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. From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
January 7, 2026 • 26 mins
Is geoengineering the answer to the climate crisis? Or is it too dangerous to even discuss? It’s been theoretical so far, but now, one startup says their technology could soon shield the Earth from the sun.
Guest: Robinson Meyer, climate journalist and founding executive editor of Heatmap News.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com...
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January 5, 2026 • 23 mins
Yellowstone can be a deadly place... but not for the reasons you might think.
Guest: Mike Poland, scientist in charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com.
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December 17, 2025 • 32 mins
A two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist changed chemistry, biology, and the politics of science. But when he pushed vitamin C as a cure-all, did he go too far?
Guest: Daniel M. Davis, head of the department of life sciences and professor of immunology at Imperial College London. He is the author of Self-Defense: A Myth-Busting Guide to Immune Health.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts...
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December 15, 2025 • 31 mins
This episode is a follow-up to The Sound Barrier series, which explores our brain's relationship to sound. In our third episode of the series, we asked listeners to try to experience silence and record what they heard. Today, we share the sounds of quiet from across the world in a tribute to John Cage’s 4’33”. Plus, Tinnitus researcher and Unexplainable guest Dan Polley answers your questions from the series.
Guest: Dan Polley, ...
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December 10, 2025 • 27 mins
As our brains develop throughout our childhood and teens, they form connections and then prune back the ones that aren't used. What can we learn from them?
Guests: Alison Barth, professor in the life sciences at Carnegie Mellon University; Saket Navlakha, associate professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
This series was made possible by support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Vox had full discretion over the content of thi...
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December 8, 2025 • 28 mins
What's going on in teens' heads? Scientists working on a country-wide study following thousands of young people have spent the last decade trying to answer that question.
Guests: Raul Gonzalez Jr., psychology professor at Florida International University
This series was made possible by support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Vox had full discretion over the content of this reporting.
For show transcripts, go to ...
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December 3, 2025 • 26 mins
Way back when forests first evolved on Earth... they might have triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of the planet. (Originally aired in 2024)
Guests: Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the New York State Museum; Lisa Amati, curator of invertebrate paleontology at the New York State Museum; Thomas Algeo, professor of geochemistry at the University of Cincinnati
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December 1, 2025 • 21 mins
It's a quasi-moon. Or, a quasi-satellite. Whatever you want to call it, it's hanging out near Earth. And it could be the source of some fascinating new science.
Guests: Nick Moskovitz, astronomer at Lowell Observatory
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
We read ever...
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November 19, 2025 • 35 mins
So many of us have been told that meditation can make us less stressed, more productive, and happier. But for a small group of people, it has a dark side. What’s going on?
Guests: Willoughby Britton, associate professor at Brown University; Richard Davidson, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Pierce Salguero, professor at the Abington College of Pennsylvania State University
This episode was made in partnership w...
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November 17, 2025 • 26 mins
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"? (First published in 2023)
Guests: Jennifer Vonk, comparative/cognitive psychologist at Oakland University; Jessica Pierce, bioethicist and author of several books about animals; Susana Monsó, animal ethicist and a philos...
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November 12, 2025 • 37 mins
When Wanda Diáz-Merced lost her sight as a college student, she thought her dreams of becoming an astronomer were over — until she learned to listen to space instead.
Wanda is one of several pioneering scientists listening to space. For this episode, we also spoke to Robert Wilson, who used sound to help him discover the first direct evidence of the Big Bang, and Kim Arcand, who plays us what the center of the Milky Way sounds lik...
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November 10, 2025 • 31 mins
A scientist asked people to sit in a silent room for 15 minutes. Almost half of them decided to give themselves a painful electric shock instead. What is it about our brains that makes our relationship with silence so strange? And should we learn how to listen to it?
This is the third episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier.
Guests: Erin Westgate, assistant professor at the University of Florida; Rui Zhe...
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November 5, 2025 • 33 mins
Almost 15% of adults suffer from a persistent, often intolerable sound... that is literally just in their heads. Why does the brain do this to us? We help one of our listeners get some answers.
This is the second episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier.
Guests: Stéphane Maison, director of the tinnitus clinic at Mass Eye and Ear; Susan Shore, professor emerita at the University of Michigan, and Dan Polley, tinnit...
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November 3, 2025 • 40 mins
Just like optical illusions trick our eyes, audio illusions can trick our ears. It makes scientists wonder: What exactly are we hearing, when we're hearing?
This is the first episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier.
Guests: Diana Deutsch, emeritus professor at the University of California, San Diego; Matthew Winn, professor at the University of Minnesota; Michael Chorost, science writer
You can find more of Di...
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October 29, 2025 • 37 mins
This week on Unexplainable or Not, Sally Helm, the newest member of our team, tries to figure out what's killing mussels, why rivers suddenly change course, and what the longest river in the world is.
Guests: Douglas Edmonds, professor at Indiana University; Neel Dhanesha, science reporter
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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October 27, 2025 • 19 mins
Now why would you click on something like this? What's wrong with you?! Why are you — and so many other people — into scary stuff? Two scientists are trying to find out. (Originally aired in 2024)
Guests: Mathias Clasen and Marc Andersen, co-directors of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox....
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October 22, 2025 • 24 mins
Killing two people is worse than killing one. What about 440 billion crustaceans? Adapted from Dylan Matthews's essay on Vox.com.
This story is part of a series supported by Animal Charity Evaluators, which received a grant from EarthShare.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
And please email us! unexplaina...
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October 20, 2025 • 28 mins
Think about the thing you’ve practiced more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s painting. Or writing. Or playing baseball.
Now, imagine you wake up one day, and you just can’t do it. You’re not sick. You’re not injured. But suddenly, that one thing is impossible. (Originally published in 2024)
Guests: Rick Ankiel, former Major League Baseball star; Sally Akehurst, sports psychologist and a dean at University of Roehamp...
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October 8, 2025 • 27 mins
Terry Riley's "In C" is one of the most influential pieces of music of the last century...but you'll never hear it the same way twice.
Guest: Evan Ziporyn, composer, clarinetist, and producer of "In C"
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable@vox.comWe read every email.Support Unexplainable ...
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October 6, 2025 • 26 mins
Donald Trump and RFK Jr. seem convinced that it does. But our friends at Science Vs say the data is far more complicated.
Guest: Meryl Horn, senior producer at Science Vs
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 ...
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