Podcast · 97 episodes
Unexplainable, page 2
by Vox · English
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.
All episodes, page 2
Bird people and deep space shrapnelThe episode is about two “unexplainable” science questions: what triggers lightning, and why birds didn’t evolve complex human-like culture.22 Jun 2026 · 27 min · 13 chapters
Should we really kill all the lanternflies?Whether people should personally kill spotted lanternflies, and how to think ethically about conservation actions (including public “squish/stomp” kill orders).17 Jun 2026 · 33 min · 9 chapters
Sean tries raw milkThe episode follows Sean as he tries raw milk and explores why it’s controversial and spreading. It opens with the claim that RFK Jr.15 Jun 2026 · 32 min · 13 chapters
A new species in New YorkBenji Jones sets up an insect trap in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, to search for species new to science—especially parasitoid wasps and scuttleflies (flies in the family for a day).10 Jun 2026 · 26 min · 13 chapters
The disaster problemThe episode “The disaster problem” (from On the Media’s four-part series “American Emergency”) explains how FEMA’s Cold War origins, secrecy, and early “continuity of government” planning helped seed…8 Jun 2026 · 1 h · 21 chapters
The lost Lyme vaccineVijay Seekand’s firsthand account of the Lyme disease vaccine trial in Old Lyme, Connecticut, its Phase 3 results (Lymerix), and why the vaccine was later withdrawn amid vaccine-skepticism, safety…3 Jun 2026 · 38 min · 16 chapters
The cells we shareMicrochimera—how cells from a fetus can persist in a parent for decades (and vice versa), and what researchers think those shared cells might do.1 Jun 2026 · 36 min · 13 chapters
The man who bet against humanity — and lostThe episode argues that population doomsaying popularized by Paul Ehrlich was both influential and disastrously wrong, and that it led to harmful policies; it contrasts Ehrlich’s “scarcity” worldview…20 May 2026 · 17 min · 8 chapters
The aftermathWhat surviving an all-out nuclear war would realistically look like after the initial blasts—finding shelter, dealing with fallout, sanitation, and then nuclear winter, global cooling, and famine.18 May 2026 · 42 min · 15 chapters
A better Black Death storyHow historians and scientists reconstruct the Black Death (1300s) while acknowledging major uncertainties—especially what caused it to spread from the Black Sea region into Italy and then across…13 May 2026 · 32 min · 16 chapters
The hunt for a lost speciesThe search for the Blanco Blind Salamander, a “lost species” last seen in the early 1950s, and how scientists try to find missing animals in Texas’s Edwards Aquifer using eDNA and cave fieldwork.11 May 2026 · 28 min · 16 chapters
Dark matter musicBeattie (B.D.) Wolf and Brian Eno’s “dark matter music” and how they use a 50-foot horn-shaped microwave antenna—originally used by Bob Wilson to detect the cosmic microwave background—to broadcast…29 Apr 2026 · 34 min · 11 chapters
I glow, therefore I amThe episode explores “biophotons” (faint visible light emitted by living cells) as a potential way to distinguish living vs dead tissue, and then contrasts that with how the International Space…27 Apr 2026 · 28 min · 7 chapters
Is everything inflammation?Inflammation as a normal immune process vs chronic low-grade inflammation linked to modern diseases; why TikTok oversimplifies; what science can measure and what it can’t yet.22 Apr 2026 · 32 min · 12 chapters
A show about nothingAudio storytelling and the “sound” of silence, including how to use silence without listeners thinking the episode is broken; centers on Unexplainable’s Sound Barrier episode “silence” and its 4…20 Apr 2026 · 28 min · 9 chapters
The Hitchhiking Microbe’s Guide to the GalaxyThe episode explains lithopanspermia: the idea that microbes could hitchhike through the solar system inside rock fragments (e.g., from Mars to a moon) and survive a “panspermia gauntlet.” It reviews…15 Apr 2026 · 26 min · 8 chapters
Why did we go back to the moon?Artemis II’s “go back to the moon” mission and why humans plan to stay—despite major health and environmental risks of living far from Earth—plus the motivations for deep-space settlement and what…13 Apr 2026 · 32 min · 10 chapters
Is male birth control finally here?Whether male birth control is finally coming, how close it is, and what might hold it back.1 Apr 2026 · 28 min · 12 chapters
Mi VickicitoThe episode explores why Julia Longoria’s Cuban grandmother, now 80, uses Vicks VapoRub (“Vickycito”) on nearly everything—chest, knees, toenails (fungus), fingernails, hair conditioner, and as…30 Mar 2026 · 19 min · 11 chapters
Casey gets his voice backA conversation with Casey Harrell about regaining speech using a brain-to-speech AI interface after ALS, plus how his wife/caregiver LaVonna Saxon experienced his voice loss and the technology’s…25 Mar 2026 · 37 min · 15 chapters
Oliver Sacks's not quite nonfictionA profile of neurologist and writer Oliver Sacks, focusing on how his “not quite nonfiction” approach—blending observation, narrative, and admitted confabulation—intertwines with his inner life,…23 Mar 2026 · 31 min · 8 chapters
The accidental rise of BotoxHow botulinum toxin (marketed as Botox) went from a deadly sausage-related poison to a widely used “medical Swiss army knife,” including cosmetic wrinkle reduction and treatments for movement…18 Mar 2026 · 29 min · 15 chapters
Who are we to fight the alchemy?The episode explains what alchemists were actually doing, arguing that some alchemical writings contained practical, repeatable lab work—not just metaphor or “turn lead into gold” fantasy.16 Mar 2026 · 32 min · 10 chapters
Snow day!A “snow day” episode that starts with the host and editor going outside in New York City after an intense snowstorm, then answers audience questions about snow’s look, sound, texture, and…11 Mar 2026 · 29 min · 15 chapters