Here are some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2017 that might just change the world.

Learn about why sniffing is contagious; and, how one biologist solved the mystery of a rare tree that scientifically shouldn’t exist, but does. Plus, virologist Paul Duprex explains how vaccines work in babies and in people with a weakened immune system.

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

Learn about why our collective attention span is shrinking; how you can increase your productivity by building “deep work” skills; and why eyeball planets may be our best bet for finding alien life.

Learn about how caregivers may experience “post-traumatic growth” from the pandemic; why the UK has one of the world’s most memorable postcode systems; and how researchers witnessed the birth and development of a completely new language: Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua.

Learn why the phrase “money can’t buy happiness” isn’t always true. Then, learn how different generations write differently online, with some help from internet linguist and author Gretchen McCulloch.

Learn how technology is helping us get smarter when it comes to hurricane predictions. Then, Dr. Louis Rosenberg, CEO of Unanimous AI, explains how doctors were able to outsmart cutting-edge artificial intelligence by using swarm intelligence to combine their expertise.

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:

This ancient structure has more sides than you think.

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:

Learn what makes someone a night owl or a morning person; get a quick primer on string theory; and discover whether you should pull an all-nighter studying for a test.

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.

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

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.