Unexplainable
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know … and then keeps on going. Host Noam Hassenfeld and an all-star team of reporters — Byrd Pinkerton, Meradith Hoddinott, and Mandy Nguyen — tackle scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
51
The data vigilantes
Data sleuths are working outside the system to keep science honest.
29 min
52
Trouble on Pickles Reef
Coral reefs are an essential ecosystem undeniably threatened by climate change.
24 min
53
Redefining death
This Halloween, we look at how technology is forcing us to ask: When is someone actually dead?
31 min
54
The Orcanizing
Over the last few years, orcas have been targeting boats, often leaving them stranded at sea.
19 min
55
Unexplainable or Not with Wyatt Cenac
Our game show is back!
31 min
56
Rogue waves
Towering walls of water sometimes appear in the ocean without warning or apparent cause.
25 min
57
Does garlic break magnets?
What would an episode of Unexplainable have sounded like if it had been made in 100 CE?
28 min
58
How to decode a thought
Can researchers decipher what people are thinking about just by looking at brain scans?
29 min
59
It’s getting harder to see
Something about modern life is leading to higher rates of nearsightedness across the world.
19 min
60
Jumping the gun
At last year’s World Athletics Championships, sprinter TyNia Gaither was disqualified for false starting... after the gun went off.
31 min
61
Can we talk to animals?
Two scientists explain how AI might help us translate animal communication, and what we might learn from their squawks, chirps, songs, and chatter.
31 min
62
Unexplainable or Not: Beach day!
Sam Sanders, host of Vulture’s Into It podcast, is in the hot seat for a new episode of our game show.
27 min
63
Who let the wolves in?
Dogs were the first domesticated animal in history, emerging from wolves some 20,000 years ago.
22 min
64
Why do we have a moon?
In all our searching of the universe, we’ve never seen another moon like ours.
24 min
65
The Black Box: In AI we trust?
AI can often solve problems in unexpected, undesirable ways.
28 min
66
The Black Box: Even AI’s creators don’t underst...
AI has the potential to impact our society in dramatic ways, but researchers can’t explain precisely how it works or how it might evolve.
32 min
67
Do animals grieve?
A dog on its owner’s grave. A killer whale carrying around its dead calf. A goose that isolates when its mate dies.
24 min
68
Why do we dream?
Dreams are weird, but can they be a scientific tool?
20 min
69
Cracking the Indus code
The Indus Valley civilization was one of the largest, most advanced civilizations in the ancient world.
21 min
70
Awestruck
Awe is what takes our breath away when we face a sky full of stars or listen to a moving piece of music.
22 min
71
Expecting: Weed and pregnancy
Many states have extremely punitive policies around cannabis and pregnancy.
30 min
72
Expecting: Baby brain
Caring for a child seems to change parents’ brains.
25 min
73
Expecting: Pregnancy souvenirs
Fetuses leave cells behind in their parents' bodies, where they braid themselves into tissues, and remain, for years.
34 min
74
The tornado problem
2023 has been a record-setting year for tornadoes, and these storms came with barely any warning.
22 min
75
How to resurrect a mammoth
Scientists are hard at work trying to bring back woolly mammoths (and dodos).
30 min