Learn about why there could be planets even more habitable than Earth; an online class that boosted grades by changing students’ beliefs; and why optimism may lead to better sleep. Please support our sponsors! Get two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes on Skillshare — for free. To sign up, go to skillshare.com/curiosity 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: There Could Be Planets Even More Habitable than Earth — https://curiosity.im/2ZDzgrV This Online Class Boosts Grades by Changing Students' Beliefs — https://curiosity.im/31QyMA4 Optimism May Lead to Better Sleep — https://curiosity.im/2ZrTrck 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 why there could be planets even more habitable than Earth; an online class that boosted grades by changing students’ beliefs; and why optimism may lead to better sleep.
Please support our sponsors! Get two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes on Skillshare — for free. To sign up, go to skillshare.com/curiosity
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:
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/beliefs-that-boost-grades-optimism-for-better-sleep-and-planets-more-habitable-than-earth
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 why there could be planets even more habitable than Earth; an online class that boosted grades by changing students’ beliefs; and why optimism may lead to better sleep.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
There Could Be Planets Even More Habitable than Earth — https://curiosity.im/2ZDzgrV (from next Monday 9/16) (Republish) (Cody)
When it comes to looking up at the stars, scientists love looking for planets that are habitable. It’s also one of my favorite words to say on this podcast. Habitable. Usually we look for planets that are like Earth, because, well, we know that Earth is habitable. But what if we’re not using the right measuring stick? As in, there could be planets even more habitable than Earth. As reported by Universe Today, this was the subject of a recent lecture at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Congress in Barcelona. A team of NASA researchers explained what defines a habitable zone in the first place, and that some exoplanets may have better conditions to thrive than Earth itself does. Habitable Zones usually refer to the range of distances from a host star where liquid water could exist on the surface. But that doesn’t take into account atmospheric dynamics that you need to ensure climate stability. That includes things like a carbonate-silicate feedback to keep surface temperatures within a certain range. And right now, astronomers have to rely on sophisticated models for planetary climate and evolution, since we don’t have the technology yet to directly measure that kind of thing from so far away. During the keynote lecture, Dr. Stephanie Olson of the University of Chicago got into some details of how researchers are doing this. Olson and her colleagues modeled what conditions would likely be like on various kinds of exoplanets by looking at upwelling. That’s basically the upward flow that returns nutrients from the darkest depths of the ocean to the sunlit parts of the ocean where photosynthetic life lives. More upwelling means more nutrient resupply, which means more biological activity. The researchers used an ocean circulation model to figure out which exoplanets would have the most efficient upwelling, and they found that there were higher upwelling rates on planets with higher atmospheric density, slower rotation rates, and the presence of continents. Put simply: Earth might not be optimally habitable, because we rotate so fast. This is sort of a good news/bad news situation. On one hand, it does kind of shatter the illusion that Earth is the standard we should be using to find habitable exoplanets. On the other hand, it suggests that there may be more life in our Universe than previous conservative estimates would indicate. This study is also significant because it’ll encourage astronomers to direct their efforts towards the subset of exoplanets that’ll most likely favor large, globally active biospheres where life will be easiest to detect.
This Online Class Boosts Grades by Changing Students' Beliefs — https://curiosity.im/31QyMA4 (Republish) (Ashley)
An online class boosted the grades of students by changing their beliefs about learning. And maybe you can do better if you change your beliefs, too.
As reported by Futurity, the course in question helps cultivate a growth mindset. That’s the belief that intellectual abilities are not fixed but can be developed. And according to research by Stanford University psychologists Carol Dweck and Greg Walton, this is exactly what happened to the high school students who took the course
The study was called the National Study of Learning Mindsets, and it looked at a nationally representative sample of 12,000 ninth graders in the United States. Students from 76 public high schools in the U.S. were randomly assigned to either take the 50-minute online growth mindset program, or do an unrelated course of the same length. During the online course, students learned that their intellectual abilities are not fixed, and they reflected on ways to strengthen their brains by persisting on challenges. The researchers found that both lower and higher achieving students benefitted academically from the online course. In fact, the high-achieving students who took the online course were more likely to take harder math classes the following year. Lower-achieving students saw an even greater improvement in grades after taking the course. On average, the GPAs of the high-achieving students went up about a tenth of a grade point. And the number of students who were used to seeing a D or an F average decreased by more than 5 percent — so one out of every 20 students or so was able to climb out of the D or F grade range.
What’s great about these results is that they’re pretty favorable when you compare them to other school reforms for teenagers, many of which are more expensive or time-consuming. With such amazing results, it’s not surprising that this marks the beginning of a new phase of mindset research. According to Dweck, this could be a new way to help more students succeed.
[SKILLSHARE]
CODY: Speaking of online classes, today’s episode is sponsored by Skillshare, an online learning community for creators.
ASHLEY: Skillshare offers more than 25,000 classes in design, business, and more, to help YOU find new ways to fuel your curiosity, creativity, and career. You can take classes in everything from photography and creative writing to design, productivity and more!
CODY: And ALL of Skillshare’s classes are taught by real experts in their field or public motivational speakers. I’m taking a class right now from a professional comedian who’s worked on web series with millions of viewers and won awards for being a social media pro. His class is all about how to write, film, and make stuff people want to share online — which I know we do PLENTY already on this podcast. But hey, I’m always open to new ideas.
So whether you’re returning to a long-time passion project, challenging yourself to get outside your comfort zone, or simply exploring something new, Skillshare has classes for you.
ASHLEY: You can join the millions of students already learning on Skillshare today with a special offer just for Curiosity Daily listeners: Get two months of Skillshare for free.
CODY: That’s right, Skillshare is offering Curiosity Daily listeners two months of unlimited access to over 25,000 classes for free. To sign up, go to Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY.
ASHLEY: Again, go to Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY to start your two months now. One more time, that’s Skillshare dot com slash CURIOSITY.
Optimism May Lead to Better Sleep — https://curiosity.im/2ZrTrck (Cody)
New research suggests optimism may lead to better sleep. If you’ve been trying to get better rest lately but you don’t usually have time to, oh, I dunno, take a warm bath within a couple hours of going to bed, then this might be the trick you’re looking for. We talk all the time on this podcast about the importance of getting a good night’s sleep, but did you know scientists have found that having an optimistic outlook also carries major health benefits? Those benefits include protection from cardiovascular disease and better recovery rates after surgeries like gastric bypass. Studies have also found that optimists are more likely to follow doctors' orders and make lifestyle changes to reduce future risks. But researchers hadn’t really studied whether optimism played a role in improving sleep — until now. For a study published in July 2019 in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, researchers analyzed data from the CARDIA study — that stands for Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults. It’s a project that’s been looking at the heart health of young Americans for more than 30 years. For this study, the researchers zoomed in on data from 3,500 participants aged 32 to 51 that was collected during a follow-up visit between 2000 and 2001 and again five years later. During those visits, participants completed a survey designed to measure their level of optimism. They also reported on the quality and duration of their sleep. A smaller group of participants also wore activity monitors for two three-day periods, spaced a year apart, to collect data on how long they slept, how much of their time they spent asleep, and any signs of restlessness while sleeping. And it turned out that optimism and sleep were intimately linked. For each increase in standard deviation on the optimism survey, researchers found that people were 78 percent more likely to have had high-quality sleep. These people were also more likely to have gotten enough sleep — that is, from six to nine hours per night. Now, correlation does not mean causation, and the study’s authors admit that people who are more optimistic may report better sleep inherently, because they’re, well… optimistic. But if you find yourself seeing the glass half empty, you might want to revisit your outlook on life. Seeking out the silver-lined clouds may lead you to sweeter dreams.
ASHLEY: And now, let’s recap what we learned today. Today we learned that there could be planets even more habitable than Earth, partly because we just rotate too darn fast.
CODY: And that if you have a “growth mindset” and believe intellectual abilities are not fixed but can be developed, then you might be able to achieve more.
CODY: And that you may sleep better if you’re optimistic. And if you don’t think that’ll really work, well then… maybe you should try being more optimistic
[ad lib optional]
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!