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Unexplainable

Author: Vox

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Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know ... and then keeps right on going. This Vox podcast explores scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and all the things we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes every Wednesday.

105 Episodes
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Many states have extremely punitive policies around cannabis and pregnancy. But researchers don't actually have great data on cannabis's harms. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Expecting: Baby brain

Expecting: Baby brain

2023-05-1727:532

Caring for a child seems to change parents’ brains. But what does that actually mean for how parents think and experience the world? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Fetuses leave cells behind in their parents' bodies, where they braid themselves into tissues, and remain, for years. What are they doing in there? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The tornado problem

The tornado problem

2023-05-0325:232

2023 has been a record-setting year for tornadoes, and these storms came with barely any warning. So to better understand tornadoes, scientists might need to confront more of these storms head-on. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Scientists are hard at work trying to bring back woolly mammoths (and dodos). But should they? And what would they actually be bringing back? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We did a live show! We talked about how one of our favorite episodes came together and how we went about creating (somewhat) accurate dinosaur sounds. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Talking trees

Talking trees

2023-04-1223:326

Studies suggesting trees communicate through an elaborate underground fungal network have captured imaginations. It’s a beautiful idea, but the fantasy may have gotten ahead of the science. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Help keep this show and all of Vox's journalism free by making a gift to Vox today: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week, we tackle three listener questions — on sleepwalking, deja vu, and Earth’s magnetic field. Next time, we could be (not) answering yours. Email us at unexplainable@vox.com, or fill out this form. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Help keep this show and all of Vox's journalism free by making a gift to Vox today: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What's so funny?

What's so funny?

2023-03-2221:033

Scientists are digging into what makes something funny. We compare their notes with comedians — including Atsuko Okatsuka, Josh Johnson, Dulcé Sloan, and Chris Fleming. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For every definition of life, there’s a creature that sends us right back to the drawing board. This is the third episode in our three-part series, Origins, about the beginnings and boundaries of life on Earth. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
How did life on Earth start? To help answer that, researchers are trying to create some life for themselves. This is the second episode in our three-part series, Origins, about the beginnings and boundaries of life on Earth. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Life as we know it needs water, but scientists can’t figure out where Earth’s water came from. Answering that question is just one piece of an even bigger mystery: “Why are we here?” This is the first episode in our new three-part series, Origins, about the beginnings and boundaries of life on Earth. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What is love?

What is love?

2023-02-1535:024

Can science help us predict whether a relationship will succeed? Or is it all just chaos? This episode originally ran on February 9, 2022. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why we hiccup

Why we hiccup

2023-02-0829:212

Listeners told us that eating baby carrots or telling lies can bring on the hiccups. Burping or kissing can make them stop. Um, what? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We booped an asteroid

We booped an asteroid

2023-02-0122:102

Last fall, a NASA spacecraft slammed into an asteroid to test a way to avert a disaster on Earth. So are we safe now? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our houses are homes to hidden worlds of bugs. And the more ecologists explore those worlds, the more they realize that some of our tiny roommates actually have a lot to teach us.  For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In the early 1900s, Henrietta Leavitt made one of the most important discoveries in the history of astronomy: a yardstick to measure distances to faraway stars. Using this tool, scientists eventually transformed our understanding of the universe. They realized space was expanding, that this expansion was accelerating, and that ultimately, everything will end. This episode originally ran on June 30, 2021. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Plants with eyes?

Plants with eyes?

2023-01-1126:312

In the temperate rainforests of Chile, there is a vine that can shapeshift to copy the look of other plants. But how? Can it... see them? Or is something weirder happening? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our game show is back! This week, Avery Trufelman, host of the Articles of Interest podcast, tries to guess which of these three mysteries of movement have been solved and which are still unexplainable. For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Your gut's feelings

Your gut's feelings

2022-12-2129:094

How we feel emotionally may be influenced by unseen troves of microbial life that live inside us. Is it possible to harness this gut power? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Comments (38)

Julie Luker

Great. A cold-adapted elephant in a warming world. How in the world did that NOT occur to you? Not to mention that elephants are highly intelligent and social creatures. How will they react to a significantly different, 'off' elephant? There is so much wrong here!

Apr 30th
Reply

squogg

Soooo... how long are we going to hear snipits of Byrd's acid trip with a can of Dr. Pepper before a full episode comes out? 😂

Apr 12th
Reply

squogg

Bread hiccupper here! Mine is mostly with super soft bread and angel food cake. To stop them, I take a giant breath in, hold it, then slooooooooowly exhale. Usually works after the first round.

Apr 1st
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squogg

Surprised they didn't mention this was a repeat episode (they typically do). Anywho, for a dramatized version of Henrietta's discovery, go check your local theater for Silent Sky. It's an excellent play about her life and work.

Apr 1st
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squogg

This episode is asking some wild questions 🤯🤯

Mar 13th
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squogg

As someone who wants to connect with my half siblings and to be found by my bio-family, I was disheartened to hear how strongly she felt about not wanting to meet any potential family members. I know my paternal family will never become a huge part of my life and I won't magically have someone to call "dad," but I'd still love to know who they are. I'm also fascinated by which traits are nurture vs. nature.

Mar 12th
Reply

squogg

Wait. Your pupils can get smaller just by visualizing really bright light?! 🤯 Fascinating!

Mar 2nd
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squogg

This reminds me more of Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind than Black Mirror 🤨

Feb 27th
Reply

squogg

This episode is a trip! It blows my mind thinking of all the amazing ways in which science can tell us about the universe and how it all began.

Feb 21st
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squogg

I just have to say how much I absolutely love Noam Hassenfeld's music. It's such a delightful addition to these episodes 🥰

Feb 21st
Reply

niaakima

If I had a nickel for everytime this dude said Like I could buy a tesla

Feb 20th
Reply

squogg

That was the best forest rave music I've ever heard! 🤣

Feb 8th
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squogg

I had never considered we don't know what clouds actually looked like before we started messing with the atmosphere. So wild! Can't wait to learn what information we obtain from Whaler journals.

Feb 2nd
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squogg

"There's a sense of optimism in a question. It makes you feel like we could know the answer to them. We can fill in a little bit more of the hole of our ignorance." Absolutely love this way of thinking!

Jan 25th
Reply

Mae Arant

didnt ruin the beauty of what was in the documentary. to deny sentient being their autonomy and individuality of self is not necessarily scientifically appropriate-but a vestige of man's viewpoint that only man is important.

Aug 1st
Reply

Andrea Manconi

Really you discovered that vitamins and minerals are useless? No literature on them? LOL! unsubscribed

Jul 15th
Reply

Yuzuriha Yuki

Thinking of how could a soft simple shaped things can be chaotic too, and that could apply for any living form..

Mar 23rd
Reply

Rob Claypool

my wife had it from 17 to 35 had endoscopy on top of endo...had tubes scraped few times ended up having 5 kids although our first lil girl passed bc of it but then other 4 ok but ended up having a hysterectomy bc of the tuners on here ovaries..as a young man I never understood and was angered bc of the sex but look back at my strong passionate wife I admire for them trauma she went through

Aug 18th
Reply (3)

Sweet Creature

I am sure that I am one those who have the long-term symptoms

Jul 15th
Reply

Yogi

Seems you guys running out of topics now!

May 30th
Reply
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