Curiosity Weekly

Today, you’ll learn about how barnacles could lead researchers to the site of a lost plane crash, a record breaking polar bear party up north, and a new dinosaur discovery that could shed light on the era of their demise.  

MH370 Barnacles 

• “Barnacles may help reveal location of lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.” ScienceDaily. 2023.  
• “Flight 370 ‘will be found’ near ‘7th arc’.” by Jeff Pegues & Tucker Reals. 2014.  
• “What are barnacles?” NOAA. 2023. 

Polar Bear Town 

• “‘Polar bear capital of the world’ soon to be overrun with record number of bears due to shifting sea ice.” by Harry Baker. 2023.  
• “Inside Canada’s Polar Bear Jail.” by Lina Zeldovich. 2023.  
• “Town of Churchill.” Town Website. N.d.  

Dino Discovery 

• “Newly discovered ‘primitive cousins of T rex’ shed light on the end of the age of dinosaurs in Africa.” ScienceDaily. 2023.  
• “69-Million-Year-Old T. Rex Cousins Found Among Africa’s Last Dinosaurs.” by Rachael Funnell. 2023.  
• “Abelisauridae.” Dinopedia. N.d.  

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Today, you’ll learn about urban greening, a new sci-fi like crystal that’ll make things move without electricity, and Darwin’s Paradox.  

Urban Greening 

• “Large positive ecological changes of small urban greening actions.” by Luis Mata, et al. 2023.  
• “Small urban greening projects can dramatically increase the number of insect species in cities.” Science Daily. 2023.  
• “The collapse of insects.” by Julia Janicki, Gloria Dickie, Simon Scarr, & Jitesh Chowdhury. 2022.  

Power Crystals 

• “Researchers Develop Arrays of Tiny Crystals That Deliver Efficient Wireless Energy.” CU Boulder. 2023.  
• “Researchers develop arrays of tiny crystals that deliver efficient wireless energy.” by Susan Glairon. 2023.  
• “How Efficient are Engines: Thermodynamics and Combustion Efficiency.” Rentar Fuel Catalyst. 2018.  

Race Car Blinks  

• “Vegetarian diet of corals explains age-old mystery dating back to Darwin.” ScienceDaily. 2023.  
• “Solving ‘Darwin’s Paradox’: why coral island hotspots exist in an oceanic desert.” The  Conversation. 2016.  
• “Scientists Solve ‘Darwin’s Paradox’.” National Geographic. 2016.  
• “How Do Stony Corals Grow?” NOAA. n.d.  

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Today, you’ll learn about a new twist with carbon and plants, some good news for all you walkers out there, and a new study on kids and self-esteem.  

Carbon & Plants 

• “For Decades, Our Carbon Emissions Sped the Growth of Plants - Not Anymore.” YaleEnvironment360. 2023.  
• “CO2 is making Earth greener - for now.” by Samson Reiny. 2016.  
• “Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.” by Rebecca Lindsey. 2023.  
• “Global water use efficiency saturation due to increased vapor pressure deficit.” by Fei Li, et al. 2023.  
• “As Carbon Dioxide Grows More Abundant, Trees Are Growing Bigger, Study Finds.” E360 Digest. 2022.  

Healthy Walking 

• “World’s largest study shows the more you walk, the lower your risk of death, even if you walk fewer than 5,000 steps.” European Society of Cardiology. 2023. 
• “Top 5 Negative Side Effects of a Sedentary Lifestyle.” USA Vein Clinics. 2022.  
• “Sedentary Lifestyle: Overview of Updated Evidence of Potential Health Risks.” by Jung Ha Park, et al. 2020.  
• “The more you walk, the lower your risk of early death, even if you walk fewer than 5,000 steps.” ScienceDaily. 2023.  

Self Esteem in Kids 

• “Self-Esteem.” by Douglas Heingartner. 2023.  
• “What I am Like/Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC).” n.a. N.d.  
• “Children’s domain-specific self-evaluations and global self-worth: A preregistered cross-cultural meta-analysis.” by Yixin Tang, et al. 2023.  

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Today, you’ll learn about a breakthrough in decoding brain activity using Pink Floyd, an anatomy class that would be a hit at Gotham University, and an everyday germ-blowing machine. 

Pink Floyd Brain Activity 

• “Neuroscientists Re-create Pink Floyd Song from Listeners’ Brain Activity.” by Lucy Tu. 2023.  
• “Music can be reconstructed from human auditory cortext activity using nonlinear decoding models.” by Ludovic Bellier, et al. 2023.  

Superhero Science  

• “Dissecting the anatomy of a ‘superheroic’ science class.” by Emily Caldwell. 2023.  
• “Effects of using superheroes in an undergraduate human anatomy curriculum.” by Jeremy J. Grachan. 2023.  
• “Anatomists Assemble! Integrating superheroes into the anatomy and physiology classroom.” By Jeremy J. Grachan & Melissa M. Quinn. 2021. 

Bathroom Germs 

• “Hand dryers can infect clean hands with bathroom germs.” by McKenzie Prillaman. 2023.  
• “The bacterial horror of hot-air hand dryers.” by John Ross, MD, FIDSA. 2018.  

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

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Today, you’ll learn about hidden consciousness in comatose patients, the eerie secret glowing language of frogs, and the mysterious blinking of race car drivers.  

Comatose Consciousness  

• “Source of Hidden Consciousness in ‘Comatose’ Brain Injury Patients Found.” Columbia University. 2023.  
• “Injury patterns associated with cognitive motor dissociation.” by Eva Franzova, et al. 2023.  

Glowing Frogs  

• “Many frogs glow in blue light, and it may be a secret, eerie language.” by Jake Buehler. 2023.  
• “Evidence for ecological tuning of novel anuran biofluorescent signals.” by Courtney Whitcher, et al. 2023.  
• “Naturally occurring fluorescence in frogs.” by Carlos Taboada, et al. 2017.  
• “Ultraviolet fluorescence discovered in New World flying squirrels (Glaucomys).” by Allison M Kohler, et al. 2019.  
• “Salamanders and other amphibians are aglow with biofluorescence.” by Jennifer Y Lamb & Matthew P Davis. 2020.  

Race Car Blinks  

• “Race car drivers usually blink at the same places in each lap.” by Darren Incorvaia. 2023.  
• “Why You Blink Your Eyes.” by Troy Bedinghaus, OD. 2023.  

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

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Today, you’ll learn about turning dirty fog into clean drinking water, how hookworms might help stave off diabetes, and a surprising link between memory and paranoia.  

Dirty Fog to Clean Water  

• “Collecting clean water from fog.” by Fabio Bergamin. 2023.  
• “Scientists are harvesting water by building fog harps and zapping the air.” by Angela Chen. 2018.  

Hookworms 

• “Hookworms successfully prevent type 2 diabetes in human trial.” by Bronwyn Thompson. 2023.  
• “Metabolic syndrome in type 2 diabetic patients: a review of current evidence.” by Virginia M.G. Regufe, et al. 2020.  
• “Parasites - Hookworm.” CDC. 2023.  

Paranoia & Memory 

• “Paranoia appears to have a strange effect on memory.” by Eric W. Dolan. 2023.  
• “Paranoia Is Associated With Impaired Novelty Detection and Overconfidence in Recognition Memory Judgements.” by William N. Koller & Tyrone D. Cannon. 2021.  
• “Paranoia.” by Paul Frysh. 2021.  

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

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Today, you’ll learn about a surprising link between youth activism and critical thinking, a new discovery related to sleep apnea, and how aggressive driving adds more CO2 to the atmosphere.  

Teenage Activism 

• “Teens Engaged in Activism Become Better Critical Thinkers, Study Finds.” University of Michigan. 2023.  
• “Charting the longitudinal trajectories and interplay of critical consciousness among youth activists.” by Andres Pinedo. 2023.  

Sleep Apnea Danger  

• “NIH-funded study explains link to increased cardiovascular risks for people with obstructive sleep apnea.” NIH. 2023.  
• “Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea: a literature-based analysis.” by Adam V. Benjafield, et al. 2019.  
• “The ever-increasing importance of cancer as a leading cause of premature death worldwide.” by Freddie Bray. 2021.  
• “Sleep Apnea.” by Eric Suni & Dr. Abhinav Singh. 2023.  

Aggressive Driving 

• “Future reductions of China’s transport emissions impacted by changing driving behaviour.” by Yingji Xia, et al. 2023.  
• “Aggressive driving sends carbon levels soaring.” Nature.com. 2023.  
• “Annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions worldwide from 1940 to 2022.” Statista. 2023.  
• “How can driving behavior help you reduce fuel costs and greenhouse gas emissions?” Frotcom. 2019.  

Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

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Today, you’ll learn about a possible new treatment for chronic pain, a major obstacle to the world’s tree-planting plans, and some bad news for nose pickers.  

Chronic Pain Treatment  

• “Identification and targeting of a unique Nav1.7 domain driving chronic pain.” by Kimberly Gomez, et al. 2023.  
• https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2217800120 
• “Nav1.7 withholds its pain potential.” by Katie Kingwell. 2023.  
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-019-00065-0 
• “Chronic Pain Among Adults - United States, 2019 - 2021.” CDC. 2023.  
• https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7215a1.htm 
• “Prevalence of chronic pain among adults in the United States.” by R Jason Yong & Neil Bhattacharyya. 2022.  
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33990113/ 

Tree Planting  

• “Plans to plant billions of trees threatened by massive undersupply of seedlings.” by Joshua Brown. 2023.  
• “A lack of ecological diversity in forest nurseries limits the achievement of tree-planting objectives in response to global change.” by Peter W. Clark, et al. 2023.  
• “Trees Help Fight Climate Change.” Arbor Day Foundation. N.d.  
• “Benefits of Planting Trees.” Tree Advisory Board. N.D.  

Nose Pickers 

• “Why Not to Pick Your Nose // Association between nose picking and SARS-Cov-2 incident, a cohort study in hospital healthcare workers.” by A.H. Ayesha Lavell, et al. 2023.  
• “Nose picking linked to higher risk of covid, study shows.” by Lindsey Bever. 2023.  
• “The Anatomy and Function of the Nasal Cavity.” by Kristin Hayes, RN. 2023.  

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Today, you’ll learn about how when we eat might influence our risks for type 2 diabetes, a new use for nanotech in treating age-related blindness, and how crocodiles respond to the cries of human babies.  

Early Breakfast 

• “An early breakfast may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.” Barcelona Institute for Global Health. 2023. 
• “Early breakfast linked to lower risk of type 2 Diabetes.” by Dr. Prajakta Banik. 2023.  
• “Symptoms & Causes of Diabetes.” NIH. 2016

Nanotech & Blindness  

• “Nanotech used to grow eye cells as a potential treatment for blindness.” by Paul McClure. 2023. 
• “Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment.” by Hrishikesh Vyawahare & Pranaykumar Shinde. 2022. 
• “3D Nanotech Enables Eye Cell Growth for Treating Blindness.” by Tim Hayes. 2023.  

Crocodile Crying 

• “Nile Crocodiles Recognize and React to the Sound of Crying Babies.” by Brian Handwerk. 2023.  
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/nile-crocodiles-recognize-and-react-to-the-sound-of-crying-babies-180982686/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20new%20study,appeal%20to%20their%20maternal%20instinct 
• “Hear them roar: A comparison of black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and human (Homo sapiens) perception of arousal in vocalizations across all classes of terrestrial vertebrates.” BY J. Congdon, et al. 2019.  https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/com0000187 
• “Your Dog Can Tell From Your Voice If You’re Happy or Sad.” by Joseph Stromberg. 2014.  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/your-dog-can-tell-from-your-voice-if-youre-happy-or-sad-180949807/ 
• “Crocodile perception of distress in hominid baby cries.” by Julie Thévenet, et al. 2023.  https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2023.0201 

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Today, you’ll learn about a new weapon in the war against toxic shock syndrome, how scientists used AI to understand how humans evolved to walk upright, and a new discovery that changes what we know about saber-toothed cats. 

TSS Bacto-Battles 

• “Inhibition of Toxic Shock Syndrome Associated Staphylococcus aureus by Probiotic Lactobacilli.” by Patrick M. Schlievert. 2023.  
• https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/spectrum.01735-23 
• “Probiotic combo stops bacteria that cause toxic shock syndrome.” Science Daily. 2023.  
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230721113221.htm 
• “Toxic shock syndrome.” Mayo Clinic. 2022. 
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxic-shock-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20355384 

Why We Walk 

• “These bones were made for walking.” Columbia University Irving Medical Center. 2023.  
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230721113151.htm 
• “Study Sheds Light on Why Humans Walk on Two Legs.” by Claudia Morain. 2007.  
• https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/study-sheds-light-why-humans-walk-two-legs 
• “Why humans walk on two legs: a close look at chimpanzees puts some old theories to the test.” The Conversation. 2022.  
• https://theconversation.com/why-humans-walk-on-two-legs-a-close-look-at-chimpanzees-puts-some-old-theories-to-the-test-194193 

Saber-Tooth Cat Party   

• “5 million-year-old fossils reveal 2 new species of saber-toothed cats in South Africa.” by Harry Baker. 2023.  
• https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/5-million-year-old-fossils-reveal-2-new-species-of-saber-toothed-cats-in-south-africa 
• “Human ancestors were walking upright 7 million years ago, ancient limb bone suggests.” by Ann Gibbons. 2022.  
• https://www.science.org/content/article/human-ancestors-were-walking-upright-7-million-years-ago-ancient-limb-bone-suggests 

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