Curiosity Weekly - Discovery

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New Antibiotics, H2O Pollution Test, Cooperative Camouflage Jun 06, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about a new class of antibiotics that kills drug-resistant bugs, a water pollution test that can tell scientists where the pollution came from, and spiders that collaborate.

New Antibiotics

“New antibiotic class effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria.” Uppsala Universitet. 2024.
“10 reasons YOU should be worried about antibiotic resistance.” by Diane Ashiru-Oredope. 2014.
“What You Need to Know About a Klebsiella pneumoniae Infection.” by Kirsten Nunez. 2022.
“Antibiotic class with potent in vivo activity targeting lipopolysaccharide synthesis in Gram-negative bacteria.” by Douglas L. Huseby, et al. 2024.

H2O Pollution Test

“New approach to monitoring freshwater quality can identify sources of pollution, and predict their effects.” University of Cambridge. 2024.
“7 Effects Of Water Pollution.” AtlasScientific. 2023.
“Chemodiversity in freshwater health.” by Andrew J. Tanentzap & Jeremy A. Fonvielle. 2024.

Cooperative Camouflage

“In a first, these crab spiders appear to collaborate, creating camouflage.” by Saugat Bolakhe. 2024.
“Crab Spider.” A-Z Animals. N.d.
“Male and female crab spiders ‘cooperate’ to mimic a flower.” by Shi-Mao Wu & Jiang-Yun Gao. 2024.

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Bird Dreams, Whales & Noise, Fruit-Eaters Save Forest Jun 05, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about the dreams of birds, why sound pollution in the oceans could be killing whales, and how fruit-eating birds are doing the work to save tropical forests.

Bird Dreams

“Birds sing in their sleep - and now we can decipher their dreams.” by Paul McClure. 2024.
“Replay of innate vocal patterns during night sleep in suboscines.” by Juan F. Doppler, et al. 2021.
“Synthesizing avian dreams.” by Juan F. Doppler, et al. 2024.
“What is World Environment Day.” n.a. N.d.

Whales & Noise

“Avoidance, confusion, solitude: whales react to rising noise pollution.” The University of Melbourne. 2024.
“Avoidance, confusion or solitude? Modelling how noise pollution affects whale migration.” by Stuart T. Johnston & Kevin J. Painter. 2024.
“How First Contact With a Whale Civilization Could Unfold.” by Ross Anderson. 2024.

Fruit-Eaters Save Forest

“Tropical forests can’t recover naturally without fruit eating birds.” EurekAlert! 2024.
“Frugivores enhance potential carbon recovery in fragmented landscapes.” by Carolina Bello. 2024.

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Paralysis Recovery, Bee Architecture, Perinatal Treatment May 31, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about a paralyzed man who is making a recovery after receiving stem cell therapy, how bees learn architecture, and a potential new treatment for postpartum depression in new mothers.

Paralysis Recovery

“Paralyzed man who can walk again shows potential benefit of stem cell therapy.” by Amanda Dimare. 2024.
“Study documents safety, improvements from stem cell therapy after spinal cord injury.” by Susan Barber Lindquist. 2024.
“Spinal cord injury.” WHO. 2024.
“Case report: Stem cells a step toward improving motor, sensory function after spinal cord injury.” by Susan Barber Lindquist. 2019.

Bee Architecture

“The inheritance of alternative nest architectural traditions in stingless bees.” by Viviana Di Pietro, et al. 2024.
“Stingless Bees: Their Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution.” by Christoph Gruter. 2020.
“Stigmergy as a Universal Coordination Mechanism: components, varieties and applications.” by Francis Heylighen. N.d.

Perinatal Treatment

“Esketamine injection just after childbirth reduces depression in new mothers.” EurekAlert! 2024.
“Is Esketamine the Game-Changer for Depression We Want?” by EJ Dickson. 2019.
“What is Perinatal Depression?” American Psychological Association. 2023.

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Brain Stimulation, Fractal Molecule, Bonobos May 30, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about how non-invasive brain stimulation might offer relief to older patients suffering from anxiety and depression, the first known molecular fractal, and a new discovery turning the view of bonobos as peace-loving primates on its head.

Brain Stimulation

“Brain stimulation treatment may improve depression, anxiety in older adults.” by Jill Pease. 2024.
“Mental health of older adults.” WHO. 2023.
“tDCS reduces depression and state anxiety symptoms in older adults from the augmenting cognitive training in older adults study (ACT). by Hanna K. Hausman, et al. 2024.

Fractal Molecule

“Discovery of the first fractal molecule in nature.” Max Plank Gesellschaft. 2024.
“How Fractals Work.” by Craig Haggit & Yara Simon. 2023.
“Six Sierpinski Triangle Constructions (visual mathematics).” YouTube Video. 2023.

Bonobos

“Bonobos not the peace-loving primates once thought, study reveals.” by Nicola Davis. 2024.
“Differences in expression of male aggression between wild bonobos and chimpanzees.” by Maud Mouginot, et al. 2024.

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AI Medical Research, Watching Sports, Blinking May 29, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about a new AI developed to help doctors identify and treat diseases like cancer, why watching sports might give our sense of wellness a boost, and the real reason we blink so much.

AI Medical Research

“Mayo researchers invented a new class of AI to improve cancer research and treatments.” EurekAlert! 2024.
“The Rise of Hypothesis-Driven Artificial Intelligence in Oncology.” by Zilin Xianyu, et al. 2024.

Watching Sports

“The joy of sports: How watching sports can boost well-being.” EurekAlert! 2024.
“Watching sport enhances well-being: evidence from a multi-method approach.” by Keita Kinoshita, et al. 2024.

Blinking

“Why do we blink so much?” EurekAlert! 2024.
“Eye blinks as a visual processing stage.” by Bin Yang, et al. 2024.

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Romantic Traits, Heart & Gut, Canine Play May 24, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about the traits most people value in romantic partners, a new link between a particular gut bacteria and cardiovascular health, and why dogs might make your kids healthier.

Romantic Traits

“Intelligence and kindness are the most valued traits in romantic partners, study finds.” by Eric W. Dolan. 2024.
“What Do Different People Look for in a Partner? Effects of Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Mating Strategies on Partner Preferences.” by Joao Francisco Goes Braga Takayanagi, et al. 2024.

Heart & Gut

“Scientists link certain gut bacteria to lower heart disease risk.” by Allessandra DiCorato. 2024.
“7 Crazy Facts About The Microbiome And Gut Bacteria.” by Ross Carver-Carter. N.d.
“Gut microbiome and metabolome profiling in Framingham heart study reveals cholesterol-metabolizing bacteria.” by Chenhao Li, et al. 2024.
“Cholesterol Metabolism by Uncultured Human Gut Bacteria Influences Host Cholesterol Level.” by Douglas J. Kenny, et al. 2020.
“About the Framingham Heart Study.” n.a. N.d.

Canine Play

“The Serious Side of Kid And Canine Play.” UMass Amherst. 2024.
“America’s Pandemic, Physical Inactivity.” PHIT America. 2023.
“Physical Activity: Children.” CDC. 2023.
“The KID Study (Kids Interacting With Dogs): Piloting a Novel Approach for Measuring Dog-Facilitated Youth Physical Activity.” by Colleen J. Chase, et al. 2024.

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Diversified Farming, Sense of Smell, Simple Rhythms May 23, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about how diversifying farms has a ton of upsides and virtually no downsides, the way we tend to predict how something will smell before we smell it, and a universally shared preference for simple rhythms in music.

Diversified Farming

“Major study reports that people and environment both benefit from diversified farming, while bottom lines also thrive.” University of Copenhagen. 2024.
“Joint environmental and social benefits from diversified agriculture.” by Laura Vang Rasmussen, et al. 2024.
“The Green Revolution: Norman Borlaug and the Race to Fight Global Hunger.” by Ray Offenheiser. 2020.

Sense of Smell

“The sense of smell is influenced by cues from other senses.” Stockholm University. 2024.
“Olfactory categorization is shaped by a transmodal cortical network for evaluating perceptual predictions.” by Stephen Pierzchajlo, et al. 2024.

Simple Rhythms

“Cross-cultural research reveals universal bias towards simple rhythmic ratios in music.” by Eric W. Dolan. 2024.
“Commonality and variation in mental representations of music revealed by a cross-cultural comparison of rhythm priors in 15 countries.” by Nori Jacoby, et al. 2024.

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Dark Energy, Electric Rain, Chickadees May 22, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about a tantalizing new discovery about dark energy that could change our understanding of the entire universe, how scientists are pulling electricity from raindrops, and the barcode memory tool inside a chickadee’s brain.

Dark Energy

“A Tantalizing ‘Hint’ That Astronomers Got Dark Energy All Wrong.” by Dennis Overbye. 2024.
“What Is Dark Energy? An Astrophysicist Explains.” Ars Technica. YouTube Video. 2023.
“What is Dark Energy? Inside our accelerating, expanding universe.” by Chelsea Gohd. 2024.
“DESI Data Documentation.” Database. 2023.

Electric Rain

“New green technology harvests energy from raindrops and humidity.” by Robert F. Service. 2024.
“The Amazing Drinking Bird.” by Brian Rohrig. 2024.
“Rapid progress of key clean energy technologies shows the new energy economy is emerging faster than many think.” IEA.org. 2023.

Chickadees

“Chickadees use memory ‘bar codes’ to find their hidden food stashes.” by Jake Buehler. 2024.
“Barcoding of episodic memories in the hippocampus of a food-caching bird.” by Selmaan N. Chettih, et al. 2024.
“Birdist Rule #71: Figure Out What Kind Of Chickadees You’ve Got.” by Nicholas Lund. 2016.
“Somewhere in the brain is a storage device for memories.” by Laura Sanders. 2018.
“A manifold neural population code for space in hippocampal coactivity dynamics independent of place fields.” by Eliott Robert Joseph Levy, et al. 2023.
“Heterogeneous representations in the hippocampus.” by Kazumasa Z. Tanaka. 2021.

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Recovered Whales, Old Salmon Cans, Climate Change & Time May 17, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about some potential good news about whale populations, what decades-old cans of salmon can tell us about the health of the ocean, and how climate change is literally slowing down the world.

Recovered Whales

“Whale population recovers five years after hundreds washed up dead.” n.a. 2024.
“The gray whale die-off on West Coast is over, NOAA declares.” by Karen Garcia. 2024.
“Endangered Species Day Information.” Endangered Species Coalition. 2020.

Old Salmon Cans

“Decades-old Cans of Salmon Reveal Changes in Ocean Health.” by Rachel Nuwer. 2024.
“Opening a can of worms: Archived canned fish fillets reveal 40 years of change in parasite burden for four Alaskan salmon species.” by Natalie Mastick, et al. 2024.

Climate Change & Time

“Climate change is changing how we keep time.” by Carolyn Gramling. 2024.
“A global timekeeping problem postponed by global warming.” by Duncan Carr Agnew. 2024.
“50 years ago, timekeepers deployed the newly invented leap second.” by Cassie Martin. 2024.

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Cooling Windows, Mars & Erosion, Didgeridoo Slumber May 16, 2024

Show notes

Today, you’ll learn about an AI-designed window film that could keep your house cool, the mysterious ways Mars causes deep-sea erosion on Earth, and how playing the didgeridoo could help treat sleep apnea.

Cooling Windows

“New window film drops temperature, slashes energy consumption.” by Paul McClure. 2024.
“Engineers use quantum computing to develop transparent window coating that blocks heat, saves energy.” University of Notre Dame. 2022.
“The Solar Spectrum.” Ossila.com. N.d.

Mars & Erosion

“Mars as a Driver of Deep-Sea Erosion.” by Grace van Deelen. 2024.
“Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles and Their Role in Earth’s Climate.” NASA Science Editorial Team. 2020.
“Deep-sea hiatus record reveals orbital pacing by 2.4 Myr eccentricity grand cycles.” by Adriana Dutkiewicz, et al. 2024.

Didgeridoo Slumber

“Playing the Didgeridoo to Treat Sleep Apnea.” by Brandon Peters, MD. 2023.
“What Is Sleep Apnea?” by Brandon Peters, MD. 2023.
“Didgeridoo basics.” Hollow Log Digderidoos. N.d.

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