Learn about how replacing salt with MSG can actually help you cut back on sodium; the Hawking index, a mathematical measure of when people give up on books; and why giving too much advice might mean that you crave power. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about the Hawking Index, a mathematical measure of when people give up on books: https://curiosity.im/33dFRLB Additional sources: Study finds glutamates such as MSG can help reduce Americans' sodium intake | EurekaAlert! — https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/epr-sfg110719.php Current Sodium Intakes in the United States and the Modeled Effects of Glutamate Incorporation into Select Savory Products | MDPI — https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/11/2691 After-Dinner Headache? MSG Is Probably Not To Blame. | Curiosity.com — https://curiosity.com/topics/after-dinner-headache-msg-is-probably-not-to-blame-curiosity Why Power Seekers Give Advice | INSEAD Knolwedge — https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/why-power-seekers-give-advice-9626 Advice giving: A subtle pathway to power | Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University — https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6779&context=lkcsb_research Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing! Just click or tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about how replacing salt with MSG can actually help you cut back on sodium; the Hawking index, a mathematical measure of when people give up on books; and why giving too much advice might mean that you crave power.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about the Hawking Index, a mathematical measure of when people give up on books: https://curiosity.im/33dFRLB
Additional sources:
Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing! Just click or tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/cutting-sodium-by-adding-msg-measuring-when-people-give-up-on-books-and-how-giving-advice-may-mean-you-crave-power
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 a weird way to cut back on sodium; a mathematical measure of when people give up on books; and why giving too much advice might mean that you crave power.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
One weird way to cut back on sodium: more MSG (need edited / ready to record for Wed. 12/4 session) (Ashley)
For some people, just hearing “MSG” is enough to trigger memories of headaches and upset stomachs. But it turns out that not only is MSG not to blame for your post-Chinese-food blues, but a new study also declares that it’s actually better for you than the alternative — that is, it’s healthier than regular old table salt, and could help us all cut our sodium intake.
MSG stands for monosodium glutamate. It’s a molecule that combines sodium with the amino acid glutamate and lends a savory, or “umami” flavor to food. It’s also been maligned as the cause of so-called “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome,” a cluster of symptoms ranging from numbness to heart palpitations. But the Chinese food was framed! Later studies found that these symptoms happened at roughly the same rate regardless of whether someone was consuming food laced with MSG or a placebo. That makes sense, because glutamate occurs naturally in all sorts of food you don’t associate with illness: parmesan cheese, cured ham, dried tomatoes, walnuts...the list goes on.
Recently, a study published in the journal Nutrients took data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to analyze how much sodium Americans usually eat. Experts say we should consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium every day, but about 90 percent of us consume more than that. High sodium intake can raise your blood pressure and lead to heart disease. That’s the bad news. The good news: MSG can help.
When food scientists usually make "reduced sodium" foods, they do it by simply cutting the salt on its own, which means the food doesn’t usually taste as good. That makes cutting sodium a hard sell for people who, you know, enjoy flavor. Which is pretty much everybody.
Enter the new study. MSG contains two thirds less sodium than table salt, but it also has a delicious umami flavor that can enhance the taste of things like cured meats, frozen meals, soups, and crackers. By substituting some of the sodium in those foods with MSG, the researchers say we could cut sodium intake by 7 to 8 percent. In some foods, MSG could reduce sodium by up to 40 percent.
Turns out, MSG is completely safe, and it can help keep our hearts and bellies happy. That’s good news for everyone.
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Summary: I love how counterintuitive this is. MSG isn't bad for you, as much as people think it is, and it contains two thirds less sodium than table salt. Scientists say we can sub it in for salt in packaged foods without a taste trade-off.
Sources: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/epr-sfg110719.php
Study: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/11/2691
The Hawking Index Is a Mathematical Measure of When People Give Up on Books — https://curiosity.im/33dFRLB (assigned to freelancer; due 12/2) (Cody)
If you don’t think math can be fun or relatable, then check this out: there’s a mathematical measure of when people give up on books. I mean, we’ve all been there: how many times can one person stop halfway through reading "Moby Dick"? Or what about Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time," widely called "the most unread book of all time?" To find out whether you're likely to give up on a book, look no further than the "Hawking Index," a fun, if imprecise, mathematical measure of how far, on average, people get into a given book.
The Hawking Index was invented by mathematician Jordan Ellenberg but before we explain how you can calculate the Hawking Index we must mention one caveat: When Ellenberg first proposed the Index in 2014, everyone could view the five most-highlighted passages on any book's Kindle page. Nowadays you have to buy the book to view popular highlights on a Kindle.
Ellenberg hypothesized that if people read all the way to the end of a book, the highlights will be scattered evenly throughout but if they stop reading after the first chapter, the highlights will stop there too. You just average the page numbers of the book’s top five highlights and divide that average by the number of pages in the book to get a percentage. The higher the percentage, the further people read into the book. The Index's namesake, "A Brief History of Time" scores 6.6 percent on the Index while Donna Tartt's "The Goldfinch," recently made into a movie, scores a whopping 98.5 percent.
Sounds fun right, but of course it’s also pretty flawed. What about people who don't highlight while they read or highlight when they start reading and then stop as they keep going? Or what about people who don't even use Kindles to read?
Ellenberg himself agrees. In his original blog post, he included a disclaimer that said that the Index was not remotely scientific and for entertainment purposes only!
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The more you crave power, the more advice you give (need edited / ready to record for Wed. 12/4 session) (Ashley)
When you think of power-hungry people, you might imagine Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, or Say Yes to the Dress, but maybe you should think of “Dear Abby.” Power-hungry people give more advice than the rest of us, according to new research, and people feel more powerful than usual when they give advice — even when it’s not solicited.
This is actually good news, because it’s kind of important to feel powerful. Sure, absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say, but a long line of studies show that a healthy feeling of power can help people land jobs, negotiate good salaries, and feel optimistic day-to-day. Pretty positive outcomes.
If you’re not a CEO or an expert in your field, though, how do you feel powerful? One science-backed way is by drawing on memories of times you felt powerful, and according to a new study, you can also draw on memories of giving advice. A survey of 300 people suggested that just remembering times they doled out guidance to others boosted people’s sense of power — whether the recipient asked for it or not.
Giving advice in real time has similar effects. In another survey of 188 undergraduates, students reported feeling 10 percent more powerful when they gave advice. However, that high was short-lived unless their advice was actually taken. Maybe you’re noticing the same thing the researchers did: the desire for power and the desire to influence people are closely linked.
Need more evidence? A different experiment in the same paper found that people who want power give more advice. For that experiment, 124 MBA students took part in a paired negotiating activity. The ones with the greatest interest in professional networking — a.k.a. the strongest desire for power — gave their peers the most advice afterward. In other words, giving advice might serve the person who gives it more than the receiver, who’ll likely ignore it anyway. Maybe instead of asking for advice, we should start asking if we can give it.
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- **Summary:** This is better than it sounds: feelings of power can make you more optimistic, not to mention lead to better success in your career. So finding a sure-fire way to make people feel powerful is a good idea, which is why researchers performed this study. They found that providing advice in response to a problem another individual is facing activates our sense of power by making us feel influential — and that people who desire power are more likely to offer advice than others.
Sources: https://knowledge.insead.edu/leadership-organisations/why-power-seekers-give-advice-9626
Study: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6779&context=lkcsb_research
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk and Mae Rice, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity.com.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Curiosity Daily is 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!