Flowers and trees are blooming earlier. Is it because of climate change?
Enlarge this image Short Wave listener Shai Tsur wants to know why his Callery pear tree started blooming … in January. Are these dense white…
Category: Short Wave
This is what living on Mars could do to the human body
Enlarge this image An image of rocks on Mars. Biologist Kelly Weinersmith and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith spent four years researching what it would look like…
Into dudes who drum? You might be a female fiddler crab
Enlarge this image The European fiddler crab (Afruca tangeri) lives along the Atlantic coast, from Portugal in southwestern Europe to Angola in western Africa. Male…
How nature makes a complex brain — and why humans may not be so special after all
Enlarge this image Various cell types in chick brains are color-coded. Fernando García-Moreno hide caption toggle caption Fernando García-Moreno Various cell types in chick brains…
Spring allergies are in bloom. Here’s why and what to do about it
Enlarge this image Ragweed, seen here, can trigger allergies for some people. Ragweed is common in the fall. Research has found that the window for…
A bug that jets pee? These comics illustrate nature’s real-life superpowers
Enlarge this image This panel is from the “Slingshot Spiders” comic that describes the manuscript “Ultrafast launch of slingshot spiders using conical silk webs”, published…
How do astronomers find distant planets … if we can’t see them?
Enlarge this image An illustration of the GAIA telescope, launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2013. Using GAIA data, astronomers can observe a…
Here’s why researchers are making new psychedelic-like drugs — without the trip
Enlarge this image Individual neurons are labeled with fluorescent proteins using the brainbow technique. In researching psychedelics and ketamine, researchers aim to understand how drugs…
Would ketamine treatment help if you didn’t know you got it?
Enlarge this image What if you could get all the potential benefits of ketamine without the “trip”? One researcher tested this very idea out by…
Why it’s hard to study the neuroscience of psychedelics
Enlarge this image Psilocybe mexicana mushrooms grown by a resident of Washington, DC. Researchers are studying psychedelics like psilocybin to treat depression, PTSD and other…