The psychology behind why you dread small talk ^0%

NPR - By Emily Kwong, Regina G. Barber, Ailsa Chang, Rachel Carlson, Jeffrey Pierre - 4/17/2026, 7:00 AM

Appeal to Authority 23.9% - Attempt to Sell a Product or Service 15.9% - Indoctrination 13.3%

Do you avoid small talk with that co-worker near the water cooler or that neighbor in the elevator? Well, if so, you might want to think again. According to a study just published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, even when participants were primed that a conversation would be boring, they ultimately found it more... more

Scientists have been studying the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e. Could it harbor alien life? ^66.2%

NPR - By Regina G. Barber, Emily Kwong, Ailsa Chang, Rachel Carlson, Jordan-Marie Smith - 12/12/2025, 8:00 AM

Want to be a top notch candidate for hosting alien life? Then there's a few key requirements you should be aware of: Ideally, you're a large object like a moon or a planet; scientists suspect you also have an atmosphere and water; plus, you should orbit your star from a nice mid-range distance — in the "Goldilocks Zone" of habitability.... more

Fermentation is behind a lot of the food you eat ^0%

NPR - By Hannah Chinn, Regina G. Barber, Rebecca Ramirez - 11/11/2024, 8:00 AM

Ambiguity (Equivocation) 16.5% - Appeal to Authority 11.1% - Availability Heuristic 10.8%

What did you have for breakfast today? Whether it was buttered toast, yogurt and granola, or even just a cup of coffee... David Zilber says that odds are, at least part of it was fermented. He should know. After all, as a chef and former director of the Fermentation Lab at Noma, that's his specialty. more

A microbiologist explains why we age and die ^13.7%

NPR - By Regina G. Barber, Jessica Yung, Emily Kwong, Rebecca Ramirez - 10/29/2024, 7:00 AM

Attempt to Sell a Product or Service 23.2% - Appeal to Authority 22% - Loss Aversion 13.1%

Humans have seen a significant increase in life expectancy over the past 200 years — but not in overall lifespan. Nobody on record has lived past 122 years. So, for this early Halloween episode, host Regina G. Barber asks: Why do we age and why do we die? Microbiologist Venki Ramakrishnan explains some of the mechanisms inside of our... more

The Queen of Nuclear Physics (Part One): Chien-Shiung Wu's Discovery ^58.9%

NPR - By Emily Kwong, Regina G. Barber, Berly McCoy - 5/20/2022, 4:10 AM

Framing Effect 53.8% - In-Group Bias 42.9% - Indoctrination 42.9%

In the 1950's, a particle physicist made a landmark discovery that changed what was known about how the universe operates. Chien-Shiung Wu did it while raising a family and an ocean away from her relatives in China. Short Wave's Scientist-In-Residence Regina Barber joins host Emily Kwong to talk about that landmark discovery—what it... more