Learn the scientific reason why it’s so hard to quietly unwrap candy; the FORD method for keeping conversations flowing; and, how the nutrients in food are calculated. 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: Why It's so Hard to Quietly Unwrap Candy in a Theater — https://curiosity.im/2Klx2ZU Keep Conversations Flowing With the FORD Method — https://curiosity.im/31y3zBT Additional resources discussed: How Do Food Manufacturers Calculate the Calorie Count of Packaged Foods? | Scientific American — https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/ Food energy - methods of analysis and conversion factors | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — http://www.fao.org/3/y5022e/y5022e00.htm Fat by Gravimetric Test | Medallion Labs — https://www.medallionlabs.com/tests/fat-by-gravimetric/ How Do Scientists Know Which Vitamins Are Found In Different Foods? | Forbes — https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/05/19/how-do-scientists-know-which-vitamins-are-found-in-different-foods/#5017db6a14c0 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 the scientific reason why it’s so hard to quietly unwrap candy; the FORD method for keeping conversations flowing; and, how the nutrients in food are calculated.
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:
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/how-food-nutrients-are-calculated-why-wrappers-are-so-loud-and-how-to-make-small-talk
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 why it’s so hard to quietly unwrap candy; and, the FORD method for keeping conversations flowing. We’ll also answer a listener question about how the nutrients in food are calculated.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Why It's so Hard to Quietly Unwrap Candy in a Theater — https://curiosity.im/2Klx2ZU (Ashley)
Here’s some research that’ll hit pretty close to home if you saw a summer blockbuster this year — or, really, if you’ve been to any theater lately. Remember that climactic scene that captivated you, up until the jerk in the row behind you started unwrapping a box of Raisinettes at MAXIMUM VOLUME? Well according to research from the University of Chicago, it's physically impossible to lower the volume of an unfolding candy wrapper. And the reason comes down to garden-variety physics. A 1996 study published in the journal Physical Review E explained that it all comes down to energy — specifically, elastic potential energy. That's the energy that's stored as a result of the deformation of an elastic object, like the stretching of a guitar string as you pluck it. If you crumple up a mylar wrapper, every twist and crinkle you add loads it with elastic potential energy, and once you unwrap it, it releases that energy — in the form of heat, vibrations in the material, and, of course… sound. But that doesn't explain why you can't make that sound quieter. For that, you need an experiment. So physicists Eric M. Kramer and Alexander E. Lobkovsky took a bunch of mylar sheets of various thicknesses and crumpled them each by hand 30 to 40 times. Then, they set up recording equipment, flattened out each sheet the best they could, and twisted and flexed it over and over. They wanted to find out whether the thickness of the sheet had any impact on the sound it made. When they analyzed the recordings, they found that the sounds were basically a collection of clicks — and each one was a release of potential energy. Thicker sheets produced fewer but louder clicks, while thinner sheets produced more clicks, but they were somewhat quieter. But overall, the energy of these sound waves varied drastically — the smallest to the largest clicks ranged in energy by at least a factor of one million. That shows that it's impossible to quiet your candy wrapper: If you unwrap slowly, you'll slow down the how often the wrapper clicks, but you won't turn down the volume. The best thing to do when you want a snack in the theater? Just open it as fast as you can — time is one element you can control.
Keep Conversations Flowing With the FORD Method — https://curiosity.im/31y3zBT (from Thursday 8/22) (Cody)
If you’ve ever been stuck in a conversation and totally ran out of things to say, then you’re in luck. Because you’re about to learn about the FORD method, which may be a way to never run out of conversation topics again. Whether you’re making small talk with your barista or trying to stumble your way through a networking event, the FORD method can help you come up with a good conversation topic. The method is all about asking questions, which is a research-backed way to make people like you better. And it’s based on a good deal of research that shows: people like talking about themselves. So ask them to talk about what they like, and they'll probably like you, too. Without further ado, here's the FORD method. Those letters F-O-R-D stand for four topics that can be used as conversation starters for just about anyone. F is for Family. O is for Occupation. R is for Recreation. And D is for Dreams. Basically, you can ask about their family, their job, what they do for fun, and what they aspire to do or be. For F, family, you could ask if they have family in the area, for example. For O, occupation, you could ask the obvious “how’s work going,” or “is your office in this neighborhood too” -- stuff like that. That part is pretty standard here in the U.S., but for the world travelers listening, I want to mention you should be careful when you ask about where a person works, because in some cultures, that’s actually pretty offensive. According to Business Insider, that’s especially bad in countries with social-welfare systems like the Netherlands, where people might feel like you’re trying to pigeonhole them or be classist. It’d be like asking a person their salary here in the U.S. So be careful with that one. I’d personally focus more on the next one, R, Recreation, by asking things like “what have you been into lately?” And for D, Dreams, you could ask the person if they’ve ever thought of doing their hobby full-time, or what’s next on their bucket list. And remember: if you really want to cut through the awkwardness, it's important not only to ask questions but to really listen to the person's answers. Then, comment on their answers, ask follow-up questions, and share stuff about yourself that’s relevant to what they just told you. Before you know it, you'll be deep in conversation with a new friend!
ASHLEY: We got another listener question from question-asker extraordinaire Muhammad Shifaz! He wants to know how manufacturers calculate the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are in a given food. Great question, Muhammad!
It turns out that analyzing the nutrient content of food isn’t that different from analyzing the ingredients of rocks or tissue samples or the atmosphere. Calorie content is probably the simplest. Calories are just a measure of energy — one calorie, aka kilocalorie, is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree Celsius. So in the past, people would measure calorie content with a device called a bomb calorimeter [kaal-er-IHM-iter], where they’d put the food in a sealed container surrounded by water, burn the food to nothing, then measure the rise in water temperature. These days, though, we figure out calories with a sort of backdoor method: we know how many calories are in one gram of protein, fat, and carbohydrate, respectively, so we just add those up and voila! Total calories.
Ok, but how do they analyze those nutrients? Let’s start with fat, which is the only one of the three macronutrients — as protein, fat, and carbs are called — that doesn’t dissolve in water. So scientists weigh the food, use a special chemical to extract the fat out of the food, then weigh the food again. The difference is your fat content. Protein, on the other hand, is the only macronutrient that contains nitrogen. Measuring nitrogen is a complicated process I don’t have time to explain, but anyway, once you know the amount of nitrogen, you’ve got a pretty good estimate for the amount of protein. That leaves carbs. Carbs are calculated via the complicated process of “whatever’s left over after protein and fat.” Minus the fiber, which can’t be digested. Ta-da!
For vitamins and minerals, things get even more intense. Vitamins are analyzed using a method called chromatography, which separates out the compounds in a sample so that scientists can analyze the characteristics and amounts of each one. Minerals can be measured by bombarding them with high-energy electrons and measuring the frequency of the photons they emit, which provides a unique fingerprint for that particular mineral. All that work just to write the nutrition label on your granola bar, huh? What a world. Thanks for your question, Muhammad! If you have a question, send it into podcast at curiosity dot com.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/
http://www.fao.org/3/y5022e/y5022e00.htm
https://www.medallionlabs.com/tests/fat-by-gravimetric/
CODY: Now let’s recap what we learned today! Today we learned that elastic potential energy makes candy wrappers super-loud, and there’s really nothing you can do about it.
ASHLEY: And that you can keep conversations flowing with the FORD method: Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Dreams.
CODY: And that [LISTENER QUESTION LESSON]
[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!