“Let me sleep on it. ” That always seems like a good idea when a big decision has to be made. But is there true wisdom in that advice? This episode starts with the answer. https://www.newswise.com/articles/sleep-on-it-is-sound-science-based-advice# Ever feel like you are being watched? Ever walk into a room for something and forget why you did? Ever felt “in the zone” – like you could do no wrong? We all have these weird mental experiences but why? Do they serve a purpose? Here to reveal the exp...
Jul 21, 2025•48 min•Ep. 1233
Why is it that people seem to come up with good ideas in the shower? Could there really be something special about the shower experience that generates great thoughts and simple solutions? This episode begins with some interesting research about the magic of the shower. https://www.headspace.com/articles/shower-epiphanies The strangest things can affect your health. For example, your birthday or if there is a parade or a 10K in your town. Even if there is EZ Pass on a highway somewhere near you ...
Jul 19, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1232
Shampoo, lotions, guns, knives and a lot of other things are confiscated at airport security checkpoints every day. What happens to all those things? Can you ever get them back? This episode starts by taking a look. https://www.rd.com/article/return-confiscated-items-tsa/ Even if you don’t believe in them, you probably participate in some superstitions. Maybe you knock on wood or avoid walking under a ladder or steer clear of black cats. Where do these superstitions come from? Why do they still ...
Jul 17, 2025•47 min
There is an experience some of us (but not all) are able to have called autonomous sensory meridian response or ASMR. It can be triggered by a soft monotonous voice explaining something as well as other triggers. Sounds weird, right? Listen as I explain how it works, why science doesn’t recognize it as a real thing but for many of us, it is a wonderful sensation, and I will tell you how to experience it. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53220/listening-soft-voices-can-cause-brain-orgasms The ...
Jul 14, 2025•51 min•Ep. 1230
Not all that long ago, people felt paying bills by sending a check in the mail was the best way to do it. Today, it seems like a bad idea. In fact, banks and the post office are recommending against it. Listen as I reveal why. https://www.businessinsider.com/post-office-check-fraud-mailing-be-careful-usps-scam-2023-6 There are a lot of weird but true stories out there. And this episode offers you several of them!. For instance, how one U.S. President prevented his own assassination and how Beatl...
Jul 12, 2025•50 min•Ep. 1229
While people may not point it out to you when you use the wrong word – they DO notice. This episode begins by setting the record straight on the right words to use that people commonly get wrong. For instance, when do you use take or bring, further or farther, ironic or coincidental and others? https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/misused-words-make-smart-people-look-dumb-dr-travis-bradberry/ For every person on earth, there are 1.4 billion bugs. We share the world with bugs, and we owe them our very ...
Jul 10, 2025•51 min•Ep. 1228
Having good friends can help you live longer, see the world more positively and make you look more attractive. How can that be? Listen as I explain. https://www.thehealthy.com/family/relationships/friends-facts/ We are learning more and more about the healing power of music. You already know music can help your mood or help you relax or give you motivation. But it also can help with depression, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and who knows what else? Why does listening to music and making music se...
Jul 07, 2025•51 min•Ep. 1225
Why do people seem to get sick when (or just after) they fly? Many believe it is the recirculated air on the plane that everyone is breathing. That is probably not the reason. This episode starts by explaining what the real culprit is and how to protect yourself. https://www.rd.com/article/recirculated-air-on-airplanes/ It is amazing how often we miscommunicate with other people. It happens when we speak, or send a text or email, on the phone – it happens all the time. The trouble is that what w...
Jul 05, 2025•48 min
Who hasn’t had a brilliant idea or revelation while taking a shower? It seems the shower is a place where we do some of our best thinking. Why is that? This episode starts with an explanation. https://www.headspace.com/articles/shower-epiphanies What is love? Is it an experience, or an emotion or something else? According to Anna Machin, an evolutionary anthropologist at Oxford University, love is a human need that is as important as food, sleep or water. Listen to our discussion and you will re...
Jul 03, 2025•47 min•Ep. 1225
Everyone is bound to make a typo in an email. What’s interesting though is the reader will often see that typo and alter the way they interpret your message – sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. Listen to discover how this works. https://www.businessinsider.com/typos-in-emails-2015-5 The science of weather forecasting has come a long way in the last few decades. Interestingly, forecasters are not only improving their accuracy but also how they communicate the information to you and ...
Jun 30, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1224
How do spiders find their way into your house? This episode starts by revealing how it happens and some ways to make your home less appealing to spiders, so they stay outside. https://www.prevention.com/life/a32332424/how-to-get-rid-of-spiders/ Unless you are some sort of grouch, you probably laugh at something almost every day. Have you ever thought about what makes something funny? Do humor and laughter influence you in some way? Is it true that laughter is the best medicine? Why do we seek ou...
Jun 28, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1223
People sometimes cheat on their partner. Not everyone – but some do. This episode begins with some insight into one big reason that causes infidelity in a marriage or relationship. https://www.thoughtco.com/why-people-cheat-on-their-partners-3026688 We are surrounded by information on every topic you can imagine. The problem is that if you want to learn how to do something, you could spend an eternity learning and never get to the doing – because there is always more to learn. The solution to th...
Jun 26, 2025•51 min•Ep. 1222
Summer brings ice cream, popsicles and other frozen treats – all of which can cause painful brain freeze. Why does that happen, and can you stop it? Listen as I explain what brain freeze is and a really good remedy for it. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-freeze-why-does-ice-cream-give-you-headaches/ To make changes in your thoughts, personality and behavior takes a lot of work over a long period of time. Well, maybe for some things. However, there are some quick and simple strategies to tackl...
Jun 23, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1221
Being sure to get enough sleep is one of the suggestions for people trying to lose or control their body weight. What’s the connection? How does sleep affect weight loss? This episode begins with an explanation. https://www.webmd.com/obesity/features/cant-shed-those-pounds The English language is full of weird little phrases like: “Cut to the chase.” “Made from scratch.” Close but no cigar.” Where do these strange sayings come from? That’s just one of the topics about our language I discuss with...
Jun 21, 2025•48 min•Ep. 1220
It makes sense that if you want to cut down on the amount of spam email you get, just unsubscribe from those emails. WAIT! That could make things worse. There is a better way to handle spam emails, and I begin this episode by explaining how. https://www.yahoo.com/news/warning-hitting-unsubscribe-unwanted-emails-115900557.html Predicting the future is a losing game most of the time. Still, a lot of influential people spend a lot of time and money trying to do it. People forecast where the stock m...
Jun 19, 2025•51 min•Ep. 1219
Can drinking tea make you happy – or do happy people just like to drink tea? There is definitely a connection between tea and mental health, and this episode begins with an explanation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25657295/ Artificial Intelligence is either the next big thing that will transform our lives or the worst thing ever that will curse humanity. So, what is the truth? Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Rivlan has taken a hard look at AI and joins me to discuss the good and the b...
Jun 16, 2025•48 min•Ep. 1218
Where is the best place to take a nap? Anyone who has napped in a hammock knows how great it can be. This episode begins by explaining why naps are better in a hammock and why your next nap should be in one. https://www.livescience.com/14680-hammock-rocking-improves-sleep.html It can be hard to say no. After all, you don’t want to let people down or have them think you are not a team player. But think about all the times you have said yes and wish you hadn’t. If you find saying no to be hard, yo...
Jun 14, 2025•50 min•Ep. 1217
A lot of things impact an employer’s decision to hire you or not. But one thing you may not have considered is where you fall in the order of interviewees. Listen as I explain why you want to be the fourth person interviewed. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-always-fourth-during-round-191931348.html Why did you turn out the way you did? Was it because of your parents, your siblings, your environment or all the above? What about birth order - does that really influence the direction your life...
Jun 12, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1216
The next time you or your kids get a shot at the doctor’s office or face anything that you know is going to be painful, there is a little trick you can use that should reduce the pain substantially. Listen as I explain what it is. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27514-hold-your-breath-to-dampen-the-pain-of-an-injection/#.VVTKyZO_Heb What is it about persuasive people? They just have that “something” that makes us want to listen, to be around them, and in many cases, do what they ask. Why ...
Jun 09, 2025•51 min•Ep. 1215
Are you keeping a secret? Everyone does - usually more than one. The problem with keeping secrets is that it is a burden that impacts your life in ways you may not realize. This episode begins with an explanation. http://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-burdensome-are-secrets The world of work has changed quite a bit in the last few years. Today, more people are not just looking for a paycheck or promotion, they are looking for meaning in what they do. Another big change is that many workers today...
Jun 07, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1214
Ask anyone if they prefer fresh or frozen fish and almost everyone says – Fresh! But it turns out to be not so simple. A lot of fish you think is fresh may have been frozen at some point. This episode begins by unraveling this issue of fresh or frozen fish and which is better. https://www.thespruceeats.com/frozen-fish-better-than-fresh-fish-1300625 How do you solve a problem before it even becomes a problem? The perfect example is changing the oil in your car. You do that to prevent problems fro...
Jun 05, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1213
Zoom and other platforms have made virtual meetings very convenient and allow people in different locations to gather together in one place. Still, virtual meetings can be inefficient and can waste a lot of time if people aren’t aware of some common don’ts. This episode starts with a list of things not to do or say that can streamline those meetings. One thing that sets us apart from all other animals is our ability to speak and communicate with a complex language. So, we talk. We talk to each o...
Jun 02, 2025•52 min•Ep. 1212
How does tickling work? You can’t tickle yourself. But if you are the ticklish type, you’ll start laughing if you know someone is about to tickle you even though they haven’t touched you yet. This episode begins with the weird ways tickling works. http://www.livescience.com/3882-tickle.html You know what is interesting about our 7-day week? It is totally artificial. In other words, the other ways we measure time - such as days, hours, months and years – those are based on the sun, the moon, the ...
May 31, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1211
It is hard to imagine how intricate and complicated your eyes are. This episode starts with a look at some of the amazing things your eyes do and how they work to allow you to see the world. https://www.buzzfeed.com/acuvue/impossibly-cool-facts-you-may-not-know-about-yo#.kjpwxlkvO Anxiety is a huge problem. It appears more people are more anxious today than ever before. Why is that? What causes anxiety in the first place and more importantly, what can you do to lower your anxiety? Here with some...
May 29, 2025•52 min•Ep. 1210
Is it healthier to be short or tall? Not that you can do much about it – but this episode begins by exploring some interesting health differences between the tall and the short. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-32117018 All of us have had the urge to get revenge on someone for something they did to us. Seeking revenge is a very powerful feeling that many people cannot control. Yet, more often than not, getting revenge is not that satisfying and you often end up regretting it - road rage being the...
May 26, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1209
It is hard to imagine life without sunglasses. So, who came up with the idea – and when? We begin this episode by going way back to the very first pair of sunglasses and I’ll reveal how our modern-day sunglasses came about not all that long ago. ago. http://www.glasseshistory.com/glasses-history/history-of-sunglasses/ We have all felt that sense of wonder. It’s that feeling you get when you first see the Grand Canyon or an incredible sunset or the stars above against a really dark sky. Sadly, we...
May 24, 2025•46 min•Ep. 1208
Do happy couples have more sex or does having more sex make couples happy? This episode begins with some surprising insight into that question. https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/may/more-sex-does-not-lead-to-happiness.html There is something about board games. Chess, checkers, backgammon, Monopoly, Parcheesi – we like to play board games. What’s fascinating is people all over the world love board games and have for centuries. Why is there this universal appeal? What do these games d...
May 22, 2025•50 min•Ep. 1207
People prefer to pay for things with plastic more than cash today. While it is convenient, it creates a problem that is likely costing you quite a bit of money. This episode begins by explaining the problem and how to solve it. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/people-twice-likely-spend-using-card-than-cash/ So many English words are pronounced nothing like they are spelled. Cough, salmon, laugh, doubt, and calf are just a few examples and I am sure you can come up with more. Why ...
May 19, 2025•49 min•Ep. 1206
Drinking water is what keeps you from becoming dehydrated. What you may not know is that there are other factors that can speed up your dehydration that may require you drink even more water than you think. This episode begins by explaining what causes this to happen even when you think you are taking in plenty of water. https://www.eatingwell.com/article/8034255/sneaky-reasons-youre-dehydrated-nothing-to-do-with-water/ Have you ever felt stuck? May you've felt stuck in a job or a relationship o...
May 17, 2025•48 min•Ep. 1205
A lot of people drink coffee in the morning to kickstart the day. Interestingly, how you drink it (when, how many cups, length of time between cups, etc.) influences the kick that you get. This episode begins by explaining the best way to consume your morning brew for maximum benefit. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a15327/coffee-most-caffeine/ I’m sure you’ve had a gut feeling about something. You didn’t have to think about it – you just knew! That is your intuition at work. But...
May 15, 2025•50 min•Ep. 1204
