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New discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — in just under 15 minutes. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber for science on a different wavelength.

If you're hooked, try Short Wave Plus. Your subscription supports the show and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/shortwave

Short Wave

One in every eight households in the U.S. isn’t always sure where the next meal will come from. Limited food access can spell hunger – and that can affect the body and mind. So can cheaper, less nutritious foods. Hunger has a huge impact on individuals – and whole societies. It can mean shorter term issues like trouble focusing, as well as longer term mental health and physical struggles like chronic disease and social isolation. Host Regina G Barber speaks with experts looking at the impacts of food insecurity – from the known tolls and misconceptions to ways to bridge the gap.

If you liked this show, check out our episode on loneliness and the brain. To learn about ways you can find free or low-cost food, check out NPR’s Life Kit episode on the topic.

Interested in more public health or human biology stories? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

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SNAP Delays: The Science Of Hunger And Food Insecurity

Dreams of flying? Nightmares of teeth falling out? Falling off a cliff? As a sleep scientist at the University of Montreal, Michelle Carr has pretty much heard it all. In Michelle’s new book Nightmare Obscura, she explores the science of dreams, nightmares – and even something called dream engineering, where people influence their own dreams while they sleep. Today on Short Wave, co-host Regina G. Barber dives into the science of our sleeping life with Michelle Carr.

Interested in any upcoming science books? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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What's Up With Nightmares?

Emily Kwong is pretty sure she lacks an inner monologue, while the inner monologue of producer Rachel Carlson won’t stop chatting. But how well can a person know their inner self? And what does science have to say about it?

To learn more about Charles Fernyhough’s research on voice hearing, visit the project website. 

Interested in more science inside your brain? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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The Mystery Of Inner Monologues

What's your favorite apple? Maybe it's the crowd-pleasing Honeycrisp, the tart Granny Smith or the infamous Red Delicious. Either way, before that apple made it to your local grocery store or orchard it had to be invented — by a scientist. So today, we're going straight to the source: Talking to an apple breeder. Producer Hannah Chinn reports how apples are selected, bred, grown ... and the discoveries that could change that process. Plus, what's a "spitter"?

Read more of Hannah's apple reporting.

Want to know how science impacts other food you eat? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might cover your food of choice on a future episode!

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

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An Apple Is An Ovary: The Science of Apple Breeding

Scientists have found the first compelling evidence that cognitive training can boost levels of a brain chemical that typically declines as people age. The results of this 10-week study back earlier animal research showing that environments that stimulate the brain can increase levels of certain neurotransmitters. And other studies of people have suggested that cognitive training can improve thinking and memory. So how does it all work? And by how much does it all work? Here to break everything down and help you understand how to keep your brain sharp is NPR science correspondent Jon Hamilton.

Interested in more brain science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Mental ‘Workouts’ Could Keep Your Brain Young

This week, we’re sharing a special episode from TED Tech exploring Gen Z slang words like "unalive," "skibidi" and "rizz." Where do these words come from — and how do they get popular so fast? Linguist Adam Aleksic explores how the forces of social media algorithms are reshaping the way people talk and view their very own identities. 

Technology’s role in our lives is evolving fast. TED Tech helps you explore the riveting questions and tough challenges we’re faced with that sit at the intersection of technology and humanity. Listen in every Friday, with host, journalist Sherrell Dorsey, as TED speakers explore the way tech shapes how we think about society, science, design, business, and more. 

Listen to TED Tech wherever you get your podcasts or go to: https://link.mgln.ai/Ng9EKL 

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Are we cooked? How social media shapes your language w/ Adam Aleksic (from TED Tech)

It’s another news roundup! This time, we cover how, using data analytics – and ironically, some AI – a team at Cornell University has mapped the environmental impact of AI by state. They determined that, by 2030, the rate of AI growth in the U.S. would put an additional 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The team further calculated that by 2030, AI could use as much water as 6 to 10 millions Americans do every year. All of this, they conclude, would put the tech industry’s climate goals out of reach. This episode, we also get into the potential for life on one of Saturn’s moons and a new discovery about why chameleons’ eyes are so special. 

Interested in reporting on the environmental impact of AI? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Data Centers, Icy Moons And Chameleons

David Ewing Duncan has spent the last 25 years being poked and prodded in the name of science. He’s signed up for hundreds of tests because, as a journalist, he writes about emerging health breakthroughs. He says one recent test contains more useful data than anything he’s seen to date. He talks to host Emily Kwong about his score on the Immune Health Metric, which was developed by immunologist John Tsang. Together, David and John explain why immune health is so central to overall health and how a simple blood test could one day predict disease before it starts.

Learn more about the Human Immunome Project.

Read David’s full article about his experience with the Immune Health Metric. The piece is a collaboration between MIT Technology Review and Aventine, a non-profit research foundation that creates and supports content about how technology and science are changing the way we live. Read the story on Aventine's website here. 

Interested in more health science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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The Future Of Immune Health Might Be Here

Cosmic dust can tell scientists about how ice covered Earth during the last ice age. This dust is leftover debris from asteroids and comets colliding in space and this dust constantly rains down on our planet. Researcher Frankie Pavia from the University of Washington recently used a brand new method for estimating climate conditions 30,000 years ago, by looking at the cosmic dust amounts in ancient arctic ocean soil. He and a team found new clues to what melted arctic ice at the end of the ice age. These results may be able to better inform ice melt in the future.

Interested in more space science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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What Space Dust Reveals About Earth's Ice Age

Recently, health influencers on Instagram and TikTok have been vocal about the side effects of hormonal birth control. Check out the most popular videos on the subject, and you’ll hear horror stories about sex drive and skin texture, depression and weight fluctuation. But doctors say that while some side effects are possible, the most extreme stories are often the rarest cases. And one of the most common side effects of not taking birth control … is unplanned pregnancy. 

Interested in more health science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Do Birth Control Side Effects Make It Worth Skipping?

So much of dealing with the pandemic is about how each of us behaves in public. And it's easy to get mad when we see people not following public health guidelines, especially when it looks like they're having fun.

But Julia Marcus of Harvard Medical School says there are pitfalls to focusing only on what we can see, and more empathetic ways to create new social norms. 

Julia's written about that for The Atlantic. Here's some of her recent work. 

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Why Shame Is A Bad Public Health Tool — Especially In A Pandemic

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