Something You Should Know

Could drinking water make you smarter? Actually no one is really sure, but it does seem to be so. This episode begins by explaining how we know this is true and what some possible explanations might be. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201205/can-sipping-water-make-you-smarter# Humans are strange creatures who act in weird ways. For example, we often compare ourselves to others. We exaggerate our stories to make us look better. And we do unusual things to make ourselves happy. All of this makes you wonder – why? Joining me with some fascinating explanations is William Von Hippel, a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland in Australia and author of the book, The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come from, and What Makes Us Happy (https://amzn.to/3pVYaCZ ). From the time you were little it has been drilled into your head to take care of your teeth and mouth by brushing and flossing every day. While that’s a good start, it may not be enough according to dentist Dr. Kami Hoss, who sits on the Board of Counselors at the UCLA School of Dentistry and is the CEO of The Super Dentists (https://www.thesuperdentists.com) and he is author of the book If Your Mouth Could Talk (https://amzn.to/3MGtU8V) . Listen as Dr. Hoss reveals how your oral health can have a significant impact on your physical and mental health. You have probably heard of the 7-year itch. It’s the theory that at around the 7th year of a marriage or romantic relationship things can start to fall apart. Is it a real thing? Maybe. But it often doesn’t take 7 years. Listen as I reveal some interesting insight.. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/seven-year-itch-now-down-to-three-years-why/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING We love the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast! https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/think-fast-talk-smart-podcast Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell TechFest starts now! To thank you for 40 unforgettable years, Dell Technologies is celebrating with anniversary savings on their most popular tech. Shop at https://Del.com/deals to access great deals on leading-edge technology & free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m sure you have been hit in the head. Maybe you fell and bumped it, or someone accidentally hit you or you got a baseball thrown at you – something. Sooner or later, we all take a shot to the head and often we shrug it off. That may be a mistake. Listen as I explain why. Source: Daniel Amen, M.D. author of “Change Your Brain Change Your Body” (https://amzn.to/3P3Dtld) Every day you have to navigate through life by talking and negotiating and resolving disputes with all the people you encounter. Since we could all likely use a little help with this, I want you to listen to my guest William Ury. He is considered one of the leading authorities on negotiation and conflict. He has worked with the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon, and dozens of Fortune 500 companies. His approach to dealing with people and handling conflict is just brilliant and something everyone should hear. William is author of the book Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict. (https://amzn.to/3T7issl). Profanity is considered offensive, shocking rude and disrespectful. But could swearing also have benefits? Why do people swear in the first place? And why, since swearing is so common, do people still find it shocking. All these things are tackled in my discussion with Rebecca Roache. She is a senior lecturer in philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London and author of the book, For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun (https://amzn.to/48DxH0t) Want to keep your kids out of jail? Then you might want to pay attention to how much time they spend doing this one very common and seemingly innocuous activity. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2280397/Can-letting-children-watch-TV-turn-criminals.html PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING We love the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast! https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/think-fast-talk-smart-podcast Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell TechFest starts now! To thank you for 40 unforgettable years, Dell Technologies is celebrating with anniversary savings on their most popular tech. Shop at https://Del.com/deals to access great deals on leading-edge technology & free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Distractions while driving can be dangerous. Good drivers know they need to minimize distractions. However, some things that are intended to deliberately distract drivers, such as billboards. And it turns out certain types of billboards can be REALLY distracting. Listen as I explain. Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2280521/ It would seem that being an optimist would be better than being a pessimist. But is it something you can really change? And why do some people see the glass half empty, and some see it half full? It turns out that the science of optimism is fascinating and there is a lot we can do to become more optimistic about the world and our lives. Joining me to explain how is Dr. Sue Varma. She is a board-certified psychiatrist in private practice and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University. She is also author of a book called Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being (https://amzn.to/3TbPjv5). When you search online for something whether it’s a movie on Netflix or a screwdriver on Amazon, the choices you see are determined by an algorithm. In other words, you don’t see every screwdriver in the world, you see the ones the algorithm has determined you might like. While that may be good for a screwdriver, it may be very limiting when it comes to other things. Here to explain why this is important is Kyle Chayka. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes a column on digital technology and the impact of the Internet and social media on culture and he is author of the book, Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture (https://amzn.to/4bSgpj6). Everyone knows that it is dangerous to drive if you have been drinking. However, driving when you're sick may be even more dangerous. Listen as I reveal how even a slight cold can affect your body and put you at risk when you drive. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2283323 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING We love the Think Fast, Talk Smart podcast! https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/think-fast-talk-smart-podcast Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell TechFest starts now! To thank you for 40 unforgettable years, Dell Technologies is celebrating with anniversary savings on their most popular tech. Shop at https://Del.com/deals to access great deals on leading-edge technology & free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A person’s first name can have a profound impact on their life. This episode begins as I describe how people instantly get preconceived ideas about you based solely on your name – some good ideas and some not so good. It seems your name can shape who you are for the rest of your life. https://www.theifod.com/how-does-your-name-shape-who-you-are/ Some people can just walk into a room and exude charisma. I am sure you have seen it happen. People are attracted to charismatic people. But it is sometimes hard to figure exactly what makes someone charismatic. Listen as my guest Vanessa Van Edwards, reveals the ingredients of charisma and explains how anyone can express more of that quality that people find so attractive. Vanessa is founder and lead investigator at Science of People (https://www.scienceofpeople.com), she is a sought after speaker and author of the book Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication (https://amzn.to/3vFoLZ0). What science has discovered about genetics and DNA in just the last few decades is amazing. Remember it wasn’t all that long ago when we started using fingerprints as a crime solving tool. Today DNA evidence is helping to solve decades-old cold case crimes with incredible accuracy. Plus, we now know so much about our genetics and how it all relates to our health. Joining me to discuss this is Dr. Joshua Rappoport. Joshua is a cellular biology expert who teaches at Boston College and is author of the book Mapping Humanity: How Modern Genetics is Changing Criminal Justice, Personal Medicine and Our Identities (https://amzn.to/35RY6wT). Could it be that shopping actually has health benefits? Listen as I describe one study that equates shopping with physical exercise. Plus, it also seems to offer emotional benefits as well – depending on how you shop. https://business.time.com/2013/04/16/is-retail-therapy-for-real-5-ways-shopping-is-actually-good-for-you/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Shop at https://Dell.com/deals now, to get great deals on leading-edge technology to match your forward-thinking spirit, with free shipping on everything! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone loves getting flowers – but of course they don’t last very long. To make them last as long as possible, what works best, the flower food that comes with the flowers, or maybe aspirin in the water or maybe something else? This episode begins by revealing a surprising additive that will keep your flowers perky – longer. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12981249/ No matter how excited you get about something or someone – it is impossible to stay excited for very long. It’s just how humans are wired. We get used to things no matter how great they are at first. It is called habituation. Still, there are ways to “resparkle” some of that excitement and appreciate things again that you have come to take for granted, as you will hear from my guest Tali Sharot. She is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College, London and at MIT. She is the founder and director of the Affective Brain Lab and co-author of the book Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There (https://amzn.to/49F5vLD). I bet you know someone who is simply a joy to talk to. They make you feel smart, they listen to what you say and you just feel better speaking to them. That person is what Charles Duhigg calls a “super communicator” And really anyone can master the skill and Charles is here to explain how and why it is so important for your personal and professional success. Charles is the author of a new bestselling book called Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection (https://amzn.to/3wmhwHv). Next time you are trying to figure out a problem or come up with a solution, you might want to switch your body position. Listen and I’ll tell you which position appears to be best. https://phys.org/news/2005-05-creative-lying.html PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Shop at https://Dell.com/deals now, to get great deals on leading-edge technology to match your forward-thinking spirit, with free shipping on everything! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why are there so many different shampoos? Does it really matter which one if all you want is clean hair? This episode begins by explaining which shampoo is best for you. https://theconversation.com/does-the-price-of-your-shampoo-affect-how-clean-your-hair-is-heres-the-science-71597 We live in a colorful world. Color matters to us. We care what color our clothes are and what color our walls are painted and what color car we drive. We also love the colors found in nature. We admire the colorful leaves in autumn and a beautiful blue sky. Why do colors matter to us? Are there other colors we just cannot see? Are the colors I see the same ones you see? Joining me to take you on a colorful journey is Adam Rogers, s senior correspondent at Wired and author of the book Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern (https://amzn.to/3hlKmhH). We are all expected to recycle. After all, it is the right thing to do. However, there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about how recycling works and what you should and should not recycle. What about plastic forks, or plastic grocery bags or loose bottle caps? Should those be recycled? The answer is no for all three. You might also wonder just how much of what we put in our recycle bin actually gets recycled into something else. Listen and be surprised by my guest Jennie Romer. She is an attorney and leading expert on single-use plastics, and she author of the book CAN I RECYCLE THIS? A Guide to Better Recycling and How to Reduce Single-Use Plastics (https://amzn.to/32BfVeS). How great would it be to find something stored away in your attic or basement that is actually valuable? Listen as I reveal some items that could actually be in your home that you could turn into cash. Source: Brian Kathenes author of Betcha Didn’t Know That! (https://amzn.to/3xaJn9A) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Shop at https://Dell.com/deals now, to get great deals on leading-edge technology to match your forward-thinking spirit, with free shipping on everything! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With all the advances in automobile technology, it seems they still haven’t solved the problem of that terrible thumping noise that happens when you are driving with one of the back windows rolled down. Listen as I explain why it happens in almost every car. https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/wind-buffeting-how-to-stop-it/ Like it or not, we are all delusional. Interestingly, it turns out to be a good thing – for the most part That’s according Stuart Vyze, a behavioral scientist, teacher and author of a book called The Uses of Delusion: Why It’s Not Always Rational to be Rational (https://amzn.to/3HhzJG7). Stuart reveals why being just a bit delusional helps us all in ways you never imagined. We humans may be at the top of the food chain but certainly not without our flaws. Particularly, physical flaws. Vision problems, back pain, foot trouble and more are rampant throughout the world’s population. Are people just designed poorly, or maybe we haven’t yet evolved into the creatures we will one day be? That’s what I discuss with Alex Bezzerides. Alex is a professor of biology and author of the book Evolution Gone Wrong: The Curious Reasons Why Our Bodies Work (Or Don’t) (https://amzn.to/3I2WS1P). Listen as Alex takes you on an journey into the world of human evolution and reveals why we are built the way we are and what we may become one day in the future. Your silverware gets beaten up over time and can come out of the dishwasher looking less than sparkly. Listen to this very simple tip I saw on a TikTok video that will make your silverware look better than it has looked in a long time. https://www.rd.com/article/aluminum-foil-dishwasher-hack/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Shop at https://Dell.com/deals now, to get great deals on leading-edge technology to match your forward-thinking spirit, with free shipping on everything! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are the things in your kitchen laid out efficiently? We often place kitchen items randomly – or wherever they fit. This episode begins with a quick little test you can do that could ultimately save you hours in the kitchen. Source: Mary Collette Rogers author of Take Control of Your Kitchen (https://amzn.to/4bGts7q). What does it mean to be mentally healthy? Is it possible to have outstanding mental health or are we all a bit flawed? To get a better understanding about your mental health, I’d like you to listen to Camilla Nord. She leads the Mental Health Neuroscience Lab at the University of Cambridge and she is author of the book The Balanced Brain – The Science of Mental Health (https://amzn.to/3SK1IpA). She offers some great insight into how a mentally healthy brain handles the ups and downs of life. Just because you remember something doesn’t mean that is how it happened. While the human memory is amazing and serves us well, it can be amazingly inaccurate. The fact is you forget a lot more than you remember and over time those memories blur, fade and distort. Yet without your memory, you wouldn’t be able to function. To bring this all into focus is Charan Ranganath. He is a professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis and author of the book Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters (https://amzn.to/42Lp8zt) Is it true that having a large and bold signature says something about your personality? Maybe so according to a study of 605 bosses with big signatures. Listen as I explain why working for one of those types of bosses might be challenging. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2275180/Does-boss-sign-flourish CEOs-big-signatures-likely-narcissists-study-reveals.html PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Shop at https://Dell.com/deals now, to get great deals on leading-edge technology to match your forward-thinking spirit, with free shipping on everything! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you drink something and start choking, people often say, “Oh it must’ve gone down the wrong pipe.” This episode begins by explaining what the wrong pipe is and why it’s there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYsz2Od5jDQ A lot of health advice is just plain wrong. Myths abound when it comes to taking care of yourself. Here to explode some of those myths and offer some sound advice on your health is Dr. Karan Rajan. He is a surgeon who has millions of followers on social media where he dispenses solid, high quality health advice. He is also author of the book, This Book May Save Your Life: Everyday Health Hacks to Worry Less and Live Better (https://amzn.to/48fnVlh). Listen as he offers suggestions on maintaining your gut, your heart, your nose and ears and so much more. Here is a link to his YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@DrKaran All of us frequently find ourselves in conflict with other people. You can’t escape it but you can get better at dealing with the conflict. Joining me to offer some excellent advice on just how to do that is Jayson Gaddis He is one of the world’s leading authorities on interpersonal conflict. For almost two decades, Jayson has helped individuals, couples, and teams get to the bottom of their deepest conflicts. Jayson is author of the book Getting to Zero: How to Work Through Conflict in Your High-Stakes Relationships (https://amzn.to/3Uzll6k). Heating your home in the winter can be very expensive. One big reason is that a lot of your expensive heat leaks out. Listen as I reveal some of the places heat seeps out that you may not realize. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/lifestyle/home/where-heat-leaves-your-house/index.html PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Shop at https://Dell.com/deals now, to get great deals on leading-edge technology to match your forward-thinking spirit, with free shipping on everything! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gotta big decision to make? Before you make it, you might want to wash your hands first. This episode begins with the explanation for why it is such a good idea. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/100506-health-brain-wash-hands-choices-decisions# Can you really smell fear from someone ? Why do some odors make you feel sick while others are extremely pleasant? Why do some smells trigger vivid memories? These are just some of the questions I tackle with Jude Stewart author of the book Revelations in Air: A Guidebook to Smell (https://amzn.to/3Jxae55) . When you hear what she has to say, you will have renewed respect for your sense of smell. You often hear people talk about being “burned out.” What does that mean? Is burnout a real thing or just a vague complaint. What are the actual symptoms? Perhaps most importantly, what causes burnout and what is the cure? For some important insight into all of this, listen to my guest, Jonathan Malesic. He was once a tenured professor who got burned out. So, he quit. Afterwards he studied burnout and wrote a terrific book about it called The End of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us and How to Build Better Lives (https://amzn.to/354CJID). If you have ever felt burned out, you need to hear this conversation. “Listen to your gut.” That is common advice for people who have an important decision to make. Is it good advice or are there situations when your gut instinct may lead you down the wrong path? Listen as I discuss this. Source: Wray Herbert author of On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits (https://amzn.to/3I1PPVl) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The concept of body language is based on the idea that what you do with certain body parts sends a message to other people. This apparently holds true for your belly button. Today’s episode begins by explaining what message your belly button sends to others and what theirs sends to you. Source : Source: Janine Driver author of You Say More Than You Think (https://amzn.to/3SPYVwt) Have you ever eaten food when you weren’t actually hungry? Or continued to eat even though you were full – and then regretted it? I imagine we all have. What if there was a way to stop that and actually enjoy the food you eat even more? That’s what you are going to hear from Dr. Jud Brewer. He is a professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health author of the book The Hunger Habit: Why We Eat When We're Not Hungry and How to Stop (https://amzn.to/49sbiEw). If you have ever eaten for a reason other than hunger, you need to hear what he has to say. His app is called Eat Right Now and is available wherever you get your apps. Generally, people don’t understand how randomness or coincidences really work and how they affect predictions we make about our own futures. It seems that coincidences happen a lot more often than you think and randomness doesn’t look as random as you would expect. How all this works together is fascinating as you will hear from my guest Kit Yates. He is a senior lecturer of mathematical science in the UK and author of the book How to Expect the Unexpected: The Science of Making Predictions―and the Art of Knowing When Not To (https://amzn.to/3Ur3PRM). Kit Yates' last appearance here was episode 362 about the math of life and death. Hear it here https://www.somethingyoushouldknow.net/362-the-interesting-math-of-life-and-death-understanding-the-science-of-consciousness/ Back in 2008 a list came out from Oxford University of the 10 most overused and despised words and phrases in the English language. Listen as I tell you what they are and hear how familiar they still sound 16 years later. https://www.wired.com/2008/11/oxford-research/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kissing has a lot of benefits you likely never knew. And it appears that the more you kiss – the more the benefits. This episode begins with several really good reasons why you should kiss someone more often. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/opinion/the-kiss-of-life.html People who have their own business are often revered. Being an entrepreneur is considered a worthy accomplishment. And many people think it is the best path to career success. Is it though? While there are certainly perks to being self-employed, there are also some dangers and pitfalls. Joining me to explain the good and the bad of owning your own business is Benjamin Waterhouse He is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the book, One Day I'll Work for Myself: The Dream and Delusion That Conquered America (https://amzn.to/3OyaOV5). Creativity is often misunderstood. Just because something is different or unusual doesn’t make it creative. And have you ever wondered what is the difference between creativity and innovation? Can you make yourself more creative? These are just a few of the questions I discuss with Barry Kudrowitz. He is a professor of product design at the University of Minnesota and has taught toy design for over a decade. In fact, he co-designed a Nerf toy amongst other things. Barry is the author of the book Sparking Creativity: How Play and Humor Fuel Innovation and Design (https://amzn.to/484SlXg). Space heaters can be extremely useful in the cold winter months, but they can also be a serious hazard. If you use a space heater to stay warm, listen as I reveal some important precautions that will keep you safe. https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/how-to-safely-run-your-space-heater/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Go to https://uscellular.com/TryUS and download the USCellular TryUS app to get 30 days of FREE service! Keep you current phone, carrier & number while testing a new network. Try us out and make your switch with confidence! Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is usually very difficult to talk your way out of getting a traffic ticket. Usually, the police are just doing their job and part of their job is to give out tickets. When you try to explain your way out of it, you have no real power in the conversation. So more often than not, you are going to lose. Still, there is one strategy that might just work to convince the officer to cut you some slack. Listen to find out what it is. Source: Frank Luntz author of Words That Work (https://amzn.to/37Ay5A8) You might think your immune system is this great protector that fights off enemies in order to keep you alive. However, that characterization is all wrong. The truth is your immune system is a very elaborate and complicated system in your body that most of us don’t understand. That’s according to Phillip Dettmer, science writer and author of Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive (https://amzn.to/35QaY6W). Have you ever wondered why you can’t get some illnesses like the measles more than once? Did you know your immune system can actually kill you in under 5 minutes? Listen as Phillip explains all this and much more. Phillipp also has a very popular science channel on YouTube. You can access it at: https://www.youtube.com/c/inanutshell If your boss tells you he or she wants to give you some feedback, you know that usually means you are about to get criticized for something you’ve done. And who wants that? Actually, feedback can be a very effective way to get people to change their behavior if it is done correctly, according to LeeAnn Renninger. Leann is an expert in behavior change, who has a great TED talk on feedback (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtl5UrrgU8c). She’s co-founder of Life Labs Learning (https://lifelabslearning.com) and co-author of the book The Leader Lab (https://amzn.to/3rwtSYF). Listen as she joins me to explain why most feedback we get has the opposite of the intended effect – and how to give feedback the right way so it has a positive impact. When you or your child has to take liquid medicine, there is an excellent chance the dose that is given is wrong. And the wrong dose of any medicine can result in a bad outcome. Listen as I explain the problem and the simple solution. https://www.vox.com/2014/7/15/5902329/medicine-teaspoon-tablespoon-milliliters-study-errors PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you put a child in a car seat, you may be doing something wrong that could put your child in danger – particularly in the winter. And it has to do with what the child is wearing. This episode begins with a wintertime caution when you take your child out for a drive. https://cafemom.com/parenting/108322-9_lifesaving_car_seat_rules You probably know someone who is a great story teller. You may also know of people who are not very good at it at all. Great story telling is an art, but it is also a science. It’s not only about what you say, it is also about what you don’t say. And how you say it. Here to explain the anatomy of great story telling is Karen Eber. She is the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Eber Leadership Group and she is author of the book The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire (https://amzn.to/482JuVU). Do you understand how copyrights work? Most people don’t. As you are about to hear, the world of copyrights is so confusing I am not sure anyone really understands it all. Still, it is important to have some understanding in order to stay out of trouble. You don’t want to get caught infringing on someone else’s copyright. And it turns out EVERYTHING is copyrighted. As soon as you write a sentence, a poem, a song – even a grocery list, it is instantly copyrighted and you own it. So, what does it all mean? Listen to my guest, David Bellos, a professor at Princeton University, and author of the book Who Owns This Sentence : A History of Copyrights and Wrongs (https://amzn.to/3Opgyk2). Who would you say most people believe is more trustworthy, someone with brown eyes or blue eyes? Listen and discover which one and why. The answer is weird because it actually has nothing to do with the eye color. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23326406/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Supposedly, women are attracted to men who can make them laugh. Is that really true? And if it is, why? This episode begins with an explanation. Source: Alan & Barbara Pease authors of Why Men Want Sex & Women Need Love (https://amzn.to/496hAtL) We seem to have a weird fascination with twins. Why is that? What is it like to be a twin? Can twins read each other’s minds or do they have some other mystical connection? Although we may perceive twins as being different – are they really any different than anyone else? That’s what Helena de Bres is here to talk about. Helena is an identical twin and she researched some of the truths, myths and misconceptions about twins. Helena is a professor of philosophy at Wellesley College, and author of the book, How to Be Multiple: the Philosophy of Twins (https://amzn.to/3HCmH8E) We have all heard the standard money advice – save, invest, live below your means, etc. In this episode you will hear some fresh, different and even a little unusual advice about money from Vivian Tu. She is a financial guru who made her first $1M by age 27 and is the CEO & Founder of Your Rich BFF Media LLC. You can see her on TikTok and other social media platforms and she is author of the book RichAF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your Life (https://amzn.to/42oltaH) You grab a pen to write something, and the ink doesn’t come out. It is one of life’s little and frequent frustrations. As long as there is still ink in there, you can use one of the techniques I will explain to get the ink rolling again. https://artltdmag.com/get-a-ballpoint-pen-to-work-again/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may have heard the advice to not allow your gas tank to get too low before refueling. Is that really necessary? What’s the harm if you let it go to E? And can’t you just go by the thing on your dashboard that tells you how many miles until empty? This episode begins with an important explanation. https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/07/27/2386931/ Do you have things in your home you never use? Who doesn’t? Clothes, appliances, books you will never read, and the list goes on. You probably even have boxes of things and you don’t even remember what’s inside those boxes. Getting rid of old stuff is hard for many of us – even if we never plan to use it. It turns out though, that if you could just get started you will likely find the experience rather satisfying according to Matt Paxton. Matt has spent over 20 years helping people confront their stuff. He was a featured cleaner on the TV show Hoarders and hosts the PBS series “Legacy List with Matt Paxton”. Matt is also author of the book Keep the Memories Lose the Stuff (https://amzn.to/3tWDiyj). Listen as he joins me to offer some great advice. We all experience the passage of time. Yet how we measure time has changed a lot. For most of human history, knowing the precise time wasn’t all that that important. Today however, we use amazingly sophisticated instruments to keep very precise time all around the world. It is an absolute necessity. Joining me to explain why and discuss the fascinating story of how we keep time is Chad Orzel. He is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Union College in Schenectady, NY and author of the book A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks (https://amzn.to/3H9lVOI) Sometimes when you look at the front of a car, it seems to resemble a human face which sort of gives it a sense of personality. Some cars look happy while other cars have a more serious - almost intimidating or aggressive “faces.” You may have wondered if that was intentional or just a coincidence? Listen as I give you the explanation. http://www.fsu.edu/news/2008/11/26/car.personality/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Human touch can certainly feel good, but does it actually have lasting biological effects? This episode begins with a look at how the body responds to deliberate touch like massage as well as more casual and supportive touch between friends and family. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/everyone-top/202108/the-vital-importance-human-touch It can be mind boggling to think how any one thing can have a huge impact on your life. For example, if you stayed in bed 2 minutes longer today or had an egg instead of cereal for breakfast, your entire day might have been completely different. Of course, there is no way to tell if it would’ve been better or worse or how much different. Still, the fact that everything can influence everything else is something you can use in your own life strategy to improve the outcome of so many things. This is according to Dr. Brian Klaas, Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College in London, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and author of the book Fluke: Chance, Chaos, and Why Everything We Do Matters, (https://amzn.to/3SrRj31). Listen to our conversation and you’ll realize how fluke-y your life is, and that just may alter how you see your future. When you hear the term “Big Tech,” you likely think of Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and other large tech companies that seem to wield a lot of power and control over our lives. There is surprisingly little government regulation of the big tech organizations and that has a lot of people concerned. One of those people is Tom Wheeler. Tom was the Chairman of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during the Obama administration. He is now a venture capitalist and author whose latest book is called Techlash: Who Makes the Rules in the Digital Gilded Age? (https://amzn.to/47OunPU). Could eating fast food cause respiratory allergies? Listen as I reveal some interesting research that links children who eat junk food and things like asthma, eczema and other allergic conditions. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.3005803 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a job interview, there is one question you are likely to be asked that many people are not prepared to answer. I begin this episode by revealing what the question is and how to craft a powerful response. https://www.forbes.com/pictures/lml45mmjg/why-should-i-hire-you-2/?sh=4c5a502c53d8 Robots seem to have us all mystified. We can’t help but relate to them as conscious beings and we tend to think they are smarter than we are, even when we know a robot is just a machine. If you think about that for a moment, you’ll realize - that could cause a lot of problems. Here to explain those problems, why they are so interesting and what we can do to solve them is Eve Herold. She is an award-winning science writer and consultant in the scientific and medical nonprofit world and she is author of a book called Robots and the People Who Love Them: Holding on to Our Humanity in an Age of Social Robots (https://amzn.to/3ObcBzb) Who wouldn’t like to have a bit more confidence? Actually, you may already have all the confidence you need according to Viv Groskop. Viv is a writer, comedian and executive coach and she is author of the book Happy High Status: How to Effortlessly Be Confident (https://amzn.to/3vQYj0h). Listen as she explains why confidence is a bit elusive and how to use the confidence you already have to project a better you. Has it been a while since you last went to have your eyes checked? An eye exam does more than just check your prescription for glasses or contacts. Listen as I reveal how a good eye exam can actually help identify other serious medical problems. https://www.allaboutvision.com/eye-exam/cost-and-how-often/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every mom knows, when a child (or an adult for that matter) gets a small cut, you put a little antibiotic ointment on to prevent infection. But maybe that’s not such a great idea. Listen as I begin this episode by explaining why. https://www.mindfood.com/article/the-risk-of-overusing-antibiotic-creams-and-ointments/ Don’t you just hate it when you are in an argument with someone when you know you are 100% right and the other person couldn’t be more wrong? There is something you can do in these cases and come out a winner. Listen as I talk with Xavier Amador a clinical psychologist, teacher and author of the book I’m Right, You're Wrong, Now What? Break the Impasse and Get What You Need (https://amzn.to/3KqUDpc). Xavier reveals a very simple technique that will help you resolve any disagreement, no matter how difficult. In the morning, some people jump out of bed, greet the morning with enthusiasm and are ready to take on the day. Others of us start the day with dread. No matter where you fall on that scale, there is something simple you can do as part of your morning routine that will improve the way you face the world each day. To discover what it is, listen to my discussion with Mel Robbins, an attorney, speaker, and host of The Mel Robbins Podcast (https://www.melrobbins.com/podcast). She is also author of the bestselling book The High Five Habit (https://amzn.to/3FDuTlG). What could possibly be the connection between your earlobes and your heart health? Next time you are near a mirror, you may want to look for one specific feature on your earlobes. It just might reveal something important. Listen as I explain. https://myheart.net/articles/earlobe-crease-and-heart-disease-fact-or-myth/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is a newborn baby more likely to resemble mom or dad – or is it a toss-up? This episode begins by explaining why a baby is more likely to look like one parent and not the other and why that is. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/health/the-claim-babies-tend-to-look-like-their-fathers.html When people talk about the "culture" – why do they mean? What is culture. You probably use the word in conversation and you have a sense of what it means but it is actually a difficult word to define. Here to define it and explain why it is so important to understand what culture is and how it changes is Marcus Collins. He is a clinical assistant professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business, at the University of Michigan and recipient of Advertising Age's 40 Under 40 award. He is also author of the book, For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be (https://amzn.to/3tOT4On). It is a little strange that there is such a fitness craze in America yet so many people are not physically fit at all. The medical evidence is pretty clear that being physically fit and keeping your weight under control is so important to a long and healthy life. So why are so many people not motivated to do it and how can you find the motivation to start if you are not feeling inclined? Joining me to talk about this is Natalia Petrzela. She is an historian of contemporary American politics and culture as well as a fitness instructor and she is author of the book Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession (https://amzn.to/48V5LGb) Is it ever too late to change your life or must you set your course early if you are ever to make something of yourself? Interestingly, researchers followed 350 students for decades – all the way into adulthood to see how they turned out. Listen as I explain how people tend to change and how those goof-offs you remember from high school are likely to end up doing pretty well. Source: Susan Krause Whitborne author of The Search for Fulfillment (https://amzn.to/3O9XuWP). PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How your food tastes depends on a lot of things that have nothing to do with the food itself. I begin this episode by revealing how things such as the lighting, the weight of utensils and the color of the plate can impact how much you enjoy your meal. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/12/31/370397449/food-psychology-how-to-trick-your-palate-into-a-tastier-meal# When you recognize a person, chances are it is the face you recognize. How does that work exactly? What is it about the face? How much of a person’s face do you have to see in order to recognize them? Some people are really good at recognizing a face while others are totally face blind. Have you ever wondered how facial recognition software works? Well, all of this is tackled by my guest Sharrona Pearl, an associate professor of medical ethics and history at Drexel University and author of the book Do I Know You?: From Face Blindness to Super Recognition (https://amzn.to/3TWc0VX). When you put your mind to it, you probably think quite clearly. However, much of the time our brain is on autopilot and our clear thinking suffers. So how can you think more clearly, make better decisions, and do the right thing? Here with some insight and advice on that is Shane Parrish. He is an entrepreneur whose insights are used by Fortune 500 companies and many major professional sports teams. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and others. He hosts a podcast called The Knowledge Project https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/ and he is author of the book, Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results (https://amzn.to/3Hl0FHj) There are people who claim they can drink coffee before bed and it doesn’t affect their sleep at all. Can that be true? Listen as I explain what one top sleep specialist has to say about that. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/shift-worker-alert-curb-t_b_386058 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As everyone who is a garlic lover or knows a garlic lover knows, garlic can make your breath stink. This episode begins with some easy and effective strategies from the Institute of Food Technologists that will neutralize that garlic smell from your breath as well as from your hands, so you won’t have to worry about offending anyone while you eat all the garlic you want. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130204142609.htm Weird to think, but humans actually enjoy suffering – to some extent. It has been said that it is the suffering we endure that makes life meaningful. In fact, if you didn’t suffer at least a little, life would be pretty boring according to Paul Bloom, a professor of psychology at Yale and author of the book The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning (https://amzn.to/3K5Zdci) . Listen as he explains how the pain of suffering makes pleasure more pleasurable. You likely learned in school that the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees people the right to free speech. But what does that mean exactly? Can you say anything you want? How has this right evolved over time? That’s what I tackle with attorney Ian Rosenberg. Ian serves as legal counsel for ABC News, teaches media law at Brooklyn College and is author of the book Free Speech Handbook: A Practical Framework for Understanding Our Free Speech Protections (https://amzn.to/3HZ8W25). Most popular breakfast cereals have a lot of added sugar. And certainly sugar consumption is something a lot of parents worry about. However, there is some good news about kids and cereal that you might find surprising. Listen as I explain what it is. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/breakfast-cereal-surprise-kids-ok-with-less-sugar-study-says/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Keeping track of passwords can be a real pain. If you use a simple one or use the same one for everything, that makes you easy to be hacked. If you use a complicated one or lots of different ones, it’s hard to remember. This episode starts with a strategy to create good passwords that you will remember. Source: Sid Kirchheimer, author of Scam-Proof Your Life (https://amzn.to/3SeWhA5) Men and women are different, obviously. However, some of the most interesting differences you may not know. For example, how men and women hear differently; the real reason women live longer than men, and how hormones affect behaviors differently in men and women. Joining me to discuss this is is Cat Bohannon. Cat is is a researcher with a Ph.D. from Columbia University and author of the book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (https://amzn.to/3SgBUlO). The world is full of pests: rats, insects, bees, deer, spiders – there are lots of them. So, what is it that makes a pest a pest? In some cases, what you consider a pest may not be to someone else. Generally, though, pests are something we strive to get rid of. What is the best way to do that? Maybe pests are really trying to tell us something. Here to discuss this is Bethany Brookshire. She is an award-winning science writer, a contributor to Science News magazine and a host on the podcast Science for the People (http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/) and she is author of a book called Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains (https://amzn.to/3vzlpZt). Most drivers don’t take the time to adjust the headrest in their car. In fact, many of us don’t even think about doing it and aren’t sure of the best position for it anyway. If you are ever in a crash, the position of your headrest can make a big difference. Listen as I explain how to adjust it. https://www.adlergiersch.com/provider-blog/how-to-properly-adjust-your-headrest-to-prevent-whiplash/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of people have different size feet. Sounds weird right but there is a good reason for it – and it usually the left foot that is bigger. This episode begins with the explanation for why this happens and how big an issue it is for most people. https://www.feetbypody.com/blog/is-it-normal-for-one-foot-to-be-bigger-than-the-other/ I’m certain you have pondered why the moon sits there in the sky at night. Where did it come from? What does it do? Why doesn’t it crash into the earth? What would life be like on earth if there was no moon. Joining me to answer these and a lot of other fascinating questions about the moon is Rebecca Boyle. She is a columnist at Atlas Obscura and a contributor to Scientific American, The New York Times, Popular Science, Smithsonian’s Air & Space Magazine, and others. She is author of the book Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are (https://amzn.to/3O1xn4s) In this segment you are going to meet someone who loves to clean the house. Now while that may sound weird, imagine how good he must be at it and imagine how many cool tips and tricks he has developed. Meet Patric Richardson. He is the star of The Laundry Guy on HGTV and Discovery Plus and author of the book House Love: A Joyful Guide to Cleaning, Organizing, and Loving the Home You're In (https://amzn.to/3vidAao). Listen, and by the time this segment is over, you will want to run out and buy some really cheap vodka! Here are some links to some of the products he mentioned: Scrubbers that attach to drill https://amzn.to/47vgd6h Cool waste baskets: https://vipp.com/en-us/shop/bins Laundry soap (not detergent): https://laundryevangelist.com/products/laundry-evangelist-laundry-soap-flakes You or someone you know likely vowed to lose weight as a New Year’s resolution. While admirable, most people fail at that one. Listen as I explain how to craft a New Year’s resolution – such as losing weight - to make it more likely to happen – and to stick. Source: Kent Sasse M.D. author of Doctor’s Orders (https://amzn.to/48AhFFm) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! NerdWallet lets you compare top travel credit cards side-by-side to maximize your spending! Compare and find smarter credit cards, savings accounts, and more today at https://NerdWallet.com Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you don’t have one yet, one great New Year’s resolution is to tackle the clutter in your house. This episode begins by explaining how clutter negatively affects your brain and how you can fix the problem. http://www.timetoorganize.com/wp-content/uploads/realsimple-article.pdf More and more we are hearing about “lifestyle medicine.” Essentially, it is how things like diet and exercise and other choices impact your health and longevity for better or worse. While you probably already know that - what you may not know is how big a deal it really is. For decades Dr. Dean Ornish has been at the heart of lifestyle medicine and his research has proven how small changes in how you live can have a huge impact on your health and can even reverse chronic illness. He is here to explain these changes - and there are only 4 changes! Dr. Ornish is author of the book UnDo It! : How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases (https://amzn.to/3qYaSB7). Here is the link to his website for information on his program: https://www.ornish.com/undo-it/ The human brain isn’t always good at grasping numbers. For example, if 1 million seconds equals 12 days, how many days is 1 billion seconds? You will have to listen to this episode to find out, but I bet your guess is way off! Here to explain why the brain has trouble with numbers and how you can better understand them is Chip Heath. Chip teaches at Stanford, has authored several books including Making Numbers Count (https://amzn.to/3t3AMpG). Just about every food has an expiration date or “sell by” date or “best if used by” date on it. But in some cases, they can be very misleading. A lot of foods will last a lot longer than those dates would have you believe. The point is you may be throwing away food that is just fine. Listen to hear a list of foods you can likely hang on to a little longer. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/do-food-expiration-dates-matter#1 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m sure you’ve gotten a song stuck in your head. It happens to all of us. And once it gets in your head, it is hard to get rid of. It turns out there are some ways that have researched that do seem to work to get that song out of your head the next time it seeps in and just won't leave. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/03/21/heres-how-get-song-out-your-head/99264896/ You have probably done something to someone out of spite. Most people have. Interestingly, humans are just about the only creature on earth that acts out of spite. According to psychologist Simon McCarthy-Jones. Simon says spite comes from a feeling of being wronged – of not being treated fairly. Often people will go to great lengths to get revenge. That’s spite. Still, spite may not be all bad. It can actually be useful. Listen as Simon reveals why we do things out of spite and why spite may be an important tool we use to keep each other honest. Simon is author of the book Spite: The Upside of Your Dark Side (https://amzn.to/2OO8FJu) Human memory is full of flaws. For example, most things we simply don’t remember at all. Other things we don’t remember very well and a lot of what we do remember gets distorted over time. So how do we make sense of our memory? Here to help explain it is Lisa Genova. She is a neuroscientist, writer and speaker who has appeared on The Today Show and PBS NewsHour, and she is author of the book Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting (https://amzn.to/3ccv2B7). Ever have a bad day? Sure, you have. And it seems that the worse the day gets – the worse it gets. Well, you can actually turn that spiral off. Listen as I reveal this simple technique that will stop you from focusing on the bad things happening so your day can get back on track. Source: Dr. Judith Orloff author of Positive Energy (https://amzn.to/3dZ323w). PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Choking under pressure. No one wants to do that yet when the stakes are high, it can be hard to rise to the occasion and easy to choke. This episode begins with a technique that has proven to help people in high pressure situations to NOT choke when there is a lot riding on the outcome. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2012/09/choking-pressure.aspx You likely know people you are tightwads or spendthrifts. Perhaps you are one of them. How is it that some people become one or the other? Why does it seem that they are attracted to each other (and apparently they really are)? What’s the difference between being a tightwad and being frugal – or cheap? Here to explain the world of tightwads and spendthrifts is Scott Rick He is a marketing professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and author of the book, Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships (https://amzn.to/47oFOxt). Interestingly, Scott is a spendthrift who is married to a tightwad so he is truly on the front lines of this discussion. Here in the USA, people like the idea of buying products that are “Made in America.” Still, over the last several decades, a lot of things that used to be made here have been outsourced to other countries. Now there is an effort to bring more manufacturing back to the United States. Joining me to explain why so much manufacturing left in the first place, how it is coming back and the benefits of doing so is Rachel Slade. Rachel teaches political science at Tufts University, she is an award winning writer and she is author of a book called Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way) (https://amzn.to/3NPlezt). There is no one secret to happiness. However, there are some necessary ingredients to having an overall sense of happiness. Listen as I explain what they are and how to create them in your life. https://www.biopsychiatry.com/happiness/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Indeed is offering SYSK listeners a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING TurboTax Experts make all your moves count — filing with 100% accuracy and getting your max refund, guaranteed! See guarantee details at https://TurboTax.com/Guarantees Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists have studied what is the perfect temperature in an office or work environment. And the magic number is 77 degrees Fahrenheit. What’s so magical about 77 degrees? I begin this episode with the explanation and what happens if temperature gets too far off from there. https://heatmyjob.com/office-temperature-can-play-part-employee-output/ The beginning of the year is when people set new goals for themselves. And it turns out that the process you use to set your goals will make a difference in how successful you are in reaching them. That’s the message from Michael Bungay Stanier. Often described as one of the top coaches in the world, Michael is author of a book called, How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters (https://amzn.to/3qL3UiH). When you follow his advice, you will most likely improve the chances that your goals will be reached. It seems pretty random how we categorize people into groups depending on when they were born. We have baby boomers, millennials, Gen Xers and a few others I imagine. But is that fair? Is their any reason to think that people born in a certain generation share traits and characteristics? Should we be generalizing about a group based on when they were born? Here to discuss this is Bobby Duffy, professor of public policy and director of the Policy Institute at King’s College in London and author of the book, The Generation Myth: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think (https://amzn.to/3eUyIrL). Germs can spread throughout a household in many different ways - and one is through your toothbrush. Listen as I explain how this happens and how you can prevent those toothbrush germs from infecting others. Source: Dr. Philip M. Tierno, author of The Secret Life of Germs (https://amzn.to/3HBF4bV). PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Generally, women seem to have a better, more sensitive sense of touch than men do. Yet, it isn’t gender that really determines that. This episode begins with an explanation of why some people’s sense of touch is better than others and why most (but not all) of them are women. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091215173017.htm When your work is fun and enjoyable, you do better work. It doesn’t have to be totally fun – even making it a little more fun can pay big dividends according to Ali Abdaal. Ali is one of the most followed productivity experts and he is author of the book Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You (https://amzn.to/47AZajf). If you’ve always thought that success and productivity only come from discipline and hard work, I think you will find this conversation to be liberating. Here is the link to Ali’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@aliabdaal Much of what determines how long you live and how healthy you remain as you get older – is pretty well known and is not that difficult to do if you make it a priority. That’s according to Michael Greger, MD, who is a founding member and Fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and author of the book, How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier As You Get Older (https://amzn.to/3tCR1g2). Listen as he reveals some of the simple ways you can live long and stay healthy and active from now all the way through your golden years. A lot of people say they feel stuck – stuck in their job or marriage or in some other way they just feel stuck in life. Interestingly, this is a fairly new phenomenon. Listen as I explain why there is so much stuckness in the world and what you can do to get unstuck. Source: Anneli Rufus author of the book Stuck (https://amzn.to/47ftboo) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder what the life expectancy is for that house fly buzzing around your kitchen? Or what’s the fastest insect on earth? Do you know how many kinds of insects there are in the world? This episode begins with some interesting facts about bugs and insects you likely don’t know – including the difference between a bug and an insect. https://gohannan.com/common-pests/amazing-but-true-interesting-facts-about-bugs/ You must be afraid of something. In fact, you are probably afraid of several things. Fear is a good thing. It keeps us safe from harm. And understanding how fear works can really help you navigate the world better. Joining me to discuss what fear is and where it comes from is Helen Odeskky, a licensed clinical psychologist, anxiety expert and author of the book Stop Fear from Stopping You: The Art and Science of Becoming Fear-Wise (https://amzn.to/3qBprt2). Listen to our conversation and you may just view fear in a whole new light. Nature can be beautiful and wonderful. It can also be gross and disgusting. Still, disgusting can also be very interesting according to Erika Engelhaupt. She is a writer and editor for National Geographic and author of the book Gory Details : Adventures from the Dark of Science (https://amzn.to/39v0IQn). Listen as she explains some really gross but fascinating things like how tiny bugs live in the pores on you face; how “fatbergs” (like icebergs except made of fat and sludge) flow under our cities; how gross peeing in the pool really is; what ants really taste like should you need to eat some and a lot more. Everyone who uses credit has a credit score – sometimes called a FICO score. A lot of people don’t really understand where that score comes from or what the number means. Listen as I reveal how your score is determined and how to keep your FICO score as high as possible. https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-credit-utilization-960451 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare highly-rated, in-network doctors near you AND instantly book appointments with them online. Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the sun hits it just right, you can sometimes see just how dirty your computer screen gets. And it can get pretty filthy. So, what’s the best way to clean it? Not with window cleaner, that’s for sure. Listen as this episode begins with the right way to clean your monitor so you don’t cause damage https://www.rd.com/article/how-to-clean-a-computer-screen/ We all know exercise is good for you. Any exercise is good whether it is cardio or lifting weights - it’s all great! But it doesn’t have to be formal, strenuous exercise. In this episode, you’ll hear how simply moving your body can do wonders. Your body is designed to move – not sit around. And when you move it in the right way, the benefits are spectacular, according to Caroline Williams, a science journalist who is a regular contributor to New Scientist and author of the book Move: How the New Science of Body Movement Can Set Your Mind Free (https://amzn.to/3Jsjlot). Is privacy dead? After all, you hear a lot of people talking about how so much of our information is floating around, it is impossible to expect much in the way of privacy. Not true, according to Neil Richards. Neil is a leading expert in privacy law. He is Professor of Law at Washington University School of Law, and author of the book, Why Privacy Matters (https://amzn.to/32xsxaG). Listen as he discusses how privacy works, how the laws must change and how privacy is not dead – yet. But it is definitely in need of repair. Are you one of those people who eats lunch at their desk? A lot of people like to keep working as they eat lunch – particularly if you work from home. While it may seem like an efficient thing to do, it’s actually a terrible idea. Listen as I explain why. https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-why-you-should-stop-eating-lunch-at-your-desk-every-day/articleshow/45464205.cms PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting a paper cut sucks. It looks like nothing but it sure hurts like crazy. This episode starts with a look at why paper cuts hurt so much and the best way to treat one. http://www.menshealth.com/health/why-are-paper-cuts-so-painful You might think your personality is pretty well determined already. However, it is actually changing all the time whether you like it or not. Organizational psychologist Benjamin Hardy joins me to reveal how your personality evolves throughout your lifetime and how you can influence those changes to become the person you want to be. Benjamin Hardy is a contributor to Inc., and Psychology Today and he is author of the book Personality Isn’t Permanent (https://amzn.to/3GS1ebv) The pace of life just seems faster than it used to be. And while you might long for the good old slower days, they are likely not coming back. A better approach may be to learn to manage the faster speed of life and make it work for you. Joining me to discuss how to do that is Vince Poscente, former Olympic speed-skier and author of bestselling book, The Age of Speed (https://amzn.to/2UGj8Gm). Don’t you hate it when you can’t remember where you put your keys or wallet or glasses? What is it that makes them so easy to lose in the first place? Listen as I explain WHY you likely misplaced them and the best way to figure out where they are? http://lifehacker.com/the-two-factors-that-make-you-forgetful-1563418168 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can never say, “I love you” enough to your partner. They are the 3 magic words of love. Yet, there are three other words you may also want to say more often to help forge a closer and stronger bond. Listen as I reveal what those three words are. https://truetowords.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-me-us-we-little-words-big-impact.html It feels good to help someone in need. However, it can feel really uncomfortable if you are the one asking for the help. However, it doesn’t need to be difficult, according to Heidi Grant, author of the book, Reinforcements: How to Get People to Help You (https://amzn.to/2MRA4Ep). She has some great advice that explains how to ask and who to ask that will make it easier to make the request and make it much more likely that people will say yes. Listen and learn to become a much better asker when you really need help. Everyone has lucky moments in life. However, it is what you do with your luck when it strikes that determines how lucky you really are. That’s according to Christian Busch, PhD, Director of the Global Economy Program at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and author of the book, The Serendipity Mindset: The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck (https://amzn.to/30VClYu). Really lucky people know how to capitalize on those lucky moments in life to maximize the benefits. Listen and you too will know how when those lucky moments come along. Even the best cooks in the world are looking for better and more efficient ways to get things done in the kitchen. I found some great suggestions that I use myself from the website Epicurious.com. - from what kind of chicken to buy, where to keep your lemons to why you most certainly need a new ice tray for the freezer. https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/best-cooking-advice-ever-article PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell Technologies and Intel are pushing what technology can do, so great ideas can happen! Find out how to bring your ideas to life at https://Dell.com/WelcomeToNow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you have a bad cough, prescription cough syrup is often the remedy of choice – particularly the kind with codeine. But what if chocolate works better? Seriously. This episode begins by discussing the best way to stifle that urge to cough. https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/chocolate-can-fight-coughs-better-than-some-cold-medicine/ Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? Maybe you like White Christmas or It’s a Wonderful Life or maybe Home Alone? Well, whatever it is, I suspect you will hear it discussed during my conversation Jeremy Arnold. Jeremy is a film historian who, along with Turner Classic movies, has put together a wonderful book called Christmas in the Movies: 30 Classics To Celebrate the Season. (https://amzn.to/3GzDZ3S). Listen and you will hear some of the backstories about many of the most iconic Christmas movies of all time. When you think about it, sarcasm is a really weird way to try to get your point across. Still, it can be extremely effective. It can also affect people in interesting and unusual ways that aren’t quite so obvious. Penny Pexman, a professor of psychology at the University of Calgary studies sarcasm and she joins me to offer some wonderful insight into how using sarcasm impacts your relationships and interactions as well as who tends to be more sarcastic and why. Penny has a coloring book for kids to help them understand sarcasm called Sydney Gets Sarcastic. You can download it for free at: https://ucalgary.ca/child-infant-learning-development/home-0 Could your Christmas tree be causing your allergy symptoms to flare up? IT is quite possible. Listen as I explain what the problem is and how best to deal with it. https://www.entandallergyspecialists.com/uncategorized/can-christmas-trees-cause-allergy-symptoms/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is one word in the English language that has more meanings than any other. A lot more! And the word is only 3 letters long. I begin this episode by revealing which word it is – and there is a good chance you have said the word multiple times today. https://www.rd.com/article/most-complicated-word-in-english/ Can you really inherit your mother’s laugh or your father’s temper? It is a little confusing because some traits you can inherit genetically, but other traits you get from them may just be because you grew up in the same house. Height is something genetically passed down – still not all tall parents have tall children, so how does that work? Heredity is often misunderstood and there is a lot about heredity we just don’t know. Here to explain this fascinating topic so it all makes sense is Carl Zimmer. Carl writes for The New York Times and is author of the book, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions and Potential of Heredity (https://amzn.to/2IG8KKR). Does anyone know who made the first cellphone call? Not only do we know, we have him here as a guest and you are about to meet him. Martin Cooper is considered the father of the cellphone. He helped to develop the whole basis for cellular technology when he worked at Motorola and did in fact place the very first cellphone call. Martin joins me to recall the early days of the cellphone and has some great terrific insight on the future of cellular technology. Martin is the author of the book Cutting the Cord: The Cell Phone Has Transformed Humanity (https://amzn.to/38aXwIV). Sneakers or tennis shoes are the footwear of choice for many of us. So where did they come from? Interestingly, it took quite a while for them to cross over from the world of sports to everyday casual wear . Listen as I explain the history and who the players were that brought sneakers to the forefront. https://www.factmonster.com/culture-entertainment/fashion/history-sneakers PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of the most inspiring words can come from some unusual places - and people. This episode begins with some words of hope and inspiration that seem perfect for the holidays - from Mr. Rogers. Source: The World According to Mr. Rogers (https://amzn.to/3RKWfzC). The fight against aging is more complicated than most people think. It isn’t just about living longer, it is also about staying healthy as you get older. And while diet and exercise do seem to help, science is looking at some far more sophisticated ways to fight aging. There is some promising work in the lab that can make worms seem younger, live twice as long and improve their cognitive function. One person on the cutting edge of all this is Coleen Murphy. She is a professor at Princeton University, Director of Princeton’s Glenn Foundation for Research on Aging and author of the book, How We Age: The Science of Longevity (https://amzn.to/3GKDKF5) I bet there have been times in your life when you didn’t try something or take a risk because you were afraid of what other people would think of you – especially if you failed. It appears to be one of the most powerful forces that holds people back. Joining me to discuss why this is such a problem and what we can all do to push it out of the way is Michael Gervais. He is a high performance psychologist, host of the podcast Finding Mastery (https://findingmastery.com/podcasts/) and author of the book The First Rule of Mastery: Stop Worrying about What People Think of You (https://amzn.to/3RtsDoW). As the new year fast approaches, many people dust off their resumes and look for a new job. Listen as I reveal some of the most important traits employers are looking for in new employees. https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/10/04/top-five-personality-traits-employers-hire-most/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Sitting is the new smoking” has been a popular expression for the last few years. But seriously, what could be so horrible about sitting? This episode begins with an explanation and advice on what to do differently if you sit a lot. https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/health/sitting-will-kill-you/index.html Something interesting has happened over the last few generations. There was a time when kids looked forward to growing up, becoming an grownup and leaving home. Today, not so much. Many young people dread the whole idea of adulthood. Why? Apparently, “adulting” just isn’t appealing because so many young people just aren’t prepared to handle it. That’s according to Julie Lythcott-Haims, a writer, former college dean, former attorney and author of the book Your Turn to Be an Adult. (https://amzn.to/3q89LOB). Listen as she joins me to explain what has changed and what needs to be done to help young people want to grow up. Have you ever noticed that traffic sometimes seems to have a mind of its own? It’ll slow down in one spot for no apparent reason and then speed up in another spot – again for no apparent reason. And why is it that one lane of traffic moves fast but the one I am in tends to stand still? Besides the obvious accident or construction, what makes traffic flow well some of the time but then get all screwed up and backed up other times? Here to explain some of the science and nuance of traffic flow is Jonas Eliasson an internationally known expert on traffic patterns who is also Director of Transport Accessibility for the Swedish Transport Administration and has an interesting TED Talk on how to solve traffic jams that you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX_Krxq5eUI&t=360s Almost everyone loves at least one type of music. That’s a good thing because listening to music appears to be good for you. Listen as I explain the many benefits according to a lot of research on the topic. https://www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell’s Holiday Event is one of their biggest sales of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping on everything! Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is one important question that actually determines how healthy you will be and how long you will live – depending on your answer. This episode begins with that question. And it is certainly worth contemplating. Source: Dr. Paul Pearsall author of The Pleasure Prescription (https://amzn.to/41j3xO8). So much video gets shot around the holidays and much of it is frankly - pretty dull and doesn’t capture the moment the way people hope. Taking great video doesn’t require fancy equipment – your phone will do an excellent job. What makes great video is knowing how to use the camera. Joining me to explain some simple and effective techniques is Steve Stockman. Steve has directed hundreds of TV commercials and shows, and he is the creator of the video course and author of the book – both titled How To Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck. Listen and you will soon be shooting stunning video. Here is the link for Steve’s video course: https://stevestockman.com/ Here is the link for Steve’s book https://amzn.to/46Q7E5y When you hear the word extinction – as in some species goes extinct, you probably think that’s a bad thing and something probably went wrong to cause it. Actually, that usually is not the case. Extinction is a natural part of life and how it works is fascinating. Here to explain it so we can all understand is Michael J. Benton. He is a professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Bristol. He has written more than fifty books, and his latest is called Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves (https://amzn.to/3GzqkMb). One of the things that makes holiday shopping at the mall so stressful and exhausting isn’t the shopping – it’s the parking hassle. Listen as explain how to remove that stress to make holiday shopping more fun. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204026804577098451316357124 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell’s Holiday Event is one of their biggest sales of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping on everything! Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Winter is cold and flu season – and sometimes, when you start feeling sick, you wonder if it is the flu or just a cold. This episode begins by explaining how early symptoms can help you figure it out quickly so you can seek the appropriate remedy. https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/is-it-cold-flu During the holidays especially, people sense the need and importance of being connected to others. Perhaps one reason people often feel disconnected and isolated may just be that they don’t have the right social skills. Skills like, how to be a great conversationalist, how to ask for forgiveness, how to break up with someone without breaking their heart, how to sit with someone who is suffering, how to end a conversation gracefully. These are the skills that allow people to get below the surface and really know a person. Joining me with some wonderful insight into this is David Brooks. He is an op-ed columnist, for the New York Times, a writer for The Atlantic and appears regularly on the PBS Newshour. David is author of the book How To Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen (https://amzn.to/483ge1N). People and dogs have been living together for centuries. It is a bond that seems to benefit everyone. So why is the human-dog relationship work so well? Why do so many people report that having a dog makes their life better? And why is it that having a dog seems to improve people’s mental and emotional well-being? One person who really understands this bond is Jen Golbeck. Her writing has appeared in Slate, The Atlantic, Psychology Today, and Wired. In addition, she and her husband rescue golden retrievers who are senior or who have special medical needs. She is author of the book, The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human–Canine Connection (https://amzn.to/3TeMhre). If you’ve ever wondered about what your dog thinks about you and why you get along so well, you should listen to Jen. Does it really work to put your wet phone in a bowl of uncooked rice to rescue it? Maybe but something else may work even better. Listen and find out what it is. https://gizmodo.com/how-to-rescue-wet-gadgets-5951415 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell’s Holiday Event is one of their biggest sales of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping on everything! Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People frequently choke when they drink something because – “it went down the wrong pipe.” Is there really a wrong pipe? Why do people sometimes choke when they swallow? I begin this episode by discussing the rather complicated process of swallowing and why sometimes things go awry. Source: Joel Herskowitz, author of Swallow Safely (https://amzn.to/3pXFjqv) Do you prioritize having fun in your life? Or is fun just something you do if there is time once the serious business is finished? Maybe we are looking at fun all wrong! Fun should not be a reward, it is a necessity that is essential to your well-being according to journalist and speaker Catherine Price author of the book The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again (https://amzn.to/32113to) . Listen as she explains the importance difference between “fake fun” and true fun and how having more true fun will transform your life. Catherine’s website is https://howtohavefun.com/ Like most people you probably have a love/hate relationship with your email. Sure it is convenient but all of that incoming information can eat up your time, productivity and energy. Here to explain how to make sure that doesn’t happen is Maura Nevel Thomas author of The Happy Inbox (https://amzn.to/323ZUkt). Maura has some simple strategies that will help you tame all those messages and notifications so you can stay focused on what needs to be done yet still be available to the people who need you. You know the post office mottos that starts …”Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…” Well, it turns out that isn’t actually the official motto or creed of the USPS. Listen as I explain where that “motto” came from and what actually WILL prevent your mail getting delivered if you are not careful https://about.usps.com/publications/pub100.pdf PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Shopify gives you everything you need to take control and take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at https://shopify.com/sysk today! Dell’s Cyber Monday event is their biggest sale of the year. Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Planet Money is an incredible podcast with stories & insights about how money shapes our world. Listen to Planet Money https://npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the best parts of Christmas is the tree. There is so much lore, and history and fascinating facts about Christmas trees. Listen as this episode begins with some things you may not know. https://www.gertens.com/blog/christmas-fun-facts-and-trivia.html The sense of smell is the one most people say they could live without if they had to pick one. Really? There is a lot more to your ability to smell scents and odors than you may realize. Do you really know how your sense of smell works? What makes some scents wonderful and others disgusting? Did you know a lot of the odors here are on earth come from outer space? These are just a few of the things I discuss with Harold McGee, author of the best-selling book Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World’s Smells (https://amzn.to/39yhOgx). Listen and you will have renewed respect for your sense of smell and you might not be so willing to give it up! What exactly is the Internet? Where did it come from and how did it get here? These are good questions and you will discover the answers by listening to my interview with James Ball. He is Global Editor at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a former special projects editor at The Guardian and author of the book, The Tangled Web We Weave: Inside The Shadow System That Shapes the Internet (https://amzn.to/3tsaaMP) When you get the hiccups, what’s the best cure to get rid of them? It turns out not all cures work the same for everyone but there are some things worth trying and there is one thing that works every time. Listen as I explain that. Source: Nancy Snyderman author of Medical Myths That Can Kill You (https://amzn.to/3cUAR7d) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Shopify gives you everything you need to take control and take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at https://shopify.com/sysk today! Dell’s Cyber Monday event is their biggest sale of the year. Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Planet Money is an incredible podcast with stories & insights about how money shapes our world. Listen to Planet Money https://npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Seems like there isn’t much your smartphone CAN’T do. However, one weakness it has is the inability to stand up to cold weather. This episode begins with an explanation of why and how your phone is so vulnerable to the cold and what to do about it. https://blog.gaiagps.com/how-to-keep-your-phone-alive-in-cold-weather/ What makes human intelligence superior to the intelligence of other creatures? What are the flaws in human thinking? Will AI ever really be able to think like a human brain or is that really impossible? Listen to my discussion with Max Bennett and you will come away with a very different understanding of both human and artificial intelligence. Max is cofounder and CEO of Alby, a start-up in the AI business. He has published numerous scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and he has been featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Max is author of the book A Brief History of Intelligence (https://amzn.to/3N8mJbr). You probably aren’t paying attention to it – but right now you are likely hearing sounds. Maybe it is traffic noise or music or the washing machine. We are always hearing something. It turns out that sound plays a much bigger role in your life than you imagine -both good and bad. Here to help you understand why the sounds that surround you are so important is Caspar Henderson. He is a writer and journalist who covers topics such as energy, science and the environment and he is author of the book, A Book of Noises: Notes on the Auraculous (https://amzn.to/3t4vNY4). If you plan to take a lot of photos or videos of family around the holidays, you should be aware of something. You see, there is one thing people often forget to do that they later regret. Listen as I tell you what that is and how to make sure you don’t forget it this year. Source: Cheryl Lightle author of The Creative Memories Way (https://amzn.to/3T3pKh1) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season! .Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Shopify gives you everything you need to take control and take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at https://shopify.com/sysk today! Dell’s Cyber Monday event is their biggest sale of the year. Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer this season with a new phone! Get any phone free, today at UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Planet Money is an incredible podcast with stories & insights about how money shapes our world. Listen to Planet Money https://npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m sure you’ve noticed those little silica gel packs in boxes of shoes or electronics. And if you look closely, you’ll see they typically have a warning to NOT eat them. Are they really that poisonous? What would happen if you did eat one? I begin this episode with an explanation. https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/what-to-know-silica-gel Every day we interact with manmade machines and those interactions have revolutionized modern life. Now with AI and more advanced robotics our relationship with machines is likely to grow deeper. One day we could actually be friends or even lovers with machines! Debra Spar believes our relationship with machines is important to look at and understand. Debra is a professor of business admin at Harvard Business school, former president of Barnard College and author of the book Work, Mate, Marry Love: How Machines Shape Our Human Destiny (https://amzn.to/3xMLhOo). Listen as she offers some fascinating insight into how machines have and continue to change us. Especially around the holidays, people with few friends or connections can feel particularly lonely. By most accounts, that sting of loneliness can only be relieved by being around other people. So how do you do it if you don’t find making friends to be easy? Psychologist Dr. Elicia Nademin joins me to offer simple yet effective ways to connect with the people around you that can dull the pain of loneliness and make you feel great. You might even make some really good friends. Dr. Nademin is author of the book Don’t Be A Stranger: Creating Connections & Memorable First Impressions in Every Day Life (https://amzn.to/2ZSRAUg). Santa is married. We know there is a Mrs. Claus. But her role in the whole Christmas thing is a bit mysterious and unknown. Listen as I explain who she is and why we seem to know so little about her and how she supports Santa and all the elves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Claus PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season - for you and anyone on your list! Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING Indeed is the hiring platform where you can Attract, Interview, and Hire all in one place! Start hiring NOW with a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell’s Cyber Monday event is their biggest sale of the year. Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer far and wide this season with a new phone! Everyone can get the gift of connection at UScellular. Get any phone free, today. UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who doesn’t love the smell of a Christmas tree? It seems to be a smell everybody finds pleasing and it also turns out to have some benefits. This episode begins with some reasons why you should take the time to enjoy the scent of pine. https://www.foxnews.com/health/the-healing-power-of-pine Being part of an audience can be magical. Whether you are watching a play or a movie or a concert, the audience members can become a singular force – getting energy and emotion from one another. So, how did audiences come to be? How did audiences learn how to behave? Why do we applaud? Here to discuss all this and more is Robert Viagas. He is Editor-in-chief of Encore Monthly the national theatre magazine and spent much of his career working with Playbill. He is author of the book called Right This Way: A History of the Audience (https://amzn.to/46F8lOS). If there is one thing people like, it is certainty. We like to be sure of ourselves and we like people who seem certain about things. However, uncertainty has its benefits. When you are uncertain about something, it allows you to be curious and ultimately make better decisions. That’s according to journalist Maggie Jackson. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Business Week, Vanity Fair and Wired.com and she is author of the book, Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure (https://amzn.to/3Gli42b). What if there were some very simple ways that would make sure you get more done in less time? Well, there are! Listen as I explain 3 easy yet powerful techniques from productivity expert Don Wetmore. https://productivity-institute.com/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season - for you and anyone on your list! Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING Indeed is the hiring platform where you can Attract, Interview, and Hire all in one place! Start hiring NOW with a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell’s Cyber Monday event is their biggest sale of the year. Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer far and wide this season with a new phone! Everyone can get the gift of connection at UScellular. Get any phone free, today. UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People say where you fall in the birth order compared to your siblings determines (or strongly influences) certain traits and outcomes. This episode begins with a look at whether the research backs this up or it is just a pop culture theory. https://psychcentral.com/blog/birth-order-and-personality#birth-order-and-personality The holidays bring back memories. Many of us get very nostalgic this time of year – longing for people, places and Christmases gone by. Being nostalgic was once thought to be a mental illness. Now, according to research, it can actually be good for you for many different reasons. Joining me to explain why longing for the past is good for your future is Clay Routledge, PhD, whose work has been featured in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian and CBS. He is author of the book Past Forward: How Nostalgia Can Help You Live a More Meaningful Life (https://amzn.to/3uC1sAs) Do you really like playing Monopoly? Lots of us play it but privately, we hate it. That’s one of the many fascinating things you will hear as I speak with Marcus du Sautoy . He is an award-winning mathematician, a math professor at Oxford and he has studied the history and popularity of games humans play from chess, to backgammon, tic-tac-toe to Monopoly. You will be fascinated by what he discovered. Marcus is author the book Around the World in Eighty Games (https://amzn.to/3MV5Lxm). Cats and Christmas trees don’t mix. Listen as I offer some strategies to help discourage your cat from climbing up and into your tree and maybe even knocking it down. A little prevention, some tin foil and some double-sided tape is all it takes. http://www.petmd.com/cat/seasonal/evr_ct_cats_and_christmas_trees PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season - for you and anyone on your list! Right now you can get two Memberships for the price of one at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING Indeed is the hiring platform where you can Attract, Interview, and Hire all in one place! Start hiring NOW with a $75 SPONSORED JOB CREDIT to upgrade your job post at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell’s Cyber Monday event is their biggest sale of the year. Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer far and wide this season with a new phone! Everyone can get the gift of connection at UScellular. Get any phone free, today. UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You have probably heard that poinsettia plants are poisonous to people and pets. Really? How poisonous? Can you die from eating them or what? Should you be concerned and keep them out of your home? This episode begins with an explanation of just how dangerous poinsettias are – and are not. https://www.stranges.com/are-poinsettias-poisonous/ Our keen human instincts have helped us survive all these years. However, some of those instincts are not so practical in today’s modern world. This is according to evolutionary biologist Dr. Rebecca Heiss, author of the book Instinct: Rewire Your Brain with Science-Backed Solutions to Increase Productivity and Achieve Success (https://amzn.to/3oxbQTq). Rebecca joins me to discuss how instincts such as the instinct for self-deception and variety and the fear of others can really sabotage your success. She also offers strategies to help override those instincts when you need to. What’s inside a black hole? What exactly is a multiverse? At what point will the sun stop burning? These are just a few of the fascinating questions I explore with Daniel Whiteson, professor of physics at UC Irvine and author of the book Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe (https://amzn.to/3oCeTtR). Listen as Daniel takes important and complex concepts about the universe and makes them interesting and understandable. Your sense of touch is more complicated than you realize. What you touch and how it feels can actually alter the way you think. Listen as I reveal some fascinating research about how your sense of touch works. https://news.yale.edu/2010/06/24/touch-how-hard-chair-creates-hard-heart PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season - for you and anyone on your list - because both of you can learn from the best to become your best - from leadership to effective communication to cooking. Right now you can get Two Memberships for the Price of One at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell's Black Friday event is their biggest sale of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer far and wide this season with a new phone! Everyone can get the gift of connection at UScellular. Get any phone free, today. UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food labels are full of claims. They say things like “All-Natural” or “Doctor Recommended” or “Made with Whole Grains.” Should you be impressed or are those words and phrases a lot of nothing and nonsense? I begin this episode by revealing why those phrases are worded the way they are and what they actually mean. https://www.cornucopia.org/2010/05/nutrition-buzzwords-make-hay-out-of-grains-of-truth/ Convincing people to do what you want can be a challenge. One of the best ways is to get people to do it because they WANT to do it rather than trying to coerce or convince them. This is according to Christopher Hadnagy who is a global security expert and author of the book Human Hacking Win Friends, Influence People, and Leave Them Better Off for Having Met You (https://amzn.to/3iMz58R) Listen as he shares some valuable insight into what motivates people to give you what you want, why it is so effective and exactly how to do it. You likely have trouble sleeping from time to time. In fact just about everyone does. There are plenty of reasons people don’t sleep. Sometimes your mind is racing, or you are worried about something or it could also be something you ate or drank or even how your bedroom is configured. Here to discuss why people have trouble with their sleep is health journalist Kim Jones author of the book Trick Yourself to Sleep: 222 Ways to Fall and Stay Asleep from the Science of Slumber (https://amzn.to/2MtdFS7). Listen today and tonight you just might sleep like a baby. One of the hardest things on your car’s engine is – when you start it. Listen as I explain why cold engine starts are so tough on your car and how to ease the strain. Source: Jack Gillis author of The Car Book (https://amzn.to/2Ym0DIX) PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season - for you and anyone on your list - because both of you can learn from the best to become your best - from leadership to effective communication to cooking. Right now you can get Two Memberships for the Price of One at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell's Black Friday event is their biggest sale of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer far and wide this season with a new phone! Everyone can get the gift of connection at UScellular. Get any phone free, today. UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Texting and email seem to have replaced the telephone as a primary means of communication. Still, the telephone is sometimes a better option. When it is – how can you make sure you get a call back or a response of some kind? Listen and I’ll tell you. Source: Bill Jensen author of Simplicity Survival Handbook (https://amzn.to/3MMDmt7). Have you ever accomplished a goal and thought – “Hey if I can do that, what ELSE can I accomplish?” It seems success is rarely totally satisfying. Instead, it creates an itch for more success. That place in your brain where that happens is what my guest calls “Wonderhell.” And it turns out to be a fascinating place to explore. Listen as I speak about it with Laura Gassner Otting. She is frequently featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show and Harvard Business Review and she is author of the book Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like it Should and What to Do About It (https://amzn.to/40EycFi) There are actually people who believe that you are not responsible for your actions or decisions. In other words, that you have no free will. They believe everything is predetermined – that it is unfair to punish criminals, for example, because whatever they did wrong was not their choice. Then there is the other side of the argument. Joining me to explain why we do have free will – and to help try to understand why some people believe we do not is Kevin Mitchell, an associate professor of genetics and neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin and author of the book, Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will (https://amzn.to/49vncy2) Here is the link for the episode featuring Robert Sapolsky arguing against free will: https://www.somethingyoushouldknow.net/566-do-we-really-have-free-will-how-to-handle-rejection-better/ You frequently hear people say the phrase, "That's a whole nother story." But is nother a real word? That depends. Listen as I explain. https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/whole-nother PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! MasterClass makes a meaningful gift this season - for you and anyone on your list - because both of you can learn from the best to become your best - from leadership to effective communication to cooking. Right now you can get Two Memberships for the Price of One at https://MasterClass.com/SOMETHING PrizePicks is a skill-based, real-money Daily Fantasy Sports game that's super easy to play. Go to https://prizepicks.com/sysk and use code sysk for a first deposit match up to $100 Dell's Black Friday event is their biggest sale of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Spread holiday cheer far and wide this season with a new phone! Everyone can get the gift of connection at UScellular. Get any phone free, today. UScellular. Built for US. Terms apply. Visit https://UScellular.com for details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the holiday season, there are more occasions and opportunities to drink alcohol. So, it’s worth noting that not all drinks are created equal when it comes to how they affect you. This episode begins with some interesting information about the differences between beer, wine and hard liquor that could have a definite impact on you and how you feel the next morning. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2006.00190.x Are people born lucky? Or unlucky? What is it about some people that causes them to appear to be lucky a lot of the time? Here to explore the topic of luck is Richard Wiseman. He is one of the top researchers on the science of luck and author of the book, The Luck Factor (https://amzn.to/3EMLy6r). Richard is here to explain what makes lucky people lucky and how we might attract more luck. It’s not magic – it’s all in how you think. How can some people actually believe the earth is flat – and still others believe it is hollow? Some people believe we never landed on the moon – it was all a hoax. Still others are convinced that aliens walk among us. What causes people to believe what seems like nonsense to most of us? That’s why you will want to listen to my guest, Donald Prothero. Donald is a geology professor who has taught at Caltech, Columbia, and elsewhere and he is author of a book called Weird Earth: Debunking Strange Ideas about Our Planet (https://amzn.to/3GOsTc9). Listen to hear his explanation as to why some people cling to what appear to be very odd beliefs and why the problem appears to be growing. Do you know what the word quantum actually means? Interestingly, 4 out of 5 people could not define it correctly when asked in a survey. Listen to discover what science and the dictionary say it actually means. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quantum#examples PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell's Black Friday event is their biggest sale of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Let’s find “us” again by putting our phones down for five. Five days, five hours, even five minutes. Join U.S. Cellular in the Phones Down For Five challenge! Find out more at https://USCellular.com/findus Planet Money is an incredible podcast with stories & insights about how money shapes our world. Listen to Planet Money https://npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you are getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night (and most people are), that can be a real problem. And the problem is more than just feeling a little sleepy the next day. This episode begins with a stark example of how just a little more sleep each night can make a world of difference and how too little sleep is affecting your life in a negative way. https://www.sleep.com/sleep-health/15-minutes-extra-sleep Simple is better than complicated - every time, every place and in everything. Yet, people tend to complicate things. Listen to my guest and you will understand why clear and simple messaging works best and exactly how to do it. Joining me is Ben Guttmann, a marketing entrepreneur and educator who has helped hundreds of clients, ranging from the NFL to Nobel Laureates, and he is the author of the book Simply Put Why Clear Messages Win—and How to Design Them (https://amzn.to/3udtVwz). Chances are the clothes you are wearing have pockets. And you probably have something in those pockets. Hard to imagine life without them. Yet, pockets are only about 500 years old. So where did they come from? How hard are they to add to clothes? Why do they come in different sizes and put in weird places on clothes? Here to discuss the fascinating history of pockets is Hannah Carlson she is an authority on the history of clothing and author of the book POCKETS: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close (https://amzn.to/3SUzmef). The next time you get angry, you might want to use that anger to accomplish something important and difficult. Listen as I explain the power of anger and how to use it to your advantage. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/feeling-angry-may-help-people-achieve-goals-study-finds-rcna123611 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them! Go to https://Zocdoc.com/SYSK and download the Zocdoc app for FREE. Dell's Black Friday event is their biggest sale of the year! Shop now at https://Dell.com/deals to take advantage of huge savings and free shipping! Let’s find “us” again by putting our phones down for five. Five days, five hours, even five minutes. Join U.S. Cellular in the Phones Down For Five challenge! Find out more at https://USCellular.com/findus Planet Money is an incredible podcast with stories & insights about how money shapes our world. Listen to Planet Money https://npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices