In this episode, Maddie Sofia talks with Invisibilia's Alix Spiegel about the bioethics of conducting human challenge trials with the aim of producing a viable coronavirus vaccine. We hear from James Kublin, a clinical health professor in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington, and from Lehua Gray, a 32-year-old woman interested in participating in a trial.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Encore episode. Brandon Taylor's story has a happy ending. Today he's a successful writer whose debut novel 'Real Life' received glowing reviews earlier this year. But his success only underscores what science lost when Brandon walked away from a graduate biochemistry program in 2016. He tells host Maddie Sofia why he left, and what he misses.Read his essay in BuzzFeed, 'Working In Science Was A Brutal Education. That's Why I Left.'Find and support your local public radio station at donate.npr.org/short. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The last few weeks have been filled with devastating news — stories about the police killing black people. So today, we're turning the mic over to our colleagues at NPR's Code Switch. Now, as always, they're doing really important work covering race and identity in the United States. In this episode, they spoke with Jamil Smith, who wrote the essay "What Does Seeing Black Men Die Do For You?" for The New Republic. Thank you for listening.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Across the country, demonstrators are protesting the death of George Floyd and the ongoing systemic racism that is woven into the fabric of the United States. The protests come in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic that is disproportionately killing people of color — particularly black Americans. We talk to public health expert David Williams about how these two historic moments are intertwined.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Happy #BlackBirdersWeek! This week, black birders around the world are rallying around Christian Cooper, a black man and avid birder, who was harassed by a white woman while birding in Central Park. We talk with#BlackBirdersWeek co-founder Chelsea Connor about how black birders are changing the narrative around who gets to enjoy nature and the challenges black birders face.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In 2006, while hiking around the Root Glacier in Alaska, glaciologist Tim Bartholomaus encountered something strange and unexpected on the ice — dozens of fuzzy, green balls of moss. It turns out, other glaciologists had come across before and lovingly named them "glacier mice."Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In San Francisco, the coronavirus has disproportionately affected Hispanic and Latinx communities. This is especially true in the Mission District — a neighborhood known for its art and food culture. To understand more about how the virus has penetrated the neighborhood, a group of collaborators known as Unidos En Salud carried out a massive testing initiative focused on community and collaboration. Follow Maddie on Twitter for more coronavirus coverage. Her Twitter handle is @maddie_sofia. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Encore episode. Helium is the second-most common element in the cosmos, but it's far rarer on planet Earth. As part of our celebration of the periodic table's 150th birthday, correspondent Geoff Brumfiel shares a brief history of helium's ascent, to become a crucial part of rocket ships, MRI machines, and birthday parties. Read more of Geoff's reporting on helium here.Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There's no doubt we're living through a Big Historic Event, but that doesn't necessarily mean we'll remember it all that well. Shayla Love, a senior staff writer for VICE, explains what memory research and events from the past say we will and won't remember about living through the coronavirus pandemic. Plus, why essential workers may remember this time differently from people who are staying home.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

An NPR analysis of a key air pollutant showed levels have not changed dramatically since the pandemic curbed car traffic in the U.S. NPR science reporter Rebecca Hersher and NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer explain why — and what really makes our air dirty. Here's their story.Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Black holes are one of the most beguiling objects in our universe. What are they exactly? How do they affect the universe? And what would it be like to fall into one? We venture beyond the point of no return with Yale astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan, into a fascinating world of black holes — where the laws of physics break down. Talk the mysteries of our universe with Short Wave reporter Emily Kwong on Twitter @emilykwong1234. Email the show your biggest cosmological questions at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Tomorrow, two NASA astronauts are set to head up into space on a brand new spacecraft, built by the company SpaceX. The last time NASA sent a crew up in an entirely new vehicle was in 1981 with the launch of the Space Shuttle. Maddie talks to NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce about tomorrow's launch and how it compares to that earlier milestone. We'll also look at how this public-private partnership is changing the future of space exploration.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We're off for Memorial Day, so Maddie and Emily have a special Short Wave mad lib for you. Back with a new episode tomorrow. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The World Health Organization has called the spread of misinformation around the coronavirus an "infodemic." So what do you do when it's somebody you love spreading the misinformation? In this episode, Maddie talks with Invisibilia reporter Yowei Shaw about one man's very unusual approach to correcting his family. And we hear from experts about what actually works when trying to combat misinformation.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Yes, there actually are astronomers looking for intelligent life in space. The 1997 film adaptation of Carl Sagan's 'Contact' got a lot of things right ... and a few things wrong. Radio astronomer Summer Ash, an education specialist with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, breaks down the science in the film.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

More than 100 cities are monitoring sewage for the presence of the coronavirus, and public health officials think wastewater could provide an early warning system to help detect future spikes. NPR science correspondent Lauren Sommer explains how it works, and why scientists who specialize in wastewater-based epidemiology think it could be used to monitor community health in other ways. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Encore episode. The science is nascent and a little squishy, but researchers like Giulia Poerio are trying to better understand ASMR — a feeling triggered in the brains of some people by whispering, soft tapping, and delicate gestures. She explains how it works, and tells reporter Emily Kwong why slime might be an Internet fad that is, for some, a sensory pleasure-trigger.Read more about Emily's reporting on ASMR on the NPR Shots Blog.Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The pandemic has upended every aspect of our lives, including the disorienting way many of us have been perceiving time. It might feel like a day drags on, while a week (or month!) just flies by. We talk with Dean Buonomano, a professor of neurobiology and psychology at UCLA, about his research into how the brain tells time. We'll also ask him what's behind this pandemic time warp.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The surface of the Earth is constantly recycled through the motion of plate tectonics. So how do researchers study what it used to look like? Planetary scientist Roger Fu talks to host Maddie Sofia about hunting for rocks that paint a picture of the Earth a few billion years ago, in the early days of the evolution of life.Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ed Yong of The Atlantic explains how a viral article led to headlines about a possible coronavirus mutation. All viruses mutate — it doesn't necessarily mean the virus has developed into a more dangerous "strain." Read Ed's recent piece on coronavirus mutations here, and more of his reporting on the pandemic here. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Maddie talks with author and neuroscientist Theanne Griffith about her new children's book series, The Magnificent Makers, which follows two intrepid third graders as they race to complete science-based adventures. Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When Markus Buehler heard about the coronavirus, he wanted to know what it sounded like. Today on the show, Maddie speaks with Short Wave reporter Emily Kwong about how Markus Buehler, a composer and engineering professor at MIT, developed a method for making music out of proteins, and how music can potentially help us hear what we have trouble seeing at the nanoscale level.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There's a difference between diagnostic, antibody, and antigen tests. All provide different levels of reliability and speed.NPR health correspondent Rob Stein breaks down the differences and explains why public health officials are especially hopeful about antigen testing. Find out how your state is doing on overall testing.Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Reports of so-called 'murder hornets' have been all over the news this week. (Even though they were first spotted in the United States late last year.) We talk with entomologist Samuel Ramsey who explains how much of a threat the Asian giant hornet could be to honeybees throughout the country. And, he shares his own encounter fighting these insects while researching bees in Thailand.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

With a lot of us stuck at home, trying to physically distance from each other, one part of daily life has largely disappeared: bumping into strangers. On today's show, Maddie talks with Yowei Shaw, a reporter from NPR's Invisibilia, about the surprising benefits of stranger interactions. And Short Wave tries out QuarantineChat, a workaround to our current strangerless existence.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Trump administration has advanced the theory the coronavirus began as a lab accident, but scientists who research bat-borne coronaviruses disagree. Speaking with NPR, ten virologists and epidemiologists say the far more likely culprit is zoonotic spillover⁠—transmission of the virus between animals and humans in nature. We explain how zoonotic spillover works and why it's more plausible than a lab accident.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Dark energy makes up almost 70% of our universe and is believed to be the reason the universe is expanding. Yet very, very little is known about it. To figure out what we do know — and what it could tell us about the fate of the universe, we talked to astrophysicist Sarafina Nance. She studies cosmology, a field that looks at the origin and development of the universe.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The 1918 flu outbreak was one of the most devastating pandemics in world history, infecting one third of the world's population and killing an estimated 50 million people. While our understanding of infectious diseases and their spread has come a long way since then, 1918 was notably a time when the U.S. practiced widespread social distancing.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In several major cities, public health officials work every year to monitor the flu. It's called sentinel surveillance. And as early as mid-February, the government had a plan to use that system to find early cases of the coronavirus, by testing patients with flu-like symptoms. But NPR's Lauren Sommer reports the effort was slow to get started, costing weeks in the fight to control the spread of the virus. Read more from Lauren's reporting here. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Spring is in the air — and so are black bears coming out of hibernation. Rae Wynn-Grant, a large carnivore biologist, explains there's a lot more going on during hibernation than you might expect.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Optimism is often thought as a disposition, something you're born with or without. So can it be learned? On today's show, Maddie talks with Alix Spiegel, co-host of NPR's Invisibilia, about "learned optimism." We'll look at what it is, the research behind it, and how it might come in handy in certain circumstances, like maybe a global pandemic?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Humans have a long history of inventions: electricity, telephones, computers, music — the list goes on. It's clear we're shaping the world around us. But as Ainissa Ramirez explains in her new book, The Alchemy of Us, those inventions are shaping us, too.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

During the pandemic, ventilators have been considered a vital medical tool to treat critically-ill COVID-19 patients. But more and more evidence is suggesting that those who go on a ventilator — don't end up surviving. NPR Science Desk correspondent Jon Hamilton tells us about how these machines work, and how, for patients who do survive, recovery can be a long road.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. may need 100,000 people trained in the public health practice of contact tracing — tracking and isolating people who've been in contact with someone who tests positive for the coronavirus. NPR health policy reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin explains how it works, and why it's a key part of the fight against the pandemic. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We're all spending more time these days at home — including our bathrooms. But why do they look the way they do? From toilets to toothbrush holders, bioethicist and journalist Elizabeth Yuko explains how infectious diseases like tuberculosis and influenza shaped American bathroom design. And, we explore how the current pandemic could inspire a new wave of innovation in the bathroom.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Welcome back to "Animal Slander," the series where we take common expressions about animals and debunk them with science. Today on the show, we tackle "birdbrained" and to "eat like a bird" with biologists Corina Newsome and Alejandro Rico-Guevara. Follow Maddie and Emily on Twitter. Their usernames are @maddie_sofia and @emilykwong1234. Plus, send us your animal slander—and questions and praise—by emailing the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Happy (early) Earth Day, Short Wave listeners. We've received many questions from you about climate change, specifically what can individuals and households do to reduce their carbon footprint. So, we consulted two folks who have been thinking about this deeply and developing strategies for over a decade: Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, two architects of the 2015 Paris Agreement.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Scientific models of disease don't predict the future. They're just one tool to help us all prepare for it. NPR global health correspondent Nurith Aizenman explains how scientific models of disease are built and how they're used by public health experts. We also look at one influential model forecasting when individual states might begin to reopen. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Last Tuesday, the military helped evacuate dozens of critically ill COVID-19 patients from overwhelmed hospitals in Queens. NPR's Rebecca Hersher says what happened that night shows how training for war does — and does not — prepare members of the armed services for a pandemic at home.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Science writer Jennifer Leman did it. She ranked all 158 moons in our solar system. The criteria? Interviews with NASA scientists, astronomers, and her own moonpinions. She talks to host Maddie Sofia about some of her favorites. Here's her full list for Popular Mechanics. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Bats are critically important for ecosystems around the world. But they also harbor some of the toughest known zoonotic diseases, and are the likely origin point for this coronavirus. Short Wave reporter Emily Kwong talks about leading theories on where this coronavirus came from, the work of virus hunters, and the rise of emerging zoonotic diseases.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Social distancing has some of us taking up bread baking for the first time, including host Maddie Sofia. Chemist and baker Patricia Christie explains the science of making bread, including a few tips for when things go wrong with your bread dough. And she offers some advice for first-time bakers everywhere.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Liz Neeley, science communication expert and executive director of The Story Collider, shares some advice for how to talk to your friends and family about the coronavirus. Here's her article for The Atlantic: 'How To Talk About The Coronavirus.'Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Some patients with COVID-19 are experiencing a crash after about a week of showing symptoms of the disease. The cause?Well, as NPR's Geoff Brumfiel explains, doctors are starting to think it might not be the virus.For more reporting on the coronavirus and other science topics, follow Maddie and Geoff on Twitter. They're @maddie_sofia and @gbrumfiel.Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Brandon Taylor's story has a happy ending. Today he's a successful writer whose debut novel 'Real Life' received glowing reviews earlier this year. But his success only underscores what science lost when Brandon walked away from a graduate biochemistry program in 2016. He tells host Maddie Sofia why he left, and what he misses.Read his essay in BuzzFeed, 'Working In Science Was A Brutal Education. That's Why I Left.'Find and support your local public radio station at donate.npr.org/short. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

No, tornadoes do not sound like a roaring lion. The 1996 drama 'Twister' got a lot of things wrong...and a few things right. Meteorologist Ali Burgos, an analyst at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, breaks down the science in the film. Email the show at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico has the most older Americans per capita, making their population especially vulnerable to the coronavirus. A vital tool in preventing its spread there? Timely and culturally relevant public health information in Spanish. Maddie talks with Mónica Feliú-Mójer of the group CienciaPR about their science communication efforts.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Wiffle Balls are a lightweight alternative to baseballs, better suited for backyards then sports stadiums. The design of the Wiffle Ball guarantees you don't need a strong arm to throw a curve ball. But how does that happen? Engineering professor Jenn Stroud Rossman explains.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy