Curiosity Weekly

Like it or not, food safety is something that people often bend the rules on. We leave leftovers on the counter too long, we use the five second rule, or maybe we don’t wash our veggies as well as we should. Today, it’s more important than ever to make sure that we can trust the food we’re eating and know how to take care of it properly so that we don’t get sick. To discuss the science of food safety, Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by food scientist and content creator @hydroxide.foodscience. Before that, Sam looks into a new paper that says humans are starting to talk less and later, a study digs into an enzyme that can supposedly shred cancer cells.   Link to Show Notes HERE  Follow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Dr. Samantha Yammine — for free! Still curious? Get science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. Terms apply. 

Reproduction is the basis for life and yet, for many, it’s still a mystery. This episode, Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by author and gynecologist Dr. Karen Tang to discuss the rumors, misconceptions, and realities of reproductive health. Before that, Sam explains why scientists were surprised to hear jaguars meow for the first time. Later, she’ll dig into some new research that suggests there may be a cure for paralytic shellfish poisoning in the body of a bullfrog.   Link to Show Notes HERE  Follow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Dr. Samantha Yammine — for free! Still curious? Get science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. Terms apply. 

When someone goes into a coma or vegetative state, it is only natural for their doctors and loved ones to try to understand their level of awareness of the world around them. But, every patient is different and it’s not as simple as it looks in the movies. This episode, Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by a noted expert in the field of covert consciousness, Dr. Adrian Owen. They discuss his work on how the brain perceives the world from an unconscious state. Sam also looks into new research that solves a years-old puzzle about the physics of sprinklers and a study that is trying to give our brains the benefit of sleep without sleeping at all.   Link to Show Notes HERE  Follow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Dr. Samantha Yammine — for free! Still curious? Get science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. Terms apply. 

Microgravity causes a ton of changes in the human body and there’s been a lot of research showing how these changes affect astronauts. One bodily function that hasn’t been studied during an active space mission? Menstruation. This episode, Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Manju Bangalore, an astronaut-in-training and reproductive scientist aiming to research how the human body menstruates while in microgravity.   But there’s other space news in the science world so before that, Sam explores what it will take for NASA to build a nuclear reactor on the moon. Later, she looks into how some asteroids contain the raw ingredients for DNA and RNA.   Link to Show Notes HERE  Follow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Dr. Samantha Yammine — for free! Still curious? Get science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. Terms apply. 

There’s a misconception that feeling deep emotions is a personality trait, rather than a neurological phenomenon. A lot of the time, it’s nature, not nurture that causes heightened emotional sensitivity. This episode, Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Dr. Sasha Hamdani, a board-certified psychiatrist and author of Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience, and the Science of Feeling Deeply. They discuss how the brain processes emotions and why some people feel their emotions more intensely than others. Sam also looks into some drama between mathematicians and OpenAI and a new study that reveals something bizarrely universal about the human race.      Link to Show Notes HERE  Follow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Dr. Samantha Yammine — for free! Still curious? Get science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. Terms apply. 

Most people are right-handed. So this episode, we are celebrating International Left-Handers Day to honor the 10% of the population that are left-handed. To discuss the unique elements of the left-hand brain, host Dr. Samantha Yammine speaks with clinical neuropsychologist Dr. David Carey. She also dives into the question of why so many people are right-handed and later, she explores a study that shows how to figure out which paw preference your dog has.   Link to Show Notes HERE  Follow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Dr. Samantha Yammine — for free! Still curious? Get science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. Terms apply.