Learn about why paying it forward has very real effects; musical animals that could help us understand how speech evolved in humans; and newly announced names for exoplanets that were crowdsourced from people just like you. Sources: Small acts of kindness at work benefit the giver, the receiver and the whole organisation | The British Psychological Society — https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/07/04/small-acts-of-kindness-at-work-benefit-the-giver-the-receiver-and-the-whole-organisation/ Everyday prosociality in the workplace: The reinforcing benefits of giving, getting, and glimpsing. | APA PsycNET — https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-24716-001 Wild gorillas compose happy songs that they hum during meals | New Scientist — https://www.newscientist.com/article/2078781-wild-gorillas-compose-happy-songs-that-they-hum-during-meals/ Food-Associated Calling in Gorillas (Gorilla g. gorilla) in the Wild | PLOS ONE — https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144197 100 000s of People from 112 Countries Select Names for Exoplanet Systems In Celebration of IAU’s 100th Anniversary | International Astronomical Union — https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1912/ Approved names | IAU100 — http://www.nameexoworlds.iau.org/final-results Dillingham woman chosen to name star and exoplanet | Anchorage Daily News — https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/science/2019/12/18/woman-from-dillingham-names-intergalactic-star-and-planet-after-alaska-rivers/ Proposers | IAU100 — http://www.nameexoworlds.iau.org/proposers Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing! Just click or tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about why paying it forward has very real effects; musical animals that could help us understand how speech evolved in humans; and newly announced names for exoplanets that were crowdsourced from people just like you.
Sources:
Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing! Just click or tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/real-effects-of-paying-it-forward-gorillas-humming-food-songs-and-new-crowdsourced-exoplanet-names
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 paying it forward has very real effects; musical animals that could help us understand how speech evolved in humans; and newly announced names for exoplanets that were crowdsourced from people just like you.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Paying it forward is real - Kelsey (Cody)
According to research, “paying it forward” isn’t just a touchy-feely gimmick or that tear-jerker movie starring Haley Joel Osment. No, paying it forward is a real thing with real effects. And it can make your workplace — and the world — a better place to be.
In a 2017 study, researchers from the University of California, Riverside assigned employees at Coca Cola’s Madrid office to be either givers or receivers. Givers practiced 5 acts of kindness for a personalized list of receivers over four weeks. Importantly, the “givers” got to choose what kind of kind actions they performed. Did they want to leave encouraging sticky notes on a friend’s desk? Bring their neighbor a coffee? Compliment someone’s new coat? It was up to them. In the meantime, they periodically checked in with the researchers about their happiness, life satisfaction, job satisfaction, mood, and experience of positive and negative behaviors.
The acts of kindness impacted office life in a big way. Over the course of the study, receivers noticed more acts of kindness around the office and felt more in control of their workdays. They also reported feeling happier. And the givers felt the benefits too. They felt more satisfied with life and with their jobs, and they also experienced fewer symptoms of depression. They even felt more competence and confidence in their work.
But here’s the kicker: Not only did these acts improve the well-being of both groups in the short and long term, but receivers were nearly three times as likely to "pay it forward," or perform their own act of kindness, after an interaction with their giver.
This goes to show that when you’re kind to someone, everyone can benefit. So go ahead and send some goodness out into the world! You never know where it might end up.
Gorillas hum happy songs - Kelsey (Ashley)
What do wild animals do while they eat? Do they talk through their days like we, humans, do? Do they eat in silence, staring at leaves and rocks like humans stare at phones or computer screens? Well, thanks to a team of German researchers, we now know what gorillas do while they eat. They hum happy little food songs. And these gorilla sounds could help us understand how speech evolved in humans.
Lots of animals make “food calls.” Scientists have documented the noises that chimpanzees and bonobos make while they eat, and they’ve even figured out some of the reasons behind those sounds. But when it comes to gorillas, we only had anecdotal reports from zookeepers. We knew nothing about the food calls gorillas make in the wild. So the researchers went to the Republic of Congo and studied two groups of wild western lowland gorillas. The team listened to them while they ate and heard two kinds of sounds.
Some gorillas made humming sounds, much like the sound a person makes while eating a really satisfying meal. It’s a steady, low-frequency sigh of contentment. [AUDIO CLIP]
Other gorillas sang. Like, they really sang. Their songs were short, sort of randomly pitched melodies. [AUDIO CLIP]
According to the researchers, the gorillas don’t just sing the same song over and over. Instead, it seems like they actually compose their food songs on the spot. A zookeeper from the Toronto Zoo confirmed that to New Scientist: each gorilla sings with its own voice and tune. And they sing loudest for their favorite foods.
But why do the gorillas sing? Are they just happily singing “nom nom nom” while they chow down?
Not really. The researchers noticed that the wild gorillas didn’t all have food songs. Only the dominant male silverbacks sang and hummed while eating. The reason, they thought, was social coordination.
It’s not that dominant males are the best singers. Instead, the leaders might use songs to tell the rest of the group that they should keep eating. In other words, “We’re all eating, and it’s safe to eat!”
That could be something to try the next time you want family dinner to keep going.
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ASHLEY: The ONLY way to get this free pillow, is to text Curious to 84-888.
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Crowdsourced names for exoplanets announced - Kelsey (Both)
ASHLEY: Before we get into this story, I should note that I think astronomers are very good at their jobs. I appreciate them for finding new planets and stars and cataloging the Universe. But are astronomers the best at naming things? No.
CODY: Yeah, I mean, the black hole imaged in 2019 was called M87-star, and the most energetic gamma-ray burst ever observed got the catchy title GRB 080916C. Not quite as evocative as they could be.
ASHLEY: Right. So when astronomers ask for naming help, it's a very good thing. That's what happened this year, when the International Astronomical Union ran a global campaign to name 112 sets of exoplanets and their host stars. People from 112 countries took part, and the names they came up with were truly inspired.
CODY: We’ve talked about naming competitions and other crowdsourced naming projects on this podcast in the past, but today we thought we’d take a look at the aftermath of a big campaign like this one. So you can hear for yourself what cool names people are coming up with.
ASHLEY: Right/yeah! For example, the planet HAT-P-36b has been renamed “Bran.” It orbits the star HAT-P-36, which is now called Tuiren. Why? Well, in the Irish legend, “The Birth of Bran,” Tuiren was a beautiful maiden who was turned into a dog by a romantic rival. She gave birth to two puppies, one of which was named Bran. The planet and star that now bear these names live in the constellation of Canes Venatici [kay-neez vuh-nat-uh-sahy], which means the Hunting Dogs. Cool, right? [LEAVE OUT GOT]
CODY: And in the constellation of Fornax, “the Furnace,” one star system got gemstone-themed names from Malaysia. The exoplanet HD 20868 b is now called “Baiduri,” [by-DOO-ree] which means “opal” in the Malay language, and the star HD 20868 is called “Intan,” [in-TAN] which means “diamond.”
ASHLEY: Who’s behind these cool new names? Regular people who submitted ideas. Like, take Ivory Adajar, a member of the Curyung (CHUHk-yung) Tribal Council in Alaska, who heard about the contest on social media. She thought she had nothing to lose, so she sat with her family for a while and thought about planets and their movements. Adajar saw a similarity between the path of an exoplanet and the path of a salmon swimming out to the ocean and back to the rivers, so she submitted the names of Alaskan rivers Nushagak [NEW-shuh-GAK] and Mulchatna for a planet and star. She won.
CODY: Maybe it’s just me, but I like Adajar’s idea better than the star’s original name, HD 17156. When she won, Adajar said, quote, “it felt like my ancestors were cheering me on.” unquote. We’re cheering her on, too.
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was scripted, 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!