Learn about a breakthrough technology that can translate thought into speech; a Navy SEAL’s method for mental toughness; and why airplane seatbelts are the way that they are. 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: Breakthrough New Technology Can Translate Thought Into Speech — https://curiosity.im/2MMn7fo The Navy SEAL 40% Rule Can Help You Achieve Mental Toughness — https://curiosity.im/2DSfqBL If Cars Have Shoulder Seat Belts, Why Don't Airplanes? — https://curiosity.im/2DPPs1v 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! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about a breakthrough technology that can translate thought into speech; a Navy SEAL’s method for mental toughness; and why airplane seatbelts are the way that they are.
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! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/new-algorithm-can-turn-thoughts-into-speech-airplane-seat-belts-and-the-40-percent-rule
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about a breakthrough technology that can translate thought into speech; a Navy SEAL’s method for mental toughness; and why airplane seatbelts are the way that they are.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Breakthrough New Technology Can Translate Thought Into Speech — https://curiosity.im/2MMn7fo (Cody)
For the first time ever, scientists taught an algorithm to translate thoughts into recognizable speech. Yeah. Researchers at Columbia University and Hofstra/Northwell School of Medicine have made human thought audible. And this groundbreaking research has big implications for medicine. The breakthrough relies on what’s called a vocoder. That’s the same technology that powers our robot butlers like Alexa and Siri. A vocoder is just a computer algorithm that can synthesize human speech. And in this case, the research team taught such an algorithm to recognize and translate brainwave patterns in a person's auditory cortex into speech. The auditory cortex is the part of the brain that's activated when we speak and listen, and — importantly! — when we imagine speaking and listening. In other words, when we think. I’m oversimplifying this a little, since the definition of thought is actually an open philosophical question. But in the context of this study, I’m talking about what’s called inner speech, or language we’ve actively called to mind. So like, your brain can PICTURE a sunflower, but that’s not the type of verbal thought this study was focused in on. For the researchers to teach the vococoder how to translate verbal thoughts, they used brain scans that were taken during routine brain surgeries on epileptic patients. They tracked the activity in the auditory cortex of these patients while they listened various people read sentences out loud. Over time, the scans taught the vocoder to match neural activity to simple speech. So far, it can quote-unquote "read" the numbers 0 through 9 from brain activity alone; next, researchers plan to experiment with other words and sentences. That’s a big breakthrough, of course, but the other groundbreaking part is that the vococoder’s robo-voice can translate brainwaves reliably and intelligibly. The team found people could understand and repeat the sounds the vococoder made about 75 percent of the time. Heck, I can barely get Siri to understand what I’m saying that often. This technology is great because one day, it could help people who can’t speak connect with the world, whether they’ve lost that ability because of a stroke, ALS, or some other illness or injury. The research is still in the early stages, but some day, this vocoder technology could be built into an implant that could help patients communicate just by thinking. And ideally, it would only translate thoughts on COMMAND. Because if you think online privacy is hard to keep now, imagine if you had a device that could literally translate your thoughts. [ad lib]
The Navy SEAL 40% Rule Can Help You Achieve Mental Toughness — https://curiosity.im/2DSfqBL (Ashley)
If you've ever run a marathon, or survived a natural disaster, or given birth, you know that your body is capable of much more than you think. One U.S. Navy SEAL has turned this idea into a life hack that you can use to achieve mental toughness. It’s called the 40 percent rule, and it’s pretty simple: when your mind says you're done, you're only 40 percent done. The idea came from a Navy SEAL named David Goggins, and some people call him the toughest man alive. I mean, he's an Ironman triathlete who finished fifth in the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley. And he used to hold the record for most pull-ups completed in 24 hours. A billionaire named Jesse Itzler paid Goggins to live with him for a month and teach him how he did it all. The first day he was there, Goggins asked Itzler how many pull-ups he could do. Here’s what Itzler said happened next: quote, “I'm not great at pull-ups. I did about eight ... He said, okay, take thirty seconds and do it again. So thirty seconds later I got up on the bar and I did six, struggling. He said, all right, one more time. We waited thirty seconds, and I barely got three or four, and I was done," unquote. And Goggins told him they weren't leaving until he did a hundred. Itzler thought he’d never do it, but he did! Thus, the 40 percent rule. Goggins would say that when your mind is telling you you’re done, you’re really only 40 percent done. And believe it or not, there’s some scientific research to support this idea. A number of studies have found that the placebo effect has a big impact on sports performance. That is, if you think something will improve your performance, it probably will. The moral of the story is: the next time you think you can't do any more, remember that you probably can.
If Cars Have Shoulder Seat Belts, Why Don't Airplanes? — https://curiosity.im/2DPPs1v (Republished) (Cody)
Have you ever wondered by seatbelts on airplanes don’t have shoulder belts? You know, the thing you pull across your chest when you get in your car? And what’s up with wearing a seatbelt on an airplane, anyway? Believe it or not, you really do have to wear your seatbelt. Here’s the deal. As reported by HowStuffWorks, even if your flight is going smoothly and all systems are go, you might hit turbulence. If you’ve ever flown, then you probably know what I’m talking about. And turbulence can be pretty hardcore. Consider this: if you’re not strapped in right, you could hit a patch of turbulence and your head could smack right into the top of the plane. I’m 6-foot-four-inches tall. That’s just over 193 centimeters. And I have flown in some TINY planes. So this is a real concern! If you think that sounds silly, then it might be because you’re getting the physics wrong. Here’s the thing: when you hit turbulence, it’s not you being lifted up into the air. It’s that the plane DROPS. Those seatbelts are designed to protect you FROM the airplane. This goes back to Newton’s first law of motion: a body at rest will stay at rest unless it’s acted on by an outside force. [Paraphrasing, by the way.] If the plane suddenly drops because of turbulence, then you’re the one at rest. The plane very literally will drop out from under you. Now, typically, your standard lap seatbelt will be good enough to keep you safe. Shoulder harnesses make a pretty big difference in smaller planes, though; according to the Federal Aviation Administration, they can reduce serious injuries from accidents by 88 percent and fatalities by 20 percent. But for bigger planes, they’re expensive to install and hard to get working right, not to mention they might annoy the general public on top of all the other flying pet peeves you have to deal with, like paying to check your luggage or being stuck in the middle seat. Gross. And the thing is, there were zero people that died in a commercial jet or airliner incident anywhere on the entire planet in 2017. Kinda tough to get the fatality rate much lower than that, you know? Just be happy shoulder straps are one less thing you’ll have to deal with after you’re done going through that endless security line and paying to check your bags. Just remember to stay buckled up, and the friendly skies will seem a lot more friendly.
ASHLEY: That’s all for today, but you can keep learning all weekend on curiosity-dot-com. This weekend, you’ll learn about 15 ways you might be doing your laundry wrong;
How having junk food nearby can make you pick something healthier;
What would happen if you traveled faster than the speed of light;
How envy can be good for you;
Why the Earth’s core doesn’t melt;
And more!
CODY: If there’s something ELSE you’re curious about, then email your question to podcast-at-curiosity-dot-com. We might answer your question on a future episode!
ASHLEY: That’s podcast-at-curiosity-dot-com. Come hang out with us again Sunday on the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m Ashley Hamer.
CODY: And I’m Cody Gough. Have a great weekend!
ASHLEY: And stay curious!