This Week I Learned

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Your audio guide to the most fascinating and fun revelations, reports, and studies on the internet. Quick, concise, and infectiously entertaining, This Week I Learned promises to make learning fun again.

The Week

Dec 21, 2017 LATEST EPISODE
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80 EPISODES

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Latest episodes from This Week I Learned

Ep. 79: This week I learned that crows make up after fights, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2017 11:39

Considerate crows | The Vatican's milky walls | When Iceland's women went on strike | Mountain-climbing madness

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Ep. 78: The week I learned your ice is teeming with bacteria, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2017 12:38

Your gross ice | Play Super Mario with Grandma | The Eiffel Tower at night | Our forcefield atmosphere

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Ep. 77: This week I learned dogs really are smarter than cats, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2017 15:03

Dogs are nerds | The trick to learning new skills | The great Halifax explosion | Pumice stones for whales

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Ep. 76: This week I learned that prehistoric women were ridiculously strong, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2017 13:13

Prehistoric girl power | Turtles' butt-breathing power | How cuddling changes genetics | The negative power of perception

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Ep. 75: This week I learned America really struggled to pin down a date for Thanksgiving, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2017 16:54

America's Thanksgiving indecision | The long history of the wishbone | Your gluten-less gluten sensitivity | A primer on naming countries

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Ep. 74: This week I learned the dinosaurs could still be alive today if the asteroid had hit pretty much anywhere else, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2017 11:39

How the dinosaurs could have survived | The healing powers of daytime | The room in your house that bugs prefer | The incredible efficiency of the penguin waddle

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Ep. 73: This week I learned that dogs can smell happiness, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2017 12:16

How you're hijacking your dog's emotions | Right-handed bees | Chopin's pickled heart | England's sin-eaters

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Ep. 72: This week I learned plants can smell predators coming, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2017 13:23

Plants can smell | Bacteria can feel | It snows sunscreen on a planet far, far away | The purpose of those silly little T. Rex arms

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Ep. 71: This week I learned that salmon sex literally moves mountains, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2017 11:26

Earth-shattering salmon love | The secret genius of daydreaming | Our innate arachnophobia | Diagnosed with a broken heart

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Ep. 70: This week I learned worms can smell danger, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2017 16:08

The olfactory defenses of the roundworm | Stress is ruining your diet | A fish's lament | The murderer behind the OED

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Ep. 69: This week I learned how female dolphins are weaponizing their vaginas to fight the underwater patriarchy, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2017 13:16

How dolphins fight 'the man' | Beware the nocebo effect | The mystery of the Amber Room | Europe's radioactive pigs problem

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Ep. 68: This week I learned spoilers can actually make a story better, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2017 14:42

Embrace the spoiler | Your parents' gender bias | Why clowns creep us out | How stress impairs

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Ep. 67: This week I learned a good mood can make the flu vaccine more effective, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2017 12:36

Happiness, the flu, and you | Which personality are you, cat? | The dinosaur-devouring frog | The bizarre aero-cure of the 1920s

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Ep. 66: This week I learned you should absolutely beat yourself up a little the next time you fail, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2017 11:55

The emotional trick to dealing with failure | Lightning-inducing cargo ships | The evolution of the giraffe's long neck | The Alaskan town overrun by bald eagles

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Ep. 65: This week I learned the science behind out-of-body experiences, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2017 15:28

The science of OBEs | The plastic inside us | All hail Viking warrior princesses! | Chocolate's dark medicinal history

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Ep. 64: This week I learned your unfulfilled coffee craving is wreaking havoc with your memory, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 7, 2017 12:35

The power of a coffee craving | Swordfish heat their eyeballs | Wild dogs' democratic sneezing fit | Haagen-Dazs’ New York origins

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Ep. 63: This week I learned the beloved starfish is a surprisingly brutal killer, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2017 14:18

The murderous starfish | The color of breakfast | Our drug-addicted fish | A musical medical miracle

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Ep. 62: This week I learned our brains can predict the future, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2017 14:05

Your clairvoyant brain | Live in the moment: take photos! | The quest for space bread | The venom that broke the mold

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Ep. 61: This week I learned late-night snacking might make you more prone to sunburns, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 17, 2017 15:11

Midnight snacking and sunburns | Why we hold babies on the left | Disney’s propaganda machine | The science of sound underwater

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Ep. 60: This week I learned it might be possible to learn while you sleep, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2017 16:07

Finally, sleep-learning! | Your impeccably organized taste system | Brilliant bees | When athletes used cocaine to train

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Ep. 59: This week I learned the only way to use your phone at night without messing with your sleep, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2017 16:38

Blue-blockers for smartphone addicts | Jimmy wants to lower Jimmy's stress | Who's the boss? Baby knows. | The great Mona Lisa heist of 1911

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Ep. 58: This week I learned why so many people order tomato juice on airplanes, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2017 9:21

The science of bad airplane food | Why you're such a mosquito magnet | Ban soap! | The shy shark

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Ep. 57: This week I learned what it would take to obliterate all life on Earth, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2017 15:13

The surprising resilience of life | Jane Austen, home brewer | You're junk, DNA | The mind-cleansing effect of showering

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Ep. 56: This week I learned praying mantises are killing your hummingbirds and eating their brains, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2017 12:12

Praying mantises go for the brain | Frogs have ridiculously soft tongues | The 'poorly sleeping grandparent hypothesis' | Coral's magnificent protective glow

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Ep. 55: This week I learned even smelling your food can make you fat, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2017 12:10

How smell affects your weight | The memory boost of forgetfulness | Frogs, evolutionary opportunists | The inspiring fiction of Betty Crocker

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Ep. 54: This week I learned just having your phone nearby is making you dumber, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2017 12:07

The smartphone brain drain | The funky thing blinking does to your brain | The sisterhood of traveling vampire bats | How a California mailman gave us avocados

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Ep. 53: This week I learned that looking at puppies can save your marriage, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2017 12:24

An excuse to look at puppies! | Heat-related airplane delays | The sea’s paragon of parenting | The most spectacular migration on Earth

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Ep. 52: This week I learned that a low-carb diet may be changing your personality, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2017 13:17

New diet, new you | Spain's time-zone woes | The mysteriously flexible pine trees | The dark origin of the word 'gypped'

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Ep. 51: This week I learned the dark origin story of the seat belt, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 8, 2017 10:08

Hugh DeHaven was obsessed with accidents | A raven's revenge | The better, simpler way to wash your hands

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Ep. 50: This week I learned flight times are longer now than they were 50 years ago, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2017 12:04

Airline regress | Rainmaking fungi | Semantic satiation | The spider web that gets stronger the more it kills

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Ep. 49: This week I learned how the world's hottest chili would kill you, and more

Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2017 11:05

Don't eat the Dragon's Breath | Your cannibalistic brain | Oral Allergy Syndrome! | How flamingos balance

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Ep. 48: This week I learned about a 'zombie madness' that consumed medieval English villagers, and more

Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2017 9:45

Medieval 'zombie madness' | The powers of happy memory | The bizarre breastfeeding habits of orangutans | The twisted origins of dentistry

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Ep. 47: This week I learned smiling actually makes you look older, and more

Play Episode Listen Later May 12, 2017 11:33

The fairest expression of them all | Language is a time warp | The lady pirates of the 18th century | The brain-breaking regularity of stripes

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Ep. 46: This week I learned squirrels were once America's most beloved pet, and more

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2017 11:47

The beloved pet squirrel | Ban workplace complaining | Astronauts with nothing to wear | Why we prune in the bath

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Ep. 45: This week I learned female dragonflies will fake death to avoid male suitors, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 27, 2017 11:52

How female dragonflies escape male suitors | Believing your broken heart better | Your dog feels you | Meet the space phenomenon called 'Steve'

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Ep. 44: This week I learned United once offered men-only flights complete with 'manly' services, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 20, 2017 8:38

Flying the 'club in the sky' | The evolution of expression | The Synalpheus pinkfloydi | The mystery of the 'Tsavo Two'

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Ep. 43: This week I learned you're tying your shoes wrong, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2017 11:46

How to tie your shoes | SCOTUS hazing | The 1993 pantsuit revolution | Get your baby a dog

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Ep. 42: This week I learned how Las Vegas once cashed in on 'atomic tourism,' and more

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2017 13:07

Las Vegas' 'atomic tourism' | Why we lose sleep as we age | The cost of intelligence in the wild | One is the loneliest cold

las vegas tourism cashed

Ep. 41: This week I learned that sleep walking is an evolutionary trait gone terribly wrong, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 31, 2017 12:32

The ancient origins of sleep walking | The spinach heart | A woman's right to go by her own name | The two faces of the smiley emoji

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Ep. 40: This week I learned the word pink used to mean yellow, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2017 9:01

Pink’s murky origins | Our wide-eyed transition from water to land | The super blind mind | The ever mischievous Jane Austen

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Ep. 39: This week I learned some metals have memory, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2017 10:01

Metal memory | Living the slow life history strategy | Your dog, the liar | Why we itch

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38: This week I learned you could probably outrun a T. Rex, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2017 7:42

Rex, speed walker | Forever-young ants | Tattoos for health? | The sad truth about seltzer

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37: This week I learned the unexpected ways an asteroid could kill us all, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2017 11:37

How an asteroid takes us down | The revolting necessity of vultures | That "grima" feeling | Sleepless in the Serengeti

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Ep. 36: This week I learned why we're all suckers for the good cop/bad cop routine, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2017 9:36

The emotional seesaw phenomenon | Fatherhood hormones | How fish "talk" | Introducing: Zealandia!

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Ep. 35: This week I learned honeybees say 'oops' when they're startled, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2017 12:20

Decoding clumsy bees | Your morning cup of memory boost | Goat BFFs | Panda diplomacy

health science animals decoding honeybees startled

Ep. 34: This week I learned that Brazil and France almost went to war over lobster, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2017 10:42

The Lobster War | The efficiency of right-hand loops | How whales yell | Lunar hay fever

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Ep. 33: This week I learned dogs dig reggae, and more

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2017 9:05

Music fit for a dog | A plant's smelly defense | Our terrifying ancestors | The mystery of synched pendulums

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