
The Pulse Episode Archive
Energy fuels our lives in ways that seem almost magical. It can transform darkness into light, cold into warmth, water into ice. Of cours ...
Air Date: August 27, 2021
Listen 49:33The Pulse Presents: Half Vaxxed — The Rise and Fall of Philly Fighting COVID
The first episode looks at the promise of the nimble, young startup that pledged to vaccinate Philadelphia.
Air Date: August 25, 2021
Listen 25:06We’ve heard it again and again — kids are resilient. But they’re also sensitive, with social and emotional needs every bit as compl ...
Air Date: August 20, 2021
Listen 49:00We’ve all heard the saying: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The problem is that’s not how the world works. Just about everyt ...
Air Date: August 13, 2021
Listen 47:57Who are you? There are dozens of ways to answer that question, from your name and nationality, to your relationships and job, all the way ...
Air Date: August 6, 2021
Listen 48:59The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Medicine
Every time you go to see a new doctor, you have to fill out forms that ask your name, your age, your family history — and your race and ...
Air Date: July 30, 2021
Listen 48:33The Building Blocks of Language
Language is how we connect — to each other, to the past, to the future — how we create culture, communicate ideas, and make decisions ...
Air Date: July 23, 2021
Listen 48:51New Developments in Cancer Treatment
It seems like every week, we hear about new breakthroughs in cancer treatment — new discoveries, new medications, new hopes for a cure. ...
Air Date: July 16, 2021
Listen 48:45Left to their own devices, viruses are pretty much helpless. They need cells to infect in order to replicate. But they’re sneaky — ma ...
Air Date: July 9, 2021
Listen 49:49The Secret History of Mars Exploration
Humans have been obsessed with Mars for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that we began to have actual break ...
Air Date: July 6, 2021
Listen 13:11For thousands of years, humans have obsessed over Mars from afar. At first, maybe it was the fact that Mars stands out in the night sky b ...
Air Date: July 2, 2021
Listen 49:30Anxiety can feel like a buzzing electric current that fuels our thoughts and behaviors. There are the well-known symptoms — chest pains ...
Air Date: June 25, 2021
Listen 49:19Our sense of smell can bring us quick bursts of joy, like a whiff of bread baking, that freshly brewed cup of coffee, or your favorite pe ...
Air Date: June 18, 2021
Listen 49:54The Miracle and Menace of Plastic
Plastic gets a bad rap — over the years, it’s become synonymous with environmental destruction, cheap fakery, needless consumption, a ...
Air Date: June 11, 2021
Listen 49:24The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world — and that spending is going up every year. In some re ...
Air Date: June 4, 2021
Listen 49:04Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.