40:T414,

What's the difference between a physician and a pretender, a magician and a poisoner? That's a question we'll try and answer in today's episode! We are very excited to bring you our first botanical poison crossover episode with our good friend Matt Candeias of the awesome podcast and website, In Defense of Plants. This week, we'll talk about Wolfsbane, or Monkshood, or Aconitum, or any of its various common names. The point is, get ready to learn about a pretty gnarly poison, its history, how it affects your body, and why on earth a plant would make such deadly compounds from an ecological and evolutionary perspective.

Don't forget to check out our guest spot on In Defense of Plants where we talk about two plants commonly used in herbal remedies. You can find it on itunes or wherever you are listening to this pod. Check out Matt's website indefenseofplants.com and follow him on twitter @indfnsofplnts!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

41:T414,Food is also what connects farming to human health and our natural environment. In this episode of The Science Behind Your Salad, we ask you to close your eyes and listen: the steady hum of bees, the deep boom of a rare bittern, and the people creating the future of the food on your plate. Host, Jane Craigie, visits the rice fields of Australia, where a grower and an ecologist are working side by side to create habitat for endangered birds while producing food and managing limited access to irrigation water. We hear from a nutritionist about how diets shift through our lives and circumstances, and why nutrient density matters for lifelong health. And we meet innovators transforming agriculture: one listening to bees’ wingbeats to track pollination, another developing biological controls to fight pests, and a carrot variety developer working for better flavour, resilience, and shelf life. This is farming, science, and nature - connected in so many unseen and fascinating ways. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.42:T531,Today we discuss the psychological effects of listening to podcasts, how climate change actually makes us more likely to engage in hate speech, and how giving plants alcohol in the form of ethanol can make them resistant to drought. Podcast Friends “Listening to podcasts may help satisfy our psychological need for social connection, study finds” by Beth Ellwood “Why people listen: Motivations and outcomes of podcast listening” by Stephanie J. Tobin Drunk Plants “Getting Plants ‘Drunk’ Insulates them Against Drought, According to New Research” by Andy Corbley “Pretreating soil with ethanol protects plants from drought, study finds” by Khurram Bashir Hot Temper “AI-Based Research Reveals That Extreme Temperatures Fuel Online Hate Speech” by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research “Online Hate Speech Increases During Extreme Hot and Cold Weather, Study Shows” by Jeffrey Kluger Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep. 356 - Pollen & Plant Stress