Learn about how children led their own research project into what they really think of adults, how painting eyes on cow butts could help solve a wildlife conservation problem, and whether it’s a good idea to rinse out your recycling.
Learn about how children led their own research project into what they really think of adults, how painting eyes on cow butts could help solve a wildlife conservation problem, and whether it’s a good idea to rinse out your recycling.
Children led a research project into what they really think of adults by Kelsey Donk
Painting eyes on cow butts may help solve a key wildlife conservation problem by Cameron Duke
Is it wasteful to rinse out recycling? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Lydia)
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/children-led-a-research-project-painting-eyes-on-cow-butts-and-whether-to-rinse-your-recycling
[MUSIC PLAYING] ASHLEY HAMER: Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from @curiositydotcom. I'm Ashley Hamer.
NATALIA REAGAN: And I'm Natalia Reagan. Today, you'll learn how children led their own research project into what they really think of adults, how painting eyes on cows butts could help solve a wildlife conservation problem, and whether it's a good idea to rinse your recycling before you throw it out.
ASHLEY HAMER: Let's satisfy some curiosity. Grownups don't always get it right. That's for sure. And never more obvious than right now. So two years ago, some grown-up researchers decided to let the kids have their say. That's how a group of children in England ended up leading a research project into what they really think of adults.
Now, we have the results of that research. And it really proves that adults don't know everything. The grown-up team gathered up a group of nine children who knew each other, gave them clipboards, pens, voice recorders, drinks and snacks, and started by having them explain what they thought about the words grown-ups don't always get it right after that the children were in charge.
They came up with five interview questions for each other, things like, what have adults done to make you feel happy or upset? And is there anything you think adults get wrong? The interviews were pretty revealing. A child named Ben said, adults just need to realize they might have forgotten. A child named Eve said, they say they were once a child, too, but because we're different, I think we should be able to have our own opinions sometimes.
The children explain that their own childhood felt pretty different from that of their parents. And that just because their parents were children once doesn't mean they understand what it means to be a child in 2020. Adults tend to complain about how much their children love social media. But the kids point out, adults were the ones who invented social media. They're the ones who gave social media to children. And they're the ones who taught children to use it every day. That was pretty frustrating to the kids.
They also said how much it mattered to them that adults recognize their hard work. They feel pressured to be perfect and feel frustrated when they don't have a chance to show what they've learned at home or at school. All in all, the researchers came away with an understanding that today's children are under a huge amount of pressure. And they know it. If us, grown-ups, listen to the children in our lives and recognize that their experiences of childhood are different than ours were, we may end up building better relationships with them.
Children are perceptive. And the big takeaway of this experiment is that when we ask them what they think, it goes a long way.
NATALIA REAGAN: In rural Botswana, there's an ongoing feud between farmers and wildlife. Lions and other large cats keep killing cattle. And farmers will often kill the cats in retaliation. This is no good for anybody. Recently, researchers from the University of New South Wales came up with a creative way to solve the problem. They painted eyes on the cows butts. Stay with me here.
The idea is actually pretty clever. It's rooted in evolution. See, many prey animals avoid predators by using elaborate camouflage, think of stick insects or chameleons. Look, you can't see me, I'm a tree now. But camouflage doesn't work for everybody. That's especially true if a species hangs out in a lot of different environments. So instead, these animals evolve markings that look a lot like eyes. You can see them on all sorts of animals from butterflies to lizards, to birds, to fish.
These eye-like markings can trick predators into thinking, they've been spotted. That's an obstacle for big cats like lions since they're ambush predators. This means they use the element of surprise to make their kills. If the prey spots them first, they often abandon the hunt. That gave the researchers an idea.
They headed to Botswana's Okavango Delta, where an abundance of native wildlife leads to frequent run-ins between predators and livestock. The researchers began by dividing cows randomly into three groups. One group had a pair of glaring eyes painted on their rumps. This made each cow's tail look like a skinny elephant's trunk. The second group received black X markings, like the eyes of a dead cartoon character. And the third group was left unmarked.
The team collected data on 2,000 cows over four years. In the end, pun intended, none of the 683 cows that had eyes on their butts were killed by lions. The other two groups weren't so lucky. The researchers concluded that fake eye spots may work as a simple deterrent for predators. It's a quick cheap fix that can save the lives of both cows and wildlife. Who would have thought that the key to wildlife conservation could be painting eyes on cows' butts? I think it's pretty brilliant myself honestly. [LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: We got a question from Lydia, who asks, I've always wondered whether it's better for the environment to rinse out plastic food containers so they can be recycled or save the water and trash it instead. Certainly, some things are easy to rinse, but what about jars of peanut butter and the like? Great question, Lydia. First off, in almost every single case you can imagine, it's better to rinse and recycle a container than to save water and trash it.
In 2018, environmental scientist Jason Goodman crunched the numbers for Lifehacker and found that even if you rinse with an entire containers worth of hot water, it only uses up 2% to 8% of the energy you're saving by recycling. So rest easy, rinsing your containers isn't wasting the good deed you're doing by recycling.
But as it turns out, you don't have to rinse your containers to be all squeaky clean before putting them in the bin. I always thought that any food residue at all would mean that a container was too contaminated to recycle. I've even been known to put my peanut butter containers in the dishwasher just because the leftover oils never came off otherwise. Check out the August 21 listener question for why that is.
But that's not the case, the recycling process is designed to handle food residue. Plastic and glass containers are usually flushed out with water at some point. And anything left in metal cans is burned off when the containers are melted down. But a quick rinse is still a good idea, especially if your local recycling program has put all types of recyclables in one bin. That's because paper is the exception to the rule. It can't be recycled if it's contaminated with food residue. So if the sludge from your jar of spaghetti sauce leaks onto your newspaper or cardboard, it's done for.
And this might go without saying, but you definitely don't want to toss a half full food container in the recycling bin. That's because it can take a month or more for a container to even start the recycling process. And by then, that old mayonnaise or yogurt will have gone rancid and attracted rats and insects. Plus, there are human beings who work at recycling centers. How would you like to smell rotten food all day?
Recycling can be confusing. And many different cities do it many different ways. So when in doubt, check the website of your local recycling program. It'll tell you exactly what to do to get your recyclables recycled. Thanks for your question, Lydia. If you have a question, send it in to podcast@curiositydotcom or leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208.
NATALIA REAGAN: Before we recap what we learned today, here's a sneak peek at what you'll hear next week on Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Next week, you'll learn about how animals can sense earthquakes before they happen, why scientists renamed human genes because of Microsoft Excel, what happens to your brain on puns, how bad dogs helped human evolution, why multitasking might make you keep snacking even when you're full, and more. OK, so now, let's recap what we learned today.
NATALIA REAGAN: We learned that kids are capable of coming up with their own research study that reveals that they're under a lot of pressure from adults, and they wish adults would just recognize this and some of their other shortcomings. So maybe we ought to talk to kids more. It reminds me of that commercial in the '90s, where I learned it from watching you, Dad. When your dad walks in on the kid, god knows, doing some sort of illicit substance, and it's like, yeah, they learned social media from us. And yet we're mad at them.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. Do what I say, not as I do. And we also learned that one way to keep big cats from attacking cattle is to paint eyes on their bovine booties, their cow keisters, their heifer hineys, their ungulate uncha uncha uncha.
[LAUGHTER]
That's my favorite. That's because big cats like to ambush their prey. And when they see eyes on these cow butts, they think that the cow butts have seen them. And they'll back off.
NATALIA REAGAN: Ashley, this. Is a project I can get behind. I'm rearing and ready to go to paint some eyes on some cow butts. I just like, whoever's putting that ad in that paper, wanted cow butt painter.
ASHLEY HAMER: What kind of major do you need for that?
NATALIA REAGAN: Art school can really pay off. We also learned that you don't have to completely clean your recyclable items, but it's nice to do a quick rinse to make sure you don't soil your paper recyclables. And it's kind of a courtesy to not leave a lot of stinky food in these containers. You don't want to do that.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. But in the end, that quick rinse doesn't use more energy than you're saving by recycling. So go ahead and do it.
NATALIA REAGAN: Well, today's stories were Mitten. Aye Ashley Hamer, Cameron Duke, and Kelsey Donk, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who's the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Scriptwriting and editing by Natalia Reagan, our producer is Cody Gough.
NATALIA REAGAN: Have a great weekend. Be sure to paint some eyes on some cow keisters and join us again on Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY HAMER: And until then, stay curious.
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