Learn how to power your house by destroying the fabric of space-time, with help from xkcd creator Randall Munroe. Then, learn about the surprising reasons why hourglass figures are considered attractive; and, the scientific reason why clowns creep us out. 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: The Evolutionary Reason Hourglass Figures Are Considered Attractive Isn't What You've Heard — https://curiosity.im/2la3Aw0 Here's the Scientific Reason Why Clowns Creep Us Out — https://curiosity.im/2LvbBpH Additional resources from Randall Munroe: “How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems” on Amazon — https://amazon.com xkcd, “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" — xkcd.com “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” — https://amazon.com Randall Munroe: Is It Possible To Change The Moon's Colour? [Video] — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avYPeoU0nI8 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 how to power your house by destroying the fabric of space-time, with help from xkcd creator Randall Munroe. Then, learn about the surprising reasons why hourglass figures are considered attractive; and, the scientific reason why clowns creep us out.
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 from Randall Munroe:
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/destroying-space-time-for-power-w-randall-munroe-hourglass-figure-myths-clown-science
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 one of the most absurd ways you could possibly think of to power your house, with some help from Randall Munroe, the creator of the popular geek webcomic xkcd. You’ll also learn about the surprising reasons why hourglass figures are considered attractive; and, the scientific reason why clowns creep us out.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
xkcd 2 - Powering your house by destroying the fabric of space-time [2:09] (Cody)
CODY: If you had to power your house and you had these 2 options, which would you choose? The first option: solar power. The second option: destroying the fabric of space-time. Wait, what? Yeah so, it turns out that’s an idea explored in a book by Randall Munroe, creator of the amazingly popular geeky webcomic xkcd. In his new book, “How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems” he explores the science behind wildly impractical advice, for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. And here’s Randall on something that definitely got my attention: how to power your house by destroying the fabric of space-time.
[CLIP 2:09]
Hey, we’ve had Katie Mack on our show before! Again, Randall Munroe’s new book is “How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems.” You can find links to that in today’s show notes, and definitely check out xkcd-dot-com. It’s just so good.
The Evolutionary Reason Hourglass Figures Are Considered Attractive Isn't What You've Heard — https://curiosity.im/2la3Aw0 (Ashley)
Have you ever heard that a woman with an “hourglass figure” is more attractive because of evolution? You know: that low waist-to-hip ratio that we’ve seen throughout history, from Venus de Milo to Marilyn Monroe to Nikki Minaj? Well, it turns out that some of the most popular theories as to why this is… are less than reliable. And while it’s true that the quote-unquote “ideal” waist-to-hip ratio has changed very little throughout time, the reason is NOT what you’ve heard. That’s according to Dr. Jeanne Bovet of Stony Brook University, who released a review this year in Frontiers in Psychology. She gathered up all of the evolutionary hypotheses about men's preferences for a particular ratio, and actually drilled into the evidence for them. What she found was surprising. Some of the most popular hypotheses stand on shaky evidence, while some of the best evidence supports some of the least-known theories. If you've ever heard an explanation for why a low waist-to-hip ratio is considered attractive, it probably had something to do with the woman's health or her ability to have healthy children. In fact, the idea that a waist-to-hip ratio is a sign of a woman's health was in a whopping 87 percent of the papers Bovet examined, and the ability to have healthy children was in 54 percent of them. But when it comes to actual evidence, both of these ideas are lacking. The problem with the [air quotes] "HEALTH" hypothesis is that most studies linking health problems with a high waist-to-hip ratio involve older people (who wouldn't be having babies anyway), and people with obesity (which is a modern health issue that wouldn't have affected our ancestors). And when you remove the effects of age or obesity, it's not clear that having a low ratio gives a woman a better shot at healthy offspring. But like I said before, some lesser-known theories are surprisingly convincing. One of them basically says that a lower ratio means the mother will have a smarter kid. That’s because a low ratio is associated with more fat around the hips and less around the stomach — and there's evidence that a woman's body specifically reserves hip fat for pregnancy, when it uses it to nourish the developing fetus. This fat is especially useful for building a healthy brain, as there's some evidence that children of mothers with lower waist-to-hip ratios achieve higher cognitive test scores. There are other theories with good evidence bases, too, like the fact that a low ratio is a sign that a mate is probably female, of child-bearing age, and not currently pregnant. In the end, the reason people find the figures of Kim Kardashian and Jessica Rabbit so pleasing probably comes down to a lot of things, and not all of them they're consciously aware of. Bovet writes that waist-to-hip ratio is, quote, "a useful and practical visual trait aggregating the information that a potential mate might not even know is associated with an increase in his own reproductive success," unquote.
Here's the Scientific Reason Why Clowns Creep Us Out — https://curiosity.im/2LvbBpH (Republish) (Cody)
Research shows that there are scientific reasons why some people find clowns super creepy. And with the new Joker movie coming out this week, we thought we’d get into that very science. [ad lib “but first,”]
As reported by The Conversation, back in 2016, researchers conducted an empirical study into the nature of creepiness. The hunch was that feeling creeped out might have something to do with ambiguity — about not really being sure how to react to a person or situation.
To test this hypothesis, researchers recruited 1,341 volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 77 to fill out an online survey listing behaviors, occupations, and overall demeanors they considered to be creepy.
The results indicated that people we see as creepy are much more likely to be males than females, and that unpredictability is an important component of creepiness. It also suggested that unusual patterns of eye contact and other nonverbal behaviors set off our creepiness detectors big time. Sound familiar? And when researchers asked people to rate the creepiness of different occupations, the one that rose to the top of the creep list was — you guessed it — clowns.
This is perfectly consistent with the hypothesis that it is the inherent ambiguity surrounding clowns that make them creepy. The unusual physical characteristics of the clown like the red nose and makeup, and the fact that a disguise conceals their true identity, only magnify the uncertainty of what the clown might do next.
It looks like it could be evolution we have to thank for our clown phobias. Our reactions could be adaptive, with that "creeped out" feeling being a way to stay alert during an ambiguous situation that could be dangerous. And if a clown is parading around in a purple suit in Gotham City, chances are that situation is DEFINITELY dangerous.
ASHLEY: And now, let’s recap what we learned today. Today we learned that you could power your home by destroying the universe. Please don’t do that.
CODY: And that the traditional “hourglass figure” is attractive for lots of reasons, but probably not because of a sign of good health or her ability to have healthy children. Probably.
ASHLEY: And that some people find clowns creepy because they’re unpredictable and ambiguous. Blame evolution?
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!