Learn about two newly discovered ancient human species; the Digital Library of Babel; and benefits of running to music. Two new species of ancient human were just discovered by Grant Currin A new type of Homo unknown to science. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/tu-ant062321.php Hershkovitz, I., et. al. (2021). A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel. Science, 372(6549), 1424–1428. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh3169 TAUVOD. (2021). Dramatic discovery in Israeli excavation: A new type of Homo unknown to science [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGPKRuyd-5M “Dragon man” fossil may replace Neanderthals as our closest relative. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/cp-mf061721.php Discovery of “Dragon Man” Skull in China May Add Species to Human Family Tree. (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/science/dragon-man-skull-china.html Xijun Ni, Ji, Q., et. al. (2021). Massive cranium from Harbin in northeastern China establishes a new Middle Pleistocene human lineage. The Innovation, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130 The Digital Library Of Babel Could Contain Every Book Ever Written by Ashley Hamer Introduction paragraph: https://libraryofbabel.info/bookmark.cgi?uu.pkr_ujhmd75 Basile, J. (2021). About the Library. Libraryofbabel.info. http://libraryofbabel.info/About.html Adler, J. (2015, September 22). This Digital Library Contains Every Phrase That Could Ever Be Uttered. Smithsonian Magazine; Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/digital-library-contains-every-phrase-that-could-ever-be-uttered-180956623/ Sturgeon, J. (2015, April 23). Brooklyn Author Recreates Borges’ Library of Babel as Infinite Website. Flavorwire; Flavorwire. https://www.flavorwire.com/515783/brooklyn-author-recreates-borges-library-of-babel-as-infinite-website Running to music can counteract mental fatigue by Steffie Drucker Running to music combats mental fatigue a study suggests. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/uoe-rtm062221.php Lam, H.K.N., Middleton, H., & Phillips, S.H. (2021). The effect of self-selected music on endurance running capacity and performance in a mentally fatigued state. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, in press. https://doi.org/10.14198/jhse.2022.174.16 Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about two newly discovered ancient human species; the Digital Library of Babel; and benefits of running to music.
Two new species of ancient human were just discovered by Grant Currin
The Digital Library Of Babel Could Contain Every Book Ever Written by Ashley Hamer
Running to music can counteract mental fatigue by Steffie Drucker
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/new-human-species-digital-library-of-babel-running-to-music
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 two newly discovered species of ancient human; a digital library that could contain every book that’s ever been — or will be — written; and how listening to music could help your running routine.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Researchers have just announced the discovery of two potentially new species of ancient humans. TWO! The discoveries are based on finds from opposite ends of Asia.
The story of the discoveries begins in 1933, when a laborer working in northeastern China came across a huge, beautifully preserved skull. It had deep-set eye sockets, a bulbous nose, big brow ridges, oversized teeth, and plenty of space for a big ol’ brain. The guy probably knew the skull was important because another famous fossil had been discovered in Beijing a few years earlier. But there was a problem: he was in a part of China that was under Japanese occupation. As a result, he hid the skull in a well and kept quiet about it until right before he died in 2018.
Researchers dubbed the fossil “Dragon Man” and determined that he lived between 146,000 and 309,000 years ago. They think it represents a new species of ancestral human called Homo longi that’s more closely related to modern humans than any other known species, including Neanderthals. But not every expert is on board. Other researchers think Dragon Man belonged to another group of evolutionary cousins called the Denisovans. One way to solve this mystery would be to analyze the skull’s DNA, and researchers have yet to do that.
The second find came from a quarry in Israel. This find was just a fragment of a skull, but researchers concluded it came from a new group of ancient humans they call the Nesher Ramla [NESH-eh RAHM-leh] Hominids. The new species is a big deal because it upends what we thought we knew about Neanderthals.
The original owner of the skull fragment lived between 120,000 and 140,000 years ago. Researchers think that person had some features that looked more like a human and others that looked more like a Neanderthal. They think the species lived alongside ancestral humans in the same place and time. The find could help answer a big question scientists have about the history of humans: how did some Neanderthals arrive in Europe with early human DNA? Until now, there was no evidence of Neanderthal-Homo sapiens interactions before that encounter, but the fossil suggests that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens might have come from a common ancestor.
Both of these finds are incredibly exciting for anyone who cares about how modern humans came to be. Theories about these two discoveries will probably change as more researchers study them and as regular people come across more artifacts. That’s one of the most exciting parts of this line of research: no one can possibly know when the next worker is going to lift a shovel to reveal something that redefines our understanding of who we are and where we came from.
The Library of Babel is a fictional library imagined by Jorge Louis Borges in his story of the same name. It contains not only every book ever written, but also every book that could be written. If it were real, the words you’re hearing right now would be in that library somewhere. It’s not real, of course, but luckily, we have the internet. The words you’re hearing right now do exist on libraryofbabel.info, the digital version of Borges’ library created by Brooklyn-based writer Jonathan Basile. I’m not joking — we’ll link to the page this introduction appears on in the show notes.
Basile’s library describes itself like this. Quote, “If completed, it would contain every possible combination of 1,312,000 characters, including lower case letters, space, comma, and period. Thus, it would contain every book that ever has been written, and every book that ever could be—including every play, every song, every scientific paper, every legal decision, every constitution, every piece of scripture, and so on.” End quote. It doesn’t yet have that entire combination. Basile has only reached every combination of 3,200 characters, but that’s still 10^4,677 entire books. That’s...a lot of books.
Of course, it may not ever be finished. In an interview with Flavorwire, Basile pointed out that it takes more than a terabyte of storage to hold just a million books, or 10^6. The full library is more like 29^1,312,000 books. To save space, the library uses an algorithm that runs whenever someone searches for text — in response, it shows the user all of the pages that text would appear on if the library were real. Those pages aren’t generated when you search, or even saved; instead, they act like a set of coordinates that return the same text each time.
To really understand it, though, you need to visit the page yourself. Take the last thing you typed (a chat with friends? A Facebook post? Your home address?) and search the library. I’m willing to bet you found your words. Don’t feel so original now, huh?
For many people, a great playlist is essential to any exercise routine. especially running. I mean, how else are you supposed to get energized for a run after a long workday? If this is you, consider all that time you’ve spent building your workout playlist validated: Research confirms that listening to self-selected music while running virtually erases the effects of mental fatigue.
To investigate this, scientists at the University of Edinburgh designed two experiments using a group of 18 runners. Half the group ran a 5K on a treadmill while the other half did high-intensity running intervals interspersed with light jogging. Researchers first had the whole group do their workouts without any music to determine each runner’s baseline performance.
On a later visit, the runners did a 30-minute brain challenge known as a Stroop Test: A computer displayed the name of a color written in a different color — say, the word “green” printed in blue — and they had to correctly identify the color of the word. That’s a classic test researchers use to cause mental fatigue. Once the participants’ minds were thoroughly tired, they performed those same treadmill workouts without any music. As you might expect, they did significantly worse.
Finally, researchers had the participants create their ideal motivational playlist. Some of the songs they chose included “Everyday” by A$AP Rocky, “Power” by Kanye West and the ultimate exercise anthem, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor. Next, they got a mental workout from the Stroop Test, then performed the treadmill workout — this time to the sound of their new playlist.
Throughout all of that exercise, the team measured the runners’ heart rates and asked them to rate their level of exertion.
The music made a difference! Results from the interval runners showed that the playlist brought their mentally fatigued running performance back up to the same level it was before they were fatigued. The 5K runners showed small improvements with the music, too.
Why might this be? The scientists say it may come down to distraction. Listening to tunes helps put your mind on something besides the pain and fatigue signals echoing through your body.
So if you want to get in a workout after a brain-draining day at your desk, make sure to bring your headphones along.
Let’s recap today’s takeaways
[ad lib optional]
ASHLEY: Today’s writers were Grant Currin and Steffie Drucker.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer, who was also a writer on today’s episode.
ASHLEY: Our producer and audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!