Episodes

  • Will GMOs Bring Back The American Chestnut Tree?

    Will GMOs Bring Back The American Chestnut Tree?
    Dec 25 2024
    In the early 20th century, a blight fungus wiped out most of the 4 billion American chestnut trees on the eastern seaboard. The loss was ecologically devastating. Short Wave host Emily Kwong dives deep into how scientists are trying to resurrect the American chestnut tree — and recent controversy over a plan to plant genetically modified chestnuts in the wild.

    Want to hear about more efforts to recover endangered or lost species? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!

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    14 mins
  • Hear Christmas Carols And Talk To Santa On Ham Radio

    Hear Christmas Carols And Talk To Santa On Ham Radio
    Dec 24 2024
    On Christmas Eve, scientists at field stations across Antarctica sing carols to one another...via shortwave. On today's episode, the Short Wave podcast explores shortwave radio. We speak with space physicist and electrical engineer Nathaniel Frissell about this Antarctic Christmas Carol tradition and his use of shortwave radio for community science.

    Read more about Santa Net, which connects children (known in the shortwave radio community as "little harmonics") with Santa.

    Want more tech stories? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!

    Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at     plus.npr.org/shortwave.

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    10 mins
  • How Does An Airplane Stay In The Air?

    How Does An Airplane Stay In The Air?
    Dec 23 2024
    There are many statistics out there that prove that flying on a commercial airplane is safe, that plane crashes are overall pretty unlikely. Still, up to an estimated 40% of Americans feel some fear at the thought of flying. So, amid the travel rush of the holiday season, we ask MIT aeronautical engineer Mark Drela: How does a plane lift off and stay up in the air?

    Interested in more stories on physics? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

    Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at     plus.npr.org/shortwave.

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    15 mins
  • The First Woman To Get A New Kind Of Kidney Transplant

    The First Woman To Get A New Kind Of Kidney Transplant
    Dec 20 2024
    Towana Looney became the first living person in the world to get a kidney from a new kind of genetically modified pig last month. Health correspondent Rob Stein got exclusive access to be in the operating room.

    Towana is a 53-year-old grandmother from Gadsden, Ala. She's been on dialysis for four hours a day, three days a week since 2016. Her immune system would reject a human kidney. So the Food and Drug Administration made an exception to its usual clinical study requirements to allow Looney this new kind of pig kidney. But the procedure is controversial.

    Interested in more environmental stories? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

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    14 mins
  • This Huge Mining Pit Is About To Be A Lake

    This Huge Mining Pit Is About To Be A Lake
    Dec 18 2024
    Old mines leave behind a a pressing problem: Huge holes that make the landscape look like a chunk of swiss cheese. But in Germany, some scientists and city planners are turning these into lakes.

    The largest one will be the biggest artificial lake in Germany when it's done, with a shoreline of 26 kilometers or about 16 miles all around.

    But it's not as easy as simply filling the holes with water. It takes a LOT of research to get this science right.

    Interested in more environmental stories? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

    Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at     plus.npr.org/shortwave.

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    14 mins
  • Why Big Tech Wants Nuclear Power

    Why Big Tech Wants Nuclear Power
    Dec 17 2024
    AI uses a lot of power. Some of the next generation data centers may use as much power as one million U.S. households. Technology companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta hope nuclear power will offer a climate solution for this energy use. Nuclear power plants can deliver hundreds of megawatts of power without producing greenhouse gas emissions. But some long-time watchers of the nuclear industry are skeptical that it's the right investment for big tech companies to make.

    Read more of science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel's reporting here.

    Interested in more stories about the future of energy? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

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    14 mins
  • How Racism – And Silence – Could Hurt Your Health

    How Racism – And Silence – Could Hurt Your Health
    Dec 16 2024
    Racism is often covered as a political, cultural, or news story. But how is it affecting people's health? That's the question Cara Anthony, a KFF News reporter, wanted to answer: not just on an individual scale, but on a community-wide one. So for the past few years, she's been reporting on a small town in the Midwest that illustrates that health issue: Sikeston, Missouri. Today on the show, Cara walks host Emily Kwong through Sikeston's history — and what locals and medical experts have to say about how that history continues to shape the present.

    For more of Cara's reporting, you can check out KFF Health News' documentary and four-part podcast series, Silence in Sikeston.

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    14 mins
  • What's A Weather Forecast Worth?

    What's A Weather Forecast Worth?
    Dec 14 2024
    The federal government has been tracking the weather for more than 150 years. Yet over the last few decades, the rise of the Internet and big tech have made weather forecasting a more crowded space. Today, our colleagues at NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator report on the value of an accurate forecast and the debate over who should control weather data. Follow The Indicator on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

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    9 mins