Curiosity Daily

Black Hole Edges (w/ Ralph Crewe), Your Brain’s Backup Plan, and Healthy Tanning Tips

Episode Summary

Learn about how to get your best tan with the least amount of damage; the surprising relationship between short-term and long-term memories; and whether black holes have “edges,” with some help from special guest Ralph Crewe from the podcast Science, News, and Qs. 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: For a Healthier Tan, Limit Sunbathing to Every Other Day — https://curiosity.im/2Lp8ShX There's a Surprising Relationship Between Short-Term and Long-Term Memories — https://curiosity.im/2XnvdCV More from Ralph Crewe: Science News and Qs (SNaQ), a Carnegie Science Center Podcast — http://snaq.podbean.com/ Getting Curious with Ashley and Cody of Curiosity on SNaQ — https://snaq.podbean.com/e/getting-curious-with-ashley-and-cody-of-curiosity/ Learn more about the Carnegie Science Center — http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/ Follow @CarnegieSciCtr on Twitter — https://twitter.com/carnegiescictr Follow @RalphCrewe on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RalphCrewe 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.

Episode Notes

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:

For a Healthier Tan, Limit Sunbathing to Every Other Day — https://curiosity.im/2Lp8ShX
There's a Surprising Relationship Between Short-Term and Long-Term Memories — https://curiosity.im/2XnvdCV

Episode Transcription

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 to get your best tan with the least amount of damage; and, the surprising relationship between short-term and long-term memories. We’ll also answer a listener question about whether black holes have edges (or borders), with special guest Ralph Crewe from the podcast Science, News, and Qs.

CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.

For a Healthier Tan, Limit Sunbathing to Every Other Day — https://curiosity.im/2Lp8ShX (Cody)

If you’re looking to get a tan this summer, then listen up. Because with a little bit of science, you can get your best tan with the least amount of damage. And lemme say this straight right off the bat: a tan is technically a sign of sun damage. The dark coloring you get after a day in the sun comes from pigment-producing cells in your skin called melanocytes that kick into gear as a response to UV radiation exposure. The pigment those melanocytes produce is known as melanin, and it acts as a sort of “sun umbrella” for DNA. It absorbs UVB radiation before it can reach the DNA and cause damage. More melanin means more pigment in your skin, and greater UVB protection next time you hit the pool. If you go through this sun-damage cycle too often, though, you increase your risk of skin cancer. AND YET! we do need sunlight so your body can synthesize it into Vitamin D. According to a 2017 study, 10 to 20 minutes of unprotected sun exposure will get you a solid amount of the vitamin D during the spring and summer months (although winter is another story). A tan isn’t the only way your body protects yourself from DNA damage; one other method is a sunburn. The inflammation that goes along with all that redness, swelling, and pain is a sign your body is trying to heal itself and protect your DNA. Part of that DNA-repair process is the activation of a protein that regulates skin-protection mechanisms, and a recent study in Molecular Cell found that these protective mechanisms only get triggered every 48 hours. That means that the big takeaway is that if you simply MUST get your tan on, then limit it to every other day. You'll get a better tan and you'll be protecting your DNA. It's a win-win!

There's a Surprising Relationship Between Short-Term and Long-Term Memories — https://curiosity.im/2XnvdCV (Ashley) [FREELANCER]

Recent research has found a surprising relationship between short-term and long-term memories. And it could mean your memories are SAFER than you realized.

Let’s say you go on vacation or meet a new love interest. Your brain stores that event as a short-term memory. And for decades, neuroscientists THOUGHT those short-term memories would eventually move into another part of the brain responsible for long-term storage. But in 2017, MIT neuroscientists discovered both short-term and long-term memories are actually formed at the same time.

We figured out a lot of what we know about the brain today from studying brain injuries. For example, in 1953, doctors tried to control the epileptic seizures of a man named Henry Molaison [MOLE-uh-sin] — by removing his hippocampus. When he woke up, he couldn’t store any new memories.

Studies like this led scientists to believe that short-term memories are formed in the hippocampus, then transferred to long-term storage in the neocortex. Until recently, we thought that once those memories transferred over, they disappeared completely from the hippocampus.

The 2017 study set out to trace memory storage and retrieval in lab mice. They labeled memory cells in three parts of the brain: the hippocampus, the prefrontal cortex (which is part of the neocortex), and the basolateral amygdala, which stores emotional content of memories. Then, they gave the mice mild electric shocks to create memories of a fearful event.

A day later, the team found that the fearful memories were being stored not only in the hippocampus, but also in the prefrontal cortex. At first, the mouse could only naturally recall the memories in the hippocampus. The memories in the prefrontal cortex could only be activated artificially by the researchers. Over the next two weeks, though, the memories in the prefrontal cortex matured, and those in the hippocampus went dormant but could still be activated.

So, it appears that your brain keeps a “backup” of every memory you form, and the researchers have reason to believe those memories never fully disappear. This is good news for people suffering from memory loss due to brain damage as scientists may be able to recover those memories from the backups. And you thought backing up your HARD DRIVE was important!

[PAINT YOUR LIFE]

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CODY: This is a true painting, done by hand, by a world-class artist…created from a favorite photo.

ASHLEY: If you’re looking for a truly meaningful gift, then you’ve got to try Paint-Your-Life-dot-com. You can browse paint-your-life-dot-com and choose the artist whose work you like the most, and then work with them throughout the process until every detail is perfect.

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ASHLEY: Text C-U-R-I-O-U-S to 48-48-48. Message and data rates may apply.

Listener Question — Ralph Crewe: Do Black Holes Have A Well-Defined Edge? (Both)

CODY: We got a listener question about black holes, and we invited our friend Ralph Crewe to help us answer it. He’s the creator and co-host of Science, News, and Qs, also known as SNaQ, a Carnegie Science Center podcast. And he’s ALSO the Program Development Coordinator for Buhl Planetarium and Observatory at Carnegie Science Center. Here’s Ralph dropping some space knowledge.

[CLIP 2:57]

ASHLEY: Once again, that was Ralph Crewe, Program Development Coordinator for Buhl Planetarium and Observatory at Carnegie Science Center. You can hear more from Ralph on his podcast, Science News, and Qs — also known as SNaQ. That’s S-N-A-Q. We’ll put a link to that in today’s show notes. And thanks for your question, Rafael!

ASHLEY: Before we recap what we learned today, we want to thank we want to give a special shout-out to Dr. Mary Yancy and Muhammad Shifaz, who are executive producers for today’s episode thanks to their generous support. Thank you SO. MUCH. Now let’s recap what we learned today!

CODY: Today we learned that if you want a tan, then you should get some sun every OTHER day, to protect your DNA.

ASHLEY: And that your brain basically keeps a backup of your memories.

CODY: And that black holes actually have an “edge.”

[ad lib optional]

CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes. Until then, have a great weekend! I’m Cody Gough.

ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!