Learn why narcissism may come from insecurity, how lobster became a delicacy, and how astronauts clean their underwear. Narcissism may be driven by insecurity, not an oversized sense of self by Kelsey Donk Narcissism driven by insecurity, not grandiose sense of self. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/nyu-ndb032521.php Kowalchyk, M., Palmieri, H., Conte, E., & Wallisch, P. (2021). Narcissism through the lens of performative self-elevation. Personality and Individual Differences, 177, 110780. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110780 Pietrangelo, A. (2020, December 11). How to Treat Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Healthline; Healthline Media. https://www.healthline.com/health/therapy-for-narcissism How lobster became a delicacy by Steffie Drucker History.com Staff. (2011, June 15). A Taste of Lobster History. HISTORY; HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/a-taste-of-lobster-history Luzer, D. (2013, June 7). How Lobster Got Fancy. Pacific Standard; Pacific Standard. https://psmag.com/economics/how-lobster-got-fancy-59440 The American Lobster: History of Lobster Fishing & Processing. (2021). Parl.ns.ca. http://www.parl.ns.ca/lobster/history.htm Vibrio - NYC Health. (2021). Nyc.gov. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/vibrio-parahaemolyticus.page NOAA Fisheries. (2021). Fun Facts about Luscious Lobsters. NOAA. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/outreach-and-education/fun-facts-about-luscious-lobsters LISTENER Q: How do astronauts clean their underwear? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Michelle in San Fernando, California) NASA - Astronauts’ Dirty Laundry. (2021). Nasa.gov. https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/livinginspace/Astronaut_Laundry.html European Space Agency, ESA. (2009). How do you wash your clothes in space? [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JfqdBJDNZc Tyler Wells Lynch. (2014, July 17). How Do Astronauts Clean Their Dirty Clothes? Reviewed; Reviewed.com. https://www.reviewed.com/laundry/features/how-do-astronauts-clean-their-dirty-clothes Amy Shira Teitel. (2019, March 18). A brief history of menstruating in space. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/brief-history-menstruating-in-space/ Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer — for free! You can also listen to our show 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
Learn why narcissism may come from insecurity, how lobster became a delicacy, and how astronauts clean their underwear.
Narcissism may be driven by insecurity, not an oversized sense of self by Kelsey Donk
How lobster became a delicacy by Steffie Drucker
LISTENER Q: How do astronauts clean their underwear? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Michelle in San Fernando, California)
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free! You can also listen to our show 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/how-astronauts-clean-their-underwear
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 how narcissism may be driven by insecurity; and the strange history of how lobster became a delicacy. We’ll also answer a listener question about how astronauts clean their underwear.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
If narcissists have an inflated sense of their own awesomeness, then why do they so often behave in ways that make people like them less? That’s a question that has puzzled scientists for a long time. But now, a new study from New York University could help shed some light. It suggests that narcissists may not have an inflated sense of themselves. Instead, they might just be covering for their insecurity.
To get to the bottom of narcissism, the researchers recruited 300 participants to answer some questions about themselves. The questions were organized around a new scale the researchers designed to measure how much of someone’s self-image is driven by insecurity. They called the measure FLEX, shorthand for the perFormative seLf-Elevation indeX. ...Don’t think too long about it.
Anyway, FLEX is made up of four characteristics: social desirability, the need for social validation, self-elevation, and social dominance. A person who’s high in all four FLEX categories would agree with statements like, I am likely to show off if I get the chance, It matters that I am seen at important events, I have exquisite taste, and I like knowing more than other people.
As you might be able to imagine, people high in the FLEX categories also tended to be high in narcissism. Someone who tends to really crave social validation might also tend to inflate their own accomplishments in public. But those same people were not high in psychopathy, which has generally been defined in a way that’s remarkably similar to narcissism: it’s associated with an inflated sense of self, delusions of grandeur, and a lack of empathy. But that inflated sense of self comes from a different place. Narcissists talk themselves up because they’re insecure. Psychopaths talk themselves up because they truly believe they’re better than other people.
And that’s an important finding, since previous research has struggled to draw a bright line between narcissism and psychopathy. Now we know what while psychopaths have extremely high self esteem, narcissism may be a way of compensating for low self-esteem. Narcissists are insecure, and to cope with that insecurity, they flex. But those flexing behaviors make people like them less in the long run, and that makes their insecurities even worse. So they end up in a vicious cycle of feeling insecure, flexing, being disliked, feeling even more insecure, and doubling down on their flexes.
Narcissism can be treated with talk therapy, although the individual has to want to change. But considering the pain it causes themselves and others, it seems like a change worth making.
Lobster is often the priciest item on a restaurant’s menu. But did you know that before the 19th century, most people wouldn’t be caught dead eating it? Here’s the strange story of how the lobster clawed its way to the top of our fanciest menus.
When European colonists first reached North America, lobsters were so plentiful that they’d wash ashore in huge piles. Indigenous Americans used the common crustacean for food and to fertilize crops and bait fishhooks.
Lobsters’ abundance meant they were dirt cheap. Nowadays their meat is some of the most expensive there is, but back then it was cheaper than a can of beans. It was regularly fed to servants, prisoners, and even livestock and cats. Some indentured servants in Massachusetts supposedly wrote into their contracts that they wouldn’t eat it more than twice a week!
One big reason for lobster’s vile reputation may have come down to its preparation method. Lobsters are covered in vibrio bacteria [vib- like “fib,” soft “i”], a microbe that lives in saltwater. When you kill a lobster, vibrio bacteria moves in to infect the flesh in a matter of hours — and if you eat that flesh, you can get terrible food poisoning. Back then, lobsters were butchered ahead of time just like any other meat, and that made eating them risky.
But the tide began to turn for lobsters in the mid-19th century.
In the 1840s, New Englanders started canning seafood, which kills bacteria. At the same time, railways were spreading across the country, which led to a tourism boom. Tourists didn’t know what lobster was, so railways realized they could serve this cheap meat to the inland passengers as if it were an exotic delicacy. They loved it, and once they got off the trains, they kept asking for it. The more people requested lobster, the more the supply dwindled and the price shot up.
Finally, toward the end of the century, chefs figured out an effective, if cruel way to make lobster even safer and tastier: Boiling them alive.
Lobster prices peaked in the 1920s and then crashed with the Great Depression. No one could afford to eat it in restaurants anymore, so canned lobster came back in vogue. Lobster wasn’t rationed like other foods during World War II, so more people discovered its deliciousness and drove it back up to luxury status by the 1950s.
So lobsters went from lowly bottom-feeders to upper crust-aceans in just a couple of centuries. Talk about a rebrand!
We got a voicemail from Michelle in San Fernando, California. Have a listen!
[astronaut underwear]
Oh man, Michelle. This question has been a journey to answer, and I’ll share those details at the end of today’s episode. But the simple answer to how astronauts wash their underwear? They don’t! I know! It was a shock to me too!
See, laundry machines are heavy, and water is precious in space. Instead, astronauts just throw their laundry away when they’re done with it. That means they have to bring a lot of underwear (and socks, and shirts and pants) up there with them. Astronauts on the International Space Station use these unmanned Russian cargo ships, known as Progress ships, to receive supply shipments. Once these ships are empty, they’re refilled with any trash the astronauts don’t want to carry back with them. Then, these ships head back to Earth and burn up on re-entry.
Yeah. Astronaut underwear isn’t washed. It’s burned in a fiery death.
I know what you’re thinking: this sounds awfully wasteful. That’s why astronauts wear their clothes for a lot longer than you or I do. They wear the same socks and underwear for up to a week at a time, and shirts and pants get reworn for a lot longer. On one hand, the atmosphere of the ISS is temperature controlled and a lot cleaner than the air on Earth, but on the other hand, astronauts need to exercise regularly to keep their muscles from weakening in microgravity — and that means they sweat a lot. So it’s not the best solution, and NASA is working to develop antimicrobial fabrics that can make the astronaut experience a little nicer.
And when it comes to astronauts who menstruate? They’ve got a few options. Some use hormonal birth control to pause their menstruation for the length of their mission. Those who don’t still get all the supplies they’d usually have on Earth, which they throw away with the other trash. And if their underwear gets dirty ahead of schedule? Well, that’s just more to burn on reentry.
Leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208!
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll hear next week on Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Next week, you’ll learn about 4 reasons you feel “Zoom fatigue” and how to get over them;
Why lightning strikes were vital to the origin of life on Earth;
How scientists captured the smallest measurement of gravity on record;
Why computers can never generate truly random numbers;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk, Steffie Drucker, and Ashley Hamer, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Have a great weekend, have some lobster, WASH YOUR UNDERWEAR… all valuable lessons from today’s show… and join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!