Short Wave New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, every weekday. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor.
Special Series
Short Wave
New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines
In the hunt for a male contraceptive, scientists look to stop sperm in their tracks
Marine archaeologist James Delgado, left, and beachcomber Craig Andes, right, examine one of the larger shipwreck timbers removed from sea caves off the northern Oregon coast. Andes discovered the timbers. Katie Frankowicz/KMUN hide caption
Real Life 'Goonies'? A Mysterious Shipwreck Found Off the Oregon Coast
TK splatchcock turkey Derek Campanile / Dad With A Pan hide caption
Cave nectar bat (Eonycteris spelaea) from Singapore. Justin Ng/Linfa Wang hide caption
When you listen to a story, your brain waves actually start to synchronize with those of the storyteller. And reading a narrative activates brain regions involved in deciphering or imagining a person's motives and perspective, research has found. aywan88/Getty Images hide caption
Harvard University professor Charles Lieber leaves the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston late last month. Charles Krupa/AP hide caption
Harvard Professor's Arrest Raises Questions About Scientific Openness
A man gets tested for diabetes at an event in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for World Diabetes Day in 2019. Mehedi Hasan/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
The WHO Knows Insulin Is Too Expensive. How It Plans To Drive Down The Price
Sampson wears personal protective equipment in the lab, like these googles, which are also worn by canine law enforcement and military dogs. Doris Dahl/Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign hide caption
This transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. The spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name, crown-like. NIAID-RML/NIH/Flickr hide caption
Coronavirus 101: What We Do — And Don't — Know About The Outbreak Of COVID-19
Dots of orbital debris are visible in this image of the Lunar Module Challenger from the Apollo 17 spacecraft, after docking maneuvers. The debris is from the Saturn S-IVB stage separation. NASA hide caption
People in the United States say someone is "blind as a bat" to mean that person has poor vision. James Hager/Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images hide caption
Scientists on the research vessel Akademik Fedorov spent a week or so setting up a network of scientific monitoring equipment up to about 25 miles from the MOSAiC ship. Ravenna Koenig for NPR hide caption
Polar Bears, Ice Cracks, And Isolation: Scientists Drift Across The Arctic Ocean
Aluminum ingots sit stacked in a warehouse at the Port of New Orleans last year. Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
Art historians point to images like John Henry Fuseli's 1754 painting "The Nightmare" as early depictions of sleep paralysis. UniversalImagesGroup/Getty Images hide caption
Ronald Mutyaba, an auto mechanic, at his home in Kampala, Uganda. Mutyaba is HIV positive and has developed Karposi sarcoma, a type of cancer that often affects people with immune deficiencies. He is holding a bottle of the liquid morphine that nurses from the nonprofit group Hospice Africa have prescribed to help control the pain caused by his illlness. Nurith Aizenman/NPR hide caption
A Sip Of Morphine: Uganda's Old-School Solution To A Shortage Of Painkillers
NEEDS CAPTION Smithsonian's National Zoo hide caption
With 65 Pounds Of Bamboo, Giant Panda 'Bei Bei' Prepares For Flight To China
An Afghan boy sells balloons in Kabul. We shouldn't worry about using helium for celebrations because, as one expert says, "The helium that's used in party balloons gets everybody to care about this resource." Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP hide caption
The World Is Constantly Running Out Of Helium. Here's Why It Matters.
Fallen whale carcasses, abundant in the deep-sea, are now studied as ecosystems unto themselves. Craig Smith and Mike deGruy hide caption