Short Wave Folgen

This week, New York City crowned Kathleen Corradi its first rat czar. The new position is part of a multipronged approach from city officials. Reporter and New Yorker Anil Oza called up rodentologists to understand — does their approach withstand the test of scientific research? We love hearing your musings and questions about the science in your everyday life. Reach us by emailing shortwave@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When Tove Danovich decided to dabble in backyard chicken keeping, she embraced a tried and true journalistic practice — reading everything there is to find on the subject. In her search, she found plenty of how-to guides, but what she really wanted was to know more about the science. She wanted to understand their evolution and unique relationship with humans. "As I was reading more and as I was wanting this book that increasingly it seemed like it it just didn't exist. I wound up writing it instead," says Tove. Today, Aaron visits Tove in her chicken coop to talk about her recent book Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them and to meet the chicken stars of Tove's Instagram account.Listen to Short Wave on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Know of a new book we should feature on Short Wave? Drop us a line at shortwave@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In 1957, the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. Since then, the number of objects humans have hurled toward the stars has soared to the thousands. As those objects have collided with one another, they've created more space debris in Earth's orbit. According to some estimates, all of that debris and human-made space trash, the number of objects — from satellites to screws — could be in the millions. In this iteration of our AAAS live show series, Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott talks to Danielle Wood, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, about the dangers of accumulating space debris, and how she and others are working to make space more sustainable. Have a story about space innovation you'd love us to share? Launch it our way at shortwave@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy