Learn about how blind people can describe what animals look like, how “Ring Around the Rosie” probably doesn’t reference the Plague, and why scientists used Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a radiosynthetic species of fungus, to build a radiation shield.
Learn about the “birthday paradox.” Then, George Craford — one of the pioneers of LED lighting — talks LED innovation.
Learn how ADHD could make you more creative, and how to boost your productivity by scheduling your week with the Arrow Method. Plus, Mike Wall, author of “Out There: A Scientific Guide to Alien Life, Antimatter, and Human Space Travel (For the Cosmically Curious),” explains why we may have already found aliens.
Learn about the social neuroscience of music; songbirds’ ultra-precise song control; and how animals can get skin cancer.
Can a really loud sound create a black hole?
Knowing how cooking reactions happen can help you create some truly tasty dishes.
Learn about a bacterial electric grid; traits females have evolved to avoid harassment; and why tea leaves sink.
Learn about why some physicists think time may be slowing down, and how it might eventually stop; new research that says you make a better first impression than you might think; and the true origin story of the Ouija board.
Learn about the "shower-curtain effect," the mystery of why your shower curtain will randomly cling to you; whether masks affect our emotional development; and why humans perk up their ears.
Learn about how rival sports fans see games differently; waking up hungry after overeating; and “some assembly required.”
Learn about the RMS Carpathia, the ship that came to the Titanic’s rescue the night it sank; how to control that feeling when you get butterflies in your stomach; and how numbers are written in different languages.
Learn about how slow blinking at a cat can help you make friends with it, how temptation bundling can help you reinforce good habits, and why Moravec’s Paradox says the easy stuff is hardest for artificial intelligence.
Learn about how saying no to kids makes them more resourceful and why humans aren’t the only animals capable of deception. We’ll also answer a listener question about whether rocket stages ever hit ships in the ocean, with a little help from Cody Chambers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Matt Simon, author of “Plight of the Living Dead,” discusses real-life zombification in nature. Plus, learn about the most annoying sounds ever, according to research, and why leaders who are too smart are actually less effective.
Learn about whether binaural beats are worth the hype; how Australian dingos evolved from domesticated animals; and how to navigate some unexpected consequences of talking about historical injustices.