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

Curiosity.com. I'm Cody Gough. And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today you learn about why you

should not add oil to your pasta water, a simple way to help kids think better, and why your

dogs pause smell like corn chips.

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

Today we're debunking a common myth about cooking pasta.

Have you ever added oil to your pasta water because it supposedly keeps the pasta from sticking together as it boils?

Well, if you have, then stop. Here's why you shouldn't and what you should do instead.

The problem with this comes down to a fact that everybody knows. Oil and water don't mix.

No matter how hot the water or how rolling the boil,

water's polar molecules won't mix with oils non-polar molecules. That means only a

tiny bit of the oil, if any at all, will even make its way onto the pasta as it boils.

In fact, adding oil actually does more harm than good.

The pasta will get up close and personal with the oil once you drain it.

At that point, all the oil is good for is leaving a slick coating on the pasta,

and that will thwart any sauce that attempts to stick to it.

Pasta sticks when the starch molecules within it

absorb so much hot water that they burst.

But this only happens at the beginning of the cooking process. Eventually, all that starch

dissolves and washes away, leaving the pasta smooth again.

The trick to stopping the pasta from sticking to itself is to keep it constantly moving.

That's why recipes recommend using a huge pot and lots of water,

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