Is setting your trash on fire a good idea?
The U.S. generates 292 million tons of trash each year – and that trash has to go somewhere. Sometimes, that’s to an incinerator, where it’s burned a...
Ticks are a growing problem, no matter where you live
In the grand scheme of things, Lyme disease is a fairly new scientific discovery. It was first traced back to ticks in the late 70s and early 80s. The...
Is working from home actually good for you?
For many, being able to work from home is a boon: saving time on your commute, working in your sweatpants, throwing in a load of laundry before a meet...
Salty Clouds aren’t the only strange thing about this object in space
There’s an object in space 25 times the size of Jupiter that’s stumped scientists for years. They haven’t been able to figure out if it’s a planet or ...
Did Trump's foreign aid cuts fuel the Ebola outbreak?
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing – and is likely larger than official numbers show. The deadly disease spreads throug...
What can a tornado teach us about kindness?
One evening in May of 2011, tornado sirens went off in a small Missouri city called Joplin. Thousands of homes were destroyed in the tornado, about a ...
Inside the mysterious minds of horses
Janet Jones has been fascinated by horses since childhood. She’s now a horse trainer and a neuroscientist, which allows her to explore the minds of th...
Why scientists launched two little robots to the moon
Two tiny transforming robots landed on the moon! These baseball-sized bots accompanied Japan's first successful lunar lander. They rolled out of SLIM ...
Is sewage the future of green aviation?
The war in Iran has disrupted the global fuel supply. That has sent airline prices soaring and cancelled scores of flights. This got Short Wave host E...
Could air pollution make your memory worse?
Summer is here, your windows are open and the smell of…car exhaust and the latest wildfire are wafting in. This air pollution is harmful to almost eve...