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.
1
Biopiracy
Genetic libraries are treasure troves of information about life from around the world.
25 min
2
Will AI ever ... feel?
Some scientists think an explosion of AI awareness and feeling might be just around the corner.
23 min
3
New year, new diet, live forever?
It’s that time of year again.
23 min
4
Mysteries we can’t stop thinking about
The wildest stories that never made it into our episodes.
23 min
5
Who let the wolves in?
Dogs were the first domesticated animal in history, emerging from wolves some 20,000 years ago.
21 min
6
Where to meet a Neanderthal
We know Neanderthals and early modern humans coupled up.
26 min
7
Pinky and the (lab-grown) Brain
It’s not great to be a lab rat.
18 min
8
Why are there lefties and righties?
This week on Unexplainable or Not, we’ve got three scientific mysteries all about left and right.
25 min
9
Placebos work. Why?
For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them.
23 min
10
Why is horror so fun?
It makes sense that we run away from scary things.
17 min
11
Are psychedelics breaking science?
Drugs like ecstasy and mushrooms have shown promise as mental health treatments, but they’re also exposing some major cracks in how scientists study the brain.
22 min
12
Your gut’s feelings
How we feel emotionally may be influenced by unseen troves of microbial life that live inside us.
25 min
13
Is insurance doomed?
As the world gets warmer and storms get worse, insurance companies are jacking up rates — or refusing to cover homeowners altogether. Is the future uninsurable?
26 min
14
My animal heart
Doctors have started transplanting animal organs into people, hoping this experimental procedure could one day solve an organ shortage crisis that kills 17 Americans every day.
22 min
15
How hot could the world get?
Scientists have lots of ways to try to answer that question, and lots of different predictions.
21 min
16
Should you be eating poison oak?
Probably not.
26 min
17
Dark oxygen could rewrite Earth’s history
Scientists just discovered oxygen being produced without sunlight — without photosynthesis — at the bottom of the ocean.
20 min
18
You're lost in the wilderness. Now what?
For decades, search and rescue teams followed an accepted playbook.
19 min
19
Viral dark matter
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, some scientists are starting to turn to viruses as a medical tool.
21 min
20
The good virus
Our bodies are teeming with viruses.
17 min
21
Ecstasy therapy
The FDA is about to announce whether it’s going to approve MDMA as a treatment for PTSD.
27 min
22
What did dinosaurs sound like?
They probably didn’t roar like lions.
36 min
23
Do we live inside an enormous black hole?
It’s possible that the entire observable universe is inside a black hole.
22 min
24
Is good posture actually good?
Send this episode to the person who constantly hounds you not to slouch.
18 min
25
Why do we yawn?
People yawn when they’re bored, right?
34 min