Learn about how cognitive flexibility helps you learn; why dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded; and noctilucent clouds. A high IQ might mean you're smart, but high "cognitive flexibility" means you can learn by Grant Currin Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, Christelle Langley, & Leong, V. (2021, June 23). IQ tests can’t measure it, but “cognitive flexibility” is key to learning and creativity. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/iq-tests-cant-measure-it-but-cognitive-flexibility-is-key-to-learning-and-creativity-163284 3 Ways to Improve Your Cognitive Flexibility. (2019). Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wild-connections/201912/3-ways-improve-your-cognitive-flexibility Dajani, D. R., & Uddin, L. Q. (2015). Demystifying cognitive flexibility: Implications for clinical and developmental neuroscience. Trends in Neurosciences, 38(9), 571–578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2015.07.003 At least 7 species of dinosaur lived and nested in the Arctic, which suggests the existence of warm-blooded dinosaurs by Cameron Duke Druckenmiller, P. S., Erickson, G. M., Brinkman, D., Brown, C. M., & Eberle, J. J. (2021). Nesting at extreme polar latitudes by non-avian dinosaurs. Current Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.05.041 Multiple dinosaur species not only lived in the Arctic, they also nested there. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/cp-mds061721.php Rare, glowing noctilucent clouds are appearing more frequently by Briana Brownell Q13 FOX. (2021, June 17). Night shining “noctilucent” clouds make mesmerizing appearance over Seattle. Q13 FOX; Q13 FOX. https://www.q13fox.com/weather/night-shining-noctilucent-clouds-make-mesmerizing-appearance-over-seattle Mortillaro, N. (2021, June 19). Keep an eye out for rare electric-blue noctilucent clouds in the northern sky. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/noctilucent-clouds-northern-sky-1.6069959 Rare glowing cloud phenomenon captured in timelapse ok UK’s night sky. (2021, June 17). Msn.com. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/rare-glowing-cloud-phenomenon-captured-in-timelapse-ok-uks-night-sky/vi-AAL8F2Q Spaceweather.com Time Machine. (2021). Spaceweather.com. https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=17&month=06&year=2021 Umair Irfan. (2021, May 19). Why eerie, glowing noctilucent clouds are showing up more often. Vox; Vox. https://www.vox.com/22420935/glowing-cloud-noctilucent-mystery-unexplainable-podcast-climate Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about how cognitive flexibility helps you learn; why dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded; and noctilucent clouds.
A high IQ might mean you're smart, but high "cognitive flexibility" means you can learn by Grant Currin
At least 7 species of dinosaur lived and nested in the Arctic, which suggests the existence of warm-blooded dinosaurs by Cameron Duke
Rare, glowing noctilucent clouds are appearing more frequently by Briana Brownell
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/cognitive-flexibility-arctic-dinosaurs-noctilucent-clouds
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why “cognitive flexibility” can help you roll with the punches; dinosaurs that lived and nested in the cold of the Arctic; and why rare, glowing noctilucent clouds are appearing more often these days.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The pandemic affected people’s lives in a lot of different ways, but at least one thing is true for everyone: things changed. But it turns out that humans have a special skill that helps us adapt to new circumstances. It’s called cognitive flexibility, and researchers have recently made some progress in understanding what it is and how to get better at it.
Cognitive flexibility is what lets a person change what they’re doing to fit a new situation. The covid-19 lockdowns required heaps of cognitive flexibility, but it’s a big factor in everyday life, too. You need it for some extremely common challenges, from changing from one task to another to dealing with something unexpected in your day.
Psychologists still have a lot of questions about just what the skill is, but they’ve figured out that it’s made up of specific abilities. Those include things like identifying relevant details, controlling your attention, and using your working memory.
But here’s the thing: some people are better at it than others. That matters because people with greater cognitive flexibility tend to have, well, better lives — in a lot of ways. They’re better readers during childhood. They’re more resilient to stress and more creative as adults. And in old age, they have a higher quality of life.
The good news is that it’s possible to improve cognitive flexibility. One way is to do a familiar task in a different way. Simply taking an alternative route home might do the trick. Meeting new people and trying new things are also thought to help. There’s solid evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy can improve this skill by giving people tools to think about situations differently. There are also special therapies available for people with conditions that inhibit cognitive flexibility, like autism.
Psychologists still have a lot to learn about cognitive flexibility, including details about how it works in the brain. But even without that knowledge, it’s an important topic because it plays a key role in a person’s success in life — and in a society’s ability to confront challenges. So step off that pedestal, IQ, and make room for a psychological skill that underlies creatively, curiosity, and empathy. Welcome, cognitive flexibility.
When imagining a dinosaur, many people tend to place them in warm locations: maybe lush, green forests or rocky deserts. But paleontologists have known for a long time that some intrepid dinos made their way as far north as the Arctic Circle. Now we know they weren’t just visitors. At least seven species likely lived and nested in the Arctic year-round.
Researchers from the University of Alaska Museum of the North have been making treks into the Arctic to search for fossils for over a decade. Their target? The Prince Creek Fossil site, a spot in a remote part of northern Alaska that’s only accessible first by airplane and then by rafting down an Arctic river. It’s the farthest north that dinosaur fossils have ever been discovered, and because of that, it’s a very important dig site.
While sifting through soil collected at the dig site, researchers made a fascinating discovery. They found the teeth of at least seven different dinosaur species. But these weren’t just any teeth — they were the dinosaur equivalent of baby teeth. Each one was just one to two millimeters across, smaller than a grain of rice. The teensy teeth came from dinosaurs that died either before or right after hatching. This is the first evidence that dinosaurs were nesting in the Arctic Circle 70 million years ago.
This is a big deal because even though paleontologists knew that dinosaurs were that far north, they had assumed that those dinosaurs must have migrated there instead of living there permanently. But that assumption has always been a little problematic. The researchers suggest that if dinosaurs did migrate, they would be looking at a roughly 1,800 mile or 3,000 kilometer round trip.
The fact that dinosaurs were nesting in the far north rules out the possibility of migration. That’s because if dinosaurs laid their eggs when vegetation first appeared in spring, their eggs would have hatched as winter approached — not a great survival strategy for vulnerable young. It also suggests that these species were warm blooded, and that they could survive, if not thrive, in the dark winter of the far north.
That leaves just one question: If there were arctic dinos, I wonder if there were also Arctic Monkeys?
This past June, folks in North America and Europe were treated to a rare sight: a bright blue glow in the nighttime sky thanks to what are called noctilucent clouds. These unusual clouds are only getting more common, and you might be able to see one for yourself soon.
Noctilucent clouds are wispy, glowing clouds that can only be seen after sunset or before sunrise. They peak in June and July in the Northern Hemisphere, and have even been seen as early as May and as late as August.
Scientists are still studying what causes noctilucent clouds to form. The leading theory comes down to dust from meteorites. That’s why we’ve seen so many recently: this summer, scientists have observed lots of meteorite dust making its way from the Arctic Circle down farther south.
When meteorites hit our atmosphere, they usually break up into a fine dust. This dust collects right at the very edge of our atmosphere, around 50 miles or 80 kilometers up, where the temperature is minus 180 degrees Fahrenheit or 120 degrees Celsius.
Water vapor forms tiny ice crystals on these fine particles. Normally when sunlight shines through them, they’re invisible. But a special thing happens about an hour after the sun sets. The sun’s rays reflect off the fine crystals and make them glow. The spectacular color comes from the interaction of the light with the ozone layer. As light passes through the ozone layer, the red light is mostly filtered out, which turns these clouds a brilliant blue.
But the number of noctilucent cloud sightings have been increasing, and it seems like our changing climate is playing a role. Scientists have hypothesized that the increasing amount of methane in our atmosphere could be leading to more water vapor at the highest parts of our atmosphere. And, although sightings used to be mostly in the far north, they’ve recently been seen as far south as Spain and Texas.
Want to catch a glimpse? Here’s how to see them. Noctilucent clouds typically appear 30 to 60 minutes after the sun sets or before the sun rises. Stand facing the position where the sun has set or will rise. They are more common near the horizon, so try to get an unobstructed view — but if you can’t, don’t sweat it; they can sometimes be seen higher up. The clouds will look like thin wispy threads, and will glow bright blue. You might even see silhouettes of other clouds in front of them. Happy cloudhunting!
Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up. Starting with
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ASHLEY: Today’s writers were Grant Currin, Cameron Duke, and Briana Brownell.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer
ASHLEY: Our producer and audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!