Curiosity Daily

Left Digit Bias w/ Dr. Bapu Jena and Bird-Catching Neanderthals

Episode Summary

Learn about how “left digit bias” affects your decisions and why researchers caught birds in caves with their bare hands. More from Dr. Bapu Jena: Listen to Freakonomics, M.D.: https://freakonomics.com/freakonomics-md/  What Do Grocery Store Prices and Heart Surgery Have in Common? (Freakonomics, M.D. Ep. 4) - Freakonomics. (2021, August 27). Freakonomics. https://freakonomics.com/podcast/fmd-left-digit-bias/  Follow @AnupamBJena on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnupamBJena   Follow @DrBapuPod on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBapuPod  Harvard faculty page: https://hcp.hms.harvard.edu/people/anupam-b-jena  Researchers studied Neanderthal hunting by catching thousands of birds w/ their bare hands by Briana Brownell Scientists Spent Years Pretending to Be Neanderthals Catching Birds by Hand. (2021). Vice.com. https://www.vice.com/en/article/akgmp4/scientists-spent-years-pretending-to-be-neanderthals-catching-birds-by-hand ‌ Smithsonian Magazine, & Gamillo, E. (2021, September 22). To Understand Neanderthal Night-Hunting Methods, Scientists Caught Thousands of Birds With Their Bare Hands in Spanish Caves. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-simulated-neanderthal-behaviors-by-catching-birds-with-their-bare-hands-180978737/  ‌Blanco, G., Sánchez-Marco, A., & Negro, J. J. (2021). Night Capture of Roosting Cave Birds by Neanderthals: An Actualistic Approach. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.733062  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.

Episode Notes

Learn about how “left digit bias” affects your decisions and why researchers caught birds in caves with their bare hands.

More from Dr. Bapu Jena:

Researchers studied Neanderthal hunting by catching thousands of birds w/ their bare hands by Briana Brownell

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.

 

Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/left-digit-bias-w-dr-bapu-jena-and-bird-catching-neanderthals

Episode Transcription

CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.

ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how “left digit bias” affects everyday decisions, with help from the host of the “Freakonomics, M.D.” podcast, Dr. Bapu Jena. You’ll also learn why researchers studied Neanderthals by catching thousands of birds with their bare hands.

CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.

Dr. Bapu Jena - How 'left digit bias' affects doctors (Ashley)

We've talked a lot on this show about cognitive biases that affect our decision-making. Well, it turns out that your doctor is not immune to those biases. And our guest today is going to tell you about one interesting example. Dr. Bapu Jena is a professor at Harvard Medical School, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research with both an M.D. and a Ph.D. in Economics. He's also the host of the new podcast Freakonomics, M.D., which explores fascinating ideas at the intersection of medicine, behavioral science and economics. Cody asked him a question that's actually the title of a recent episode: What do grocery store prices and heart surgery have in common?

[CLIP 6:03]

So if you're on the border between two numbers — whether that's your age, your lab results, or something else — make extra sure that you're getting the kind of care you actually need. Again, that was Dr. Bapu Jena, host of the new podcast Freakonomics, M.D. He'll be back tomorrow to talk about what birthdays have to do with COVID-19. 

Researchers studied Neanderthal hunting by catching thousands of birds w/ their bare hands by Briana Brownell (Cody)

Scientists don’t just sit around in lab coats playing with glass beakers all day. If you’re a long-time Curiosity Daily listener, then I HOPE we’ve gotten that point across to you by now. Still, when you imagine what scientists actually do all day, you probably don’t imagine someone hiding in a cave under the cover of night catching birds with their bare hands. And yet! That’s exactly what a team of Spanish scientists did to prove that Neanderthals used technology when they hunted together.

For years, scientists have found fossils of crowlike birds called choughs [CHOs] in Neanderthal caves. That suggested these early hominids might have been hunting the birds. But birds, you know… fly. They’re not easy to catch. Which makes you wonder how the Neanderthals did it.

Well, recently discovered evidence that Neanderthals used and created fire gave scientists a new idea: could they have used fire in some way to help them catch the birds?

To find out, you’d have to try it yourself. And that’s exactly what the Spanish research team did. 

The team waited until sundown to sneak up on the birds in their roosts. Then, they shined a flashlight on them to “dazzle” them. After they were dazzled, it was easy for the scientists to capture them in a net. Occasionally, the team even caught the dazed birds mid-flight with their bare hands. Once the birds were caught, they stayed completely motionless and didn’t try to attack their captors. So, the scientists figured it was very plausible that Neanderthals could have used a similar method to catch the birds.

Not only that, but Neanderthals would have had an even bigger advantage than humans in capturing birds at night. For one thing, fire comes with smoke, so dazzling the birds with fire might have been even more effective. And for another thing, compared to humans, Neanderthals could see much better in the dark.

The team estimated that about two or three choughs [CHOs] would’ve been enough to be a full meal for a Neanderthal. And a skilled hunting team could catch 40 to 60 per night, which is enough to feed three individuals for a week.

And this wouldn’t exactly be roughing it. It’d be a 40,000 year old gourmet meal, since even today, the red-billed chough [CHO] is a delicacy in some places. First, they’re very nutritious. They contain a lot of carotenoids [ker-AH-tun-noid] like those in, well, carrots. But they’re also incredibly tasty. Carotenoids are also a big part of what gives lobster, shrimp, and salmon their unique flavor….and their red color. 

Scientists are still piecing together the day-to-day life of Neanderthals from caves and fossils, and this adventure sheds a new light on the dazzling adventures of our hominid cousins. 

RECAP

Let’s do a quick recap of what we learned today

  1. ASHLEY: “Left digit bias” is your tendency to focus on the first digit in a number and ignore the rest. It’s why a retailer would list a price as four-ninety-nine instead of five dollars. And according to research, this bias even affects the way that doctors make decisions. A study looked at patients’ likelihood of having cardiac bypass surgery after having a heart attack. And it found that patients were about 20 percent more likely to get the surgery if they were 79 years and 51 weeks old than they would be if they were 80 years old — even though they were only a couple weeks apart in age. That’s a 20 percent difference in the chance of getting surgery, even though a year later, both groups are just as likely to stay alive.
  2. CODY: Now that you know about this bias, you can become a better advocate for yourself if you’re a patient. If you just passed a decade birthday milestone, like if you just turned 30 or 50 or 70, then ask your doctor if you’d be getting a different medical recommendation if you were a year or two younger. And when you see test results with an 8 or a 9 at the end, ask your doctor how they would react if it was a few points higher.
  3. ASHLEY: Scientists established evidence that Neanderthals probably used technology to hunt birds for food, by… using Neanderthal technology to hunt birds for food. Specifically, they shined a light on birds in their roost to dazzle them, then easily caught them with a net or with their bare hands. They figured Neanderthals would have an even easier time doing this, since using fire comes with the extra distraction of smoke, and Neanderthals could see in the dark better than humans can.

[ad lib optional] 

ASHLEY: The writer for today’s bird catching story was Briana Brownell. 

CODY: The audio editor for today’s episode was Ashley Hamer, who’s also our managing editor.

CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer, who was also an audio editor on today’s episode.

ASHLEY: Our producer and lead audio editor is Cody Gough.

CODY: [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.

ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!