Learn about how scientists are using artificial intelligence to translate babies’ cries; test your skills with the City of Lies and Truth logic puzzle; and learn how to avoid falling prey to a common psychological phenomenon called the Barnum effect. Please support our sponsors! Visit capterra.com/curiosity to find the best software solution for your business — for free! In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: Scientists Are Translating Babies' Cries with Artificial Intelligence — https://curiosity.im/2Xq5FFp Can You Solve the City of Lies and Truth Logic Puzzle? — https://curiosity.im/2Xq5wSn The Barnum Effect Is Why You Think Horoscopes and Fortune Cookies Were Meant Just for You — https://curiosity.im/2XkGBzC Want to support our show?Register for the 2019 Podcast Awards and nominate Curiosity Daily to win for People’s Choice, Education, and Science & Medicine. After you register, simply select Curiosity Daily from the drop-down menus (no need to pick nominees in every category): https://curiosity.im/podcast-awards-2019 Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about how scientists are using artificial intelligence to translate babies’ cries; test your skills with the City of Lies and Truth logic puzzle; and learn how to avoid falling prey to a common psychological phenomenon called the Barnum effect.
Please support our sponsors! Visit capterra.com/curiosity to find the best software solution for your business — for free!
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Want to support our show? Register for the 2019 Podcast Awards and nominate Curiosity Daily to win for People’s Choice, Education, and Science & Medicine. After you register, simply select Curiosity Daily from the drop-down menus (no need to pick nominees in every category): https://curiosity.im/podcast-awards-2019
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/ai-translating-babies-cries-being-suckered-by-the-barnum-effect-and-city-of-lies-and-truth
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how scientists are using technology to translate babies’ cries. We’ll also test your skills with a logic puzzle, and help you avoid falling prey to a common psychological phenomenon.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Scientists Are Translating Babies' Cries with Artificial Intelligence — https://curiosity.im/2Xq5FFp (Cody)
If you’ve ever wondered why a baby just won’t stop crying, then I’ve got some amazing news: scientists are using artificial intelligence to translate babies’ cries. How researchers went about this is kind of interesting, because if you want to translate a foreign language, then you need the help of fluent speakers. So guess who researchers enlisted? No, not the talking baby from the 1989 film “Look Who’s Talking” starring John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. I’m talking about neonatal nurses. The researchers brought a microphone into a hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, then made 48 cry recordings. These came from babies ranging in age from 3 days to 6 months. Nurses and caregivers used context clues and years of experience to identify the reason for each cry. And while all babies sounded a little bit different, there were still some reliable patterns. For instance, when a baby is hungry, the suck reflex is involved in the cry, so their tongue is on the roof of their mouth. That makes the cry sound like a "neh." An "owh" is a half yawn, half cry sound, which suggests that the baby is sleepy. The nurses and caregivers helped the team sort the cries into these five different categories: attention, diaper change needed, hungry, sleepy, and discomfort. And once the researchers had analyzed the waveforms, they fed them to an AI to see what it could do. They eventually trained the system to identify the cries with a success rate of up to 76 percent! This is preliminary research, but some day, it could lead to software to help medical professionals treat infants. And who knows? Maybe the next generation of parents will be able to use an app to translate their baby’s cries. For now, though, you'll just have to wait — after all, the system is still in its infancy.
Can You Solve the City of Lies and Truth Logic Puzzle? — https://curiosity.im/2Xq5wSn (Both)
ASHLEY: You know what we haven’t done on this podcast in a LONG time? A logic puzzle. They’re pretty popular on curiosity-dot-com, so we thought we’d bring one back today. It’s called The City of Lies and Truth. And it’s a quick little riddle that requires no math.
CODY: But it does require logic! This is kind of like a little throwback to the Curiosity Challenge we used to do. So feel free to play along at home.
ASHLEY: Okay, so here goes. You're at an intersection. If you go one way, you’ll get to the City of Lies, and if you go the other way, you’ll get to the City of Truth. People from the City of Lies always lie, and people from the City of Truth always tell the truth. A citizen of one of the cities is at the intersection. What is a question could you ask them to find the way to the City of Truth? CODY: Hang on just a minute, and we’ll be back with the answer after this!
[CAPTERRA]
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CODY: Visit capterra-dot-com-slash-curiosity, TODAY, to find the right tools to make 2019 THE year for your business. Capterra, that’s C-A-P-T-E-R-R-A, dot-com-slash-curiosity.
ASHLEY: One more time, that’s capterra-dot-com-slash-curiosity. Show our sponsor some love and check it out today — for free!
Can You Solve the City of Lies and Truth Logic Puzzle? — https://curiosity.im/2Xq5wSn (Both)
CODY: Okay, are you ready for the answer to the City of Lies and Truth logic puzzle? Here’s a quick refresher: You're at an intersection. If you go one way, you’ll get to the City of Lies, and if you go the other way, you’ll get to the City of Truth. People from the City of Lies always lie, and people from the City of Truth always tell the truth. A citizen of one of the cities is at the intersection. What is a question could you ask them to find the way to the City of Truth?
ASHLEY: Here’s one question that’ll get you there: you can ask “in which of these two direction do you live?” No matter which city the person is from, they will point toward the City of Truth. This is because someone from the City of Lies will lie and point to the City of Truth, and a citizen of the City of Truth will truthfully point to the City of Truth.
CODY: Did you solve it, or did you find another solution? And why would anyone live in a city where everyone lies? I just don’t get it. [ad lib]
The Barnum Effect Is Why You Think Horoscopes and Fortune Cookies Were Meant Just for You — https://curiosity.im/2XkGBzC (Ashley)
We want to wrap up by talking about how to avoid being tricked by a psychological quirk, and to demonstrate it, I’d like to give you a quick personality assessment. I think you're a generally cheerful, well-balanced person. You're not overly conventional, but you’re also not overly individualistic. And you’ve got a wide array of interests. While you have some personal weaknesses, you're generally able to compensate for them. How did I do? If that sounds like a perfect description of your personality, then congratulations: You just fell prey to the Barnum effect.
CODY: Barnum as in P.T. Barnum, the guy who founded Barnum and Bailey Circus?
ASHLEY: That’s right! He’s also the guy who coined the phrase “there’s a sucker born every minute.” And the Barnum Effect refers to the way you’re willing to believe that an overly broad personality description is meant just for you. Sometimes it’s called the Forer effect, after a professor who tested the phenomenon on college students in 1949. He gave his students a personality test and then told them he’d analyze their answers and give them a “brief personality vignette.” A week later, he gave everyone the exact same personality description. It was full of unspecific statements like "You have a great need for other people to like and admire you" and "You have a tendency to be critical of yourself." Forer had gotten most of those statements out of an astrology book he’d picked up at a newsstand. And on a scale of 1 to 5, most of his students rated the accuracy of their assessment with a 4 or higher. The Barnum effect has even more impact the more detailed the questions are, and the more authority you perceive the test administrator to have. It also works better if the personality description uses favorable traits. The Barnum effect pops up a lot in astrology, tarot readings, and even fortune cookies. But marketing and advertising can do it too, by making you believe you’re the “kind of people” who would benefit from a product. A quick tip for avoiding falling prey to this phenomenon is to think about your worst enemy. Does the same trait that’s supposed to describe you also describe them? If they do, the statement is probably too general to be useful to you — and the person you’re talking to probably thinks they have a sucker on their hands. [ad lib]
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, we want to quickly remind you to please nominate Curiosity Daily to be a finalist in the 2019 Podcast Awards! Find a link in today’s show notes, or visit podcast-awards-dot-com, to register. Then find Curiosity Daily in the drop-down menus for the categories of People’s Choice, Education, and Science & Medicine. It’s free to vote and will really help us out. And now, let’s recap what we learned today.
ASHLEY: Today we learned that artificial intelligence can translate babies’ cries with pretty decent accuracy!
CODY: And that people might try to suck you into a scam with vague statements about how cool you are.
ASHLEY: And that there’s a sucker born every minute!
CODY: Well, yeah — like for example, anyone who chooses to live in the City of Lies.
[ad lib]
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!