More than 25 million adults in the U.S. have tinnitus, a condition that causes ringing or buzzing in the ears. An FDA approved device that stimulates the tongue, helped 84% of people who tried it.
Studies worldwide show that queer people tend to have more older brothers than other kinds of siblings. Justin Torres, a queer novelist and the youngest of three brothers, asks: Should it matter?
Kids have too much screen time and not enough autonomy, says author Jonathan Haidt. His book The Anxious Generation argues this has caused an epidemic of mental illness and suggests ways to fix it.
A nova of the T Coronae Borealis star system is expected to happen at some point through September, and will make it as bright as the North Star for several days.
We've all been there: You sit down for one episode of a reality TV show, and six hours later you're sitting guiltily on the couch, blinking the screen-induced crust off your eyeballs.
Okay. Maybe you haven't been there like our team has. But it's likely you have at least one guilty pleasure, whether it's playing video games, reading romance novels or getting swept into obscure corners of TikTok. It turns out that experiencing – and studying – pleasure is not as straightforward as it might seem. And yet, pleasure is quite literally key to the survival of humanity. So today on the show, we explore the pleasure cycle: What it is, where it lives in the brain and how to have a healthier relationship with the things that make us feel good.
Want more on the brain? Email us the neuroscience you want us to talk about at shortwave@npr.org! (Also please email us if you would like to gush about any of the books you've been loving — romantasy or otherwise!)
Pioneering disease investigator and beloved global health mentor Joel Breman died on April 6 at the age of 87. Breman was part of the team that investigated the first known Ebola outbreak in 1976.
Two sisters found they had different recollections of a traumatic childhood experience and learned that human memory is a lot less reliable than we tend to think.
Artificial wombs could someday save babies born very prematurely. Even though the experimental technology is still in animal tests, there are mounting questions about its eventual use with humans.
Wednesday the Environmental Protection Agency announced new drinking water standards to limit people's exposure to some PFAS chemicals. For decades, PFAS have been used to waterproof and stain-proof a variety of consumer products. These "forever chemicals" in a host of products — everything from raincoats and the Teflon of nonstick pans to makeup to furniture and firefighting foam. Because PFAS take a very long time to break down, they can accumulate in humans and the environment. Now, a growing body of research is linking them to human health problems like serious illness, some cancers, lower fertility and liver damage. Science correspondent Pien Huang joins the show today to talk through this new EPA rule — what the threshold for safe levels of PFAS in tap water is, why the rule is happening now and how the federal standards will be implemented.
Read more of Pien's reporting on the EPA's first ever rule on PFAS in drinking water.
Want to hear more about health and human safety? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might cover your question on a future episode!
Avian influenza is being detected in more dairy herds. Scientists are paying close attention to how the virus is changing and what that means for its pandemic potential.
It's National Siblings Day! To mark the occasion, guest host Selena Simmons-Duffin is exploring a detail very personal to her: How the number of older brothers a person has can influence their sexuality. Scientific research on sexuality has a dark history, with long-lasting harmful effects on queer communities. Much of the early research has also been debunked over time. But not this "fraternal birth order effect." The fact that a person's likelihood of being gay increases with each older brother has been found all over the world – from Turkey to North America, Brazil, the Netherlands and beyond. Today, Selena gets into all the details: What this effect is, how it's been studied and what it can (and can't) explain about sexuality.
Interested in reading more about the science surrounding some of our closest relatives? Check out more stories in NPR's series on The Science of Siblings.
Claudia Evart, a woman who lost both her sister and her brother in separate accidents, created the day to honor the special relationships between siblings. It is on April 10 every year.
The group found high levels of sodium and the presence of heavy metals in meal kits it tested. A Kraft Heinz spokesperson said all of its products meet strict safety standards.
When siblings share a womb, sex hormones from a male fetus can cause lasting changes in a female littermate. This effect exists for all kinds of mammals — perhaps humans too.