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.
126
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.
29 min
127
Plants with eyes?
In the temperate rainforests of Chile, there is a vine that can shapeshift to copy the look of other plants.
24 min
128
Unexplainable or Not: Bikes, planes, ice skates
Our game show is back!
27 min
129
Your gut's feelings
How we feel emotionally may be influenced by unseen troves of microbial life that live inside us. Is it possible to harness this gut power?
26 min
130
Nuclear fusion breaks through
Back in January, we spoke to a scientist at the National Ignition Facility about how close they were to achieving what’s been called “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century.”
28 min
131
Basic instinct
How do animals know how to do things like spin a web or build a dam? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on.
26 min
132
Why we cry
Humans seem to be the only animals that cry from emotion. What makes our tears so special?
21 min
133
Can we live in space?
NASA just launched the Artemis program, a series of missions that will eventually take humans back to the moon, and beyond.
29 min
134
Holding on to power
A mountain, a tower, a thermos full of molten salt: These are the batteries that could power our renewable future.
28 min
135
Redefining death
Death used to be fairly self-evident, but new technologies have forced us to ask: When is someone actually dead?
30 min
136
Talking to ghosts
Why do so many people think they can see and hear ghosts, and what does that say about our conscious experience of the world?
29 min
137
Why is everyone getting food allergies?
In the past few decades, the rate of food allergies in both children and adults has dramatically increased.
23 min
138
Introducing The Gray Area
On the first episode of Vox’s new podcast, The Gray Area, host Sean Illing talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson about the limits of both politics and science.
54 min
139
Let’s play Unexplainable or Not
For the first time, we get some answers.
26 min
140
The math problem that could break the internet
Today's internet is built on a series of locks and keys that protect your private information as it travels through cyberspace. But could all these locks be broken?
35 min
141
Jumping the gun
At the 2022 World Athletics Championships, sprinter TyNia Gaither was disqualified for false starting ... after the gun went off.
30 min
142
An Alzheimer's uproar
This past July, a bombshell report in Science magazine suggested that a key Alzheimer’s study might have contained manipulated evidence.
34 min
143
Salamander search party
One of the world’s most biodiverse aquifers is full of strange, blind creatures that have evolved in isolation for millions of years. But one is missing.
24 min
144
What did dinosaurs sound like?
They probably didn’t roar like lions.
36 min
145
Can ovaries make new eggs?
There's an old story scientists tell about human ovaries: that they are ticking clocks that only lose eggs, never gain them.
26 min
146
Will the eel (slim, shady) please have sex?
Where eels come from is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, in large part because scientists have never actually seen them reproduce in the wild.
44 min
147
Yawn baby yawn
People yawn when they’re bored, right?
34 min
148
What’s the James Webb telescope searching for?
A lava planet, life on other worlds, the very first starlight in the universe — the most powerful space telescope ever built is ready to reveal many mysteries of the cosmos.
46 min
149
Vitamin X
Millions of Americans take dietary supplements — everything from vitamins and minerals to weight loss pills and probiotics.
31 min
150
Lost Worlds: What killed Venus?
Venus is the hottest, scariest place in the solar system, but billions of years ago it may have been a lot like Earth, complete with an ocean of water.
25 min