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@NPRShortWave
A daily podcast from that believes that everything is science, and science is for everyone. By a team committed to joy and nonsense. #NPRShortWave
NPR's Short Wave’s Tweets
Thank you for chatting with me about the gut-brain connection! We have so much to learn from the "little brain" in our guts from anxiety to Parkinson's Disease--and lots of exciting research underway to help patients.
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The oil and gas industry is responsible for the myth of plastics recycling. And yet, they spent millions of dollars in advertising saying it was the public's responsibility.
As reports on , less than 6% of plastic ever becomes a second product.
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Lydia Villa-Komaroff PhD '75 speaks about her work in gene editing with
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tfw you see your buddy on Late Night talking about fricken laser beams! 🤩🤩
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Pew-pew-pew-pew! @npr colleague @gbrumfiel and I had a surprise appearance on last night's Late Show with @StephenAtHome:
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If threw a party, invited everyone he knew, the biggest gift would be from Short Wave.🎁
Congrats Thomas on being selected for the Editors' Bootcamp! (And thanks for being a friend!) 💃🕺💃🕺
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Introducing this year's cohort of Editors' Bootcamp - a story editor training for ppl from underrepresented groups from @neonhummedia.
Meet them here: bootcamp.neonhum.com
Hire them in April after graduation. 
I'm going to brag about them below 
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What time is it ?? TRIVIA TIME
Roughly how many cells are there in the human body?
(Hint: more than the number of stars in the Milky Way 🌌)
- 3 Billion5.3%
- 3 Trillion17.5%
- 30 Trillion34.5%
- 300 Trillion42.7%
2,342 votesFinal results
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(spoiler alert: she became a scientist)
interviews Dr. Sandra Murray about her work and life as the first person of color to lead .
More from their conversation here:
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Dr. Sandra Murray always wanted to be a scientist, but a school counselor tried to steer her away.
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Scientist-in-residence : “This is when I reported on clam gardens on Quadra Island off of Vancouver Island.”
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Producer : “That time we drove up a mountain to interview an alpine tree climber. The views were spectacular with the fall colors and the lake below. BEST BIRTHDAY EVER. (Episode to come!)
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Intern : “Foraging in the Appalachian Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, NC to be specific, with a farmer, forager and doctor to hunt for morels. Made for good tape and better stir-fry.” bit.ly/3FzJF01
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Host : “The times I went up in a plane or out on a fishing vessel to cover the herring fishery for KCAW, and needed to maintain my list of questions (and composure) in open water and sky.”
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Co-host : “The time I got to put on a self-contained breathing apparatus (basically, a SCUBA tank) and crawl into a cave full of toxic sulfur fumes, creepy bacterial formations that looked like the vines in the Upside Down, and worm blobs.” n.pr/3Y8bfc7
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Editor : “July, 2005, first shuttle flight after the Columbia disaster. I’m w reporter & . Kesty had a bad knee, I was just pregnant and feeling 🤢 - but the opportunity to talk to Coleman & see the launch was priceless.” n.pr/3UFMn8o
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Part of the behind-the-scenes work of making our show is traveling to some pretty cool places and recording out in the field.
So we asked our team: Coolest work trip you’ve taken? In the name of #SCIENCE??
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Want more lightning facts? Listen to our latest episode here:
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Picture yourself in a tropical forest in the middle of a lightning storm. When a tree gets struck, the lightning travels through its trunk and branches and SPREADS TO OTHER TREES. Trees are electrocuting each other !! (5/6)
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In the eastern US, lightning is expected to happen 50% more often by the end of the century 🫠 (4/6)
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When you see lightning strike and then hear the following boom, start counting. For every 5 seconds that pass, that lightning is one mile away 🌩️(3/6)
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A bolt of lightning is usually only a few inches wide, but 5x hotter than the surface of the sun 🥵 (2/6)
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There's a whole world down there :,)
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1/ To celebrate #WorldSoilDay, we talked with @aaberhe about the wonder that is beneath our feet. She said in a handful of healthy soil (I dug one up in the backyard) there are up to 10 billion living organisms spread out over thousands of species... npr.org/2022/12/02/114
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And finally, recalled her past life in the circus — through the power of physics! She talked about combining the two with circus artist and physics teacher Julia Ruth, in this production 🤹🏻♀️
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Would you like to step inside a neuron?
did just that! This episode, he walks listeners through the life of a neuron—and the science behind it. (5/6)
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Next, Arts Week looks at , a magazine celebrating the intersection of medicine and the arts — from one of the oldest hospitals in the U.S. Thanks to & for this healing episode! (4/6)
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Did you know the brain craves creativity?! Art therapies are healing people in surprising ways. Jon Hamilton & explore how science can measure these new kinds of interventions. Thanks for putting this show together.🎶 (3/6)
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The first episode will help you see art in a petri dish. Bacteria can be beautiful! Brought to you by & . Excellent producing by 🧫👩🔬(2/6)
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It's Arts Week at Short Wave! We want to bring you our favorite episodes that connect our free spirited and intense thinker sides. So if you need a break from the long slog of easing back into work.....check out the following episodes. (1/6)
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Incredibly grateful to the Vallabh Minikel family for sharing their story with .
Give ’s whole series a listen for some truly inspiring science and breakfast table chatter
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"Her brain and my brain are two halves of a whole"
Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel took on an incurable disease — together.
This holiday break, we highly encourage listening to this 3-part series from @NPRShortWave editor @gabrielspitzer on prions (1/7)
npr.org/2022/11/14/113
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We have so so so many listeners who are teachers and kids, and it's one of the best things about this show.
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Replying to @DrGuiton
@NPRShortWave is the best!!!!! I use it in my secondary science methods class. Short segments, contemporary science, super interesting. One example:
npr.org/2020/09/30/918
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"These years have not been for nothing," Sonia says.
Learn more about her & Eric's strategy for a prion protein lowering treatment: cureffi.org
Incredible production by , masterful editing by , and diligent fact checking by
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For , the lessons to be learned from this story go far beyond prion science.
"Sonia and Eric have so much to teach us about accepting things as they are, and deciding to live full lives no matter what."
(6/7)
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Also, prions are baffling: non-living particles that can kick start incurable neurodegenerative disease.
Prions don't contain genes, yet make more of themselves.
explained how that works to 's , in Pt. 1 (5/7)
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It's the highest possible stakes, but Eric and Sonia find hope and purpose in the work.
"This quest is so difficult and so draining, but the saving grace is being able to do it with your best friend and the person that you love," Eric says. (4/7)
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They went all in.
Sonia and Eric now run an independent prion research lab , focused on drug development and taking aim at proteins that are "fuel to the fire."
"We are racing against a clock we can't see," told (3/7)
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After her mother died of a prion disease, Sonia tested positive for the genetic mutation. She didn't know how long she had to live.
Sonia started taking biology classes; Eric read research papers.
Together, they held "science nights" and learned all they could (2/7)
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"Her brain and my brain are two halves of a whole"
Sonia Vallabh and Eric Minikel took on an incurable disease — together.
This holiday break, we highly encourage listening to this 3-part series from editor on prions (1/7)
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