Learn about why people are less likely to verify their sources on social media; and why it’s a huge deal that researchers found an intermediate-mass black hole. We’ll also debunk five myths about the coronavirus.
Learn about why people are less likely to verify their sources on social media; and why it’s a huge deal that researchers found an intermediate-mass black hole. We’ll also debunk five myths about the coronavirus.
Jumbling of sources on social media makes you less likely to verify their validity by Kelsey Donk
Hubble found a black hole "missing link" by Grant Currin
5 myths about the coronavirus by Kelsey Donk
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/5-coronavirus-myths-debunked-why-you-shouldnt-get-your-news-on-social-media-and-the-discovery-of-a-black-hole-missing-link
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why people are less likely to verify their sources on social media; and why it’s a huge deal that researchers found a medium-sized black hole. We’ll also debunk five myths about the coronavirus.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
We all know we shouldn’t get all of our news from Facebook or Twitter. But the reason doesn’t just come down to the kind of news we see on those sites — it’s also about the way we interact with it. New research from The Ohio State University suggests that when people get news from the same place they get their joke memes and TikToks, they pay less attention to where the content is coming from. That makes them more likely to mistake satire, commentary, or fiction for real, credible news.
Researchers say it’s a different story for people who view news divided into categories. When people see current affairs and international news set apart from cultural criticism, entertainment, and opinions, they can more easily evaluate sources and decide whether information is credible. It’s almost like the newspapers of long ago were on to something.
People like social media in part because it’s so convenient. You can find entertainment and long-distance connections in the same place as breaking news. It’s a one-stop shop! But that selling point is also its weakness. The researchers say it’s this mixing of content that makes it hard to know what’s just for fun and what’s supposed to be informative.
After all, these sites format every piece of content in the same way. There’s no visual difference between an article from the New York Times, satire from The Onion, or an unchecked rant from a conspiracy blog. They all have the same font, layout, and color scheme. When everything looks the same, it’s hard to remember to check where information is coming from. That could be one reason why misinformation spreads so quickly on social media.
One fix might be for social media sites to divide content so viewers can distinguish the credible from the comical. But if the jumbling of content is what draws users to social media, that could be a tough sell. In the end, it’s up to readers themselves to pay attention to the source of their information. If a headline catches your eye, don’t let it go — click the link, check out the site, and make sure what it says is reliable. It’ll make you smarter — and we’re all about making you smarter.
It’s easy to get excited when scientists say they’ve spotted the biggest explosion in the universe! or the smallest dinosaur ever! Not so much when a discovery is just medium-sized. But get ready, because researchers just found a medium-sized black hole. And that is ENORMOUS news. Here’s why it’s so exciting.
Over the last few decades, we’ve gotten pretty good at finding two kinds of black holes: the smallish ones that emerge after a massive star collapses, called stellar-mass black holes, and the enormous ones that sit in the middle of their home galaxies, called supermassive black holes. We also know that black holes can get bigger, by, say, consuming matter or merging with other black holes. So it’s only natural to assume that there are black holes out there that are in between these sizes. Scientists call these intermediate-mass black holes, and a team recently announced that they’ve finally identified one.
Intermediate-mass black holes are hard to find because they don’t have an easily available source of energy, like the binary star some small black holes are paired with, or a galaxy full of stars that supermassive black holes can gobble up. As a result, intermediate-mass black holes don’t produce much radiation for astronomers to spot. To find one, scientists have to get lucky and to catch it in the act of ripping a star apart. The X-rays from the star’s remains would offer the telltale clue.
Back in 2006, NASA and European Space Agency satellites spotted some promising X-ray flares…. but researchers weren’t sure what caused them or where they came from. They appeared to record a star being torn apart by a small object with strong gravity, but astronomers needed more evidence to figure out what was going on.
For that, researchers turned to the Hubble Space Telescope. They trained the instrument on the source of the radiation. To their surprise, it wasn’t coming from the center of a galaxy. That meant it wasn’t coming from a supermassive black hole.
That left two likely possibilities: either it was a neutron star in our galaxy or an intermediate-mass black hole much farther away. More Hubble data offered an exciting answer. The X-rays came from the outskirts of a dense star cluster on the outskirts of a galaxy beyond the Milky Way! This had intermediate-mass black hole written all over it.
Intermediate-mass black holes are sometimes called the “missing link” in black hole evolution, and for good reason. Hopefully, the new discovery will help us better understand how supermassive black holes get to be so supermassive.
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CODY: You know how I talked about checking your sources on social media earlier? Well it feels like coronavirus myths are popping up EVERYWHERE these days, and let’s be honest: social media is not helping. So right now we’re gonna take a few minutes to debunk 5 of the most common misconceptions about the coronavirus.
ASHLEY: Right. And in case you’re new to Curiosity Daily, you should know that we include links to all of our sources in the show notes of every episode. Feel free to read them on whatever podcast app you’re using right now, or on curiosity-daily-dot-com.
CODY: Speaking of the internet, that brings us to our first point: 5G mobile networks do not spread the coronavirus. That’s just not how viruses work. They don’t travel on radio waves or communicate via mobile networks. If that’s not evidence enough, think about this: coronavirus is spreading widely even in countries that don’t have 5G networks.
ASHLEY: Number two: The coronavirus was not designed in a lab. Scientists have sequenced its genes, and they look the way you’d expect a natural virus’s genes to look — without any signs of artificially inserted gene sequences. Exactly where the natural virus came from is still up for debate, though, and unfortunately, we may never have the evidence to find out.
CODY: Three: You cannot kill coronavirus with hand dryers, mouthwash, or antibiotics. Hand dryers aren’t hot enough to kill microbes, and antibiotics don’t work on viruses like influenza, the common cold, or COVID-19. Drinking or gargling alcohol won’t protect you either — whether it’s in mouthwash or booze.
ASHLEY: Four: Ordering food from a Chinese restaurant simply will not put you at a higher risk of infection. First of all, there’s currently no evidence that the virus is transmitted through food, regardless of what country that food is associated with. The coronavirus is generally thought to be transmitted from person-to-person through respiratory droplets — that is, through your airways, not your stomach.
CODY: And five: Pneumonia vaccines do not protect you from the coronavirus. This virus is new, and it needs its own vaccine. Researchers are working as hard and fast as they can to get a vaccine that works against this virus, but that will take a while. That’s not to say a pneumonia vaccine is useless — if you happen to come down with pneumonia, it can shorten that illness.
ASHLEY: There’s a lot of uncertainty about such a new virus, but there are some things we know for sure. What’s true of the virus is true of misinformation: we all need to work together to stop the spread.
CODY: Let’s do a quick recap of what we learned today
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk and Grant Currin, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!