Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery.

I'm Cody Gough. And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you learn about the surprising link between

birthdays and COVID-19, with Freakonomics MD host Dr. Bapu Jenna,

and why you should consider the role of psychological richness when it comes to

making a good life. We'll also answer a listener question about how to tell the difference

between an artificial satellite and a star. Let's satisfy some curiosity. By

now we all know that going to large gatherings full of strangers increases our risk of COVID infection.

But what about small gatherings with people we know and trust?

I mean, that must be safe, right? Well, Dr. Bapu Jenna is back today to give us some

evidence as to what's really going on, thanks to a fascinating study involving birthday parties.

Dr. Bob Hojena is a professor at Harvard Medical School,

a physician in Massachusetts General Hospital,

and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research

with both an MD and a PhD in economics.

He's also the host of the new podcast, Freakinomics MD MD which explores fascinating ideas at the intersection of medicine, behavioral science, and economics.

Here's Dr. Bapu Jenna on what made him start thinking about this whole get-together thing in the

first place.

So my daughter's six and a few months ago she had a few months ago, a year and a half ago now,

she had a birthday, it was December, and we were thinking about whether or not to do it in person or to do it via Zoom.

And we ultimately decided to do it via Zoom, but we had some close friends that we thought maybe they could just come over, would do it inside it's December in

Boston so it's pretty cold but we opted against it but as we were having that

discussion my wife and I thought to myself I was like man you know

...