Learn about a controversial theory that says our universe is one of many previous universes; why we call computer glitches “bugs”; and the largest study ever showing how much exercise you need to boost your mental health. We’ll also answer the question: is yawning contagious? 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: This Controversial Theory Says Our Universe Is Just One of Many Previous Universes Why Do We Call Computer Glitches "Bugs"? A Huge Study Shows Just How Much Exercise You Need to Boost Your Mental Health Additional resources discussed: How Yawning Keeps Your Brain Cool | Curiosity.com Contagious yawning and psychopathy | ScienceDirect Do You Yawn When Other People Yawn? Congratulations, You're Probably Not A Psychopath | Curiosity.com Contagious Yawning May Not Be Linked to Empathy; Still Largely Unexplained Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! Learn about these topics and more onCuriosity.com, and download our5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable ourAlexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Learn about a controversial theory that says our universe is one of many previous universes; why we call computer glitches “bugs”; and the largest study ever showing how much exercise you need to boost your mental health. We’ll also answer the question: is yawning contagious?
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:
Additional resources discussed:
Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron!
Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/contagious-yawning-conformal-cyclic-cosmology-exercising-for-mental-health-and-why-glitches-are-bugs
[MUSIC PLAYING] CODY GOUGH: Hi. We've got three stories from curiositydotcom plus the answer to a question from a curious listener like you to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn about a controversial theory that says our universe is one of many previous universes, why we call computer glitches bugs, and the largest study ever showing how much exercise you need to boost your mental health. We'll also answer the question, is yawning contagious?
CODY GOUGH: Oh. Let's satisfy some curiosity.
ASHLEY HAMER: There's a theory that our universe is just the latest of many universes. It comes from Roger Penrose-- a legendary physicist who's worked with Stephen Hawking. So he's kind of a big deal. And fans of the theory say they can prove it. So today, let's talk about the universe.
CODY GOUGH: We like to start small here on the Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Just ease into it with the entire existence of everything.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. Why not?
ASHLEY HAMER: So Roger Penrose does not subscribe to the Big Bang Theory. Instead, he champions what's called conformal cyclic cosmology or CCC. This theory says that our Big Bang was not the first bang and it won't be the last. The idea is that there's a Big Bang, then cosmic structures form, and finally, everything cools down. Eventually, all the stars die and only black holes are left, until they evaporate and leave behind nothing but disparate particles.
Here's the kicker. At that point, our universe is indistinguishable from a singularity and another universe emerges from it in its own Big Bang. Now, to figure out what happened in the early days of our universe when it was just a dense plasma soup buzzing with subatomic particles, cosmologists look at the leftover radiation from that time period. It still exists in what's known as the cosmic microwave background or CMB. It's kind of like our universe baby picture.
The CCC theory says that the final dissolving black holes in a past universe would leave their marks, known as Hawking points, on the CMB. And we just need to look for them. And in a yet to be peer-reviewed paper, Penrose says he's found them. He and his colleagues made the discovery by creating a model CMB with Hawking points and comparing that to actual CMB data.
The trouble is that finding patterns in the CMB is like finding patterns in clouds. If you look long enough, you can find all sorts of things. Stephen Hawking even found his initials once. And critics say Penrose should have found tens of thousands of Hawking points, but he only found about 20. Still, who knows what will happen once the peers have reviewed the paper? In any way, universe theories are fun to think about.
CODY GOUGH: Have you ever wondered why we call computer glitches bugs? Well, today, we've got the answer.
ASHLEY HAMER: This is about one of my favorite female scientists.
CODY GOUGH: Is her really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: The story behind the bug comes from this woman Grace Hopper. She was the first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics from Yale, she helped create the first compiler for computer languages, and she was the first woman to receive the National Medal of Technology. There's also an annual Grace Hopper celebration of women in programming, so she's kind of a big deal.
Anyway, the urban legend is that in 1943, Hopper found a moth stuck inside a computer while she was working for the US Navy. According to the Navy's website, this was the first use of the term bug in the computer context. A few of the story's details are disputed like the exact model of computer she was working on and the exact year that this happened, but for the most part, the story is accurate.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cody, do you know what day she found the moth on?
CODY GOUGH: What day?
ASHLEY HAMER: She wrote it in her notebook. September 9. The day this podcast comes out. Whoa.
CODY GOUGH: Wow. Exact date notwithstanding. There is a discrepancy that comes from whether this actually was the first use of the term, "bug." According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the bug nickname first appeared in 1889 in a newspaper description of Thomas Edison. He had also used the term in his private journals as far back as 1876. He imagined a little scapegoat bugs trapped in his glitchy machines like the phonograph. He compared them to literal bug infestations noting in a letter that technological bugs would show up after a long time not noticing them.
Kind of how you don't notice roaches when you look at a potential new apartment, but you sure do find them once you've moved in. So why does Grace Hopper get so much credit for the term? Smithsonian's Peggy Aldrich Kidwell told The New York Times quote, "Dr. Hopper told a good story." Unquote. Like that time I made fetch happen. Remember that, Ashley?
ASHLEY HAMER: Sure, Cody. Researchers from Yale and Oxford just published the biggest ever study of the link between exercise and mental health. They used a data sample of 1.2 million Americans-- all ages 18 or older. So let's talk about what it said.
CODY GOUGH: One of the coolest lessons I've learned at Curiosity is the mind-body dichotomy is false.
ASHLEY HAMER: Absolutely.
CODY GOUGH: The brain and the body are a lot more connected and interdependent than just like, oh, this is mental or this is physical.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. Totally. They're just-- I mean, your brain's in your body.
CODY GOUGH: It sure is.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's all part of the same system. And related to that, studies have shown that exercise is good for your mental health. The flood of endorphins you get from physical activity has been shown to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression and even stop them from happening in the first place.
But there's a difference between walking the dog for exercise and competing in Ironman triathlons for exercise. How much exercise do you really need for a brain boost? For this study, which was published in The Lancet Psychiatry, researchers looked at three years of data from the CDC and prevention behavioral risk factor surveillance. The data included people's answers to questions about their mental health history, well-being, and exercise habits.
And for exercise, people could choose from 75 different types. From sports like basketball, to yoga, to snow shoveling by hand. The conclusion was that people who exercised had 40% better mental health than people who didn't exercise. That's even after controlling for BMI, physical health and sociodemographic factors like age and race.
The biggest mood boosters were team sports. Followed by cycling, aerobics, and running. Household chores were near the bottom, which makes sense. But they were still associated with a roughly 10% reduction in quote, "mental health burden." That's the researchers term for the number of bad mental health days a person had had in the past month.
According to the researchers, you'll get the most bang for your buck if you exercise for about 30 to 60 minutes three to five times a week. That's a total of two to six hours a week. That'll get you peak benefits. Any more or less and you still benefit. It's just not optimal. You can read more about the full results of the study in our write up on curiositydotcom and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. And you might want to consider reading it on a treadmill or a stationary bike. Your brain will thank you.
CODY GOUGH: Today's episode is sponsored by PBS.
ASHLEY HAMER: Do you love a good book? Have a favorite novel? Catcher in the Rye, 1984, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Gone with the Wind, The Color Purple. So many classic and beloved stories. It's hard to pick just one. But PBS needs your help doing just that.
CODY GOUGH: PBS has a list of America's 100 best loved novels and they need you to help pick number 1. The Great American Read returns Tuesday this fall at 8:00/7:00 Central starting September 11 on your PBS station.
Host Meredith Vieira talks to some of your favorite authors, celebrities, and athletes about the subjects and stories found in our favorite books. They'll explore the many ways these novels affect, reflect, and connect us all.
ASHLEY HAMER: Go to pbs.org to see the entire list. Vote for your favorites and share with your friends. It all leads up to the grand finale on Tuesday, October 23 when all the votes are counted and America's favorite novel is announced. Celebrate reading books and imagination. Join the conversation at #GreatReadPBS. The Great American Read returns Tuesdays this fall at 8:00/7:00 Central starting September 11 on your local PBS station.
CODY GOUGH: We got a question from a curious listener like you on Twitter. Stargate Pioneer asked, "Is yawning contagious?" Great question. The short answer is, yes. But why is that? There are actually a lot of different viewpoints on this. Why are we on in the first place? Well, some scientists believe we developed yawning as a way of cooling our brains.
Now, contagious yawning begins in children aged four to five, which is also when empathetic behavior begins. That's partially why some think empathy is the reason why yawning is contagious among humans and animals, by the way. That's supported by a 2015 study out of Baylor University that says psychopaths who have trouble with empathy are less likely to catch a contagious yawn.
But recent research from the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation found that contagious yawning may decrease with age and is not strongly related to empathy or even to the elements you might expect like tiredness and energy levels. But Duke Health News reported, quote, "Contagious yawning is a well documented phenomenon that occurs only in humans and chimpanzees in response to hearing, seeing, or thinking about yawning." Unquote.
So again, yawning is definitely contagious but the jury is still out on precisely why. We hope that answers your question Stargate Pioneer. Science does not always have a definitive answer, but we hope it was at least a satisfying one.
ASHLEY HAMER: We're producing a brand new full length Curiosity podcast episodes where we interview experts. They're exclusive for our Patreon supporters. We've already posted an interview with Dr. Michael Greger, founder of nutritionfacts.org and we're working on interviews with Author Vince Beiser, Science Communicator Dr. Natalia Regan, and a follow up interview with Dr. Louis Rosenberg-- CEO of Unanimous AI. For more info, visit Patreondotcom/curiositydotcom, all spelled out.
CODY GOUGH: That's Patreondotcom/curiositydotcom or find the link in today's show notes. We're also collecting your feedback on our show with a listener survey which you can find in today's show notes and on our podcast page on our website and on Patreon and in a previous universe or a future one. Either way, if you fill it out, then you can enter to win a Curiosity T-shirt.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.