Learn about how human goals fall into 4 categories; why NASA’s Planetary Protection Independent Review Board (PPRIB) says we don’t need to be so careful about infecting other worlds; and whether cell phone radiation is actually dangerous. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why a NASA panel says we don’t need to be so careful about infecting other worlds: https://curiosity.im/2K3gzJg Additional sources discussed: Psychologists analyze language to categorize human goals | EurekaAlert! — https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-10/uow-pal102919.php Lexical Derivation of the PINT Taxonomy of Goals: Prominence, Inclusiveness, Negativity Prevention, and Tradition | The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College — https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=psyfac Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) for Cellular Telephones | Federal Communications Commission — https://www.fcc.gov/general/specific-absorption-rate-sar-cellular-telephones The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation | Forbes — https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/02/the-truth-about-cell-phone-radiation/#4a98baa192a3 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 human goals fall into 4 categories; why NASA’s Planetary Protection Independent Review Board (PPRIB) says we don’t need to be so careful about infecting other worlds; and whether cell phone radiation is actually dangerous.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why a NASA panel says we don’t need to be so careful about infecting other worlds: https://curiosity.im/2K3gzJg
Additional 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/cell-phone-radiation-why-its-ok-to-contaminate-other-worlds-and-types-of-human-goals
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 human goals fall into 1 of 4 categories; and, why a NASA panel says we don’t need to be so careful about infecting other worlds. We’ll also answer a listener question about the intensity of cell phone radiation.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Kelsey Donk script - human goals fall into 1 of 4 categories https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JDQQx5VnBOTBy6MWRosNrA2oEuJpQ5Q0T00imH1_zU0/edit?ts=5dc07587 (Ashley)
Psychology researchers suggest that every human goal falls into one of four categories. And having a clean set of categories like that could solve a long-standing issue in psychological research.
I mean, think about it: psychology boils down to the study of human behavior, and what motivates that behavior. So knowing what people want is kind of the first step, right? But it turns out that the research into human goals is all over the place. Psychologists can’t really decide on a universal set of factors that motivate our behavior.
So, to figure it out once and for all, a team of researchers analyzed all the goal-related words in English, then asked people which ones were most important to them. That way, they could boil all of those goals down and hopefully end up with distinct, universal categories of human goals.
The researchers started with a list of more than 140,000 nouns and whittled those down to the thousand or so that seemed related to human goals. The list was pretty wide-reaching. It included words like power, sexiness, holiness, rejection, hunger, and obligation — definitely things people either want or want to avoid. Then, the researchers conducted seven studies asking people which words represented a goal of theirs. In the end, they determined that all of the goals could be sorted into four broad categories.
The first of those categories is "prominence," which includes things like power-seeking and money-making. Next is “inclusiveness," or the goal to open-mindedly accept people of all types. "Negativity prevention" goals are ones that usually involve avoiding something bad. When you have a goal of avoiding conflict, disagreement, or isolation, that’s a “negativity prevention” goal. The final category is “tradition," or goals to keep institutions going — things like religion, family, and other cultural values.
When the researchers looked at that list, they noticed just how social our goals are. Every single category includes a need to belong or relate to other people. What people want could be pretty simple after all: to belong and to be loved.
--
Summary: When you boil down psychological science to its essence, you get four words: "What do people want?" Yet a conclusive answer to this has been pretty hard to come by. To try and figure it out, a team of researchers conducted an exhaustive study of goal-related words used by English speakers. Based upon that analysis, they say human goals can be broadly categorized in terms of four goals: "prominence," "inclusiveness," "negativity prevention," and "tradition."
A NASA Panel Says We Don't Need to Be So Careful About Infecting Other Worlds — https://curiosity.im/2K3gzJg (Republish) (Cody)
A NASA panel says we don’t have to be so careful about infecting other worlds. This is new! Because back in the day, at the start of the space age, scientists were pretty worried about how we might accidentally pollute other worlds with Earthly microbes. Rules like these are handled by the Planetary Protection Office, or the PPO. And Planetary Protection Independent Review Board came up with this new report. Here’s the thing: you know that when we send a spacecraft to the Moon or Mars, there’s a risk of bringing along microbes from Earth. And the only way to make sure our search for life remains pure and uncontaminated, we have to go to a lot of trouble to sterilize spacecraft, putting them in sterile clean rooms or in huge ovens like we did in the 1970s. In fact, there have been instances where Martian rovers found interesting features that could indicate life, but the PPO didn’t allow any drilling in case of infecting those features. Plus, obviously, spacecraft coming back should also be cleaned up to avoid, say, Martian microbes invating Earth. But here’s the thing: material from Mars has already been carried to Earth in WAY bigger quantities than we could ever do with contamination from rockets. That’s because there’s been a natural flow of Martian material to Earth over billions of years, as meteors hit Mars and send debris into space. Guess where some of that debris has landed? That’s right: your backyard. Maybe even literally. Which is why the overall risk of contamination is being reviewed. The review board isn’t saying we should remove all precautions, of course; one of their recommendations is to build a special facility called the Mars Sample Return Facility, to receive Martian samples and to reassure people that appropriate precautions are being taken. But when it comes to places we haven’t explored, like Europa or Enceladus? The new report says that any life there will probably be so different from Earth life that we probably won’t get the two confused. Now that NASA has received the report from the board, they’re planning on coming up with new protocols. It’s probable that the surface of Mars and the Moon will be divided into zones. Some of those zones will be considered more important in the search for life, so they’ll have stricter guidelines put into place, while other zones will be less restrictive. Meanwhile, construction of the Mars Sample Return Facility will be a uniquely high-profile mission. So don’t be surprised if you hear the name come up again in the future on Curiosity Daily.
[MOVA GLOBES]
ASHLEY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Mova Globes: rotating globes powered by light.
CODY: Mova Globes rotate on their own using ambient light, with hidden magnets that provide movement. The globes use a technology is the first of its kind, so you don’t have to deal with any batteries or messy cords.
ASHLEY: There are 40 different designs of Mova Globes, including world maps, famous works of art, and outer space. Mova Globes worked directly with JPL on their design for the Vesta Asteroid globe, and they used images from NASA for their Mars design.
CODY: Their outer space collection features planets, moons, asteroids, and even constellation designs. And the best part is, you can put Mova Globes of these interstellar objects in your home without having to worry about infecting them!
ASHLEY: No matter which design you choose, Mova Globes are the perfect decor for a conversation starter — not to mention 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.
CODY: That’s right: 15 percent off! One more time, that’s Mova-globes-dot-com-slash-curiosity, code CURIOSITY.
LISTENER QUESTION — Cell Phone Radiation (Ashley)
ASHLEY: We got a listener question from Upesh, who writes, "I have a question about radiation. The radiation value as per SAR for cell phones is a maximum of 1.6 watts per kilogram. For a single cell phone, that's a small amount of radiation. But what if more than 10,000 people gathered in a stadium and they all have cell phones. What would the radiation intensity be then?" Great question, Upesh!
The SAR that Upesh is referring to is the Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the amount of electromagnetic radiation your body absorbs when using a cell phone. 1.6 grams per kilogram is what the US government decided is the safe exposure limit for the kind of radiation that comes from a cell phone. Now, radiation might sound scary, but it's important to understand what kind of radiation we're talking about. The electromagnetic spectrum is divvied up into two parts, based on whether the particular waves can be harmful in small doses. Ionizing radiation has enough energy in one photon to strip atoms of their electrons, and includes gamma rays, x-rays, and UV rays. Non-ionizing radiation is everything else, including radio waves, which is the form that comes out of cell phones. It's not strong enough to affect the structure of atoms, but it can make them vibrate, which heats them up. Visible light is non-ionizing, but bump up the intensity by putting it in a laser, and it can burn a hole right through you.
The intensity of the radiation you get from a cell phone depends on a few different things, including your overall mass and how far away the cell phone is. That last piece is important because of the inverse square law, which says that the intensity of something like radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source — so, say, if you move two meters away from a cell phone, you cut its radiation intensity to a quarter of what it was. But let's say you weigh 80 kilograms, or about 175 pounds, and you're standing on the pitcher's mound in the middle of a baseball stadium with 10,000 people with cell phones standing in a perfect circle around you. In order for the amount of radiation to exceed the safe absorption rate, those 10,000 people would have to be standing on the pitcher's mound with you. Any further away, and you're totally safe. So feel free to take your cell phone out to the ball game! The radiation exposure will be totally harmless.
Sources: https://www.fcc.gov/general/specific-absorption-rate-sar-cellular-telephones
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/02/02/the-truth-about-cell-phone-radiation/#4a98baa192a3