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Learn how deliberate practice makes perfect, what the New England Vampire Panic is, and how baby tortoises are attracted to faces from birth.

Learn why Einstein worried that science can’t explain “the now,” how high-impact exercise is actually good for your bones, and why in Haiti, zombies are more than fiction.

Author Bill Sullivan discusses the surprising ways your genes can influence aggressive and violent tendencies. Then, learn about how it’s possible that anglerfish can fuse to their mates; and box breathing, a Navy SEAL technique for reducing stress and staying calm.

Learn about how that dark sense of humor can mean a higher IQ, the origin of the word “orange,” and how the arctic produces “zombie fires.”

Learn whether smiling can actually make you feel happier and why it took John Harrison, a working-class clockmaker, to figure out longitude.

Learn about why everyone claims they’re awful at remembering names; how “hobo code” helped itinerant workers communicate in the 1900s; and whether you probably see yourself as more attractive than you really are.

Learn about how a phenomenon called the third-person effect makes us think we’re too smart for advertising to work on us, why scientists used violinists to study how humans sync in a complex network, and why you can relieve pain by holding hands!

Learn about whether animals can predict earthquakes, why younger folks experience déjà vu more often, and how software that helped us reach the moon was literally woven by hand.

Learn about how the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest texts in the world, was first translated not by a scientist, but by an engraver’s apprentice named George Smith; how horses lost their toes; and why sperm swim differently than scientists previously thought.

Learn about how there are two types of empathy — and why we need both, why sturdy steel razors dull, and whether it’s possible to learn perfect pitch.

Learn about how a mutation that evolved to protect us against malaria actually makes us more prone to other diseases; and why astronauts are using old sailing technology (sextants) to navigate through space. Plus: a special update from Cody!

Learn about how rats might not have been all to blame for the bubonic plagues and why we’re more prone to mindlessly eat while we multitask.

Learn about how children led their own research project into what they really think of adults, how painting eyes on cow butts could help solve a wildlife conservation problem, and whether it’s a good idea to rinse out your recycling.

Learn about why you have tiny rocks in your ears; why the self-congruity effect of music says you may prefer music by artists who have a similar personality to you; and how chemotherapy began as a chemical weapon.

Learn how swapping bodies with our pals can alter the way we view ourselves, why California’s redwoods have been able to survive relentless wildfires, and the real reason there are colorful bumps on the sidewalk. (If this episode sounds familiar, congratulations! You got the episode that escaped a week ago. Oops! This one is cleaned up and ready for prime-time.)