Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know … and then keeps on going. Host Noam Hassenfeld and an all-star team of reporters — Byrd Pinkerton, Meradith Hoddinott, and Mandy Nguyen — tackle scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn by diving into the unknown. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
Tell us about a scientific mystery that fascinates you.
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The Unexplainable team includes Noam Hassenfeld, Byrd Pinkerton, Meradith Hoddinott, Mandy Nguyen, Cristian Ayala, and Jorge Just. The show is a production of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Unexplainable
Why do we love to scare ourselves?
This research group is studying our love for haunted houses ... at a haunted house.
By Byrd Pinkerton
Climate
Just how doomed is home insurance?
Hurricanes like Milton and Helene are making it harder than ever to insure your home.
By Umair Irfan
Climate
Are we underestimating global warming?
Why climate scientists are so concerned about aerosols, not just greenhouse gasses.
By Umair Irfan
Unexplainable
How much can we actually control inflation?
The mystery of inflation may be rooted in psychology.
By Noam Hassenfeld
Down to Earth
What’s a wild bat worth to you? This economist is asking.
Nature is priceless — but quantifying its value could help save it.
By Benji Jones and Byrd Pinkerton
Unexplainable
Who’s the father? For these baby animals, one doesn’t exist.
More animals can occasionally reproduce asexually than scientists realized.
By Byrd Pinkerton
Unexplainable
Did trees kill the world?
An ancient forest once tipped our planet’s climate into chaos.
By Meradith Hoddinott
Unexplainable
She’s been chasing solar eclipses for three decades. What’s she after?
This scientist has seen nearly 20 solar eclipses. She’s trying to solve a mystery that could help protect Earth.
By Noam Hassenfeld
Unexplainable
17 astounding scientific mysteries that researchers can’t yet solve
What is the universe made out of? How should we define death? Where did dogs come from? And more!
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
Menstrual fluid’s underexplored medical treasures
From wound healing to disease diagnosis, “this stuff is like gold dust.”
By Byrd Pinkerton
Unexplainable
10 ocean mysteries scientists haven’t solved yet
And the adventures scientists go on to better understand our enigmatic seas.
By Brian Resnick
Science
Astronomers spotted something perplexing near the beginning of time
Monsters lurk in the background of James Webb Space Telescope images. Scientists are scrambling to make sense of them.
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
How to catch a scientific fraud
Elisabeth Bik has made a career of being a data vigilante. What should mainstream scientific journals learn from her?
By Byrd Pinkerton
Unexplainable
10 of the biggest — and smallest — scientific mysteries
Some unanswered scientific questions loom out in the universe. Others reside in our homes.
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
Runners can be disqualified for startingafterthe gun. What gives?
The rules of elite running say no one can start a race faster than 0.1 seconds. Scientists say that’s wrong.
By Brian Resnick and Noam Hassenfeld
Unexplainable
11 unexplainable animal mysteries
Yes, one of them involves puppies.
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
Even the scientists who build AI can’t tell you how it works
“We built it, we trained it, but we don’t know what it’s doing.”
By Noam Hassenfeld
Science
Is weed safe in pregnancy?
Harsh state policies imply it’s not — but what do the studies say?
By Keren Landman, MD
Unexplainable
4 unexplainable mysteries of pregnancy and parenting
Why do we know so little about pregnancy — one of the most common experiences on Earth?
By Brian Resnick and Byrd Pinkerton
Unexplainable
What is life? Scientists still can’t agree.
Science writer Carl Zimmer explains why this question has been so hard to answer.
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
3 unexplainable mysteries of life on Earth
Earth, for all we know, is the only planet with life on it. But how did it start?
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
How Havana syndrome helps us rethink the brain
A neurologist explains how its weird symptoms can manifest via a common but misunderstood class of brain ailments.
By Noam Hassenfeld
Unexplainable
How scientists discovered the universe is really freaking huge
Edwin Hubble’s name is everywhere in astronomy. Henrietta Leavitt’s should be too.
By Brian Resnick, Amanda Northrop and 1 more
Down to Earth
The mystery of the mimic plant
There’s drama in the plant world — and a shape-shifting vine is at the center of it.
By Benji Jones
Science
Space is deadly. NASA’s Artemis mission will help us learn how to survive it.
The rocket finally launched, equipped with scientific experiments to test how deep space affects our bodies.
By Neel Dhanesha
Unexplainable
A mountain, a tower, a thermos of molten salt. These are the batteries that could power our renewable future.
Climate change is pushing the power grid to the limit. Energy storage could help.
By Neel Dhanesha
Unexplainable
The mysterious rise of food allergies
More kids and adults are finding out that they can’t eat their favorite foods. Why?
By Umair Irfan
Down to Earth
The race to find 2,100 missing species before they go extinct
Many animals aren’t endangered or extinct — they’re missing. Species detectives are trying to track them down.
By Benji Jones
Unexplainable
What did dinosaurs actually sound like? Take a listen.
Two tubas, a chicken, and a low-pitched alligator: The weird ways scientists imagine dinosaur voices.
By Noam Hassenfeld
Podcasts
The ovarian “biological clock” and other reproductive health metaphors that have led science astray
And why even the phrase “reproductive health” might be kind of misleading.
By Byrd Pinkerton
Science
Why the new James Webb Space Telescope images are such a big deal
The JWST can simply see more of the universe than the Hubble Space Telescope could.
By Brian Resnick
Science
Why scientists really, really want to know if there was ever life on Mars
If there was life on Mars billions of years ago — even just microbial life — it could change our understanding of how life begins.
By Brian Resnick
Unexplainable
7 solar system mysteries scientists haven’t solved yet
Why is our moon so weird? Was there ever life on Mars? Big cosmic questions lurk in our celestial backyard.
By Brian Resnick
Science
The underwater “eye” that is unlocking ocean secrets
A marine biologist built a stealth camera that’s collected images of some of the most elusive deep sea animals.
By Byrd Pinkerton
Science
What science still doesn’t know about the five senses
Our senses create our reality. They can trick us, but also teach us.
By Brian Resnick and Noam Hassenfeld
Unexplainable
Cancer has a smell. Someday your phone may detect it.
Our sense of smell is still a mystery. But that’s not stopping research on robot noses.
By Noam Hassenfeld
Science
Doctors learned how to save premature infants’ lives. They forgot about pain.
Scientists are investigating how to treat pain in babies who can’t tell you when it hurts.
By Brian Resnick
Down to Earth
The loss of insects is an apocalypse worth worrying about
A world without bugs is a world we don’t want to live in.
By Benji Jones
Climate
The mystery of methane gone missing
Humanity has an “unbalanced checkbook” of methane pollution.
By Rebecca Leber
Science
What science still can’t explain about love
People say they know what they’re looking for in a partner. Relationship experts say otherwise.
By Brian Resnick
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