NOTE: This episode contains multiple high-pitched noises (human and other animals) that some listeners might find startling or distressing.

In this episode, host Regina G. Barber and NPR correspondent Nate Rott dive into the science behind the sound of fear. Along the way, they find out what marmot shrieks, baby cries and horror movie soundtracks have in common — and what all of this tells us about ourselves.

If you like this episode, check out our episode on fear and horror movies.

Curious about other science powering the human experience? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might cover your topic on a future episode!

New York: The city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle where dreams are made of and more recently ... home to a mysterious ant spreading across the city — before continuing across metropolitan and even state lines. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce joins host Regina G. Barber to trace the MahattAnts' takeover, explain why they're an interesting invasive species case study. Plus, how everyday people can get involved in research efforts to learn more about these critters.

Read more of Nell's ManhattAnt story here. And if you like this story, check out our story on ant amputation!

Interested in hearing more animal news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Another Olympics, another set of stellar performances by the U.S. women's artistic gymnastics team. Thursday, the team won two medals in the women's all-around final: a gold for Simone Biles and a bronze for Sunisa Lee. The medals add to the team's overall count, which also includes a gold for the women's team final. Simone and Suni are expected to lead the team to more medals in the coming days. Each day the gymnasts compete, we are left to pick our jaws off the floor and wonder: How do they do that? So we called up one of our favorite science communicators, Frederic Bertley, to explain just that. He's the CEO of the Center of Science and Industry and our gymnastics physics guide for the day.

Follow NPR's 2024 Paris Olympics coverage.

Want us to cover the science powering other Olympians? Email us at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear from you!

Right now, there's a "heat dome" lingering over the southwestern U.S. – a high pressure system that pushes hot air down and traps it, raising the temperature. Heat is becoming increasingly lethal as climate change causes more extreme heat. So in today's encore episode, we're exploring heat. NPR climate correspondent Lauren Sommer talks with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about how the human body copes with extended extreme heat and how today's heat warning systems could better protect the public. With scientists predicting a very hot summer, if you can, stay cool out there, dear Short Wavers.

What science story do you want to hear next on Short Wave? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

We kickoff our series Space Camp with a look at space launches. What does hurtling into space feel like? What physics are involved? And what's the "junk" in Earth's orbit?

It feels like this is the summer of space launches. So, it's only appropriate that we kick off our new series Space Camp with a look at space launches. Throughout the series, Regina and Emily will plumb our universe to uncover the strange, wonderful things happening all around us. This episode, that entails answering a series of questions about getting to space: What does hurtling into space feel like? What physics are involved? And what's the "junk" in Earth's orbit?

Space Camp episodes drop every Tuesday in the Short Wave feed in addition to our regular episodes happening every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

For a full explainer of Newton's third law of motion, g-forces and visuals on his cannonball thought experiment, check out our digital story.

Have a particular aspect of space you want us to cover in a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of Short Wave about the origins of baobab trees, lizard-inspired construction, and why outside play is beneficial for kids' eyesight.

An extreme geomagnetic storm reached Earth yesterday, with the northern lights dancing across the skies in places they're normally not seen. It's the most powerful solar storm in decades.

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Emily Kwong of Short Wave about biodegradable plastic, simulating growing crops on Mars, and how deer are disrupting caribou populations.

Stars are born in clusters. Some stay together as binaries, some drift apart and some are violently thrown out of the family. The Pleiades are young clustered blue stars being born from dust and gas.

The twin is Venus — the hottest planet in our solar system. Our series on The Science of Siblings, examines how these two planets started out so similar but end up so different.

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Regina Barber and Rachel Carlson of Short Wave about chickadees with awesome memories, grinning robots, and the bugs most commonly found in haiku.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Regina Barber and Anil Oza about rhythms and the brain, how electric fish sense their environment, and a new methane-detecting satellite.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Regina Barber and Rachel Carlson of Short Wave about singing gibbons, how tai chi might lower blood pressure, and why women get quicker benefits from exercise than men.

Short Wave's Regina Barber and Margaret Cirino talk through how moths produce an anti-bat signal, why clownfish could be counting to 3 and the first GMO food crop sold directly to home gardeners.

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Pien Huang of Short Wave about a double emergence of cicadas this spring, invasive ants in Kenya, and the secrets in an ancient wad of chewing gum.

NPR's TKTKTK talks to Regina Barber and Geoff Brumfiel of Short Wave about a new moon mission, a global map of fishing ships, and mysterious rings of radio waves surrounding some galaxies.

NPR's Short Wave hosts Geoff Brumfiel and Regina Barber wrap up of the year in AI, James Webb Space Telescope research and climate change.

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Viet Le of Short Wave about parrots dunking food in water, a giant hole in the sun and the lifeforms neglected by emoji makers.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Regina Barber and Aaron Scott of Short Wave about building cellular 'robots,' the bizarre sleeping habits of chinstrap penguins, and a lost echidna found again.