Stay ConnectedUnexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know…and then keeps on going. The Unexplainable team — Noam Hassenfeld, Julia Longoria, Byrd Pinkerton, and Meradith Hoddinott — tackles scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn diving into the unknown. New episodes Mondays and Wednesdays.
From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Copyright: © 2021 Vox Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved
For the first time in over 50 years, humans have gone to the moon and back. And this time, NASA says we're going to stay. NASA's planning for more missions, a permanent moon base, and even a mission to Mars. But there's a pretty big question hanging over all these dreams: Can humans survive in space long enough to make them happen?
(A version of this episode originally aired in 2022, with the launch of Artemis I.)
Guests: Anne McClain, NASA Astronaut; Scott Kelly, former NASA Astronaut; Rebecca Boyle, science writer, Jonathan Jiang, NASA astrophysicist
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Typically, the burden of birth control falls on whoever has a uterus, but it seems like that might change — and soon!
Guest: Annalisa Merelli, contributing writer at STAT.
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Host Julia Longoria signs off from Unexplainable with one final question: Why does her grandma love Vicks VapoRub so much? A version of this episode originally aired on WNYC’s Only Human podcast.
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Casey Harrell is a goofy, lighthearted chatterbox whose love for language helped him become an accomplished environmental activist. In 2020, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and slowly began losing the ability to speak. He sang his last song to his infant daughter and fell into silence. But, now, with the help of 256 microelectrodes implanted directly into his motor cortex, he’s learning to talk once more. It isn’t easy.
Guests: Casey Harrell and Levana Saxon. You can donate to their GoFundMe here.
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Oliver Sacks was once crowned “the poet laureate of medicine” — he's known as one of the greatest science writers of our time. But when New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv dug into his archives, she discovered that some details in his intimate portraits of patients mirrored his personal life a little too closely.
Guest: Rachel Aviv, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of Strangers to Ourselves.
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One of the deadliest poisons known to man is now used to treat wrinkles, migraines, and even, maybe, depression. How did that happen?
Guests: Jean Carruthers, ophthalmologist and “godmother” of cosmetic Botox. David Simpson, neurologist at Mount Sinai hospital in New York. Axel Wollmer, psychiatrist at the Asklepios clinic in Hamburg, Germany.
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Many alchemical texts are full of bizarre, metaphorical language. But what if there's interesting science hiding behind some of those metaphors?
Guest: Lawrence Principe, professor of the history of science and professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University
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Grab some hot cocoa and a warm blanket and let’s talk about the tiny crystals that fall from the sky.
Guest: Jessica Lundquist, professor of civil & environmental engineering at the University of Washington
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A man committed a crime. He admitted it. Then something alarming showed up on an image of his brain. The criminal case that followed in 1991 brought neuroscience into the courtroom for good. How does our ever-changing understanding of the brain impact how we approach justice?
Guests: Josh May, professor of philosophy, University of Alabama, Birmingham, author of Neuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain Science, Anthony Wagner, neuroscientist and professor of psychology, Stanford University Memory Lab, and Adina Roskies, professor of philosophy, UC Santa Barbara.
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How many fish are in the sea? It's a question that has had enormous consequences for the fishing community in New Bedford, Massachusetts. But one man managed to find a way around it. That man? The Codfather.
Guest: Ian Coss, host and producer of WBGH's Catching the Codfather
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