For International Talk Like a Pirate Day on 19th September, we dig up a treasure chest full of pirate-inspired science.
First up, we peer down our microscopes at a bacterium that takes its inspiration from a pirate warship. Next, we turn our attention to scurvy, the disease that plagued mariners and is now making a comeback in the modern age.
We then get on the line with marine archaeologist Dr Sean Kingsley, who is about to set sail on a mission to survey the unexplored wrecks of Nassau.
Plus, we delve into the tricky topic of modern-day piracy and copyright, before testing our pirate knowledge in a swashbuckling quiz.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Kai Kupferschmidt and Sandy Ong
Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Margaret Sessa Hawkins, with Robbie Wojciechowski and Imaan Moin
Gravitational waves show two black holes merge just how Hawking predicted. Plus, a space mission without a target. And a Space probe without a confirmed budget.
In January 2025 the LIGO gravitational wave observatories witnessed two distant black holes spinning into each other. In the ten years of LIGO’s operations, that’s not a first. But the instruments have been improved to such an extent that this time some very important predictions of General Relativity and out understanding of black holes could be tested. As Birmingham University’s Alberto Vecchio says, the elegant simplicity of the mathematics of black holes has passed a test, in particular Stephen Hawking’s prediction that the surface area of merging black holes can only be increased.
Space craft have met comets before. But because spaceflight takes so long to plan and fund, we’ve only sent them to comets with human-lifetime orbital periods so far, because we know when they’re arriving. ESA wants to meet one we’ve never seen before, one that has never or seldom been in close to the sun, and never been barbecued and seared by the radiation. Colin Snodgrass of the University of Edinburgh explains the plan to launch and park a comet chaser in space to wait for one of these elusive extraterrestrial objects to come in from the cold.
That, says Meg Schwamb of Queen’s University Belfast, is going to be much easier in the next few years as the Vera Rubin Telescope begins its ten year survey cataloguing anything in the sky that changes. The type of sky survey it will provide will identify, it is hoped, many candidate first-time comets for the small fleet of spacecraft to intercept.
Having a spacecraft ready in position rather than having to launch a new one anytime you want to do some science is a good place to be, one would think.
NASA’s Juno mission has been delivering science from Jupiter since its launch, and is still functioning and able to deliver more. Yet NASA funds are under considerable threat, and as Scott Bolton tells Roland, at the end of this month Juno could be left slowly spiralling into the gas giant, silently collecting data but with no budget to keep the science going.
Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Alex Mansfield
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
For centuries, the primary way that astronomers studied outer space was through sight. But just ten years ago, scientists successfully established a way to ‘listen’ to our cosmos – detecting gravitational waves created by huge cosmic events that took place billions of light years away. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce explains how scientists detect those gravitational waves, what kind of cosmic events we’re detecting now, and what they could tell us about our universe.
Interested in more stories about the cosmos? Email us your question 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.
Last month, the Trump administration abruptly halted construction on a nearly completed $6 billion, 65-turbine wind farm off the coast of New England, known as Revolution Wind. The holdup has put thousands out of work and raises big questions about not just the future of this project, but similar efforts across the eastern seaboard. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports from Connecticut. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
Parkinson’s Disease affects around a million people in the United States. And that number is on the rise, in part because our population is getting older.
Dr. Claire Henchcliffe, chair of neurology at the University of California, Irvine, is one of the scientists at the forefront of Parkinson’s research. She's working toward new treatment options for Parkinson’s, including recent discoveries about the potential use of stem cells.
Science correspondent Jon Hamilton dives into this research — and even a future where scientists can prevent the disease altogether — on the show with Henchcliffe.
Interested in more on the future of brain science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org – we may feature it in an upcoming episode!
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.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is perhaps best known for its work helping America’s youth. Lisa Lawson, the president and CEO, has done extensive research into the development of teenagers. She joined Geoff Bennett to discuss her new book, "Thrive: How the Science of the Adolescent Brain Helps Us Imagine a Better Future for All Children."
PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy
Rhinoplasty is one of the most common facial plastic surgeries performed today. And it turns out, the ability to reconstruct a nose with living tissue has been known for a very long time – over 2500 years! But what spurred our ancestors to master this reconstructive technique? Well, there’s quite a range of answers – everything from adultery to duels and syphilis. Short Wave host Regina G. Barber speaks with bioengineer and Princeton University professor Daniel Cohen about the surprisingly long history of rhinoplasty – and how this art was lost and found throughout the ages.
Want more tales of science throughout time? 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.
CrowdScience listener Kerry started thinking about his sentimental attachment to his possessions when he began sorting through an old trunk, full of objects from his past. He wants to know why we get so attached to things that often have no use anymore and why it’s so hard to give them away.
Anand Jagatia investigates why the objects we accumulate during our lives mean so much to us.
He talks to psychologists Mary Dozier and Melissa Norberg and finds out that our possessions offer stability and comfort from the earliest age. That keepsake you brought home from your holiday may also stir memories about days gone by - and that’s one reason why we may find it hard to part with the things we own, because they help us to access our emotions. And the items we collect through our lives can come to represent our identity too.
Anand visits the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia, where people from all over the world have donated possessions from relationships that ended, whether romantic or family, and discovers that sentimental attachment is universal.
Presenter Anand Jagatia
Producers Jo Glanville and Imaan Moin
Editor Ben Motley
(Photo: Memories box in book shelf - Credit: Jan Hakan Dahlstrom via Getty Images)
The inauguration of Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam has us looking at how we decide when, where, and even whether to build dams.
But humans aren’t the only ones building dams – Loren Taylor of the Beaver Institute joins us to talk all about nature’s hydroengineers and the wide-spread benefits beavers (and their dams!) have on ecosystems.
Also on the program, how close are we to clean energy from space, the science behind holding your breath for a really, really, really, REALLY long time, and how natural sounds can be turned into musical instruments. All that, plus more unexpected elements.
Presenter: Alex Lathbridge with Andrada Fiscutean and Katie Silver
Producers: Margaret Sessa-Hawkins, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell and Robbie Wojciechowski.
Was there ever life on Mars? Planetary scientists think there could have been but there hasn’t been any direct evidence. After years of roaming Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover saw spots on Mars rocks. These spots could be the most likely clue that Mars had organic life millions of years ago. Host Regina G. Barber speaks with recent PhD graduate and planetary scientist Hemani Kalucha. She explains why the size, shape and color of these spots – as well as the location of these rocks on Mars – point to ancient life.
Interested in more science behind skincare products? Email us your question 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.
