Unexplainable
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know … and then keeps on going. Host Noam Hassenfeld and an all-star team of reporters — Byrd Pinkerton, Meradith Hoddinott, and Mandy Nguyen — tackle scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
Episodes
October 9, 2024 • 30 mins
As the world gets warmer and storms get worse, insurance companies are jacking up rates — or refusing to cover homeowners altogether. Is the future uninsurable?
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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October 2, 2024 • 27 mins
Doctors have started transplanting animal organs into people, hoping this experimental procedure could one day solve an organ shortage crisis that kills 17 Americans every day. Is this really the solution?
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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September 25, 2024 • 25 mins
Scientists have lots of ways to try to answer that question, and lots of different predictions. So how do they figure out one set of numbers we can all work with?
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September 18, 2024 • 30 mins
Probably not. But Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz decided to try anyway, putting his body — and specifically his butt — on the line to answer a seemingly straightforward question: Is it possible to build up a tolerance to poison oak by eating it?
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September 11, 2024 • 25 mins
Scientists just discovered oxygen being produced without sunlight — without photosynthesis — at the bottom of the ocean. This “dark oxygen” could fundamentally change the story we tell of life on Earth and in the rest of the universe.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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August 28, 2024 • 24 mins
For decades, search and rescue teams followed an accepted playbook. Now, scientists are helping them reimagine how to find lost people.
Guests: Robert Koester, author of Lost Person Behavior, and Paul Doherty, search and rescue researcher
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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August 21, 2024 • 25 mins
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, some scientists are turning to viruses as a medical tool. But we barely know anything about the bacteria-eating viruses all around us. (First published in 2021)
Guest: Nicola Twilley, host of Gastropod
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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August 14, 2024 • 21 mins
Our bodies are teeming with viruses. But some of them, called phages, might play a really important role in keeping us healthy.
Guest: Tom Ireland, author of The Good Virus
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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August 7, 2024 • 32 mins
The FDA is about to announce whether it’s going to approve MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Our friends at Today, Explained explore what this kind of therapy looks like, and why it’s so controversial.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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July 31, 2024 • 40 mins
They probably didn’t roar like lions. Their real voices were likely much, much weirder. We asked scientists to help us re-create these strange, extinct sounds. (First published in 2022)
Guests: Michael Habib, professor at UCLA, Julia Clarke, professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and Jonny Crew, sound designer at Wounded Buffalo
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July 24, 2024 • 25 mins
It’s possible that the entire observable universe is inside a black hole. All we need to do to find out is … build a gigantic particle collider around the moon.
Guest: James Beacham, particle physicist at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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July 17, 2024 • 21 mins
Send this episode to the person who constantly hounds you not to slouch.
Guest: Beth Linker, author of “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America”
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July 10, 2024 • 36 mins
People yawn when they’re bored, right? So then why do athletes yawn before races? And why do so many animals yawn? … And why does reading this paragraph make you more likely to yawn? (Updated from 2022)
Guest: Dr. Andrew Gallup
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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July 3, 2024 • 26 mins
Can a physicist predict our messy economy by building an enormous simulation of the entire world?
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 26, 2024 • 30 mins
Inflation is one of the most significant issues shaping the 2024 election. But how much can we actually do to control it?
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 19, 2024 • 23 mins
It’s hard to figure out the economic value of a wild bat or any other part of the natural world, but some scientists argue that this kind of calculation could help protect our environment.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 12, 2024 • 28 mins
Seventy-five percent of the seafloor remains unmapped and unexplored, but the first few glimpses scientists have gotten of the ocean’s depths have completely revolutionized our understanding of the planet.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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June 5, 2024 • 28 mins
If you just stood up and shouted, “It’s Mount Everest, duh!” then take a seat. Not only is Everest’s official height constantly changing, but three other mountains might actually be king of the hill.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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May 22, 2024 • 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. What can we learn from this ancient climate apocalypse?
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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May 15, 2024 • 37 mins
From blood transfusions to enzyme boosters, our friends at Science Vs dive into the latest research on the search for the fountain of youth.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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