific, family, and privacy implications?

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My octopus friend? Apr 27, 2022

Octopuses are largely solitary animals, but there have been rare times — notably in the movie My Octopus Teacher — where they seem to have become comfortable around humans. But is it really possible to be friends with an octopus?

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Glow in the dark ocean Apr 20, 2022

Most deep-water creatures are bioluminescent. Marine biologist Edie Widder has spent the last 40 years trying to figure out why.

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When reality broke Apr 13, 2022

In the 1920s, the scientist Werner Heisenberg came up with a wild idea that broke reality as Western science knew it. And it's still unsettling to think about. Benjamin Labatut's recent book, When We Cease to Understand the World, makes readers feel the aftershocks of the revelation, asking, "What's real?"

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Making Sense: The sixth sense Apr 06, 2022

Why stop at five senses? Just how much of the world can we perceive? And how much is out there that’s still out of reach, hiding in the dark?

This is the sixth and final episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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Making Sense: Sight unseen Mar 30, 2022

Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple. Can you see anything? Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. Since it was discovered, scientists have been asking the question: What is the mind’s eye even for?

This is the fifth episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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Making Sense: The Umami Mama Mar 23, 2022

For thousands of years, there have been four basic tastes recognized across cultures. But thanks to Kumiko Ninomiya (a.k.a. the Umami Mama), scientists finally accepted a fifth. So could there be even more?

This is the fourth episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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Making Sense: No one nose Mar 16, 2022

Dogs can smell cancer, Covid-19, and many other health problems in humans. Now, scientists are trying to duplicate these powers in robotic sniffers. But there’s a big challenge here: Scientists don’t really understand how smell works. This is the third episode of our six-part series, Making Sense, and it originally ran on March 10, 2021.

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Making Sense: The healing power of touch Mar 09, 2022

Doctors can save the lives of premature infants, but the process is often painful. Luckily, a solution might be as simple as a parent’s loving touch.

This is the second episode of our new six-part series, Making Sense.

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Making Sense: How sound becomes hearing Mar 02, 2022

In the same way optical illusions trick our eyes, audio illusions can trick our ears. This raises a fundamental question: What is hearing, and how much of it is made up by our brains?

This is the first episode of our new six-part series, Making Sense.

You can find more of Diana Deutsch’s auditory illusions at https://bit.ly/3Mdh6H4, Matthew Winn's research at http://www.mattwinn.com/Research.html, and Mike Chorost's writing at https://michaelchorost.com

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The methane hunters Feb 16, 2022

Methane traps more than 80 times as much heat as CO2 over the short term. So we could make a real difference on climate change this decade if we could stop leaking so much methane into the atmosphere. But before researchers and regulators can figure out how to do that, the methane hunters need to find the leaks.

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What is love? Feb 09, 2022

Can science help us predict whether a relationship will succeed? Or is it all just chaos?

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A sonic tour of the solar system Feb 02, 2022

What does it sound like on Mars? On Jupiter? Titan? This collaboration between the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz and the composer Melodysheep imagines the soundscapes of other worlds.

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Finding asteroids before they find us Jan 26, 2022

Scientists are constantly searching for asteroids that could crash into Earth. But if they find one, will they be able to do anything about it? NASA has launched a spaceship that will slam into an asteroid to find out.

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Skeleton Lake Jan 19, 2022

When scientists examined the DNA of ancient bones found near a Himalayan lake, they were forced to confront a seemingly impossible conclusion. This episode originally ran on March 24, 2021.

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Are humans running out of sperm? Jan 12, 2022

In 2017, researchers published an explosive finding: Sperm counts may be declining in some countries around the world. Media outlets began worrying about a potential Spermageddon, but other researchers have pumped the brakes. Because scientists know surprisingly little about sperm.

Also, Noam created a list on the Hark podcast app where he talked about some of his favorite bitesize moments of the show so far. And it’s easy to share with friends! https://bit.ly/3tib6pd

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The quest to build a star Jan 05, 2022

Scientists are closer than ever to harnessing fusion power — the same process that powers the sun — by essentially making a small star here on Earth. Fusion could give humanity its best shot at solving the climate crisis, but the technology has yet to be perfected and would require billions more in investments. Is it worth the bet?

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BONUS: The 2021 song Dec 31, 2021

Noam wrote an end-of-year song with Today, Explained host Sean Rameswaram, so we thought to drop it here as a little end-of-year surprise.

Lyrics:

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second the year’d begun

We had an insurrection

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second the year’d begun

We had an insurrection

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

So if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

So if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

Dial back to when the year had begun

We were looking forward to the end of hibernation

But it didn’t even last a week

No it didn’t even last a week, mm-hmm

On the sixth day of 2021

Vanilla Isis tried to flip the election

But looking back we can’t agree

On the facts, no, we can’t agree, mm-mm

Pretty soon we were signing up for shots (shots!)

Talking about shots (shots!)

Shots shots shots (shots!)

Everyone was a pharma fan

With the Pfizer fam, the Moderna clan (J&J)

But we should have known Delta would happen

Most of humanity not getting vaxxed and

Fourth wave — fifth wave, in rhythm

That’s one more wave than feminism!

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

But according to Joe Ro-gun

You should take Ivermectin

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

But if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

A booster, I’m not sure I need it.

Dune on the IMAX, I seen it.

Back to the good life, I dreamed it. (Arrakis)

Wake up, reality, don’t fit.

Hope you don’t need a house or a condo (a condo)

Hope you don’t need a trip to Toronto (Toronto)

Hope you don’t need some gas for your Durango (Durango)

Hope you don’t need a can of dried mangos (dried mangos)

Everyone is feeling frustration

Quitting jobs — the Great Resignation

Blaming Biden for rising inflation

While billionaires shoot off to space, racing

Did we fix the grid in Texas? (yes)

Figure out how wide the Suez is? (yes)

Don’t ask me

All I see on TV

It's just fights on Critical Race Theory

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Moving onto issue number one:

Whether to allow abortions!

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

But if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

I just want to be free

Of thinking about Covid-19

I just want to see

Something done about global warming

And I still don’t get NFT’s

Can’t understand crypto currency and

And we can’t agree on anything

But at least we got together to free Britney

(Oh baby baby)

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second as the year’d begun

We had an insurrection

And people lied about the last election

And made it harder to vote in elections

At least we don’t have another election

Wait, I think there’s another election...

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second we thought we’d won

We’re learning how to say "Omicron"

Guess you never know what’s gonna come through

Making plans for things you’ll never do

But take it from a brown guy (and a Jew)

There’s always 2022.

This song was written and performed by Sean Rameswaram and Noam Hassenfeld, produced by Noam, engineered by Efim Shapiro, and features additional vocals from Christina Animashaun.

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The building blocks of the universe Dec 22, 2021

Most of the matter in the universe is dark matter, an invisible, untouchable, mysterious substance. Scientists don’t know what exactly dark matter is, despite decades of searching. But recently, they got a new clue in the form of an extremely tiny dancer.

This episode is a remix of two prior episodes of Unexplainable, which has been airing on broadcast radio through a partnership with American Public Media.

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99% of ocean plastic is missing Dec 15, 2021

How can we solve the problem of ocean plastic if we don’t know where most of the plastic is?

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How medicine mansplained women’s health Dec 08, 2021

Until 1993, many researchers excluded women from clinical drug trials, leaving doctors in the dark about how new treatments work in more than half the population. This is the story of why that happened, the women who fought to change it, and what we still don’t know about how sex and gender affect health.

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How Venus went to hell Dec 01, 2021

Venus is the hottest, scariest place in the solar system, but billions of years ago it may have been a lot like Earth, complete with an ocean of water. So, what killed Venus? And could Earth be next?

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Mind readers Nov 17, 2021

Will scientists ever fully understand the human brain? In their quest for knowledge, they’ve tried knives, magnets, computers, blood, and even a good metaphor.

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A brainless yellow goo that does math Nov 10, 2021

Slime molds can navigate mazes, control robots, and make complicated decisions, all without a central nervous system. If this weird gooey blob can think, does that mean scientists are thinking about intelligence all wrong?

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Why whales get beached Nov 03, 2021

Every year, thousands of marine mammals end up trapped on beaches, but it’s often hard to figure out why. It’s even harder to figure out how much humans are to blame.

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Talking to ghosts Oct 27, 2021

Why do so many people think they can see and hear ghosts, and what does that say about our conscious experience of the world?

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Honey, we shrunk the birds Oct 20, 2021

A recent study of tens of thousands of birds has shown that birds are growing smaller over time. It could be due to climate change, and if so, we ought to consider: How else might humans be altering the literal shape of life on Earth — now and in the future?

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Nobel Prize 2.0 Oct 06, 2021

The Nobel Prize has rewarded some amazing discoveries. It’s also contributed to scientific tunnel vision. This week, how the Nobel impacted our understanding of an enormous cosmic mystery, and what a new and improved Nobel Prize could look like.

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The James Webb Time Machine Sep 29, 2021

To look into deep space is to look back in time. With the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists hope to see “cosmic dawn,” a period long ago when the first starlight transformed the universe. But what happened before cosmic dawn? The Webb can’t tell us, though future telescopes could.

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The James Webb Space Telescope Sep 22, 2021

After decades of planning, NASA is finally (finally!) set to launch the successor to the Hubble. The new Webb telescope will be a paradigm shift for astronomy, exploring places in the cosmos that have been completely invisible to us until now. But first, it has to safely reach a point nearly a million miles away from the Earth.

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What causes Alzheimer’s? Sep 15, 2021

For decades, Alzheimer’s researchers have been stubbornly pursuing a single theory, but they’re starting to wonder: is this narrow focus the reason we still don’t have a cure?

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Havana syndrome Sep 01, 2021

Several years after US diplomats in Cuba claimed they were attacked by an invisible weapon, similar incidents continue to be reported around the world. Scientists haven’t been able to determine a definitive cause, but the possibilities point toward something just as mysterious as the illness itself: the inner workings of the human brain.

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Getting to the bottom of butts Aug 25, 2021

Once upon a time, there were no anuses. These ingenious organs allowed our primordial ancestors to grow bigger and more complex, but scientists still don’t understand how they evolved. And they’re still grasping at a mystery that literally surrounds it: Why is the human butt so big?

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The mysteries of endometriosis Aug 18, 2021

This common chronic condition — where tissue similar to what grows inside the uterus grows elsewhere in the body — is barely understood. So why is a condition so prevalent and painful still so unknown? It has a lot to do with who gets to ask research questions.

Correction, August 18: An earlier version of this episode implied that the tissue involved in endometriosis is the same as the endometrium, which lines the uterus. It is similar tissue, but not identical.

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A 150-year-old human Aug 11, 2021

Two scientists. A billion-dollar wager. One unanswered question: Is the first human who will live to 150 already alive? The technology to make that happen may already be in development. But if it works, there will be new, unsettling questions for humankind to answer.

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How low can you go? Aug 04, 2021

Earlier this year, Nicole Yamase explored the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest place in the ocean, where few people have ever been. The rest of the seafloor is almost as mysterious — 80 percent remains unmapped — but the few glimpses scientists have gotten have completely revolutionized our understanding of the planet.

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The tornado problem Jul 28, 2021

8 minutes, 24 seconds. That’s the average amount of warning time people get before a tornado touches down. To do better, and to understand tornadoes, scientists need to confront more of these storms, head on.

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Moon poop Jul 21, 2021

Astronauts left something on the moon that could help unlock the origins of life itself.

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Hot pink flying squirrels Jul 14, 2021

An accidental discovery on a nighttime walk led one scientist and his team to wonder: How many mammals glow under ultraviolet light? The list keeps growing, but scientists still aren’t sure why these furry creatures glow.

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Henrietta Leavitt and the end of the universe Jun 30, 2021

In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt made one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy: a yardstick to measure distances to faraway stars. Using this tool, scientists eventually transformed our understanding of the universe. They realized space was expanding, that this expansion was accelerating, and that ultimately, everything will end.

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How do animals know where to go? Jun 23, 2021

As part of a massive new global tracking project, scientists are monitoring animals from a receiver on the International Space Station, mapping the incredible, previously unknown journeys that animals undertake. They’re beginning to tackle questions like how far do animals actually move? And how in the world do they know where they’re going?

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Invasion of the jumping worms Jun 16, 2021

These worms are fast, they’re mysterious, and they’re quickly changing North American ecosystems. How worried should we be about global worming?

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The many heights of Mount Everest Jun 09, 2021

How tall is the world’s tallest mountain? The answer is surprisingly tricky, which means that Everest’s official height is constantly changing. In fact, depending on the type of measurement scientists use, Everest may not be the tallest mountain in the world.

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Unexplainable Flying Objects Jun 02, 2021

UFOs are real, but that doesn’t mean they’re aliens. Today, Explained, Vox's daily news podcast, tells the story of America's longstanding relationship with UFOs and what we might learn from an upcoming government report.

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The hunt for a new Pluto May 26, 2021

Something strange is going on at the outer reaches of the solar system. One astronomer thinks it might be a Neptune-sized ninth planet, and he’s on a quest to find it.

That search is happening at an enormous telescope on the summit of Maunakea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano with a long astronomical and cultural history. But many Native Hawaiian scientists are asking: What’s lost in the pursuit of larger and larger telescopes?

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Cloudy with a chance of chaos May 19, 2021

It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change, but it’s essential to try. Because how clouds react to a warming world helps determine how hot our future will be.

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A new force of nature? May 12, 2021

Last month, physicists at Fermilab in Illinois found that tiny subatomic particles called muons were wobbling strangely. This small observation could transform the future of particle physics, potentially pointing toward undiscovered particles or maybe even a new force of nature.

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Placebos work. Why? May 05, 2021

For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can give patients placebos, tell them they’re on sugar pills, and they still might feel better. No one is sure how this works, but it raises a question: Should doctors embrace placebos in mainstream medicine?

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A virus that could heal people Apr 28, 2021

In 2016, the UN declared antibiotic-resistant bacteria the “greatest and most urgent global risk.” Our best hope just might be phages, or viruses that attack bacteria. Phages’ potential is enormous, but so is everything we don’t know about them.

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The Twilight Zone of the ocean Apr 21, 2021

Every day, untold numbers of strange organisms rise from the middle of the ocean to its surface. They may be playing a crucial role in slowing climate change, so scientists are struggling to understand this migration ... before it’s too late.

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The viral ghosts of long Covid Apr 14, 2021

Scientists don’t understand why so many people suffer from Covid-19 symptoms for months, well after they stop testing positive. But that’s just the start of the mystery. There are other diseases that cast these long shadows, and they point to a major blind spot in medicine.

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Is a ton of psychology just ... wrong? Apr 07, 2021

A decade ago, psychologists realized much of their science was fatally flawed, calling untold numbers of studies into question. Now, some young psychologists are trying to rebuild the foundations of their field. Can they succeed?

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It’s ball lightning! Mar 31, 2021

For millennia, people have been reporting stories of mysterious spheres of light that glow, crackle, and hover eerily during thunderstorms. They’ve been spotted in people’s homes, and are even said to be able to pass through windows. No one knows how ball lightning forms — but that’s not stopping scientists from attempting to recreate it in their labs.

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Skeleton Lake Mar 24, 2021

When scientists examined the DNA of ancient bones found near a Himalayan lake, they were forced to confront a seemingly impossible conclusion.

*This episode has been updated. In the original version, we mixed up carbon isotopes with carbon isotope ratios.

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Journey Toward the Center of the Earth Mar 17, 2021

Sixty years ago, geologists tried to drill down through the Earth’s crust to pull up a piece of the Earth’s mantle. Their mission didn’t go exactly as planned. But it sowed the seeds for a new field of science that’s helped us rewrite not only the history of the planet, but, potentially, our definitions of life itself.

The documentaries featured in this episode are "The First Deep Ocean Drilling: Mohole, Phase 1" and "Project Mohole: Report No. 1."

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No one nose Mar 10, 2021

Believe it or not, scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works. But they're looking at how powerful it is - dogs can actually sniff out cancer and many other diseases - and they're trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it. In fact, one MIT scientist may have built a robot nose ... without completely understanding how his invention works.

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Article on quantum nose theory: https://bit.ly/3clurfs

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Most of the universe is missing Mar 10, 2021

Scientists all over the world are searching for dark matter: an invisible, untouchable substance that holds our universe together. But they haven't found it. Are they chasing a ghost?

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Introducing Unexplainable Feb 19, 2021

Scientists don’t know what 95% of the universe is made of. They don’t know how a bike stays up. They don’t even really know how the nose works. Join us every Wednesday on Unexplainable for deep dives into the unknown, because what we don’t know is awesome. New episodes March 10th.

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