Short Wave

Plot twist: We're probably way undercounting insects on Earth

July 10, 2026·9 min·4-min readnarrativescience
Podzilla Summary (4 min)
TLDR
This episode of NPR's Shortwave explores three major scientific developments: a new estimate suggesting there may be up to 20 million insect species on Earth, the discovery of 31 ancient quasars using the Euclid space telescope, and a study revealing that California wolves are primarily p

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Guest

S

Scott Detrow

narrative on Short Wave

Mentions

Books, people, and resources mentioned in this episode.

People

Melissa GuzmanDa Ming YangTina SaitoneNeil Carter

Companies

European Space Agency

Products & Tools

Euclid

Research & Papers

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesPLOS One

Topics

AstronomyClimate ChangeEcologyResearchSpace Exploration

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