From the archive: History-making astronaut Christina Koch
NASA astronaut Christina Koch is making history as the first woman to travel around the moon as a crew member on the Artemis II mission. It’s not the first time...
Brainwaves: How does a brain stay healthy?
You might think a healthy brain starts and ends in your head – but there are miles and miles of neuron fibers that connect your brain with nearly every corner...
Brainwaves: What happens between life and death?
A tunnel. A bright light. Reuniting with deceased loved ones. Many people who have near-death experiences have remarkably similar stories. Why?
Brainwaves: Is AI actually thinking?
The rate at which artificial intelligence is able to replicate human behavior has increased in recent years. Does that mean it's thinking like us? In the third episode of "Brainwaves,"...
Brainwaves: Are you in there?
Consciousness is how we are able to feel, dream and imagine. And yet -- scientists haven't figured out how consciousness definitively works. What we know, what we don’t and what...
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Brainwaves: Why is the brain such a mystery?
The brain is the organ that makes us who we are. It’s our conduit between reality and thought. But somehow, we’ve only scratched the surface in understanding how the brain...
Lessons from America’s peanut allergy flip-flop
For years, doctors warned parents to keep peanuts away from children until they turn three. But that advice backfired. Experts now say delayed exposure helped cause a peanut allergy surge...
How Trump cuts are causing a ‘brain drain’ in American science
The Trump administration is attacking American academic institutions on multiple fronts, including cutting grant funding and targeting foreign exchange programs. That gives other countries a chance to surpass the U.S....
Week of Wonder
WBUR's On Point brings you a week of wonder: A curation of shows from the past year reveling in the wonder of the world we live in. Over the course...
Is animal testing even needed anymore?
Running tests on lab rats, mice and other species is an integral part of biomedical research. Now, some say artificial intelligence and other technologies could soon make the practice obsolete.
The ‘Godfather of AI’ says we can’t afford to get it wrong
Geoffrey Hinton is one of the world’s biggest minds in artificial intelligence. He won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. Where does he think AI is headed?
What you need to know about bird flu
A Louisiana resident has died from bird flu. Just as during the COVID outbreak, there's a lot of misinformation circulating about H5N1. We'll get a clear assessment on bird flu,...
A scientist's search for the origins of COVID
In 2020, Alina Chan called for the scientific community to not abandon a potential lab leak origin of SARS-CoV-2. She was called a conspiracy theorist and a race traitor. Her...
The COVID lab leak theory
Alina Chan is a biologist at one of Harvard and MIT's most celebrated institutes. She's also a leading voice who says the COVID lab leak theory cannot be ignored.
Rebroadcast: Your brain on menopause
Hot flashes. Brain fog. Sleep problems. Millions of women go through menopause each year. But what’s happening in the brain during this life transition?
Week of wonder: The surprising gift of being unsure
No matter how much order, sense, or predictability we try to bring to our lives, uncertainty and the anxiety it can create are always there. But new thinking on uncertainty...
Week of wonder: 'Are we alone?'
Is the government covering up what it knows about UFOs, now called Unexplained Aerial Phenomena? We dive into 75 years of UFO history and the beginnings of government mistrust.
Week of wonder: Embracing the uncertain
No matter how much order, sense, or predictability we try to bring to our lives, uncertainty and the anxiety it can create are always there. But new thinking on uncertainty...
Week of wonder: UFOs, the U.S. government and the push towards greater transparency
Unexplained aerial phenomena. Is the government covering up what it knows?
Week of wonder: The Great Salt Lake is drying up. Can it be saved?
Utah’s Great Salt Lake is the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere. Since the 1980s, the lake has shrunk by two-thirds, and is projected to disappear entirely in the...