Pre-Performance Routines, Panda Camouflage, Baby Sign Language

Learn about pre-performance routines; how panda fur works as camouflage; and how babies are enriched from sign language.

January 19, 2022

A pre-performance routine makes athletes like Michael Jordan and Rafael Nadal perform better, regardless of what it is by Steffie Drucker

Believe it or not, a panda’s distinctive markings work as camouflage by Cameron Duke

For babies, sign language is just as cognitively enriching as spoken language by Steffie Drucker

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Up

Curiosity Daily Podcast: How Calculus Is Different (w/ Steven Strogatz), Distraction Can Alter Your Memory, and Why the Hindenburg Used Hydrogen

Popular mathematics writer and Cornell University Professor Steven Strogatz discusses the difference between calculus and algebra, and what calculus can do that other math can’t. Plus: learn about how distraction can alter your memory, and the science behind the Hindenburg disaster of 1937.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Facts Don’t Win Arguments, SETI 101, Self-Control Pitfalls

Learn why self-control isn’t always good for you; why you can’t win an argument using facts; and what SETI is looking for.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Metabolic Window Myths, Egg Entropy (w/ Ralph Crewe from SNaQ), and What’s in Tattoo Ink

Learn how important it really is to refuel right after a workout; and, why it’s important to learn about the chemicals in tattoo ink. We’ll also discuss a listener question about egg entropy with a special guest, Ralph Crewe from the podcast Science, News, and Q’s.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Left Digit Bias w/ Dr. Bapu Jena and Bird-Catching Neanderthals

Learn about how “left digit bias” affects your decisions and why researchers caught birds in caves with their bare hands.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Pure Chance of Political Positions, Why Earth Has Oxygen, Infrared and Ultraviolet in Rainbows

Learn about why political parties may arrive at their positions by pure chance, with some help from opinion cascades; why the Great Oxygenation Event led to a bigger die-off than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs; and, whether infrared and ultraviolet light show up in rainbows.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: How to Make Gatherings More Meaningful (w/ Priya Parker)

Author Priya Parker explains how you can make your next gathering more meaningful. But first, you’ll learn about TRPC1, a molecule that promotes muscle health when it’s magnetized.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: What If Mosquitoes Disappeared, Facebook Relationships, and Hidden Messages in Backwards Music

Learn what might happen if mosquitoes disappeared; why music played backward makes you hear hidden messages; and what people can tell about your relationships from your Facebook profile.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Finding What You Love to Do (w/ David Epstein) and How to Deliver Bad News

Learn about how to find what you love doing and excel at it, from author David Epstein. You’ll also learn about why you should always present good news along with bad news.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Covid’s Bright Side, Frogs Out on a Limb, Fertilizing Fuel

Today, you’ll learn about how COVID-19 may have revamped cities for the better, astounding new technology that could one day regrow human limbs, and how an agricultural fertilizer is going from feeding the world to potentially powering the world.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Fannie Farmer Created the Modern Cooking Recipe, the Shepard Scale Audio Illusion, and How Scientists Test the COVID-19 Vaccine

Learn how researchers test drugs for deadly diseases like COVID-19 (without exposing participants); how Fannie Farmer transformed cooking from folk art into science; and how the Shepard scale audio illusion makes it sound like a tone is rising forever.