Rebecca Ramirez

Every dog lover’s greatest fear is inevitably losing their pet to time. We want our furry pals to stick around as long as they can. That wish may soon become reality with a new pill from a company called Loyal. It aims to extend the lives–and health–of dogs. This new drug also serves as a pitstop on a much bigger quest: to eventually lengthen human lives.Interested in more science about your pets? Email us your question at [email protected] public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.

Transcript SPEAKER: You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. ROSS ANDERSEN: Forrest. [LAUGHS] [DOG PANTING]

A valuable NASA satellite observatory is falling to Earth faster than scientists expected. It's called the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, or "Swift" for short, and it can respond to celestial events much faster than its sky-gazing counterparts. To save Swift and test out a first-of-its-kind technology, NASA partnered with an Arizona-based startup to launch a refrigerator-sized robot, aptly named Link, into lower Earth orbit. That's on its way right now to meet up with Swift to give it a boost.

How does a conscious brain differ from a non-conscious one? Scientists are working to find out. Richard Drury/Getty Images hide caption

Transcript ANNOUNCER: You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. REGINA BARBER: Hey, Short Wavers.

Species in the genus Heliconius live much longer than other butterfly species. Ger Bosma/Getty Images hide caption

Transcript SPEAKER: You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. NATE ROTT: Short Wavers, it's your boy, Nate Rott, the host chair.

NPR's neuroscience correspondent Jon Hamilton has written about a lot of brains— everything from mice to insects to humans. Fiordaliso/Getty Images hide caption

Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] EMILY WONG: You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. REGINA BARBER: Hey, Short Wavers, Regina Barber here.

Why did designing the World Cup pitches take eight years? Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal scores the opening goal from the penalty kick during the