Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do Masks Stunt Emotional Development? Plus: Human Ears Perk Up, Too, and Why Your Shower Curtain Clings To You

Learn about the "shower-curtain effect," the mystery of why your shower curtain will randomly cling to you; whether masks affect our emotional development; and why humans perk up their ears.

August 28, 2020

Episode Show Notes:

No One Knows Why the Shower Curtain Will Randomly Cling to You by Joanie Faletto

Do masks affect our emotional development? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Nate)

  • Valente, D., Theurel, A., & Gentaz, E. (2017). The role of visual experience in the production of emotional facial expressions by blind people: a review. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(2), 483–497. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1338-0
  • Martins, A. T., Faísca, L., Vieira, H., & Gonçalves, G. (2019). Emotional Recognition and Empathy both in Deaf and Blind Adults. The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 24(2), 119–127. https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/eny046
  • Wiseman, R. (1995). The megalab truth test. Nature, 373(6513), 391–391. https://doi.org/10.1038/373391a0
  • Kraus, M. W. (2017). Voice-only communication enhances empathic accuracy. American Psychologist, 72(7), 644–654. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000147
  • Kret, M. E., & de Gelder, B. (2012). Islamic Headdress Influences How Emotion is Recognized from the Eyes. Frontiers in Psychology, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00110
  • Mai, X., Ge, Y., Tao, L., Tang, H., Liu, C., & Luo, Y.-J. (2011). Eyes Are Windows to the Chinese Soul: Evidence from the Detection of Real and Fake Smiles. PLoS ONE, 6(5), e19903. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0019903

Humans perk up their ears, too by Kelsey Donk

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Next Up

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do Opposites Really Attract?

Learn about why opposites don’t really attract; the “propinquity effect” and how physical distance affects the way we feel about other people; and the history of when and why we started using last names.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do Single-A Batteries Exist?

Learn about whether there’s such a thing as “single A” batteries; 5 surprising ways volunteering improves your physical health; and how duckbill dinosaurs may have crossed an ocean to reach Africa.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do People Think More in Words or Pictures?

Learn about whether people think in words or in pictures; why brussels sprouts really are tastier than they used to be; and why buying luxury items might make you feel like an impostor.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do Masks Prevent Coronavirus, How Tuvan Throat Singers Sing Two Notes at Once, and Predicting Viral Content by Measuring Brain Activity

Learn about how scientists are predicting viral content by measuring people’s brain activity; how Tuvan throat singers are able to produce two notes at once; and how effective facemasks are in preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Your Extra Artery, Emotional Hangovers, LEDs Are Bad for Bugs

Learn why more humans are growing an extra artery; emotional hangovers; and the drawbacks of energy-efficient LED streetlamps.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Science of Stretching (w/ Get-Fit Guy), Tourette Syndrome Myths, and 3 Ways to Boost Emotional Intelligence

In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com — and learn about the science of stretching from Get-Fit Guy of Quick and Dirty Tips — to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Mystery Code of The 4,000-Year-Old Phaistos Disk, The Necrobiome, and 7 Beliefs of Emotionally Healthy People

Learn about the mysterious 4,000-year-old Phaistos disk; how the necrobiome is helping forensic scientists; and the 7 beliefs of emotionally healthy people.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do Rocket Stages Ever Hit Ships? (w/ NASA’s Cody Chambers)

Learn about how saying no to kids makes them more resourceful and why humans aren’t the only animals capable of deception. We’ll also answer a listener question about whether rocket stages ever hit ships in the ocean, with a little help from Cody Chambers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Introducing If/Then

What gets you curious? Virtual experiences, celestial bodies, water worlds or maybe just the tiniest mysteries inside your brain? The endlessly curious and curiously funny, Gillian Jacobs (Community, Netflix's LOVE) and Diona Reasonover (NCIS), step off set to go on tangents with real-life astronauts, astrophysicists, science artists, mathematician-types and other really smart people that investigate what seems impossible.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: The Curiosity Podcast Wraps Up with Yoga, Volcanoes, and Meditation

Learn from some of our favorite expert guests about yoga, volcanoes, meditation, and more on this special episode of the Curiosity Podcast. You'll hear from accomplished authors and academics from past episodes, in addition to a special guest you've never heard before on the show. Plus, hear about the past, present, and future of the Curiosity Podcast.