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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.

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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

The mysterious 'Great Attractor' pulling the Milky Way galaxy off course

This illustration shows the Milky Way, our home galaxy. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

The mysterious 'Great Attractor' pulling the Milky Way galaxy off course

No matter what you're doing right now – sitting, standing, walking – you're moving. First, because Earth is spinning around on its axis. This rotation is the reason we have days. Second, because Earth and other planets in our solar system are orbiting the sun. That's why we have years. Third, you're moving because the sun and the rest of our solar system is orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy at over 500,000 miles per hour. If all of that isn't nauseating enough, everything in the entire universe is expanding outward. All the time.

The mysterious 'Great Attractor' pulling the Milky Way galaxy off course

Listen · 12:48
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How the new Catan board game can spark conversations on climate change

A new version of the popular board game Catan, which hits shelves this summer, introduces energy production and pollution into the gameplay. Catan GmbH hide caption

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Catan GmbH

How the new Catan board game can spark conversations on climate change

Today, we're going full nerd to talk about a new board game — Catan: New Energies. The game's goal is simple: Build and develop a modern-day island without catastrophically polluting it. Although the concept mirrors the effects of climate change, those words don't actually appear in the game. NPR correspondent Nate Rott talks to Emily about the thinking behind the new game and how the developers hope it can start conversations around energy use and pollution.

How the new Catan board game can spark conversations on climate change

Listen · 11:35
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10 years after Flint, the fight to replace lead pipes across the U.S. continues

The Flint River water starts flowing to Flint, Mich. on April 25, 2014. Without corrosion control, lead leeched from the pipes. Brett Carlsen/Getty Images hide caption

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Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

10 years after Flint, the fight to replace lead pipes across the U.S. continues

Ten years ago, Flint, Mich. switched water sources to the Flint River. The lack of corrosion control in the pipes caused lead to leach into the water supply of tens of thousands of residents. Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha recognized a public health crisis in the making and gathered data proving the negative health impact on Flint's young children. In doing so, she and community organizers in Flint sparked a national conversation about lead in the U.S. water system that persists today.

10 years after Flint, the fight to replace lead pipes across the U.S. continues

Listen · 13:12
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Beavers can help with climate change. So how do we get along?

Damming waterways is what beavers do best, often to the chagrin of people who want the opposite. But those same damming skills are what make beavers important ecosystem engineers. Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images hide caption

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Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images

Beavers can help with climate change. So how do we get along?

NPR's Tom Dreisbach is back in the host chair for a day. This time, he reports on a story very close to home: The years-long battle his parents have been locked in with the local wild beaver population. Each night, the beavers would dam the culverts along the Dreisbachs' property, threatening to make their home inaccessible. Each morning, Tom's parents deconstructed those dams — until the annual winter freeze hit and left them all in a temporary stalemate.

Beavers can help with climate change. So how do we get along?

Listen · 14:06
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This Earth Day, how to know if the seafood you're eating is sustainable
Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

This Earth Day, how to know if the seafood you're eating is sustainable

Roughly 196 million tons of fish were harvested in 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The organization also notes that the number of overfished stocks worldwide has tripled in the last century. All of this overfishing has led to the decline of entire species, like Atlantic cod.

This Earth Day, how to know if the seafood you're eating is sustainable

Listen · 14:27
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An 11-year-old unearthed fossils of the largest known marine reptile

An artistic rendering of a washed-up Ichthyotitan severnensis carcass on the beach. Sergey Krasovskiy hide caption

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Sergey Krasovskiy

An 11-year-old unearthed fossils of the largest known marine reptile

When the dinosaurs walked the Earth, massive marine reptiles swam. Among them, a species of Ichthyosaur that measured over 80 feet long. Today, we look into how a chance discovery by a father-daughter duo of fossil hunters furthered paleontologist's understanding of the "giant fish lizard of the Severn." Currently, it is the largest marine reptile known to scientists.

An 11-year-old unearthed fossils of the largest known marine reptile

Listen · 8:57
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Ancient predatory worms have scientists rethinking the history of life on Earth

Selkirkia tsering fossil found in a collection from the Fezouata Formation in Morocco. Javier Ortega Hernández/Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology hide caption

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Javier Ortega Hernández/Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology

Ancient predatory worms have scientists rethinking the history of life on Earth

500 million years ago, the world was a very different place. During this period of time, known as the Cambrian period, basically all life was in the water. The ocean was brimming with animals that looked pretty different from the ones we recognize today — including a group of predatory worms with a throat covered in teeth and spines.

Ancient predatory worms have scientists rethinking the history of life on Earth

Listen · 13:00
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Here's how the brain experiences pleasure — even the kind that makes us feel guilty
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Here's how the brain experiences pleasure — even the kind that makes us feel guilty

We've all been there: You sit down for one episode of a reality TV show, and six hours later you're sitting guiltily on the couch, blinking the screen-induced crust off your eyeballs.

Here's how the brain experiences pleasure — even the kind that makes us feel guilty

Listen · 13:42
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What to know about the new EPA rule limiting 'forever chemicals' in tap water

Following a new EPA rule, public water systems will have five years to address instances where there is too much PFAS in tap water – three years to sample their systems and establish the existing levels of PFAS, and an additional two years to install water treatment technologies if their levels are too high. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What to know about the new EPA rule limiting 'forever chemicals' in tap water

Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency announced new drinking water standards to limit people's exposure to some PFAS chemicals. For decades, PFAS have been used to waterproof and stain-proof a variety of consumer products. These "forever chemicals" in a host of products — everything from raincoats and the Teflon of nonstick pans to makeup to furniture and firefighting foam. Because PFAS take a very long time to break down, they can accumulate in humans and the environment. Now, a growing body of research is linking them to human health problems like serious illness, some cancers, lower fertility and liver damage. Science correspondent Pien Huang joins the show today to talk through this new EPA rule — what the threshold for safe levels of PFAS in tap water is, why the rule is happening now and how the federal standards will be implemented.

What to know about the new EPA rule limiting 'forever chemicals' in tap water

Listen · 12:48
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The order your siblings were born in may play a role in identity and sexuality
Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop

The order your siblings were born in may play a role in identity and sexuality

It's National Siblings Day! To mark the occasion, guest host Selena Simmons-Duffin is exploring a detail very personal to her: How the number of older brothers a person has can influence their sexuality. Scientific research on sexuality has a dark history, with long-lasting harmful effects on queer communities. Much of the early research has also been debunked over time. But not this "fraternal birth order effect." The fact that a person's likelihood of being gay increases with each older brother has been found all over the world – from Turkey to North America, Brazil, the Netherlands and beyond. Today, Selena gets into all the details: What this effect is, how it's been studied and what it can (and can't) explain about sexuality.

The order your siblings were born in may play a role in identity and sexuality

Listen · 12:25
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