Episode Details

Physician James Hamblin, staff writer for The Atlantic, explains what would happen if you stopped showering — and other fun facts from the emerging science of the skin microbiome. Plus: are some trees really immortal? Are some trees immortal? A new study says no by Grant Currin Despite debate, even the world’s oldest trees are not immortal. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/cp-dde072020.php  Giaimo, C. (2020, July 27). Can Trees Live Forever? New Kindling for an Immortal Debate. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/science/trees-immortality.html  Wang, L., Cui, J., Jin, B., Zhao, J., Xu, H., Lu, Z., Li, W., Li, X., Li, L., Liang, E., Rao, X., Wang, S., Fu, C., Cao, F., Dixon, R. A., & Lin, J. (2020). Multifeature analyses of vascular cambial cells reveal longevity mechanisms in old Ginkgo biloba trees. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(4), 2201–2210. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916548117  Munné-Bosch, S. (2020). Long-Lived Trees Are Not Immortal. Trends in Plant Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2020.06.006  Additional resources from James Hamblin: board-certified preventive medicine physician, staff writer at The Atlantic, and lecturer in public health policy at Yale University Pick up “Clean: The New Science of Skin” on Amazon https://amzn.to/2YaX5JW Follow @JamesHamblin on Twitter https://twitter.com/jameshamblin Hamblin, J. (2016, June 9). What Happens When You Quit Showering? The Atlantic; The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/06/i-stopped-showering-and-life-continued/486314/  Hamblin, J. (2020, June 22). Is It Possible to Shower Too Much? The Atlantic; The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/hygiene-is-overrated/612235/  James Hamblin’s articles for The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/author/james-hamblin/ Official website http://www.jameshamblin.com/info Yale bio https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/james_hamblin/ 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://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.