• Short Wave

  • Written by: NPR
  • Podcast

Short Wave

Written by: NPR
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  • Summary

  • 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
    Copyright 2019-2021 NPR - For Personal Use Only
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Astronomy & Space Science Biological Sciences Politics & Government Science
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Episodes
  • Party In Peru: New Critters Just Dropped

    Party In Peru: New Critters Just Dropped
    Feb 19 2025
    What happens when a team of scientists and local Awajún guides go on a 38-day trip into the Alto Mayo region of Peru? Over 2000 species are identified, of course! Tucked in this lush landscape where the Amazon basin meets the Andes mountains, were 27 species of animals previously unknown to science. It makes us wonder, what else is out there that the scientific community hasn't seen? And who already knows about it?

    Check out photos of all the critters we mentioned — and more!

    Other ecosystems or critters you think would make a good episode? Let us know by emailing 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.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    10 mins
  • When AI Cannibalizes Its Data

    When AI Cannibalizes Its Data
    Feb 18 2025
    Asked ChatGPT anything lately? Talked with a customer service chatbot? Read the results of Google's "AI Overviews" summary feature? If you've used the Internet lately, chances are, you've consumed content created by a large language model. These models, like DeepSeek-R1 or OpenAI's ChatGPT, are kind of like the predictive text feature in your phone on steroids. In order for them to "learn" how to write, the models are trained on millions of examples of human-written text. Thanks in part to these same large language models, a lot of content on the Internet today is written by generative AI. That means that AI models trained nowadays may be consuming their own synthetic content ... and suffering the consequences.

    View the AI-generated images mentioned in this episode.

    Have another topic in artificial intelligence you want us to cover? Let us know my emailing 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.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    13 mins
  • Could This Particle 'Clean Up' A Cosmic Mystery?

    Could This Particle 'Clean Up' A Cosmic Mystery?
    Feb 17 2025
    Physics has a bit of a messy problem: There's matter missing in our universe. Something is there that we can't see but can detect! What could this mysterious substance be? A lot of astronomers are searching for the answer. And some, like theoretical particle physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, think a hypothetical particle called the axion may make this problem a little ... tidier.

    That's right: hypothetical. Scientists have never seen one, and don't know if they exist. So today, we point our cosmic magnifying glasses towards the axion and ask how scientists could find one — and if it could be the neat solution physicists have been searching for.

    Help shape the future of Short Wave by taking our survey: npr.org/shortwavesurvey

    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.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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    14 mins

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