The Stinky Science of the World’s Smelliest Fruit
Curiosity Weekly
Warner Bros. Discovery
4.6 • 964 Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2020
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn about the shocking prevalence of torture scenes in movies; why durian, the world’s smelliest fruit, smells so bad; and where mold comes from.
Torture is prevalent and effective in movies (but not in real life) by Kelsey Donk
- Torture Prevalent, Effective in Popular Movies, Study Finds – University of Alabama News | The University of Alabama. (2020). Ua.Edu. https://www.ua.edu/news/2020/01/torture-prevalent-effective-in-popular-movies-study-finds/
- Delehanty, C., & Kearns, E. (2019). Wait, There’s Torture in Zootopia?: Examining the Prevalence of Torture in Popular Movies. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3342908
Scientists discovered why durian is the world's smelliest fruit by Kelsey Donk
- A Love Letter to a Smelly Fruit. (2013, December 3). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/travel/a-love-letter-to-a-smelly-fruit.html
- Discovering what makes durian stink. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/lfla-dwm022820.php
- Identification of an Important Odorant Precursor in Durian: First Evidence of Ethionine in Plants. (2019). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.9b07065
- Maninang, J. S., Lizada, M. C. C., & Gemma, H. (2009). Inhibition of aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme by Durian (Durio zibethinus Murray) fruit extract. Food Chemistry, 117(2), 352–355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.03.106
- Ethanethiol - American Chemical Society. (2020). American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/e/ethanethiol.html
Where does mold come from? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Tim)
- USDA FSIS. (2013). Molds on Food: Are They Dangerous? https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a87cdc2c-6ddd-49f0-bd1f-393086742e68/Molds_on_Food.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
- Stradley, L. (2016, April 5). Food Molds – Are Molds Dangerous. What’s Cooking America. https://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/Mold.htm
- Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (2019). BAM Chapter 18. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/food/laboratory-methods-food/bam-yeasts-molds-and-mycotoxins
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Season's greetings. We're wrapping up the year with a look back at your favorite |
| 0:04.3 | episodes of 2020. Enjoy this Curiosity Daily Classic and stay subscribe for |
| 0:09.5 | brand new episodes starting January 1st. See you in 2021. |
| 0:14.0 | Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Curiosity.com. |
| 0:20.0 | I'm Cody Gough. |
| 0:21.0 | And I'm Ashley Hamer. |
| 0:22.0 | Today you learn about the shocking prevalence of torture scenes in movies and why the world's smelliest fruit smells so bad. |
| 0:29.0 | We'll also answer a listener question about where mold comes from. |
| 0:32.0 | Let's satisfy some curiosity. |
| 0:34.0 | Think back to the last children's movie you watched. |
| 0:38.0 | Did it have a torture scene? |
| 0:40.0 | According to a new study, there's a good chance that it did. |
| 0:43.6 | Researchers found that torture scenes are everywhere in popular media, |
| 0:48.5 | and they might be skewing public perception. |
| 0:52.0 | This is a weird story. That study found that 60% of recent |
| 0:56.4 | top-growing North American films have at least one torture scene and that includes |
| 1:00.8 | movies for kids. |
| 1:02.8 | For real, the title of the study, |
| 1:05.6 | Ashley, what's the title of the study? |
| 1:07.9 | The title of the study is, |
| 1:09.8 | wait, there's torture in Zutopia, |
| 1:12.2 | examining the prevalence of torture in popular movies. |
... |
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