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PODCAST

Curiosity Weekly

Welcome to Curiosity Weekly from Discovery, hosted by Dr. Samantha Yammine. Once a week, we’ll bring you the latest and greatest in scientific discoveries and break down the details so that you don’t need a PhD to understand it. From neuroscience to climate tech to AI and genetics, no subject is off-limits. Join Sam as she interviews expert guests and investigates the research guiding some of the most exciting scientific breakthroughs affecting our world today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

science

All Episodes

33:39

Why Society Treats Allergies Like a Nothingburger

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/12/17

Allergies are estimated to affect upwards of 30% of people globally, so why are they so often swept under the rug? People in restaurants lie about theirallergies,food labelling is difficult to understand, and those with the allergies are often forced to be their own advocate to avoid a potentially life-threatening medical situation. On this episode, senior producer Teresa Carey interviews allergist Dr. Samira Jeimy to discuss the day-to-day realities of allergies, new potential medications, and why

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30:21

We Are Starting to Talk Like ChatGPT

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/12/10

Language has alwaysevolvedbut it seems like technology has sped that process up to a staggering degree. Memes, algorithms, AI, and social media are altering the words we use and the way we use them. To speak more about the phenomenon, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Adam Aleksic, an etymologist and author of the book Algospeak. Sam also explores a new search enginethat’sbeing called the Google of DNA and how a fungus once thought to be an Egyptian curse, might just have cancer-fighting

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25:47

The Inequity of Climate Change

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/12/03

Climate change is one of the most powerful forces shaping our world today. With an uptick in extreme weather events,it’stime to focus on how to adapt to this new normal from a public health perspective. Senior Producer Teresa Carey speaks with Dr. Georges C. Benjamin about the health impacts of climate change and how people can support their communities during climate events.Then, host Dr. Samantha Yammine explores two new studies: one that may provide a welcome treatment for those suffering from

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32:38

This is Your Brain on Sleep

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/11/26

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, soyou’dthinkwe’dknow more when it comes to understanding what is going on in our bodies and brains whenwe’redoing it. But studying sleep is surprisingly complex and there are a lot of ideastryingto untangle why we need sleep. This episode, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Dr. Jeffrey Iliff from the University of Washington School of Medicine to talk about how sleep affects our brains. Sam also explores what we can learn about human sleep from

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20:12

The Batmobile Lab That Chases Storms

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/11/19

Meteorologist and storm chaser Dr. Reed Timmer doesn’t just study extreme weather, he drives straight into it with a custom build, storm proof vehicle. Host Dr. Samanthat Yammine talks with him about the science of surviving the planet’s increasingly volatile storms, the data he’s able to collect up close, and what it takes to study a storm system from the inside. Watch him put science to the test on Discovery’s In the Eye of the Storm on HBOMax.Then, meet Ice XXI: a form of ice that researchers

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30:20

How Science Can Hack Flavor

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/11/12

Will eating mint cancel out the feeling of spice in your mouth? How do you manipulate aroma compounds to mimic the taste of lemon? When it comes to the science of flavor, there is no shortage of questions to ask. On this episode, Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by renowned flavor scientist, author, and co-founder of Noma’s Fermentation Lab, Dr. Arielle Johnson. Together, they discuss how food and scienceintersectand the fascinating ways our bodies distinguish flavor. Then, a new studylooks intohow UV

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36:12

This Episode Will Make You Love Math

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/11/05

If sitting down to solve a math problem is your personal nightmare,you’renot alone. On this episode, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by drag queen and math communicator Kyne Santos totalkall things math and how it fuels our everyday lives. Sam also digs into how caffeine can make us persist in impossible tasks and, thanks to listener submissions, she follows up ona previousstory about microplastics in our brains.Link to Show NotesHEREFollow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast app to get

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29:12

The Non-Fiction of Science Fiction

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/10/29

We all know that science shapes science fiction, but what happens when the opposite is also true? This episode, senior producer Teresa Carey speaks with legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson about the intersection of science and science fiction and how the latter allows us to think about the effects of scientific advancement. Host, Dr. Samantha Yammine also digs into what happens in the brain in the moments after death and how some sea turtles are making their way into the polluted

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27:56

Your Garden Is Not an Island: How to Protect Pollinators

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/10/22

Humans and nature have always coexisted. But, human intervention makes our modern world look very different than it once did. This episode, host Dr. Samantha Yammine digs into how humans are reshaping the wild. Sam speaks to Dr. Harland Patch about the decline of insect populations around the world and how we can provide better environments for pollinators. She also dives into the world of CRISPR gene editing among Argentinian polo horses and why so many people seem to be getting diagnosed with Lyme

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29:41

Your Life Runs on GPS. And GPS Runs on Duct Tape

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/10/15

GPS runs our world, but the system is far from perfect and much more fragile than people believe. This episode, GPS expert Logan Scott speaks with senior producer Teresa Carey about the past, present, and future of GPS and how to avoid catastrophe when something goes wrong. Host, Dr. Samantha Yammine also explores the first new potential treatment for Huntington’s disease and how queen ants are creating clones of other species.Link to Show Notes HEREFollow Curiosity Weekly on your favorite podcast

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27:20

Designing Cities for a Warmer World

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/10/08

As the climate shifts into a new normal, plenty of questions are being asked about the state of urban planning around the world. Mainly: how can we better adapt our cities to climate change? What does it mean to create a climate-resilient city? This episode, Senior Producer Teresa Carey is joined by Jesse M. Keenan, an expert in climate adaptation and sustainable urban development, to discuss how we can adjust the current systems in place to better address climate change.Dr. Samantha Yammine also

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20:15

How Everyday People Power Big Science

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/10/01

Whether you call it citizen science, participatory science, or community science, research conducted by everyday people has led to major discoveries across a wide range of fields. This episode, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Dr. Caren Cooper to discuss the benefits and mechanics when it comes to public participation in science. Dr. Cooper is an expert in the field and the author of Citizen Science: How Ordinary People are Changing the Face of Discovery. Then, Sam explores a recent study that

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23:23

Who Says Science Can’t Be Silly?

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/09/24

Some of society’s greatest scientific achievements were made based on research that might sound silly or bizarre to the average person. But curiosity-driven exploration is just as important to science as research that starts out with clear-cut applications in mind.So, this episode, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Dr. Carly Anne York. Dr. York wrote The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog: And Other Serious Discoveries of Silly Science and they talk about how crucial curiosity is when it

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25:23

Mapping Minds is the White Whale of Brain Science

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/09/17

Understanding exactly how the billions of neurons and trillions of connections in our brains could be one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in history. And, surprisingly, we’re not as far off from that as you might think. In episode 2 of our brain series, host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Dr. Forrest Collman who helped create the most detailed brain diagram ever made. Sam also digs into how much microplastic is really in our heads and how our brain might be an unreliable narrator.Link to

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16:39

Is a Lab-Grown “Brain” Conscious?

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/09/10

Neuroscience is tricky… to say the least. Dedicated scientists have been exploring the organ since ancient times but there is still so much we don’t know about what goes on between our ears. In part 1 of our brain series, host Dr. Samantha Yammine speaks with neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Toker about his research on consciousness through experimenting with lab-grown organoids. He explains what we can learn about the brain from better understanding consciousness. Then, Sam explores why our brains love to

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22:03

Connection and Play Can Keep the Doctor Away

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/09/03

There’s no real replacement for traditional medicine, but what if there was an intuitive way to prevent the effects of things like depression, anxiety, and chronic pain? Social prescription is the act of being prescribed activities that center around connection with community, art, and nature. And it’s backed by science! Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by author Julia Hotz to talk about the ins and outs of social prescription and how becoming more active in your environment and community can help

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25:58

How to Not Raise an iPad Baby

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/08/27

Our attention spans are… not doing so great these days. With copious amounts of technology, apps, news articles, and social media posts at our fingertips, it makes sense that a lot of people are noticing how much more difficult it is to get into a state of deep reading. On part two of our literacy series, editorial correspondent Teresa Carey speaks with two experts on the subject: Dr. Maryanne Wolf and Dr. Daniel Willingham. They discuss the benefits of reading on both our brains and our culture,

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22:50

A is for Apple… Or is it AI?

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/08/20

Literacy is murkier than we think. This episode, as a part one of our literacy series, we explore recent research related to one of the most important milestones in our academic lives: learning to read. Host Dr. Samantha Yammine is joined by Emily Wood, a speech language pathologist who studies the methods we use for testing literacy in kids. She speaks with Sam about how we can better address gaps in reading among children and what options are available for multilingual kids in the classroom. Sam

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22:19

And Just Like That, You Have Nostalgia

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/08/13

Every parent has wondered if their baby’s crying is normal at some point or another. While there is no “normal,” evidence shows that genetics might actually have a part to play in how long babies cry for. And another universal experience, harking back to “the good old days” in pop culture and our personal lives. Senior Producer, Teresa Carey, speaks with Dr. Clay Routledge about the good feelings - and sometimes sad memories - that come with nostalgia. And finally, host Samantha Yammine explains

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27:52

The La Brea Tar Pits Are a Climate Crime Scene!

Curiosity Weekly ·

2025/08/06

Los Angeles is home to the only place in the world where ancient fossils are being actively excavated in the middle of the city: The La Brea Tar Pits. Today, host Dr. Samantha Yammine speaks to the deputy director and assistant curator of the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Dr. Regan Dunn. They talk about what makes this site so fascinating and what we can learn from what we find hidden in the tar. Sam also explores a recent study on methane capturing at a California dairy farm. Then, she is joined by

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1,595 results

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