Unexplainable

Vox

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.

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299 episodes
Updated Wednesday

Episodes299

Newest first

Dec 15, 2021 · 29 min
99% of ocean plastic is missing
How can we solve the problem of ocean plastic if we don’t know where most of the plastic is?
Dec 8, 2021 · 25 min
How medicine mansplained women’s health
Until 1993, many researchers excluded women from clinical drug trials, leaving doctors in the dark about how new treatments work in more than half the population.
Dec 1, 2021 · 27 min
How Venus went to hell
Venus is the hottest, scariest place in the solar system, but billions of years ago it may have been a lot like Earth, complete with an ocean of water.
Nov 17, 2021 · 32 min
Mind readers
Will scientists ever fully understand the human brain?
Nov 10, 2021 · 25 min
A brainless yellow goo that does math
Slime molds can navigate mazes, control robots, and make complicated decisions, all without a central nervous system.
Nov 3, 2021 · 21 min
Why whales get beached
Every year, thousands of marine mammals end up trapped on beaches, but it’s often hard to figure out why.
Oct 27, 2021 · 31 min
Talking to ghosts
Why do so many people think they can see and hear ghosts, and what does that say about our conscious experience of the world?
Oct 20, 2021 · 27 min
Honey, we shrunk the birds
A recent study of tens of thousands of birds has shown that birds are growing smaller over time.
Oct 6, 2021 · 25 min
Nobel Prize 2.0
The Nobel Prize has rewarded some amazing discoveries.
Sep 29, 2021 · 28 min
The James Webb Time Machine
To look into deep space is to look back in time.
Sep 22, 2021 · 26 min
The James Webb Space Telescope
After decades of planning, NASA is finally (finally!) set to launch the successor to the Hubble.
Sep 15, 2021 · 30 min
What causes Alzheimer’s?
For decades, Alzheimer’s researchers have been stubbornly pursuing a single theory, but they’re starting to wonder: is this narrow focus the reason we still don’t have a cure?
Sep 1, 2021 · 28 min
Havana syndrome
Several years after US diplomats in Cuba claimed they were attacked by an invisible weapon, similar incidents continue to be reported around the world.
Aug 25, 2021 · 25 min
Getting to the bottom of butts
Once upon a time, there were no anuses.
Aug 18, 2021 · 30 min
The mysteries of endometriosis
This common chronic condition — where tissue that normally grows in the uterus grows elsewhere in the body — is barely understood.
Aug 11, 2021 · 29 min
A 150-year-old human
Two scientists. A billion-dollar wager. One unanswered question: Is the first human who will live to 150 already alive?
Aug 4, 2021 · 27 min
How low can you go?
Earlier this year, Nicole Yamase explored the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest place in the ocean, where few people have ever been.
Jul 28, 2021 · 24 min
The tornado problem
8 minutes, 24 seconds.
Jul 21, 2021 · 24 min
Moon poop
Astronauts left something on the moon that could help unlock the origins of life itself.
Jul 14, 2021 · 29 min
Hot pink flying squirrels
An accidental discovery on a nighttime walk led one scientist and his team to wonder: How many mammals glow under ultraviolet light?

Unexplainable

99% of ocean plastic is missing

How medicine mansplained women’s health

How Venus went to hell

Mind readers

A brainless yellow goo that does math

Why whales get beached

Talking to ghosts

Honey, we shrunk the birds

Nobel Prize 2.0

The James Webb Time Machine

The James Webb Space Telescope

What causes Alzheimer’s?

Havana syndrome

Getting to the bottom of butts

The mysteries of endometriosis

A 150-year-old human

How low can you go?

The tornado problem

Moon poop

Hot pink flying squirrels