Unexplainable

Some of the largest lakes in the world have been buried under miles of ice for millions of years. Is there life hiding down there? And if so, could life be found in even more extreme places … beyond our planet?

Guest: John Priscu, microbiologist at Montana State University

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Genetic libraries are treasure troves of information about life from around the world. They’re helping researchers develop everything from vaccines to crops to cosmetics. But who actually benefits from the discoveries scientists make using all this DNA and RNA?

Guests: Benji Jones, environmental correspondent at Vox’s Future Perfect; Deborah Fuller, professor of microbiology at the University of Washington

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Some scientists think an explosion of AI awareness and feeling might be just around the corner. Others think it’s impossible for an AI to ever become conscious. How will we know?

Guest: Oshan Jarow, staff writer at Vox’s Future Perfect

This episode was made in partnership with Vox's Future Perfect team.

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It’s that time of year again. If you’re changing things up, there’s a lot of diets out there that claim to help you live longer. Our friends at Today, Explained ask: How much of this is real and how much of it is nonsense?

Guests: Anahad O’Connor, health columnist at the Washington Post; Saul Justin Newman, researcher at the University College London Centre for Longitudinal Studies

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The wildest stories that never made it into our episodes. Until now.

Guests: Amy Boddy, anthropological scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Jayme Locke, transplant surgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Jonathan Jiang, research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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Dogs were the first domesticated animal in history, emerging from wolves some 20,000 years ago. But how did wolves become dogs? To find the answer, scientists have to play with a lot of puppies. (First published in 2023.)

Guest: Kathryn Lord, evolutionary biology researcher at UMass Chan Medical School

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We know Neanderthals and early modern humans coupled up. But when did they meet, exactly? And where? Some fossilized smoke and a baby tooth might hold clues.

Guest: Adam Cole of HowTown

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It’s not great to be a lab rat. And it turns out, lab rats might not be that great for science either. Could the future be little lab-grown brain clumps?

Guests: Rachel Nuwer, science journalist; Lisa Genzel, professor of neuroscience at Radboud University

This episode has been updated. An earlier version didn’t differentiate between two stages of drug development.

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This week on Unexplainable or Not, we’ve got three scientific mysteries all about left and right. Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox’s new podcast Explain It to Me, is going to guess which of them has been solved and which ones are still unexplainable.

Guest: S. Furkan Ozturk, researcher at Harvard University

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For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can give patients placebos, tell them they’re on sugar pills, and they still might feel better. No one is sure how this works, but it raises a question: Should doctors embrace placebos in mainstream medicine? (First published in 2021.)

Guests: Ted Kaptchuk, professor at Harvard Medical School; Darwin Guevarra, professor of psychology at Miami University; Luana Colloca, professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing

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It makes sense that we run away from scary things. That’s a good way to stay alive. But why do some people also love scary things? Why do people gravitate toward horror?

Guests: Mathias Clasen and Marc Andersen, co-directors of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University

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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.

Guests: Jonathan Lambert, science journalist; Boris Heifets, professor at Stanford University of Medicine; Amy Mcguire, professor at Baylor College of Medicine

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How we feel emotionally may be influenced by unseen troves of microbial life that live inside us. Is it possible to harness this gut power? (First published in 2022)

Guests: Michael Gershon, professor of pathology at Columbia University; and Katerina Johnson, microbiome researcher at Oxford University

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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?

Guests: Umair Irfan, correspondent at Vox; Karen Clark, co-founder and CEO of Karen Clark & Company; Joe Skuba, VP at The Gray Insurance Company; and Carolyn Kousky, Associate VP at Environmental Defense Fund

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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. Is this really the solution?

Guests: Muhammad Mohiuddin, professor of surgery at University of Maryland School of Medicine; L. Syd Johnson, professor of clinical bioethics at SUNY Upstate Medical University

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Scientists have lots of ways to try to answer that question, and lots of different predictions. So how do they figure out one set of numbers we can all work with?

Guests: Umair Irfan, correspondent at Vox; Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist at The Breakthrough Institute; Neil Swart, research scientist at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis

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Probably not. But Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz decided to try anyway, putting his body — and specifically his butt — on the line to answer a seemingly straightforward question: Is it possible to build up a tolerance to poison oak by eating it?

Guest: Jeff Horwitz, reporter at the Wall Street Journal; and Mahmoud ElSohly, professor of pharmaceutics at the University of Mississippi

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Scientists just discovered oxygen being produced without sunlight — without photosynthesis — at the bottom of the ocean. This “dark oxygen” could fundamentally change the story we tell of life on Earth and in the rest of the universe.

Guest: Alycia Smith, ecologist at Heriot-Watt University

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For decades, search and rescue teams followed an accepted playbook. Now, scientists are helping them reimagine how to find lost people.

Guests: Robert Koester, author of Lost Person Behavior, and Paul Doherty, search and rescue researcher

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With antibiotic resistance on the rise, some scientists are turning to viruses as a medical tool. But we barely know anything about the bacteria-eating viruses all around us. (First published in 2021)

Guest: Nicola Twilley, host of Gastropod

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Our bodies are teeming with viruses. But some of them, called phages, might play a really important role in keeping us healthy.

Guest: Tom Ireland, author of The Good Virus

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The FDA is about to announce whether it’s going to approve MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Our friends at Today, Explained explore what this kind of therapy looks like, and why it’s so controversial.

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They probably didn’t roar like lions. Their real voices were likely much, much weirder. We asked scientists to help us re-create these strange, extinct sounds. (First published in 2022)

Guests: Michael Habib, professor at UCLA, Julia Clarke, professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and Jonny Crew, sound designer at Wounded Buffalo

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It’s possible that the entire observable universe is inside a black hole. All we need to do to find out is … build a gigantic particle collider around the moon.

Guest: James Beacham, particle physicist at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

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Send this episode to the person who constantly hounds you not to slouch.

Guest: Beth Linker, author of “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America”

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People yawn when they’re bored, right? So then why do athletes yawn before races? And why do so many animals yawn? … And why does reading this paragraph make you more likely to yawn? (Updated from 2022)

Guest: Dr. Andrew Gallup

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Can a physicist predict our messy economy by building an enormous simulation of the entire world?

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Inflation is one of the most significant issues shaping the 2024 election. But how much can we actually do to control it?

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It’s hard to figure out the economic value of a wild bat or any other part of the natural world, but some scientists argue that this kind of calculation could help protect our environment.

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Seventy-five percent of the seafloor remains unmapped and unexplored, but the first few glimpses scientists have gotten of the ocean’s depths have completely revolutionized our understanding of the planet.

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If you just stood up and shouted, “It’s Mount Everest, duh!” then take a seat. Not only is Everest’s official height constantly changing, but three other mountains might actually be king of the hill.

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Way back when forests first evolved on Earth … they might have triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of the planet. What can we learn from this ancient climate apocalypse?

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From blood transfusions to enzyme boosters, our friends at Science Vs dive into the latest research on the search for the fountain of youth.

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A snake. A shark. They got pregnant with no male involved. In fact, scientists are finding more and more species that can reproduce on their own. What’s going on?

Note: We mention that a stingray named Charlotte might be pregnant via parthenogenesis. It has since been announced that she was not pregnant, but ill.

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Itch used to be understood as a mild form of pain, but scientists are learning this sense is more than just skin deep. How deep does it go?

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Life as we know it needs water, but scientists can’t figure out where Earth’s water came from. Answering that question is just one piece of an even bigger mystery: “Why are we here?” (Updated from 2023)

For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts

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Vox is also currently running a series called Home Planet, which is all about celebrating Earth in the face of climate change: vox.com/homeplanet

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A cell is alive. So is a leaf and so is a tree. But what about the forest they’re a part of? Is that forest alive? And what about the planet that forest grows on? Is Earth alive? Science writer Ferris Jabr says: Yes.

For show transcripts, go to bit.ly/unx-transcripts

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The researcher who popularized the idea of the alpha wolf has spent decades trying to take it back. Our friends over at Pablo Torre Finds Out try to uncover how science got it wrong.

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Solar storms can wreak havoc on power grids, satellites, even astronauts — but scientists still struggle to predict them. One possible way forward? Chasing eclipses.

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Think about the thing you’ve practiced more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s painting. Or writing. Or playing the piano. Now imagine you wake up one day and you just can’t do it. You’re not sick. You’re not injured. But that one thing is impossible.

It’s called the yips, and even the most talented people in the world experience it. What could cause them to lose their superpowers? And is there anything they can do to get them back?

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Diagnosing diseases such as endometriosis can require difficult steps, like surgery. But researchers are hoping to use menstrual fluid to make detecting the condition much easier.

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Periods and menstrual fluid have long been overlooked by scientists. Now, researchers are starting to suspect they might be sources of medical treasure.

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Was there a technologically advanced species living on Earth long before humans? And if one had existed, how would we know? (Updated from 2022)

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They’re not looking for UFOs or decoding government secrets. They’re doing something much simpler.

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Airborne diseases kill millions of people a year, despite available antibiotics and vaccines. But scientists think there might be another solution to fighting these diseases, one that harnesses the power of light.

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Humans seem to be the only animals that cry from emotion. This Valentine’s Day, we’re wondering: What makes our tears so special? (Updated from 2022)

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Safety questions have haunted aspartame — the no-calorie sweetener used in many diet soft drinks and other low-calorie products — since its invention. Some answers exist, but should we trust them if they were influenced by the beverage industry?

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Can swearing make you stronger?

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Today's internet is built on a series of locks and keys that protect your private information as it travels through cyberspace. But could all these locks be broken? (Updated from 2022)

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Scientists didn’t think it was possible for life to thrive in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Then, they found some anemones ... and some huge questions about entire new ecosystems built on plastic.

If you want to hear more about plastic in the ocean, we have another episode about how 99% of ocean plastic is missing: http://bit.ly/3HnW9b2

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Researchers planted microphones in a forest and walked away. Listening back could help heal rainforest ecosystems.

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What’s up with the weird golden egg at the bottom of the ocean? How do eggs actually choose sperm? Hit sports podcast host Pablo Torre tries to guess which of these mysteries has actually been solved on our latest episode of Unexplainable or Not.

For show transcripts, go to bit.ly/unx-transcripts

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The James Webb Space Telescope launched two years ago, giving scientists a new view into the early universe. Now, it's revealed a big new cosmic mystery.

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An expedition to Antarctica. Strange seismic readings. Clues to uncover a hidden part of our planet.

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Our show celebrates uncertainty. But as environmental reporter Amy Westervelt explains, the concept also has a dark side.

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NASA is planning for humans to live on the moon by 2040. But how much space can the human body handle? (Updated from 2022)

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Decades of studies suggest that eating ice cream reduces diabetes risk. Could ice cream be ... good for you? And what does “good for you” mean?

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Data sleuths are working outside the system to keep science honest. But is there a better way to prevent scientific misconduct and fraud?

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Coral reefs are an essential ecosystem undeniably threatened by climate change. Can scientists breed a stronger coral for the future?

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This Halloween, we look at how technology is forcing us to ask: When is someone actually dead? And we look into research that is raising a further question: Could death someday be reversible?

This episode originally ran on November 22, 2022.

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Over the last few years, orcas have been targeting boats, often leaving them stranded at sea. Are these orcas trying to attack humans, or is there something more mysterious going on?

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Our game show is back! This time, comedian Wyatt Cenac is in the hot seat in front of a live audience. Can he guess which climate mystery has been solved and which ones are still unexplainable?

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Towering walls of water sometimes appear in the ocean without warning or apparent cause. What drives their terrifying power?

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What would an episode of Unexplainable have sounded like if it had been made in 100 CE?

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Can researchers decipher what people are thinking about just by looking at brain scans? With AI, they're getting closer. How far can they go, and what does it mean for privacy?

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Something about modern life is leading to higher rates of nearsightedness across the world. What is it?

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At last year’s World Athletics Championships, sprinter TyNia Gaither was disqualified for false starting... after the gun went off. Officials said she started faster than humanly possible. How can that be?

This episode originally ran on June 15, 2022.

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Two scientists explain how AI might help us translate animal communication, and what we might learn from their squawks, chirps, songs, and chatter. This episode was recorded live at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

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Sam Sanders, host of Vulture’s Into It podcast, is in the hot seat for a new episode of our game show. Can he guess which sandy mystery has been solved and which ones are still unexplainable? 

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Dogs were the first domesticated animal in history, emerging from wolves some 20,000 years ago. But how did wolves become dogs? To find the answer, scientists have to play with a lot of puppies.

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In all our searching of the universe, we’ve never seen another moon like ours. It's big, it's weird, and it has played a huge role in shaping our planet. But how did we get it? Every possible story points to cataclysm.

This episode originally ran on June 15, 2022. It is part of our Lost Worlds series exploring scientific mysteries buried in the deep past.

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AI can often solve problems in unexpected, undesirable ways. So how can we make sure it does what we want, the way we want? And what happens if we can’t?

This is the second episode of our new two-part series, The Black Box.

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AI has the potential to impact our society in dramatic ways, but researchers can’t explain precisely how it works or how it might evolve. Will they ever understand it?

This is the first episode of our new two-part series, The Black Box.

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A dog on its owner’s grave. A killer whale carrying around its dead calf. A goose that isolates when its mate dies. These behaviors in animals may look like human mourning, but should scientists call them "grief?"

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Jennifer Vonk's research study on pet cats reactions to the death of companion animals can be found here.

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Dreams are weird, but can they be a scientific tool? Can they teach us anything about humanity? About ourselves?

This episode originally ran on April 12, 2022.

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The Indus Valley civilization was one of the largest, most advanced civilizations in the ancient world. But we barely know anything about them, in large part because we haven’t been able to decipher the cryptic symbols they left behind.

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Awe is what takes our breath away when we face a sky full of stars or listen to a moving piece of music. But scientists are still trying to pin down why we feel such a powerful emotion, and whether it’s possible to cultivate more of it in our lives.

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Many states have extremely punitive policies around cannabis and pregnancy. But researchers don't actually have great data on cannabis's harms.

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Caring for a child seems to change parents’ brains. But what does that actually mean for how parents think and experience the world?

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Fetuses leave cells behind in their parents' bodies, where they braid themselves into tissues, and remain, for years. What are they doing in there?

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2023 has been a record-setting year for tornadoes, and these storms came with barely any warning. So to better understand tornadoes, scientists might need to confront more of these storms head-on.

This episode originally ran on July 12, 2021.

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Scientists are hard at work trying to bring back woolly mammoths (and dodos). But should they? And what would they actually be bringing back?

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We did a live show! We talked about how one of our favorite episodes came together and how we went about creating (somewhat) accurate dinosaur sounds.

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Studies suggesting trees communicate through an elaborate underground fungal network have captured imaginations. It’s a beautiful idea, but the fantasy may have gotten ahead of the science.

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This week, we tackle three listener questions — on sleepwalking, deja vu, and Earth’s magnetic field. Next time, we could be (not) answering yours. Email us at unexplainable@vox.com, or fill out this form.

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Scientists are digging into what makes something funny. We compare their notes with comedians — including Atsuko Okatsuka, Josh Johnson, Dulcé Sloan, and Chris Fleming.

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For every definition of life, there’s a creature that sends us right back to the drawing board.

This is the third episode in our three-part series, Origins, about the beginnings and boundaries of life on Earth.

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How did life on Earth start? To help answer that, researchers are trying to create some life for themselves.

This is the second episode in our three-part series, Origins, about the beginnings and boundaries of life on Earth.

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Life as we know it needs water, but scientists can’t figure out where Earth’s water came from. Answering that question is just one piece of an even bigger mystery: “Why are we here?”

This is the first episode in our new three-part series, Origins, about the beginnings and boundaries of life on Earth.

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Can science help us predict whether a relationship will succeed? Or is it all just chaos?

This episode originally ran on February 9, 2022.

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Listeners told us that eating baby carrots or telling lies can bring on the hiccups. Burping or kissing can make them stop. Um, what?

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Last fall, a NASA spacecraft slammed into an asteroid to test a way to avert a disaster on Earth. So are we safe now?

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Our houses are homes to hidden worlds of bugs. And the more ecologists explore those worlds, the more they realize that some of our tiny roommates actually have a lot to teach us. 

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In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt made one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy: a yardstick to measure distances to faraway stars. Using this tool, scientists eventually transformed our understanding of the universe. They realized space was expanding, that this expansion was accelerating, and that ultimately, everything will end.

This episode originally ran on June 30, 2021.

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In the temperate rainforests of Chile, there is a vine that can shapeshift to copy the look of other plants. But how? Can it... see them? Or is something weirder happening?

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Our game show is back! This week, Avery Trufelman, host of the Articles of Interest podcast, tries to guess which of these three mysteries of movement have been solved and which are still unexplainable.

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How we feel emotionally may be influenced by unseen troves of microbial life that live inside us. Is it possible to harness this gut power?

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Back in January, we spoke to a scientist at the National Ignition Facility about how close they were to achieving what’s been called “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century.” This week, they announced they’ve finally done it.

A version of this episode originally ran on January 5, 2022.

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How do animals know how to do things like spin a web or build a dam? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on.

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Humans seem to be the only animals that cry from emotion. What makes our tears so special?

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NASA just launched the Artemis program, a series of missions that will eventually take humans back to the moon, and beyond. But can humans actually survive in space long-term?

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A mountain, a tower, a thermos full of molten salt: These are the batteries that could power our renewable future.

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Death used to be fairly self-evident, but new technologies have forced us to ask: When is someone actually dead? And now, new research is raising a further question: Could death someday be reversible?

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Why do so many people think they can see and hear ghosts, and what does that say about our conscious experience of the world? This episode originally ran on October 27, 2021.

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In the past few decades, the rate of food allergies in both children and adults has dramatically increased. What’s causing this rise, and what can we do about it?

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On the first episode of Vox’s new podcast, The Gray Area, host Sean Illing talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson about the limits of both politics and science.

Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3Cxl1KD

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For the first time, we get some answers.

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Today's internet is built on a series of locks and keys that protect your private information as it travels through cyberspace. But could all these locks be broken?

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At the 2022 World Athletics Championships, sprinter TyNia Gaither was disqualified for false starting ... after the gun went off. Officials said she started faster than humanly possible. How can that be?

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This past July, a bombshell report in Science magazine suggested that a key Alzheimer’s study might have contained manipulated evidence. What does this mean for over a decade's worth of research? And where does the field go from here?

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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.

This episode was reported by Benji Jones and Mandy Nguyen, who produced the episode. Editing from Meradith Hoddinott, Katherine Wells, Brian Resnick, and Noam Hassenfeld, who scored the episode. Mixing and sound design from Cristian Ayala. Fact-checking from Richard Sima.

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They probably didn’t roar like lions. Their real voices were likely much, much weirder. We asked scientists to help us recreate these strange, extinct sounds.

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There's an old story scientists tell about human ovaries: that they are ticking clocks that only lose eggs, never gain them. Now that story might be changing, opening the door to new treatments for infertility and menopause.

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Where eels come from is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, in large part because scientists have never actually seen them reproduce in the wild. Gastropod explains why eels are somehow still so mysterious.

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People yawn when they’re bored, right? So then why do athletes yawn before races? And why do so many animals yawn? … And why does reading this paragraph make you more likely to yawn?

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A lava planet, life on other worlds, the very first starlight in the universe — the most powerful space telescope ever built is ready to reveal many mysteries of the cosmos.

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Millions of Americans take dietary supplements — everything from vitamins and minerals to weight loss pills and probiotics. But because supplements are loosely regulated in the US, their makers don't have to prove that they work, or even that they are safe.

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Venus is the hottest, scariest planet in the solar system, but billions of years ago it may have been a lot like Earth, complete with an ocean of water. So, how did Venus go to hell? And could Earth be next?

This is the final episode of our four-part series, Lost Worlds, and it originally ran on December 1, 2021.

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Mars was once a very different planet, with rivers, lakes, and — potentially — life. NASA’s latest Mars rover is on a mission to find traces of past life. What happens if it does?

This is the third episode of our new four-part series, Lost Worlds.

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In all our searching of the universe, we’ve never seen another moon like ours. It's big, it's weird, it's played a huge role in shaping our planet. But how did we get it? Every possible story points to cataclysm.

This is the second episode of our new four-part series, Lost Worlds.

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Was there a technologically advanced species living on Earth long before humans? And if one had existed, how would we know?

This is the first episode of our new four-part series, Lost Worlds.

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Insect populations are shrinking all over the world, and entomologists are buzzing with questions: Why is this happening? How quickly? And, most concerningly, what does it mean for food supplies or even life as we know it?

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A groundbreaking study claims to have found a way for a fully paralyzed person to communicate entirely via thought. Today, Explained breaks down the science and asks: Is it too good to be true?

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Dreams are weird, but can they be a scientific tool? Can they teach us anything about humanity? About ourselves?

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What are the scientific, family, and privacy implications?

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Octopuses are largely solitary animals, but there have been rare times — notably in the movie My Octopus Teacher — where they seem to have become comfortable around humans. But is it really possible to be friends with an octopus?

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Most deep-water creatures are bioluminescent. Marine biologist Edie Widder has spent the last 40 years trying to figure out why.

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In the 1920s, the scientist Werner Heisenberg came up with a wild idea that broke reality as Western science knew it. And it's still unsettling to think about. Benjamin Labatut's recent book, When We Cease to Understand the World, makes readers feel the aftershocks of the revelation, asking, "What's real?"

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Why stop at five senses? Just how much of the world can we perceive? And how much is out there that’s still out of reach, hiding in the dark?

This is the sixth and final episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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Close your eyes and try to imagine an apple. Can you see anything? Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. Since it was discovered, scientists have been asking the question: What is the mind’s eye even for?

This is the fifth episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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For thousands of years, there have been four basic tastes recognized across cultures. But thanks to Kumiko Ninomiya (a.k.a. the Umami Mama), scientists finally accepted a fifth. So could there be even more?

This is the fourth episode of our six-part series, Making Sense.

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Dogs can smell cancer, Covid-19, and many other health problems in humans. Now, scientists are trying to duplicate these powers in robotic sniffers. But there’s a big challenge here: Scientists don’t really understand how smell works. This is the third episode of our six-part series, Making Sense, and it originally ran on March 10, 2021.

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Doctors can save the lives of premature infants, but the process is often painful. Luckily, a solution might be as simple as a parent’s loving touch.

This is the second episode of our new six-part series, Making Sense.

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In the same way optical illusions trick our eyes, audio illusions can trick our ears. This raises a fundamental question: What is hearing, and how much of it is made up by our brains?

This is the first episode of our new six-part series, Making Sense.

You can find more of Diana Deutsch’s auditory illusions at https://bit.ly/3Mdh6H4, Matthew Winn's research at http://www.mattwinn.com/Research.html, and Mike Chorost's writing at https://michaelchorost.com

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Methane traps more than 80 times as much heat as CO2 over the short term. So we could make a real difference on climate change this decade if we could stop leaking so much methane into the atmosphere. But before researchers and regulators can figure out how to do that, the methane hunters need to find the leaks.

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Can science help us predict whether a relationship will succeed? Or is it all just chaos?

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What does it sound like on Mars? On Jupiter? Titan? This collaboration between the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz and the composer Melodysheep imagines the soundscapes of other worlds.

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Scientists are constantly searching for asteroids that could crash into Earth. But if they find one, will they be able to do anything about it? NASA has launched a spaceship that will slam into an asteroid to find out.

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When scientists examined the DNA of ancient bones found near a Himalayan lake, they were forced to confront a seemingly impossible conclusion. This episode originally ran on March 24, 2021.

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In 2017, researchers published an explosive finding: Sperm counts may be declining in some countries around the world. Media outlets began worrying about a potential Spermageddon, but other researchers have pumped the brakes. Because scientists know surprisingly little about sperm.

Also, Noam created a list on the Hark podcast app where he talked about some of his favorite bitesize moments of the show so far. And it’s easy to share with friends! https://bit.ly/3tib6pd

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Scientists are closer than ever to harnessing fusion power — the same process that powers the sun — by essentially making a small star here on Earth. Fusion could give humanity its best shot at solving the climate crisis, but the technology has yet to be perfected and would require billions more in investments. Is it worth the bet?

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Noam wrote an end-of-year song with Today, Explained host Sean Rameswaram, so we thought to drop it here as a little end-of-year surprise.

Lyrics:

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second the year’d begun

We had an insurrection

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second the year’d begun

We had an insurrection

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

So if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

So if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

Dial back to when the year had begun

We were looking forward to the end of hibernation 

But it didn’t even last a week

No it didn’t even last a week, mm-hmm

On the sixth day of 2021

Vanilla Isis tried to flip the election

But looking back we can’t agree 

On the facts, no, we can’t agree, mm-mm

Pretty soon we were signing up for shots (shots!)

Talking about shots (shots!)

Shots shots shots (shots!)

Everyone was a pharma fan

With the Pfizer fam, the Moderna clan (J&J)

But we should have known Delta would happen 

Most of humanity not getting vaxxed and

Fourth wave — fifth wave, in rhythm

That’s one more wave than feminism!

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

But according to Joe Ro-gun

You should take Ivermectin

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

But if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

A booster, I’m not sure I need it. 

Dune on the IMAX, I seen it.

Back to the good life, I dreamed it. (Arrakis)

Wake up, reality, don’t fit.

Hope you don’t need a house or a condo (a condo)

Hope you don’t need a trip to Toronto (Toronto)

Hope you don’t need some gas for your Durango (Durango) 

Hope you don’t need a can of dried mangos (dried mangos)

Everyone is feeling frustration

Quitting jobs — the Great Resignation

Blaming Biden for rising inflation

While billionaires shoot off to space, racing

Did we fix the grid in Texas? (yes)

Figure out how wide the Suez is? (yes)

Don’t ask me

All I see on TV 

It's just fights on Critical Race Theory

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Moving onto issue number one:

Whether to allow abortions!

Yeah it wasn’t just what we hoped to see

We might have started too optimistically

But if we keep our expectations low

Maybe the world won’t seem so terrible

I just want to be free

Of thinking about Covid-19

I just want to see

Something done about global warming

And I still don’t get NFT’s

Can’t understand crypto currency and

And we can’t agree on anything

But at least we got together to free Britney

(Oh baby baby)

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second as the year’d begun

We had an insurrection

And people lied about the last election

And made it harder to vote in elections

At least we don’t have another election

Wait, I think there’s another election...

2021, it was gonna be fun

Get a couple shots and then you’re done

Then the second we thought we’d won

We’re learning how to say "Omicron"

Guess you never know what’s gonna come through

Making plans for things you’ll never do 

But take it from a brown guy (and a Jew)

There’s always 2022.

This song was written and performed by Sean Rameswaram and Noam Hassenfeld, produced by Noam, engineered by Efim Shapiro, and features additional vocals from Christina Animashaun.

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Most of the matter in the universe is dark matter, an invisible, untouchable, mysterious substance. Scientists don’t know what exactly dark matter is, despite decades of searching. But recently, they got a new clue in the form of an extremely tiny dancer.

This episode is a remix of two prior episodes of Unexplainable, which has been airing on broadcast radio through a partnership with American Public Media.

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How can we solve the problem of ocean plastic if we don’t know where most of the plastic is?

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Until 1993, many researchers excluded women from clinical drug trials, leaving doctors in the dark about how new treatments work in more than half the population. This is the story of why that happened, the women who fought to change it, and what we still don’t know about how sex and gender affect health.

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Venus is the hottest, scariest planet in the solar system, but billions of years ago it may have been a lot like Earth, complete with an ocean of water. So, what killed Venus? And could Earth be next?

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Will scientists ever fully understand the human brain? In their quest for knowledge, they’ve tried knives, magnets, computers, blood, and even a good metaphor.

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Slime molds can navigate mazes, control robots, and make complicated decisions, all without a central nervous system. If this weird gooey blob can think, does that mean scientists are thinking about intelligence all wrong?

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Every year, thousands of marine mammals end up trapped on beaches, but it’s often hard to figure out why. It’s even harder to figure out how much humans are to blame.

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Why do so many people think they can see and hear ghosts, and what does that say about our conscious experience of the world?

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A recent study of tens of thousands of birds has shown that birds are growing smaller over time. It could be due to climate change, and if so, we ought to consider: How else might humans be altering the literal shape of life on Earth — now and in the future?

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The Nobel Prize has rewarded some amazing discoveries. It’s also contributed to scientific tunnel vision. This week, how the Nobel impacted our understanding of an enormous cosmic mystery, and what a new and improved Nobel Prize could look like.

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To look into deep space is to look back in time. With the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists hope to see “cosmic dawn,” a period long ago when the first starlight transformed the universe. But what happened before cosmic dawn? The Webb can’t tell us, though future telescopes could.

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After decades of planning, NASA is finally (finally!) set to launch the successor to the Hubble. The new Webb telescope will be a paradigm shift for astronomy, exploring places in the cosmos that have been completely invisible to us until now. But first, it has to safely reach a point nearly a million miles away from the Earth.

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For decades, Alzheimer’s researchers have been stubbornly pursuing a single theory, but they’re starting to wonder: is this narrow focus the reason we still don’t have a cure?

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Several years after US diplomats in Cuba claimed they were attacked by an invisible weapon, similar incidents continue to be reported around the world. Scientists haven’t been able to determine a definitive cause, but the possibilities point toward something just as mysterious as the illness itself: the inner workings of the human brain.

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Once upon a time, there were no anuses. These ingenious organs allowed our primordial ancestors to grow bigger and more complex, but scientists still don’t understand how they evolved. And they’re still grasping at a mystery that literally surrounds it: Why is the human butt so big?

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This common chronic condition — where tissue similar to what grows inside the uterus grows elsewhere in the body — is barely understood. So why is a condition so prevalent and painful still so unknown? It has a lot to do with who gets to ask research questions.

Correction, August 18: An earlier version of this episode implied that the tissue involved in endometriosis is the same as the endometrium, which lines the uterus. It is similar tissue, but not identical.

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Two scientists. A billion-dollar wager. One unanswered question: Is the first human who will live to 150 already alive? The technology to make that happen may already be in development. But if it works, there will be new, unsettling questions for humankind to answer.

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Earlier this year, Nicole Yamase explored the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest place in the ocean, where few people have ever been. The rest of the seafloor is almost as mysterious — 80 percent remains unmapped — but the few glimpses scientists have gotten have completely revolutionized our understanding of the planet.

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8 minutes, 24 seconds. That’s the average amount of warning time people get before a tornado touches down. To do better, and to understand tornadoes, scientists need to confront more of these storms, head on.

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Astronauts left something on the moon that could help unlock the origins of life itself.

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An accidental discovery on a nighttime walk led one scientist and his team to wonder: How many mammals glow under ultraviolet light? The list keeps growing, but scientists still aren’t sure why these furry creatures glow.

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In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt made one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy: a yardstick to measure distances to faraway stars. Using this tool, scientists eventually transformed our understanding of the universe. They realized space was expanding, that this expansion was accelerating, and that ultimately, everything will end.

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As part of a massive new global tracking project, scientists are monitoring animals from a receiver on the International Space Station, mapping the incredible, previously unknown journeys that animals undertake. They’re beginning to tackle questions like how far do animals actually move? And how in the world do they know where they’re going?

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These worms are fast, they’re mysterious, and they’re quickly changing North American ecosystems. How worried should we be about global worming?

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How tall is the world’s tallest mountain? The answer is surprisingly tricky, which means that Everest’s official height is constantly changing. In fact, depending on the type of measurement scientists use, Everest may not be the tallest mountain in the world.

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UFOs are real, but that doesn’t mean they’re aliens. Today, Explained, Vox's daily news podcast, tells the story of America's longstanding relationship with UFOs and what we might learn from an upcoming government report.

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Something strange is going on at the outer reaches of the solar system. One astronomer thinks it might be a Neptune-sized ninth planet, and he’s on a quest to find it.

That search is happening at an enormous telescope on the summit of Maunakea, a dormant Hawaiian volcano with a long astronomical and cultural history. But many Native Hawaiian scientists are asking: What’s lost in the pursuit of larger and larger telescopes?

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It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change, but it’s essential to try. Because how clouds react to a warming world helps determine how hot our future will be.

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Last month, physicists at Fermilab in Illinois found that tiny subatomic particles called muons were wobbling strangely. This small observation could transform the future of particle physics, potentially pointing toward undiscovered particles or maybe even a new force of nature.

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For decades, scientists thought that placebos only worked if patients didn’t know they were taking them. Not anymore: You can give patients placebos, tell them they’re on sugar pills, and they still might feel better. No one is sure how this works, but it raises a question: Should doctors embrace placebos in mainstream medicine?

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In 2016, the UN declared antibiotic-resistant bacteria the “greatest and most urgent global risk.” Our best hope just might be phages, or viruses that attack bacteria. Phages’ potential is enormous, but so is everything we don’t know about them.

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Every day, untold numbers of strange organisms rise from the middle of the ocean to its surface. They may be playing a crucial role in slowing climate change, so scientists are struggling to understand this migration ... before it’s too late.

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Scientists don’t understand why so many people suffer from Covid-19 symptoms for months, well after they stop testing positive. But that’s just the start of the mystery. There are other diseases that cast these long shadows, and they point to a major blind spot in medicine.

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A decade ago, psychologists realized much of their science was fatally flawed, calling untold numbers of studies into question. Now, some young psychologists are trying to rebuild the foundations of their field. Can they succeed?

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For millennia, people have been reporting stories of mysterious spheres of light that glow, crackle, and hover eerily during thunderstorms. They’ve been spotted in people’s homes, and are even said to be able to pass through windows. No one knows how ball lightning forms — but that’s not stopping scientists from attempting to recreate it in their labs.

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When scientists examined the DNA of ancient bones found near a Himalayan lake, they were forced to confront a seemingly impossible conclusion.

*This episode has been updated. In the original version, we mixed up carbon isotopes with carbon isotope ratios.

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Sixty years ago, geologists tried to drill down through the Earth’s crust to pull up a piece of the Earth’s mantle. Their mission didn’t go exactly as planned. But it sowed the seeds for a new field of science that’s helped us rewrite not only the history of the planet, but, potentially, our definitions of life itself.

The documentaries featured in this episode are "The First Deep Ocean Drilling: Mohole, Phase 1" and "Project Mohole: Report No. 1."

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Believe it or not, scientists still don't know how the sense of smell works. But they're looking at how powerful it is - dogs can actually sniff out cancer and many other diseases - and they're trying to figure out how to reverse engineer it. In fact, one MIT scientist may have built a robot nose ... without completely understanding how his invention works.

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Scientists all over the world are searching for dark matter: an invisible, untouchable substance that holds our universe together. But they haven't found it. Are they chasing a ghost?

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Scientists don’t know what 95% of the universe is made of. They don’t know how a bike stays up. They don’t even really know how the nose works. Join us every Wednesday on Unexplainable for deep dives into the unknown, because what we don’t know is awesome. New episodes March 10th.

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