Curiosity Daily Podcast: “What Is Life?” with Carl Zimmer, Why You Always Have Room for Dessert, and Learning Myths

Learn about common misconceptions around learning that even educators believe; the scientific reason why it feels like you always have more room for dessert; and how science writer Carl Zimmer responded when we asked him “what is life?”

March 14, 2019

Episode Show Notes:

In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:

More from Carl Zimmer:

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