Learn how moons can have their own moons called moonmoons; how to tell whether you’re a forgiving person; and why you get sick when the seasons change. 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: Moons Can Have Moons and You Can Call Them Moonmoons This Quiz Tells You How Forgiving You Are Why Do People Get Sick When the Seasons Change? Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey 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!
Learn how moons can have their own moons called moonmoons; how to tell whether you’re a forgiving person; and why you get sick when the seasons change.
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:
Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey
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/moonmoons-why-you-get-sick-when-seasons-change-and-a-quiz-measuring-forgiveness
CODY GOUGH: Hi. 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'll learn how moons can have moons called moon moons, how to tell if you're a forgiving person, and why you get sick when the seasons change.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity on the award-winning Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Have you ever wondered if a moon can have its own moon? Well, you've come to the right place. The short answer is yes, it's technically possible. But it's not likely. Either way though, a moon's moon might have the best name ever. Moon moon.
CODY GOUGH: Does that mean that a moon's moon's moon is called a moon moon moon?
ASHLEY HAMER: I sure hope it does.
[LAUGHTER]
We're going to say moon moon throughout this story. But honestly, the International Astronomical Union hasn't picked an official term yet. Some ideas out there include grand moon's, moon squareds, nested moons, moonitos and moonettes. Let's be real though, moon moon is obviously the best option. So we're going to call it that anyway. But let's back up and talk about what a moon moon actually is.
First, we have to agree on what a moon is. A moon is loosely defined as a world that orbits another world. But as we've learned from the debate about Pluto, more on that later this week, by the way, we've seen moons orbiting lots of different things. Planets, dwarf planets, even asteroids. Well, in a paper that hasn't been peer reviewed yet, astrophysicist Juna Kollmeier has some ideas about what it might take to be a moon moon.
She says it would have to be less than 6 miles in diameter, and the moon's orbiting would have to have a strong enough gravity so that the moon moon doesn't go flying off into space. The moon moon would also have to have enough space not to crash into the moon, or to crash into the planet that the moon is orbiting. There's a lot of criteria, but technically, a couple of moons in our solar system could sustain a moon moon, including our own moon, and Saturn's moon, Titan.
We haven't discovered any actual moon moons though. At least one astronomer thinks we should be looking at Kepler 1625B, where we may have found the first moon outside of our solar system. Others will just have to keep their eye to the sky. Happy moon moon, hunting hunting.
CODY GOUGH: Do you consider yourself a forgiving person? Have you ever wondered how you can even know if you're a forgiving person? Today, we'll give you the tools to figure it out and help you understand some factors involved in forgiving and being forgiven, at least according to social psychologists. This is a thing that's important to me.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Forgiveness. Because as we will talk about, from the science-based standpoint, it can be really healthy for you to forgive and--
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Not always forget, but sometimes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. Forgive but don't let it happen again.
[LAUGHS]
Fool me once, shame on you. You know?
CODY GOUGH: I like that. I've read a lot of those platitudes like, forgiveness isn't about saying what you did is OK. It's about saying I won't let what you did affect me.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Or continue to hurt me.
ASHLEY HAMER: Totally
CODY GOUGH: Holding a grudge is hard and very, very energy consuming.
ASHLEY HAMER: It really is.
CODY GOUGH: So yeah. Forgiveness, man. Do it. In a 1998 study, researchers tried to figure out what factors make forgiveness more or less likely. They broke these factors into three categories: offense related ones like whether the person in the wrong had apologized, relationship related ones, like how close the people involved were before the incident, and social cognitive ones like how much the wrong person ruminated on the offense.
They found forgiveness was more likely when the transgressions had minimal impact, when apologies were involved, when the relationships were close and satisfying in the first place, and with wronged people who tended to ruminate and empathize with the person who hurt them. Another factor in forgiving someone was self interest. Like I was talking about before, psychological research backs up the idea that forgiveness can both alleviate stress and reduce the risk of mental illness.
But enough about other people. What about you? There's a scientifically validated questionnaire you can take right now to measure how forgiving you are. It's called the Transgression Motivations questionnaire. And it'll ask you how much do you agree with 12 statements about a specific person who has seriously hurt you recently. You'll be scoring on two dimensions called your avoidance motivation, and your revenge motivation.
Now, obviously, this quiz simplifies forgiveness. Sounds like I was just saying, forgiveness depends on the situation. But it's an interesting starting point, if you want a loose gauge of how inclined you are towards forgiveness. You can find a link to that questionnaire in our full write up today on Curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. We'll also put a link in today's show notes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Before we get to our last story, I want to give a special shout out to some of our Patreons for supporting our show. Thank you, Mark McCullough, Rebecca Broberg, and Michael Kovich, for contributing to our Patreon page. You are a vital part in helping us keep the show going. If you're listening and you want to support Curiosity Daily, then visit Patreon.com/curiosity.com, all spelled out.
CODY GOUGH: Even a couple of bucks a month would be a huge help. That's less than a cup of coffee. And our Patreons get lots of exclusive stuff like bonus interviews. One more time, that's Patreon.com/curiosity.com.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cold and flu season is here, and that begs the question, why is cold and flu season, cold and flu season? That is, why do people get sick when the seasons change. We actually made a video about this back in January, which you can find on our YouTube channel and in a few places on Curiosity.com. But it's worth a recap, in case you're curious.
CODY GOUGH: Or in case you're sick.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. So first off, let's bust a common myth. You've probably heard that cold weather can make you catch a cold. Scientists generally say this is false. It's all the circumstances around cold weather that can make you sick. The dry air irritates your mucous membranes, and all the time you spend inside gets you close to more sick people. There is some evidence that being cold could put you at risk of infection.
In one study from 2005, that I am really glad I was not a part of, researchers dunked people's feet in ice water, and 10% of them reported feeling cold symptoms afterwards. 10% isn't huge, but it's certainly nothing to sneeze at.
CODY GOUGH: I see what you did there.
ASHLEY HAMER: But setting that evidence aside, getting sick is about more than just one temperature. You're actually more likely to get sick during that shift from warm weather to cold weather, and from cold weather to warm. When winter turns to spring and when summer turns to fall, cold viruses thrive. The two main viruses behind the common cold are rhinovirus and coronavirus. And they love those temperatures that are right below your core body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
And fall turning to winter, marks the start of flu season. That could be because the influenza virus is built in a way that helps it spread when the air is cold and dry. This virus has a gel-like outer coating, that's like a suit of armor. The armor stays solid when it's cold, like just above freezing or colder. Once the temperature hits about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, that armor straight up melts away, leaving the virus inside your body with no armor, so it can spread around like a, well, a virus.
If it was 75 and sunny outside on a warm spring day, it would just die. Now, some illnesses do crop up year round, whether or not there's a change in the season. But there's solid evidence that a sudden change in temperature really can increase your chances of getting sick. A 2016 study found that people were more likely to catch a cold after three days of temperatures that were either above or below average. So if you get sick when the season shifts, go ahead, blame the changing weather.
CODY GOUGH: Read about today's stories and more on Curiosity.com.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow, for the award-winning Curiosity Daily, and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough. Stay curious.
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