Category: ScienceNews

In 2016, biologists and fishermen across the country started to notice something disturbing. Freshwater mussels were dying in large numbers. NPR National Correspondent Nathan Rott tells us about the unsolved mystery surrounding the die-off, the team racing to figure it out, and why mussels are so important for the health of our streams and rivers.

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Jump on-board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story, told by the people who flew it and saved it. Search for 13 Minutes to the Moon wherever you get your podcasts. #13MinutestotheMoon

Physicists have done the math and there should be as much antimatter as matter — but that hasn't been the case so far. NPR Correspondent Geoff Brumfiel explains what's up with matter's "evil twin," antimatter.

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Attributing Australia's bush fires, a major study says man-made climate change was a big driver – making the fires at least 30% worse than they would have been if natural processes were the only factors.

We look at preparations for coronavirus in Africa. Although cases there are currently lower than in much of the rest of the world a major training initiative is taking place to spread awareness amongst medics across the continent.

We ask why Horseshoe bats in particular carry coronaviruses, and find a novel idea for distributing vaccines in places without refrigeration.

And why are we obsessed with crime? Kay from Hamburg, Germany asks as every Sunday evening Germans pile into their local pubs to watch Tatort, a hugely successful crime drama which has been running for 50 years.

Presenter Marnie Chesterton starts with the science and speaks with psychologists to get to the bottom of where this obsession might come from. Have we evolved to have an innate obsession with danger or are we addicted to feeling fear?

Or perhaps the dramatisation of crime fuels our obsession. Producer Caroline Steel visits the film set of BBC crime drama, Line of Duty. Producer Jed Mercurio explains what draws us to crime narratives and the techniques he uses to keep his audience captivated.

But does the way we chose to represent crime in media match up with reality? And what is the impact of this on society and policy?

(Image: Australian bushfires. Credit: Getty images/AFP)

Why are we obsessed with crime? Kay from Hamburg, Germany asks as every Sunday evening Germans pile into their local pubs to watch Tatort, a hugely successful crime drama which has been running for 50 years. Presenter Marnie Chesterton starts with the science and speaks with psychologists to get to the bottom of where this obsession might come from. Have we evolved to have an innate obsession with danger or are we addicted to feeling fear?

Or perhaps the dramatisation of crime fuels our obsession. Producer Caroline Steel visits the film set of BBC crime drama, Line of Duty. Producer Jed Mercurio explains what draws us to crime narratives and the techniques he uses to keep his audience captivated. But does the way we chose to represent crime in media match up with reality? And what is the impact of this on society and policy?

(Photo: body outline. Credit: Getty Images)

From currency and commerce, food labels to laboratories, the metric system is the foundation of many science and math fields. To mark our 100th episode (a multiple of 10, which is the basis for the metric system!), we spoke with Elizabeth Benham, Metric Program Coordinator at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, about the presence of the metric system in our everyday lives.

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Attributing Australia's bush fires, a major study says man-made climate change was a big driver – making the fires at least 30% worse than they would have been if natural processes were the only factors.

We look at preparations for coronavirus in Africa. Although cases there are currently lower than in much of the rest of the world a major training initiative is taking place to spread awareness amongst medics across the continent.

We ask why Horseshoe bats in particular carry coronaviruses, and find a novel idea for distributing vaccines in places without refrigeration.

(Image: Australian bushfires. Credit: Getty images/AFP)

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Julian Siddle

This one doesn't end the way you'd expect. Inspired by the Netflix documentary series "Night On Earth," we learn everything we can about a mouse and scorpion who do battle on the regular — from two scientists who study them: Ashlee Rowe at the University of Oklahoma and Lauren Esposito at the California Academy of Sciences.

If you have Netflix, you can watch the critters clash about 18 minutes into the episode 'Moonlit Plains' here.

Read more about Lauren's work with scorpions here, and Ashlee's work with grasshopper mice here. And you can learn more about grasshopper mouse vocalizations from Northern Arizona University's Bret Pasch here.

Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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Despite quarantines and other measures, the coronavirus keeps popping up. What makes it so hard to control?

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As sea levels rise from climate change, coastal communities face a greater risk of chronic flooding. Climate scientist Astrid Caldas and her colleagues have looked at where it's happening now and where it could happen in the future as the tides keep getting higher. Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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