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Why Are Fireflies So Lit?
July 21, 2026 First up, UMass Lowell biologist Sarah Gignoux-Wolfsohn explains how exactly algae and micro-organisms can make lakes and ponds unsafe for swimming. Then, it's another round of Four Things to Know, with Gal Tziperman Lotan from the GBH Daily newsletter. Lastly, we end on fireflies with help from Avalon Owens and Abby Robinson at the Roland Institute’s Owens Lab at Harvard. They’ll explain how the little guys operate & how light pollution impacts their ability to thrive. -
The Impossible Curiosity Desk: A Plant-Based Special
July 20, 2026 We begin with Jean-Luc Pierite and Lux Trevelyan from the North American Indian Center of Boston, for a conversation about growing & fostering tree canopies in and around Boston.Edgar learns about new research on Fit Bit-style plant sensors from Tufts researcher Sameer Sonkusale. We end our special meeting sound designer and musician Skooby Laposky, who creates compositions using electrical currents in plants. -
Bonus Interview: Why Can't I Fall Asleep?
In this bonus interview, Edgar meets Mass. General Hospital sleep researcher Chenlu Gao, to help answer a listener-submitted curiosity question how it's possible to be totally exhausted and still unable to fall asleep. If you’ve got something you’re curious about, we'd love to hear from you! Head to The Curiosity Desk landing page at GBHNews.org and fill out the question form. -
Why Is The Sky Yellow?
July 17, 2026Arun Rath is guest hosting today! We talk briefly with Mathew Barlow, a Professor of Climate Sciences at Umass Lowell, about this week’s wildfire smoke & why the sky turned yellow. GBH’s Renuka Balakrishnan joins with Emily Schario from The B-Side for ICYMI. They’ll talk about the best local swimming pools, the 22nd annual Sand Sculpting Festival on Revere Beach, and cyclosporiasis ruining summer salad season. Why has the vinyl record endured? And what’s the value of physical media in an era of online disinformation? Arun talks with Joan Donovan from the Critical Internet Studies institute, this week with Tony Goddess from Mystery Train Records in Gloucester. Arun talks Indigenous history with Aquinnah Wampanoag singer/songwriter Thea Hopkins & Cerise Lim Jacobs from White Snake Projects, around a new interactive freedom trail experience for America 250. -
What Salt Is Worth Its Salt?
First up, Edgar interviews Dr. Jim Faust about his nonprofit Adam’s Parachute, bringing people suffering from substance addiction into the world of fly fishing. He’ll join alongside GBH report Craig LeMoult ahead of Craig’s forthcoming reporting. Then, the grocery aisles are packed with all different options for salt. Table, iodized, sea, Celtic, gray, pink Himalayan – does it matter which you use? We get some consult from Dan Souza from America’s Test Kitchen. Lastly, Edgar brushes up on the history of the toothbrush with Dr. Scott Swank, curator at the National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore.
