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Regina G. Barber Regina G. Barber is a co-host of Short Wave.
Regina Barber, photographed for NPR, 6 June 2022, in Washington DC. Photo by Farrah Skeiky for NPR.
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Regina G. Barber

Tuesday

The invisible substance that structures our universe

A simulation of the formation of dark matter structures from the early universe until today. Ralf Kaehler/NASA/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, American Museum of Natural History hide caption

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Ralf Kaehler/NASA/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, American Museum of Natural History

Short Wave

The invisible substance that structures our universe

The universe is so much bigger than what people can see. Visible matter — the ground, the Sun, the screen you're reading this on — makes up only about 4 or 5 percent of our known universe. Dark matter makes up much more of the universe. It's all around us even though we can't see it. So what is it? What's it made out of? How do we even know it exists? Host Emily Kwong and Rebecca Ramirez try to find out with the help of astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan.

The invisible substance that structures our universe

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Monday

Sharks often get a bad rap, but oceans need them

A blue shark captured from below off the coast of New Zealand. Cultura RM Exclusive/Richard Robinson/Getty Images hide caption

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Cultura RM Exclusive/Richard Robinson/Getty Images

Short Wave

Sharks often get a bad rap, but oceans need them

It's that time of the year again: Shark Week. The TV program is so long-running that if you're under 37, you've never known a life without it. In honor of this oft misunderstood critter, we revisit our conversation with shark scientist Melissa Christina Marquez. She explains just how important sharks are to keeping the oceans healthy, including their role in mitigating climate change. Plus, there may be some talk about shark poop.

Sharks often get a bad rap, but oceans need them

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Tuesday

Could 3 Body Problem's aliens exist? The science behind Netflix's new hit

Discovered in 2016, a roughly Earth-sized planet orbiting our nearest neighboring star might be habitable. This artist's impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system. ESO/M. Kornmesser hide caption

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ESO/M. Kornmesser

Short Wave

Could 3 Body Problem's aliens exist? The science behind Netflix's new hit

Before the '3 Body Problem' became a bestselling book and a smash TV show ... it was a physics concept, with big implications for how we understand planetary orbits. In this episode, we learn about the science behind the screen. Plus, why it's plausible a nearby, mysterious planet could hold life.

Could 3 Body Problem's aliens exist? The science behind Netflix's new hit

Listen · 14:29
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Friday

Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species

Reconstruction of a Lokiceratops rangiformis being surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps that would have existed in what is now northern Montana. Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution hide caption

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Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution

Short Wave

Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species

A brand new species of ceratops, or horned dinosaur, was recently discovered in northern Montana. The dinosaur is called Lokiceratops rangiformis, after the Norse god Loki, and is believed to have lived roughly eighty million years ago. The bones of the plant-eating dinosaur were found on private land in an area well known for its large amount of fossils, and at first, researchers thought the bones belonged to another species of dinosaur!

Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species

Listen · 9:14
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Tuesday

Some stars explode as they die. We look at their life cycle

A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center hide caption

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NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Short Wave

Some stars explode as they die. We look at their life cycle

This summer, scientists have their eyes and telescopes trained on the small constellation system T Coronae Borealis. They think it will explode as part of a periodic nova — a once-in-a-lifetime event according to NASA scientists. And so, with the help of astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance, we continue our journey farther and deeper into spacetime with a look at the stars: How they're born and how they die. Sarafina has always been drawn to one particular star: Betelgeuse, a red supergiant in the shoulder of the constellation Orion that is nearing the end of its life. What stages of life did Betelgeuse — or any star — go through before it reached this moment?

Some stars explode as they die. We look at their life cycle

Listen · 14:41
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Monday

Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"

Ferris Jabr's book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life examines the ways life and Earth have shaped each other. Lucas Heinrich/Random House hide caption

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Lucas Heinrich/Random House

Short Wave

Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"

About ten years ago, science writer Ferris Jabr started contemplating Earth as a living planet rather than a planet with life on it. It began when he learned that the Amazon rainforest doesn't simply receive the rain that defines it; rather, it helps generate that rain. The Amazon does that by launching bits of biological confetti into the atmosphere that, in turn, seed clouds. After learning this, he began looking for other ways life changes its environment. That led to his new book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life. He talks to host Regina G. Barber about examples of life transforming the planet — from changing the color of the sky to altering the weather.

Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"

Listen · 14:02
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Saturday

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera.

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto that is inserted beneath the Short Wave logo. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI hide caption

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NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Short Wave: Space Camp

Pluto isn’t a planet — but it gives us clues for how the solar system formed

Though Pluto has formally been considered a dwarf planet for almost two decades, it still has many lessons left for planetary scientists — including hints about how the solar system formed.

Pluto isn't a planet — but it gives us clues on how the solar system formed

Wednesday

What 'Inside Out 2' got right about anxiety, per a psychologist

Pixar's new movie Inside Out 2 revisits the internal life of Riley, as she hits puberty and copes with a growing range of emotions. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

Short Wave

What 'Inside Out 2' got right about anxiety, per a psychologist

Pixar's new movie, Inside Out 2 came out Friday. It's the sequel to the 2015 movie Inside Out, which follows the life of 11-year-old Riley and her family as they move to San Francisco. In Inside Out 2, Riley is 13 and thriving in her new city. She has friends and is a star on her hockey team. But when puberty hits one night, four new emotions come into play: Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment and most of all, Anxiety.

What 'Inside Out 2' got right about anxiety, per a psychologist

Listen · 14:05
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Tuesday

Pluto isn't a planet — but it gives us clues on how the solar system formed

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto on July 14, 2015. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI hide caption

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NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Short Wave

Pluto isn't a planet — but it gives us clues on how the solar system formed

Pluto hasn't been a planet for almost 20 years. In the early 2000s, scientists discovered several objects of a similar size to Pluto. So, during the summer of 2006, members of the International Astronomical Union convened in Prague to reconsider what counts as a planet in our solar system. IAU members decided that there were three criteria to be a planet — and Pluto didn't meet all of them.

Pluto isn't a planet — but it gives us clues on how the solar system formed

Listen · 14:23
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Saturday

Inheriting: Leah & Japanese American Incarceration
Christina Chung/LAist

Short Wave

Inheriting: Leah & Japanese American Incarceration

Hey, Short Wavers! Today, we're sharing a portion of Inheriting, an 8-part limited series hosted by Emily Kwong about Asian American and Pacific Islander family history. In this excerpt, we follow the story of Leah Bash.

Inheriting: Leah & Japanese American Incarceration

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Friday

Why you shouldn't worry about invasive Joro spiders

Joro spider sits in the middle of a spider web. GummyBone/Getty Images hide caption

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GummyBone/Getty Images

Short Wave

Why you shouldn't worry about invasive Joro spiders

Joro spiders are spreading across the east coast. They are an invasive species that most likely arrived in shipping containers from eastern Asia. Today, we look into why some people find them scary, why to not panic about them and what their trajectory illustrates about the wider issue of invasive species.

Why you shouldn't worry about invasive Joro spiders

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'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

Amy Poehler as Joy and Maya Hawke as Anxiety in a scene from Inside Out 2. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

Pixar's Inside Out introduced us to the core emotions inside an 11-year-old girl named Riley. We met Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and Anger (Lewis Black). In Inside Out 2, Riley is experiencing puberty and a whole new crop of emotions have popped up. Most notably Anxiety (Maya Hawke) who has literally bottled up Riley's original core emotions and sent them hurtling into the back of her mind, where they plot to get back and set things right.

'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

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Wednesday

How the current heat dome can affect human health

A heat dome that began in Mexico in May moved into the U.S. in early June causing sweltering temperatures. Michala Garrison/NASA Earth Observatory hide caption

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Michala Garrison/NASA Earth Observatory

Short Wave

How the current heat dome can affect human health

Right now, there's a "heat dome" lingering over the southwestern U.S. – a high pressure system that pushes hot air down and traps it, raising the temperature. Heat is becoming increasingly lethal as climate change causes more extreme heat. So in today's encore episode, we're exploring heat. NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer talks with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about how the human body copes with extended extreme heat and how today's heat warning systems could better protect the public. With scientists predicting a very hot summer, if you can, stay cool out there, dear Short Wavers.

How the current heat dome can affect human health

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Tuesday

Astronaut Wendy B. Lawrence was aboard the the Space Shuttle Endeavour for the STS-67/ASTRO-2 mission when it launched March 2nd, 1995.

Astronaut Wendy B. Lawrence was aboard the the Space Shuttle Endeavour for the STS-67/ASTRO-2 mission when it launched March 2nd, 1995. NASA hide caption

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NASA

Short Wave: Space Camp

From the physics of g-force to weightlessness: How it feels to launch into space

We kickoff our series Space Camp with a look at space launches. What does hurtling into space feel like? What physics are involved? And what's the "junk" in Earth's orbit?

From the physics of g-force to weightlessness: How it feels to launch into space

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From the physics of g-force to weightlessness: How it feels to launch into space

Astronaut Wendy B. Lawrence was aboard the the Space Shuttle Endeavour for the STS-67/ASTRO-2 mission when it launched March 2nd, 1995. NASA hide caption

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NASA

Short Wave

From the physics of g-force to weightlessness: How it feels to launch into space

It feels like this is the summer of space launches. So, it's only appropriate that we kick off our new series Space Camp with a look at space launches. Throughout the series, Regina and Emily will plumb our universe to uncover the strange, wonderful things happening all around us. This episode, that entails answering a series of questions about getting to space: What does hurtling into space feel like? What physics are involved? And what's the "junk" in Earth's orbit?

From the physics of g-force to weightlessness: How it feels to launch into space

Listen · 14:07
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