Unexplainable

Dark energy is the strange stuff that makes up the vast majority of the universe and will ultimately lead to the end of everything. Unless it doesn't exist at all. Guests: Adam Riess [https://physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/directory/adam-riess/], astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, and Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille [https://we-are-berkeley-lab.lbl.gov/driving-research/nathalie-palanque-delabrouille], director of the Physics Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and member of The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts] ⁠ [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠ [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠ [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]⁠vox.com/members [http://vox.com/members] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Much of our modern world is made of plastic, but as more signs point to its dangers to human health, what can we even do about it? Guest: Annie Lowrey, Atlantic writer and author of I fought plastic. Plastic won [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/08/microplastics-exposure-health-risks/683249/]. For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]vox.com/unxtranscripts [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]vox.com/unexplainable [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]vox.com/members [http://vox.com/members] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Towering walls of water sometimes appear in the ocean without warning or apparent cause. What drives their terrifying power? (First published in 2023) Guest: Ton van der Bremer [https://www.tudelft.nl/en/staff/t.s.vandenbremer/], associate professor of environmental fluid mechanics. For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]vox.com/unxtranscripts [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]vox.com/unexplainable [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]vox.com/members [http://vox.com/members] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

Good news can be hard to find, especially when our brains — and the media — are biased against it. Guest: Bryan Walsh [https://www.vox.com/authors/bryan-walsh], senior editorial director of Vox, and author of the Good News newsletter [https://www.vox.com/pages/good-news-newsletter-signup] This episode was made in partnership with Vox’s Future Perfect [https://www.vox.com/future-perfect] team. For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG]vox.com/unxtranscripts [http://vox.com/unxtranscripts]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]vox.com/unexplainable [http://vox.com/unexplainable]⁠ [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com [unexplainable@vox.com]⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership]vox.com/members [http://vox.com/members] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

If you went back 500 million years and re-ran evolution, would life be totally different today? Guests: Richard Lenski [https://lenski.mmg.msu.edu/] and Zachary Blount [https://www.blount-lab.org/], evolutionary biologists at Michigan State University For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bMXuLuyy3zTLCnblKVWUBq4Gd84PY8sG] For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable [https://www.vox.com/unexplainable]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠ We read every email. Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.vox.com/support-membership] Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]