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 and Meradith Hoddinott — tackle scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
Tell us about a scientific mystery that fascinates you.
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The Unexplainable team includes Noam Hassenfeld, Byrd Pinkerton, Meradith Hoddinott, Mandy Nguyen, Cristian Ayala, and Jorge Just. The show is a production of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our earliest studies of Neanderthals were fundamentally flawed.
Xenotransplantation raises major moral questions — and not just about the pigs.
This research group is studying our love for haunted houses ... at a haunted house.
Hurricanes like Milton and Helene are making it harder than ever to insure your home.
Why climate scientists are so concerned about aerosols, not just greenhouse gasses.
The mystery of inflation may be rooted in psychology.
Nature is priceless — but quantifying its value could help save it.
More animals can occasionally reproduce asexually than scientists realized.
An ancient forest once tipped our planet’s climate into chaos.
This scientist has seen nearly 20 solar eclipses. She’s trying to solve a mystery that could help protect Earth.
What is the universe made out of? How should we define death? Where did dogs come from? And more!
From wound healing to disease diagnosis, “this stuff is like gold dust.”
And the adventures scientists go on to better understand our enigmatic seas.
Monsters lurk in the background of James Webb Space Telescope images. Scientists are scrambling to make sense of them.
Elisabeth Bik has made a career of being a data vigilante. What should mainstream scientific journals learn from her?
Some unanswered scientific questions loom out in the universe. Others reside in our homes.
The rules of elite running say no one can start a race faster than 0.1 seconds. Scientists say that’s wrong.
“We built it, we trained it, but we don’t know what it’s doing.”
Harsh state policies imply it’s not — but what do the studies say?
Why do we know so little about pregnancy — one of the most common experiences on Earth?
Science writer Carl Zimmer explains why this question has been so hard to answer.
Earth, for all we know, is the only planet with life on it. But how did it start?
A neurologist explains how its weird symptoms can manifest via a common but misunderstood class of brain ailments.
Edwin Hubble’s name is everywhere in astronomy. Henrietta Leavitt’s should be too.
There’s drama in the plant world — and a shape-shifting vine is at the center of it.
The rocket finally launched, equipped with scientific experiments to test how deep space affects our bodies.
Climate change is pushing the power grid to the limit. Energy storage could help.
More kids and adults are finding out that they can’t eat their favorite foods. Why?
Many animals aren’t endangered or extinct — they’re missing. Species detectives are trying to track them down.
Two tubas, a chicken, and a low-pitched alligator: The weird ways scientists imagine dinosaur voices.
And why even the phrase “reproductive health” might be kind of misleading.
The JWST can simply see more of the universe than the Hubble Space Telescope could.
If there was life on Mars billions of years ago — even just microbial life — it could change our understanding of how life begins.
Why is our moon so weird? Was there ever life on Mars? Big cosmic questions lurk in our celestial backyard.
A marine biologist built a stealth camera that’s collected images of some of the most elusive deep sea animals.
Our senses create our reality. They can trick us, but also teach us.
Our sense of smell is still a mystery. But that’s not stopping research on robot noses.
Scientists are investigating how to treat pain in babies who can’t tell you when it hurts.
A world without bugs is a world we don’t want to live in.