Unexplainable

Documentary series exploring scientific mysteries and unanswered questions AI summary

Vox Science · EN · 325 episodes · latest 2026-11-11

Rank 3891

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What it is about

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.

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.
© 2021 Vox Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Latest episodes

What can we do about antibiotic resistance?

2026-11-11 · 24 min

More than 1 million people are estimated to die from drug-resistant infections every year, and that number is rising. But there are some surprising potential solutions in soil, viruses, and even... world peace? Guest:…
Emily St. John Mandel on science in fiction

2026-11-09 · 27 min

Science has some really weird, wonderful ideas. Some of them are hard to prove in fact, but Emily St. John Mandel does a great job of playing with them in fiction — in works like Station Eleven, Sea of Tranquility, and…
What are you laughing at?

2026-11-04 · 19 min

Scientists are trying to figure out what makes something funny. We compare notes with comedians ⁠Atsuko Okatsuka⁠, ⁠Josh Johnson⁠, ⁠Dulcé Sloan⁠, and ⁠Chris Fleming⁠ (Originally published in 2023) Guests: ⁠Allie Volpe⁠,…
Why are we ticklish?

2026-11-02 · 23 min

Socrates, Aristotle, Galileo, and Darwin couldn't figure it out. But one scientist has built a tickle robot (named Hektor) to try and settle the mystery of ticklishness once and for all. Guest: Konstantina Kilteni,…
How does creativity work?

2026-10-26 · 25 min

You know that feeling when time and space melt away and new ideas seem to flow through you? Neuroscientist Heather Berlin explains what we know about how creative flow states might change the way the networks in our…
Spider Web 2.0

2026-10-23 · 22 min

Spider silk can be stronger than steel by weight and tougher than Kevlar. Can scientists make their own? Guest: Greg Holland, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at San Diego State University For…
The wild orchid mystery

2026-10-21 · 26 min

More than just beautiful flowers, wild orchids have been confounding scientists for years. Our friends at Sidedoor — a podcast from the Smithsonian — set out to find a rare specimen for themselves. Guest: ⁠Lizzie…
An Alzheimer's breakthrough?

2026-10-19 · 28 min

The past few months have been full of Alzheimer's optimism: new ideas that could prevent the disease from taking hold, medications that seem to slow it down, and an experimental surgery that might even be able to…
Talking with the dead

2026-10-14 · 36 min

“If only I could talk with them again.” It’s a common refrain for anyone who is grieving someone they love. Now, we can access technology like deadbots, or AI replicas of a lost loved one, to simulate those…
What’s cooler than being cool?

2026-10-12 · 29 min

The future of quantum computing depends on getting way colder than ice cold — down to some of the coldest temperatures in the universe. The quest to build these super refrigerators takes us to nuclear bomb stockpiles,…

Episode details from the publisher’s feed. Playback happens at the publisher.

Publisher details

Oldest episode in feed: 02/2021 · over 5 years
Typical length: 29 min
Format: Episodic Newest first, episodes stand alone

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