Learn about what it would be like to travel through a wormhole, how the pumpkin became North America’s Halloween mascot, and how social isolation can fuel conspiracy theories.

What Would It Be Like to Ride Through a Wormhole? By Ashley Hamer

• Lindley, D. (2005). The Birth of Wormholes. Physics, 15. https://physics.aps.org/story/v15/st11
• Nola Taylor Redd. (2017, October 21). What Is Wormhole Theory? Space.Com. https://www.space.com/20881-wormholes.html
• Ceurstemont, S. (2012, March 13). What a trip through a wormhole would look like. New Scientist TV. https://web.archive.org/web/20120415112903/http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2012/03/what-a-trip-through-a-wormhole-would-look-like.html
• What does a journey through a wormhole actually look like? (2014, November 13). Physicscentral.Com. http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2014/11/what-does-journey-through-wormhole.html

How Did Pumpkins Become Halloween’s Go-to Decoration? By Kelsey Donk

• History.com Editors. (2019, October 25). How Jack O’Lanterns Originated in Irish Myth. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins
• Butler, S. (2013, October 25). The Halloween Pumpkin: An American History. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/the-halloween-pumpkin-an-american-history
• Why Do We Carve Pumpkins at Halloween? | Britannica. (2020). In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-we-carve-pumpkins-at-halloween

Social Isolation Could Breed Conspiracy Theorists by Anna Todd

• Graeupner, D., & Coman, A. (2017). The dark side of meaning-making: How social exclusion leads to superstitious thinking. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 69, 218–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.10.003
• Hutson, M. (2017). A Conspiracy of Loneliness. Scientific American Mind, 28(3), 15–15. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamericanmind0517-15b
• Social Exclusion Leads to Conspiratorial Thinking, Study Finds | Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. (2017). Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. https://spia.princeton.edu/news/social-exclusion-leads-conspiratorial-thinking-study-finds

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Ashley Hamer and Natalia Reagan (filling in for Cody Gough). You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/why-social-isolation-could-breed-conspiracy-theorists

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