Short Wave

Berkeley Limketkai, a gastroenterologist who specializes in digestive health, breaks down the science of dietary fiber. He discusses why Americans eat too little, how different fiber types act in the gut, safe ways to raise intake, and pitfalls of added-fiber fads. Expect practical guidance on increasing fiber gradually and tailoring amounts to individual tolerance.

Jack Brand, an aquatic ecologist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences who studies how human drugs in waterways affect fish behavior. He describes surgically exposing salmon to cocaine and its metabolite, finding the breakdown product had surprising potency. The team tracked altered movement and energy use, pondered long-term and cocktail effects, and discussed advanced wastewater fixes.

Mel Mann, a CML survivor who joined clinical trials and took Gleevec, shares his personal journey. Sydney Lupkin, an NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent, traces the drug’s discovery, rapid approval, and lasting legacy. They explore targeted therapy’s origins, dramatic patient responses, and how one pill reshaped cancer treatment.

Emily Abdoler, an infectious disease physician at the University of Michigan, explains how hantavirus spreads from rodents and what makes certain strains more dangerous. She discusses cleaning precautions, the potential for person-to-person transmission with the Andes strain, and how investigations and contact tracing proceed. Short, urgent science about risk and response.

Jon Hamilton, NPR’s brain correspondent, explores how psychedelics moved from Nixon-era prohibition to serious medical research. He looks at the institutions that reignited the field. He gets into brain scans, ketamine’s role in opening psychiatry’s door, and why set and setting became central to treatment.

Dr. David Perez, a neurologist and psychiatrist at Mass General and Harvard, unpacks functional neurological disorder through one patient’s long search for answers. They explore why it is so often mistaken for anxiety, how outdated ideas in medicine shaped that confusion, and how new diagnostic signs and brain retraining approaches are changing care.

Ari Daniel, a science reporter covering biology and the natural world, shares three wild fish tales. A clownfish in the western Pacific loses stripes while growing up. In Congo, a chunky fish climbs a 50-foot rock wall. At Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, a tiny warty frogfish is raised through delicate early life stages.

Sasha Pfeiffer, an NPR journalist and correspondent, joins a lively science roundup on coffee, dreams, and scorpions. They dig into why coffee flavor is so hard to measure and how a battery-testing tool might help. They also explore what shapes vivid dreams and why scorpion claws and stingers are built with different metals.

Nell Greenfieldboyce, an NPR science correspondent, joins Scott Detrow, an NPR journalist and All Things Considered anchor, for a lively space chat. They dig into what NASA still needs before astronauts can return to the moon, why 2028 is only a tentative target, how a solar eclipse made cities seismically quieter, and what a strange interstellar comet reveals about where it formed.

A listener faces a tough green dilemma: install solar panels or keep a beloved cedar tree. The conversation explores why shade trees can still be climate allies, what a site assessment can reveal, how to weigh long-term solar costs, and why community solar could be a clever backup plan.