Épisodes

  • Predicting elections is getting harder. What did the midterms teach us?

    Predicting elections is getting harder. What did the midterms teach us?
    Nov 5 2026
    Famously, polls got the 2016 election wrong. And they’d been off for multiple elections since. So, Monday night, political scientist Jack Rametta nervously refreshed his Senate forecasting model for the final time. Would it be right this time? Or would it yet again cast doubt on whether modeling, statistics and forecasting can still help us understand what motivates people to vote? Now that the results are in, so is Jack – to tell us how he did, and what his and other researchers’ predictions tell us about the evolving science of polling and forecasting.

    Interested in more science behind the news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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    13 min
  • AI is changing mathematics -- but not how you think

    AI is changing mathematics -- but not how you think
    Nov 4 2026
    Math has created some of humanity's oldest intellectual challenges. And AI is completely changing the game. This year AI solved one of math’s most difficult problems. Since then, OpenAI published hundreds of new math results. So is this the end for the people who’ve dedicated their careers to pushing forward math? We get into it with NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfel, who weighs the risks and rewards of AI’s math takeover.

    Interested in more technology and AI news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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    14 min
  • OpenAI whistleblowers on the fight over AI safety | Machine Gods

    OpenAI whistleblowers on the fight over AI safety | Machine Gods
    Nov 3 2026
    Check out NPR’s newest podcast, Machine Gods. It’s the official podcast of the singularity, meaning — the hypothetical future when machines will outpace our own intelligence…and our control. Whether you think that future is coming or not, hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton are here to help you understand the people trying to build it… and how their technology works.

    On this episode, listen to their exclusive interview with safety researchers who were fired by OpenAI.

    Interested in more technology and AI news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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    32 min
  • Could virtual reality speed up learning?

    Could virtual reality speed up learning?
    Nov 2 2026
    Does swinging a lightsaber help us learn? New research from Florida Atlantic University and Brown University found that movement dramatically helps with certain kinds of complex learning. The research was published in the journal Science Advances.

    Interested in more science involving video games? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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    10 min
  • Is your favorite crime show rooted in fake science?

    Is your favorite crime show rooted in fake science?
    Oct 30 2026
    If you’ve ever seen a crime show, you probably know how the plot unfolds: A victim is found, an investigation ensues and police conduct a high-stakes search for the culprit. Detectives and crime lab techs collect hair, examine bullet casings and photograph bloodstains. But just how reliable are these clues – and does science back them up? Well, today on the show, with the help of legal expert Chris Fabricant, we’re diving into which of these forensic techniques are junk “science”, which we should be more cautious about – and why all of them haunt the legal system.

    Interested in more crime and pop science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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    15 min
  • MAHA’s midterm report card

    MAHA’s midterm report card
    Oct 28 2026
    It’s been just over two years since the rise of Make America Great Again, or MAHA. The movement united a coalition of moms, wellness influencers and voters across the political spectrum over concerns about chronic illness and childhood diseases. And when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over as Secretary of Health and Human Services, it seemed like MAHA would be front and center in Washington.

    But as we approach the midterm elections, has the Trump administration made good on the MAHA agenda? On today’s episode, we dig into what’s changed, what hasn’t and what that means for your health.

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

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    13 min
  • You Can See Everything and the science of spotting liars

    You Can See Everything and the science of spotting liars
    Oct 27 2026
    It feels like everyone we know is talking about the new documentary You Can See Everything. It tracks the effort of comedian and documentarian Nathan Fielder to suss out how deceptive Elizabeth Holmes, disgraced founder of the company Theranos, is. And after watching the film, we all left the theater wondering -- what could we see? How possible is it to ever really spot someone lying? So we of course called up an expert in deception and counter-deception research, Maria Hartwig, a professor of psychology at CUNY, the City University of New York.

    For more on sussing out a liar, check out our episode about what's wrong with the polygraph.

    Interested in more deep dives on the science behind pop culture blockbusters? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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    14 min
  • The battle between matter and antimatter

    The battle between matter and antimatter
    Oct 26 2026
    At the beginning of our universe, in addition to matter, there was also an equal amount of antimatter, matter's opposite. But today, there's lots more matter than antimatter. So how did that happen? Well, the answer might have to do with neutrinos, a very mysterious, elusive particle. They're incredibly difficult to catch and study because they don't really interact with anything. But a group of scientists is now betting that one specific, hypothetical type of neutrino might have played a very important role in getting matter to win the war against antimatter. Today, we go galaxy brain and delight in getting to spend a little time pondering this hypothetical, long ignored particle.

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    11 min