How earthquakes and lightning help explain squeaky sneakers
Nature Podcast
podcast@nature.com
4.5 • 893 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
High-speed footage reveals shoe squeaks can start with a tiny bolt of lightning — plus, evidence that a debated brain phenomenon exists in humans.
00:44 The science of squeaky shoes
Research Article : Djellouli et al.
Basketball sound effects via Bradley Kanaris/Getty.
09:05 Research Highlights
Nature: Runaway black hole leaves a trail of stars
Nature: Super-sticky feet help a robot to climb the walls
11:31 Evidence of hippocampal neurogenesis
Research Article: Disouky et al.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Nature. |
| 0:04.0 | In an experiment. |
| 0:05.0 | I don't know yet. |
| 0:06.0 | Why is Blight so far? |
| 0:08.0 | Like, it sounds so simple. |
| 0:09.0 | They had no idea. |
| 0:11.0 | But now the data's... |
| 0:12.0 | I find this not only refreshing, but at some level astounding. |
| 0:19.0 | Nature. |
| 0:25.6 | Welcome back to the nature podcast. |
| 0:28.9 | This time, why does shoes squeak? |
| 0:33.1 | And a clue to why some people's brains age better. |
| 0:34.7 | I'm Nick Petrochow. |
| 0:36.0 | And I'm Dan Fox. |
| 0:49.1 | This recording contains a tricky science problem. |
| 0:51.2 | Squeaky shoes. |
| 0:56.7 | More specifically, the squeaks that happen when a soft surface quickly slides over a hard one. |
| 1:03.6 | An everyday occurrence, but one without a satisfactory explanation. Well, maybe until now. |
| 1:10.4 | Researchers think they have an answer involving physical phenomena more commonly associated with earthquakes. I was expecting something quite boring, to be honest, and it turns out that it's a combination |
| 1:16.7 | of earthquakes and enlightening. |
| 1:19.9 | This is Adele Jaluli from Harvard University in the US, one of the authors of a paper on the origin |
| 1:25.7 | of Squeaks published in nature this week. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from podcast@nature.com, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of podcast@nature.com and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.