Learn how resolving arguments can erase nearly all bad feelings, and why almost all calico cats are female. Plus: trivia! Resolving an argument can almost erase the emotional stress it caused by Kelsey Donk Resolving Arguments Can Prevent Bad Feelings From Lingering — And We Get Better At It As We Age. (2021, April 22). Research Digest. https://digest.bps.org.uk/2021/04/22/resolving-arguments-can-prevent-bad-feelings-from-lingering-and-we-get-better-at-it-as-we-age/ Witzel, D. D., & Stawski, R. S. (2021). Resolution Status and Age as Moderators for Interpersonal Everyday Stress and Stressor-Related Affect. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab006 Why Calico Cats Are Almost Always Female by Ashley Hamer Stone, S. (2015, March 16). Why are Calico Cats Almost Always Female? Today I Found Out. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/03/calico-cats-almost-always-female Fitzsimmons, P. (2017, November 7). Are All Orange Cats Male and All Calico Cats Female? BeChewy; Chewy. https://be.chewy.com/behavior-pet-facts-are-all-orange-cats-male-all-calico-cats-female/ Episodes referenced in Curiosity Challenge Trivia game: Cuttlefish: https://www.curiositydaily.com/your-roommate-really-doesnt-know-how-youre-feeling/ Bland space diet: https://www.curiositydaily.com/introverts-fared-better-than-extroverts-during-the-pandemic/ Prison device: https://www.curiositydaily.com/from-music-to-bacon-biology-is-everywhere-w-biologist-melanie-peffer/ Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer — for free!
Learn how resolving arguments can erase nearly all bad feelings, and why almost all calico cats are female. Plus: trivia!
Resolving an argument can almost erase the emotional stress it caused by Kelsey Donk
Why Calico Cats Are Almost Always Female by Ashley Hamer
Episodes referenced in Curiosity Challenge Trivia game:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free!
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/a-good-reason-to-resolve-your-arguments
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 a scientific reason why you should really resolve that argument; and why calico cats are almost always female. Then, play along at home as we test your podcast knowledge in this month’s Curiosity Challenge trivia game.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
When you feel an argument brewing, it can be tempting to ignore the issue and let it pass. I mean, those negative feelings will fade away eventually, right? Well, new research suggests that that might be the wrong approach. When you feel angry with someone, having it out and resolving the argument can almost completely erase the stress it caused in the first place.
For the study, researchers from Oregon State University analyzed data from a massive study that collected daily diary entries from 2,000 people over eight days. These diary entries included details about how much of the day the individuals felt anxiety or cheerfulness or anger, and how much stress they’d felt. They also mentioned whether they’d had or avoided an argument with anyone, whether or not the argument was resolved, and how serious the argument had been.
In the eight days, the researchers tracked more than 1,300 arguments, 65 percent of which were resolved. They also noted about 2,000 arguments that participants avoided. Unsurprisingly, people felt worse on days with arguments than without.
But here’s where things got interesting. After an unresolved argument, participants experienced bad moods for a few days. But when they decided to have the arguments and resolve their bad feelings instead of avoiding the issue, their moods improved — not only on that day, but for several days following the resolution.
So clearly, the big take-home message from this research is that you shouldn’t avoid conflict — instead, you should try to resolve it as best you can. But there was an extra detail in the study that should give you something to look forward to: older participants experienced less conflict across the board. And when conflict did come around, adults over the age of 68 were 40 percent more likely to resolve disagreements than adults under the age of 45. And even if their arguments weren’t resolved right away, their moods weren’t affected as much.
The researchers think it’s possible that older people have more emotional resilience than younger people, and they could also be more motivated to push through bad feelings and mend relationships. After all, older people have had more time to practice disagreeing and resolving conflict.
But whether you’re young or old, this study suggests it’s almost always better to work through arguments than avoid them or leave them unresolved. It can be hard to find the motivation to talk it out sometimes, but according to this research, it’s worth it!
Ever talk about your friend's cat and find yourself saying "It's so cute! I mean...he's so cute. Or she? I don't know, but it's cute." Well, I’ve got a little tip for you: If the cat is tortoiseshell or calico, go with “she.” And if it’s orange, you’ve got a good chance at it being a “he.”
Chances are that any cat you've ever seen with more than one color was female. (That’s not counting black and white, which I’ll explain later). Female cats are born with two X chromosomes (just like female humans), and males are born with one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. A cat's fur color is decided by the X chromosome. That makes things simple in a male cat: whatever fur color is on the X chromosome is the color the male cat will be. But it’s a bit more complex when it comes to female cats. If both X chromosomes call for one color of fur, like black, the cat will be all that color. But if the X chromosomes call for different colors, like one is black and the other is orange, they'll take turns: one clump of cells will use information from one X chromosome and turn black, and another clump will use information from the other and turn orange. The result? A calico or tortoiseshell coat.
But white fur is different. That happens through a process unrelated to X and Y chromosomes, which is why male cats can be white and black but hardly ever orange and black. Because a cat needs two X chromosomes to be calico, there's only one way a male cat can have those markings: by inheriting an extra X chromosome, which would make his genetic makeup XXY instead of XY. This happens in only 1 of every 3,000 male cats.
But male cats do get one coloration more often than females, and that’s orange. For a female cat to be orange, she needs an orange fur gene on both of her X chromosomes. But a male only needs it on one. Since orange fur genes are rarer than, say, genes for black fur, orange female cats are rarer too. As a result, about 80 percent of orange cats are male.
Who knew that cute little furball contained a lesson in feline genetics?
Can you believe it's already time for the Curiosity Challenge? For our monthly trivia game, I'll call up a listener and put them to the test by asking them three questions about stories we ran on Curiosity Daily in the previous month. For this Curiosity Challenge, I talked to Leah in South Carolina. Have a listen.
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Curiosity Challenge contestants have got some stiff competition, that's all I'm sayin'. How did YOU do? If you’d like to play next month, OR if you have a question you’d like us to answer on the show, shoot us an email at curiosity at discovery dot com, or leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208!
Leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208!
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll hear next week on Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Next week, you’ll learn about a new gene editing tool that's safer and more useful than CRISPR;
Whether future civilizations will get oil from human fossils;
How there could be stars made of antimatter in our galaxy;
Why it’s okay if your mom calls you by your sibling’s name;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
[ad lib optional]
ASHLEY: The writer for today’s first story was Kelsey Donk.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer, who was also a writer and audio editor on today’s episode.
ASHLEY: Our producer and lead audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: Have a great weekend! Patch things up with your friends and family — fighting’s no fun. And then, join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!