
Something You Should Know
How Flavor Has Guided Human History & The Threat of Pseudoscience - SYSK Choice
15 Feb 2025
Modern kitchen freezers are actually cruel to ice cream and other frozen foods. This episode begins by explaining why this is and why there is often ice crystals on top of your ice cream and how to prevent them. Source: Professor Richard Hartel author of the book Ice Cream (https://amzn.to/3jNcVrY). Unlike other animals, we humans have gotten really good at figuring out how to take food and make it taste even better. Why do we do that? And what is it that makes some food taste better than other foods? Is it just our personal preferences or are we all programmed to like the taste of certain foods? What is flavor exactly? All these are questions I discuss with Rob Dunn, an evolutionary biologist and professor at North Carolina State University. He is also the author of the book, Delicious: The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human (https://amzn.to/3RPAIUM). Medical quackery is when someone touts the benefits of medical cures or treatments with no actual evidence to support it. While you might think you can spot a quack a mile away, it is actually harder than you think. And while some quack theories may be harmless, others can be dangerous. Dr. Joe Schwarcz has spent his career exposing medical quackery and pseudoscience and he joins me to reveal some common forms of it. If you believe Vitamin C can cure your cold or that herbs can effectively treat cancer, you need to hear this conversation. Joe is Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, and author of the book, Quack Quack: The Threat of Pseudoscience (https://amzn.to/40JILGO). Yes, it is called a DISHwasher but it can do so much more than wash dishes. Listen as I reveal several other things you can wash in there that you may never have thought of. https://www.womansday.com/home/organizing-cleaning/tips/a5539/10-things-you-can-clean-in-the-dishwasher-115717/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! FACTOR: Eat smart with Factor! Get 50% off at https://FactorMeals.com/factorpodcast DELL: Anniversary savings await you for a limited time only at https://Dell.com/deals SHOPIFY: Nobody does selling better than Shopify! Sign up for a $1 per-month trial period at https://Shopify.com/sysk and upgrade your selling today! HERS: Hers is changing women's healthcare by providing access to GLP-1 weekly injections with the same active ingredient as Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as oral medication kits. Start your free online visit today at https://forhers.com/sysk INDEED: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING right now! CURIOSITY WEEKLY: We love Curiosity Weekly, so listen wherever you get your podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Today on Something You Should Know, what your freezer does to ice cream, and you're not going to like it. Then, why do we like certain flavors and dislike others?
One of the most amazing features of this to me, recent research has shown that when a baby is born, it has already learned to love some smells. And those are the smells of the foods that that baby's mother ate when the baby was in utero.
Then, there are so many things you can clean in your dishwasher that are not dishes. And most people think they can tell the difference between real science and pseudoscience.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. There are more people today than ever who believe in nonsense and various aspects of pseudoscience. And I've kind of tried to forge a career battling those views.
All this today on Something You Should Know. For a long time now, I've been recommending The Jordan Harbinger Show as another podcast you might want to listen to. The Jordan Harbinger Show is different than something you should know, but as you'll see, it aligns well with this audience. Meaning, if you like this podcast, you're probably going to like that one. The Jordan Harbinger Show.
Each episode is a conversation with a different, fascinating guest. Recently, he had on Amanda Ripley talking about how to survive an unthinkable disaster, which strikes close to home for me, having just been... through the fires and mudslides in California and evacuated twice. He also spoke with Jay Dobbins, who's a former ATF agent who went undercover with the Hells Angels.
Now that's a conversation worth hearing. And listening to his conversations will make you a more critical thinker about the world around you. Check out The Jordan Harbinger Show, and there's a good chance it finds its way into your regular rotation of podcasts. The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers.
Hi. Welcome to Something You Should Know. Depending on how old you are, you might have to confirm this with your grandmother or something, but it used to be that if you had a freezer, every once in a while you would have to chip away the old ice and frost that would build up over time on the walls of the freezer. And then along came the frost-free freezer, which pretty much everyone has now.
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