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Short Wave New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — in just under 15 minutes. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber for science on a different wavelength.

If you're hooked, try Short Wave Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/shortwave
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New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — in just under 15 minutes. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber for science on a different wavelength.

If you're hooked, try Short Wave Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/shortwave

Most Recent Episodes

These scientists taught rats to drive tiny cars. Turns out, it's good for them

In Kelly Lambert's lab at the University of Richmond, rats are trained to drive tiny cars. Researchers are studying how that training, and the anticipation associated with it, affects their brains. University of Richmond hide caption

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University of Richmond

These scientists taught rats to drive tiny cars. Turns out, it's good for them

In neuroscientist Kelly Lambert's lab at the University of Richmond, rats hop into cars, rev their engines and skid across the floor of an arena. Researchers taught these tiny rodents to drive — and turns out, they really like it. But why?

These scientists taught rats to drive tiny cars. Turns out, it's good for them

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Body Electric: How AI is changing our relationships
Daniel Hertzberg

Body Electric: How AI is changing our relationships

Hey, Short Wavers! Today, we have a special present for all of you: An episode from our good friends at NPR's Body Electric podcast all a bout artificial intimacy! Thanks to advances in AI, chatbots can act as personalized therapists, companions and romantic partners. The apps offering these services have been downloaded millions of times. If these relationships relieve stress and make us feel better, does it matter that they're not "real"? On this episode of Body Electric, host Manoush Zomorodi talks to MIT sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle about her new research into what she calls "artificial intimacy" and its impact on our mental and physical health.

Body Electric: How AI is changing our relationships

Listen · 26:45
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These robots could fix grape farmers' labor woes

A robot roams through rows of grapes at Cornell AgriTech's Geneva vineyards to look for signs of diseased plants. Allison Usavage/Cornell University hide caption

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Allison Usavage/Cornell University

These robots could fix grape farmers' labor woes

If you crossed WALL-E with a floor lamp, it might look a little like the PhytoPatholoBot. These robots aren't roving through space or decorating a living room — they're monitoring the stems, leaves and fruit of Cornell AgriTech's vineyards, rolling down each row and scanning for mildew.

These robots could fix grape farmers' labor woes

Listen · 13:39
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How to get a haircut in space

Aboard the International Space Station, astronauts cut their hair using a pair of electrical sheers connected to a vacuum. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio says, "It's not a pretty haircut, for sure." Getty Images hide caption

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Getty Images

How to get a haircut in space

Hey, Short Wavers! Today we're sharing an excerpt of the new NPR podcast How To Do Everything.

How to get a haircut in space

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What's a weather forecast worth?
Brownie Harris/Getty Images

What's a weather forecast worth?

The federal government has been tracking the weather for more than 150 years. Yet over the last few decades, the rise of the Internet and big tech have made weather forecasting a more crowded space. Today, our colleagues at NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator report on the value of an accurate forecast and the debate over who should control weather data. Follow The Indicator on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

What's a weather forecast worth?

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Ghost particles are blasting through you. Can they solve an antimatter mystery?

Matter and its weird, opposite antimatter annihilate each other "in a blaze of glory," says Jessica Esquivel, an experimental particle physicist at Fermilab. PeteDraper/Getty Images hide caption

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PeteDraper/Getty Images

Ghost particles are blasting through you. Can they solve an antimatter mystery?

At the beginning of the universe, annihilation reigned supreme. Equal amounts of matter and antimatter collided. There should have been nothing left. And, yet, here we all are. Matter won out. The question is: why? Scientists are probing the mysteries of a ghostly subatomic particle for answers. To do it, they'll need to shoot a beam of them 800 miles underground.

Ghost particles are blasting through you. Can they solve an antimatter mystery?

Listen · 12:18
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It's Short Wave's 5th birthday! Here are science questions 5-year-olds asked us

It's Short Wave's 5th birthday! To celebrate, we answer our 5-year-old listeners' science questions. NickS/Getty Images hide caption

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NickS/Getty Images

It's Short Wave's 5th birthday! Here are science questions 5-year-olds asked us

In honor of our show turning 5 (!!) today...

It's Short Wave's 5th birthday! Here are science questions 5-year-olds asked us

Listen · 17:55
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Inside the operating room of a new kind of pig kidney transplant

Towana Looney, 53, of Gadsden, Ala., gets ready to head into the operating room at NYU Langone Health in New York City to get a genetically modified pig kidney transplant. Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health hide caption

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Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health

Inside the operating room of a new kind of pig kidney transplant

Towana Looney became the first living person in the world to get a kidney from a new kind of genetically modified pig last month. Health correspondent Rob Stein got exclusive access to be in the operating room.

Inside the operating room of a new kind of pig kidney transplant

Listen · 14:22
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How Germany's turning a mining pit into its largest artificial lake

Cottbuser Ostsee lake, once the site of a mining pit, is set to be the largest artificial lake in Germany once it's completed. Willa Rubin/NPR hide caption

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Willa Rubin/NPR

How Germany's turning a mining pit into its largest artificial lake

Old mines leave behind a a pressing problem: Huge holes that make the landscape look like a chunk of swiss cheese. But in Germany, some scientists and city planners are turning these into lakes.

How Germany's turning a mining pit into its largest artificial lake

Listen · 13:47
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Racism is a public health issue. Here's why

KFF Health News journalist Cara Anthony has been covering racism and the ways it can affect people's health for years. The project is about two killings of Black men that happened decades apart in Sikeston, Mo.: a lynching in1942 and a police shooting in 2020. Michael B. Thomas for KFF Health News hide caption

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Michael B. Thomas for KFF Health News

Racism is a public health issue. Here's why

Racism is often covered as a political, cultural, or news story. But how is it affecting people's health? That's the question Cara Anthony, a KFF News reporter, wanted to answer: not just on an individual scale, but on a community-wide one. So for the past few years, she's been reporting on a small town in the Midwest that illustrates that health issue: Sikeston, Missouri. Today on the show, Cara walks host Emily Kwong through Sikeston's history — and what locals and medical experts have to say about how that history continues to shape the present.

Racism is a public health issue. Here's why

Listen · 14:23
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