Category: ScienceNews

There’s something fishy going on in the Czech Republic, where CrowdScience listener Ian lives. He keeps tropical fish, and he’s noticed that when he adds new ones to his tank, they swim with others of the same breed. He wants to know how they recognise each other. Do they know what they look like, and recognise others that look the same, or is there something else going on?

Presenter Anand Jagatia takes a deep breath and dives into the science. At the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth, Dr Lauren Nadler from the University of Southampton introduces us to some Blue Green Chromis fish to look for clues about how and why they form their large social groups. And we explore the smelly world of fish olfaction with Professor Culum Brown from Macquarie University in Sydney Australia.

The mirror test is a classic way of trying to understand whether an animal can recognise itself or not. Professor Alex Jordan from the Max Plank institute in Konstanz, Germany explains how scientists place a visible mark on an animal, show it a mirror, and if the animal tries to rub it off, it suggests that the animal knows it’s seeing itself. A variety of apes, elephants and dolphins have passed with flying colours, but has a fish been able to take on the test? And are there really self-aware shoals drifting through our oceans? Presenter: Anand Jagatia

Producer: Emily Bird

Editor: Ben Motley

(Photo:Familiarity of the two fish. Portrait of a Hemichromis lifalili. Macro- Credit: kozorog via Getty Images)

After the leaders of Japan and South Korea ended their summit with the two participating in a drumming duet, we’re marching to the beat of our own drum and exploring some rhythmic science.

First, we look at nature’s drummer, the woodpecker, and why their pecking doesn’t give them a concussion. We also discuss how the rhythm of your brain waves impacts your sense of ownership over your own body.

Then, we’re joined by Daniel Levitin, author of Music as Medicine, who tells us all about using rhythm in the treatment of neurological conditions.

Next, we hear about a new claim to the title of the world’s oldest computer, and how flying affects your body’s natural rhythms.

All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia, with Sandy Ong and Edd Gent Producers: Sophie Ormiston, with Ella Hubber, Lucy Davies and Imy Harper

A new study shows penguins are breeding earlier than ever in the Antarctic Peninsula. This region is one of the fastest-warming areas of the world due to climate change, and penguins time their breeding period to environmental conditions. That’s everything from the temperature outside and whether there’s ice on the ground to what food is available. Changes in those conditions could contribute to mating changes. Plus, answers to a debate about how ice melts and how dirty diapers train parents in the art of disgust. 


Have a scientific question you want us to answer? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.


Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.


Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 


This episode was produced by Jason Fuller and Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and Christopher Intagliata. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineers were Kwesi Lee and Hannah Gluvna.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Cloud 9 is a failed galaxy. It’s a clump of dark matter, called a dark matter halo, that never formed stars. But this failure could be the key to a mystery almost as old as the universe itself: dark matter. Scientists don’t know what dark matter is, but Cloud 9 could offer new clues. Three researchers weigh in on this new discovery and why it could be a missing piece to the story on how the universe formed.


Check out our episode with astrophysicist Jorge Moreno on the mysterious Great Attractor and our summer series on space. 


Have a scientific question you want us to answer? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Tressie McMillan Cottom says the second Trump administration has revealed uncomfortable truths about power in America. She talks with Geoff Bennett about trust in institutions and how to keep your sense of purpose in an onslaught of news. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Medical drama The Pitt is winning Golden Globes… and health care workers’ hearts. Medical experts say the show, which chronicles a fictional Pittsburgh hospital emergency department, is perhaps the most medically accurate show that’s ever been created. But what about The Pitt makes it so accurate… and does the second season hold up as well as the first? Stanford Global Health Media Fellow (and fourth-year medical school student) Michal Ruprecht joins Short Wave to discuss.

Have a question about YOUR favorite show and whether science supports it? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.


Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.


This episode was produced by Hannah Chinn. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineer was Maggie Luthar.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Scientists are worried about the melting of Antarctica's ice sheets and what it could mean for sea levels. There's a two-month-long journey underway to conduct research that will better explain what's happening. But it's a journey that provides no guarantees that researchers will even be able to get the data they want. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports for our series, Tipping Point. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

In today's episode, host Emily Kwong leads us on a night hike in Patuxent River State Park in Maryland. Alongside a group of naturalists led by Serenella Linares, we'll meet a variety of species with unique survival quirks and wintertime adaptations. We'll search out lichen that change color under UV light and flip over a wet log to track a salamander keeping warm under wet leaves. Emily may even meet the bioluminescent mushrooms of her dreams. Plus, we talk about community events to get outside, such as the City Nature Challenge and Great American Campout.

Do you have a question about changes in your local environment? Email a recording of your question to shortwave@npr.org — we may investigate it as part of an upcoming Nature Quest segment!

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Ultra-processed foods make up more than half the average American diet and they're linked to rising rates of obesity and heart disease. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the Trump Administration has a solution. But will this plan really "Make America Healthy Again?" Horizons moderator William Brangham explores the American food crisis with Marion Nestle, Ashley Gearhardt and Cindy Leung. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Is silence blood-curdling or blissful? CrowdScience listener Ziqi finds it intolerable and thinks that there’s a good reason for it – silence is so rare in nature that it could be a signal for danger.

Presenter Marnie Chesterton is on a mission to test Ziqi’s theory, starting with her own tolerance for silence.

She meets acoustic engineer Trevor Cox in the UK to find out whether silence is something we can measure. To do that she steps into an anechoic chamber, a place that’s designed to absorb all sound. In this most silent of silent places, what does silence actually sound like?

Marnie also talks to researcher Eric Pfeifer in Germany, who is exploring the impact of spending time in silence and has evidence to suggest that it could be a positive experience.

And neuroscientist Marta Moita in Portugal tells Marnie about how rats use silence to detect a threat in their environment. Her discoveries may hold the answer to Ziqi’s question.

Presenter Marnie Chesterton

Producer Jo Glanville

Editor Ben Motley (Photo:Young woman covering ears ignoring loud noise, plugging ears with fingers annoyed by noisy neighbours - stock photo- Credit: Mariia Vitkovska via Getty Images)