Curiosity Daily Podcast: From Music to Bacon, Biology is Everywhere (w/ Biologist Melanie Peffer)
Learn about the treadmill’s torture device origins. Then, author Melanie Peffer explains why biology is everywhere.
May 06, 2021
Episode Show Notes:
Treadmills were originally torture devices by Steffie Drucker
- Protin, C., & Stuart, M. (2017, April 13). Treadmills were originally used as torture devices for prisoners. Business Insider; Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/treadmills-torture-device-prisoners-treadwheel-victorian-britian-crime-prison-2017-4
- Treadmills Were Meant to Be Atonement Machines | JSTOR Daily. (2018, May 2). JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/treadmills-were-meant-to-be-atonement-machines/
- The National Archives. (2021). A Victorian prison - The National Archives. The National Archives. https://doi.org/https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm
- BBC. (2017, January 9). Free Thinking - The dark history of the treadmill. BBC; BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4w8bVrKRqQDP4fKl0b8XzdW/the-dark-history-of-the-treadmill
- The Torturous History of the Treadmill. (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/history-of-the-treadmill/
Additional resources from Melanie Peffer:
- Pick up "Biology Everywhere: How the Science of Life Matters to Everyday Life" from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wQQVOA
- Melanie's TED-Ed lesson on the neuroscience discoveries of artist Santiago Ramón y Cajal: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-artist-who-won-a-nobel-prize-in-medicine-melanie-e-peffer
- Melanie Peffer's website: https://www.melaniepeffer.com/
- Melanie Peffer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Melanie_Peffer
- Melanie Peffer on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelaniePefferPhD
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free! You can also listen to our show 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
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Hacking Device, Designer Seaweed, Accent Exposure
We discuss the latest in phone hacking technology, how aquaculture may be able to help the global food crisis, and how engaging with people who speak in a foreign accent may help us retain language.
Curiosity Daily Podcast:The Myth of Man Flu, Arctic Lakes, Buzzing Bats
Let’s talk about whether “man flu” is fact or fiction, how the Arctic lakes just threw a curveball at our climate change projections, and the genius new way bats are tricking their predators.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Reverse Aging, Cooperation Increase, Time & Covid
Today we explore a potential scientific fountain of youth, how cooperation among strangers has, contrary to popular belief, actually increased in recent years, and how the pandemic has caused the perception of time distortion.
Curiosity Daily: Fry Flying, Gas Giants at Home, Entangled Atoms
Today we are discussing new sustainable fuels for airplanes, creating other worldly heat at home, and a new record for quantum entanglement.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Magic Addiction Fix, Parkinson’s Detection, Wind Turbines
Today we talk about how psilocybin from magic mushrooms can help those struggling with alcohol addiction, a new device that can detect Parkinson’s disease from breathing patterns, and how we can recycle wind turbines.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: VR & Transcendence, Stonehenge Calendar, Pregnant With Covid
We discuss how VR is as effective as psychedelics at helping people reach transcendence, whether Stonehenge may have been an ancient calendar, and how COVID-19 has affected women in late pregnancy.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Bee Venom Kills Cancer, Giant Manatees, Monkey Masturbation
Our stories today discuss how bee venom can potentially help fight cancer, the history of manatees, and recent discoveries in how monkeys use tools.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Dating App Data, Mass Frog Grave, Cure for Colorblind
Let’s talk about how dating apps stress us out, the discovery of a massive ancient frog grave, and how gene therapy can potentially cure colorblindness.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: DNA & Lookalikes, Extinct Lineage Found, Alzheimer’s Viruses
Today we learn about how doppelgangers can share similar DNA, a recent discovery of a lost lineage in Indonesia, and recent advancements in finding out what causes Alzheimer’s.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Undead Spiders, Dandelion Drones, Dark Energy Made Light
Researchers are making small claws out of dead spiders, dandelion seeds are inspiring scientists to mimic their distribution with small sensors to be able to better track ecological information, and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is helping us create a 3D map of the universe.