Curiosity Daily

Today, we’re bringing you three new stories that cover a few topics we’re really passionate about. You’ll learn about how cats become like liquid to fit through small spaces and why that’s a big deal, the new super sticky strong silk inspired by Spiderman, and a new method of 3D-printing that uses sound. Be sure to stick around until the end of the episode to hear a special message from Calli and Nate.   Liquid Cats   “At-home experiments shed light on cats’ liquid behavior.” by Andrea Tamayo. 2024.  “On the rheology of cats.” by M.A. Fardin. 2014.  “Cats are (almost) liquid! - Cats selectively rely on body size awareness when negotiating short openings.” by Péter Pongrácz. 2024.  “That dog won’t fit: body size awareness in dogs.” by R. Lenkei, et al. 2019.   Spider Silk   “Spider-Man-inspired sticky silk fibers lift 80 times their weight.” by Paul McClure. 2024.  “Dynamic Adhesive Fibers for Remote Capturing of Objects.” by Marco Lo Presti, et al. 2024.   Sound Printing  “Holographic direct sound printing.” by Mahdi Derayatifar, et al. 2024.  “Direct sound printing.” by Mohsen Habibi, et al. 2022.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

Today, you’ll learn about a new bacteria-busting polymer inspired by barnacles, how the things you do today will affect your brain in two weeks, and the memories elephants keep of their favorite people from long ago.   Barnacle Polymers  “Barnacle-inspired polymers could present new way to design antibiofilm materials, researchers say.” by Cynthia McCormick Hibbdrt. 2024.  “Coacervate Dense Phase Displaces Surface-Established Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms.” by Apoorva Vishwakarma, et al. 2024.   Two Week Brain  “Your Brain Changes Based on What You Did Two Weeks Ago.” by Pandora Dewan. 2024.  “Longitudinal single-subject neuroimaging study reveals effects of daily environmental, physiological, and lifestyle factors on functional brain connectivity.” by Ana Maria Triana, et al. 2024.   Elephant Memory  “Do African Savanna Elephants (Loxodonta africana) Show Interspecific Social Long-Term Memory for Their Zoo Keepers?” by Martin Kranzlin, et al. 2024.  “Truth or Tail: Elephants have good memories.” Cleveland Zoo Society. 2021.  “Long-Term Olfactory Memory in African Elephants.” by Franziska Hoerner, et al. 2023.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

Today, you’ll learn about the tiny tractor beam that could change how certain diseases are diagnosed, how a screw allowed an iconic historical building to go up faster than anyone thought possible, and why scientists are worried about the 33 dark spots with thousands of unknown plants.  Tractor Beam  “MIT engineers create a chip-based tractor beam for biological particles.” by Adam Zewe. 2024.  “Optical tweezing of microparticles and cells using silicon-photonics-based optical phased arrays.” by Tal Sneh, et al. 2024.   Crystal Palace  “How London’s Crystal Palace was built so quickly.” by Jennifer Ouellette. 2024.  “The Great Exhibition of 1851.” Christopher Marsden. N.d.  “Thread form at the Crystal Palace.” by John Gardner & Ken Kiss. 2024.   Botany Dark Spots  “Botanists identify 33 global ‘dark spots’ with thousands of unknown plants.” by Patrick Greenfield. 2024.  “‘Uncharted territory’: more than 2m fungi species yet to be discovered, scientists say.” by Patrick Greenfield. 2023.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

Today, you’ll learn about how whales could be carrying on conversations from over 60 miles away, the struggles of foster moms in the 1600s, and why your blood pressure reading might be way off.   Whale Talk  “Whales May Be Communicating Across Vast Distances.” by Joanna Thompson. 2024.  “Alaska’s Population of Bowhead Whales Rebounding.” by Riley Woodford. 2003.  “Orientation by means of long range acoustic signaling in baleen whales.” by Roger Payne & Douglas Webb. 1971.  “Synchronization of bowhead whales.” by Evgeny A. Podolskiy, et al. 2024.   Foster Care History  “Early foster care gave poor women power, 17th-century records reveal.” EurekAlert! 2024.  “History of Foster Care in the United States.” NEPA. N.D.   Blood Pressure Test  “Blood pressure may read falsely high if the arm isn’t positioned properly.” by Aimee Cunningham. 2024.  “Arm Position and Blood Pressure Readings.” by Hairong Liu, MHS. 2024.  “Estimated Hypertension Prevalence, Treatment, and Control Among U.S. Adults.” MillionHearts. 2023.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

Today, you’ll learn about the entire neuron-for-neuron model of a fly brain, jellyfish that can merge together seamlessly, and how talking to our dogs in that way-too-cutesy voice might actually have a purpose.   Fly Brains  “Researchers simulate an entire fly brain on a laptop. Is a human brain next?” by Robert Sanders. 2024.  “A Drosophila computational brain model reveals sensorimotor processing.” by Philip K. Shiu, et al. 2024.   Comb Jelly Fusion  “Injured comb jellies can fuse into a single organism.” by Jacek Krywko. 2024.  “Rapid physiological integration of fused ctenophores.” by Kei Jokura, et al. 2024.   Dog Voice  “Our cutesy cringey dog voices could be practical, after all.” SciMex. 2024.  “Dog-human vocal interactions match dogs’ sensory-motor tuning.” by Eloise C. Deaux, et al. 2024.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

Today, you’ll learn about the cause of static electricity, how a new headband could help you stop a stroke before it happens, and why the ground in Siberia is exploding.   Static Electricity  “We Finally Know What Creates Static Electricity, After Thousands of Years.” by Michelle Starr. 2024.  “Why petting your cat leads to static electricity.” Northwestern. 2024.   Stroke Headband  “Laser headband non-invasively IDs stroke risk in real time.” by Bronwyn Thompson. 2024.  “Correlating stroke risk with non-invasive cerebrovascular perfusion dynamics using a portable speckle contrast optical spectroscopy laser device.” by Yu Xi Huang, et al. 2024.   Exploding Craters  “Chemists Finally Unravel the Mystery of Siberia’s Explosive Craters.” by Adam Kovac. 2024.  “Everything Is Extremely Normal and Totally Fine.” by Brian Kahn. 2020.  “Osmosis Drives Explosions and Methane Release in Siberian Permafrost.” by Ana M. O. Morgado, et al. 2024.  “The Mystery of Siberia’s Exploding Craters, Explained.” YouTube, Distilled. 2023.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. 

Today, you’ll learn about how scientists were able to witness water form at the molecular level and what that could mean for life on Mars, why Mount Everest is still growing, and why scientists are putting tiny backpacks on sea turtle hatchlings.    Water Molecules  “Researchers Watch Water Form at the Molecular Scale for the First Time.” Technology Networks. 2024.  “Ultrathin silicon nitride microchip for in situ/operando microscopy with high spatial resolution and spectral visibility.” by Kunmo Koo, et al. 2024.  “Unraveling the adsorption-limited hydrogen oxidation reaction at palladium surface via in situ electron microscopy.” by Yukun Liu, et al. 2024.   Mount Everest Growth   “Geologists Reveal a Surprising Reason Why Mount Everest Grows Taller Each Year.” by Rudy Molinek. 2024.  “Recent uplift of Chomolungma enhanced by river drainage piracy.” by Xu Han, et al. 2024.   Turtle Backpacks  “Scientists use tiny ‘backpacks’ on turtle hatchlings to observe their movements.” EurekAlert! 2024.  “Swimming through  sand: using accelerometers to observe the cryptic, pre-emergence life-stage of sea turtle hatchlings.” by David Dor, et al. 2024.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.

Today, you’ll learn about a new transparent solar cell that could replace your windows to power your home, the discovery of hundreds of new mysterious Nazca Glyphs, and how singing in a choir might be good for your brain.   Solar Cell Charging  “All-back-contact neutral-colored transparent crystalline silicon solar cells enabling seamless modularization.” by Jeonghwan Park, et al. 2024.  “A smartphone that can charge itself from sunlight - scientists have created transparent solar cells that can be embedded in glass.” by Wayne Williams. 2024.   Nazca Glyphs  “Hundreds of Mysterious Nazca Glyphs Have Just Been Revealed.” by Michelle Starr. 2024.  “Over 140 New Nazca Lines Have Been Discovered, And We Finally Have Clues to Their Use.” by Peter Dockrill. 2019.  “See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More.” by Sonja Anderson. 2024.   Singing & Brain Health  “Choir singing associated with improved brain structure, especially in older adults.” by Bianca Setionago. 2024.  “Choir singing is associated with enhanced structural connectivity across the adult lifespan.” by Nella Moisseinen, et al. 2024.  “Playing an instrument, singing may help preserve brain health.” by Robby Berman. 2024.   Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.