Ouch! Ah! Aïe! The words we use when we stub our toe or receive a pinch may point to a common way to express pain across languages. Associate news editor Allison Parshall explores what linguistic commonalities in expressions of pain and joy might mean for our shared biology. Plus, Parshall and host Rachel Feltman chat about onomatopoeias, the “bouba-kiki” ef ... Show More
Nov 5
Could ultrasound interrupt the brain’s addiction loop? [Sponsored]
Addiction hijacks the brain’s reward circuitry, and current treatments often struggle to break its grip. In this episode, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon Ali Rezai of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute explains how an experimental, noninvasive focused-ultrasound treatment ... Show More
15m 51s
Nov 4
From tofu to biodiesel: How soybeans dominate America
In this episode of Science Quickly, Rachel Feltman speaks with environmental historian Edward Melillo about the tiny soybean, which has come to dominate America’s diet. When you think of soy, you may only picture a block of yummy tofu or soy milk, but this crop has quietly made i ... Show More
15m 42s
Mar 2022
Why Pain Hurts So Good, Growing Mutant Gardens, Emo Teen Puppies
Leigh Cowart, science reporter and author of Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose, joins Weirdest Thing for the season finale! The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Faceboo ... Show More
52m 53s
Jul 2021
Routine Checkup: The Science Of Pain
Pain researchers have a joke that when someone is asked to rate their pain from 1 to 10, the most common response is 11. Dr. Jeffrey Mogil, a neuroscientist and pain researcher interested in how genetics, social factors and sex differences affect pain, believes this joke to be ba ... Show More
47m 9s
Jul 2022
Spice, Spice, Baby! Why Some Of Us Enjoy The Pain Of Spicy Foods
Today, we talk about spicy food and its intersection with pleasure and pain as part of our "Taste Buddies" series — Short Wave's ode to "taste." In this episode, Host Emily Kwong talks to food reporter Ruth Tam and researchers Julie Yu and Nadia Byrnes about the science behind ou ... Show More
14m 15s