Unexplainable
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know…and then keeps on going. The Unexplainable team — Noam Hassenfeld, Julia Longoria, Byrd Pinkerton, and Meradith Hoddinott — tackles scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn diving into the unknown. New episodes Mondays and Wednesdays.
From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
226
Henrietta Leavitt and the end of the universe
In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt made one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy: a yardstick to measure distances to faraway stars.
28 min
227
How do animals know where to go?
25 min
228
Invasion of the jumping worms
These worms are fast, they’re mysterious, and they’re quickly changing North American ecosystems.
23 min
229
The many heights of Mount Everest
How tall is the world’s tallest mountain?
26 min
230
Unexplainable Flying Objects
UFOs are real, but that doesn’t mean they’re aliens.
29 min
231
The hunt for a new Pluto
Something strange is going on at the outer reaches of the solar system.
30 min
232
Cloudy with a chance of chaos
It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change.
25 min
233
A new force of nature?
Last month, physicists at Fermilab in Illinois found that tiny subatomic particles called muons were wobbling strangely.
22 min
234
Placebos work. Why?
For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them.
23 min
235
A virus that could heal people
In 2016, the UN declared antibiotic-resistant bacteria the “greatest and most urgent global risk.” Our best hope just might be phages,
21 min
236
The Twilight Zone of the ocean
A dive into its mysterious depths
24 min
237
The viral ghosts of long Covid
Scientists don’t understand why so many people suffer from Covid-19 symptoms for months, long after they stop testing positive.
22 min
238
Is a ton of psychology just ... wrong?
Psych!
27 min
239
It’s ball lightning!
A perfect sphere of crackling light
23 min
240
Skeleton Lake
When scientists examined the DNA of ancient bones found near a Himalayan lake, they were forced to confront a seemingly impossible conclusion.
25 min
241
Journey Toward the Center of the Earth
What lies beneath our feet?
25 min
242
No one nose
Believe it or not, scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works.
26 min
243
Most of the universe is missing
Scientists all over the world are searching for dark matter: an invisible, untouchable substance that holds our universe together.
30 min
244
Introducing Unexplainable
2 min