Learn about why short-term pleasures are important for your well-being; a Thorne-Żytkow Object, which is what astronomers call a star within a star; and how science identified the culprit for your smelly armpits: Staphylococcus hominis.

Learn why pregnancy cravings might be more cultural than biological; and why raindrops don’t damage delicate insect wings. Then, play along at home and test your podcast knowledge with this month’s Curiosity Challenge trivia game.

Author Bill Sullivan discusses the surprising ways your genes can influence aggressive and violent tendencies. Then, learn about how it’s possible that anglerfish can fuse to their mates; and box breathing, a Navy SEAL technique for reducing stress and st

Learn about how frequent daydreaming may be killing your mood, why ancient Greek temples were purposely built on fault lines; and the invisible forces that make you do the things you do, with author Bill Sullivan.

Learn about how people under stress can find a “new normal” surprisingly quickly, and why the Mercury 13 should have been the first women in space.

Learn about how blind people can describe what animals look like, how “Ring Around the Rosie” probably doesn’t reference the Plague, and why scientists used Cladosporium sphaerospermum, a radiosynthetic species of fungus, to build a radiation shield.

Learn about the mystery of why your shower curtain will randomly cling to you; whether masks affect our emotional development; and why humans perk up their ears.

Learn about what to do when your pet is scared; and why you have microbes inside your cells. Then, stick around to meet Natalia Reagan: an anthropologist, primatologist, and comedian who will be filling Cody’s shoes while he’s on paternity leave.

Learn about how mapmakers catch copycats with paper towns and trap streets; why people on their deathbed can probably hear their loved ones pay their last respects; and that time some woodpeckers shut down NASA’s plan to launch the space shuttle Discovery

Physician James Hamblin, staff writer for The Atlantic, explains what would happen if you stopped showering — and other fun facts from the emerging science of the skin microbiome. Plus: are some trees really immortal?