Category: ScienceNews

How high will the ocean rise under climate change? By 2050, scientists have a pretty good idea. But why does it matter where you live? And what can humans do to slow it down? 
This episode is part of Nature Quest, our monthly segment that brings you a question from a Short Waver who is noticing a change in the world around them. Our question comes from Peter Lansdale in Santa Cruz, Calif. 

To see what future sea levels will look like where you live, check out NOAA’s Sea Level Rise Viewer here.

Noticed any changes in *your* local environment that you want us to investigate? Send a voice memo to shortwave@npr.org telling us your name, your location, and the change you’ve noticed – it could be our next Nature Quest episode!

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You’ve probably heard of PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. But what about its counterpart, post-traumatic growth?
The term was coined in the 90s to describe the positive psychological growth that researchers documented in people who had been through traumatic or highly stressful life events. Psychologists and sociologists conducting long-range studies on survivors of Hurricane Katrina – which hit 20 years ago and remains one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the US – are continuing to learn more about it. 

So how do you measure post-traumatic growth? Can it co-exist with PTSD? NPR mental health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee explains what scientists have found so far … and how it could help shape disaster relief efforts in the future.

Interested in more psychology and social science stories? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Sometimes in science, when you try to answer one question it sparks even more questions.

The CrowdScience inbox is a bulging example of that. We get tons of new questions every week and many of those are following up on episodes we’ve made. Sometimes you want us to go deeper into part of the answer, or sometimes a subject intrigues you so much that it inspires further questions about it.

In this episode presenter Caroline Steel is on a mission to answer some of those questions.

The CrowdScience episode How do fish survive in the deep ocean? led listener Ivor to wonder what sort of vision deep sea fish might have. On hand to answer that is Professor Lars Schmitz, Kravis Professor of Integrated Sciences: Biology, at Claremont McKenna College in the USA

Sticking with vision, we also tackle a question inspired by the CrowdScience episode Do we all see the same colour? For years listener Catarina has wondered why her eyes appear to change colour. Professor Pirro Hysi, ophthalmologist at the University of Pittsburgh, sheds some light on that subject.

In India, Rakesh listened to the CrowdScience episode Will the Earth ever lose its moon? and wondered about Jupiter’s many moons. The European Space Agency’s Ines Belgacem is working on a new mission to study Jupiter’s moons. She explains which of the giant planet’s ninety seven moons are ones for Rakesh to watch.

We also hear how the episode Why can’t my dog live as long as me? caught the attention of listener Lisa... and her cat. She had us falling in love with the long history of falling cats and the scientists who study them. Caroline is joined by Professor Greg Gbur, physicist at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte in the USA and author of Falling Felines and Fundamental Physics.

Could this episode of follow up questions lead to an episode investigating the follow up questions to these follow up questions? Have a listen and, who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself inspired to email crowdscience@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Caroline Steel

Producer: Tom Bonnett

Editor: Ben Motley

(Photo: Innovation and new ideas lightbulb concept with Question Mark - stock photo Credit: Olemedia via Getty Images)

This week marks 200 years since the first steam train pulled passengers over 26 miles of north-east England’s countryside, and started a revolution. Jump on board for show filled with train tales.

We explore Mumbai’s lunch delivery system – train based, of course, which has the sort of error rate that delivery firms arounds the world can only dream of. We ask what it takes to run a railway on time, and look at how the bullet train changed Japan, with history professor Jessamyn Abel.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Margaret Sessa-Hawkins with Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, Robbie Wojciechowski, Lucy Davies

Since the age of nine or ten, Katie Burns has had debilitating pain from endometriosis, a condition where tissue resembling the uterine lining grows outside the uterus. For years, Katie was in the dark about what was causing her pain. Even after a diagnosis at age 20 it was hard to find relief, or even answers about her condition. Her search for better care is part of what led her to a career studying the disease, which affects tens of millions of people worldwide. And in 2012, she discovered something new about its origins. Today, we talk to Katie and science reporter Meredith Wadman about that discovery, which points to a surprising culprit of endometriosis — the immune system.


Read Meredith’s full piece in Science Magazine HERE. 


Interested in more health science ? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.


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Epigenetic changes during early brain development, and the complexities of autism. Also, how bacteria learn to parry antibiotics, the subterranean burp that shook the Island of Santorini, and new guidance for sharing land between farming space and living space for the pollinators on which it depends.

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

(Image: Blastocyst embryo, light micrograph. Credit: Science Photo Library via Getty Images).

On Monday, the Trump administration linked the use of Tylenol with rising autism rates, but science doesn’t support that claim. Guest host Sydney Lupkin talks to autism researcher Helen Tager-Flusberg about how autism is studied, the findings from decades of research, and what people–especially those who are pregnant–should do when they experience pain or fever. Plus, we dig into guidance behind using leucovorin to treat autism.

Interested in more science behind the headlines? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Food allergies have risen in the United States over the last few decades. Research suggests that 40 years ago the prevalence of food allergies was less than 1%. But today that number is closer to 6%. But this trend is not present in all countries — and what people are allergic to varies globally. Today, we dive into the complex world of food allergies with Dr. Waheeda Samady. She's the director of clinical research at Northwestern University's Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research.

Have a food science question? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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The anti-aging product market was worth roughly 53 BILLION dollars in 2024. One of the latest big trends: red light therapy. Social media is rampant with claims about all sorts of purported health benefits to using directed red light regularly … but does the research really live up to all the hype?


For answers, we turn to cosmetic chemist and science communicator Michelle Wong. Together, she and host Regina G. Barber sift through the thin (albeit growing) research on red light therapy to find out which claims are clearly backed by the literature – and which still need a bit more experimental data. 


Interested in more science behind skincare products? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.


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According to a new study, the planet is drying at an unprecedented pace, presenting a critical threat to humanity. Researchers found that “continental drying is having profound global impacts” that “threaten water availability” across the globe. To learn more, Ali Rogin speaks with ProPublica climate investigations editor Abrahm Lustgarten for our series, Tipping Point. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy