Unexplainable
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know and then keeps on going. The team tackles scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn diving into the unknown. New episodes Mondays and Wednesdays. From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Episodes
What happened before the big bang?
It's a question that seems impossible to grapple with, but scientists won't take no for an answer. In this collaboration with Scientific American, we take on the big bang and a whole bunch of seemingly impossible questions.
Guests: Rachel Feltman, host of the Science Quickly podcast; Sarah Scoles, senior contributor at Scientific American
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtra
What's the oldest story ever told?
An astrophysicist uses the motion of the stars to argue that a single story has been told for 100,000 years. A cognitive anthropologist has questions.
Guests: Ray Norris, astrophysicist; Manvir Singh, cognitive anthropologist at the University of California, Davis
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainab
Stopping the science that could stop the world
When scientists write their own rules for life, how do they know what could go wrong before it’s too late?
This is the final episode of our new three-part series, Life from Scratch.
Guests: Kate Adamala, associate professor at the University of Minnesota; David Relman, professor at Stanford University; John Glass, leader of the JCVI Synthetic Biology Group.
For show transcripts, go to
A breakthrough in synthetic life
Synthetic biologist Kate Adamala has been making major headlines as her lab creates cells that feed, divide, and grow — all from nonliving parts. It may sound like sci-fi, but Kate believes that these “not quite alive” cells are key to a renewable future.
This is the second episode of our new three-part series, Life from Scratch.
Guests: Kate Adamala, associate professor at the University
Life from scratch
Scientists stripped a cell down to its most essential genes in order to find out what makes life...alive. What they found was more bizarre than they could have imagined.
This is the first episode of our new three-part series, Life from Scratch.
Guests: Kate Adamala, associate professor at the University of Minnesota; John Glass, leader of the JCVI Synthetic Biology Group.
For show transcripts
The idea of a song
A few hundred milliseconds are often all you need to recognize a song, but a lot of recent hits have moved away from intros. Our friends at Switched on Pop (along with the National's Aaron Dessner) break down how song intros can shape our perception and what we lose when they disappear.
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guests: Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan, hosts
Why can’t I remember being a baby?
And if babies forget their earliest experiences, do they still matter?
This episode is a collaboration with Vox's Explain It to Me podcast
Guests: Kristin Ohlson, writer; Tristan Yates, cognitive psychologist at Columbia University; Dana Suskind, professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Chicago
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
Can these corals take the heat?
Warming waters are an existential threat to coral reefs, and for people who want to restore them. But in the Republic of Palau, researchers are testing out an approach to help restored reefs survive hotter temperatures — before it's too late.
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guests: Benji Jones, senior environmental correspondent at Vox
For show transcripts, go to
Why Hank Green takes pseudoscience seriously
Dismissing pseudoscience is too easy. Understanding why it spreads so quickly is harder. It can teach us why real science works and how to spot the difference between the two.
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guest: Hank Green, creator of SciShow and Crash Course, co-host of Vlogbrothers
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts Fo
A trip to the twilight reefs
Down beneath the waves, where the light starts to fade, there's an ecosystem scientists don't fully understand. About a decade ago, some researchers left structures in this mysterious world and let them grow encrusted with life. Now they're pulling them back up again and unwrapping them like scientific presents.Guests: Luiz Rocha, ichthyology curator at the California Academy of Sciences, along wi
The hidden world that birds see
Birds navigate using Earth’s magnetic field, but scientists still don’t know how they actually sense it. Called the holy grail of sensory biology, magnetoreception offers a window into the thousands of unique sensory worlds animals experience.
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guest: Ed Yong, author of An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
The Godzilla El Niño
This global weather phenomenon could help make 2027 the hottest year on record. Our friends at The Gray Area explore what the upcoming El Niño season could reveal about the future of our climate.
Guests: Sean Illing, host of The Gray Area; David Wallace-Wells, New York Times climate writer
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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An argument for the sun
It can be hard to know how to interact with the sun. Some people have swung to opposite ends of the spectrum — either over-tanning or avoiding the sun entirely. But what would a middle ground look like?
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guest: Rowan Jacobsen, author of In Defense of Sunlight
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor
What the Odyssey is hiding
The Late Bronze Age, when the Trojan War supposedly took place, was way more modern than Homer made it seem. But around 1177 BCE, a vast network of interconnected societies suddenly collapsed. What caused arguably the greatest societal collapse in the history of the world? Hint: It's a lot more complicated than the "Sea Peoples."
Guest: Eric Cline, professor at George Washington University and
Dinosaur mysteries with Riley Black
How do we know what we know about dinosaurs? Riley Black takes us back to the Mesozoic Era and explains how paleontologists piece together the lives of dinosaurs from often fragmentary clues.
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guest: Riley Black, science writer, amateur paleontologist, and consultant for the Jurassic World franchise.
For show transcripts, go to
When doctors don't know what's wrong
A 2015 review found that most people in the US will experience a diagnostic error in their lifetime. Some of those errors are less devastating than others, but how can we help people get better answers about their health? One family's search for answers with a mystifying illness highlights a different approach to diagnosis.Guest: Alexandra Sifferlin, author of The Elusive Body: Patients, Doctors,
Are you a lyric person or a music person?
When people listen to songs, why do some people pay more attention to the music, and some people pay more attention to the lyrics? The answer goes way deeper than you might think — to the heart of what it means to hear anything at all.
To watch this episode on video, find us on Netflix!
Guests: Charlie Harding, host of the Switched on Pop podcast; Dominique Vuvan, professor at Skidmore CollegeF
Big news!
Unexplainable is coming to Netflix! Starting Monday, July 13.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable@vox.comWe read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: vox.com/membersThank you!
Are we all living in an enormous black hole?
It’s possible that the entire observable universe is inside a black hole. All we need to do in order to find out is … build a gigantic particle collider around the moon. (Originally aired in 2024)
Guest: James Beacham, particle physicist at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us! unexplainable
Risky business
As the world gets warmer and storms get worse, insurance companies are jacking up rates or refusing to cover homeowners altogether. Is the future uninsurable? (Originally aired in 2024).
Guests: Umair Irfan, climate reporter; Karen Clark, co-founder and CEO of Karen Clark & Company; Joe Skuba, VP at The Gray Insurance Company; and Carolyn Kousky, Associate VP at Environmental Defense Fund
For
A period piece
Periods and menstrual fluid have long been overlooked by scientists. Now, researchers are starting to suspect they might be sources of medical treasure. (Originally aired in 2024)
Guest: Jemma Evans, biologist
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Bird people and deep space shrapnel
Two mysteries we can't stop thinking about: Is lightning actually caused by cosmic rays? And why don't birds play chess?
Articles featured: “What Causes Lightning?” by Charlie Wood (also featured on The Quanta Podcast) and “Empire of flight” by Antone Martinho-Truswell.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com
Should we really kill all the lanternflies?
When an invasive bug landed on the East Coast, people embraced the order to squish it to death. But what has all that squishing done to us?
Guests: Julie Urban, professor in the entomology department at Penn State; Chelsea Batavia, community engagement coordinator with a PhD in forestry
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Sean tries raw milk
Sean Rameswaram, co-host of Today, Explained, recently went on a dairy adventure. Noam talks to Sean about what he learned, and about why raw milk is gaining popularity, even though there are significant health risks.
Guest: Sean Rameswaram, co-host of Today, Explained
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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A new species in New York
Around 90% of life on Earth is unknown. Can Benji find a new species in his backyard?
Guests: Benji Jones, Vox senior correspondent, and the NYC species project.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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And please email us! unexplainable@vox.com
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The disaster problem
Climate change is making hurricanes, floods, and wildfires harder to prepare for just as confidence in the government’s disaster response is collapsing. Our friends at On the Media explore how FEMA became a target of conspiracy theories, political attacks, and a growing crisis of trust.
Guests: Eloise Blondiau, senior producer at On The Media; Micah Loewinger, co-host of On the Media
For show
The lost Lyme vaccine
Vijay Sikand is a family doctor in the Connecticut town that gave Lyme disease its name. When a pharmaceutical company came to town to test a vaccine, he built a career and a community around the trial. Then the Lyme vaccine became a cautionary tale.
Guest: Vijay Sikand, MD, family medicine and pediatrics
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For
The cells we share
Fetuses leave cells behind in their parents' bodies, where they braid themselves into tissues, and remain, for years. What are they doing in there? (Originally aired in 2023)
Guests: Amy Boddy, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Lee Nelson, Professor Emeritus at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center
For show transcripts, go to vox.co
The man who bet against humanity — and lost
Paul Ehrlich was famous for predicting a population explosion that would destroy the planet, but he didn't count on human ingenuity.
Guest: Bryan Walsh, Vox senior editorial director
This episode was made in partnership with Vox’s Future Perfect team.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For more, go to vox.com/unexplainabl
The aftermath
What would life look like after a global nuclear war? Would underground bunkers work? What would we do for food? What about radioactive snow?! In this episode of Are We Doomed?, reporter Ben Bradford tries to find out.
Guest: Ben Bradford, host of Are We Doomed?
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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A better Black Death story
What happens when researchers reexamine some of the basic facts about the Black Death? They start rewriting history and rethinking blame.
Guests: Hannah Barker, professor at Arizona State University; Ulf Büntgen, professor at the University of Cambridge; Martin Bauch, historian at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe
For show transcripts, go to vox.c
The hunt for a lost species
One of the world’s most biodiverse aquifers is full of strange, blind creatures that have evolved in isolation for millions of years. But one is missing. (Originally aired in 2022)
Guests: Benji Jones, Vox senior correspondent; Andy Gluesenkamp, Conservation biologist and herpetologist (a reptiles and amphibians guy)
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
Dark matter music
Pioneering musicians Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno released their latest album Liminal by broadcasting it from a 50-foot microwave antenna. Noam talks to Beatie about why “dark matter music” was the perfect sound to beam into deep space, and how music can take us places that are even harder to reach.
Guest: Beatie Wolfe, composer and conceptual artist
For show transcripts, go to
I glow, therefore I am
Today on the show: a double feature — two mysteries in one episode. First, it seems like all living things emit a faint glow that disappears when they die. Then, is the International Space Station ... too clean?
Guests: Daniel Oblak, professor of physics at the University of Calgary; Rodolfo Antonio Salido Benítez, scientist at SPT Labtech
Links: Daniel's paper with mouse and leaf images; Rodolf
Is everything inflammation?
To hear some people tell it — especially people on TikTok — inflammation is the root of all disease. It's... not that simple. But inflammation does have a lot to teach us about why modern life can make us feel so bad, and even what we might be able to do about it.
Guest: Dylan Scott, senior correspondent at Vox
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
A show about nothing
A few months ago, we put out an episode about what silence sounds like, and it caught the attention of Rob Rosenthal, who hosts a podcast called Sound School about the craft of audio storytelling. So he called up host Noam Hassenfeld to ask him a question he couldn't stop thinking about: How do you make something that sounds like nothing?Host: Rob Rosenthal, host of Sound School PodcastGuest: Noam
The Hitchhiking Microbe’s Guide to the Galaxy
Can microbes travel through space on meteorites? It’s an idea called “lithopanspermia,” and to work out if it’s even feasible, some researchers decided to shoot microbes — with a gun.
Guests: K.T. Ramesh, professor of science and engineering at Johns Hopkins University; Lily Zhao, mechanical engineer at Johns Hopkins University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscri
Why did we go back to the moon?
For the first time in over 50 years, humans have gone to the moon and back. And this time, NASA says we're going to stay. NASA's planning for more missions, a permanent moon base, and even a mission to Mars. But there's a pretty big question hanging over all these dreams: Can humans survive in space long enough to make them happen?(A version of this episode originally aired in 2022, with the launc
Is male birth control finally here?
Typically, the burden of birth control falls on whoever has a uterus, but it seems like that might change — and soon!
Guest: Annalisa Merelli, contributing writer at STAT.
For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable
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Mi Vickicito
Host Julia Longoria signs off from Unexplainable with one final question: Why does her grandma love Vicks VapoRub so much? A version of this episode originally aired on WNYC’s Only Human podcast.
For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable
It’s a great place to sign up for our newsletter, view show transcripts, and read more about the topics on our show.
Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.c
Casey gets his voice back
Casey Harrell is a goofy, lighthearted chatterbox whose love for language helped him become an accomplished environmental activist. In 2020, he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and slowly began losing the ability to speak. He sang his last song to his infant daughter and fell into silence. But, now, with the help of 256 microelectrodes implanted directly into his motor cortex
Oliver Sacks's not quite nonfiction
Oliver Sacks was once crowned “the poet laureate of medicine” — he's known as one of the greatest science writers of our time. But when New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv dug into his archives, she discovered that some details in his intimate portraits of patients mirrored his personal life a little too closely.
Guest: Rachel Aviv, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of Strangers to Ourselve
The accidental rise of Botox
One of the deadliest poisons known to man is now used to treat wrinkles, migraines, and even, maybe, depression. How did that happen?
Guests: Jean Carruthers, ophthalmologist and “godmother” of cosmetic Botox. David Simpson, neurologist at Mount Sinai hospital in New York. Axel Wollmer, psychiatrist at the Asklepios clinic in Hamburg, Germany.
For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable
It
Who are we to fight the alchemy?
Many alchemical texts are full of bizarre, metaphorical language. But what if there's interesting science hiding behind some of those metaphors?
Guest: Lawrence Principe, professor of the history of science and professor of chemistry at Johns Hopkins University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Snow day!
Grab some hot cocoa and a warm blanket and let’s talk about the tiny crystals that fall from the sky.
Guest: Jessica Lundquist, professor of civil & environmental engineering at the University of Washington
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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My brain made me do it
A man committed a crime. He admitted it. Then something alarming showed up on an image of his brain. The criminal case that followed in 1991 brought neuroscience into the courtroom for good. How does our ever-changing understanding of the brain impact how we approach justice?
Guests: Josh May, professor of philosophy, University of Alabama, Birmingham, author of Neuroethics: Agency in the Age o
The Codfather
How many fish are in the sea? It's a question that has had enormous consequences for the fishing community in New Bedford, Massachusetts. But one man managed to find a way around it. That man? The Codfather.
Guest: Ian Coss, host and producer of WBGH's Catching the Codfather
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Stress ages us on a cellular level
It's no secret that stress isn't good for you… But just how bad is it? NPR's Short Wave podcast gets some answers.
Host: Regina G. Barber, host of NPR’s Short Wave podcast
Guest: Diana Kwon, science journalist
Follow NPR's Short Wave podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify for more episodes like this, featuring new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines.
Listen
The Amazing Extremophiles
In the dark depths of the Gowanus Canal, strange lifeforms lurk...
Guests: Brad Vogel, volunteer at the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club; Elizabeth Hénaff, computational biologist and artist at New York University
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Everyone does it. Why can’t I?
I’m about to burst.
Guests: Laryngologist Dr. Robert Bastian and Noel King, co-host and editorial director of the Vox daily news podcast Today, Explained
For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable
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Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com
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Mysterious objects near the beginning of time
Astronomers are putting together a new picture of the early universe. It involves a lot of very weird black holes, and it could help us understand how our own galaxy formed.
Guest: Caitlin Casey, astronomer at UC Santa Barbara
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Cloud atlas
It’s surprisingly hard to predict how clouds form, move, and change, but it’s essential to try. Because how clouds react to a warming world helps determine how hot our future will be. (Originally aired in 2021)
Guests: Vox contributor Umair Irfan, scientists Scott M. Collis, Angeline Pendergrass, and author Gavin Pretor-Pinney
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtra
What's good sound?
Every hand-crafted instrument from violin maker Michael Doran holds its own unexplainable questions.
Guest: Michael Doran of Doran’s Violin’s
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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No data, just vibes
There's been a real rollback of one of the US government's most fundamental tasks: gathering data. Vox correspondents Dylan Scott and Umair Irfan take a look at what a future with less data means for climate and health care in the US.
Guests: Vox correspondent Umair Irfan and Vox senior correspondent Dylan Scott
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
It's not all bad
Things in the news have been feeling kind of…bleak, so we called in some reinforcements. Vox's senior editorial director and resident good news expert Bryan Walsh joins editor Joanna Solotaroff to remind us that there’s still a lot of good stuff happening, too.
Guest: Vox senior editorial director Bryan Walsh. Sign up for the Good News newsletter HERE.
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Superbabies?
Parents are supposed to provide the best life possible for their kids, right? But what does that mean when genetic testing for the baby enters the picture? And how far should they go? Vox senior reporter Sigal Samuel received that ethically ambiguous question for her advice column Your Mileage May Vary from a parent-to-be, and in this episode walks Noam through her thinking using a philosophical
The G-word
Is geoengineering the answer to the climate crisis? Or is it too dangerous to even discuss? It’s been theoretical so far, but now, one startup says their technology could soon shield the Earth from the sun.
Guest: Robinson Meyer, climate journalist and founding executive editor of Heatmap News.
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For mor
Who's afraid of big, bad Yellowstone?
Yellowstone can be a deadly place... but not for the reasons you might think.
Guest: Mike Poland, scientist in charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
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Vitamin C and the common cold
A two-time Nobel Prize-winning scientist changed chemistry, biology, and the politics of science. But when he pushed vitamin C as a cure-all, did he go too far?
Guest: Daniel M. Davis, head of the department of life sciences and professor of immunology at Imperial College London. He is the author of Self-Defense: A Myth-Busting Guide to Immune Health.
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Your moments of silence (The Sound Barrier #5)
This episode is a follow-up to The Sound Barrier series, which explores our brain's relationship to sound. In our third episode of the series, we asked listeners to try to experience silence and record what they heard. Today, we share the sounds of quiet from across the world in a tribute to John Cage’s 4’33”. Plus, Tinnitus researcher and Unexplainable guest Dan Polley answers your questions from
Diary of a teenage brain, part 2
As our brains develop throughout our childhood and teens, they form connections and then prune back the ones that aren't used. What can we learn from them?
Guests: Alison Barth, professor in the life sciences at Carnegie Mellon University; Saket Navlakha, associate professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
This series was made possible by support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Vox had full
Diary of a teenage brain
What's going on in teens' heads? Scientists working on a country-wide study following thousands of young people have spent the last decade trying to answer that question.
Guests: Raul Gonzalez Jr., psychology professor at Florida International University
This series was made possible by support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Vox had full discretion over the content of this reporting.
The trees of death
Way back when forests first evolved on Earth... they might have triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of the planet. (Originally aired in 2024)
Guests: Charles Ver Straeten, curator of sedimentary rocks at the New York State Museum; Lisa Amati, curator of invertebrate paleontology at the New York State Museum; Thomas Algeo, professor of geochemistry at the University of C
That's no moon...
It's a quasi-moon. Or, a quasi-satellite. Whatever you want to call it, it's hanging out near Earth. And it could be the source of some fascinating new science.
Guests: Nick Moskovitz, astronomer at Lowell Observatory
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Lost on the road to enlightenment
So many of us have been told that meditation can make us less stressed, more productive, and happier. But for a small group of people, it has a dark side. What’s going on?
Guests: Willoughby Britton, associate professor at Brown University; Richard Davidson, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Pierce Salguero, professor at the Abington College of Pennsylvania State University
Thi
Is animal grief real?
A dog on its owner’s grave. A killer whale carrying around its dead calf. A goose that isolates when its mate dies. These behaviors in animals may look like human mourning, but should scientists call them "grief"? (First published in 2023)
Guests: Jennifer Vonk, comparative/cognitive psychologist at Oakland University; Jessica Pierce, bioethicist and author of several books about animals; Susana
The Sound Barrier #4: Listen to the universe
When Wanda Diáz-Merced lost her sight as a college student, she thought her dreams of becoming an astronomer were over — until she learned to listen to space instead.
Wanda is one of several pioneering scientists listening to space. For this episode, we also spoke to Robert Wilson, who used sound to help him discover the first direct evidence of the Big Bang, and Kim Arcand, who plays us what the
The Sound Barrier #3: What does silence sound like?
A scientist asked people to sit in a silent room for 15 minutes. Almost half of them decided to give themselves a painful electric shock instead. What is it about our brains that makes our relationship with silence so strange? And should we learn how to listen to it?
This is the third episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier.
Guests: Erin Westgate, assistant professor at
The Sound Barrier #2: The noise that isn't there
Almost 15% of adults suffer from a persistent, often intolerable sound... that is literally just in their heads. Why does the brain do this to us? We help one of our listeners get some answers.
This is the second episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier.
Guests: Stéphane Maison, director of the tinnitus clinic at Mass Eye and Ear; Susan Shore, professor emerita at the University
The Sound Barrier #1: The myth of hearing
Just like optical illusions trick our eyes, audio illusions can trick our ears. It makes scientists wonder: What exactly are we hearing, when we're hearing?
This is the first episode of our new four-part series, The Sound Barrier.
Guests: Diana Deutsch, emeritus professor at the University of California, San Diego; Matthew Winn, professor at the University of Minnesota; Michael Chorost, scienc
Solve me a river
This week on Unexplainable or Not, Sally Helm, the newest member of our team, tries to figure out what's killing mussels, why rivers suddenly change course, and what the longest river in the world is.
Guests: Douglas Edmonds, professor at Indiana University; Neel Dhanesha, science reporter
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
This episode is haunted and spooky
Now why would you click on something like this? What's wrong with you?! Why are you — and so many other people — into scary stuff? Two scientists are trying to find out. (Originally aired in 2024)
Guests: Mathias Clasen and Marc Andersen, co-directors of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
For
Consider the shrimp
Killing two people is worse than killing one. What about 440 billion crustaceans? Adapted from Dylan Matthews's essay on Vox.com.
This story is part of a series supported by Animal Charity Evaluators, which received a grant from EarthShare.
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When talent vanishes overnight
Think about the thing you’ve practiced more than anything else in the world. Maybe it’s painting. Or writing. Or playing baseball.
Now, imagine you wake up one day, and you just can’t do it. You’re not sick. You’re not injured. But suddenly, that one thing is impossible. (Originally published in 2024)
Guests: Rick Ankiel, former Major League Baseball star; Sally Akehurst, sports psychologist
Composing chaos
Terry Riley's "In C" is one of the most influential pieces of music of the last century...but you'll never hear it the same way twice.
Guest: Evan Ziporyn, composer, clarinetist, and producer of "In C"
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Does Tylenol cause autism?
Donald Trump and RFK Jr. seem convinced that it does. But our friends at Science Vs say the data is far more complicated.
Guest: Meryl Horn, senior producer at Science Vs
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Real-life zombies
Zombies might seem like the stuff of horror movies, but there are lots of examples of parasites taking over bugs’ bodies and bending them to their will.
Guest: Mindy Weisberger, author of Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainable
How to change your personality
Who are you, really? Our friends at The Gray Area ask whether it's really possible to change.
Guest: Olga Khazan, author of Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change
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What’s A
The centuries-old international battle over the real sound of a musical note.
Guest: Fanny Gribenski, historical musicologist and author of Tuning the World: The Rise of 440 Hertz in Music, Science, and Politics, 1859–1955
Reported for Unexplainable by Emily Siner
For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts
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Did we find signs of life on Mars?
NASA found a Martian rock that might have traces of ancient life. It's perhaps the most tantalizing revelation in the century-long search for Martian life. (Updated from 2022)
Guests: Katie Stack Morgan, project scientist for the Perseverance rover; Lindsay Hays, astrobiologist at NASA; Morgan Cable, research scientist for Perseverance; and Camden Miller, rover driver for Perseverance
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