High-risk missions. International competition. And the keys to the cosmos. When you think of clandestine organizations, NASA might not top the list — and yet it has all the elements to be more shadowy than the dark side of the moon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the ages, arsenic has had many lives — beauty fad, household product, medical prescription… and weapon of choice wielded by killers everywhere from Alabama to ancient Rome. Brine your turkey, knead your dough, and listen to our Thanksgiving Special on the regime-changing, assassination-aiding King of Poisons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a buzzy word meant to invoke a sense of immersion within a virtual world — where boundaries are obliterated, and possibilities are limitless. But what will the Metaverse actually feel like? From the holographic visions of tech companies, to the hardware required to make it happen, to the revolutionary potential of mind uploading and…

They’re modern marvels, all around us — artificial products we can eat (lab-grown meat), transplant (bioprinted organs), and even inject into our bodies (synthetic vaccines). But not everyone’s convinced they’re miracles. Top of mind for critics? Are they safe, are they sustainable — and what does expanding the frontier of artificiality mean for our future?…

Automation promises to make our lives radically more efficient, with the power to change everything from how countries develop weapons of warfare, to how patients are diagnosed, to how people who violate laws are sentenced. But experts are theorizing these changes won’t always be for the better. And at the heart of the conversation is…

From brain implants and bionic limbs to gene editing and immortality — today’s technology has the potential to lead us down a path we couldn’t conceive of centuries, or even decades, ago. Question is: How far do we want it to take us — and will our destination be worth the cost to get there?…

In the 1960s and ‘70s, farmers across America were waking up to find that their cows had been slaughtered. Because the cattle were found missing eyes, ears, tongues, and sex organs, some thought it was part of a satanic ritual. Others believed that the animals were test subjects for an alien race. But the truth…

For decades across America’s heartland, cattle ranchers have found healthy livestock dead, with their body parts removed, sexual organs missing, and blood drained. When the FBI investigated, they could not offer a plausible explanation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Secret doors, a cast-off wig, mummified arms — strange and exhilarating clues have peppered the search for Nefertiti’s final resting place. What happened to the famed leader, once branded a heretic? This episode originally aired on Unexplained Mysteries.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listeners, this week we’re bringing you a two-part episode from our Halloween special called The Curse of the Mummy. More than 3,400 years ago, Nefertiti and her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten, brought sweeping changes to their kingdom. Then she vanished from the historical record. Some believe she died of the plague. Others think she was…