In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: We Discover a New Dinosaur Species Every Week Having Been In Someone's Shoes Makes You Less Empathetic This Is How 18 Months of Marriage Changes You, According to a Study Rhnull, the Rarest Blood Type on Earth, Has Been Called the "Golden Blood" Why Do Humans Have Different Blood Types? Two Competing Theories (Forbes Article) Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-marriage-changes-you-new-dinosaur-discoveries-and-empathy-quirks
CODY GOUGH: Happy Sunday, we've got three stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn how 18 months of marriage changes you. Why having been in someone else's shoes actually makes you less empathetic. And why we're discovering a new dinosaur species every week.
CODY GOUGH: Plus, Ashley will close out the episode with a question from an awesome listener like you.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, this week's question comes from Dylan who writes, quote, "I'm curious why we evolved with different blood types." end quote. Stay tuned for the answer at the end of this episode.
CODY GOUGH: Now, let's satisfy some curiosity. What's your favorite dinosaur?
ASHLEY HAMER: We already got a correction on how to say, Quetzalcoatlus. But that's my favorite one right now. It changes all the time.
CODY GOUGH: Quetzalcoatlus
ASHLEY HAMER: Quetzalcoatlus.
CODY GOUGH: I think? Please, don't correct us again if we got it wrong, we're doing our best.
ASHLEY HAMER: So American.
CODY GOUGH: Mine is, like, triceratops.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: I always thought it was cool.
ASHLEY HAMER: What's the one with the long neck?
CODY GOUGH: Brontosaurus.
ASHLEY HAMER: Brontosaurus.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: Brachiosaurus, that's another one.
CODY GOUGH: Yes, see I'm like the OG dinosaurs. You know, stegosaurus, triceratops, velociraptor.
ASHLEY HAMER: I did a report on dimetrodon in third grade. So that one's really close to my heart.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, that one, too advanced for me.
ASHLEY HAMER: It has a fan on its back. It looks like an alligator with a big fan.
CODY GOUGH: Oh, is that the really creepy one that was in "Jurassic Park"?
ASHLEY HAMER: I don't know, there are so many Jurassic Park's.
CODY GOUGH: It was the one that freaked out the-- oh, who was the security guard guy?
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh no, not the fan around the neck, the fan on the back. It's like a sailboat, like a sail.
CODY GOUGH: Dinosaurs are weird.
ASHLEY HAMER: They are.
CODY GOUGH: Well anyway, today, you're going to learn why we are discovering a new species of dinosaur every week because that's pretty fast. If you look at the decade from 1984 to 1994, scientists are only naming about 15 new dinosaurs a year. But now, we're in what some people are calling the golden age of dinosaur discovery. And it's here for two main reasons. First, we're looking in more places. New national policies are letting paleontologists explore places like China, Mongolia, and Argentina for the first time. And it turns out they're all full of never before seen dinosaurs.
And the second main reason, literally "Jurassic Park". Like, seriously, remember how I said the slow pace of dinosaur discovery ended in 1994. Well, that's the year after the movie "Jurassic Park" came out. Thanks to Steven Spielberg, a whole generation of kids grew up loving dinosaurs. And that's not the first time Hollywood has had a big real world impact. About a decade earlier, when the movie "Top Gun" came out in 1986, the US Navy said that recruitment of young men wanting to become naval aviators went up 500% after the film was released.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. And it turns out "X-files" led to a lot of women pursuing STEM careers. And, actually, the movie "Contact" too, Jodie Foster, that did the same thing.
CODY GOUGH: Wow, there you go. So don't underestimate the silver screen.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cody, you know the saying, if you want to understand someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Well, that might not actually be the greatest advice.
CODY GOUGH: Is it a lie?
ASHLEY HAMER: It might be a lie.
CODY GOUGH: Did science say it's a lie?
ASHLEY HAMER: Harvard researchers say it's a lie.
CODY GOUGH: So kind of yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. They say, it's actually harder to empathize with people if you've been in their shoes, you know, metaphorically. Maybe if you've been in their shoes literally, it's easier. I don't know. In a recent study, researchers had participants read stories about people going through struggles that they either had or had not experienced. In the first experiment, subjects read about a man who had signed up for a polar plunge like we have in Chicago. It's an event that challenges people to jump in an icy lake in the dead of winter.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, never doing that.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, me either. I will run a gazillion marathons before I will jump in an icy lake. Participants who were signed up but hadn't done a polar plunge themselves were much more empathetic toward the man in the story than those who had already completed the plunge.
The same was true in a story about an unemployed man who started selling drugs and a story about a bullied teenager. In both cases, those who had been unemployed or bullied were a lot less compassionate toward the subject of the story than those who hadn't.
So why is this? According to researchers, this happens for two reasons. First, it's hard to remember how bad a past experience was. We know it was hard but we underestimate how hard it was. And second, people who have overcome a challenge think that anyone can overcome it. So if you're looking for empathy, you're better off looking for someone who has not walked in your shoes. And when you lend an ear to someone in need, try to remember that the challenges you faced were probably a lot harder than you give yourself credit for.
CODY GOUGH: All right, Ashley, how long do you think it takes for a marriage to change you?
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh boy, that's a loaded question. How long do you think, Cody? You're the married one.
CODY GOUGH: Well, I've been married eight months. So you tell me how much have I changed?
ASHLEY HAMER: I don't think you've changed much at all.
CODY GOUGH: There we go. Well, a new study has found how 18 months of heterosexual marriage teaches you.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, so you still have 10 months to go.
CODY GOUGH: Exactly, so I'm not an expert on this personally. But a team of researchers studied the personalities of 169 heterosexual, newlywed couples for a little over a year. The newlyweds gave data about their big five personality traits, which we talked about on this podcast on Monday. I'll give you a refresher later if you missed it.
And according to the study published just this month, there were changes in the couple's big five personality traits. And they were good, and bad, and even a little surprising. And the results were similar across the board, this is crazy, the stats didn't really differ by age, demographics, parenthood status, or even how long the couple had been together or lived together before getting married.
So anyway, here's how people changed based on the big five personality traits. Which if you need a refresher, go by the acronym OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. On the good side, husbands became more conscientious, meaning more dependable and plan-oriented. And wives became less neurotic, as in less anxious, depressed, and angry.
On the not so good side, husbands became less extroverted. And both husbands and wives became less agreeable, meaning less compassionate and less likely to cooperate. So if you're about to tie the knot, make sure you're ready for some big other changes in your life. Again, I'm pretty close to a year away from the 18 month mark, so you'll have to check back with me in April. And I'll let you know how things are going.
ASHLEY HAMER: Please do.
CODY GOUGH: By then, I will not be willing to agree to anything. So you'll need to play this recording back to me so that I know that I said I would do it next April. Because if you ask me, I'm just not going to agree a year from now.
ASHLEY HAMER: You'll be very disagreeable.
CODY GOUGH: No way, totally.
ASHLEY HAMER: And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the answer to our listener question. Dylan wanted to know why we evolved with different blood types. So to answer that question, I'm first going to back up and explain what blood types even are. And to do that, I'm going to quote my colleague, Joni Falletto, who wrote an awesome article on Curiosity last year all about Rh-null, the rarest blood type on Earth.
Here's the delightful way she explained blood types. Quote, "We're filled with red blood cells that carry oxygen through our bodies. Antigens cover these cells like sprinkles on a donut. The semblance of antigens in your red blood cells are like little name tags that tell your body, hi, I go here. To which your antibodies respond, nice, the rest of us won't attack you. Your white blood cells latch on to these antigens to act as a shield against infection." end quote.
She goes on to explain that the two main antigens are A and B. You can have one, the other, both, or neither. If you have neither, then your blood group is O. In addition to those antigens, there's a protein called Rh factor, which can be present, which puts the positive at the end of your blood type or absent, which puts a negative at the end.
There are more than 600 other known antigens. So suffice it to say, blood types are super complicated. But why are there so many? Well, now that they're there to fight infection, you may have a clue. Evolutionary selection helped certain groups of all defenses against the most common types of disease. For example, people with AB blood are more resistant to cholera. And people with O blood are more resistant to malaria.
If your area of the world once got a lot of bubonic plague, you're more likely to have a lot of people with B blood, as China, India and parts of Russia do. There's also the fact that some viruses steal bits of antigen from previous hosts. So if you have the same blood type as your neighbor, you may be more likely to be infected by their virus. But a different blood type might protect you Thanks for your question. If you have a question you're curious about, send it in to podcast@curiosity.com.
CODY GOUGH: We love to show our work. So I'll put links to Joni's article and all of the other articles that you researched for that answer in the show notes for the podcast. And if you don't know what show notes are or where to find them, just go to your podcast player open it up.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's the description, it's the description that's in your podcast episode.
CODY GOUGH: Very much. So whether you're using Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, which just--
ASHLEY HAMER: That's a new thing, yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Or whatever else you listen on.
ASHLEY HAMER: I learned about that from your tweet.
CODY GOUGH: You can also find links to Ashley and me on Twitter, if you want to follow us, in the show notes. Now, one final note. Thank you so much for reviewing us and rating us on Apple Podcasts and all the other podcast apps out there. We received a ton of new reviews on Apple Podcasts after we mentioned it last week. And special shout out to Nico Blue Energy Columbia Sergio R, and Catha for taking some time out of your busy day to actually write a little write up on Apple Podcasts. We really appreciate it.
And hey, remember, we've also got an Amazon Alexa skill for flash briefings on the Amazon App Store. So go ahead and register a review there too, if we're part of your flash briefing every day. Any time, you rate us anywhere or review us anywhere, it's super helpful. And it's even more helpful when you just tell a friend about our show.
It's not just an ego thing, I promise. The more people who are listening, the longer we'll be able to do this show. So tell your friends. And thank you again. And, of course, you can read about every other story we discussed today on Curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily. And learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious.
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.