Curiosity Weekly – "This Episode Will Make You Love Math"

Host: Dr. Samantha Yammine
Guest: Kyne Santos (the "Math Queen")
Date: November 5, 2025

Overview

This engaging episode of Curiosity Weekly explores why math is far more than rote calculation and how it is woven through art, technology, and our daily lives. Host Dr. Samantha Yammine interviews Kyne Santos—drag queen, author, and viral math educator—who is on a mission to rebrand math as artistic and accessible. Together, they examine the creativity behind math, debunk common anxieties, and reveal math’s hidden roles in everything from credit cards to cryptography. The show also looks at a newsworthy study on microplastics in the brain, providing a critical take on its evolving science.

Main Segments & Timestamps

1. The Science of Caffeine and Persistence (01:38–04:31)
2. Why Everyone Should Love Math: A Conversation with Kyne Santos (07:10–33:59)
   • Math and Artistry
   • Math in Drag and Everyday Life
   • The Story of Zero, Imaginary Numbers, and Evolving Ideas
   • Math Anxiety and How to Overcome It
   • Math’s Modern Innovations
3. Microplastics in the Brain: Scientific Caution (36:28–41:25)

Key Discussion Points

1. The Science of Caffeine and Persistence

(01:38–04:31)

• Summary: Dr. Yammine unpacks a new Amherst College study on whether caffeine increases persistence when facing unsolvable tasks.
• Key Insights:
  • At low doses (40mg), caffeine did not impact persistence.
  • At higher doses (100mg, similar to a strong cup of coffee), participants spent 30% longer on an impossible “hidden picture” task, suggesting altered effort/reward evaluations.
  • Quote:

    "Persistence is a complicated human behavior that has a lot of external influences. But next time I have to sort through my taxes or find my missing AirPods, maybe a bit of caffeine will help me stay the course."
    — Dr. Samantha Yammine (04:29)

2. Why Everyone Should Love Math: Conversation with Kyne Santos

(07:10–33:59)

Math as Creative, Artistic, and Inclusive

• Kyne’s Early Inspiration:

  • Parents' enthusiasm and math competitions were key.
  • "When I started seeing this element of creativity in math that I already loved in art and makeup, that's when I started to really identify with it and become this preacher that I am now." (09:39)

• The Role of Creativity:

  • Math much more than following algorithms; big breakthroughs come from rule-breakers and new perspectives.
  • Quote:

    "All the times that we have invented new numbers... would have broken the rules and your math teacher would have said, no, that doesn't make any sense. That's totally wrong. [But these] contributed to these new discoveries that helped push the world forward because of creative thinkers."
    — Kyne Santos (11:20)

Math in Everyday Life and Drag

• Examples:
  • Probabilistic thinking in daily choices—weather, traffic, routines.
  • The math behind credit card check digits (Luhn algorithm) and barcodes.
  • Quote:

    "Your credit card number... the last digit... is what's called a check digit. It's basically there to make sure that you've entered all the other digits correctly."
    — Kyne Santos (14:19)

Math’s Hidden Stories: Zero, Imaginary Numbers, and More

• Zero as a "Celebrity Number":

  • Zero was once not considered a number; its adoption changed the course of history, with roots in ancient India.
  • Its leap to abstraction enables innovations like binary code.
  • Quote:

    "That's actually fun fact—a reason why there's no year zero. So we went from 1 BC straight to 1 AD."
    — Kyne Santos (19:00)

• Binary and Computer Science:

  • "All you need is a binary system of two symbols... we use zero and one because it's an easier way to visualize on or off." (21:28)

• Ongoing Mathematical Debates:

  • The episode discusses the unresolved "ABC conjecture" and how agreement among mathematicians is critical.
  • Quote:

    "For the community to all agree that it's solved, we all have to come to some consensus."
    — Kyne Santos (23:44)

Math Anxiety: Causes and Cures

• Why it Persists:

  • Parental attitudes and limiting beliefs shape children’s math confidence.
  • The false belief of “math people” vs. “art people.”

• Advice:

  • Treat math like sports or music—skills improve with practice.
  • Quote:

    "If you think that being good at math is the same as finding it easy, you're eventually going to hit a problem that you're challenged by, and you're going to have to work through it."
    — Kyne Santos (26:17)

• Even Experts Struggle:

  • "I was, like, the top of my class… then you go to university... I'm, like, actually so average in this cohort of folks. I had tests that completely bombed... and I still found it challenging."
    — Kyne Santos (27:24)

How Math Drives Modern Technology

• Cryptography and Security:
  • Public and private key encryption is based on the mathematical properties of prime numbers.
  • Prime numbers—once thought frivolous—now underpin digital security.
  • Quote:

    "It's easy to solve [with primes] in one direction, but harder to undo in the other direction... prime numbers in cryptography is just one example of math that went from purely theoretical to now, like the bedrock of all our digital communication."
    — Kyne Santos (32:32)

3. Microplastics in the Brain: A Cautious Look at the Science

(36:28–41:25)

• Episode Recap:

  • Revisit a study claiming a “spoon’s worth” of microplastics can be found in the brain.
  • Dr. Lindsay Cahill (chemistry professor) helps clarify:
    • Detection is tricky due to similarities between plastics and brain lipids.
    • Plastics research is hampered by storage contamination (using plastic labware).
    • The referenced study is transparent about its limitations.

• Takeaway:

  • Microplastics are in the body, including the brain, but precise quantification and impacts remain unclear and require careful, evolving science.
  • Quote:

    "We often want a hard answer... but in an early study like this, we just won't get that. So we have to take these findings with a grain of salt or a grain of plastic."
    — Dr. Samantha Yammine (41:25)

• Reflection on Science:

  • Open, critical debate and transparent disclosure are hallmarks of the scientific process.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "When I started seeing this element of creativity in math... that's when I started to really identify with it."
  — Kyne Santos (09:39)

• "I think that everybody can also apply that to math. I think that the way that we talk about math puts so many limiting beliefs on ourselves and on young people."
  — Kyne Santos (25:21)

• "It's so easy for us to take for granted how easy it is to live our lives digitally and pay for things digitally and send things digitally. But there's so much going on there... there's a whole nother branch of math that is all about keeping your data safe."
  — Kyne Santos (16:42)

• "Math and science aren't done until they're shared and understood."
  — Dr. Samantha Yammine (24:11)

• Fun Fact Section: The reason there is no "year zero" on our calendars (19:00–19:20).

Episode in a Nutshell

Lively, open-hearted, and packed with nerdy gems, this episode shows how math is deeply human, full of creativity, and vital to the modern world. Kyne Santos’s infectious enthusiasm—matched with detailed examples and powerful personal anecdotes—offers effective antidotes to math anxiety and reveals the subject’s artistry. The careful look at new science on microplastics reminds listeners how genuine curiosity and scientific exchange drive knowledge forward.

Further Resources

• Follow Kyne Santos: [@onlinekyne on Instagram and TikTok]
• Book: Math in Drag by Kyne Santos

For more episodes exploring everyday science, stay curious with Dr. Samantha Yammine on Curiosity Weekly.