Each year, the United States has about 1,200 tornadoes. Many of them happen in tornado alley, a very broad swath of the U.S. that shifts seasonally. This area gets at least ten times more tornadoes than the rest of the world. Science writer Sushmita Pathak says that huge difference can be chalked up to one word: geography. But there's a slice of South America with similar geographical features that gets comparatively fewer tornadoes, so what gives? Sushmita wades into the research weeds with guest host Berly McCoy, one of Short Wave's producers.

Read Sushmita's full article on tornadoes that she wrote for the publication Eos.

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(Image credit: Connect Images/Jason Persoff Stormdoctor)

Tourists to Antarctica are fueling research on some of the tiniest, most influential organisms on Earth: phytoplankton. These itty bitty critters make their own food and are the base of the food web in most of the ocean, but tracking how well they're doing is historically tricky. So, researchers with the program FjordPhyto are using samples collected by these tourists to understand how the balance of power in the Antarctic food web could be shifting — could ripple across the food web of the entire ocean.

Want to hear more community science at work or about polar ecosystems? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org! We're also always open to other story ideas you have. <3

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On their second job ever, Collette Yee and her partner were assigned a difficult job: locate transient whale poop in the ocean before it sinks. Luckily, Collette was partnered with Jack, a blue heeler mix trained to sniff out cryptic odors from things that conservation biologists have trouble collecting on their own. Producer Berly McCoy reports on Jack and the growing field of dog detection conservation that helps science by sniffing out everything from invasive crabs to diseased plants to endangered species.

Interested in more biotech stories? Let us know by dropping a line to shortwave@npr.org.

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In a world brimming with innovation and limited time, it can be hard to tell what technology has the potential to really shift life. Yet, every year, MIT Technology Review undertakes this very task and puts out an annual list to magazine readers of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Today, host Regina G. Barber hops through highlights from the list with Amy Nordrum, an executive editor at the publication.

Check out the full list here.

Another tech topic on your mind that you want us to discuss on an upcoming episode? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!

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