Curiosity Daily Podcast: Weird Dreams Might be a Brain Feature, Not a Bug

Learn how weird dreams may help us in the real world; how we date dinosaurs; and why a healthy grip means a healthy body.

July 06, 2021

Episode Show Notes:

A theory from AI says our weird dreams help us better perceive the world by Briana Brownell

Our dreams’ weirdness might be why we have them, argues new AI-inspired theory of dreaming. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/cp-odw050621.php
‌Hoel, E. (2021). The overfitted brain: Dreams evolved to assist generalization. Patterns, 2(5), 100244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2021.100244

Paleontologists know how old dinosaurs were when they died because bones are like tree rings by Cameron Duke

Anonymous. (2019, June 11). Which Dinosaur Bones Are “Real”? Field Museum. https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/which-dinosaur-bones-are-real
Field Museum. (2020, November 25). Growth Rings From Fossil Bones Reveals T. rex Had Huge Growth Spurts, but Other Dinosaurs Grew “Slow and Steady.” SciTechDaily. https://scitechdaily.com/growth-rings-from-fossil-bones-reveals-t-rex-had-huge-growth-spurts-but-other-dinosaurs-grew-slow-and-steady/
Welsh, J. (2012, June 27). How Sweet! Dinosaurs May Have Been Warm-Blooded After All. Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/21215-dinosaur-bones-warm-blooded.html
Wits University. (2021, May 12). Southern African dinosaur had irregular growth. Phys.org; Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2021-05-southern-african-dinosaur-irregular-growth.html

A Healthy Grip Means a Healthy Body by Ashley Hamer

Grip Strength Is Good Indicator of Overall Health - UConn Today. (2011, June 6). UConn Today. https://today.uconn.edu/2011/06/grip-strength-is-good-indicator-of-overall-health/#
‌Sanderson, W. C., & Scherbov, S. (2014). Measuring the Speed of Aging across Population Subgroups. PLoS ONE, 9(5), e96289. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096289
‌Mukherjee, S., Clouston, S., Kotov, R., Bromet, E., & Luft, B. (2019). Handgrip Strength of World Trade Center (WTC) Responders: The Role of Re-Experiencing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(7), 1128. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16071128

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