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.

Science
Life Sciences
Natural Sciences
201
Cloudy with a chance of chaos
It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change.
25 min
202
A new force of nature?
Last month, physicists at Fermilab in Illinois found that tiny subatomic particles called muons were wobbling strangely.
22 min
203
Placebos work. Why?
For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them.
23 min
204
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
205
The Twilight Zone of the ocean
A dive into its mysterious depths
24 min
206
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
207
Is a ton of psychology just ... wrong?
Psych!
27 min
208
It’s ball lightning!
A perfect sphere of crackling light
23 min
209
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
210
Journey Toward the Center of the Earth
What lies beneath our feet?
25 min
211
No one nose
Believe it or not, scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works.
26 min
212
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
213
Introducing Unexplainable
2 min