Short Wave

It seems like artificial intelligence is everywhere in our virtual lives. It's in our search results and our phones. But what happens when AI moves out of the chat and into the real world? NPR science...

Watching a ski jumper fly through the air might get you wondering, “How do they do that?” The answer is – physics! That’s why this episode, we have two physicists – Amy Pope, a physicist from Clemson...

In 1928, a chance contaminant in Scottish physician Alexander Fleming’s lab experiment led to a discovery that would change the field of medicine forever: penicillin. Since then, penicillin and other ...

Rhythm is everywhere. Even if you don’t think you have it, it’s fundamental to humans’ biological systems. Our heartbeat is rhythmic. Speech is rhythmic. Even as babies, humans can track basic rhythm....

Olympic sliding sports – bobsled, luge and skeleton – are known for their speed. Athletes chase medals down a track of ice at up to 80 or 90 mph. With this thrill comes the risk of “sled head.” Athlet...

Autism has a long history of misinformation that continues to today. The Trump administration has perpetuated some of this misinformation in the last year. Among other things, officials have claimed c...

PFAS make pans nonstick, clothes waterproof and furniture stain resistant. They're so ubiquitous, they're even inside of us. Now, researchers are looking for more insights in firefighters' blood. To ...

On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA’s 25th space shuttle mission, Challenger, left the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Seventy-three seconds into flight, Challenger exploded over the Atlantic Ocean as millio...

This past weekend, Winter Storm Fern struck the States. Sleet, snow and ice battered Americans all the way from New Mexico to New York. Scientists predicted its arrival in mid-January, and in anticipa...

Listener Shabnam Khan has a problem: Every time she works in her garden, she’s visited by lizards and frogs. Shabnam has lived in the metro Atlanta area for decades, and she says this number of scaly,...