What your brain wants and what your brain needs aren't always the same. In fact, the shortcuts our brains take can lead to biases and distortions that make us our own worst enemy. Science writer David DiSalvo, author of "What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite," discusses our brain's shortcomings and how we can identify and conquer them.

It's not in your head—you hear better on cold days.

Learn about what you can do to remember more of your dreams. You’ll also learn about the difference between internet language and regular language, in the first edition of our “Hashtag Tuesdays” mini-series with internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch.

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 quickly previously trained muscles bounce back after inactivity; and how a black hole made a star explode.

Learn about whether you can improve your self-control; why certain types of birds set fires on purpose; and why you shouldn’t touch your plants.

Learn about the best way to deal with impostor syndrome; whether it’s more important to sit less or exercise more; and why the peak end rules says experiences are all about the ending.

Learn why helping others feels like helping ourselves, how wild animals eat healthy, and how the Sahara feeds the Amazon.

Learn about how the meaning maintenance model explains the way our brains make sense of the nonsensical; and how the black hole information paradox may be explained by black holes acting like holograms. Plus: June’s Curiosity Challenge trivia segment!

Beth Pratt, leader of the Save LA Cougars campaign, tells the story of mountain lion P-22 and how he inspired a campaign to build the world’s largest wildlife crossing. Plus: learn about the health benefits of the helper’s high you get when you volunteer.

Learn about why natural selection favors superstitions; why the way our noses smell is way more complicated than we thought; and where scientists think 'Oumuamua, the first interstellar object, came from.

Learn why Einstein worried that science can’t explain “the now,” how high-impact exercise is actually good for your bones, and why in Haiti, zombies are more than fiction.

Learn why the concept of zero is newer than you might think, how you can worry more productively, and why the Earth’s atmosphere might be rusting the moon.

Learn about how to improve your sense of direction; the true story of the pied piper; and how our planets got their names.

Learn about some of the weirdest types of lightning; why nobody’s been able to solve the traveling salesman problem; and why it’s easier to spot a lie on a podcast or radio show than it is in other media.