Curiosity Daily Podcast: Blind Gamers Take the “Video” Out of Video Games
Learn about how blind and low-vision gamers are taking the “video” out of video games, with Cornell University Professor Andrew Campana. Then, learn about a newly discovered mammoth fossil that shatters the record for the oldest DNA we’ve ever found.
April 14, 2021
Episode Show Notes:
Additional resources from Andrew Campana:
- Andrew Campana's faculty page: https://asianstudies.cornell.edu/andrew-campana
- Andrew Campana, Cornell University – Taking the Video out of Video Games, Cornell Academic Minute: https://academicminute.org/2020/12/andrew-campana-cornell-university-taking-the-video-out-of-video-games/
- A Blind Legend: http://www.ablindlegend.com/
New kind of mammoth fossil shatters the record for oldest DNA by Grant Currin
- van der Valk, T., Pečnerová, P., Díez-del-Molino, D., Bergström, A., Oppenheimer, J., Hartmann, S., Xenikoudakis, G., Thomas, J. A., Dehasque, M., Sağlıcan, E., Fidan, F. R., Barnes, I., Liu, S., Somel, M., Heintzman, P. D., Nikolskiy, P., Shapiro, B., Skoglund, P., Hofreiter, M., & Lister, A. M. (2021). Million-year-old DNA sheds light on the genomic history of mammoths. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03224-9
- Callaway, E. (2021). Million-year-old mammoth genomes shatter record for oldest ancient DNA. Nature, 590(7847), 537–538. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00436-x
Follow Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free! 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/listener for privacy information.
Next Up
Shark Week 2026 Kicks Off July 26!
Take a bite out of our 38th annual Shark Week event, starting July 26, 2026! Here's everything we have coming up, only on Discovery.
'My Strange Shark Addiction' Is Coming to Shark Week 2026
Meet the most shark-obsessed "fin-atics" around and take a plunge into their wild fascinations on "My Strange Shark Addiction." Learn all about the new special here!
Shark Week 2024
Shark Week hosted by John Cena was an electrifying and unforgettable experience that left fans in awe of the world beneath the waves. Check out what happened during the best week of the summer on Discovery.
See the full schedule or stream Shark Week on Max!
Shipwrecked & Surrounded by Sharks
This week, we do things a little differently, as Shark Week’s Luke Tipple invites Adventure Aaron into the podcast studio to talk about his incredible near-death experience on the open water. Adventure Aaron gets into what it takes to circumnavigate the world in an ocean rowboat, what it’s like to stare eye-to-eye with an oceanic white tip that probably wants you for lunch, and everything else that happened to him when his boat was capsized, and he was lost by himself at sea.
Shark Week: The Podcast - How To Have A Career in Shark Science
Shark Week’s Luke Tipple tackles the question “How can I work with sharks?” alongside two experts in the field – and their answers are not always the obvious ones. Luke is joined first by Kelly Link, Associate Curator of the Georgia Aquarium who talks about what it’s like to be an aquarist, how it differs from field work, and how to get yourself noticed. The second guest is Dr. Neil Hammerschlag who goes into detail on what it takes to become a prominent scientist, and what other paths you can take if a PhD isn’t for you. And at the end, researcher Sierra stops by to tell us about the world’s smallest shark.
Shark Week: The Podcast - What is the Status of Sharks in our Oceans?
In this season’s final episode, Luke welcomes Emmy-winning filmmaker and conservationist Shawn Heinrichs to discuss the state of sharks in the ocean. They go over how both legal and illegal fishing operations are decimating the ocean’s wildlife, what it’s like to have a hit put out on you for exposing criminal enterprises to the world, and whether or not NOAA’s data on “sustainable” fishing can really be trusted.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Superstar Kesha Lifts the Gag Order on Saving Sharks
Pop superstar Kesha joins Shark Week’s Luke Tipple on the podcast to discuss her love of sharks, how her music funds her addiction to diving, and how you can find inner peace while under the water. And at the end, our researcher Sierra drops in to tell us that some sharks have teeth in their eyes.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Do You Have the Guts to Be a Shark Handler?
Host Luke Tipple welcomes a pair of divers – Leigh Cobb and Josh Eccles – who have taken their passion for sharks and turned it into a dangerous career. They explore what it takes to swim with sharks for a living, then go into common myths and facts on what to do in the open water – if you ever come face to face with a shark. Plus, our researcher Sierra drops by with a new species of shark discovered in the freezing depths of the ocean.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Undiscovered Sharks and the State of the Ocean
Luke Tipple invites “The Lost Shark Guy,” Dr. Dave Ebert, who is personally responsible for finding dozens of shark species that were either previously unknown to science or thought to be extinct. He and Luke discuss why shark populations are a direct indicator of how healthy the ocean is, how to find undiscovered sharks, and why diversity in sharks is essential for marine life.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Why is Tagging Baby Great White Sharks So Important?
Luke Tipple speaks with Dr. Riley Elliott, a marine biologist from New Zealand who recently tagged baby great white sharks, which are rarely seen in the wild. They talk about how climate change is affecting shark pupping grounds, why fishers are wrong to think there are “too many sharks,” and about Dr. Elliott’s Great White App, which allows users to track great white sharks in the ocean.