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.
26
Snow day!
Grab some hot cocoa and a warm blanket and let’s talk about the tiny crystals that fall from the sky.
26 min
27
My brain made me do it
A man committed a crime. He admitted it. Then something alarming showed up on an image of his brain.
24 min
28
The Codfather
How many fish are in the sea? It's a question that has had enormous consequences for the fishing community in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
36 min
29
Stress ages us on a cellular level
It's no secret that stress isn't good for you… But just how bad is it?
12 min
30
The Amazing Extremophiles
In the dark depths of the Gowanus canal, strange lifeforms lurk...
23 min
31
Everyone does it. Why can’t I?
I’m about to burst.
37 min
32
Mysterious objects near the beginning of time
Astronomers are putting together a new picture of the early universe.
23 min
33
Cloud atlas
It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change, but it’s essential to try.
26 min
34
What's good sound?
Every hand-crafted instrument from violin maker Michael Doran holds its own unexplainable questions.
23 min
35
No data, just vibes
There's been a real rollback of one of the US government's most fundamental tasks: gathering data.
20 min
36
It's not all bad
Things in the news have been feeling kind of…bleak, so we called in some reinforcements.
22 min
37
Superbabies?
Parents are supposed to provide the best life possible for their kids, right?
23 min
38
The G-word
Is geoengineering the answer to the climate crisis?
24 min
39
Who's afraid of big, bad Yellowstone?
Yellowstone can be a deadly place... but not for the reasons you might think.
20 min
40
Vitamin C and the common cold
A two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist changed chemistry, biology, and the politics of science.
29 min
41
Your moments of silence (The Sound Barrier #5)
This episode is a follow-up to The Sound Barrier series, which explores our brain's relationship to sound. In our third episode of the series, we asked listeners to try to experience silence and record what they heard.
29 min
42
Diary of a teenage brain, part 2
As our brains develop throughout our childhood and teens, they form connections and then prune back the ones that aren't used. What can we learn from them?
24 min
43
Diary of a teenage brain
What's going on in teens' heads?
26 min
44
The trees of death
Way back when forests first evolved on Earth... they might have triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of the planet.
24 min
45
That's no moon...
It's a quasi-moon.
18 min
46
Lost on the road to enlightenment
So many of us have been told that meditation can make us less stressed, more productive, and happier. But for a small group of people, it has a dark side.
32 min
47
Is animal grief real?
These behaviors in animals may look like human mourning, but should scientists call them "grief"?
23 min
48
The Sound Barrier #4: Listen to the universe
When Wanda Diáz-Merced lost her sight as a college student, she thought her dreams of becoming an astronomer were over — until she learned to listen to space instead.
34 min
49
The Sound Barrier #3: What does silence sound l...
A scientist asked people to sit in a silent room for 15 minutes.
29 min
50
The Sound Barrier #2: The noise that isn't there
Almost 15% of adults suffer from a persistent, often intolerable sound... that is literally just in their heads. Why does the brain do this to us?
31 min