Unexplainable

Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. And its discovery has made scientists ask a surprising question: What is the mind’s eye even for? (First published in 2022.)Guests: Alice Coles, artist; Adam Zeman, cognitive neurologist at the University of Exeter Medical School; Joel Pearson, professor of neuroscience at the University of New South Wales; Emily Holmes, professor of...

Scavengers Reign, the Emmy-winning Netflix show, has done something most sci-fi shows or movies struggle to do. Build a world that feels truly alien. Guests: ⁠⁠Joe Bennett⁠⁠, co-creator of Scavengers Reign, and ⁠⁠Sean Buckelew⁠⁠, writer on Scavengers ReignFor show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And please email us!...

The magma chambers at the heart of volcanoes are very deep and very hot. So naturally, some researchers want to build an observatory in one.Guests: Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory; Yan Lavallée, chair of magmatic petrology and volcanology at LMU München and scientific and technical board member of the Krafla Magma Testbed; John Eichelberger, volcanologist...

Rumors of Neanderthal brutishness have been greatly exaggerated.Guest: Paige Madison, science writerFor show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠For more, go to ⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠And please email us! ⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠We read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠vox.com/membersLearn more about your ad choices. Visit...

What happens when you get a life-changing device implanted into your body... and then the company that maintains it goes bankrupt?Guests: Jennifer French, Executive Director and Founder of ⁠Neurotech Network⁠, a nonprofit focused on education and advocacy for neurotechnology, and ⁠Liam Drew⁠, freelance science journalist who reported on abandoned neurotech for ⁠Nature⁠For show transcripts, go to...

Tens of thousands of lives could be saved each year if hospitals had more blood. So scientists are racing to understand how this living fluid does what it does in order to one day grow it from scratch.Guest: Nicola Twilley, New Yorker contributor and host of Gastropod. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to vox.com/unexplainableAnd please email us!...

We know life on Earth wouldn't be possible without the moon. Now scientists are finding the moon might even be influencing our biology on a molecular level.Guest: Rebecca Boyle, science journalist and author of Our Moon: How Earth's celestial companion transformed the planet, guided evolution, and made us who we areFor show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to...

Listeners told us that eating baby carrots or telling lies can bring on the hiccups. Burping or kissing can make them stop. Um, what? (First published in 2023.)Guests: Tyler Cymet, chair of medicine at The Chicago School, and Ali Seifi, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center San AntonioFor show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor more, go to...

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Deep inside the mud at the bottom of the ocean, scientists have found life that is so unusual they’ve had to create new branches on the tree of life to put it on. These life forms are not extraterrestrials: They’re “aliens” from Earth.Guest: Karen Lloyd, microbiologist and author of Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on EarthFor show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscriptsFor...