Curiosity Daily Podcast: A Harmful Mutation Evolved for Good, Why Astronauts Are Using Old Sailing Tech in Space, and Cody’s Message

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!

September 10, 2020

Episode Show Notes:

A mutation that makes us prone to autoimmune diseases evolved to protect us from malaria by Cameron Duke

Astronauts Are Using Old Sailing Technology in Space by Elizabeth Howell

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Next Up

An Astronomical Review of “Don’t Look Up”

In our annual New Year’s family tradition of struggling to stay awake until midnight, we decided to watch “Don’t Look Up,” the Adam McKay satire starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and other fabulously good-looking people.

Scientists Watch as Stars Quake

The European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft has managed to watch stars tremble, their light subtly changing as starquakes ripple through their surfaces. Which is pretty cool, because Gaia wasn’t even designed to do it.

Shark Week: The Podcast - Did Alien Tech Crash-Land into the Ocean?

Host Luke Tipple is joined this week by renowned Harvard professor, Dr. Avi Loeb, who recently led a deep-sea expedition to discover if evidence for advanced alien life crash-landed off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014. They discuss the recent Congressional UFO hearings, how the last seventy years of research into extraterrestrial life has been potentially misguided, and the challenges of searching for tiny objects on the bottom of the ocean.

Why We Know Nothing about Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Welcome to the era of precision cosmology…where we’ve managed to very precisely measure everything we don't know about the universe.

A Guide to Defending the Earth

Let’s say one day astronomers announce that our worst nightmare has come true: a large object is headed towards the Earth with a significant chance of impact. What do we do?

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Nobel Prize Winner Richard Thaler on How Nudge Changed the World — Plus, Squirrel-Inspired Robots

Nobel Prize-winning economist Richard Thaler explains how “Nudge” has changed the world. Plus: squirrel-inspired robots!

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Earth’s Core Growing Lopsided and the Science of Gut Feelings

Learn how to tap into your “gut feeling,” which knows more than you think it does; and why Earth's core is growing lopsided.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Apes Say Hello, Life on Snowball Earth, Learn Twice as Fast

Learn about non-human animals that say hello and goodbye; life on Snowball Earth; and how to learn skills twice as fast.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Backward Letters, Dogs Detect Lies, Neutron Star Mountains

Learn about why children write letters backward; how dogs know when you’re lying to them; and mountains on neutron stars.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Monks Meditating After Death and a Marathoning Woolly Mammoth

Learn about the mystery of how Tibetan monks seem to keep meditating after death; and a woolly mammoth that walked VERY far.