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: It's Easier to Achieve Your Goals When You Start on a Monday There's No Such Thing as Good Bacteria and Bad Bacteria Do You Believe the Marilyn Monroe Murder Conspiracy? If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please considersupporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! Learn about these topics and more onCuriosity.com, and download our5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable ourAlexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
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!
Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/marilyn-monroe-murder-conspiracy-using-monday-to-achieve-your-goals-and-good-and-bad-bacteria-dont-exist
CODY GOUGH: All right. We've got three stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you learn about why it's easier to achieve your goals when you start on a Monday, the story behind the Marilyn Monroe murder conspiracy theories, and why there's no such thing as good bacteria and bad bacteria.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity. It's Monday. Not everyone's favorite day of the week, but we might give you a reason to look forward to it, especially if you've got any goals. Ashley, what's the last goal you set for yourself?
ASHLEY HAMER: Completing a triathlon, which I did a couple of weeks ago.
CODY GOUGH: You remember when you started training for that?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. It was several months before that. It was like a several month process. I don't know what day of the week it was though.
CODY GOUGH: I wonder if it was on a Monday.
ASHLEY HAMER: I wonder.
CODY GOUGH: Because according to research, Monday is actually a really great time to start something. Starting new habits at the beginning of the week can actually motivate you to pursue your goals thanks to something called the fresh start effect. That's because the start of a new week, or month, or year creates a psychological shift that lets you leave your imperfections behind you while you look forward to new beginnings, like on a Monday.
This comes from a 2015 study titled, Put Your Imperfections Behind You. And the study's authors say, quote, for individuals who hope to curtail bad behaviors but struggle with initiating goal pursuit, temporal landmarks that open new time periods may prevent vicious cycles of impulsive behavior stimulated by, what the heck, rationalizations, unquote.
So basically, they're saying that once you're entering a new time period, like a week, then that's a good time to start. The study found that the bigger the fresh start, the greater the motivation. So if you need some temporal landmark ideas, try your birthday, or the beginning of a school semester, or the first day of a new job, or the first day of the month. Or of course, there's always Monday. Something to look forward to.
ASHLEY HAMER: Want to talk about bacteria? Look, bacteria gets a bad rap. It's not all bad, you know. In fact, there's no such thing as good or bad bacteria. What they do for you depends on context. So today we'll talk about some of the nuances of bacteria. Scientists categorize bacteria under a few titles, not just good and bad.
The title of mutualist is when both the bacteria and host benefit from their presence. Commensal means only the bacteria benefit, but they don't cause harm. And bacteria are labeled a parasite when their presence actively causes harm. Even with those definitions though, there's a lot of gray area. There's a bacterium that protects you from cancer of the esophagus, but that same strain can cause ulcers and stomach cancer. So is it good or bad?
Science writer Ed Yong puts it this way, writing that, quote, labels like mutualist, commensal, pathogen, or parasite don't quite work as badges of fixed identity. These terms are more like states of being, like hungry, or awake, or alive, or behaviors like cooperating or fighting, unquote. I mean, people even consume probiotics for their health. And that's live bacteria.
Although here's a fun fact, even the most concentrated probiotics contain way fewer bacteria than you'd find in your gut by at least hundredfold. Probiotics have shown promise for certain people, like people with autoimmune disorders, people taking antibiotics, and preterm infants. But there's not much evidence that they do anything for people who are already healthy. That's not to say they're never beneficial, but just remember the point of this whole story. You can't really simplify bacteria to say they're just good or bad. Hashtag, not all bacteria.
CODY GOUGH: Today's episode is sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
ASHLEY HAMER: Everyone knows about the risks of driving drunk. You could get in a crash, or people could get hurt or killed.
CODY GOUGH: Let's take a moment to look at some surprising statistics. Almost 29 people in the United States die every day in alcohol-impaired vehicle crashes. That's one person every 50 minutes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Even though drunk driving fatalities have fallen by a third in the last three decades, drunk driving crashes still claim more than 10,000 lives each year. Drunk driving can have a big impact on your wallet too. You could get arrested and incur huge legal expenses. You could possibly even lose your job.
CODY GOUGH: So what can you do to prevent drunk driving? Well, plan a safe ride home before you start drinking, designate a sober driver, or call a taxi. If someone you know has been drinking, take their keys and arrange for them to get a sober ride home.
ASHLEY HAMER: We all know the consequences of driving drunk. But one thing's for sure. You're wrong if you think it's no big deal. Drive sober, or get pulled over.
CODY GOUGH: Ashley, do you know a lot about Marilyn Monroe?
ASHLEY HAMER: You know, I moved to Chicago for a Marilyn Monroe musical.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. The musical is based on Some Like It Hot, is called Sugar. And I was part of the all-female band that was on stage.
CODY GOUGH: What an incredible-- theater is so valuable and important because my number one reference point for Marilyn Monroe is my friend Amber wrote and performed a one-person show about Marilyn Monroe.
ASHLEY HAMER: Awesome.
CODY GOUGH: And she did that whole kind of like life and times of her. And it was really, really good. It was like six or seven years ago, and I still remember it.
ASHLEY HAMER: Nice.
CODY GOUGH: She had a fascinating life. And I understand why people are so into her story, although it is kind of tragic.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right.
CODY GOUGH: And if you're listening and you don't know much about Marilyn Monroe, I mean, she was arguably the biggest star of her time. And she is still a major pop culture icon today. She was found dead on August 5th 1962 from a drug overdose in her Los Angeles home. And officially, her death was deemed probable suicide from a drug overdose.
But unofficially, there might be more to the story. Now, we don't promote conspiracy series here at Curiosity, but we do promote knowing stuff. And Marilyn Monroe is someone you should know about. So we're going to tell you about some of the Marilyn Monroe conspiracy theories that are out there, just so you know what they are, and maybe even to give you something to think about that's a little less sciencey than usual. Because a cultural reference point is a cultural reference point no matter how rooted in reality it is.
There are several conspiracy theories around Marilyn's death, but the theory that's arguably the juiciest is the Kennedy conspiracy. If you know anything about Marilyn Monroe, then you probably know that there were rampant rumors that she was having an affair with US President John F. Kennedy or possibly with his brother, Robert Kennedy. And in a BBC interview in 1983, Monroe's housekeeper, Eunice Murray, broke down and said, well, of course, Bobby Kennedy was there on August 4th. And of course, there was an affair with Bobby Kennedy. That certainly didn't help calm down the rumors.
After this happened, along with the continued speculation of an affair with JFK, a lot of people believe that there was a secret plot to urge her suicide as a cover-up for the affairs. Monroe did struggle with depression and had staged suicide attempts in the past. And it's thought that she had threatened to make her affairs public.
We wrote more about this theory and a bunch of other ones, some far more outlandish, in our full write-up today on curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. But you should know that part of the reason why the death of Marilyn Monroe is so interesting to so many people is because her life and death is riddled with mystery, lies, deception, and some actually plausible motives for wanting her killed.
Her autopsy didn't reveal any pill residue in her stomach, which suggests that she had to have received the drugs in some other manner. And toxicology samples from her liver were taken, but never tested. And honestly, if there is more to the official story, there are too many conflicting narratives from people long dead to ever know the real truth. But now, hopefully, you understand a little better why this particular conspiracy is so captivating to people who love history, Hollywood, and well, Marilyn.
ASHLEY HAMER: Read about these stories and more today on curiosity.com.
CODY GOUGH: Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Stay curious.
ANNOUNCER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.