Short Wave
1,140 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 13 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 5.7K ratingsNew discoveries, everyday mysteries, and the science behind the headlines — in just under 15 minutes. It's science for everyone, using a lot of creativity and a little humor. Join hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber for science on a different wavelength.
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Episodes
Measuring Health Risks After A Chemical Spill
February 27, 2023 05:10 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBThis week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public hearing about its remediation plan for cleaning up chemicals in and around East Palestine, Ohio. It follows the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals like vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate near the town earlier this month. Residents were temporarily evacuated from the area two days later to allow for a controlled burn of the chemicals. EPA health officials have been monitoring the air and wat...
Ancient Seeds: A Possible Key To Climate Adaptation
February 24, 2023 05:10 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBIn the Bekaa Valley region of Lebanon, there is a giant walk-in fridge housing tens of thousands of seeds. They belong to the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Scientists from around the world use the seeds for research. ICARDA seeds have improved food security in several countries. They've transformed Ethiopian agriculture to use more drought-resistant crops. A new chickpea can be planted in winter. And now, NPR's Middle East correspondent Ruth Sherloc...
Seriously...what IS life?
February 23, 2023 05:10 - 10 minutes - 10 MBIn this Back To School episode we consider the "List of Life": the criteria that define what it is to be a living thing. Some are easy calls: A kitten is alive. A grain of salt is not. But what about the tricky cases, like a virus? Or, more importantly, what about futuristic android robots? As part of our Black History Month celebration, developmental biologist Crystal Rogers and scientist-in-residence Regina G. Barber dig into what makes something alive, and wade into a Star-Trek-themed deba...
Understanding Earthquake Aftershocks
February 22, 2023 05:10 - 10 minutes - 9.42 MBMonday another earthquake struck southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border. This time, the quake registered as a magnitude 6.3 — an order lower than the initial, devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the magnitude 7.5 aftershock that struck the area two weeks ago on Feb. 6. A magnitude 6.3 is still considered strong, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). And as NPR previously reported, some locals were inside buildings trying to recover belongings lost in the initial q...
The Fungal Science Behind HBO's 'The Last of Us'
February 21, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBThe video game series that spawned the new hit HBO drama, The Last of Us, is the zombie genre with a twist. Instead of the standard viral pandemic or bacterial disease that's pushed humanity to the brink, but a fungus that has evolved to survive in human bodies in part due to climate change. Short Wave's Aaron Scott talks with fungal researcher Asyia Gusa about the science that inspired The Last of Us and the real threats fungal researchers see in the ever-warming world. Learn more about s...
Life Kit: Help Save The North American Bird Population
February 20, 2023 05:10 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MBMany of us are off today for President's Day. In the meantime, we want to share this episode from our friends at NPR's Life Kit podcast. In it, they discuss the importance of birds as an "indicator species" – their health helps us understand the health of our environment. Plus, they collect expert tips on how we can help birds survive, and thrive. For more of Audrey's reporting, check out "North American birds are in decline. Here are 8 simple ways you can help." Learn more about sponsor m...
News Round Up: Chocolate, A Solar Valentine And Fly Pheromones
February 17, 2023 05:10 - 12 minutes - 11 MBAfter reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Is chocolate really that good for your health? How do solar flares affect life on earth? And what's the big deal about scientists identifying the chemical motivation for tsetse fly sex? Luckily, it's the job of Short Wave co-hosts Emily Kwong and Aaron Scott and Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber to decipher the science behind the headlines. Hang out with us as we dish on some of the coolest science stories in thi...
The Science Fueling Disney's 'Strange World'
February 16, 2023 05:10 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBIn Disney's new animated feature 'Strange World,' a band of multigenerational explorers journeys to the center of their fantastical homeland. Along the way, they fend off, make friends with, and unearth secrets about the curious creatures who call this place home. There's the filterlopes, six-legged deer-forms with fan-like antennae. Or scouts, squishy blue balls with 12 elastic limbs. But as fantastical as these creatures sound, each one is grounded in the physics and biology of its real-wor...
Congrats! It's A Tomato
February 15, 2023 05:10 - 10 minutes - 9.2 MBA few years ago, a team of scientists set out on a field expedition in the rugged, dry Northern Territory of Australia. There, they found a plant that was both strange and familiar hiding in plain sight. After careful research during the pandemic, the newly described tomato recently made its debut in PhytoKeys, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal. Today, Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to lead author Tanisha Williams about the plant's journey from the side of a trail...
Mix Up LOVE, And You Get V-O-L-E
February 14, 2023 05:30 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBYou may have heard of the "love hormone," or oxytocin. But you may not know that scientists have relied on cuddly rodents like the prairie vole to help us understand how this protein works in our brains. Voles are stocky, mouse-like little mammals that range over most of North America. One species in particular, the prairie vole, is known for its fidelity: Prairie voles pair-bond and mate for life. And so, for years, scientists have known that oxytocin is important in facilitating the feel...
Meet One Engineer Fixing A Racially Biased Medical Device
February 13, 2023 05:30 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, one measurement became more important than almost any other: blood oxygen saturation. It was the one concrete number that doctors could use to judge how severe a case of COVID-19 was and know whether to admit people into the hospital and provide them with supplemental oxygen. But pulse oximeters, the device most commonly used to measure blood oxygen levels, don't work as well for patients of color. Kimani Toussaint, a physicist at Brown University, is leading a g...
Lightning Protection: Lasers, Rockets or Rods?
February 10, 2023 05:10 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBEvery year, lightning is estimated to cause up to 24,000 deaths globally. It starts forest fires, burns buildings and crops, and causes disruptive power outages. The best, most practical technology available to deflect lightning is the simple lightning rod, created by Benjamin Franklin more than 250 years ago. But lightning rods protect only a very limited area proportional to their height. So today's show, why a group of European researchers are hoping the 21 century upgrade is a high-powere...
The Social Cost of Carbon Is An Ethics Nightmare
February 09, 2023 05:10 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBOne of the most important tools the federal government has for cracking down on greenhouse gas emissions is a single number: the social cost of carbon. It represents all the damage from carbon emissions — everything from the cost of lost crops and flooded homes to the lost wages when people can't safely work outside and the cost of climate-related deaths. Currently, the cost is $51 per ton of carbon, but the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed raising the cost to $190. NPR climate ...
Why Can't We Predict Earthquakes?
February 08, 2023 05:15 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBIn the wake of the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria, many scientists have been saying this area was "overdue" for a major quake. But no one knew just when: No scientist has "ever predicted a major earthquake," the U.S. Geological Survey says. Even the most promising earthquake models can only offer seconds of warning. In this episode, host Emily Kwong talks to geologist Wendy Bohon and NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel about why earthquake prediction can be so difficult, and the ...
Why Can't We Predict Earthquakes?
February 08, 2023 05:15 - 12 minutes - 11.3 MBIn the wake of the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria, many scientists have been saying this area was "overdue" for a major quake. But no one knew just when: No scientist has "ever predicted a major earthquake," the U.S. Geological Survey says. Even the most promising earthquake models can only offer seconds of warning. In this episode, host Emily Kwong talks to geologist Wendy Bohon and NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel about why earthquake prediction can be so difficult, and the ...
Who Gets The First Peek At The Secrets Of The Universe?
February 07, 2023 14:49 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBThe James Webb Space Telescope is by far the most powerful space-based telescope ever deployed by the United States. But it is only one instrument, and scientists all over the world have to share. The JWST's managers received more than 1,600 research proposals for what the telescope should look at. When an astronomer or a team does get some much-coveted telescope time, they currently get exclusive access to whatever data they collect for a full year. But there is a movement in astronomy to ...
Can You See What I See?
February 06, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBEveryone sees the world differently. Exactly which colors you see and which of your eyes is doing more work than the other as you read this text is different for everyone. Also different? Our blind spots – both physical and social. As we continue celebrating Black History Month, today we're featuring Exploratorium Staff Physicist Educator Desiré Whitmore. She shines a light on human eyesight – how it affects perception and how understanding another person's view of the world can offer us a fu...
A Dirty Snowball, Cancer-Sniffing Ants And A Stressed Out Moon
February 03, 2023 05:30 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBA green comet, cancer-sniffing ants, stealthy moons ... hang out with us as we dish on some of the coolest science stories in the news! Today, Short Wave co-hosts Emily Kwong and Aaron Scott are joined by editor Gabriel Spitzer. Together, they round up headlines in this first installment of what will be regular newsy get-togethers in your feed. Have suggestions for what we should cover in our next news roundup? Email us at [email protected]. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcas...
A Fatal Virus With Pandemic Potential
February 02, 2023 05:30 - 11 minutes - 10.8 MBThe Nipah virus is on the World Health Organization's short list of diseases that have pandemic potential and therefore pose the greatest public health risk. With a fatality rate at about 70%, it is one of the most deadly respiratory diseases health officials have ever seen. But as regular outbreaks began in the early 2000s in Bangladesh, researchers were left scratching their heads. Initially, the cause of the outbreaks was unknown to them. But once they identified the virus, a second, urgen...
The Ancient Night Sky And The Earliest Astronomers
February 01, 2023 05:10 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBMoiya McTier says the night sky has been fueling humans' stories about the universe for a very long time, and informing how they explain the natural world. In fact, Moiya sees astronomy and folklore as two sides of the same coin. "To me, science is any rigorous attempt at understanding and explaining the world around you," she explained to Short Wave's Aaron Scott. "You can see that they knew enough about the world around them to predict eclipses, to predict annual floods in Egypt, for exam...
Can you teach a computer common sense?
January 31, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBOver the past decade, AI has moved right into our houses - onto our phones and smart speakers - and grown in sophistication. But many AI systems lack something we humans take for granted: common sense. In this episode Emily talks to MacArthur Fellowship-winner Yejin Choi, one of the leading thinkers on natural language processing, about how she's teaching machines to make inferences about the real world. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Gas Stoves: Sorting Fact From Fiction
January 30, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12 MBGas stoves are found in around 40% of homes in the United States, and they've been getting a lot of attention lately. A recent interview with Richard Trumka, the commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), quickly became fodder for outrage, viral disinformation and political fundraising after he proposed regulating the appliance. The proposal stems from a growing body of research suggesting gas stoves are unhealthy — especially for those with asthma, chronic obstructiv...
Meet The Bony-Eared Assfish And Its Deep Sea Friends
January 27, 2023 05:30 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBYi-Kai Tea, a biodiversity research fellow at the Australian Museum in Sydney, has amassed a social media following as @KaiTheFishGuy for his sassy writing and gorgeous photos of fish and other wildlife. Kai recently returned from an expedition aboard an Australian research ship to explore the deep seas surrounding a new marine park in the Indian Ocean. Led by the Museums Victoria Research Institute, dozens of scientists aboard mapped the ocean floor and, using nets dropped to as deep as si...
6 Doctors Swallow Lego Heads ... What Comes Out?
January 26, 2023 05:30 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBAs an emergency physician at Western Health, in Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Andy Tagg says he meets a lot of anxious parents whose children have swallowed Lego pieces. Much like Andy so many years ago, the vast majority of kids simply pass the object through their stool within a day or so. But Andy and five other pediatricians wondered, is there a way to give parents extra reassurance ... through science? So the doctors devised an experiment. "Each of them swallowed a Lego head," says science...
The Math And Science Powering 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'
January 25, 2023 05:10 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBFilm directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively: Daniels) reimagined the multiverse movie in their breakout film Everything Everywhere All At Once. Tuesday, the film received 11 Oscar nominations for the 95th Academy Awards, including best picture and best director. This episode, the Daniels share how science played a starring role. Curious about the science behind other pop culture? Email us at [email protected]. We might give it 15 minutes of Short Wave fame in an upcoming e...
Our Perception Of Time Shapes The Way We Think About Climate Change
January 24, 2023 05:10 - 10 minutes - 9.42 MBMost people are focused on the present: today, tomorrow, maybe next year. Fixing your flat tire is more pressing than figuring out if you should buy an electric car. Living by the beach is a lot more fun than figuring out when your house might be flooded by rising sea levels. That basic human relationship with time makes climate change a tricky problem. Host Emily Kwong talks to climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher about how our obsession with the present can be harnessed to tackle our big...
Fossil CSI: Cracking The Case Of An Ancient Reptile Graveyard
January 23, 2023 05:30 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBThis mystery begins in 1952, in the Nevada desert, when a self-taught geologist came across the skeleton of a massive creature that looked like a cross between a whale and a crocodile. It turned out to be just the beginning. Ichthyosaurs were bus-sized marine reptiles that lived during the age of dinosaurs, when this area of Nevada was underwater. Yet paleontologists found few other animals here, which raised the questions: Why were there so many adult ichthyosaurs, and almost nothing else?...
New Tech Targets Epilepsy With Lasers, Robots
January 20, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBAbout three million people in the United States have epilepsy, including about a million who can't rely on medication to control their seizures. For years, those patients had very limited options. But now, in 2023, advancements in diagnosing and treating epilepsy are showing great promise for many patients, even those who had been told there was nothing that could be done. Using precise lasers, microelectronic arrays and robot surgeons, doctors and researchers have begun to think differently ...
What Cities Should Learn From California's Flooding
January 19, 2023 05:10 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBWinter storms have flooded parts of California, broken levees and forced thousands to evacuate. Climate change is altering the historic weather patterns that infrastructure like reservoirs and waterways were built to accommodate. Urban planners and engineers are rethinking underlying assumptions baked into buildings and water systems in order to adapt to the changing climate. Today, NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer walks us through three innovations happening around the country to help...
Time Is So Much Weirder Than It Seems
January 18, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBTime is a concept so central to our daily lives. Yet, the closer scientists look at it, the more it seems to fall apart. Time ticks by differently at sea level than it does on a mountaintop. The universe's expansion slows time's passage. "And some scientists think time might not even be 'real' — or at least not fundamental," says NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel. Geoff joined Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber to bend our brains with his learnings about the true nature...
A Course Correction In Managing Drying Rivers
January 17, 2023 05:10 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBHistoric drought in the west and water diversion for human use are causing stretches of the Colorado and Mississippi rivers to run dry. "The American West is going to have to need to learn how to do more with less," says Laurence Smith, a river surveyor and environmental studies professor at Brown University. He recently dropped in for a chat with Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong about how scientists are turning a new page on managing two of The United States's central waterways, the Colorado a...
How You Can Support Scientific Research
January 16, 2023 05:15 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBWe're off today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the meantime, we want to share this episode from our friends at NPR's Life Kit podcast about how to become a community scientist — and better scientific research. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Things Could Be Better
January 13, 2023 05:10 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBAre humans ever satisfied? Two social psychologists, Ethan Ludwin-Peery and Adam Mastroianni, fell down a research rabbit hole accidentally answering a version of this very question. After conducting several studies, the pair found that when asked how things could be different, people tend to give one kind of answer, regardless of how the question is asked or how good life felt when they were asked. Short Wave's Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber digs into the research—and how it might r...
Behold! The Mysterious Ice Worm
January 12, 2023 05:10 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBInside the mountaintop glaciers of the Pacific Northwest lives a mysterious, and often, overlooked creature. They're small, black, thread-like worms that wiggle through snow and ice. That's right, ice worms! Little is known about them. But one thing scientists are sure of? They can't really handle freezing temperatures. In this episode, NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce talks to Emily about how ice worms survive in an extreme environment and why scientists don't understand some o...
How Glaciers Move
January 11, 2023 05:30 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBThere's always a moment of intense isolation when Jessica Mejía gets dropped off on the Greenland ice sheet for a multi-week research stint. "You know you're very much alone," said Jessica, a postdoctoral researcher in glaciology at the University of Buffalo. Glaciers such as those that cover Greenland are melting due to climate change, causing sea levels to rise. That we know. But these glaciers are also moving. What we don't know is just how these two processes – melting and movement – inte...
Zircon: The Keeper Of Earth's Time
January 10, 2023 05:30 - 11 minutes - 11 MBThe mineral zircon is the oldest known piece of Earth existing on the surface today. The oldest bits date back as far as 4.37 billion years — not too far from the age of Earth itself at about 4.5 billion years old. And, unlike other minerals, zircon is hard to get rid of. This resilience enables scientists to use zircon to determine when major geological events on Earth happened. As part of our series on time, host Aaron Scott talks to science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce about why this...
Redlining's Ripple Effects Go Beyond Humans
January 09, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBWhen Dr. Chloé Schmidt was a PhD student in Winnepeg, Canada, she was studying wildlife in urban areas. She and her advisor Dr. Colin Garroway came across a 2020 paper that posed a hypothesis: If the echos of systemic racism affect the human residents of neighborhoods and cities, then it should affect the wildlife as well. Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to Chloé and Colin about their findings of how redlining and biodiversity are intertwined. Learn more about sponso...
An Atmospheric River Runs Through It
January 06, 2023 05:15 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBFrom space, it looks almost elegant: a narrow plume cascading off the Pacific Ocean, spilling gently over the California coast. But from the ground, it looks like trouble: flash flooding, landslides and power outages. California is enduring the effects of an atmospheric river, a meteorological phenomenon where converging air systems funnel wet air into a long, riverine flow that dumps large amounts of rain when it makes landfall. "Atmospheric rivers can transport volumes of water many times t...
The Period Talk (For Adults)
January 05, 2023 05:10 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBEvery month, 1.8 billion people menstruate globally. For those people, managing periods is essential for strong reproductive and emotional health, social wellbeing and bodily autonomy. But a lot of people haven't been educated about periods or the menstrual cycle since they were kids — if at all. This episode, a period manual in four parts: How periods work, the different stages of the menstrual cycle, how to know when something's wrong, and whether to have a period in the first place. Lear...
Houston, We Have Short Wave On The Line
January 04, 2023 05:10 - 11 minutes - 11 MBSpeaking to Short Wave from about 250 miles above the Earth, Josh Cassada outlined his typical day at work: "Today, I actually started out by taking my own blood," he said. The astronauts aboard the International Space Station are themselves research subjects, as well as conductors of all sorts of science experiments: Gardening in microgravity, trapping frigid atoms, examining neutron stars. Then, there's the joy of walks into the yawning void of space. Speaking from orbit, Cassada told fello...
Time Cells Don't Really Care About Time
January 03, 2023 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12 MBTime is woven into our personal memories. If you recall a childhood fall from a bike, your brain replays the entire episode in excruciating detail: The glimpse of wet leaves on the road ahead, that moment of weightless dread and then the painful impact. This exact sequence has been embedded into your memory thanks to some special neurons known as time cells. Science correspondent Jon Hamilton talks to Emily about these cells — and why the label "time" cells is kind of a misnomer. Concerned a...
A New Year's Mad Lib!
January 02, 2023 05:15 - 7 minutes - 6.79 MBTo ring in the new year, producer Berly McCoy brings host Emily Kwong this homemade science mad lib! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
I'm Crying Cuz... I'm Human
December 30, 2022 05:15 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBFrom misty eyeballs to full-on waterworks, what are tears? Why do we shed them? And what makes humans' ability to cry emotional tears unique? Hosts Emily Kwong and Aaron Scott get into their feelings in this science-fueled exploration of why we cry. (encore) To see more of Rose-Lynn Fisher's images from Topography of Tears, visit her website. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
The Woman Behind A Mystery That Changed Astronomy
December 29, 2022 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12 MBIn 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell made a discovery that revolutionized astronomy. She detected the radio signals emitted by certain dying stars called pulsars. Today, Jocelyn's story. Scientist-in-residence Regina G. Barber talks to Jocelyn about her winding career, her discovery and how pulsars continue to push the field of astronomy today. (encore) Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Pumpkin Toadlet: Neither Pumpkin, Nor Toad
December 28, 2022 05:15 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBBeing small has its advantages - and some limitations. One organism that intimately knows the pros and cons of being mini is the pumpkin toadlet. As an adult, the animal reaches merely the size of a chickpea. At that scale, the frog's inner ear is so small, it's not fully functional. That means the frog's movements seem haphazard. Today, with the help of Atlantic science writer Katie Wu, we investigate: If a frog can't jump well, is it still a frog? (encore) Read Katie Wu's piece in The Atl...
TikTok's favorite zoologist quizzes us on the most dangerous animals
December 27, 2022 05:15 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBMamadou Ndiaye uses comedy to teach animal facts, but there's nothing funny about these deadly ones. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
A Holiday Fact Exchange!
December 26, 2022 05:15 - 5 minutes - 4.88 MBHost Emily Kwong and editor Gisele Grayson exchange the gift of facts - in this quick hello from us to you, our wonderful listeners! Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Climate Change Stresses Out These Chipmunks. Why Are Their Cousins So Chill?
December 23, 2022 05:15 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBKwasi Wrensford describes the subjects of his research as "elfin": skittish little squirrel-cousins with angular faces, pointy ears and narrow, furry tails. He studies two species in particular: the Alpine chipmunk and the Lodgepole chipmunk. As the climate warms, these two chipmunks have developed different ways of coping. The Alpine chipmunk has climbed higher, in search of cooler habitat, while the Lodgepole chipmunk continues to thrive in its historic habitat. On this episode, Kwasi expla...
Can COP 15 Save Our Planet's Biodiversity?
December 22, 2022 05:15 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBThis week, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) wrapped up in Montreal, Canada. Nations from around the world came together to establish a new set of goals to help preserve the planet's biodiversity and reduce the rate of loss of natural habitats. The last time biodiversity targets were set was in 2010, at COP 10. In the 12 years since, the world collectively failed to meet any of those biodiversity benchmarks. Aaron Scott talks to Giuliana Viglione, an editor at Carbon Brief covering foo...
Brain Scientists Are Tripping Out Over Psychedelics
December 21, 2022 05:15 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBPsychedelic drugs – like LSD, salvia, ayahuasca, Ibogaine, MDMA (AKA ecstasy), or psilocybin (AKA 'magic mushrooms' or 'shrooms') – are experiencing a resurgence of interest in their potential medical benefits. At the Neuroscience 2022 meeting held by the Society of Neuroscience, the appetite for psychedelic research permeated the sessions, discussions, and even after-hours barroom talk — drawing in researchers, neuroscientists, companies, reporters, and advocates alike. "In the last coup...