Curiosity Daily Podcast: Tips to Win an Argument, How to Wash Your Hands, and Summer Blockbuster Origins

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:

June 19, 2018

Episode Show Notes:

For more persuasion tips and tricks, check out "Thank You for Arguing, Third Edition: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion" by Jay Heinrichs. And the story of air conditioning isn't all good news: check out "Cool Comfort: America's Romance with Air-Conditioning" by Marsha Ackermann to see how A/C changed the world — and not always for the better. They’re free with your Audible trial, and if you make a purchase using one of these links, then Curiosity will get a share of the sale.

Learn more about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Up

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.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Are Facial Expressions Universal?

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

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: Does ESP Exist?

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

Curiosity Daily Podcast: How to Talk to Strangers, Red Dead Redemption 2 Naturalists, July Curiosity Challenge

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

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Some Viruses Do You Good

Learn about how blind and low-vision gamers have an edge when it comes to certain games, with Cornell University Professor Andrew Campana. Then, learn how some viruses actually protect their hosts; and the shocking solution to the Monty Hall Problem, an infamous brain teaser that may leave you questioning your math skills.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Vampire Bats Adopt Babies Too

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.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: How Hollywood Gets Seances Wrong

Learn about how bacteria in your gut can produce electricity. Then, performer and lecturer Thom Britton will tell us about the origins of seances and how Hollywood gets them wrong.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Explorers Club - Steve Elkins

Today, we’re hearing from an explorer and filmmaker named Steve Elkins. Steve spent decades searching for a legendary lost city deep in the jungles of Honduras. His search for the city was documented in the New York Times best-selling book, “The Lost City of the Monkey God,” by Douglas Preston.