Today, you’ll learn about a massively mysterious volcanic explosion that literally sent shockwaves around the world, how salty batteries are set to sweeten the competition in the energy storage industry and how scientists have no idea why animals keep evolving into crabs.

A volcanic eruption off the coast of Tonga affected the entire world. 

Scientists are Racing to Understand the Fury of Tonga’s Volcano by Robin Andrews

• https://www.wired.com/story/tonga-volcano-eruption-science/

Tonga Shrouded by Ash and Mystery After Powerful Volcano Erupts By Natasha Frost, Mitra Taj and Eric Nagourney

• https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/16/world/asia/tonga-tsunami-peru.html

Experts explain why Tonga eruption was so big by Nick Perry

• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/experts-explain-why-tonga-eruption-was-so-big

Why the Tongan eruption will go in the history of volcanology by Alexandra Witze

• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00394-y

NASA scientists estimate Tonga blast at 10 megatons by Geoff Brumfiel

• https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073800454/nasa-scientists-estimate-tonga-blast-at-10-megatons

Will sodium-based batteries be the future of electronics? 

Facts about Sodium by Stephanie Pappas

• https://www.livescience.com/28820-sodium.html

Sodium - Chemical Element by The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica

• https://www.britannica.com/science/sodium#ref278871

A Brief History of Salt by Time Staff

• https://time.com/3957460/a-brief-history-of-salt/

Sodium Batteries May Power Your New Electric Car by Gregory Barber

• https://www.wired.com/story/sodium-batteries-power-new-electric-car/

Sodium batteries are one step closer to saving you from a mobile phone fire by Robert F. Service

• https://www.science.org/content/article/sodium-batteries-are-one-step-closer-saving-you-mobile-phone-fire

Why do animals keep evolving into crabs? 

Animals Keep Evolving Into Crabs, and Scientists Don’t Know Why by Ed Browne

• https://www.newsweek.com/crabs-evolved-five-times-carcinization-scientists-dont-know-why-1638921#:~:text=It%27s%20true%3A%20Crabs%20keep%20turning,use%20for%20over%20140%20years

Why everything eventually becomes a crab by Sara Kiley Watson

• https://www.popsci.com/story/animals/why-everything-becomes-crab-meme-carcinization/

Animals Keep Evolving Into Crabs, Which Is Somewhat Disturbing by Caroline Delbert

• https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a34389129/crab-evolution-carcinization/

Creature Feature - Haunted Beaches: The Fleet-Footed Ghost Crabs by Andrew Hosie

• https://museum.wa.gov.au/creature-feature-haunted-beaches-fleet-footed-ghost-crabs

Coconut Crab Claw Strength Rivals Lion’s Bite, Study Shows by Landess Kearns

• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coconut-crab-claw-strength_n_583e0a54e4b0ae0e7cdaa99f

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 metallic object in space that might be worth seven hundred quintillion dollars, how genetically engineered pig hearts could save tons of human lives and how bioluminescent waves are putting on trippy light shows in the world’s oceans.

16 Psyche may be worth $700 quintillion dollars, but it’ll take a probe visiting the planetesimal to find out. 

16 Psyche: An Asteroid once thought to be worth $700 quintillion by Chris Young

• https://interestingengineering.com/asteroid-psyche-700-quintillion

Asteroid 16 Psyche Thought to Be Worth $10,000 Quadrillion Could Be a “Rubble Pile” by Aristos Georgiou

• https://www.newsweek.com/asteroid-16-psyche-worth-10000-quadrillion-rubble-pile-1599787

16 Psyche: The asteroid that could make every person on Earth a billionaire by Paul Ratner

• https://bigthink.com/hard-science/space-miners-race-to-an-asteroid-worth-quintillions/#rebelltitem2

NASA TO STUDY A $700 QUINTILLION ‘GOLDMINE’ ASTEROID by Matthew Hart

• https://nerdist.com/article/nasa-studying-goldmine-asteroid-700-quintillion-dollars/

Hubble Telescope reveals asteroid Psyche’s rusty surface by Amy Oliver

• https://earthsky.org/space/hubble-asteroid-psyche-iron-nickel-rust-protoplanet/

Science of Psyche: Unique Asteroid Holds Clues to Early Solar System by Naomi Hartono

• https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/science-of-psyche-unique-asteroid-holds-clues-to-early-solar-system

Asteroid Psyche by NASA

• https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/16-psyche/in-depth/

One man was the lucky recipient of a heart transplant from an unlikely source - can organs from animals help humans? 

Will animal-to-human organ transplants overcome their complicated history? by Laura Beil

• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/animal-human-organ-transplants-pig-kidney-heart-history

Man gets genetically modified pig heart in world-first transplant by BBC News with analysis by Michelle Roberts

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59944889

First-ever pig-to-human heart transplant offers hope for thousands in need of organs by Karen Weintraub

• https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/01/10/human-pig-heart-transplant/9152951002/

The ethics of a second chance: Pig heart transplant recipient stabbed a man seven times years ago by Lizzie Johnson and William Wan

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/13/pig-heart-transplant-stabbing-david-bennett/

Bioluminescent waves are lighting up the oceans for swimmers and sealife alike. 

Dolphins, Surfers and Waves Sparkle in Bright Blue Bioluminescent Glow Off California Coast by Katherine J. Wu

• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dolphins-waves-sparkle-bioluminescent-glow-california-coast-180974766/

The science behind bioluminescent waves by Harry Baker

• https://marinemadness.blog/2020/05/12/the-science-behind-bioluminescent-waves/

Bioluminescent Waves Light Up the Shoreline by Amanda Maxwell

• https://now.northropgrumman.com/bioluminescent-waves-light-up-the-shoreline/

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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The award-winning Curiosity Daily podcast from CuriosityDaily.com will help you get smarter about the world around you — every day. In less than 10 minutes, you’ll get a unique mix of research-based life hacks, the latest science and technology news, and more. Nate Bonham and Calli Gade will help you learn about your mind and body, outer space and the depths of the sea, and how history shaped the world into what it is today.

Head to discovery+ to stream even more science content, from Animal Planet to Science Channel. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms Apply. 

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This episode originally aired on 4/3/2020. New episodes coming soon. 

Learn about the shocking prevalence of torture scenes in movies; why durian, the world’s smelliest fruit, smells so bad; and where mold comes from.

Torture is prevalent and effective in movies (but not in real life) by Kelsey Donk

• Torture Prevalent, Effective in Popular Movies, Study Finds – University of Alabama News | The University of Alabama. (2020). Ua.Edu. https://www.ua.edu/news/2020/01/torture-prevalent-effective-in-popular-movies-study-finds/
• Delehanty, C., & Kearns, E. (2019). Wait, There’s Torture in Zootopia?: Examining the Prevalence of Torture in Popular Movies. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3342908

Scientists discovered why durian is the world's smelliest fruit by Kelsey Donk

• A Love Letter to a Smelly Fruit. (2013, December 3). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/travel/a-love-letter-to-a-smelly-fruit.html
• Discovering what makes durian stink. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/lfla-dwm022820.php
• Identification of an Important Odorant Precursor in Durian: First Evidence of Ethionine in Plants. (2019). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.9b07065
• Maninang, J. S., Lizada, M. C. C., & Gemma, H. (2009). Inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme by Durian (Durio zibethinus Murray) fruit extract. Food Chemistry, 117(2), 352–355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.03.106
• Ethanethiol - American Chemical Society. (2020). American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/e/ethanethiol.html

Where does mold come from? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Tim)

• USDA FSIS. (2013). Molds on Food: Are They Dangerous? https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a87cdc2c-6ddd-49f0-bd1f-393086742e68/Molds_on_Food.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
• Stradley, L. (2016, April 5). Food Molds – Are Molds Dangerous. What’s Cooking America. https://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/Mold.htm
• Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (2019). BAM Chapter 18. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/food/laboratory-methods-food/bam-yeasts-molds-and-mycotoxins

Want to learn even more? Head to discovery+ to stream from some of your favorite shows. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode originally aired on 10/4/2019. New episodes coming soon. 

Learn about how dogs’ personalities are rooted in their DNA; one skill that doesn’t get worse as you get older; and how your sense of smell works.

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:

• Dogs' Personalities Are Rooted in Their DNA — https://curiosity.im/2OfDwvJ
• Scientists Have Identified One Skill that Doesn't Deteriorate with Age — https://curiosity.im/2LwW5tm

Additional resources discussed:

• How does the sense of smell work? | HowStuffWorks — https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/human-nature/perception/question139.htm
• Human Nose Can Detect a Trillion Smells | Science — https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/03/human-nose-can-detect-trillion-smells

Want to learn even more? Head to discovery+ to stream from some of your favorite shows. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode originally aired on 2/28/2020. New episodes coming soon. 

Learn about how quitting smoking may reawaken healthy cells; how researchers figured out how to tell the age of crime scene fingerprints to help investigators; and why you sometimes yawn while exercising or singing.

Quitting smoking doesn’t just slow lung damage, but can also reawaken undamaged cells by Grant Currin

• Gallagher, J. (2020, January 29). Lungs “magically” heal damage from smoking. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51279355
• Pfeifer, G. P. (2020, January 29). Smoke signals in the DNA of normal lung cells. Nature, 578(7794), 224–226. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00165-7
• Yoshida, K., Gowers, K. H. C., Lee-Six, H., Chandrasekharan, D. P., Coorens, T., Maughan, E. F., Beal, K., Menzies, A., Millar, F. R., Anderson, E., Clarke, S. E., Pennycuick, A., Thakrar, R. M., Butler, C. R., Kakiuchi, N., Hirano, T., Hynds, R. E., Stratton, M. R., Martincorena, I., … Campbell, P. J. (2020, January 29). Tobacco smoking and somatic mutations in human bronchial epithelium. Nature, 578(7794), 266–272. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-1961-1

It's been impossible to tell the age of crime scene fingerprints — until now by Grant Currin

• Determining Fingerprint Age with Mass Spectrometry Imaging via Ozonolysis of Triacylglycerols. (2020, January 3). Analytical Chemistry. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b04765
• Residues in fingerprints hold clues to their age. (2020, January 22). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/acs-rif012220.php

Why we yawn during exercise by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Kate in Pennsylvania)

• Provine, R. R., Tate, B. C., & Geldmacher, L. L. (1987). Yawning: No effect of 3–5% CO2, 100% O2, and exercise. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 48(3), 382–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0163-1047(87)90944-7
• Massen, J. J. M., Dusch, K., Eldakar, O. T., & Gallup, A. C. (2014). A thermal window for yawning in humans: Yawning as a brain cooling mechanism. Physiology & Behavior, 130, 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.03.032
• The science of the exercise yawn. (2017). Furthermore from Equinox. https://furthermore.equinox.com/articles/2017/09/yawning
• McKinney, James C. The Diagnosis and Correction of Vocal Faults. (2005). Google Books. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=znaCDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=singing+yawn&ots=DKpXxdwhGJ&sig=IjgkdxkqyENjWLoXJTDaYB94G30#v=onepage&q=yawn&f=false

Want to learn even more? Head to discovery+ to stream from some of your favorite shows. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode originally aired on 11/5/2020. New episodes coming soon. 

Learn about a simple brain-training task that may reduce motion sickness, what parasites found in medieval human remains can tell us about eradicating them today, and the two main reasons why everything takes longer than you think it will.

A Simple Brain-Training Task May Reduce Motion Sickness by Kelsey Donk

• You can train your brain to reduce motion sickness. (2020). Warwick.Ac.Uk. https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/you_can_train
• Smyth, J., Jennings, P., Bennett, P., & Birrell, S. (2021). A novel method for reducing motion sickness susceptibility through training visuospatial ability – A two-part study. Applied Ergonomics, 90, 103264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2020.103264

Parasitic Worms Found in Medieval Human Remains May Hold the Secret for Eradicating Them Today by Cameron Duke

• Flammer, P. G., Ryan, H., Preston, S. G., Warren, S., Přichystalová, R., Weiss, R., Palmowski, V., Boschert, S., Fellgiebel, K., Jasch-Boley, I., Kairies, M.-S., Rümmele, E., Rieger, D., Schmid, B., Reeves, B., Nicholson, R., Loe, L., Guy, C., Waldron, T., … Smith, A. L. (2020). Epidemiological insights from a large-scale investigation of intestinal helminths in Medieval Europe. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 14(8), e0008600. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008600
• Parasitic worms found in medieval human remains hold secret for eradicating them today. (2020, September). Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/parasitic-worms-found-medieval-human-remains-hold-secret-eradicating-them-today
• Intestinal worms. (2016). World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/intestinal_worms/more/en/

The 2 Main Reasons Why Everything Takes Longer Than You Think It Will by Anna Todd

• Original episode: https://www.curiositydaily.com/why-everything-takes-longer-than-you-think-storm-p/

Want to learn even more? Head to discovery+ to stream from some of your favorite shows. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode originally aired on 2/21/2020. New episodes coming soon. 

Learn about whether people think in words or in pictures; why brussels sprouts really are tastier than they used to be; and why buying luxury items might make you feel like an impostor.

Whether People Think in Words or Pictures by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Alicia)

• (2020). Twitter. https://twitter.com/KylePlantEmoji/status/1221713792913965061
• Heavey, C. L., & Hurlburt, R. T. (2008). The phenomena of inner experience. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(3), 798–810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2007.12.006
• Pristine Inner Experience. (2020). Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pristine-inner-experience
• Amit, E., Hoeflin, C., Hamzah, N., & Fedorenko, E. (2017). An asymmetrical relationship between verbal and visual thinking: Converging evidence from behavior and fMRI. NeuroImage, 152, 619–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.03.029

Why Brussels Sprouts Taste Better Now by Steffie Drucker

• From Culinary Dud To Stud: How Dutch Plant Breeders Built Our Brussels Sprouts Boom. (2019, October 30). NPR.Org. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/10/30/773457637/from-culinary-dud-to-stud-how-dutch-plant-breeders-built-our-brussels-sprouts-bo
• Beck, A. (2019, November 7). It’s Not Your Imagination, Brussels Sprouts Really Do Taste Better Now. Better Homes & Gardens; Better Homes & Gardens. https://www.bhg.com/news/brussels-sprouts-less-bitter/
• Pearson, H. (2006, September 18). Distaste for sprouts in the genes. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/news060918-1
• Perman, A. (2011, November 1). The “brussels sprouts” gene: TAS2R38 | Anna Perman’s Genetic Spaghetti. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/nov/01/brussel-sprout-gene
• Neuroscience for Kids - Bitter Taste Gene. (2003, July 15). Washington.edu. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/bitter.html
• Masur, L. (2019, December 26). The Top 10 Food Trends of the Entire Decade. Kitchn; Apartment Therapy, LLC. https://www.thekitchn.com/decade-food-trends-2010-2019-22973978

Luxury Buying Makes People Feel Fake by Kelsey Donk

• Luxury consumption can fuel “impostor syndrome” among some buyers. (2019). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/bc-lcc122019.php
• Wong, K. (2020, January 30). Why Your Designer Bag Is Making You Feel Worse. The Financial Diet. https://thefinancialdiet.com/luxury-consumer-imposter-syndrome/
• Goor, D., Ordabayeva, N., Keinan, A., & Crener, S. (2019). The Impostor Syndrome from Luxury Consumption. Journal of Consumer Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucz044

Want to learn even more? Head to discovery+ to stream from some of your favorite shows. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode originally aired on 2/4/2020. New episodes coming soon. 

Learn about the 13 categories of emotions that music makes you feel; how scientists solved the mystery of two strangely small tyrannosaurus rex fossils; and surprising things that happen to a pregnant person’s body.

Research Suggests That Music Evokes 13 Key Emotions by Kelsey Donk

• Anwar, Y. (2020, January 6). Ooh là là! Music evokes at least 13 emotions. Scientists have mapped them. Berkeley News. https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/01/06/music-evokes-13-emotions/
• Noonan, D. (2020, January 6). Is a Sad Song Sad for Everyone? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-a-sad-song-sad-for-everyone/
• Cowen, A. S., Fang, X., Sauter, D., & Keltner, D. (2020). What music makes us feel: At least 13 dimensions organize subjective experiences associated with music across different cultures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(4), 1924–1934. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910704117

Two Tiny T-Rexes Turned Out to Be Teenagers by Mae Rice

• Secrets behind T. rex’s bone crushing bites: T. rex could crush with 8,000 pound bite forces. (2017). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170517090520.htm
• Researchers learn more about teen-age T.Rex. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/osuc-rlm122019.php
• Woodward, H. N., Tremaine, K., Williams, S. A., Zanno, L. E., Horner, J. R., & Myhrvold, N. (2020). Growing up Tyrannosaurus rex: Osteohistology refutes the pygmy “Nanotyrannus” and supports ontogenetic niche partitioning in juvenile Tyrannosaurus. Science Advances, 6(1), eaax6250. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax6250

Surprising Things Pregnancy Does to the Body by Kelsey Donk

• Nierenberg, C. (2015, May 19). Body Changes During Pregnancy. Livescience.Com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/50877-regnancy-body-changes.html
• Catriona Harvey-Jenner. (2017, April 12). 10 weird things you didn’t realise happen to your body during pregnancy. Cosmopolitan; Cosmopolitan. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a9266776/weird-things-happen-to-body-during-pregnancy/
• Cari Wira Dineen. (2016, May 4). Crazy Ways Your Body Changes During Pregnancy. Parents; Parents. https://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-body/changing/crazy-ways-your-body-changes-during-pregnancy/

Want to learn even more? Head to discovery+ to stream from some of your favorite shows. Go to discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.