Category: ScienceNews

Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō ascends the Māori throne as the new Kuini (Queen), much to the joy of her people, heralding a new age of prominence for the Kiingitanga movement.

We ask whether the new queen may have a biological advantage making her a better fit for leadership, whilst searching for examples of matriarchy in the animal kingdom and analogous human societies.

As is customary, Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō was crowned on the same day as her father’s funeral, thrust into a leadership role during a time of profound grief. We hear from Prof Lucy Selman, expert in palliative and end-of-life care from the University of Bristol, and founder of the Good Grief Festival. She speaks about the physical and emotional manifestations of grief and how it can be processed and overcome, even in the face of immense responsibility.

We remember the legendary voice of the late James Earl Jones, who played the intergalactic monarch, Darth Vader, as Marnie unpicks the science of stuttering.

Unravel a massive jigsaw puzzle, uncover a hidden secret behind Queen’s hit song Don’t Stop Me Now, and delve into the fascinating realm of neuroscience and much more on Unexpected Elements.

We close out Climate Solutions Week with a look at the final step in the food system: waste. Roughly 30-40% of all food produced globally gets thrown out — a huge problem when it comes to climate change. Shuggie's Trash Pie and Natural Wine has answers for what to do with all that waste – be it bruised fruit and wilted greens salad or meatballs made out of beef hearts. The San Francisco restaurant describes itself as a "climate-solutions restaurant" — and they're hoping you find these dishes appealing. Or at least, that you're willing to give them a try. Shuggie's is one of a growing number of eateries trying to address this problem.

Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Nearly a year ago, the top of a mountain on the Greenland coast broke off and slid a thousand metres down into the Dickson Fjord. The impact created a tsunami that started two-hundred-metres-high and sloshed between the cliffs for nine days, producing a global seismic signal. But it was so remote, only now are the details becoming clear. We hear from Paula Koelemeijer, Wieter Boone and Søren Rysgaard.

The decline of the ancient inhabitants of Rapa Nui was unlikely to have been caused by a self-inflicted population collapse, thereby rejecting a contentious theory of ‘ecological suicide’. Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas of the University of Lausanne discusses her team’s findings which shed light on the population history of the island formerly known as Easter Island - one of the most remote inhabited places in the world, around 3,700 km west of South America and over 1,900 km east of the closest inhabited island.

A newly identified species of wasp that attacks and lays eggs inside an adult fly has been discovered by Logan Moore and colleagues from Mississippi State University. Around 200 species of parasitoid wasps that target the fruit fly have been discovered to date - they lay their eggs in living creatures - all of which have been shown to target their hosts during vulnerable stages, such as when larvae or pupae. Until now, no wasp that attacks and develops inside the adult stage of a fruit fly host has been described.

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Jonathan Blackwell Production Coordinator: Andrew Rhys Lewis

(Image: Copernicus Sentinel Data (2023). Credit: European Space Agency)

Climate change is contributing to erratic weather where cocoa beans are grown and threatening the global chocolate supply. Record rainfall last year led to fungal infections among cacao trees and dwindled supply of cocoa beans. Heat is also making it more difficult for cocoa beans to thrive. So, for day three of Climate Solutions Week, we look at one innovation in the food industry: chocolate substitutes.

As big chocolate manufacturers rush to stockpile cocoa beans, some companies like Planet A Foods are looking for a more sustainable solution: an alternative that looks like chocolate, tastes like chocolate and feels like chocolate... without chocolate.

You can read more of international correspondent Rob Schmitz's reporting here.

Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at shortwave@npr.org – we'd love to hear your ideas!

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Since the height of the pandemic, there has been a boom in the use of food delivery services. Day 2 of NPR's Climate Solutions Week is all about the environmental impacts of how we shop for our food. So in this episode, NPR correspondent Scott Neuman reports on a question we've all wanted to know the answer to: What is the impact of getting food delivered on our carbon footprint?

Interested in hearing more climate solutions? Email us at shortwave@npr.org – we'd love to hear your ideas!

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In California's Napa Valley, the nation's unofficial wine capital, one varietal reigns supreme: cabernet sauvignon. But climate change is threatening the small blue-black grapes for which cabernet sauvignon is named. Increasingly severe heat waves are taking a toll on the grape variety, especially in late summer during ripening.

To kick off NPR's Climate Solutions Week, climate correspondent Lauren Sommer joins host Regina G. Barber for a deep dive into the innovations wineries are actualizing — and the ways that cabernet farmers and fans alike could learn to adapt.

Climate change is affecting our food, and our food is affecting the climate. NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about the search for solutions.

Read more of Lauren's reporting on how climate change is affecting wine.

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Hey, Short Wavers! Today, we have a special present for all of you: An episode from our good friends at NPR's Body Electric podcast all a bout artificial intimacy! Thanks to advances in AI, chatbots can act as personalized therapists, companions and romantic partners. The apps offering these services have been downloaded millions of times. If these relationships relieve stress and make us feel better, does it matter that they're not "real"? On this episode of Body Electric, host Manoush Zomorodi talks to MIT sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle about her new research into what she calls "artificial intimacy" and its impact on our mental and physical health.

Binge the whole Body Electric series here. Plus, sign up for the Body Electric Challenge and our newsletter here.

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Many of us experience an inner voice: we silently talk to ourselves as we go about our daily lives. CrowdScience listener Fredrick has been wondering about the science behind this interior dialogue. We hear from psychologists researching our inner voice and discover that it’s something that begins in early childhood. Presenter Caroline Steel meets Russell Hurlburt, a pioneering scientist who devised a method of researching this - and volunteers to monitor her own inner speech to figure out what’s going on in her mind. She discovers that speech is just part of what’s going on in our heads, much of our inner world in fact doesn’t involve language at all but includes images, sensations and feelings. Caroline talks to psychologist Charles Fernyhough, who explains one theory for how we develop an interior dialogue as young children: first speaking out loud to ourselves and then learning to keep that conversation going silently. No one really knows how this evolved, but keeping our thoughts quiet may have been a way of staying safe from predators and enemies. Using MRI scanning, Charles and Russell have peered inside people’s brains to understand this interior voice and found something surprising: inner dialogue appears to have more in common with listening than with speaking.

Caroline also has an encounter with a robot that has been programmed to dialogue with itself. Which leads us to some deep questions: is our inner voice part of what makes us human, and if so, what are the consequences of robots developing this ability? Scientist Arianna Pipitone describes it as a step towards artificial consciousness.

Featuring: Professor Charles Fernyhough, University of Durham, UK Professor Russell Hurlburt, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA Dr Arianna Pipitone, University of Palermo, Italy Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Cathy Edwards Sound design: Julian Wharton Studio manager: Donald MacDonald Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano

(Image: Mixed Race boy looking up Credit: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc via Getty Images)

Here on Unexpected Elements, we've been glued to the drama of the Paralympic games in Paris. But it's not just the thrill of the competition that's got us hooked, we've also become obsessed with some of the high-octane training regimes undertaken by the athletes.

Take American 'Armless Archer' Matt Stutzman, who shoots arrows through the windows of his own house and car to recreate the high pressure of the Olympic stadium. He's chasing a thrill, and so are we!

We hear about the research on one extraordinary woman who had a medical condition which caused her to have no fear.

And we follow the fate of an extraordinary marine creature, who detaches his own arm in his quest for a mate.

We hear about why humans love to be scared - as long as it's all in good fun.

And we hear about the space debris falling to earth, and the thrilling quest of a plane full of scientists who want to watch it fall.

That and loads more unexpected elements in this week's show.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Tristan Ahtone and Affelia Wibisono Producer: Emily Knight, with Harrison Lewis, Dan Welsh and Noa Dowling Sound engineer: Gwynfor Jones

Last year, a dog named Bunny went viral on TikTok for pressing buttons with words on them to "communicate" with her owner. But can dogs even understand those words on a soundboard in the first place? A new study in the journal PLOS One seeks answers. Host Regina G. Barber and producer Rachel Carlson break down that story and more of the week's news with the help of All Things Considered's Ari Shapiro.

Have other viral headlines that you want us to put to the test for its scientific truth? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might cover it on a future episode!

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