Katherine Johnson’s Legacy, The World’s First Living Robots, and Zinc Doesn’t Cure Colds

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Self-improvement, Science, Astronomy, Education

4.6 • 935 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2020

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Learn about the legacy of the trailblazing NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson; how scientists recently built xenobots, the world’s first living robots; and why zinc probably isn’t as good for colds as you think.

Katherine Johnson Is the Human 'Computer' Who Helped Us Go to Space by Ashley Hamer

Hamer, A. Katherine Johnson Is the Human “Computer” Who Helped Us Go to Space. (2016, December 13). Curiosity.com. https://curiosity.com/topics/katherine-johnson-is-the-human-computer-who-helped-us-go-to-space-curiosity/

Xenobots: the World’s First Assembled Organisms by Cameron Duke

Team Builds the First Living Robots. (2020, January 13). Uvm.edu. https://www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/team-builds-first-living-robots
Simon, M. (2020, January 13). Meet Xenobot, an Eerie New Kind of Programmable Organism. Wired; WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/xenobot/
Kriegman, S., Blackiston, D., Levin, M., & Bongard, J. (2020, January 28). A scalable pipeline for designing reconfigurable organisms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(4), 1853–1859. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1910837117

Zinc Probably Isn't as Good for Colds as You Think by Grant Currin

Can zinc zap a cold? (2017). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/common-cold/expert-answers/zinc-for-colds/faq-20057769
Zinc lozenges did not shorten the duration of colds. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-01/uoh-zld012820.php
Hemilä, H., Haukka, J., Alho, M., Vahtera, J., & Kivimäki, M. (2020). Zinc acetate lozenges for the treatment of the common cold: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open, 10(1), e031662. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031662
Stark, L. (2009, June 16). Zicam Zinc Nasal Sprays May Damage Sense of Smell, FDA Says. ABC News; ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdandFluNews/story?id=7853178&page=1

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing

Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/katherine-johnsons-legacy-the-worlds-first-living-robots-and-zinc-doesnt-cure-colds

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com.
0:05.9	I'm Cody Gough.
0:06.8	And I'm Ashley Hamer.
0:08.2	Today you'll learn about the legacy of the trailblazing NASA mathematician Catherine Johnson.
0:13.7	Then you learn about how scientists recently built the world's first living robots,
0:18.3	and why zinc probably isn't as good for colds as you think.
0:21.9	Let's satisfy some curiosity.
0:24.2	Yesterday, the world mourned the passing of Catherine Johnson,
0:27.8	the trailblazing NASA mathematician
0:30.1	who helped us go to space.
0:32.0	You may know her as one of the real life women who inspired the 2016 film Hidden Figures.
0:37.0	She lived to be 101 years old, but her legacy of excellence that broke down racial and social barriers will be
0:44.8	felt for years to come.
0:47.1	So today we're going to celebrate her life by sharing some of her extraordinary achievements. First, think about what it would take to become a mathematician in NASA's space program.
0:57.0	Now consider what it would take to become a mathematician in NASA's space program as a woman in the 1950s.
1:04.0	Then consider what it would take to become a mathematician in NASA's space program
1:09.0	as an African American woman in the 1950s.
1:12.0	That was just the beginning of Catherine John. American woman in the 1950s.
1:12.6	That was just the beginning of Catherine Johnson's career.
1:16.5	Catherine Johnson was born in West Virginia
1:18.8	and her father knew there was something very special about her.
1:22.0	That's why even though he was a farmer he moved
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Warner Bros. Discovery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Warner Bros. Discovery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.