Shampoo, lotions, guns, knives and a lot of other things are confiscated at airport security checkpoints every day. What happens to all those things? Can you ever get them back? This episode starts by taking a look. https://www.rd.com/article/return-confiscated-items-tsa/

Even if you don’t believe in them, you probably participate in some superstitions. Maybe you knock on wood or avoid walking under a ladder or steer clear of black cats. Where do these superstitions come from? Why do they still exist since we know they don’t really do anything? Here to explain this is Arie Kaplan, who has written numerous books and graphic novels and is also a television writer. Arie is author of a book called The Encyclopedia of Curious Rituals and Superstitions: Ancient and Remarkable Traditions That Will Captivate Your Mind (https://amzn.to/44xpZ8m).

It is the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride through Boston. While you likely learned something about it in school, there is much more to the story you probably don’t know. Not only was Paul Revere a skilled horseman, he was also a “self-taught” dentist, bell maker and an excellent silversmith and engraver. And there is much more to his legacy as you will hear from my guest Kostya Kennedy. He is a former senior writer and editor at Sports Illustrated and has written books about Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and Pete Rose. He is also author of the book, The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America (https://amzn.to/4klhtyY).

What is the best way to construct a fire? There is one right answer whether you are building a campfire, a bonfire or stacking charcoal in your grill. What’s strange is – you instinctively know how to do it. Listen as I explain. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/461717

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There is an experience some of us (but not all) are able to have called autonomous sensory meridian response or ASMR. It can be triggered by a soft monotonous voice explaining something as well as other triggers. Sounds weird, right? Listen as I explain how it works, why science doesn’t recognize it as a real thing but for many of us, it is a wonderful sensation, and I will tell you how to experience it. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53220/listening-soft-voices-can-cause-brain-orgasms

The YouTube video link mentioned is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiKxytbCWk

Difficult conversations are never fun, but they are necessary. Whether you are negotiating for a raise or having a tough conversation with your spouse or friend, there are ways to make these conversations go better for you and everyone involved. Here to offer some expertise on this is Ryan Dunlap a former police detective and hostage negotiator. He has been involved in a lot of high stakes negotiations in his career and he is author of the book How to Untie a Balloon: A Negotiator's Guide to Avoid Popping Under Pressure (https://amzn.to/3Ia2c72)

What are the best practices for living a long and healthy life? There are many theories on this but here to discuss the science of longevity is John Tregoning who explains that living a long life may best be accomplished by living a good life. John is Professor of Vaccine Immunology at Imperial College London and has published over sixty academic papers. He is author of the book, Live Forever?: A Curious Scientist's Guide to Wellness, Ageing and Death (https://amzn.to/4kc9B2J).

How do you write a good business email? Interestingly, there are some common mistakes people make that water down the message in business emails by making them sound more like personal emails. Listen as I reveal how to avoid that. https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/7-common-habits-that-kill-credibility.html#ixzz3c6aUXNnN

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Not all that long ago, people felt paying bills by sending a check in the mail was the best way to do it. Today, it seems like a bad idea. In fact, banks and the post office are recommending against it. Listen as I reveal why. https://www.businessinsider.com/post-office-check-fraud-mailing-be-careful-usps-scam-2023-6

There are a lot of weird but true stories out there. And this episode offers you several of them!. For instance, how one U.S. President prevented his own assassination and how Beatles’ drummer Ringo Starr’s unique drumming style is due to exorcisms. And, how the Los Angeles Dodgers paid someone to cosmically beam positive messages to players during games from 3000 miles away. And there’s more... These stories all come from my guest Dan Schreiber. Dan hosts a podcast called There is No Such Thing As a Fish (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-such-thing-as-a-fish/id840986946) and he is author of the book The Theory of Everything Else: A Voyage Into the World of the Weird (https://amzn.to/43eruph)

How the very best athletes perform at their peak can teach us all something about life and how to do our best at what we do. Here to explain this is Sally Jenkins who has been a columnist and feature writer for The Washington Post for over twenty years. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2020 and in 2021 was named the winner of the Associated Press Red Smith Award for Outstanding Contributions to Sports Journalism. She is the author of 12 books including The Right Call: What Sport Teaches Us About Work and Life (https://amzn.to/44wtc6y).

If you have been to Trader Joe’s, I’m sure you have noticed that the people who work there wear different colored Hawaiian shirts. Perhaps you have wondered what the different kind of Hawaiian shirts mean or why they are so friendly and why they keep ringing that bell? Listen as we peak behind the curtain at Trader Joe’s. https://www.businessinsider.com/trader-joes-slang-terms-only-employees-know-2023-7?utm

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While people may not point it out to you when you use the wrong word – they DO notice. This episode begins by setting the record straight on the right words to use that people commonly get wrong. For instance, when do you use take or bring, further or farther, ironic or coincidental and others? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/misused-words-make-smart-people-look-dumb-dr-travis-bradberry/

For every person on earth, there are 1.4 billion bugs. We share the world with bugs, and we owe them our very existence. How can that be? Here with the explanation and some fascinating intel about all the bugs that surround you is Karyn Light-Gibson. She is an educator and author of the book, Bug Life: How Bees, Butterflies, and Other Insects Rule the World (https://amzn.to/40sTJlp)

You’ve probably used an emoji in texts or social media posts. You add a smiley face or a balloon emoji to punctuate what you are saying. But there is much more to the emoji story than you ever knew. For example, the emoji you send in a text is not necessarily the emoji the recipient sees – which can alter the meaning completely. Here to reveal the fascinating story of the emoji is Keith Houston, author of the book Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji (https://amzn.to/3Gg4r82).

How you handle and prepare food can impact how healthy those foods are – for better or worse. Listen as I reveal how strawberries, garlic and yogurt can be made healthier with just a little effort. https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/25/health/eating-foods-wrong/index.html

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Having good friends can help you live longer, see the world more positively and make you look more attractive. How can that be? Listen as I explain. https://www.thehealthy.com/family/relationships/friends-facts/

We are learning more and more about the healing power of music. You already know music can help your mood or help you relax or give you motivation. But it also can help with depression, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and who knows what else? Why does listening to music and making music seem to have such positive effects? Joining me to reveal the latest research on this is Stefan Koelsch. He is a neuroscientist and music psychologist who has held positions at Harvard University and is currently a professor at the University of Bergen, Norway. Stefan is also author of the book, Good Vibrations: Unlocking the Healing Power of Music (https://amzn.to/44vkdoK).

The adolescent years have a reputation of being difficult. For many teens it can be a time of rebellion, testing boundaries, pushing limits, risky behavior and emotional struggle. For others – not so much. So, what goes on in the adolescent brain that causes these things? Do teens typically “grow out of it?” How were your adolescent years? Is it different and more difficult to be a teen today? Here with some answers is Matt Richtel. He is a Pulitizer prize winning reporter for the New York Times who spent nearly two years reporting on the teenage mental-health crisis for the paper’s multipart series Inner Pandemic, and he is author of a book called How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence (https://amzn.to/4kcS22F).

Food can taste different depending on the environment. For example, the lighting, the music and other factors can influence what you think you are tasting and enjoying. Listen as I reveal what makes food taste great and not so great. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3105122/Oxford-professor-s-astonishing-tips-make-food-taste-better.ht

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Why do people seem to get sick when (or just after) they fly? Many believe it is the recirculated air on the plane that everyone is breathing. That is probably not the reason. This episode starts by explaining what the real culprit is and how to protect yourself. https://www.rd.com/article/recirculated-air-on-airplanes/

It is amazing how often we miscommunicate with other people. It happens when we speak, or send a text or email, on the phone – it happens all the time. The trouble is that what we think we are saying is not necessarily what people are hearing. And that causes problems. Here to explain how this typically happens and how to prevent miscommunication is Roger Kreuz, an associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Memphis and a professor in the university’s psychology department. He is also author of the book Failure to Communicate: Why We Misunderstand What We Hear, Read, and See (https://amzn.to/44lnHaE)

You probably don’t think much about the chemicals in your clothes, but they are there. They are applied to clothes to make them anti-wrinkle, anti-odor, stain resistant and a bunch of other reasons. The problem is that those chemicals aren’t all that effective and they can be harmful. Joining me to explain why you haven’t heard much about this and why you need to know it is Alden Wicker. She is an award-winning journalist and author of the book To Dye For How Toxic Fashion is Making us Sick (https://amzn.to/3pt4Vzj).

Food cravings are a real thing. And it’s not just pregnant women who get them. One interesting way to curb cravings is with pickles. Listen as I explain how. http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-some-pregnant-women-crave-pickles-and-ice-cream.htm

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Who hasn’t had a brilliant idea or revelation while taking a shower? It seems the shower is a place where we do some of our best thinking. Why is that? This episode starts with an explanation. https://www.headspace.com/articles/shower-epiphanies

What is love? Is it an experience, or an emotion or something else? According to Anna Machin, an evolutionary anthropologist at Oxford University, love is a human need that is as important as food, sleep or water. Listen to our discussion and you will realize how important having love in your life is and how it impacts your health and longevity. Anna is the author of the book Why We Love: The New Science Behind Our Closest Relationships (https://amzn.to/3SzC8mp).

Death is a hard subject for many of us to discuss. Yet, it is hard not to be curious about it because it affects us all – when we lose someone or when ultimately we must face it ourselves. However, it is not a tough topic for Caitlin Doughty to discuss. Caitlin is a mortician, funeral home owner and bestselling author and she talks about death in a much lighter and interesting way. Listen as she joins me to discuss some of the fascinating things about death such as: What happens if the person next to you on an airplane dies? What is embalming? Is it true that hair and fingernails continue to grow after death? Can you keep your father’s skull after he dies? Caitlin is the author of Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? (https://amzn.to/3SArg7C).

Your refrigerator likely has a drawer for produce. And that turns out to be a lousy place to keep it. As you have no doubt experienced, the produce drawer is where a lot of food goes to rot and die. There is a better place to keep produce so it actually gets eaten. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120430140027.htm

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Everyone is bound to make a typo in an email. What’s interesting though is the reader will often see that typo and alter the way they interpret your message – sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. Listen to discover how this works. https://www.businessinsider.com/typos-in-emails-2015-5

The science of weather forecasting has come a long way in the last few decades. Interestingly, forecasters are not only improving their accuracy but also how they communicate the information to you and me. With more and more extreme weather (hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, high winds/fires etc.), this becomes more important for everyone. Here to explain how and why is Thomas Weber, former executive editor of TIME who has taught journalism and publishing at Columbia University, New York University and Princeton. He is author of the book Cloud Warriors: Deadly Storms, Climate Chaos―and the Pioneers Creating a Revolution in Weather Forecasting (https://amzn.to/4edBLsY).

While we are all human, there are interesting differences between us. Some of those differences, such as height, weight, skin color, even the size of your spleen, are dictated by where you live and where your ancestors came from. Listen as I discuss these amazing ways the human body adapts to its environment with Herman Pontzer. He is a professor of evolutionary anthropology and global health at Duke University whose work has been reported in the New York Times, the BBC, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Scientific American. He is author of the book Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us (https://amzn.to/4nucZsX).

If you are keeping a secret right now (even if it is a good secret), it could be a bigger burden on you than you imagine. Listen as I explain why and offer a suggestion on what to do with that secret. https://now.tufts.edu/2012/06/12/how-burdensome-are-secrets

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How do spiders find their way into your house? This episode starts by revealing how it happens and some ways to make your home less appealing to spiders, so they stay outside. https://www.prevention.com/life/a32332424/how-to-get-rid-of-spiders/

Unless you are some sort of grouch, you probably laugh at something almost every day. Have you ever thought about what makes something funny? Do humor and laughter influence you in some way? Is it true that laughter is the best medicine? Why do we seek out comedy in movies, TV shows or in clubs? Researchers have studied the role humor and laughter play in our lives and what they find is fascinating. Here for a discussion on this is Caleb Warren, an assistant professor at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, former assistant professor at Texas A&M University. He is the lead author of a study titled, What Makes Things Funny (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1088868320961909).

It's interesting that water is everywhere, yet it is a precious resource. Without water, we wouldn’t be here. The amount of water on earth remains constant but the population has grown so much that it puts a strain on the water supply. Extreme weather, pollution and contamination are also threats. So, why can’t we take the salt out of ocean water and solve all the water problems forever? And what about the water you drink? Is tap water safe or should you drink bottled water? Here to discuss all this is Peter Gleick ,co-founder, president-emeritus, and Senior Fellow of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security in Oakland, California and author of the book The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future (https://amzn.to/431foQo).

People debate the question of when is the best time to exercise – morning, afternoon or evening? Before you can answer that, there are factors you must consider like the type of exercise and the kind of person you are. Listen as I explain it. https://www.livestrong.com/article/447879-morning-vs-evening-cardio/

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People sometimes cheat on their partner. Not everyone – but some do. This episode begins with some insight into one big reason that causes infidelity in a marriage or relationship. https://www.thoughtco.com/why-people-cheat-on-their-partners-3026688

We are surrounded by information on every topic you can imagine. The problem is that if you want to learn how to do something, you could spend an eternity learning and never get to the doing – because there is always more to learn. The solution to this is to learn less according to Pat Flynn. He is a leading serial entrepreneurs, online marketer and podcaster who has mastered the art of "lean learning" – to learn just enough. Pat joins me to explain how it works. Pat is author of the book Lean Learning: How to Achieve More by Learning Less (https://amzn.to/4jTHGol) and host of the podcast Smart Passive Income (https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/spi/).

The world of economics may sound a bit academic but your whole life and the decisions you make are all about economics. And once you understand that, you can learn how things like game theory, uncertainty, overthinking and other economic principles can help you navigate life. Here to explain how to do that is Daryl Fairweather. She is chief economist at Redfin, where she analyzes US housing markets and consumer behavior as well as a member of the academic advisory council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a former senior economist at Amazon. Daryl is author of the book, Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work (https://amzn.to/3ZyDbs0).

Some people prefer to go barefoot – particularly in the summer. But there is a belief that it is illegal to go barefoot in certain public places or even to drive a car barefoot. Is it? Listen and discover the legal truth about going barefoot. http://www.thebarefootalliance.org/lawsregulations/

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