Short Wave

Could standardizing chocolate help small-scale farmers? Chocolate scientist Julien Simonis thinks it could help persuade consumers to pay for higher quality chocolate, in turn helping out these growers. Every cacao bean is different, and for a long time, there wasn't a standard way of comparing the quality of chocolate. But in 2009, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit started a program called Cacao of Excellence. The goal was to develop a standard way of evaluating cacao just like those sommelier’s do with wine. So today, we’re going behind the scenes of a chocolate laboratory to see just how cacao is evaluated. 

This story was originally reported for NPR by science correspondent Ari Daniel. Read the full story here.

If you liked this episode, check out our episodes on how climate change is hurting chocolate production and how some people are making chocolate alternatives. 

Interested in more chocolate science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Until this week, the United States hadn’t approved a new sunscreen ingredient in over 20 years. That changed Tuesday, when the FDA approved a new chemical for U.S. sunscreens. It’s called bemotrizinol, and NPR science correspondent Maria Godoy joins us to tell us all about it — including the soonest it’s expected to hit shelves.

Interested in more science news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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CORRECTION: This story incorrectly referred to Dr. Heather Rogers as a spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology. She is a fellow of the academy.

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Every year, tens of millions of people in the U.S. get the flu vaccine. That’s because the virus changes year-to-year and protection only lasts around six months. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre wants to change that. He’s one scientist working on a universal flu vaccine that could provide decades of protection against all flu illnesses – but only if his team can find the resources that disappeared when U.S. funding dipped.

If you liked this episode, listen to our episode on a vaccine trial that could end HIV.

Interested in more medical innovations? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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We tend to think of the DNA strands that contain our genetic code as consistent, stable units. But in reality, the cells that make up our bodies are constantly replicating and changing. Even as you read this sentence, in fact, the genes within your cells are mutating. So, what causes these mutations and what’s the impact? Science writer Roxanne Khamsi examines the answers in her new book, Beyond Inheritance. Today on the show, she gets into how scientists examine these mutations, how they’ve shifted our understanding of disease and what the future of genetic therapy could entail.

Interested in more biological and life sciences? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Emily Kwong is pretty sure she lacks an inner monologue, while the inner monologue of producer Rachel Carlson won’t stop chatting. But how well can a person know their inner self? And what does science have to say about it? We dig in in this encore episode of Short Wave.

To learn more about Charles Fernyhough’s research on voice hearing, visit the project website.  

If you liked this episode, check out our episode on when your brain is actually an "adult."

Interested in more science inside your brain? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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