Curiosity Daily Podcast: Mathematical Thinking Can Open New Worlds

In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:

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.

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.

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.

Learn about common ancestors shared by every human; evolution’s multiple directions; and universal facial expressions.

Learn about ESP; why people panicked about electricity in the 1800s; and how embryos use sound to prepare for the world.

Learn how to get better at talking to strangers; and how Red Dead Redemption 2 turns gamers into naturalists. Trivia too!

Learn about Starlink’s unintended consequences for astronomy from astrophysicist Vivienne Baldassare, NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. Then, learn why toilet paper is white.

Learn about why engineers tested a temporary “smart tattoo” that emits light via OLEDs; a female vampire bat that adopted her best friend’s baby after the friend’s death; and how you can sharpen your mind with device-free quiet time.

Today, we are lucky enough to hear from a highly accomplished explorer who has some incredible experiences to share with us. Dr. Sian Proctor was the mission pilot for the Inspiration4, which is the all-civilian orbital mission to space and she’s the first African American woman to pilot a spacecraft. She also lived in a Mars analog environment to simulate what it might be like to live on the red planet.