Learn about how to tell whether a life hack is worth trying from a special guest: Professor Joseph M. Reagle Jr., author of the new book “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents.” You’ll also learn why there’s no such thing as a “reverse microwave” for cooling. Please support our sponsors! For $80 off your first month of HelloFresh, go to HelloFresh.com/curiosity80 and enter promo code curiosity80. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why there’s no such thing as a “reverse microwave” for cooling: https://curiosity.im/2Hd5uUM Publications and additional resources from Joseph M. Reagle, Jr: “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents” — https://amazon.com “Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web” — https://amazon.com “Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia” — https://amazon.com Official website — https://reagle.org/joseph/ Follow @jmreagle on Twitter — https://twitter.com/jmreagle MIT Press — https://mitpress.mit.edu/contributors/joseph-m-reagle-jr Get your copy of “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents” on Amazon: https://amazon.com If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom 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 about how to tell whether a life hack is worth trying from a special guest: Professor Joseph M. Reagle Jr., author of the new book “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents.” You’ll also learn why there’s no such thing as a “reverse microwave” for cooling.
Please support our sponsors! For $80 off your first month of HelloFresh, go to HelloFresh.com/curiosity80 and enter promo code curiosity80.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following story from Curiosity.com about why there’s no such thing as a “reverse microwave” for cooling: https://curiosity.im/2Hd5uUM
Publications and additional resources from Joseph M. Reagle, Jr:
Get your copy of “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents” on Amazon: https://amazon.com
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
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-to-tell-what-life-hacks-are-worth-trying-w-joseph-reagle-and-microwaves-for-cooling
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 there’s no such thing as a “reverse microwave” for cooling. You’ll also learn about how you can tell whether a life hack is worth trying from today’s guest, author Joseph Reagle.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Why Doesn't a "Reverse Microwave" For Cooling Food Exist? — https://curiosity.im/2GO04OR (Ashley)
You can pop something in the microwave to heat it up pretty quickly, but there’s no such thing as a “reverse microwave” for cooling something off. And you’re about to learn about the science behind why you probably won’t be seeing one any time soon. First, let’s talk regular microwaves. When you pop in a bag of frozen veggies and press the start button, the microwave sends a specific frequency of radio waves to excite the water molecules in your food. Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation: it’s an umbrella term that includes visible light, infrared, and X-rays, all of which are a form of energy. Energy excites molecules, and excited molecules are hotter. But there's no frequency of radio waves that can calm molecules down to make them colder. Got all that? Good, because here’s where things get a little complicated. Those excited molecules aren't just hotter — they're also in a state of higher entropy. Entropy is basically a scientific measurement of disorder, and according to the second law of thermodynamics, any process in a closed system progresses toward increasing disorder. That's why it's so much easier to heat food up than it is to cool it down: you can't reduce entropy, and cold things are at a state of lower entropy than hot things. Stay with me here. When you fill up an ice tray and put it in the freezer, heat flows from that room-temperature-water into the colder air of the freezer. That may sound like decreasing entropy, but not if you think about the entire fridge: it's using a ton of energy to take heat out of the things inside and transfer it into the surrounding air. I mean, have you ever felt how warm the back of your fridge is? So that's an overall increase in entropy. Meanwhile, the cold air is a poor conductor, meaning it doesn't do a very good job at removing heat from the water. That's why you have to wait for hours before you have solid ice cubes. Anyway, back to the idea of a “reverse microwave,” there ARE certain materials that can cool quickly, but they don’t lend themselves to eating. A gas cools by expansion, which is why a freshly sprayed aerosol can feels so cold. But gas isn't all that filling, compared to solids or liquids. Barring some dangerously cold substance like liquid nitrogen, nothing can instantly cool food the way a microwave can instantly heat it. When it comes to popsicles freezing and beer chilling, you'll just have to wait. [ad lib]
[HELLO FRESH]
CODY: Today’s episode is sponsored by HelloFresh. HelloFresh is a meal kit delivery service that shops, plans, and delivers step-by-step recipes and pre-measured ingredients so you can just cook, eat, and enjoy — no “reverse microwave” necessary.
ASHLEY: HelloFresh makes conquering the kitchen a reality with deliciously simple recipes. You can put together all meals in 30 minutes max, and you’ll need less than two pots and pans. Meals require minimal cleanup, and you can even make family dinners fuss-free with HelloFresh’s picky-eater, kid-tested and approved Family Plan recipes
CODY: It’s a great way to get out of that recipe rut and start cooking outside of your comfort zone by discovering new, delicious recipes. Like, I’ve made a lot of burgers in my day, but when I made the Juicy Lucy Burger with tomato onion jam and sweet potato wedges from HelloFresh, it raised the bar for probably every burger I ever make for family dinner, forever. I even showed off by tweeting a picture and used the hashtag HelloFreshPics, and you can join in the fun too! Talk about an impressive Instagram post. And as a Curiosity Daily listener, you can get EIGHTY DOLLARS off your first month of HelloFresh. Just go to Hello-Fresh-dot-com-slash-curiosity-80 and enter promo code curiosity-80.
ASHLEY: One more time, for EIGHTY DOLLARS OFF your first month of HelloFresh, visit Hello-Fresh-dot-com-slash-curiosity-80 and enter promo code curiosity-80.
Joseph Reagle Clip 2 - How can I tell what works for me or not? (Cody)
CODY: How can you know whether a life hack is worth trying? Joseph Reagle is here to help answer that question in the next segment in our “Hacking Thursdays” mini-series. He’s an associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern University, and he recently published a new book “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents.” Today, we ask him a pretty big question: how can you tell if a piece of advice is valuable or not?
[CLIP 4:38]
CODY: The key takeaway: if a life hack won’t HURT you, then why not try it out? Again, that was Joseph Reagle, an associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern University and author of the book “Hacking Life: Systematized Living and Its Discontents.” You can find a link to the book and more in today’s show notes, and next week, Professor Reagle will be back to talk about the dangers and drawbacks associated with life hacking.
ASHLEY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!