Does darkness really have a speed?

Learn about rain on other planets; why Americans used to not use forks; and whether sleep or exercise is more important.

Learn about the “reminiscence bump” that explains why you pine for your teens and 20s; the “Tetris Effect” that explains why things you focus on appear in your dreams; and the 19th-century doctor you can thank for tree-lined city streets.

Language encapsulates every part of a culture, from its history of ideas to the way its speakers perceive reality itself. And according to linguistics expert Arika Okrent, author of "In the Land of Invented Languages," even "made-up" languages like Klingon and Esperanto serve an important purpose. She joins the Curiosity Podcast to discuss the field of linguistics and why we say what we say.

Learn about Benjamin Banneker, an African-American polymath you need to know about; the Seinfeld Strategy for improving your productivity; and how an MIT student wants to contact aliens with a massive laser beam. Plus: professional wrestler Chris Jericho keeps coming up in conversation, thanks to one of the hosts who will remain unnamed.

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:

Researchers Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast will talk about the lessons we’ve learned from amazing new discoveries of extinct human species. Plus: learn about how dogs can be moody teenagers, too.

Learn how fast human lifespans are increasing; why we’ve never seen a black hole; and recent research into the “Jennifer Aniston neuron” that could help you kickstart your memory.

Learn about why popular opinion might not be as popular as you thought; a new analysis that’s debunked the blood type diet; and a pool of water in Kidd Creek Mine in Timmins, Ontario, Canada, that’s 2 billion years old.

Learn about why there’s no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog; why you should praise kids for their work ethic, not their smarts; and why you should never put coffee grounds in your garden.

Learn how you can grow a garden in "regolith" Martian soil; how to stop spending too much money on frivolous purchases; and a memory technique you can use to remember pretty much everything.

These mysterious insects have one of the strangest life cycles in the natural world.

In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you learn something new in just a few minutes:

Learn how fathers benefit from being involved with their newborn babies, what you can do to control your dreams with science, and why the asterisk is used for corrections.

In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com — with some help from scientist, computer engineer, and philosophy writer Bernardo Kastrup — to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: