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.
From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
1
An argument for the sun
It can be hard to know how to interact with the sun.
28 min
2
What the Odyssey is hiding
The Late Bronze Age, when the Trojan War supposedly took place, was way more modern than Homer made it seem.
22 min
3
Dinosaur mysteries with Riley Black
How do we know what we know about dinosaurs?
29 min
4
When doctors don't know what's wrong
A 2015 review found that most people in the US will experience a diagnostic error in their lifetime.
29 min
5
Are you a lyric person or a music person?
When people listen to songs, why do some people pay more attention to the music, and some people pay more attention to the lyrics?
30 min
6
Big news!
Unexplainable is coming to Netflix!
3 min
7
Are we all living in an enormous black hole?
It’s possible that the entire observable universe is inside a black hole.
23 min
8
Risky business
As the world gets warmer and storms get worse, insurance companies are jacking up rates or refusing to cover homeowners altogether.
27 min
9
A period piece
Periods and menstrual fluid have long been overlooked by scientists.
17 min
10
Bird people and deep space shrapnel
Two mysteries we can't stop thinking about: Is lightning actually caused by cosmic rays? And why don't birds play chess?
24 min
11
Should we really kill all the lanternflies?
When an invasive bug landed on the East Coast, people embraced the order to squish it to death.
30 min
12
Sean tries raw milk
Sean Rameswaram, co-host of Today, Explained, recently went on a dairy adventure.
29 min
13
A new species in New York
Around 90% of life on Earth is unknown.
23 min
14
The disaster problem
Climate change is making hurricanes, floods, and wildfires harder to prepare for just as confidence in the government’s disaster response is collapsing.
56 min
15
The lost Lyme vaccine
Vijay Sikand is a family doctor in the Connecticut town that gave Lyme disease its name.
35 min
16
The cells we share
Fetuses leave cells behind in their parents' bodies, where they braid themselves into tissues, and remain, for years.
33 min
17
The man who bet against humanity — and lost
Paul Ehrlich was famous for predicting a population explosion that would destroy the planet, but he didn't count on human ingenuity.
14 min
18
The aftermath
What would life look like after a global nuclear war?
38 min
19
A better Black Death story
What happens when researchers reexamine some of the basic facts about the Black Death?
29 min
20
The hunt for a lost species
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.
25 min
21
Dark matter music
Pioneering musicians Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno released their latest album Liminal by broadcasting it from a 50-foot microwave antenna.
31 min
22
I glow, therefore I am
Today on the show: a double feature — two mysteries in one episode.
25 min
23
Is everything inflammation?
To hear some people tell it — especially people on TikTok — inflammation is the root of all disease.
29 min
24
A show about nothing
A few months ago, we put out an episode about what silence sounds like, and it caught the attention of Rob Rosenthal, who hosts a podcast called Sound School about the craft of audio storytelling.
25 min
25
The Hitchhiking Microbe’s Guide to the Galaxy
Can microbes travel through space on meteorites?
23 min