Learn about why it’s good news that muscle memory is real; why a penguin’s waddle has some advantages over the way we humans walk; and new research that shows how individuals can have a bigger impact on slowing climate change than we thought. 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: Muscle Memory Is Real, and That's Good News for Everyone — https://curiosity.im/2Xt82ap A Penguin's Waddle Is More Efficient Than Your Walk (Who's Laughing Now?) — https://curiosity.im/2MMcTzv Individuals Can Have a Bigger Impact on Slowing Climate Change Than We Thought — https://curiosity.im/2RrHUY5 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 why it’s good news that muscle memory is real; why a penguin’s waddle has some advantages over the way we humans walk; and new research that shows how individuals can have a bigger impact on slowing climate change than we thought.
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:
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/individuals-really-can-slow-climate-change-muscle-memory-is-real-and-penguin-waddles
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 good news that muscle memory is real; why a penguin’s waddle has some advantages over the way we humans walk; and new research that shows how individuals can have a bigger impact on slowing climate change than we thought.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Muscle Memory Is Real, and That's Good News for Everyone — https://curiosity.im/2Xt82ap (from next Tuesday) (Ashley)
Whether you were a star athlete in high school or you got on a fitness kick just a few years ago, it's never fun to fall OUT of shape. I mean, getting your body back where it used to be can feel impossible when you're starting from square one. Fortunately for you, I have some good news: According to recent research, you may not be starting from square one after all. It turns out that your muscles remember when they were stronger, and they store that memory in their DNA. That’s right: muscle memory is real! When people talk about "muscle memory," they usually mean procedural memory — the brain-based memories that make it seem like your hands can just "remember" how to tie your shoe, or shuffle cards without you having to consciously think about it. This isn't that. Instead, this "memory" is a record of the muscle's earlier growth, and it's actually stored in the DNA of your muscle cells. This happens thanks to something called epigenetics, which deals with the way your environment can influence how your genes activate. To be clear, you're born with a certain set of genes, and that can't be changed. But how those genes exert their influence can. Research has shown that things like diet, stress, sleep, and chemical additives can change the way certain genes are expressed, thereby causing or preventing certain traits or diseases, even in your offspring. And for a 2018 study published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, researchers examined more than 850-thousand places on the DNA of male participants during a 21-week weight-training program. They found that in terms of how our genes express themselves, exercise has further-reaching effects than we previously realized. This could mean that kids who compete in sports may have an easier time getting and staying fit when they’re adults, and that heading back to the gym after slacking on your exercise routine could make things a lot easier than they were the first time. And there’s your takeaway: the journey back to where you used to be may be easier than the one getting there in the first place. [ad lib]
A Penguin's Waddle Is More Efficient Than Your Walk (Who's Laughing Now?) — https://curiosity.im/2MMcTzv (Cody)
We haven’t talked about any cute animals on this podcast lately, so let’s talk penguins. They’re totally underappreciated; I mean, Penguins swim with speed and grace, but on land, they're an adorable mess, heaving their portly bodies to and fro to shuffle one stubby little leg in front of the other. Well, don't be so quick to judge; that cartoonish walk is actually among the most efficient in the animal kingdom. It's even more efficient than yours. Who’s laughing now? [optional ad lib]
CODY: Back in the year 2000, researchers headed to Sea World to study the biomechanics of the penguin's classic waddle. They had 5 emperor penguins waddle across a special platform designed to measure the force of each step, along with the direction of that force and how fast each bird was moving. Penguins rock from side to side with every step, and the researchers thought this had to waste a whole lot of energy. But they were mistaken: Penguins' short legs and big feet might not be the best tools for getting around on land, but waddling is the best way to use the tools they've got. Walking efficiency doesn't just come down to bones and muscles — it's also about the way you use them. We humans have a pretty efficient way of walking, mostly because we fall forward slightly with every step. Basically, we’re cheating by using gravity to move forward. That extra help saves us 65 percent of the energy our muscles would need to exert if we relied on their force alone. That 65 percent figure is known as our energy recovery rate. Guess what the energy recovery rate is for emperor penguins? It’s 80 percent. That is, in fact, among the highest of ANY land animal. That's not to say penguins don't use a lot of energy to get around on land. When they're on terra firma, they actually expend twice as much energy as any other land animal their size. Having short legs and big feet (and knees tucked way up inside their bodies) that are hard to move along the ground is the steep price they pay for being good swimmers. Still, with their regular 50-mile treks to nesting grounds and how easily they hop over obstacles and scramble over inclines, they're not doing too badly for themselves. In fact, they may help humans in the long run. This research may help us understand, evaluate, and treat individuals with disabilities related to the way they walk. Everybody wins!
Individuals Can Have a Bigger Impact on Slowing Climate Change Than We Thought — https://curiosity.im/2RrHUY5 (from Saturday) (Ashley)
Speaking of penguins, let’s talk about climate change. Just kidding! Well, kind of. This is a happy story, I promise! A new study published last month in PLOS suggests that individuals can have a bigger impact on slowing climate change than we thought. And you can start with some well-meaning peer pressure. [ad lib]
ASHLEY: A lot of climate models actually treat human behavior as a given. They assume humans have particular demands on the planet, and researchers use those demands to figure out what they’ll do to the climate in the future. But environmental sciences professor Madhur Anand and his team from the University of Waterloo wanted to see what would happen in a climate model that took fickle human behavior into account. Specifically, they wanted to incorporate “social learning.” that’s the spread of behavior that happens when one person buying a programmable thermostat or biking to work inspires their friends to do the same. Peer pressure, basically. Here's what they figured: the way human behavior influences our warming planet isn’t just a one-way street. Our behavior influences climate change, but climate change ALSO influences human behavior. I mean, if you live somewhere with rising average temperatures, then you might be more likely to try to do something about it. As more people do something about it, social norms start to shift, which makes it more acceptable for even more people to do something about it. If enough people are inspired by others to take action, it's possible that their choices could help slow the warming of the planet. To figure out if this idea is true, the researchers would have to create such a model. And that's exactly what they did.
This was the first model of its kind, so they kept it simple. They started by assuming the world was made up of two types of people: "mitigators" did things to fight climate change, and "non-mitigators" did not. They calculated the costs of things like installing solar panels for mitigators, or paying a carbon tax for non-mitigators, along with things like having to move inland thanks to temperature fluctuations, and the social benefits that go along with following social norms, whatever those norms may be. The researchers modeled several different scenarios, changing things like how much it might matter to follow social norms, and how quickly people would pick up on the behaviors of others. And when they combined their social-learning model with an established climate prediction model, they found that peer pressure to mitigate global warming can have a real impact.
When they ran a control simulation that took human behavior out of the formula, temperatures rose forever. But with peer pressure involved, the temperatures began to level out. When social learning was slow, the rise in temperature topped out at 3.3 degrees Celsius — a devastating increase. But when social learning was at its fastest, the rise peaked at 2.2 degrees Celsius. That's not great, but it's at least closer to the 2-degree limit set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The effects of social learning were even greater than geophysical factors like surface heat reflectivity or soil or plant respiration. The bottom line is that your choices matter. Go ahead and buy those reusable bags, ride that bike, and switch to energy-efficient appliances. Even better, talk to your neighbors and attend town hall meetings. Take to the streets if you like! The only way we can make a difference is if everyone works to make a difference.
CODY: Let’s do a quick recap of what we learned today. But first, we want to thank our Patrons for bringing you today’s ad-free episode.
ASHLEY: A very special thank you to Michaela Mays, Ryan Day, Jared Breland, Walt DeGrange, Mark McCullough, and Dr. Braeden Johnson for supporting our show.
CODY: Okay, so what did we learn today?
[ad lib]
ASHLEY:You can read about today’s stories and more on curiosity-dot-com!
CODY: 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!