This week, we start off by digging into conspiracy theories. What’s behind their enduring allure? And have they always been around? Marnie and the panel investigate.
Many conspiracy theories are based off of misinformation… but what’s actually going on in our brains when we lie? We look into the case of the man who was physically unable of spreading tall tales.
Sometimes, the truth is there, but is difficult to uncover. Delving for this deeper meaning is something particle physicists like Dr Harry Cliff have been doing for decades. Harry tells us where we are in the ongoing quest to understand our Universe.
Also, we hear the ingenious way Costa Rican scientists are dealing with pineapple waste, and we answer a South African listener’s question about evolution.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Sophie Ormiston, with Margaret Sessa Hawkins and Alex Mansfield
One name has been on millions of minds — and all over the news — in the past week: Hilary.
It's been decades since a storm like this has hit Southern California, so even some scientists were shocked when they heard it was coming. In today's episode, Regina Barber talks to Jill Trepanier, who studies extreme climatic events — like hurricanes and climate change — at Louisiana State University. She tells us how we use science to predict events like this, and what Hilary and future storms may or may not tell us about the changing climate.
Have an interesting science story to share? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
It's no secret that our electric grid is a flaming hot mess — and in order to reduce emissions, the U.S. needs to get a lot more renewables onto the grid. But there's a problem: Our electric grid is too old and outdated to handle this new technology. In fact, many of the copper wires on transmission lines are using technology from as far back as the early 1900s!
Because of this, thousands of wind and solar projects are waiting for years to get online. The Inflation Reduction Act is incentivizing a big transition to things like electric cars, heat pumps and other devices, which means we'll need even more electricity that will further push the limits of existing infrastructure.
Now more than ever, we need this new power. With this in mind, some tech companies are finding solutions to make the existing grid work better.
Aaron Scott talks with NPR's climate solutions reporter Julia Simon about these solutions and how they might be a whole lot quicker — and cheaper — than you'd think.
How do you think about the internet? What does the word conjuror up? Maybe a cloud? Or the flashing router in the corner of your front room? Or this magic power that connects over 5 billion people on all the continents of this planet? Most of us don’t think of it at all, beyond whether we can connect our phones to it.
CrowdScience listener Simon has been thinking and wants to know how much it weighs. Which means trying to work out what counts as the internet. If it is purely the electrons that form those tikitok videos and cat memes, then you might be surprised to hear that you could lift of the internet with 1 finger. But presenters Caroline Steel and Marnie Chesterton argue that there might be more, which sends them on a journey.
They meet Andrew Blum, the author of the book Tubes – Behind the Scenes at the Internet, about his journey to trace the physical internet. And enlist vital help from cable-loving analyst Lane Burdette at Telegeography, who maps the internet.
To find those cables under the oceans, they travel to Porthcurno, once an uninhabited valley in rural Cornwall, now home to the Museum of Global Communications thanks to its status as a hub in the modern map of worldwide communications. With the museum’s Susan Heritage-Tilley, they compare original telegraph cables and modern fibre optics.
The team also head to a remote Canadian post office, so correspondent Meral Jamal can intercept folk picking up their satellite internet receivers, and ask to weigh them. A seemingly innocuous question becomes the quest for everything that connects us, and its weight!
Producer: Marnie Chesterton
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton & Caroline Steel
Editor: Richard Collings
Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris
(Image: Scales with data worlds and symbols interspersed throughout. Credit: Getty Images)
Today we enter into the plot of a summer blockbuster adventure movie. Regina talks to NPR reporter Emily Olson about the recently uncovered ancient Maya city, Ocomtun. The large site, which researchers found using LiDAR technology, even seems to have "suburbs," flipping their expectations about how robust the Maya civilization was — and where it was.
Hawaii is still reeling from the devastating fires that consumed Lahaina on the island of Maui last week. Professor of Meteorology from the University of Hawaii, Kevin Hamiliton, joins Science in Action to discuss the factors that make these events more likely across the Hawaiian Islands. Amongst these is climate change.
Also this week we discuss the concerning reports of a sudden spike in methane levels in the Arctic with Xin Lan of the US National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration.
A few weeks ago, we devoted a whole programme to the exciting research on human embryo models made from stem cells. Whilst representing an incredible step for medical research, these raise serious ethical questions. A team of biologists and embryologists have put together a proposal on how to move forward with this ethical quandary, Embryologist Nicolas Rivron tells us more.
And we address the incredible claim of the room temperature super conductor, LK-99, with sceptical materials scientist Michael Fuhrer.
Photo: The Maui town of Lahaina after being destroyed by wildfires
Credit: Getty Images
Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Ella Hubber
Editor: Richard Collings
The conversation this week starts off on corruption. There are allegations of political or corporate malfeasance in the news regularly throughout the world. But can science bring anything to the investigators? We look at some efforts to bring empirical rigour to the fight.
But corruption of sorts is also a big thing in our online lives. Algorithms can deliver duff results, maybe because they are poorly conceived, or perhaps because they are fed corrupt data.
So when our cellular biological algorithms are corrupted, our health is affected. Can cancerous tumours be considered corrupt organs, co-opting healthy cells to assist in their nefarious ends? Dr Ilaria Malanchi of the Crick Institute in London muses on the commonalities.
Also, a look at the politicisation of pre-human palaeontology and how our stories of human origins have been, and in some ways still are, connected with nationalist geographical identities that mainstream science doesn't recognize.
Presenter: Caroline Steel, with Yangyang Chen and Meral Jamal
Producer: Alex Mansfield, with Margaret Sessa Hawkins, Ben Motley, and Sophie Ormiston
Kids ask, "Why?" all the time. Why does 1+1=2? Why do we memorize multiplication tables? Many of us eventually stop asking these questions. But mathematician Dr. Eugenia Cheng says they're key to uncovering the beauty behind math. So today, we celebrate endless curiosity and creativity — the driving forces of mathematicians. Regina G. Barber and Eugenia talk imaginary numbers, how to go beyond simply right and wrong and yes, Eugenia answers the question, "Is math real?"
There's the birds and the bees. And then there's what happens after. The process that leads to the beginning of pregnancy has a lot more twists and turns than a happenstance meeting. Today on Short Wave, NPR health reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin talks about the science of the very first week of pregnancy.
Dogs have been our best animal buddy for thousands of years. They’ve helped us out in countless ways from hunting alongside us to guiding us as service dogs. Talk to any pet owner and they’ll tell you how much joy their dog brings them. But you’ll also probably hear about vets bills, muddy footprints, or chewed up slippers. There are plenty of claims about the ways in which dogs might benefit our physical and mental health -- but how strong is the evidence?
This week on CrowdScience, listeners Jason and Finn in Guernsey want to know if there’s any real evidence that our furry friends can benefit our health and wellbeing.
Join Anand Jagatia as he enlists the help of his own pup, Stella, to explore the evidence. He uncovers the profound effects that service dogs can have on the mental health of military veterans in the US. Anand ponders the strangely unique relationship between humans and dogs and we learn about the surprising ways that about growing up with a pet dog can impact your health.
Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Emily Bird
Editor: Richard Collings
Studio Engineer: Donald MacDonald
Production coordinator: Jonathan Harris, Elliott Prince
Contributors:
Dr Kerri Rodriguez
Professor Tove Fall
Professor Hal Herzog
(Photo: Jack Russell leaping into the air trying to catch a ball. Credit: Brighton Dog Photography/Getty Images)
