Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Hand Dryers Blow Bacteria, Color Meanings Around the World, Losing Your Foreign Accent, and Lesser-Known Body Parts

Learn about why hand dryers are blowing bacteria all over your hands; body parts you probably don’t know you have; what different colors mean around the world; and whether it’s possible to lose your foreign accent.

November 25, 2018

Episode Show Notes:

In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:

Additional resources discussed:

Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey

If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron!

Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: 5G Might Impair Weather Forecasts

Learn about how 5G may impair weather forecasts, and how the first confirmed exoplanet was discovered a lot more recently than you may realize. Plus, science writer John Tierney is back to explore how negativity bias affects our relationships.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Why Multitasking Keeps You Snacking

Learn about how rats might not have been all to blame for the bubonic plagues and why we’re more prone to mindlessly eat while we multitask.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Insecure People Use More Jargon

Learn about how naked mole-rats invade neighboring colonies and steal babies, the average person is hiding 13 secrets, and people use more jargon when they're insecure about their status.