Short Wave Folgen

Trash from humans is constantly spilling into the ocean — so much so that there are five gigantic garbage patches in the seas. They hang out at the nexus of the world's ocean currents, changing shape with the waves. The largest is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. These areas were long thought to have been uninhabited, the plastics and fishing gear too harmful to marine life. But researchers have recently uncovered a whole ecosystem of life in this largest collection of trash. Today, with the help of marine biologist Fiona Chong, we meet the tiny marine life that calls this place home.Read Fiona and her collaborators' paper, High concentrations of floating neustonic life in the plastic-rich North Pacific Garbage PatchInterested in hearing other tales of marine life?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Science in the headlines: An amazingly preserved sea squirt fossil that could tell us something about human evolution, a new effort to fight malaria by genetically modifying mosquitos and why archeologists are rethinking a discovery about a Copper-age leader. All Things Considered host Adrian Florido nerds-out on those stories with Short Wave host Regina G. Barber and science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel.Have questions about science in the news? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Canada is having its worst fire season in modern history. The fires have burnt more than 20 million acres, casting hazardous smoke over parts of the U.S. and stretching Canadian firefighting resources thin. Public officials and many news headlines have declared the fires as "unprecedented," and in the modern-sense they are. But NPR climate correspondent Nate Rott has been talking to researchers who focus on the history of wildfire in Canada's boreal forests and they say the situation is not without precedent.Want more stories on the environment? Drop us a line at shortwave@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy