Curiosity Daily Podcast: Saturated Fat Could Kill Your Focus, Animals Have Regional Accents, and Rings Around Mars
Learn about how saturated fat can make it harder for you to focus; why it matters that animals have regional accents; and why Mars used to have rings.
July 13, 2020
Episode Show Notes:
A single meal high in saturated fat could make it harder to focus by Kelsey Donk
- Our ability to focus may falter after eating one meal high in saturated fat. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/osu-oat051220.php
- Madison, A. A., Belury, M. A., Andridge, R., Shrout, M. R., Renna, M. E., Malarkey, W. B., Bailey, M. T., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (2020). Afternoon distraction: a high-saturated-fat meal and endotoxemia impact postmeal attention in a randomized crossover trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 111(6), 1150–1158. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa085
Many Animals Have Regional Accents by Samantha Suarez
- Whales With Caribbean Accents and Other Animal Dialects. (2016, February 27). Nationalgeographic.com. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/02/160227-animals-communication-sperm-whales-dialects-science/
- Geib, C. (2017, June 20). How Animals Develop Regional Accents. Atlas Obscura; Atlas Obscura. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/animal-accents-dialects
- Geggel, L. (2014, October 10). Killer Whales Learn How to Speak Dolphin. Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/48231-killer-whales-talk-like-dolphins.html
- Kat Chow. (2013, December 30). Make It So: Sir Patrick Stewart Moos In Udder Accents. NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/30/258393176/make-it-so-sir-patrick-stewart-moos-in-udder-accents
Four of the eight planets have rings. Mars used to be the fifth. by Cameron Duke
- Ćuk, M., Minton, D. A., Pouplin, J. L. L., & Wishard, C. (2020). Evidence for a Past Martian Ring from the Orbital Inclination of Deimos. ArXiv:2006.00645 [Astro-Ph]. https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.00645
- Hesselbrock, A. J., & Minton, D. A. (2017). An ongoing satellite–ring cycle of Mars and the origins of Phobos and Deimos. Nature Geoscience, 10(4), 266–269. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2916
- Williams, M. (2016, June 24). Which Planets Have Rings? Universe Today. https://www.universetoday.com/77109/which-planets-have-rings
- Martian Moon’s Orbit Hints at an Ancient Ring of Mars | SETI Institute. (2020). Seti.org. https://www.seti.org/press-release/martian-moons-orbit-hints-ancient-ring-mars
- Illustration Comparing Apparent Sizes of Moons. (2013). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia17351.html#.XueL8mpKgl4
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
A Look at ‘Rewilding’ Around the World
Learn more about the efforts of rewildling throughout the world on Discovery.com.
Get Ready for Puppy Bowl XXII on Animal Planet!
Puppy Bowl XXII premieres Sunday, February 8, 2026, at 2:00PM ET/11:00AM PT with more adoptable puppies from shelters and rescues than ever before.
Get Ready for Puppy Bowl XXI on Animal Planet!
Puppy Bowl XXI premieres Sunday, February 9 at 2P ET/11A PT with more adoptable puppies from shelters and rescues than ever before.
'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!
Get Ready for Puppy Bowl XX on Animal Planet!
Puppy Bowl XX premieres Sunday, February 11 at 2P ET/11A PT with more adoptable puppies from shelters and rescues than ever before.
Shark Week: The Podcast - Do Scientists Need to Kill Sharks?
Host Luke Tipple welcomes two guests to discuss how researchers can kill sharks in the name of science – and whether they need to at all. The first is Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, shark researcher and founder of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, and an expert on data-gathering in the field. He’s followed by explorer Fred Buyle, a world-record-breaking freediver whose innovative methods of shark tagging are explored. Plus, our researcher Sierra tells us about how a 50-year study changed our understanding of tiger sharks – and much of the work wasn’t even done by scientists.
Shark Week: The Podcast - How Many Sharks Are Yet to Be Discovered?
Luke Tipple is joined by Shark Week host and all-around adventurer Forrest Galante. They discuss his upcoming special Alien Sharks: South Africa, Forrest’s remarkable talent for finding creatures once believed to be extinct, and how many shark species may still be unknown. Then, our researcher Sierra stops by to tell us about the world’s most prehistoric shark.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Alibi Memory, Denisova Cave History, Cleaning Fruit & Veggies
Learn how often people misremember alibis; new lessons from Denisova Cave; and how to remove pesticides from produce.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Pirates Plundered the Metric System, What Marsquakes Teach Us
Learn about the time pirates stopped the US from switching to the metric system; and new learnings about Mars’ interior.
Curiosity Daily Podcast: Talkers Are Leaders, DNA Evidence Myth, Thinking Sans Brain
Learn about a key trait in group leaders; why DNA evidence is overrated; and a brainless slime mold that can “think.”