Learn about why if you complain about “kids these days,” your memory may be to blame; whether a full moon really leads to strange behavior; and whether calculus can help us solve the mysteries of quantum mechanics, with special guest Steven Strogatz. Today is the LAST DAY to help us win! Please vote for Curiosity Daily for Best Technology & Science Podcast in the 2019 Discover Pods Awards: https://awards.discoverpods.com/finalists/ In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about complaining about “kids these days” might be because of your memory: https://curiosity.im/2NWKbcf Additional resources from Steven Strogatz: “Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe” on Amazon — https://amazon.com Additional publications — https://amazon.com Steven Strogatz official website — http://www.stevenstrogatz.com/ Cornell University profile — https://math.cornell.edu/steven-strogatz Google Scholar profile — https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FxyRWlcAAAAJ Follow @stevenstrogatz on Twitter — https://twitter.com/stevenstrogatz Other sources discussed: Lunacy and the Full Moon | Scientific American — https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lunacy-and-the-full-moon/ It's Just a Phase: The Supermoon Won't Drive You Mad | Live Science — https://www.livescience.com/7899-moon-myths-truth-lunar-effects.html Does crime increase when the moon is full? | EurekaAlert! — https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-10/nyu-dci102919.php 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 if you complain about “kids these days,” your memory may be to blame; whether a full moon really leads to strange behavior; and whether calculus can help us solve the mysteries of quantum mechanics, with special guest Steven Strogatz.
Today is the LAST DAY to help us win! Please vote for Curiosity Daily for Best Technology & Science Podcast in the 2019 Discover Pods Awards: https://awards.discoverpods.com/finalists/
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about complaining about “kids these days” might be because of your memory: https://curiosity.im/2NWKbcf
Additional resources from Steven Strogatz:
Other sources discussed:
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/can-calculus-solve-quantum-physics-w-steven-strogatz-full-moon-behavior-and-why-you-complain-about-kids-these-days
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 if you complain about “kids these days,” your memory may be to blame; whether a full moon really leads to strange behavior; and, whether calculus can help us solve the mysteries of quantum mechanics, with special guest Steven Strogatz.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Complaining About Kids These Days? A New Study Says Memory May Be to Blame — https://curiosity.im/2NWKbcf (Cody)
Do you ever shake your fist and complain about “kids these days”? You’re not alone: it seems like pretty much every generation has thought that today’s youth are a sorry bunch. For example, every generation has believed that the kids of their day were ruining the English language. So why do people grow up to think this way? Well a new study argues that these beliefs have less to do with the kids and more to do with the memory and self-image of the people who hold these opinions. A paper published last month in Science Advances looked at the opinions of more than 3,500 American adults; including their opinions about whether children are respectful, intelligent, and well-read, AND their opinions of whether they THEMSELVES are respectful, intelligent, and well-read. The researchers predicted that when participants rated themselves high on one of those traits now, they would also rate young people as lower in that trait than the participant was at their age. And across the board, those who rated themselves as higher in respect, intelligence, or literacy also rated “kids these days” as lower in those same traits as compared to when they were children. And the researchers propose a couple of factors that drive these false beliefs. One is the fact that people who are objectively superior in a given trait tend to notice the shortcomings of others on that trait. Think about anything you’re good at; you probably notice when other people make mistakes doing that thing. The researchers say that people also tend to see the past through rose-colored glasses, which are tinted by their current greatness. If you think you're greater on some quality than everyone else around you now, you project that greatness back onto the past. That perspective naturally makes it appear that everything's gotten worse. Both of these hypotheses checked out when researchers ran further studies; for example, some participants said they were well-read, so researchers had them take an author recognition test, and then they were randomly told that they scored very well or very poorly. This changed their belief in how well-read they were, and remarkably, also changed their belief about how much they enjoyed reading as a child. So in comparison, kids these days didn't seem so much worse after all. The results should make us all stop and think twice next time we find ourselves believing a stereotype about other generations. The belief probably says more about us than the people we're stereotyping.
Kelsey Donk Script - Does a full moon really lead to strange behavior? https://docs.google.com/document/d/12brBD7qWEm0dWQIODNvy3LOqGMZ3Uzo6HK3ARoRJxgE/edit?ts=5dc475c6 (Ashley)
If you’ve ever noticed people acting strangely at night, you’ve probably heard someone utter the phrase, “It must be a full moon.” That begs the question: does a full moon really lead to strange behavior? It turns out that this belief is ancient, but it’s no more true today than it was back then.
This idea is technically called the “lunar lunacy” effect, and it goes all the way back to Aristotle. He thought that since the moon controls the ocean tides and the brain contains a lot of water, the moon must have an effect on our brains. And even modern people believe that at the full moon, people go a little crazy, hospitals fill up, and children misbehave. But the fact is that this just isn’t true. Decades of research have shown that full moons are entirely unrelated to any spikes in crimes, suicides, psychiatric problems, or crisis center calls.
Take one study from 1982, for example. Scientists thought they could prove that more car accidents happened on full-moon nights. But it turned out that the period they were studying had more full moons on weekends, when more people were out driving. When they corrected for this, the “lunar lunacy” effect totally disappeared. And in 1985, scientists analyzed the data from 37 studies on the relationship between the moon and behavior and found zero effect. It just isn’t a thing.
The myth holds on because of something called “illusory correlation.” When weird things happen at the full moon, we look up to the sky and think, “That must be it.” But when weird things happen on other days of the month, we just think of them as strange. Basically, our expectations confirm our beliefs.
For example, in one study, psychiatric nurses who believed in the lunar lunacy effect wrote more notes about their patients acting strangely during a full moon than nurses who didn’t believe the full moon controlled behavior. The nurses who believed in the lunar effect just seemed to see erratic behavior that wasn’t there, just because they expected it to be.
The moon might be powerful, but we shouldn’t give it more credit than it’s earned.
--
Summary: The short answer: absolutely not. It's an illusory correlation, meaning that people have a perception that an association exists where it doesn't. In the case of the moon, people pay special attention to strange events during full moons, and are less aware of strangeness otherwise.
[MOVA GLOBES]
CODY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Mova Globes: rotating globes powered by light.
ASHLEY: Mova Globes use a technology that’s the first of its kind, with hidden magnets that provide movement. No batteries or messy cords needed; they’re globes that turn when they’re exposed to ambient light.
CODY: I have a Mova Globe by the window in my living room, and when I wake up in the morning, it’s out there spinning — all on its own. And there are 40 different designs, including world maps, famous works of art, and outer space.
ASHLEY: Yeah, even though PEOPLE don’t act differently when the moon is full, your friends will be pretty blown away if you’ve got a globe of our Moon that rotates on its own. The Mova Globes team also worked directly with a member of the Cassini Mission to create the design for the Titan Moon Globe, and there are other space-savvy globes including Mars and the Vesta Asteroid.
CODY: Mova Globes make a great gift for the person who has everything. And we have a special offer just for Curiosity Daily listeners: Please visit mova-globes-dot-com-slash-curiosity and use coupon code CURIOSITY, that’s C-U-R-I-O-S-I-T-Y, for 15 percent off your purchase.
ASHLEY: That’s right: 15 percent off! One more time, that’s Mova-globes-dot-com-slash-curiosity, code CURIOSITY.
Steven Strogatz 3 - Can calculus solve quantum physics? [2:08] 11/18 (Cody)
Maybe calculus can help us understand quantum mechanics. I mean, why not? You’ve heard us doing a little Monday Math refresher on this podcast over the past couple weeks. And popular mathematics writer and Cornell University professor Steven Strogatz has made a pretty solid case for why calculus is so important and what it can help us do. Well earlier this year, he published a book titled “Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe.” And I can’t think of a lot of things more “secret” than the secrets of the quantum world. Here’s our quantum conversation with Steven.
[CLIP 2:08]
Okay, so calculus may not have ALL the answers. But until we figure out quantum gravity, it’ll probably be pretty helpful when it comes to solving the mysteries of the quantum world. Feel free to dive even deeper in Steven Strogatz’s newest book, “Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe.” You can find a link to pick it up in today’s show notes, and next week you’ll hear from Steven one more time to wrap up our Monday Math mini-series.
CODY: Okay, so what got us excited about today’s episode?
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s first story was written by Linda Lombardi, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity.com.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Kelsey Donk. This podcast 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!