Curiosity Daily Podcast: Short-Term Pleasures Are Important Too, the Smelly Armpit Enzyme, and a Thorne-Żytkow Object Is a Star Within a Star
Learn about why short-term pleasures are important for your well-being; a Thorne-Żytkow Object, which is what astronomers call a star within a star; and how science identified the culprit for your smelly armpits: Staphylococcus hominis.
September 07, 2020
Episode Show Notes:
Short-term pleasures contribute to well-being just as much as self-control by Kelsey Donk
- Hedonism leads to happiness. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/uoz-hlt072720.php
- Bernecker, K., & Becker, D. (2020). Beyond Self-Control: Mechanisms of Hedonic Goal Pursuit and Its Relevance for Well-Being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 014616722094199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220941998
A Thorne-Żytkow Object Is a Star Within a Star by Ashley Hamer
- Levesque, E. M., Massey, P., Żytkow, A. N., & Morrell, N. (2014). Discovery of a Thorne–Żytkow object candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 443(1), L94–L98. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slu080
- University of Colorado, & Observatory, L. (2014, June 9). The objects are hybrids of red supergiant and neutron stars that superficially resemble normal red supergiants. Astronomy.Com. https://astronomy.com/news/2014/06/astronomers-discover-first-thorne-zytkow-object-a-bizarre-type-of-hybrid-star
- Charley, S. (2012, January 13). How to Make an Element. Pbs.org; Nova. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/make-an-element/
- Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Magnetars - Introduction. (2017). Nasa.gov. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/neutron_stars1.html
Scientists have identified the enzyme responsible for smelly armpits by Grant Currin
- Life in the pits: Scientists identify the key enzyme behind BO. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/uoy-lit072420.php
- Sample, I. (2020, July 27). Know sweat: scientists solve mystery behind body odour. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jul/27/know-sweat-scientists-solve-mystery-behind-body-odour
- Rudden, M., Herman, R., Rose, M., Bawdon, D., Cox, D. S., Dodson, E., Holden, M. T. G., Wilkinson, A. J., James, A. G., & Thomas, G. H. (2020). The molecular basis of thioalcohol production in human body odour. Scientific Reports, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68860-z
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
Quiz: Test Your Space Exploration Knowledge
Ahead of the historic May 27th NASA and SpaceX crewed space launch, test your space exploration knowledge!
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Astronomy’s Problem with Starlink (w/ Vivienne Baldassare) and Why Toilet Paper Is White
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.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Parents Rarely Pass Their Politics to Their Kids, Source of Peanut Allergies Found in the Gut, and Why Stars Don’t Make the Night Sky Bright
Learn about the perception-adoption model, which says that most parents don’t pass their political ideology to their kids; how researchers found the source of peanut allergies in the human gut; and Olbers’ Paradox, which asks why the night sky is so dark if stars are so bright
Curiosity Daily Podcast: How Loud Is the Sun?
Learn about a simple way to reduce your internet carbon footprint; how brain images can make you more likely to believe fake science; and how loud the sun is.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: This Artificial Sun Is Hotter Than The Real Sun
Learn about an artificial sun that’s hotter than our actual sun; whether math really is a universal language; and what words like “fresh” really tell you about how fancy your food is.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Moviegoers Blink in Sync, Rain on the Sun, and Why Flamingos Stand on One Leg
Learn about a new discovery about rain on the sun; why flamingos stand on one leg; and why you blink the way you do when you’re watching a movie.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Differences in CEO and Murdering Psychopaths, How Deep Sleep Cleans Your Brain, and the Mystery of Our Inactive Sun
Learn about how our sun is different from similar stars; how deep sleep literally cleans your brain; and the psychology behind why some psychopaths are serial killers, while others are CEOs.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Religious People Have More Children, Sea Turtles’ Clumsy Navigation Skills, and the Real Center of Our Solar System Isn’t the Sun
Learn the surprising reason why religious people tend to have more children; why sea turtles are actually pretty clumsy navigators; and where astronomers found the center of our solar system (spoiler alert: it’s not the center of our sun).
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Improve Your Self-Control, Replace Your Kitchen Sponge, and Naming Our Sun and Moon
Learn about why the sun and moon don’t have names; why kitchen sponges are grosser than you think (and what to do about it); and how you can improve your self-control with the right feelings of guilt.
You Love Supernova, So How About Micronova?
In space, even the smallest explosions are insanely powerful. Take for instance the newly discovered “micronova,” which sounds cute and cuddly and not at all deadly…except for the fact that it’s the explosive equivalent of a nuclear bomb a million times bigger than Mount Everest.