Learn about whether binaural beats are worth the hype; how Australian dingos evolved from domesticated animals; and how to navigate some unexpected consequences of talking about historical injustices.
Learn about whether binaural beats are worth the hype; how Australian dingos evolved from domesticated animals; and how to navigate some unexpected consequences of talking about historical injustices.
Are binaural beats worth the hype? by Andrea Michelson
Dingos descended from domesticated dogs by Cameron Duke
Bringing up historical injustices makes majority groups defensive, but there's a way around it by Kelsey Donk
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/myths-and-science-of-binaural-beats-how-to-talk-about-historical-injustices-and-australian-dingos-evolved-from-pet-dogs
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 whether binaural beats are worth the hype; how Australian dingos evolved from domesticated dogs; and how to navigate some unexpected consequences of talking about historical injustices.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
If you’ve ever searched for mindfulness techniques to help you sleep or manage your anxiety, you may have come across binaural beats. It’s a form of sound therapy that creates the auditory illusion of a rhythmic beat, and it’s claimed to soothe stress, boost your mood, and increase focus. We’ll play a sample in a sec so you can hear what I’m talking about. But how exactly do binaural beats work, and what does the science actually say about their supposed benefits?
“Binaural” means “using both ears,” which is exactly what binaural beats do. You have to put your headphones on stereo sound for this trick to work. When you hear a slightly different tone in each ear, your mind creates the illusion of a third tone. That tone is the binaural beat, and it comes from the difference in frequency between the two tones. For example, if your left ear hears a 200-hertz tone and your right ear hears a 210-hertz tone, the binaural beat would be a 10-hertz tone.
[Binaural beat sample here -- this is a good simple one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUpr0aSYu6A]
Despite all the claims of what binaural beats can do to your mind, the evidence is mixed. A 2017 study published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found no evidence of binaural beats enhancing brain activity or changing emotional states. However, a 2019 study published in Psychological Research reported that binaural beats did have an effect on long-term memory, and that effect could be positive or negative depending on the frequency of the beats.
Most recently, a team of scientists compared binaural beats to monoaural beats, where an engineer edits all three sounds of a binaural beat into a single track. They found that both types of tracks led brain activity to synchronize with the beats. In fact, the effect on brain activity was actually stronger for monoaural beats, although the researchers say that binaural beats might cause far-apart areas of the brain to synchronize with each other at a frequency that’s different from the beat. What’s clear across the board, though, is that neither type of beat affected people’s moods. More research needs to be done to understand this sound therapy’s potential effects on memory and focus, so don’t write off binaural beats just yet.
Domestication is the process of taming an animal to live or work with humans. Usually, that goes one way: a species was wild until we domesticated it. But that’s not always the end of the story. Just ask the dingo. These wild Australian canines used to be pet dogs.
The dingo’s story begins about 8,300 years ago — long after we domesticated dogs, which scientists estimate happened between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. Around that period, some dogs separated from humans and moved south out of what’s now Southeast Asia. Sea levels at the time were low enough to create a "land bridge" to Australia, and these intrepid dogs crossed this land bridge, maybe to chase a stick thrown a little too far. Eventually, sea levels rose again and they were trapped on the continent. Now that they were out from under the influence of humans, the dogs began evolving under the pressures of their strange, new environment. Over the next thousands of years, that evolution morphed friendly domesticated dogs into the wild Australian dingo.
We know this story because of a recent genetic study that explored two questions: what genes separate dingos from dogs and how dogs fit into the dingo’s genetic past. To get answers, scientists analyzed genes from dogs, wolves, and dingos. They found that dingos have genetic artifacts they could have only inherited from domesticated dogs. This means that dingos represent a genetic lineage that took a meandering path from wild to domesticated and back, sort of like a gene pool chasing its tail. In fact, many traits that evolved in dogs through domestication have since disappeared from the dingo genome. For example, dogs evolved genes that allowed them to digest grains around the same time humans developed agriculture. But dingos have since lost those genes to become carnivores again. In total, the study identified 50 unique genes that separate dingos from their tamer ancestors.
In other words, the dingo’s origin story is sort-of like a real-life Call of the Wild. Buck would be so proud.
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The way we talk about the past can have unintended consequences. Fortunately, today we have new research to help us figure out HOW to talk about it.
And like… history is supposed to help us, right? We study where society went wrong in the past so we can avoid making the same mistakes in the future. When yesterday’s mistakes are still taking a toll on underrepresented groups today, it only makes sense to bring them up so we can fix them. But new research shows that that can backfire. According to this new research, when majority groups are reminded of past discrimination, it makes them defensive and doesn’t actually help anyone. Like I said though, the good news is that there’s a way around all this.
A recent survey found that 58 percent of American employees think that diversity and equity programs are there to address historical injustices. But researchers say that putting such a strong focus on historical injustice can make majority groups deny that there’s any current injustice at play.
The research follows something called “social identity theory.” It says that people derive their identity and sense of self-worth from the group they’re a part of. That group could be related to gender, race, religion, politics, or education. Whichever it is, people want to see their group in a good light. So when people are reminded of past bad behavior by their group, they get defensive.
In the study, that meant men who were assigned to read about historical injustices against women ended up denying that there was any discrimination against women today. Hearing about how women were once not allowed to vote or own property was associated with a drop in the men’s collective self-esteem, or how good they felt about being a member of the male gender. And as their self-esteem dropped, so did their sympathy for programs designed to boost gender equality in employment.
Basically, hearing how badly women were treated in the past can make men see their group in a tarnished light. And according to the study, when the majority group’s view of itself takes a hit, programs to help minority groups are both less effective and less popular.
The fix for this is surprisingly simple — and it’s not just “don’t talk about history.” When you revisit the injustices of the past, it’s important to also talk about the progress that’s been made since. In the study, highlighting how the status of women has improved over time softened the blow to the men’s social identity, which made them more likely to support employment equity programs today. To fix today’s problems, you should absolutely talk about historical hurts. But to get the whole team on board, don’t forget to highlight what’s changed for the better, too.
Let’s do a quick recap of what we learned today
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Andrea Michelson, Cameron Duke, and Kelsey Donk, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!