All episodes
The Myth of Pregnancy Cravings, Why Raindrops Don’t Damage Insect Wings, and August’s Curiosity Challenge Trivia
Aggression and Epigenetics (w/ Bill Sullivan), Calm Down with Box Breathing, and How Anglerfish Fuse Without Immune Rejection
The Invisible Forces Controlling You (w/ Bill Sullivan), You Daydream Surprisingly Often, and Ancient Greek Temples Were Built on Fault Lines on Purpose
Normalcy Bounces Back Quickly in Times of Stress and the Female Astronauts of the Mercury 13
How Blind People Describe Animals, Plague Myths About “Ring Around the Rosie,” and Radiation Shields Made from Fungus
Do Masks Stunt Emotional Development? Plus: Human Ears Perk Up, Too, and Why Your Shower Curtain Clings To You
What to Do When Your Pet Is Scared, You Have Microbes Inside Your Cells, and Meet Natalia Reagan (Again!)
Dying People Can Probably Hear You, Mapmakers Catch Copycats with Paper Towns, and How Woodpeckers Shut Down a NASA Launch
What If You Stopped Showering (w/ James Hamblin) and Are Some Trees Immortal?
A Science-Backed Workout in 10 Minutes, How Collective Narcissism Makes Groups Toxic, and How Dolphins Make Friends
Zoos Have Their Own Dating Apps, Why Grease Is Hard to Clean Off Plastic, and You Don’t Have to Be Married to Be Happy
Are There Really Wasps in Figs? Plus: People Like Round Numbers Even When They’re Bad
Building Healthier Cities (w/ Dr. Aruni Bhatnagar), 3D-Printing a Nuclear Reactor Core, and Why Spaghetti Breaks in Three
How the Environment Affects Your Health (w/ Dr. Aruni Bhatnagar) and How Polynesians Mingled with Native Americans 800 Years Ago
You Create False Memories of Daily Tasks, Dogs Can Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field, and There’s No Up or Down in Space
Why the US Military Made Shark Repellant, Why Moths Are Drawn to Lights, and the Difference Between Mummies and Fossils
Finding Lost Shark Species (w/ Forrest Galante) and the 2 Types of Nostalgia
Sharks Aren’t Just Apex Predators (w/ Forrest Galante), How Cats Affect Online Dating, and When Giant Prehistoric Sea Scorpions Ruled the Seas
Can Sharks Smell Blood from a Mile Away? Plus: Dual-Uterus Sharks and How Interstellar Travel Will Change Language
Why People Are Afraid of Sharks, Discovery of 4 “Walking” Shark Species, and Fighting Climate Change with Rocks
Parents’ Brains Sync When They’re Together, the Genius Math Behind Credit Card Numbers, and July’s Curiosity Challenge Trivia
Why Religious People Have More Children, Sea Turtles’ Clumsy Navigation Skills, and the Real Center of Our Solar System Isn’t the Sun
How Feeling Sick Is Colored by Culture, The Venomous Dinosaur from Jurassic Park IRL, and All the Light Ever Produced in the Universe
You Have Tiny Rocks in Your Ears, How Artists’ Personas Influence Your Music Choices, and Chemotherapy Began as a Chemical Weapon
Why Some Words Are More Memorable, How Hair Growth Works, and How Fish End Up in Landlocked Lakes
Advertising Makes Us Unhappy, The Myth of Maximum Heart Rate, and How Parents Can Help Language Researchers with an App
Why New Habits Have to Be Tiny (w/ Dr. BJ Fogg) and Why Human Infants Are Late Bloomers
A New Way to Build Habits (w/ Dr. BJ Fogg) and the Best Time of Day to Exercise
Why Stress Sweat Smells Worse, Studying Wildlife During the Pandemic, and Do Men Just Not See Messes?
You Navigate with Your Nose, Busting 5 Summer Myths, and Using Horseshoe Crabs’ Blue Blood to Develop New Medicine
Fannie Farmer Created the Modern Cooking Recipe, the Shepard Scale Audio Illusion, and How Scientists Test the COVID-19 Vaccine
Why Some People Can’t Recognize Faces, Weight-Lifting Strengthens Your Nerves Too, and Why Earth’s Core Doesn’t Melt
Teaching Kids to Not Be Prejudiced, Why Cats Have Vertical Pupils, and a Massive Stonehenge Discovery
The Need for Nature During Lockdown, Why Plants Are Green, and How Microbes and Parasites Might Make Us Healthier
Stay Happy and Healthy by Maintaining Your Routines, How Dolphins Learn to Use Tools, and Can Adults Grow New Brain Cells?
Waiting for the Best Option Lowers Your Standards, Spies Can Eavesdrop Using Light Bulbs, and Why Atoms Don’t Look Like the Solar System
Hack Your Short-Term Memory, The Wild Origins of Gallbladder Surgery, and Does Chocolate Cause Acne Breakouts?
The First Prescription Video Game, Solving the Mystery of Short-Term Memory, and Hummingbirds’ Extraordinary Vision
Blame Trolling on “Everyday Sadism,” How to Sleep Better During Lockdown, and a Breakthrough in Random Number Generation
Saturated Fat Could Kill Your Focus, Animals Have Regional Accents, and Rings Around Mars
Black Hole Holograms, How We Make Sense of the Nonsensical, and June’s Curiosity Challenge
Human Hair Was Created in a Lab, You See Less Color Than You Think, and Mapping an Underground City Without Digging
A Better Way to Stop Implicit Bias, the Murderous “Femme Fatale” Firefly, and Finding the Universe’s Missing Matter
Wearables and AI Analytics Are Changing Medicine (w/ Dr. Lloyd Minor) and What Happens to Your Brain After a Breakup
How Summer Affects COVID-19, Why So Many Mars Missions Are Launching in July, and Exercise More by Copying Your Friends
Why You Should Argue to Learn, Dogs Want to Rescue You, and Do Blind People Dream?
What Neanderthal Genes Are Doing in Your DNA, The Time Photosynthesis Killed Nearly All Life on Earth, and the Inventor of “Do, Re, Mi” Notation
Qualified Immunity in Police Misconduct, Why Longing Is Important in Relationships, and Wandering Stars Regularly Visit Our Solar System
Loving Your Job May Lead to Unethical Behavior, Bumblebees Bite Plants to Make Them Bloom, and Jupiter’s Moons Formed from Specks of Dust
Periodical Cicadas 101, Why Smarter People Choke Under Pressure, and Analyzing DNA to Solve the Dead Sea Scrolls Mystery
The Psychology of ‘Animal Crossing,’ How a Failed Death Ray Led to Radar, and Intrusive Thoughts Explained
Tap into the 4 Pillars of Learning (w/ Stanislas Dehaene) and How We Get Seedless Fruit
New Science on How We Learn (w/ Stanislas Dehaene), Why Stores Use Air Curtains, and Desert Microbes that Dissolve Rocks with Acid
Virtual Therapy vs. In-Person Therapy, How Redlining Deepened Segregation in US Cities, and Earth’s Drifting Magnetic Poles
Lockdown Is Changing Our Perception of Time, a Devastating Meteor that Never Landed, and Elephants Can Catch Yawns from Humans
Juneteenth’s Origins, Change Your Routine to Be Happier, and Why Americans Don’t Say “Maths”
Climate Justice 101 (w/ Katharine Hayhoe), Why Peanut Butter Gets Gum Out of Hair, and How Gaslighting Makes You Question Your Sanity
What Science Says About Fat-Burning Foods, Do Great Things by Being a Part of Something Greater, and Telling Male and Female Dinosaurs Apart
Modern Benefits from Archaeological Discoveries (w/ Mary Prendergast and Elizabeth Sawchuk) and Hearing Body Language
Making Life Decisions on a Coin Flip, How You Respond to 2 Types of Injustice, and Why Otters Juggle Rocks
Why People Protest According to Psychology, How Scientists Made Blind People “See” Shapes, and May’s Curiosity Challenge
Hope in the Fight Against Climate Change (w/ Katharine Hayhoe) and Overcoming Bedtime Procrastination
Why Rainy Days Make You Sleepy, A Fix for AI’s Energy Appetite, and Solving Geology’s Mystery of the “Great Unconformity”
Extinct Human Species (w/ Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast) and Moody Teenage Dogs
Differences in CEO and Murdering Psychopaths, How Deep Sleep Cleans Your Brain, and the Mystery of Our Inactive Sun
Fighting Coronavirus with Llamas, Why Rain Stops Rocket Launches, and Listener Questions About Cold Things
How We Know Climate Change Is Caused by Humans (w/ Katharine Hayhoe) and the Myth of “Common Sense”
Defending Against “Murder Hornets” with Bee Balls, Aphantasia and the Two Extremes of the “Mind’s Eye,” and Venus’s Freaky-Fast Atmosphere
How Technology Is Enabling Archeological Discoveries (w/ Elizabeth Sawchuk and Mary Prendergast) and the Privacy Risks of Eye-Tracking Tech
Your Ancestors May Influence Your Work Hours, Coral Reproduced in Captivity, and the First Known Water-Dwelling Dinosaur
Selfish People Remember Being Generous, Why We Can’t Transplant Brains, and Buying Life Insurance from Vending Machines
“Rub Some Dirt on It” to Heal Wounds, Funny Memes Can Save Endangered Species, and Space Changes the Shape of Astronauts’ Hearts
What Makes People Cultural Omnivores, Archaeologists’ Prehistoric Poop Problem, and How to Tell Stars and Planets Apart in the Sky
Y2K Was Actually a Success Story, Sleeping Brains Replay Waking Experience, and Plants Can Hear When They’re Being Eaten
Elephants Get Drunk (and They’re Lightweights), Pigeons Helped Win Wars, and Night Owls May Struggle to Regulate Their Emotions
Marijuana Categories Aren’t Based in Science, Scientists Staged Bronze-Age Swordfights, and How Clean Are Your Clothes, Really?
Why People Ignore Facts in Medical Emergencies, Victorian-Era Credit Cards, and Adding a New Row to the Periodic Table
World of Warcraft Could Help Fight COVID-19, Social Rejection Can Fuel Creativity, and What Mouse Facial Expressions Teach Us About Emotion
An Interstellar Object’s Origin Revealed, Why Superstitions Evolved, and How the Sense of Smell Is More Complicated Than We Thought
Therapy for Parents Can Ease Kids’ Anxiety, What Makes Fruit Mealy, and Lessons from the “Second Earth” Biosphere 2
What Is the Grand Unified Field Theory? (w/ Dr. Adam Becker), Should You Wad or Fold Toilet Paper, and Why You Judge Your Own Hoarding Differently
Where Our Emotions Come From and How to Hack Them (w/ Lisa Feldman Barrett) and Tarantula Venom Could Be an Opioid Alternative
How Antibiotics in Agriculture Changed How We Eat (w/ Maryn McKenna), When Daydreaming Goes Wrong, and Dogs Recognize Faces in Photos
The Universe Might Expand Unevenly, Using a Camera to De-Clutter Your House, and 3 Hominins Lived in the Same Place and Time
Pigeons Can Be Superstitious, Why Allergy Drugs Make You Sleepy, and The 5 Ages of the Universe
Play a Game to Help Cure Alzheimer’s, Building the Perfect Swear Word, and May’s Curiosity Challenge
Gut Neurons Influence Brain Neurons, Why We Still Use the QWERTY Keyboard, and Why You “Shoot the Messenger”
Using Urine to Build a Moon Base, Musicians and Audiences Sync Brain Activity, and Why “Size Matters” for Narwhal Tusks
Early Career Choices Influence Your Personality, Why We Celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and Psychedelic Effects from Placebos
Null Misadventures (w/ Matt Parker), Why Reheated Coffee Tastes Bad, and the Ancestor of Most Living Animals
Why We Get Warning Fatigue, Prehistoric Monkeys Crossed the Atlantic on Rafts, and Why New Lovebirds Feel So Familiar
5 Coronavirus Myths Debunked, Why You Shouldn’t Get Your News on Social Media, and the Discovery of a Black Hole Missing Link
Why Soft Drinks Taste Different Out of Cans, Why Housecats Are Dangerous for Wildlife, and 100 Minor Planets Discovered Beyond Neptune
The Battle of Brains vs Brawn in Aging, Perils of Ultra-Processed Food, and Bats Surviving White-Nose Syndrome
Using Lava Lamps to Generate Randomness (w/ Matt Parker), How Ritalin Makes You Focus, and What Bacteria Beneath the Sea Floor Means for Life on Mars
Quarantine Survival Tips (w/ Dr. Renée Lertzman and “Deadliest Catch” Captains Sig & Keith) and Why We Have Birthmarks
Anniversary Episode! Supersonic Packing Tape, Chronological vs. Biological Age, Why Mirrors Are Next to Elevators, and Anti-Asteroid Spacecraft
Dealing with Uncertainty During the Coronavirus Pandemic (w/ Dr. Renée Lertzman) and One Dog Year Doesn’t Equal Seven Human Years
Fishing Science (w/ “Deadliest Catch” Captains Sig & Keith) and the Psychology of Sour Grapes
Stealing Money with Salami Slicing Attacks (w/ Matt Parker), You Don’t Know the Back of Your Hand, and Tylenol Eases Social Exclusion