Podcast · 97 episodes
Unexplainable, page 4
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 4
Solve me a riverA “game show” episode about river mysteries, plus a listener question about the show’s cover art.29 Oct 2025 · 37 min · 15 chapters
This episode is haunted and spookyThis Episode is Haunted and Spooky27 Oct 2025 · 20 min
Consider the shrimpThe episode examines whether moral “numbers count” (from John Tork’s famous trolley-style argument) and applies that idea to shrimp welfare, using real-world killing statistics and ethical “scope…22 Oct 2025 · 24 min · 7 chapters
When talent vanishes overnightThe episode explains how elite performers can suddenly lose a specific skill—often called “the yips” (also known as Whiskey Fingers, The Monster, Dartitis, etc.).20 Oct 2025 · 29 min · 11 chapters
Composing chaosThe episode “Composing chaos” explores how people discover what they genuinely like (beyond algorithms) and how Terry Riley’s 1964 aleatoric composition In C creates “controlled chaos.” Guests…8 Oct 2025 · 28 min · 11 chapters
Real-life zombies“Real-life zombies” explains zombification in nature—parasites (fungi, viruses, worms, wasps, etc.) manipulate hosts so the parasite benefits, not the host.1 Oct 2025 · 27 min · 9 chapters
How to change your personalityHow to Change Your Personality29 Sep 2025 · 40 min
What’s AThe episode explains how the musical standard pitch for “A” became controversial and then stabilized.24 Sep 2025 · 27 min · 9 chapters
Did we find signs of life on Mars?Perseverance rover’s “leopard spot” rock in Jezero Crater may be a biosignature—organics plus minerals on Earth linked to microbes—while the episode explains how scientists search for ancient life on…22 Sep 2025 · 34 min · 12 chapters
The Vagina VoyagesA science-and-stories episode about vaginas and related pelvic organs, highlighting what researchers know, what they don’t, and how misinformation has shaped medical care and sexual pleasure.15 Sep 2025 · 40 min · 12 chapters
A rabbi and the Lorax walk into a bar...The episode is a conversation about how stories shape our understanding of the world, using Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax and a Talmud tale about Rabbi Eliezer (“It is not in heaven”) as frameworks.10 Sep 2025 · 22 min · 5 chapters
Is a little alcohol bad for you?Whether “moderate” alcohol is good or bad for health, and why research findings conflict; heavy drinking is clearly harmful, but the evidence for any benefit at low doses is weak and likely…8 Sep 2025 · 29 min · 15 chapters
Ice Sheet Time MachineCamp Century, a U.S. Army nuclear-powered research city carved into Greenland’s ice (late 1950s–1960s), and what its ice cores and lost sub-ice sediments reveal about past climate, Greenland’s ice…27 Aug 2025 · 32 min · 12 chapters
Animals in the year 20202025The episode “Animals in the year 20202025” (Unexplainable) explores evidence that many animals are shrinking as Earth warms.25 Aug 2025 · 27 min · 12 chapters
Nightmare at the end of the universeThe episode revisits the “big crunch” nightmare and explains how late-1990s observations instead implied an accelerating universe driven by “dark energy,” then introduces newer tensions (DESI)…18 Aug 2025 · 26 min · 7 chapters
Life in plastic — not fantastic?The podcast episode explores how ubiquitous plastics affect human health, what risks are known vs unknown, and practical ways to reduce exposure without trying to eliminate plastic entirely.13 Aug 2025 · 30 min · 10 chapters
When waves go rogueThe episode explains how “rogue waves” form and why they’re so hard to predict, focusing on the first recorded case (the 1995 Draupner wave) and ongoing research into wave energy buildup and…6 Aug 2025 · 28 min · 15 chapters
Good news for people who love bad newsWhy media overemphasizes bad news, and how to find/cover “good news” that unfolds over long periods; includes examples from crime, climate, politics, tech, and health.4 Aug 2025 · 28 min · 10 chapters
12 tiny worlds“12 tiny worlds” explores how predictable evolution is by describing the Long-Term Evolution Experiment (LTEE): 12 replicate E.30 Jul 2025 · 36 min · 13 chapters
How good was Michael Jordan, really?How reliable NBA “objective” stats are, using the question “How good was Michael Jordan, really?” as a lens on historical stat inflation and subjectivity.28 Jul 2025 · 46 min · 19 chapters
One weird trick to get unlimited clean energyThe episode visits Iceland’s Blue Lagoon to explain how geothermal power works and asks whether “super hot rock” geothermal could unlock near-unlimited, always-on clean energy.23 Jul 2025 · 24 min · 9 chapters
Who taught beavers to build dams?The episode challenges the idea that animal behaviors like beaver dam-building are “instincts” or genetically hard-wired, arguing that “instinct” is a shortcut that discourages developmental research.21 Jul 2025 · 29 min · 12 chapters
The disease we let winJohn Green discusses his nonfiction book Everything is Tuberculosis and explains why tuberculosis persists despite being curable, arguing that social, political, and cultural choices—not just…16 Jul 2025 · 32 min · 16 chapters
Science! Tell me what to eat!How nutrition advice became contradictory and why “diet secrets” (e.g., Blue Zones, eggs, red wine) often collapse under scrutiny; then how nutrition science evolved and what modern research is doing…14 Jul 2025 · 58 min · 19 chapters