Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why We Eat What We Eat

Learn about why Wolf-Rayet stars are the brightest stars in the sky; why immune cells in your brain may have started out in your gut; and the history of why we can thank Grace Hopper for calling computer glitches “bugs.”

Learn about how a planet-friendly diet also tends to be healthier and why we don’t have battery-powered airplanes. But first, social psychologist and author Devon Price is back to explain how we can all avoid burnout.

Learn how human hair can improve solar panels and why people tend to add, not subtract, when trying to improve something.

LeVar Burton has been a storyteller for decades. From his acting roles as Kunta Kinte in "Roots" and Geordi LaForge on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to his decades of work with "Reading Rainbow," he's been a central figure in some of the most influential media in recent memory. Also a director, producer, and author, Burton has now turned his storytelling skills toward the world of podcasting with "LeVar Burton Reads." On this episode of the Curiosity Podcast, he discusses the power of literature and why books are such a meaningful tool for storytelling.

Today, you’ll learn about mushrooms that can eat asteroids to make space soil, how our thoughts affect us as we microdose psychedelics, and efforts to 3D print organs like kidneys and lungs!

Learn about the science of sourdough starters; and why identical twins aren’t so identical after all. Then, play along at home as we test your podcast knowledge with this month’s Curiosity Challenge trivia game.

Learn about the complicated history of the NATO phonetic alphabet; why we eat three meals a day; and how you can use a technique called Functional Imagery Training to achieve your goals faster.

Learn about how social connection may be as basic of a human need as hunger; the ongoing scientific debate around how ice skating actually works; and the Uberman sleep cycle, a polyphasic sleep schedule that was allegedly used by Leonardo da Vinci and Nikola Tesla.

Learn about why ants are better farmers than we'll ever be; how female big-game hunters were likely common in the early Americas; and why presenting too much evidence could actually make you lose an argument, thanks to the overkill backfire effect.