Learn about the key ingredients for forging a friendship; why it’s so hard to make decisions with friends; and what it would mean if dark matter doesn’t exist and the law of gravity is wrong. 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: These Are the 3 Ingredients for Forging a Friendship — https://curiosity.im/2HouDw0 This Is Why It's So Hard to Make a Decision with Friends — https://curiosity.im/2YBpt5v What If Dark Matter Doesn't Exist and the Law of Gravity Is Wrong? — https://curiosity.im/2Yx2AA2 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 the key ingredients for forging a friendship; why it’s so hard to make decisions with friends; and what it would mean if dark matter doesn’t exist and the law of gravity is wrong.
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:
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/ingredients-for-new-friendships-dark-matter-debate-and-how-to-make-decisions-with-friends
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 the key ingredients for forging a friendship; why it’s so hard to make decisions with friends; and what it would mean if dark matter doesn’t exist and the law of gravity is wrong.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
These Are the 3 Ingredients for Forging a Friendship — https://curiosity.im/2HouDw0 (from Sunday) (Ashley)
ASHLEY: Back in kindergarten, friendship was easy. You asked the kid next to you to be your friend and the deal was done. But as people get older, it gets harder to make new friends. Luckily, sociologists have discovered the three simple ingredients needed to form lasting friendships. I’ll get into each one, but here they are: location; opportunity for interaction; and timing.
Let’s start with location. Friendships are more likely to form between people who live or work in the same office, neighborhood or city. The closer the better. One study found that married students living in a housing complex were most likely to speak to people living in the same building, and even more likely to speak to those living on the same floor. Of course, people make plenty of meaningful online friendships, but research suggest these friendships lack some of the depth and commitment of traditional friendships. So it’s definitely worth the effort to connect offline as well.
Of course, living in the same city won't help a friendship blossom if you’re missing the second ingredient: opportunities for interaction. Luckily, there are plenty of venues like gyms, bars, volunteer groups or recreational sport teams where interactions can happen. Part of the reason this interaction is important comes down to the mere exposure effect, which is when those you encounter the most start to grow on you.
The final variable is probably the trickiest one, and that’s timing. You and your potential friend need to be in the right time and place in your lives to form a new friendship. Friendship requires time, effort, energy and even funds. And some people just have enough friends.
Of course, there are other elements at play too, from similarities in personality to social skills and even physical attractiveness. But if there's one thing you should take away from this research, it's this: You’re not going to make friends with everyone and making new friends requires effort, but that potential friend might be closer than you think.
This Is Why It's So Hard to Make a Decision with Friends — https://curiosity.im/2YBpt5v (Cody)
CODY: Now that you know how to make a new friend, it’s time to learn how to deal with haivng friends. Specifially, how to make decisions with them. You've probably been in the situation where you and a friend are trying to figure out where to eat. You’re either trying to convince each other on your respective favorite place, or both insisting on whatever the other person wants. The result of either scenario is the same: You compromise on a place that suits neither of you. Sound familiar? Well, social researchers set out to test a hypothesis: that the best result in this situation would be for one person to act selfishly and the other unselfishly.
Their thinking was that if both people were selfish, neither would concede to the others’ suggestion, and the parties would continue to negotiate before compromising on, say, a mediocre burger joint, which is a long way down on both their lists. A similar result would occur with two unselfish people who are both too gracious to let their choice take preference. They’d reach a similar compromise, likely the same lousy burger joint.
But a decision reached between a selfish and unselfish person would yield a better outcome. The selfish person would likely pick an objectively good place to eat, and the unselfish person would agree to it and probably end up enjoying it more than if both people had compromised. To test their hypothesis, researches gauged participants’ level of selfishness and had them rank a series of videos in order of their favorites. Finally, participants were randomly paired and asked to decide on a video to watch together.
The results supported the hypothesis. The more similar in disposition the partners were, either selfish or unselfish, the less likely it was that they would reach a satisfactory decision. On the other hand, the less they matched on selfishness scores, the more likely they'd end up watching a video they both liked.
So the next time you and your friend are choosing a place to eat, consider your interpersonal dynamic. If your friend leans toward the selfish side, it might be best for you to go along with their suggestion. But if your friend is more of a people pleaser, skip the niceties and tell them where you really want to go. Otherwise, you could both end up at that lousy burger joint. [ad lib]
[NHTSA]
ASHLEY: Today’s episode is paid for by NIT-suh.
CODY: Does this sound familiar? “I’m not going very far.”
ASHLEY: “I’m in a rush.”
CODY: “It’s too uncomfortable.”
ASHLEY: “Sometimes I just forget.”
CODY: Don’t kid yourself, there’s no such thing as a good excuse for not buckling up.
If you’ve used any of these excuses or any others, you’re putting yourself at risk
of injury or death.
ASHLEY: In 2017, more than ten thousand people were unbuckled when they were killed
in crashes. That’s 51 percent of people killed in motor vehicle crashes that were not wearing seat belts.
CODY: No matter what kind of vehicle you drive, wearing your seat belt is the best defense in a crash. Even when you sit in the backseat, you still need to buckle up. That goes for when you ride in taxis and use ride sharing services, too.
ASHLEY: Cops are on the lookout and writing tickets, so why take the risk? In 2017 alone, seat belts saved nearly fifteen thousand lives. So do the smart thing and buckle up every trip, day or night.
CODY: Click it or ticket. Paid for by NIT-suh.
What If Dark Matter Doesn't Exist and the Law of Gravity Is Wrong? — https://curiosity.im/2Yx2AA2 (Ashley)
ASHLEY: What if dark matter doesn’t exist and the law of gravity is wrong? Stay with me here. Our understanding of gravity can explain why an apple falls from a tree and how our planet orbits the sun. But when it comes to the most gigantic things in the universe, like galaxies, our current theories fail us. The leading contender for explaining why big things don't behave like they should is a theoretical substance called dark matter. But we've never directly seen it, and worse, it doesn't fully explain the mystery. There's a minority that says dark matter doesn't exist and it's our understanding of gravity that needs tweaking. So who's right?
The first indication that there was something invisible messing with the universe's largest structures was in 1781, when the newly discovered planet, Uranus, failed to move according to Newton’s predictions. Scientists proposed the gravity of another, unseen body in the solar system could be causing this discrepancy (that unseen body ended up being Neptune). Later, when astronomers noticed that Mercury's orbit was off, scientists looked to a new theory instead. Einstein's general theory of relativity explained that massive objects like the sun could warp time and thus account for the quirk in the orbit.
Then in the 1930s, an entire galaxy was observed ignoring the laws of gravity with stars furthest from the center moving as fast as those closer in. In the 1960s, astronomers Vera Rubin and Kent Ford concluded that this was the result of some unseen force or mass, and the idea of dark matter was born.
Then in 1983, an Israeli physicist proposed an alternative solution. Maybe Newton was just wrong, or at least partly wrong. If we tweak Newton's second law of motion to allow for the laws to change in certain circumstances, we could explain discrepancies without the need to invoke the existence of invisible matter.
Since then, numerous papers have shown that modifications to gravity can actually yield the exact behavior we see in individual galaxies, but these theories break down when applied at a larger scale.
So, both theories have their challenges, although right now, dark matter is winning by a landslide. However, with good arguments on both sides, its best to keep an open mind. And, of course, we’ll keep updating you with any developments in solving this scientific mystery.
CODY: That’s all for today, but you can keep learning all weekend on curiosity-dot-com.
ASHLEY: And keep an eye on your podcast feed, because starting tomorrow, we’re going to be releasing special sponsored Saturday episodes of Curiosity Daily. It’s the beginning of a 5-week series on how science and technology are being applied to drive innovation and change the world.
CODY: We’ll be doing our usual thing every Sunday through Friday, so if there’s anything you’re curious about, then drop us a line through our podcast website, curiosity-daily-dot-com.
ASHLEY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Ashley Hamer.
CODY: And I’m Cody Gough. Have a great weekend!
ASHLEY: And stay curious!