science
Hosted by NPR · science · EN-US · 1,000 episodes
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
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Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
37%
Guest openness
Selective
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Signup to Generate a PitchNew 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.
Short Wave is hosted by NPR. The show has published more than 1,000 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "Why do we kiss? It's an evolutionary conundrum" (13 February 2026, 14 minutes), "AI is great at predicting text. Can it guide robots?" (11 February 2026, 13 minutes), and "The physics of the Winter Olympics" (10 February 2026, 13 minutes).
Short Wave publishes roughly a few times a week, with episodes averaging 12 minutes across more than 1,000 episodes.
Booking probability for Short Wave is 37%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Short Wave requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Short Wave's contact route on record: verified email.
NPR hosts Short Wave, a science show with more than 1,000 episodes published.
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
Episode #1430
The evolutionary purpose of kissing has long eluded scientists. Smooching is risky, given things like pointy teeth, and inherently gross, given an estimated 80 million bacteria are transferred in a 10 second kiss. And...
Short Wave
<p >It seems like artificial intelligence is everywhere in our virtual lives. It's in our search results and our phones. But what happens when AI moves out of the chat and into the real world? NPR science editor and...
Episode #1428
Watching a ski jumper fly through the air might get you wondering, “How do they do that?” The answer is – physics!<br/><br/>That’s why this episode, we have two physicists – Amy Pope, a physicist from Clemson University...
Short Wave
In 1928, a chance contaminant in Scottish physician Alexander Fleming’s lab experiment led to a discovery that would change the field of medicine forever: penicillin. Since then, penicillin and other antibiotics have...
Episode #1426
Rhythm is everywhere. Even if you don’t think you have it, it’s fundamental to humans’ biological systems. Our heartbeat is rhythmic. Speech is rhythmic. Even as babies, humans can track basic rhythm. Researchers wanted...
Episode #1425
Olympic sliding sports – bobsled, luge and skeleton – are known for their speed. Athletes chase medals down a track of ice at up to 80 or 90 mph. With this thrill comes the risk of “sled head.” Athletes use the term to...
Short Wave
Autism has a long history of misinformation that continues to today. The Trump administration has perpetuated some of this misinformation in the last year. Among other things, officials have claimed certain groups of...
Short Wave
PFAS make pans nonstick, clothes waterproof and furniture stain resistant. They're so ubiquitous, they're even inside of us. Now, researchers are looking for more insights in firefighters' blood.<br/><br/>Learn more...
Episode #1422
On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA’s 25th space shuttle mission, Challenger, left the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Seventy-three seconds into flight, Challenger exploded over the Atlantic Ocean as millions of people...
Episode #1421
This past weekend, Winter Storm Fern struck the States. Sleet, snow and ice battered Americans all the way from New Mexico to New York. Scientists predicted its arrival in mid-January, and in anticipation of the storm...
Short Wave
Listener Shabnam Khan has a problem: Every time she works in her garden, she’s visited by lizards and frogs. Shabnam has lived in the metro Atlanta area for decades, and she says this number of scaly, clammy visitors...
Short Wave
There’s an ongoing, near-total blackout of the internet in Iran. The shutdown is part of a response by the government to ongoing protests against rising inflation and the value of the nation’s currency plummeting. Since...
Episode #1418
A new study shows penguins are breeding earlier than ever in the Antarctic Peninsula. This region is one of the fastest-warming areas of the world due to climate change, and penguins time their breeding period to...
Episode #1417
Cloud 9 is a failed galaxy. It’s a clump of dark matter, called a dark matter halo, that never formed stars. But this failure could be the key to a mystery almost as old as the universe itself: dark matter. Scientists...
Episode #1416
Medical drama The Pitt is winning Golden Globes… and health care workers’ hearts. Medical experts say the show, which chronicles a fictional Pittsburgh hospital emergency department, is perhaps the most medically...
Short Wave
In today's episode, host Emily Kwong leads us on a night hike in Patuxent River State Park in Maryland. Alongside a group of naturalists led by Serenella Linares, we'll meet a variety of species with unique survival...
Short Wave
Wanna know where tech is headed this year? MIT Technology Review has answers. They compile an annual list called "10 Breakthrough Technologies". Today, host Regina G. Barber speaks with executive editor Amy Nordrum...
Episode #1413
There’s this idea that something happens in the human brain when we turn 25. Suddenly, we can rent a car without fees. Make rational decisions. We may even regret some of our past… indiscretions. All because we’re...
Short Wave
In the mid-1980s, scientists published a startling finding–a giant hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. That’s the protective shield that blocks large amounts of harmful UV radiation. And without it, the rate of...
Episode #1411
Microbes are little alchemists that perform all manner of chemical reactions. A team of microbiologists co-founded a non-profit to try to harness those abilities to solve some of the world’s big problems — from carbon...
Recent guests on Short Wave. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
Spanish Radio Analyst, Cerveza Charro
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences
national speaker, coach, entrepreneur, published author, championship bodybuilder, Jeffco Public Schools
space architect, scientist, entrepreneur, Aurelia Institute & Foundry
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