Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Is Life Based on Carbon and Not Silicon?

Learn about why life is based on carbon and not silicon, whether you should be using plastic or wood cutting boards, and how jealous feelings can help maintain friendships.

November 19, 2020

Episode Show Notes:

Why is life based on carbon and not silicon? by Cameron Duke

Should you be using plastic or wood cutting boards? by Joanie Faletto

Jealous feelings can help maintain friendships by Kelsey Duke

Episode referenced in recap:

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Ashley Hamer and Natalia Reagan (filling in for Cody Gough). 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/listener for privacy information.

Next Up

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Itches Spread, Ancient Vending Machine, and Not Realizing When Your Beliefs Change

Learn about the world’s first vending machine that was invented nearly 2,000 years ago; why scratching an itch can make it spread; and, why you probably don’t realize it when your beliefs change.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Stress Sweat Smells Worse, Studying Wildlife During the Pandemic, and Do Men Just Not See Messes?

Learn about how scientists and animals are benefitting from the “anthropause” during the coronavirus pandemic; why sweat from stress smells worse than regular sweat; and whether men really “see less mess” than women.

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 Habitable Epoch, Mars 2020’s Search for Life, and 4 Research-Based Personality Types

Learn about why the universe may have been teeming with life billions of years ago; why NASA’s Mars 2020 Martian rover mission is going to be a huge milestone; and four personality types people fit into, according to new research.

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: Why Pockets Are Rare in Women’s Clothes, Why Earth Twinkles, and Where Life Originated

Learn about why Earth twinkles from space; why pockets are so rare in women’s clothes; and whether the first life emerged on land or water.

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: Are Facial Expressions Universal?

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

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!