Renowned science communicator Alan Alda talks to Curiosity Daily hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer about curiosity inspires him — and how you can let your curiosity guide you, too. Plus, learn how toilets actually work. Additional resources from Alan Alda: Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University — https://www.aldacenter.org/ Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda — https://www.aldacommunicationtraining.com/podcasts/ Sign up for Alan’s newsletter on his official website — http://alanalda.com/ Follow @alanalda on Twitter — https://twitter.com/alanalda Other resources discussed: Octopus Dreaming [VIDEO] | Nature on PBS — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKCLJZbytU Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Renowned science communicator Alan Alda talks to Curiosity Daily hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer about curiosity inspires him — and how you can let your curiosity guide you, too. Plus, learn how toilets actually work.
Additional resources from Alan Alda:
Other resources discussed:
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-to-have-fun-with-simple-curiosity-w-alan-alda-and-how-toilets-work
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how curiosity inspires the fantastic science communicator Alan Alda, and how you can let your curiosity guide you, too. Then, we’ll answer Cody’s burning question: how do toilets actually work?
CODY: Let’s flush some curiosity.
Alan Alda Bonus Clip #3 - Fun things he’s learned and why curiosity drives him [4:07]
CODY: Ashley and I listen to a pretty good number of podcasts, and one of our FAVORITES is Clear+Vivid, hosted by Alan Alda. So naturally, last weekend, we were super excited to feature our interview with Alan on a couple episodes of Curiosity Daily. Well, we got such great feedback on those episodes, we decided we’d let you hear one final part of our conversation, where we have a casual back-and-forth about why science is just plain fun. Alan Alda is a science advocate and has dedicated his life’s work to improving science communication. But before you can communicate science, you have to, you know… actually kinda like science. Which is why we wanted to share Alan’s story about some of the fun things he’s learned over the years, and what keeps him curious.
[CLIP 4:07]
Alan Alda’s podcast, Clear+Vivid, is produced by Graham Chedd with help from associate producer Sarah Chase. You can subscribe to Clear+Vivid for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. Clear+Vivid makes us all more connected, better communicators, but it also helps to benefit the research done at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. You can check out the Alda Center at: AldaCenter.org. And sign up for Alan’s newsletter at AlanAlda.com. If you didn’t get a chance to write that all down, then don’t worry: we’ll have links to everything I just mentioned and more in today’s show notes.
[SKURA]
ASHLEY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Skura Style. Did you know that according to research, the average kitchen sponge can be pretty gross? As in: that disgusting, soggy sponge sitting in the kitchen sink can be 200,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat?
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CODY: Try the sponge seen on the Today Show that was called life changing. That’s Skura Style. S-K-U-R-A STYLE-dot-com. PROMO CODE CURIOSITY
LISTENER QUESTION - Toilets (Ashley)
ASHLEY: This week’s question comes from Cody. Cody, why don’t you ask your question?
CODY: [explains why he was curious about toilets]
ASHLEY: I mean, toilets are kind of a marvel of engineering. Have you ever looked inside a toilet tank? It’s like a freakin’ Rube Goldberg machine in there. Here’s how it works: inside the tank, there’s a long arm attached to the flusher handle that itself is attached to a long chain. That chain is attached to a plug at the bottom of the tank known as the flush valve. When you flush the toilet, it pulls the chain and lifts up the plug, causing all of the water in the tank to rush out and into the bowl.
This next part is when some cool physics happens. Anyone who’s ever poured liquid into a toilet bowl probably knows that it’s nearly impossible to make a working toilet overflow that way. The water always seems to stay at the same level. That’s because of a simple mechanism called a siphon. If you look at the back of your toilet, you might notice a pipe or a ceramic tube that’s in an S-shaped curve leading out of the bowl. That curve is crucial: when the water level gets too high, the extra pours down the vertical part of the S until it’s back to its original level. But when you flush the toilet and that whole two gallons of water comes rushing into the bowl, the siphon tube fills up completely, leading to lower pressure further down the tube ahead of the flowing water and higher pressure in the water itself. That forces all that water out of the bowl through the siphon until there’s nothing left but air. That’s when you hear that telltale gurgle of a finished flush!
Meanwhile, as the water level in the tank got lower, an inflated orb called the float ball got lower too. The float ball is attached to an arm that’s attached to the water inlet valve, and as the arm gets lower, it opens the inlet valve to let water in from the supply line to fill the tank again. The flush valve is still open for most of this, so some of that new water rushes through the bottom of the tank to refill the bowl, too. Eventually, the weight of the water filling the tank forces the flush valve closed, and the water level rises until the float ball is high enough to shut off the inlet valve. Then, ta-da! You have successfully flushed a toilet.
Thanks for your question, Cody! If you have a question, send it in to podcast at curiosity dot com.
CODY: Before we wrap up, here’s a sneak peek at what you can catch this weekend on curiosity-dot-com.
ASHLEY: This weekend, you’ll learn about what getting chills from music says about your brain;
Why “power posing” for confidence is a scientific myth;
An AI-generated music playlist that changes with your mood;
Why a feather, a bowling ball, and a neutron star all fall at the same rate in a vacuum;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s talk about why today’s episode was awesome.
[ad lib optional]
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was scripted, produced, and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Today’s episode was also scripted by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor of Curiosity.com. Have a great weekend, and join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: Until then, stay curious!