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.
151
The hunt for a new Pluto
Something strange is going on at the outer reaches of the solar system.
30 min
152
Cloudy with a chance of chaos
It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change.
25 min
153
A new force of nature?
Last month, physicists at Fermilab in Illinois found that tiny subatomic particles called muons were wobbling strangely.
22 min
154
Placebos work. Why?
For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them.
23 min
155
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
156
The Twilight Zone of the ocean
A dive into its mysterious depths
24 min
157
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
158
Is a ton of psychology just ... wrong?
Psych!
27 min
159
It’s ball lightning!
A perfect sphere of crackling light
23 min
160
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
161
Journey Toward the Center of the Earth
What lies beneath our feet?
25 min
162
No one nose
Believe it or not, scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works.
26 min
163
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
164
Introducing Unexplainable
2 min