Unexplainable
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know…and then keeps on going. The Unexplainable team — Noam Hassenfeld, Julia Longoria, Byrd Pinkerton, and Meradith Hoddinott — tackles scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn diving into the unknown. New episodes Mondays and Wednesdays.
Episodes
June 18, 2025 • 40 mins
Francis Collins oversaw some of the most revolutionary science of the last few decades at the National Institutes of Health. A few months ago, he suddenly resigned.
One of America's foremost scientists could no longer do his job. What does that mean for the US? And for science?
Guest: Francis Collins, former director of the NIH
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 16, 2025 • 20 mins
When bringing people to the edge of death is your day job.
Guest: Adam Richman, perfusionist at the Mayo Clinic and Unexplainable listener.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every email.
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June 11, 2025 • 20 mins
Many physicists dream of coming up with a unified theory of the universe. Rae Robertson-Anderson dreams of understanding ranch dressing, shampoo, and scrambled eggs.
Guests: Rae Robertson-Anderson, a physics professor at the University of San Diego. (Find her TikToks at physics_mamma.)
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 9, 2025 • 57 mins
If matter is a result of vibration, what causes the vibration? Our friends at The Gray Area ask, “Is the universe behaving like an instrument?”
Guest: Stephon Alexander, theoretical physicist at Brown University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 4, 2025 • 21 mins
You’ll need your best friend, a computer in your shoe, and a working knowledge of physics.
Guest: Doyne Farmer, Director of Complexity Economics at Oxford
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every email.
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June 2, 2025 • 22 mins
The answer isn’t as clear as you might think. And because of drastic cuts to climate science funding, this question might be getting even harder to solve.
Guest: Umair Irfan, Vox climate science correspondent
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every email.
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May 21, 2025 • 31 mins
Florida just became the second state to ban fluoride from its water system, which has made some public health experts pretty angry. Just how risky is fluoride really, and why is it so hard for us to get on the same page?
Guest: Emily Oster, professor of economics at Brown University and CEO of ParentData
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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May 19, 2025 • 26 mins
Static electricity plays an invisible role in the natural world, and it may even help insects pollinate plants. To understand this hidden force, scientists have jumped through some pretty weird experimental hoops — and “walked” butterflies through literal hoops.
Guests: Sam England, postdoctoral researcher at Berlin's National History Museum; Benji Jones, Vox's environmental correspondent
To read more about this experiment, B...
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May 14, 2025 • 25 mins
Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. And its discovery has made scientists ask a surprising question: What is the mind’s eye even for? (First published in 2022.)
Guests: Alice Coles, artist; Adam Zeman, cognitive neurologist at the University of Exeter Medical School; Joel Pearson, professor of neuroscience at the University of New South Wales; Emily Holmes, professor of psychology at Uppsala University
For sh...
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May 12, 2025 • 26 mins
Scavengers Reign, the Emmy-winning Netflix show, has done something most sci-fi shows or movies struggle to do. Build a world that feels truly alien.
Guests: Joe Bennett, co-creator of Scavengers Reign, and Sean Buckelew, writer on Scavengers Reign
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read ev...
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May 7, 2025 • 25 mins
The magma chambers at the heart of volcanoes are very deep and very hot. So naturally, some researchers want to build an observatory in one.
Guests: Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory; Yan Lavallée, chair of magmatic petrology and volcanology at LMU München and scientific and technical board member of the Krafla Magma Testbed; John Eichelberger, volcanologist at the University of Alaska Fairb...
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May 5, 2025 • 20 mins
Rumors of Neanderthal brutishness have been greatly exaggerated.
Guest: Paige Madison, science writer
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every email.
Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/members
Help us plan for the future of Unexplainable by filling ou...
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April 30, 2025 • 33 mins
What happens when you get a life-changing device implanted into your body... and then the company that maintains it goes bankrupt?
Guests: Jennifer French, Executive Director and Founder of Neurotech Network, a nonprofit focused on education and advocacy for neurotechnology, and Liam Drew, freelance science journalist who reported on abandoned neurotech for Nature
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
...
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April 23, 2025 • 25 mins
Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year if hospitals had more blood. So scientists are racing to understand how this living fluid does what it does in order to one day grow it from scratch.
Guest: Nicola Twilley, New Yorker contributor and host of Gastropod.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every email.
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April 16, 2025 • 26 mins
We know life on Earth wouldn't be possible without the moon. Now scientists are finding the moon might even be influencing our biology on a molecular level.
Guest: Rebecca Boyle, science journalist and author of Our Moon: How Earth's celestial companion transformed the planet, guided evolution, and made us who we are
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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April 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Listeners told us that eating baby carrots or telling lies can bring on the hiccups. Burping or kissing can make them stop. Um, what? (First published in 2023.)
Guests: Tyler Cymet, chair of medicine at The Chicago School, and Ali Seifi, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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And please email us...
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April 7, 2025 • 2 mins
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April 2, 2025 • 26 mins
Deep inside the mud at the bottom of the ocean, scientists have found life that is so unusual they’ve had to create new branches on the tree of life to put it on. These life forms are not extraterrestrials: They’re “aliens” from Earth.
Guest: Karen Lloyd, microbiologist and author of Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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March 26, 2025 • 26 mins
Scientists have been searching for aliens for decades. But if we ever do get a signal someday, how will we communicate back? And will anyone out there be able to understand us?
Guests: Doug Vakoch, president of METI, and Sheri Wells-Jensen, linguist at Bowling Green State University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every ema...
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March 22, 2025 • 53 mins
What can we actually do as our world gets populated with more and more robots? How can we take control? Can we take control?
This is the final episode of our four-part series about the stories shaping the future of AI.
Good Robot was made in partnership with Vox’s Future Perfect team.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read every e...
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