Dean Regis here, astronomer and host of Looking Up.

I journey to the far reaches of the universe, hearing from scientists, astronauts, and geeky celebs along the way.

We cover everything from black holes to the latest in science fiction.

Listen now to the Looking Up podcast from the NPR Network and Cincinnati Public Radio.

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR Network and Cincinnati Public Radio. You're listening to Shortwave.

From NPR.

Earlier this month, the government shutdown led to a two-week pause in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, putting 42 million people in the U.S. at further risk of food insecurity.

Many Americans are one-check, potentially, from experiencing some level of poverty.

Out of every eight homes, including yours, one of those households isn't always sure when

their next meal will come.

I think many times we think about people and, you know, it's like, oh, that'll never be me.

That's nutritional scientist Angela Odoms Young from Cornell University.

And she says food insecurity can push a lot of families to make less healthy choices.

When the food is available, people eat, but when food is not available,

they have to make different choices. As the director of the New York State Nutrition Education

program, she knows that might mean less nutrition, and reaching for highly processed foods that

are cheap and shelf-stable instead of fresh fruit and vegetables that could go to waste.

And with food insecurity often comes hunger.

Hunger serves the essential purpose of getting us energy.

And when we can't alleviate that hunger, dietitian Shauna Spent says our whole body reacts.

Whenever we're thinking of our bodies, we have to think of it as a

machine. And whenever you think of a machine, you think of quote unquote feeding it, right,

...