Short Wave

About Short Wave

New 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. Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org (http://plus.npr.org/). You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including sponsor-free listening for Short Wave.

Publisher

NPR

Category

news · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Oct 2019

Latest episode

5 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

467 of 1,583 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   5 Nov 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Predicting elections is getting harder. What did the midterms teach us?

   Political scientist Jack Rametta discusses how the midterms challenge the evolving science of polling and forecasting.

2. 

   4 Nov 2026TRANSCRIPT

   AI is changing mathematics -- but not how you think

   NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel discusses how AI is revolutionizing mathematics, exploring both the challenges and opportunities for human mathematicians.

3. 

   3 Nov 2026TRANSCRIPT

   OpenAI whistleblowers on the fight over AI safety | Machine Gods

   Hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton interview former OpenAI safety researchers about the internal conflicts surrounding AI safety.

Inside a recent episode

Predicting elections is getting harder. What did the midterms teach us?

Published 5 Nov 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] We correctly called Ohio for Sherrod Brown, Maine for Troy Jackson and so on. So we did pretty well. I was happy that the results across these different states landed almost without exception within the sort of range of outcomes that we said were possible in the model. And that made me feel good. […]

Who has been a guest on Short Wave

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Jack Rametta
• Geoff Brumfel
• Chris Fabricant
• Maria Hartwig
• Juan Diego Ramirez

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

4.5 / 5

1,978 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 56 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

75

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

94