This week on the Stuff You Should Know podcast we discussed a couple of interesting topics. Yesterday’s show was about how to stop junk mail, which is something everyone definitely should know. Tuesday’s show was a gem called “Can people really die of fright?” It was based on a stellar article by staff writer Molly Edmonds. Josh and I delved a bit into the science of fear and the potential medical issues that could arise if you were really scared — aka the “Baskerville Effect.”

We also looked at some interesting studies. One took a look at the death rate of people in China and Japan on the fourth day of the month, four being an unlucky number in much of Asia. They found that there was a 13 percent increase in heart failure on the fourth of each month compared to a Caucasian control group. So there’s something to be said for chilling out on the fourth if you’re Chinese or Japanese.