Up Next
Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
Why Useless Knowledge Can Be So Useful
Season 12
Episode 17
Our lizard friend the Gila monster probably has no idea that a chemical in its spit inspired one of the most important medical advancements of the 21st century. But this story is really about something bigger. Something deeper, beneath the surface. About why we do science in the first place. And about what kind of questions are the best ones for scientists to ask.
Support Provided By
Season
12:28
Why do some people taste music or hear colors? Let’s talk about synesthesia.
12:15
These diamond makers create one of the most amazing materials on Earth — from dead people.
11:20
Learn nature’s ultimate game of hide-and-seek, and the way to win this game is all in the brain.
11:17
Nature has had to come up with some crazy ways to survive winter. None are weirder than hibernation.
12:40
Political scientist Don Green joins Joe to figure out the complex psychological and social factors t
16:27
Why do certain sounds make some of us so upset?!
11:43
Despite what you may have heard or learned in school, the sun is NOT the center of the solar system.
10:23
People see faces everywhere thanks to a quirk of the brain called visual pareidolia.
10:00
Why do the same, self-repeating patterns appear in trees, rivers, lightning, and even our bodies?
15:25
Our animal brains deal with quantities in very specific, and fascinating, ways.
12:54
Can new technologies make death prediction even more accurate?
21:33
AI may help us talk to whales soon. But should we?!