Have you ever been told you're "too much"? Or wondered why you seem to feel everything at a higher volume than the people around you? This episode is for you.

We get into two things that turn out to be completely connected: the fact that humans have way more than five senses (yes, really), and the science behind what it actually means to be a highly sensitive person. Danny is, by his own admission, a man on a mission. He wants to blow up the idea that sensitivity is a weakness and rebuild it as exactly what the research says it is: a biological trait, a processing style, and in a lot of contexts, a superpower.

In this episode:

• Why you have somewhere between 10 and 100 senses
• What proprioception, interoception, and your vestibular sense actually are, and why they matter more than you'd expect
• The DOES framework: a practical way to understand sensory processing sensitivity in yourself or your kids
• Why being highly sensitive shows up in 20-30% of humans AND over 150 animal species (including a very relatable percentage of orchids)
• A live quiz, several aha moments, and a sequinned top that had to come off
• Why empathy as your baseline is a gift that also needs managing

Sneaky science alert: Elaine and Arthur Aron's 1997 research on sensory processing sensitivity, the serotonin allele, and the DOES framework all make an appearance, alongside a dog SPS questionnaire a quote about the limits of language that sent us both into a philosophical spiral.

Want to take the HSP test yourself? Find Elaine Aron's official Highly Sensitive Person self-test here: https://hsperson.com/test/highly-sensitive-test/

You spent thousands on that conference and can't remember a thing two weeks later. The problem is that nobody taught you how your brain actually works and retains information.

Evelina and Danny explore why people forget more than 70% of what they learn in 24 hours, and more importantly, what actually sticks. They break down the four types of learners, unpack the Feynman Technique, explain why sleep is essential for memory, and introduce Danny's "Rule of the First Time".

In this episode:

• The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve (why 70%+ disappears in 24 hours)
• The four learner types and which ones actually remember
• Why sleep restriction harms memory formation
• The Feynman Technique and how it reveals gaps in understanding
• Danny's "Rule of the First Time" - no assumed knowledge, ever
• Why spaced learning beats cramming
• A quiz on study methods with surprising answers

Sneaky science alert: Crowley and colleagues (2024), Ebbinghaus, the Feynman Technique, and Sepeda's spaced learning research - all sandwiched between boat safety trauma and Mary Poppins memes.

Curious About… is hosted by psychologist Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer and counsellor Danny Beiruti.

What's your primary Ick? Take the ICK QUIZ here: https://curiousaboutpodcast.com/resources-and-stuff

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Dating should be an open mind and an open heart, right? So why does one wrong word, one questionable outfit, or one terrible smell turn potential partners into absolute no-gos?

Evelina and Danny dive into "the ick" - that sudden, visceral aversion that makes you want to run. It's real, it's universal, and it might be sabotaging your dating life.

In this episode, Evelina and Danny unpack the psychology of disgust and decode five unexpected categories of ick. They get personal about their own deal-breakers, tackle why Gen Z is walking away from dates faster than ever, and interrogate the research showing that women experience icks more than men.

They also explore the "paradox of choice" on dating apps. Why endless options leave us paralysed and less likely to commit - and break down the biggest icks people report: negativity in bios, overly filtered photos, materialistic vibes, and low effort profiles.

In this episode:

• Why disgust is actually a protective mechanism that kept humans alive (and why it still matters)
• The difference between an ick, a turn-off, and a deal-breaker (they're not the same)
• Danny admits he was probably the ick: deep conversation and intense questions on first dates didn't land well
• Evelina's very specific aversion to Aldi dishwashing tablets and why she'll rewash an entire plate to avoid the smell
• The Jam Study: why having 24 choices makes you less likely to choose anything at all
• How to tell if your dating profile is screaming "negative energy" to potential matches
• A custom Curious Cats quiz to identify your primary ick and where it came from

Sneaky science alert: The Three Domains of Disgust Scale (Altunji et al., 2012) breaks down pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust—but Evelina adds behavioural, pattern, and presence icks to the mix, all while the hosts debate whether no-socks-with-loafers is truly a deal-breaker or just a fashion preference.

Curious About… is hosted by psychologist and enter-trainer Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer and counsellor Danny Beiruti.

You're late. Someone needs help. What do you do? Evelina and Danny explore why we're always rushing, and what happens to us when we are.

They dig into the gap between feeling busy and actually being productive, trading personal stories (a McDonald's moment that shouldn't have been a thing, Danny's risky on-stage confession, Evelina's morning spiral). There's research that hits different. There's a checklist you'll recognise yourself in. And there's a four-word mantra (borrowed from a fabulous EGM!) that might change how you move through your day.

In this episode:

• A famous study with an uncomfortable answer
• Why your brain can't do two things at once (even though it feels like it)
• What's actually making you impatient
• The antidote to a life of busyiness

Sneaky science alert: Attention spans, urgency bias, flow states, and one very uncomfortable research finding about good people making bad choices when rushed.

Curious About… is hosted by psychologist and keynote speaker Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer and counsellor Danny Beiruti.

Have you ever sat in a traffic jam for 45 minutes, finally crawled past the source, and found... nothing? Just open road. You are not imagining things, and it is not random. And the explanation is genuinely wild.

Evelina and Danny go deep on what traffic and queues do to us as humans. Why a stranger's car can feel like a personal attack, why tailgating sits at the top of the road rage research rankings, and why all that lane-switching you do on the freeway is not actually getting you there faster (the science on this is both infuriating and freeing).

In this episode:

• What MIT mathematicians discovered when they studied phantom traffic jams (hint: it involves a sandwich and a detonation wave)
• Being tailed for 10 minutes through the suburbs and what that says about fairness, control, and other people's "stuff"
• The status contest hiding inside your daily commute, and whether speeding up actually wins it
• Roundabout horror stories from Paris (no marked lanes, no rules, full Hunger Games)
• A "Would You Rather" game featuring impossible queue dilemmas
• Cognitive diffusion and urge surfing: two real techniques you can use next time someone cuts you off
• Why your feelings in traffic have a 90-second shelf life (and what to do with them in the meantime)

Sneaky science alert: MIT's jamiton wave research, cumulative stress threshold theory, a 2025 emotion regulation study, and RACV/NRMA road rage data all make cameos, all snuck in between a Pop Mart queue, a four-way stop rant, and a detailed breakdown of the Aldi checkout experience.

Have you ever stopped yourself from singing in front of someone? Or maybe you've watched a jaw-dropping live performance and quietly thought, "Welp, I could never." This episode is for you, and the science has some things to say about that.

Evelina and Danny go deep on the human voice - where our relationship to singing comes from, why it's genuinely one of the most cognitively complex things a human can do (harder than the violin, it turns out), and what's actually happening when your favourite artist sounds impossibly perfect live. Personal karaoke shame, a Lion King origin story, and a six-year-old performing at Biggera Waters Shopping Centre all make an appearance. So does a really inconvenient truth about auto-tune.

In this episode:

• Danny's journey from imitating his idols in his bedroom to swinging seven ensemble roles in the original Australian production of The Lion King
• Evelina's first singing discovery (courtesy of Mrs. Oxford, year four, and a lot of singing to herself in the corner)
• Why the "perfect" voices on live talent shows may not be what they seem and the YouTube channel pulling back the curtain
• Rolling Stone's top 10 greatest singers of all time, a pop quiz, and one very controversial omission (no Celine???)
• The age at which you stop discovering new music, and it's probably not when you think
• Whether singing is something you're born with or something you can learn
• Why singing together in a crowd might be the most human thing you can do right now

Sneaky science alert: A 2022 twin study breaks down the genetics vs environment debate on vocal ability, a 2017 study on congenital amusia explains the rare few who genuinely cannot pitch match, and research on oxytocin, lifespan, and live performance sneak in between Danny's Wiggles era and a very passionate defence of the vocal trinity.

PS: Our mics were doing weird things this episode, we're working on it!

What's your brain actually doing while you sleep — and why do your teeth keep falling out in that one nightmare?

In this episode, Evelina and Danny dive deep into the science, strangeness, and surprising usefulness of dreams. From memory consolidation to threat simulation, they unpack the three main reasons researchers believe we dream — and why binge-watching horror before bed is genuinely a terrible idea.

Along the way, you'll hear about Evelina's childhood lucid dreaming experiment (complete with a two-CD mail-order kit), why digital watches might help you take control of your nightmares, and the research study that suggests you can literally solve problems in your sleep — if you pick the right soundtrack.

Danny also gets quizzed on what common dream scenarios really mean (being chased, falling, showing up naked to a speech…), and the results are more psychologically revealing than either of them bargained for.

In this episode:

• The three science-backed reasons we dream
• What lucid dreaming is and how to start practising it
• A technique to rewrite recurring nightmares (with a 70% success rate in just 2–3 weeks)
• The "sensory anchor" sleep study that improved next-day problem solving by 55%
• A Curious Quiz on the universal meanings behind the most common dream themes
• Shakespeare, Inception, The Wizard of Oz, and why "it was all a dream" endings are universally hated

Sneaky science alert: This episode covers memory consolidation, REM sleep, threat simulation theory, and image rehearsal therapy — wrapped in the kind of conversation you'd have at brunch with your most curious friends.

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Curious About… is hosted by musician & psychologist Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer & counsellor Danny Beiruti.

We all carry them. But what exactly makes something a secret — and when does keeping one start costing you more than it's worth?

In this episode, Evelina and Danny get into it from the very first minute: affairs, white lies, the tooth fairy, Crocs, and the secrets we keep not to deceive others — but just to survive the rooms we're in.

Danny opens up about growing up in a household where loving musical theater felt like something to hide, and what it really cost him to conceal his identity across multiple worlds — family, auditions, Broadway — for over a decade. It's an honest, funny, and genuinely moving conversation about the cognitive load of masking, the shame that secrets breed, and why belonging can sometimes feel like it requires becoming someone else entirely.

Evelina, meanwhile, confesses to lying three times before 6am, running across her house in the dark, and hiding a tooth fairy box in a pantry. Not her finest hour. Possibly her best story.

In this episode:

• Where secrets end and lies begin (and why the line is blurrier than you think)
• Gossip as the brain's junk food — and why we keep reaching for it
• Masking, minority stress, and the hidden tax of being "different" in any room
• Why radical honesty is overrated and unsolicited opinions are the enemy
• The beach ball theory of suppressed emotions (you know how this ends)
• What resilience actually is — and why it's built, not born
• The secret Danny kept until he was 32, and what finally lifted the weight

Sneaky science alert: Shame researcher Brené Brown, Bronnie Ware's five regrets of the dying, anti-fragility theory, and the psychology of identity concealment — all snuck in between a couch confession and a very strong take on Crocs.

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Curious About… is hosted by musician & psychologist Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer & counsellor Danny Beiruti.

What does it actually take to start over? And what do you have to let go of to do it?

In this very first episode of Curious About…, Evelina and Danny introduce themselves, their friendship, and the question that sits underneath every new beginning: are you choosing this, or is it choosing you?

Danny shares what it was like to pack his entire life into two suitcases and move to New York with no apartment, no guarantee, and an overwhelming feeling of freedom. Evelina talks about the new beginnings she followed like a script — until the ones she didn't see coming brought her to tears, pushing a pram, wondering where she'd gone.

Together they get into why humans are wired to hate uncertainty (even though that's exactly where growth lives), why we romanticize the past while conveniently forgetting the hangovers, and what a drama teacher named Bronwyn Egan started that neither of us could have predicted.

This is a conversation about courage, identity, grief, and gratitude — wrapped in a whole lot of warmth and the kind of honesty you usually only hear at 11pm with a good friend.

In this episode:

• What a multipotentialite is — and why it might describe you too
• The research on uncertainty and why your brain is fighting you on every new beginning
• Identity grief: the older version of you that has to be released before the new one arrives
• Why the first applause is basically a drug (and what happened when a 15-year-old Danny played the Lion)
• The "which you practice grows stronger" mindset shift that keeps coming up
• Gratitude in the shower, LinkedIn detoxes, and why Evelina's son's face is pressed against the glass
• Anti-fragility, resilience, and what two suitcases teaches you about what actually matters

Sneaky science alert: Adam Grant's hidden potential, negativity bias research, gratitude neuroscience, and the default mode network — all slipped in between a very emotional plane ride and a very strong take on social media.

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Curious About… is hosted by musician & psychologist Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer & counsellor Danny Beiruti.