Your brain is lying to you right now. Not maliciously, and not because something’s wrong with it. It’s doing exactly what evolution designed it to do, making split-second decisions about the world ...

A grayscale ballerina who appears to be moving. A human who can fit in a doll box. A black-and-white prism which appear to change shape when viewed from three different directions. Those are the top ...

Chief meteorologist Mark Dixon checks out the science behind using a fire extinguisher to fire a pencil into a piece of plywood. Here's Jan. 4's Science Sunday. Chief meteorologist Mark Dixon checks ...

It's time now for our science news roundup from Short Wave, NPR's science podcast. I am joined by the show's host, Regina Barber, and producer Rachel Carlson. Good to have you both here. RACHEL ...

Arabia Steamboat Museum Manager Matt Hawley joins Shane and Kerrigan to chat about how you can discover the 200-ton time capsule from 1856. Children's Mercy Clinical Psychologist Dr. Meaghan Flynn ...

It’s always amazing, and more than a little humbling, when the universe reminds us that our “common sense” is provincial, falling apart on cosmic scales. If you’re on the surface of Earth—and I’m ...

The regular Short Wave science roundup covers mysterious red dots in space, the neurons behind optical illusions and a study of octopus arms. It's time now for our science news roundup from Short Wave ...

A grayscale ballerina who appears to be moving. A human who can fit in a doll box. A black-and-white prism that appears to change shape when... Optical illusions are a brain feature, not a bug. Here's ...