Curiosity Daily Podcast: Play a Game to Help Cure Alzheimer’s, Building the Perfect Swear Word, and May’s Curiosity Challenge
Learn what researchers found when they tried to build the perfect profanity, then learn how playing an online game called Stall Catchers can help scientists speed up Alzheimer’s research. Then, test your knowledge with Curiosity Challenge trivia questions.
May 08, 2020
Episode Show Notes:
A new study tried to build the perfect swear word by Kelsey Donk
- Neuroskeptic. (2020, March 31). Building the Perfect Profanity. Discover Magazine; Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/building-the-perfect-profanity
- Reilly, J., Kelly, A., Zuckerman, B. M., Twigg, P. P., Wells, M., Jobson, K. R., & Flurie, M. (2020). Building the perfect curse word: A psycholinguistic investigation of the form and meaning of taboo words. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 27(1), 139–148. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-019-01685-8
Thousands of volunteers are speeding up Alzheimer's research by playing an online game by Steffie Drucker
- Join a global game that’s trying to cure Alzheimer’s. (2019). Stall Catchers. https://stallcatchers.com/
- Cavalier, D. (2020, April 9). How Thousands of People are Helping Find a Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. Discover Magazine; Discover Magazine. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-thousands-of-people-are-helping-find-a-treatment-for-alzheimers-disease
- Alzheimer’s Statistics. (2019). Alzheimers.net. https://www.alzheimers.net/resources/alzheimers-statistics/
- Brain blood flow finding gives hope for Alzheimer’s therapy | Cornell Chronicle. (2019). Cornell Chronicle. https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/02/brain-blood-flow-finding-gives-hope-alzheimers-therapy
Curiosity Challenge episodes:
- Why Stress Makes You Eat Differently, Humpback Whales Hunt with Bubble Nets, and the Surprising Genetic Reason Females Outlive Males https://www.curiositydaily.com/why-stress-makes-you-eat-differently-humpback-whales-hunt-with-bubble-nets-and-the-surprising-genetic-reason-females-outlive-males/
- Astronauts Grew Lettuce in Space, Why Smelling a Dirty Shirt Can Help You Sleep, and Early Animals That Acted Like an Ancient Internet https://www.curiositydaily.com/astronauts-grew-lettuce-in-space-why-smelling-a-dirty-shirt-can-help-you-sleep-and-early-animals-that-acted-like-an-ancient-internet/
- Using Lava Lamps to Generate Randomness (w/ Matt Parker), How Ritalin Makes You Focus, and What Bacteria Beneath the Sea Floor Means for Life on Mars https://www.curiositydaily.com/using-lava-lamps-to-generate-randomness-w-matt-parker-how-ritalin-makes-you-focus-and-what-bacteria-beneath-the-sea-floor-means-for-life-on-mars/
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
Next Up
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Introducing If/Then
What gets you curious? Virtual experiences, celestial bodies, water worlds or maybe just the tiniest mysteries inside your brain? The endlessly curious and curiously funny, Gillian Jacobs (Community, Netflix's LOVE) and Diona Reasonover (NCIS), step off set to go on tangents with real-life astronauts, astrophysicists, science artists, mathematician-types and other really smart people that investigate what seems impossible.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: The Curiosity Podcast Wraps Up with Yoga, Volcanoes, and Meditation
Learn from some of our favorite expert guests about yoga, volcanoes, meditation, and more on this special episode of the Curiosity Podcast. You'll hear from accomplished authors and academics from past episodes, in addition to a special guest you've never heard before on the show. Plus, hear about the past, present, and future of the Curiosity Podcast.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Does ESP Exist?
Learn about ESP; why people panicked about electricity in the 1800s; and how embryos use sound to prepare for the world.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Do Opposites Really Attract?
Learn about why opposites don’t really attract; the “propinquity effect” and how physical distance affects the way we feel about other people; and the history of when and why we started using last names.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Are Facial Expressions Universal?
Learn about common ancestors shared by every human; evolution’s multiple directions; and universal facial expressions.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: How to Talk to Strangers, Red Dead Redemption 2 Naturalists, July Curiosity Challenge
Learn how to get better at talking to strangers; and how Red Dead Redemption 2 turns gamers into naturalists. Trivia too!
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Go Ahead, Google Your Symptoms
Learn about the benefits of Googling symptoms; truly random number generation; and why science is about storytelling.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Explorers Club - Sian Proctor
Today, we are lucky enough to hear from a highly accomplished explorer who has some incredible experiences to share with us. Dr. Sian Proctor was the mission pilot for the Inspiration4, which is the all-civilian orbital mission to space and she’s the first African American woman to pilot a spacecraft. She also lived in a Mars analog environment to simulate what it might be like to live on the red planet.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Vampire Bats Adopt Babies Too
Learn about why engineers tested a temporary “smart tattoo” that emits light via OLEDs; a female vampire bat that adopted her best friend’s baby after the friend’s death; and how you can sharpen your mind with device-free quiet time.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Toilet Paper Is White
Learn about Starlink’s unintended consequences for astronomy from astrophysicist Vivienne Baldassare, NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. Then, learn why toilet paper is white.