Curiosity Weekly

On this special episode of the Curiosity Podcast, we celebrate the end of our show's first year with a look back at some of the stories you never got to hear. You'll hear stories and lessons from past guests that we didn't get to share the first time around! Plus, hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer let their hair down and give you an inside look at how the show is produced. It's a refreshing (and very entertaining) look back at 2017 and forward towards the future of the Curiosity Podcast!Among other surprising facts and stories you'll hear, this episode features:Bryan Davis, founder and owner of Lost Spirits Distillery, telling a fascinating story about the international alcohol industry (with a hilarious history lesson on the side).Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation dropping some knowledge about how your sense of smell is linked to your memory and more.Handwriting analyst Dale Roberts swapping stories with Cody about the surprising world of hand modeling.Dr. Sam Sternberg, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing expert, discussing classical music and finding some surprising things in common with both Cody and Ashley.Some behind-the-scenes fun that could change the way you think about the Curiosity Podcast.Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/learn-a-little-about-a-lot-from-curiosity-podcast-favorites Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Curiosity is pretty important. And in this episode of the Curiosity Podcast, Anna Starkey, creative director of top UK interactive science center We The Curious, explains why she believes curiosity will allow humanity to survive and thrive in the 21st century.A curious person herself, Anna Starkey's areas of experience include live television production, comedy writing, classical music and live arts events, physics and neuroscience, and children's animation. Hear her discuss different types of curiosity, connections between curiosity, memory, and learning, and how to encourage a culture of curiosity.Additional resources discussed:We The CuriousAnna Starkey's websiteFollow Anna Starkey on Twitter @annastarkeyDo schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson TED TalkBring on the learning revolution! | Sir Ken Robinson TED TalkHow to escape education's death valley | Sir Ken Robinson TED TalkFollow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-importance-of-curiosity Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wordsmith Lynne Franklin, author of "Getting Others To Do What You Want," explains the psychology of persuasion on this episode of the Curiosity Podcast. As a consultant to executives and teams on persuasive communication, she studies how the brain affects our choices and behavior to help people solve their problems and get what they want.Additional resources discussed:Lynne Franklin Wordsmith"Getting Others To Do What You Want"All You Need to Know About the "Learning Styles" Myth, in Two Minutes | Wired10 Cognitive Biases That Distort Your Thinking | VerywellCalming Your Brain During Conflict | Harvard Business Review"Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone"Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-to-convince-others-to-do-what-you-want Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we explore what you can learn about a person based on handwriting alone. A handwriting analyst for more than 30 years, Dale Roberts of Write Insights analyzed the handwriting of the Curiosity staff and joined us on the podcast to explain his process.Play along at home while you listen! Write the sentence "I'm truly happy to be here today at the party" in print and in cursive, then follow along during the episode to analyze your handwriting and decide for yourself how accurate it is. Among other things, co-author of "Handwriting Analysis 101" Dale Roberts discusses:Why handwriting analysis works and why people are skeptical of its effectiveness.The upper, middle, and lower "zones" of handwriting analysis and what they can tell you about a writer's personality.How to identify specific personality traits, including but not limited to: the strength of your relationship with your parents; how skeptical, risk-averse, ambitious, or motivated you are; whether a person is stubborn, outspoken, frugal, detail-oriented, or dislikes being in big crowds; and how men and women feel about the opposite sex.Additional resources discussed:Write Insights"Handwriting Analysis 101"Paper Personality -- Barry BeyersteinAll About Graphology | Skeptoid PodcastDo differences in sex hormones affect handwriting style? Evidence from digit ratio and sex role identity as determinants of the sex of handwritingBad Handwriting: A Gender Thing?What Does a Certified Forensic Document Examiner Do?Which Presidents Were Left-Handed?Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/what-does-your-handwriting-say-about-your-personality Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you want to be comfortable in any situation, then you just need to know and remember how to behave. Manners and etiquette aren't just for snobs! Etiquette expert Jihan Murray-Smith joins the Curiosity Podcast this week to explain the guidelines behind proper etiquette in any situation. Whether you're at a family dinner, business lunch, or first date, you'll want to listen so you can act with confidence in any social situation.As founder of the etiquette and public speaking consulting firm Tea & Crumpets, Jihan Murray-Smith has been facilitating workshops on college campuses, high schools, elementary schools for 15 years. To learn more about this topic and many others, check out Curiosity.com, download our 5-star iOS or Android app, and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, and everywhere else podcasts are found so you don't miss an episode!Additional resources discussed:Tea & Crumpets Chicago: Etiquette, Public Speaking & Job-ReadinessRenaissance Table Etiquette and the Origins of MannersWould you give up your seat for a pregnant woman?Put a Fork in It (Slate)The Effects of Mere Exposure on Liking for Edible SubstancesFollow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/why-politeness-and-etiquette-matter Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are hackers really a constant threat, or is hacking just another tool for media manipulation and fearmongering? To get definitive answers, the Curiosity Podcast sat down with the deputy chief of research at the Army Cyber Institute at West Point, Dr. Natalie Vanatta. She explains what government and corporate entities are doing to keep the average person safe online – and how people can protect themselves. Plus: learn where the international community draws the line between warfare and cyber-warfare.A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and instructor of mathematics at the United States Military Academy, Dr. Vanatta's work at the Army Cyber Institute focuses on bringing private industry, academia, and government agencies together to explore and solve cyber challenges facing the U.S. Army in the next 3 to 10 years.Additional resources discussed:Army Cyber Institute at West PointArizona State University Threatcasting LabShmoocon 2017 | A Widening Attack Plain - Natalie Vanatta, Brian David Johnson (YouTube)United Nations Definition of AggressionDefining War in an Ill-Defined World (New York Times)DOD needs cyberwarriors so badly it may let skilled recruits skip boot camp (Ars Technica)CyberCorps: Scholarship For Service (SFS)COACH: Crash Override's Automated Cybersecurity HelperFollow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/fighting-in-the-fourth-dimension-the-u-s-army-on-cyber-warfare Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CRISPR technology could change the world. Essentially, CRISPR is a technique that allows scientists to make precision edits to any DNA, whether bacterial or human. The potential for this technology is huge: if scientists have the accuracy to replace just a few faulty genes, it might be possible to cure genetic disorders as serious as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease and as common as lactose intolerance and color-blindness. Dr. Sam Sternberg, CRISPR expert and protein-RNA biochemist, joins the Curiosity Podcast to explain the science, ethics, and future of this cutting-edge technology.Samuel H. Sternberg, PhD, will be starting his own research laboratory at Columbia University in early 2018, as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. Along with Jennifer Doudna, he is the co-author of A Crack in Creation, a popular science book about the discovery, development, and applications of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology.Additional resources discussed:Samuel H. Sternberg, PhD official website"A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution""Gattaca" (1997 film starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman)'Three-parent baby' claim raises hopes — and ethical concerns (Nature)Genome-editing revolution: My whirlwind year with CRISPR (Jennifer Doudna's article in Nature)Useful Mutants, Bred With Radiation (New York Times)Sorry Hipsters, That Organic Kale Is a Genetically Modified Food (Smithsonian)Gene Editing Makes Cows Without Horns (Popular Science)Ben Mezrich's Woolly Mammoth Book Being Adapted Into Movie by Fox"Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive One of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures"How to Extract DNA from a Strawberry (YouTube)23andMe direct-to-consumer genetic testingNeutron-Star Collision Reveals Origin of Gold, Astronomers Say (Live Science)Astronomers Strike Gravitational Gold In Colliding Neutron Stars (NPR)Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/customizing-the-human-race-with-crispr-cas9-genome-editing-technology Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Modern medicine can do extraordinary things – but how? This week, the Curiosity Podcast welcomes Dr. Sliman Bensmaia to explain how scientists are able to develop prosthetic devices that some day may be able to transmit a realistic sense of touch to their owners. An assistant professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, Dr. Bensmaia discusses how lab is working on cutting edge technology, and what's in store for the future of prosthetics.The Bensmaia Lab studies how the peripheral and central nervous systems represent the world around us. Dr. Bensmaia's research has led to groundbreaking insights about how we perceive objects and textures through the sense of touch, and may one day lead to prosthetic devices that completely restore a realistic sense of touch for amputees and tetraplegic patients.Additional resources discussed:Bensmaia LabBionic Touch Through a Brain Interface | Sliman Bensmaia | TEDxColumbiaCollegeChicagoUChicago Discovery Series│'Brain Teasers: Cracking the Mind's Toughest Riddles' with Sliman BensmaiaWatch President Obama fist bump a robotic arm powered by a brain chipFollow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/neuroprosthetics-and-the-future-of-artificial-touch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the Curiosity Podcast welcomes the fascinating Bryan Davis to share his story. Davis owns and runs a distillery in Los Angeles, but it's not your typical distillery – he's found a way to change the chemical properties of rum to age it 20 years in just 6 days. And here's where things get interesting: he taught himself the science behind how to do it.Today's conversation isn't so much about what Bryan does as it is about how he got to where he is today. Listen to this episode to learn about history, organic chemistry, and business skills all wrapped into one captivating tale.Additional resources discussed:Lost Spirits Technology (website)Lost Spirits Distillery (website)The new spirit of innovation | Bryan Davis | TEDxBermudaTime Out Los Angeles | This distillery tour is like a boozy theme park for adultsThe Telegraph | 10 vodkas put to the testFollow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/teaching-yourself-the-history-chemistry-and-business-of-spirits Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Comedy comes in many forms, each with its own history and style. And while it may be subjective, there's still some surprising science that makes comedy what it is today. This week on the Curiosity Podcast, we talk to long-time performer and teacher Lilly Allison, an expert with a firm grasp on the history and psychology of comedy. In this episode, she explains and demonstrates comedic devices in front of a live audience at the 2017 Chicago Podcast Festival.Lilly has been involved with comedy since she was 14 yrs old. She has studied, taught, and performed improv with several organizations, including 3 years of traveling with The Second City National Touring Company. In addition to teaching stand-up and improv comedy classes, she also hosts "A Lill Annoyance Stand Up Show" series at The Annoyance Theatre in Chicago.Additional resources discussed:Lilly Allison's bioBenign Violation TheorySumerians cracked world's oldest joke"Come On And Slam" Space Jam SubredditFollow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — 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. Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/where-comedy-comes-from-live-from-chicago-podcast-festival Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.