Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you learn something new in just a few minutes: Caffeine Causes Widespread "Brain Entropy" — and That's Actually a Good Thing The World's Busiest Air Route Goes to an Island You've Probably Never Heard of This Is How to Clean Your Smartphone Without Destroying It
Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you learn something new in just a few minutes:
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-to-clean-your-smartphone-caffeine-benefits-and-the-worlds-busiest-air-route
[THEME MUSIC] CODY GOUGH: Hi, I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. We're from curiosity.com, and we've got three stories to help you get smarter in just a few minutes.
CODY GOUGH: Today, you learn about the world's busiest air route which goes to an island you've probably never heard of, how caffeine affects your brain, and how to clean your smartphone without destroying it.
ASHLEY HAMER: Let's satisfy some curiosity.
CODY GOUGH: So where would you guess is the world's busiest air route?
ASHLEY HAMER: I'd say like New York to LA.
CODY GOUGH: Right or New York to Chicago, or--
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, yeah.
CODY GOUGH: --something like that. So we were curious about this and we found that air travel intelligence company OAG has a list of the busiest air routes in the world, which is great. Guess what? Not a single route in the US made the top 10.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. The winner was Seoul, South Korea to Jeju. Have you ever heard of Jeju?
ASHLEY HAMER: No, I never have.
CODY GOUGH: Well, approximately 200 flights run in either direction between the two destinations every day according to Google Flights.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow. And 11 million people made the trip in 2014. Jeju is nicknamed the Hawaii of South Korea since Koreans regularly visit, and they go to see natural wonders like a dormant volcano and grandfather stones which are giant carved statues, kind of like the ones you find on Easter Island.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cool.
CODY GOUGH: There's also an island specialty-- seaweed and sea urchin soup, which I guess is delicious. And you can see female divers known as the Haenyeo mermaids. These are elderly women who dive the Korea Strait for sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and squid, and they don't use any equipment but they can hold their breath for up to two minutes during each dive.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow, that's amazing.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. Jeju is also really big with Chinese tourists since you don't need a visa to get in and you can enjoy casinos which are forbidden in China. And not to mention, a theme park called Love Island which is full of erotic sculptures. Sounds like a fun place to visit.
ASHLEY HAMER: It makes a lot of sense that a lot of people are visiting there. Wow.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, you can read more on curiosity.com. And we've also got an entire Instagram account dedicated to cool places to travel. Follow us @curiositydotcomtravel, all one word, spelled out. Or just search for Curiosity Travel.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, Curiosity Travel on Instagram.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's right. So Cody, do you think smart brains are really organized or really chaotic?
CODY GOUGH: Well, I know there's a fine line between genius and insanity.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, that's true.
CODY GOUGH: So I would say one or the other, but I don't know which.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, this surprised us. A more chaotic brain is actually a more effective brain. Scientists call this quality brain entropy and it measures the complexity and irregularity of brain activity from one moment to the next. This year, researchers at New York University published a new study that found that increased entropy in certain parts of the brain was associated with higher intelligence.
This actually makes a lot of sense an effective brain is one that doesn't always rely on the same patterns of thinking, and one that can solve problems in unexpected ways. By contrast, a brain with lower entropy is characterized by order and repetition. The most orderly brains actually belong to comatose people and people in the deepest sleep. So yeah, you don't want that.
CODY GOUGH: No.
ASHLEY HAMER: Anyway there's another study published in 2018 that looked into the effects of caffeine pills on the entropy levels of a resting brain. And this study found that two coffee cups worth of caffeine was enough to increase blood flow to those vital regions of the brain. So caffeine causes widespread brain entropy and that's actually a good thing.
Of course, if you don't drink coffee or tea or take caffeine pills, you don't need to worry because brain entropy naturally increases with age. So just wait it out. You'll get there eventually.
CODY GOUGH: Wow.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: One other benefit of drinking coffee.
ASHLEY HAMER: Absolutely.
CODY GOUGH: We're going to actually write and talk about more articles about coffee in the next couple of weeks. So keep your eyes on the Curiosity app for Android or iOS, or check out our website, or keep on listening.
ASHLEY HAMER: Hey, wait.
CODY GOUGH: Ashley, how often do you clean your smartphone?
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh god, hardly ever.
CODY GOUGH: [LAUGHS] And you probably know that it's important to clean your phone because it's really filthy?
ASHLEY HAMER: Right, it's everywhere all the time.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, not your phone specifically, everyone's phone.
ASHLEY HAMER: Sure.
CODY GOUGH: Smartphones are just Petri dishes of disgustingness, and we won't even get into how gross they are because you can read about that elsewhere. But Curiosity researched how you should actually clean that little supercomputer you carry around in your pocket without damaging it. And we found that almost every phone manufacturer recommends some sort of cleaning but they are different depending on the manufacturer.
So Apple suggests wiping down your iPhone with a slightly damp lint-free cloth. But Motorola suggests using a microfiber cloth, the kind you might clean your glasses with a little bit of water if the device is really dirty. As for Google's Pixel phone which we both use a variation of the Pixel phone--
ASHLEY HAMER: Right.
CODY GOUGH: The company has given the OK to use dish soap if necessary.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, surprising. And these methods will go a long way towards having a cleaner phone but they unfortunately won't disinfect it technically. Due to do that, researchers have found that the most effective way to disinfect your phone is to use a bleach wipe, but they can be very abrasive so they could erode the protective coating that shields your phone from oily fingerprints, and they could also void your warranty since companies sometimes specifically recommend against them.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, no.
CODY GOUGH: So again, before using a bleach wipe, you must remember using a bleach wipe could void your phone warranty. I'm going to say that one more time.
ASHLEY HAMER: [LAUGHS]
CODY GOUGH: Using a bleach wipe could void your phone warranty.
ASHLEY HAMER: Got it.
CODY GOUGH: Yes. Now, the researchers in this case were using these wipes to kill some serious germs so the kinds you'd find in a hospital probably. So you probably don't need to get that extreme anyway. We recommend sticking with whatever your manufacturer tells you to do. And we recommend doing it every day and washing your hands on a regular basis. That's good for lots of things anyway.
And if you drop your phone in like a toilet or somewhere really gross or your friend who has the flu sneezes on your phone, then yeah, maybe use a bleach wipe. But again, one more time, that might void your warranty so we do not officially recommend it. Use it at your own risk and check into your device agreement to make sure that using a bleach wipe will not void your warranty before using it.
ASHLEY HAMER: You know, Cody, one thing that I sometimes use on my phone is an alcohol swab. And I have found out since we're actually working on an article right now about how to clean your keyboard. There's been a study showing that a damp cloth actually removes germs better than an alcohol wipe. Alcohol wipes pretty much do nothing, so don't even try it.
CODY GOUGH: Wait, really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, it's weird.
CODY GOUGH: We're going to have to follow up on this next week.
ASHLEY HAMER: Definitely.
CODY GOUGH: Stay tuned and keep an eye on curiosity.com where you can learn all about these stories and so much more. And hey, today, you can find a full length Curiosity podcast interview with Dr. Rick Hanson, who explains that resilience is a key to your well being. And he talks about how can become more resilient. Or you can just join us again tomorrow for another Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Stay curious.
[THEME MUSIC]
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.