Learn why the concept of zero is newer than you might think, how you can worry more productively, and why the Earth’s atmosphere might be rusting the moon.
Learn why the concept of zero is newer than you might think, how you can worry more productively, and why the Earth’s atmosphere might be rusting the moon.
The Concept of Zero Is Newer Than You'd Expect by Reuben Westmaas
How to Worry More Productively by Kelsy Donk
Earth's Atmosphere May be Rusting the Moon by Grant Currin
Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Ashley Hamer and Natalia Reagan (filling in for Cody Gough). You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/earths-atmosphere-may-be-rusting-the-moon
[MUSIC PLAYING] ASHLEY HAMER: Hi. You're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity.com. I'm Ashley Hamer.
NATALIA REAGAN: And I'm Natalia Reagan. Today you'll learn why the concept of zero is newer than you might think, how you can worry more productively, and why Earth's atmosphere might just be resting the moon.
ASHLEY HAMER: Let's satisfy some curiosity.
When you were a little kid you didn't need math class to know that if you had four chocolates and you ate four chocolates, you'd have nothing left but sadness. But though even small kids can understand nothing, the concept of zero is actually a bit more advanced. It's so advanced, in fact, that by 1200 CE, it had just barely reached Europe. Here's the reason why zero is a lot newer than you would expect.
Plenty of early cultures had a concept of nothing. Like take the earliest known counting system devised by the Sumerians. At first, they would use a blank space to indicate nothing. Eventually, they substituted this with a pair of angled wedges. Similar placeholders for an empty value can be found in other counting systems, including those of the Mayans and the Babylonians.
But most scholars agree that zero as a mathematical concept originated in India. The earliest use of the round symbol that would become zero happened in the third or fourth century CE in a merchant's document called the Bakhshali manuscript. Just a few hundred years later in the seventh century, legendary mathematical scholar Brahmagupta wrote the earliest surviving explanation of how zero works.
Adding or subtracting zero from a number leaves the number unchanged while any number multiplied by zero becomes zero. The concept then spread to China and the Arabian Peninsula. In fact, the Arabic numeral system was the first to represent zero with an empty oval. Next, it spread to Africa. It finally came to Europe when the Moors conquered Spain, where it was promptly outlawed.
Yes, religious leaders of Europe associated that little blank circle with Islam and wanted nothing to do with it. But zero was so useful that merchants secretly included zeros on their ledgers. In fact, that's one theory for how cipher, another word for zero, also came to mean code. Fortunately, for European mathematics, the taboo didn't last.
Without zero, Newton and Leibniz wouldn't have been able to come up with calculus. Descartes wouldn't have figured out how to graph points. And Vanilla Ice wouldn't have been able to utter the infamous line, "Drop that zero and get with the hero." Thanks zero. [CHUCKLES]
NATALIA REAGAN: Vanilla Ice really makes me think of mathematics. That's generally what I think of when I think of him.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. I think that's most people's first association, sure.
NATALIA REAGAN: Absolutely.
These days, you may be spending a lot more time worrying. That makes sense. The world is full of uncertainty, more now than ever. And it turns out that all that fretting isn't necessarily a bad thing. You just need to make sure you're worrying productively.
Now don't get me wrong, worrying too much can be harmful. Extreme levels are associated with poor mental and physical health. Worrying can disturb sleep. And it can also keep people from going to the doctor, especially when they suspect something might be wrong. But at a low level, worrying can actually be useful.
The feeling exists to keep you safe. Not convinced? Consider the fact that in Australian states prone to wildfires, researchers have found that constructive worry is associated with wildfire preparedness. One study also found that worry about climate change was the single strongest predictor of support for climate policies. And even on a more basic level, being someone who worries has been correlated with better academic performance and more attempts to quit smoking.
The key is to worry the right way. To do that, first, identify the worry. Call it out. Our worries show us what we care about. So when you catch yourself worrying that you won't perform well at work or that something bad will happen to your kid, name that worry and remember that it means you care about doing good work and raising a healthy child.
Then, look for evidence. Has this bad thing happened before? Do you think this worry is realistic? More importantly, can you find evidence that goes against your worry? Some therapists recommend writing that evidence down so you can look at it.
Another strategy mental health professionals suggest is turning your what if into I can. So when you find yourself worrying-- for example, what if someone in my family gets sick-- take that anxious energy and think about what you can do to help them get better if that happens. Then decide on the best action and give it a try. See if taking productive actions relieves your worries or makes them worse.
If you're stuck in a worry spiral, it might be time to try meditation or reach out to a mental health professional who can help you find productive outlets for those worries. But don't worry about your worries. Just make those worries work for you.
It actually reminds me of the One Day at a Time episode we had because the serenity prayer, part of AA, teaches you to basically kind of concentrate on the worries that you can control and let go of those that you can't control.
NATALIA REAGAN: Right. Yeah, what's the-- let's say, give me the serenity--
NATALIA REAGAN: To accept the things I cannot change.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, yeah. Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and to-- I lost it. I don't know.
NATALIA REAGAN: The courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
ASHLEY HAMER: Nice, nice.
NATALIA REAGAN: Yeah. I don't know. It all came back for a sec there. Yes. Yeah. So I mean, the serenity prayer is the idea of being able to determine what you can change and control and the things that you can't and having the wisdom to know the difference. So I feel like this sort of applies in a scientific way, potentially.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, that's a really good reminder, for sure.
Researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa recently made an unexpected discovery. There's rust on the moon. They think Earth has a lot to do with it. This lunar mystery began while researchers were analyzing data collected by NASA instruments. So we're hitching a ride on India's Chandrayaan-1 mission.
Specifically, they were analyzing hyperspectral reflectance data, which could tell them exactly what kind of electromagnetic waves are bouncing off the surface of the moon. That in turn tells them what minerals are sitting on the moon's surface. They weren't surprised to find iron because well, there's a lot of iron on the moon. They also wouldn't have been surprised to see water because evidence suggests that there's plenty of that on the moon, too.
But for rust to exist, it needs one more thing, oxygen. And on the moon, oxygen is in very short supply. And yet the moon appears rusty. Specifically, the moon's poles contain an oxidized iron mineral called hematite. So how'd that happen?
You're going to want to sit down for this one. The researchers think the oxygen came from Earth's atmosphere. The idea is that the stream of charged particles from the sun known as solar wind blows oxygen from Earth's upper atmosphere onto the lunar surface. Those oxygen molecules then react with water and iron to produce hematite. The signs are all there.
For one thing, the researchers found the hematite on the moon's poles, which is where most lunar water ice is located. And most of that hematite is on the side of the moon that always faces the Earth. That's where oxygen would land after making its long journey from Earth's atmosphere. This isn't quite as unlikely as it sounds.
See, Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere. It's what contains the magnetic field that makes compasses point north. The magnetosphere extends pretty far out into space, kind of like a big magnetic bubble. But it's not round. That's because solar wind blows against the magnetosphere and stretches it out, creating what's called a magnetotail on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun.
The researchers behind this new study think the moon picks up oxygen when it makes its monthly trip through the Earth's magnetotail. If their calculations are correct, it's probably been happening for several billion years. I guess Earth and the Moon are closer pals than we realized.
NATALIA REAGAN: Wow.
Well, let's recap what we learned today, starting with the concept of zero is pretty darn new actually, only around since the third or fourth century CE. And it's been traced back to India where it spread to China and the Arabian Peninsula. But when the concept finally reached Europe, it was initially outlawed because they didn't want to be associated with Islam. And it was used in secret by old-school merchants.
Eventually, zero was legal to use. Man, can you imagine going to jail for using zero?
ASHLEY HAMER: Can you imagine just not writing anything for zero? Like how do you do math, that way?
NATALIA REAGAN: Right. How do you have millions of dollars? Where do you put the zeros? Isn't it all about the zeros?
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. Where do you put the zeros? Like six figures? No, I only have one figure. Sorry.
NATALIA REAGAN: I mean, stranger things have been illegal, but it's math. Come on now. How are you going to make math illegal?
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. Well, it reminds me of-- we've done a story on the fact that in Indiana-- I think in the 1800s-- someone tried to legally define pi as 3.2.
NATALIA REAGAN: [LAUGHS] Oh, no.
ASHLEY HAMER: They took it to the state lawmakers, and it got really far. But eventually, they were like, we can't legislate math. I'm sorry.
NATALIA REAGAN: But it's not even accurate. It would be 3.1 if you were to round-- why are you rounding up?
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, he thought he had figured out some math that nobody else had, of course.
NATALIA REAGAN: Of course.
ASHLEY HAMER: And we also learned that it's possible to worry productively. To do that, you first call out the worry and give it a name. Next, look for evidence for that worry, like has it happened before? Is it actually likely to happen again? And if it is, what can you do to control the situation? These tactics can totally be used right now. I probably will today.
NATALIA REAGAN: Absolutely. Yeah, no. And I mean, sometimes there's nothing you can do, so it's best to just let it go if you can. I've never seen Frozen, but that song, "Let It Go," I do hum it sometimes because you just got to. And lastly, we learned that Earth's atmosphere is actually causing the moon to rust. Yes. Solar wind is blowing oxygen from Earth's atmosphere onto the moon's surface, causing its hematite to oxidize. What a pretty penny it's going to become.
ASHLEY HAMER: Ooh.
NATALIA REAGAN: Ooh.
ASHLEY HAMER: I think the good news about this is that humans have nothing to do with it. You hear a headline, and you're like, rust on the moon. What did we do this time? You're like, no, no. It's not us. It's just between Earth and the Moon. Don't even worry about it.
NATALIA REAGAN: Actually, I mean, I'm trying to think. We might be actually be helping the moon, considering we're cutting down more oxygen-producing trees. Therefore, we might be throwing less oxygen out into the atmosphere. And hence, you're welcome moon. You are welcome.
ASHLEY HAMER: Always finding the silver lining.
NATALIA REAGAN: [LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: [LAUGHS]
NATALIA REAGAN: Yeah. I'm trying.
Well, today's stories were written by Reuben Westmaas, Kelsey Donk, and Grant Currin, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who's the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Scriptwriting was by Natalia Reagan and Sonja Hodgen. Today's episode was edited by me, Ashley Hamer. And our producer is Cody Gough.
NATALIA REAGAN: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY HAMER: And until then, stay curious.
NATALIA REAGAN: And stop worrying.
[MUSIC PLAYING]