Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know…and then keeps on going. The Unexplainable team — Noam Hassenfeld, Julia Longoria, Byrd Pinkerton, and Meradith Hoddinott — 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.
247 episodes transcribedWho 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 Sci...
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...
Recent research — and one surprising season of The Biggest Loser — has scientists wondering whether some of the most basic things they know about meta...
Join our friends at The Longest Shortest Time for a deep dive into the misunderstood world of vaginas. We’ll learn about orgasm-chasing royalty, clito...
We spoke to two researchers who disagree about the answer to this question. But they do agree about why it's so hard to answer to begin with. Guest...
The US military carved a tiny city into the Greenland ice sheet. What they found, and lost, and found again, and what it tells us about climate change...
What do scientists think animals might be like millions of years from now? (First published in 2021) Guests: Benji Jones, senior correspondent at Vox...
Dark energy is the strange stuff that makes up the vast majority of the universe and will ultimately lead to the end of everything. Unless it doesn't...
Much of our modern world is made of plastic, but as more signs point to its dangers to human health, what can we even do about it? Guest: Annie Low...
Towering walls of water sometimes appear in the ocean without warning or apparent cause. What drives their terrifying power? (First published in 2023)...
Good news can be hard to find, especially when our brains — and the media — are biased against it. Guest: Bryan Walsh, senior editorial director of V...
If you went back 500 million years and re-ran evolution, would life be totally different today? Guests: Richard Lenski and Zachary Blount, evolutio...
It's easy to assume there is objective truth in basketball stats. A clear story of what happened in the past. But our friends at Pablo Torre Finds Out...
Is a solution to climate change…pouring water on hot rocks? Guest: Dylan Matthews, Senior Correspondent at Vox's Future Perfect This episode was mad...
How does any animal know what to do? A neuroscientist argues it's not “instinct.” Something bigger is going on. (First published in 2022) Guest: Mark...
We have a cure for tuberculosis. Why does it still kill over a million people every year? GUEST: John Green, podcaster, YouTube creator and award-w...
Figuring out the perfect healthy diet remains stubbornly out of reach. Our friends at Gastropod ask: Why? Guests: Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley,...
In coastal California, researchers grapple with potentially losing a landscape they love. Guests: Rebecca Johnson, Director of the Center for Biodive...
We love our pets. And think we understand them. Are we fooling ourselves? Guests: Alexandra Horowitz, dog cognition researcher at Barnard College...
