Learn about why most conversations go on for a lot longer than we want them to; a genetic mutation that makes some people resilient to the cold; and how homing pigeons pass down their knowledge.
Learn about why most conversations go on for a lot longer than we want them to; a genetic mutation that makes some people resilient to the cold; and how homing pigeons pass down their knowledge.
Most conversations go on for twice as long as we want them to by Kelsey Donk
Around 20% of people have a genetic mutation that makes them resilient to the cold by Grant Currin
Move Over, Ancient Sages: Homing Pigeons Pass Down Knowledge Too by Hayley Otman
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/most-conversations-go-on-longer-than-we-want-them-to
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 why most conversations go on for a lot longer than we want them to; a genetic mutation that makes some people resilient to the cold; and how homing pigeons pass down their knowledge.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
If you’ve got social anxiety, you may want to brace yourself for this next story. Researchers recently found that most conversations go on for twice as long as we want them to — and we have no idea when the other person wants the conversation to end. Before you start spiraling out about how many times you’ve held people hostage in conversation, let’s look at the research.
To get a sense of how conversations work, a team of psychology researchers recruited 932 people to take part in two experiments. In the first, participants thought back on a recent conversation they had. In the second, the researchers paired people up with strangers. The pairs talked about whatever they wanted for as long as they wanted. Then after both experiments, the participants had to think back to their conversation and indicate whether there was a point they had wanted it to end — then predict what their conversation partner would say to the same question.
In both of the experiments, the conversations almost never ended when both people wanted it to. The conversations also didn’t end when one person wanted it to. In fact, when the researchers calculated the difference between when people wanted the conversation to end and when it actually ended, the average time was about half the duration of the total conversation. That is, the conversation went on for twice as long as anyone wanted it to. Cue the social anxiety.
To make things even more cringey, people were also pretty bad at noticing when the person they were talking to was ready for the conversation to end. They had no idea how different their partners’ desire was from their own, so they just kept talking, thinking everyone was having a good time!
Ending conversations appears to be what the researchers call a classic “coordination problem.” For social reasons, we typically try to conceal when we’re bored with a conversation or when we’ve started thinking about something else. Doing otherwise would be rude! But that makes it impossible for the other person to tell when a conversation should end. So instead, we just keep talking!
Hopefully, these scientists do more research into conversation to help us out. But until then, we can just take this as another reason to cut those Zoom calls even shorter.
You know how some people are better than others at handling the cold? Well, part of that might be thanks to a genetic mutation that about 1.5 billion of us humans are carrying in our genomes right this very second.
The gene in question is called ACTN3 [spelled out], and its job is to help the body make a protein called alpha-actinin-3 [ACK-tin-nin]. This protein is only expressed in fast-twitch muscle fibers — the kind that enable explosive power, like sprinting.
Most people’s DNA contains a variant of ACTN3 that works just fine, but about 20 percent of the global population has a different form of the gene. This form is called the loss-of-function variant, and as you can probably tell by the name, it doesn’t help the body produce alpha-actinin-3. People with that variant usually have more slow-twitch muscle fibers, which aren’t as powerful as the fast-twitch kind. They’re more associated with endurance activities, like long-distance running.
That sounds like bad news, right? Why would a trait like that evolve in the first place?
Researchers were wondering the same thing, and that’s why they invited 42 young men to sit in cold water for two hours. Why? Just to mess with them. Ha, just kidding. They did it to test the hypothesis that loss of function in the ACTN3 gene can offer an advantage by improving cold tolerance.
The researchers took blood samples from the volunteers to figure out who had functioning and non-functioning versions of ACTN3. Then they had each participant get up to his neck in cold water for 20 minutes. Then they got out for 10 minutes. Then they did the whole thing again. That went on for nearly 3 hours, or until their body temperature fell below about 96 degrees Fahrenheit (or about 36 degrees Celsius).
The results were pretty interesting. Only 30 percent of the volunteers who had a functional version of the gene were able to keep their body temperature above 96 degrees for the entire experiment, but 69 percent of the men with the non-functional gene variant managed to stick it out the entire time.
So why would less powerful muscle fibers lead to better cold tolerance? Because they don’t waste as much energy through shivering. The fast-twitch muscle fibers in people with a functioning ACTN3 gene can generate heat quickly but tire out easily. The slow-twitch muscle fibers associated with the non-functioning gene keep those people warm through extended, low-intensity muscle activation. It’s a more efficient way to stay warm.
It just goes to show that evolution doesn’t just take one path. There are a lot of ways to be an adaptable organism.
If there’s one thing humans have done for thousands of years, it’s learn from their elders. We put our heads together and expand on what our ancestors have already learned in order to make new advances with each generation. Well, research from Oxford University shows we're not the only ones. It turns out that homing pigeons pass down knowledge too — and that knowledge makes them better navigators.
The researchers behind the 2017 study started by sending 10 pigeons on specific flight routes. Once the pigeons learned where to fly, the researchers gave each one a partner. Then, they started continually switching out one pigeon at a time from the pairs, the way it might be if new generations of pigeons joined the group. Then they had these new pairs continue on the same routes. The hope was that each individual pigeon could pass its experience of the route to the newcomer, who would pass its knowledge to the next newcomer. That way, the collective intelligence of the group could gradually make the original route more efficient.
The pigeons may not have as much brain power as humans or primates, but they still were able to improve their navigational abilities over time. The groups that were switched out to simulate new generations eventually flew more direct routes than the pairs with the same members or than single birds.
The key discovery here is that the gradual improvement wasn’t thanks to new ideas coming from individual birds, but instead from a form of collective intelligence that grew from pairs of birds having to solve the problem together. That’s huge, since scientists once thought that humans were the only ones with the brain power to accumulate collective knowledge as a society. But if pigeons can do it, what other species can? Scientists will just have to observe other animals to see if they also work together over time to make improvements. After all, why wouldn't they? The wisdom of the ages is some pretty valuable stuff.
Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up. Starting with
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk, Grant Currin, and Hayley Otman, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Did you know my birthday was yesterday?
CODY: Yeah, my birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year. USUALLY, the last several years, the weekend closest to my birthday is when they schedule Wrestlemania. But this year’s Mania isn’t until NEXT Sunday. So usually I have a watch party with my ffriends over Zoom or Discord, but this year it’s like, well, most of my friends aren’t that into wrestling, so how am I gonna get them to watch, I mean they’re gonna be like “well it’s not your BIRTHDAY,” you know? So—
ASHLEY: CODY. Let’s not make this episode last twice as long as people want it to.
CODY: Oh, okay. Well then, Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!