Learn about what starquakes can tell us about our universe; why quitting is underrated; and the truth behind some of the most-Googled scientific misconceptions. 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: Starquakes Are Real, and They're Seriously Violent — https://curiosity.im/2sVIMst Why Quitting Is Underrated — https://curiosity.im/2t4W5XT 10 of the Most-Googled Scientific Misconceptions — https://curiosity.im/2t0jFEN 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 what starquakes can tell us about our universe; why quitting is underrated; and the truth behind some of the most-Googled scientific misconceptions.
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/quitting-is-underrated-most-googled-scientific-misconceptions-and-starquakes-in-the-universe
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 what starquakes can tell us about our universe; why quitting is underrated; and the truth behind some of the most-Googled scientific misconceptions.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Starquakes Are Real, and They're Seriously Violent — https://curiosity.im/2sVIMst (Ashley)
You know about earthquakes, and we’ve talked about moonquakes. And today, we’re gonna go one step further and talk about… wait for it… STARQUAKES. They’re real, and they are SERIOUSLY violent. And these explosions in space reveal information about stars that help us unravel the mysteries of our solar system. Let me give you an example. Scientists are still learning about starquakes, but one in particular stands out. In December 2004, scientists observed a massive quake 50-thousand light-years away, in the neutron star known as SGR 1806-20. Neutron stars like that one are the leftovers of a huge star caving in on itself at the end of its life, so they're extremely dense with a strong gravitational pull. The stars themselves are small enough to fit in a medium-sized city, but a teaspoonful of neutron star matter would weigh at least a billion tons here on Earth. When the starquake on SGR 1806-20 happened, it released a flash of energy that lasted about a tenth of a second. According to Space-dot-com, even that fraction of a second released more energy than the Sun emits in 150-thousand years. The flash was brighter than anything we’ve ever seen from beyond our solar system. Scientists think it was caused by an abrupt change in the star's magnetic field. A neutron star's intense magnetic field is locked to its solid crust, so a change in one leads to a change in the other — meaning all of that incredibly dense matter went crack. The result? A massive starquake. The data scientists take during starquakes like this one help them measure light waves they wouldn’t be able to observe otherwise. Astronomers typically use light waves of all wavelengths to understand the nature of the universe, but X-ray astronomers specifically focus on that one part of the electromagnetic spectrum to measure celestial bodies. X-rays allow scientists to learn more about what might make up the inside of the neutron stars they're measuring, and how thick the crust might be, based on the waves emitted. If you’re interested in more x-ray research, then follow NASA’s first neutron star mission. They’re calling it NICER, and they say it’s the world’s first demonstration of X-ray navigation in space. For 18 months, a payload attached to the International Space Station and made of X-ray mirrors will closely observe neutron stars for starquakes and other phenomena like thermonuclear explosions. NASA says they even hope to learn about the possibility of X-ray communications during this mission, which would be helpful in future space exploration.
Why Quitting Is Underrated — https://curiosity.im/2t4W5XT (Cody)
Quitting is underrated. Yeah, I said it. Our culture glorifies perseverance, but there’s a lot of research that shows that sometimes quitters DO prosper. Hard work is a key to success, sure, but today I want to get into the science of strategically giving up. [I did this in college, and it was a very good thing. But man, it was hard. / ad lib]
CODY: Here’s the thing. A lot of people look at their life in terms of what economists call sunk costs. That’s the cost of something you’ve already paid for that you can’t recover. It’s not just about money, though — it can refer to the amount of time you spent on something. So let’s say you wanted to make a living playing video games full-time and streaming online on Twitch or YouTube. All that time you spend building a website and recording and editing broadcasts and marketing your show is a sunk cost. Even if you don’t see ANY traction with getting more viewers or making any money, you might think to yourself, how can you quit now? You’ve already put so much time and energy into your dream! You’re almost there! The thing is, as Steven Dubner notes on his Freakonomics podcast, thinking this way means you’re constantly looking backward, into the past. You’re focusing on what you’ve already done, which you can’t change. This often leads to what's known as the sunk-cost fallacy. That’s when you keep at something because otherwise, you’ll feel like you’ve “wasted” all that time you’ve spent. Think of this, though: everything you do, presently, right now, has an opportunity cost, as economists put it. You're abandoning all the things you could have done with that same time and effort. When you think in terms of opportunity costs, the central question of your life isn't "What have I done so far?" — it's "What's my most compelling option right now?" Economists aren’t the only people saying that quitting can be a good thing. Even the Harvard Business Review has positive things to say about it, saying quitting can set you free from mundane busywork with minimal payoff. Quitting also opens you up to opportunities that are better suited to your talents. Try calling your obvious failure a failure early on, by “failing quickly,” as economist Steven Levitt puts it. That’ll help you try more things and ultimately find that perfect fit for who you are. And by the way, research shows that when you can let go of impossible dreams without beating yourself up, you’re less stressed, you’re likely to sleep better, and you’re less likely to have health issues, including stuff like constipation, eczema, and even depression. Just remember that while quitting is not the answer to every problem, never quitting is nothing to be proud of either. The real goal is to know when to give up and when to keep going.
10 of the Most-Googled Scientific Misconceptions — https://curiosity.im/2t0jFEN (Both)
ASHLEY: Our goal is to satisfy your curiosity, and one way for us to know what people are curious about is, well… Google. The website Information is Beautiful identified the most searched-for myths and urban legends. So today we thought we’d take the most science-focused items on that list and dig into 10 of the most-Googled scientific misconceptions.
CODY: We’ll start with… [check article]
ASHLEY:
[back and forth, etc]
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