Learn about why we drive on parkways and park on driveways; a flapping spacecraft that’s being designed to explore Venus; and why recalling a word on the tip of your tongue ensures that you’ll forget it next time. 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: A Flapping Spacecraft Is Being Designed to Explore Venus — https://curiosity.im/35zy24i Recalling a Word on the Tip of Your Tongue Helps Ensure You'll Forget It Next Time — https://curiosity.im/2sotZtp Additional sources: park (n.) | Online Etymology Dictionary — https://www.etymonline.com/word/park?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_7220 driveway (n.) | Online Etymology Dictionary — https://www.etymonline.com/word/driveway#etymonline_v_31894 Why Do We Park on a Driveway and Drive on a Parkway? | Alternatives Journal — https://www.alternativesjournal.ca/community/blogs/food-and-culture/why-do-we-park-driveway-and-drive-parkway An etymology of “parking” | West North — https://westnorth.com/2012/10/12/an-etymology-of-parking/ 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 we drive on parkways and park on driveways; a flapping spacecraft that’s being designed to explore Venus; and why recalling a word on the tip of your tongue ensures that you’ll forget it next time.
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:
Additional 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/remembering-words-on-the-tip-of-your-tongue-parkways-vs-driveways-and-a-flapping-spacecraft-to-explore-venus
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, we’ll answer a listener question about why we drive on parkways and park on driveways. You’ll also learn about a flapping spacecraft that’s being designed to explore Venus; and why recalling a word on the tip of your tongue ensures that you’ll forget it next time.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Listener Question — Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? (Ashley)
ASHLEY: We got a listener question from Reddit user CaueRego, who wants to know the answer to the age-old question: why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Great question!
This particular English eccentricity is a great demonstration of how language can hold onto relics of the past. It turns out that the verb “park” (in the sense of putting your car somewhere) and the noun “park” (in the sense of a green space where you can play frisbee and admonish people for feeding the ducks) both have the same origin. In the mid-13th century, “park” referred to an enclosed hunting preserve. Around the 1660s, enclosed lots like these were established in London not for hunting, but for public recreation, which is when our modern sense of the noun “park” was born. Eventually, this green meaning became so ingrained that it became a verb: in the mid-1800s, “to park” meant to create a little patch of parkland by planting trees or flowers. Cities would border roads with “parkings,” or little strips of flowers or grass for decoration and temperature control. On special occasions, they’d be used to hold horse-drawn carriages, but as the automobile got more popular around the turn of the 20th century, these “parkings” were given up for car storage. Some sources say that this is where we got the car-related term “parking,” but others point out that “to park” has referred to arranging military vehicles in an enclosure since the early 1800s.
“Driveway,” on the other hand, has pretty much always meant what it does today — a path from a public road to a private house, which might be a pretty long way if you have a large estate. Of course, these days, most people’s houses are very close to the road, so we don’t do much driving on driveways. Basically, we used to drive and park on driveways, but these days we mostly just park on them.
A little while after parks popped up in cities, the word “parkway” was born. That literally meant a way through a park — that is, high-speed paths that took horse-drawn carriages from one side of the park to the other. People have driven on parkways as long as parkways have existed.
Sources:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/park?ref=etymonline_crossreference#etymonline_v_7220
https://www.etymonline.com/word/driveway#etymonline_v_31894
https://westnorth.com/2012/10/12/an-etymology-of-parking/
A Flapping Spacecraft Is Being Designed to Explore Venus — https://curiosity.im/35zy24i (Repub) (<400 WORDS) (Cody)
A flapping spacecraft is being designed to explore Venus. You know how there’s a saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going? Well that’s especially true for some scientific explorers planning to discover more about Venus. I mean, on Venus, you have to deal with a hellish landscape, extremely thick atmosphere, and clouds of sulfuric rain. Those tend to make Venus pretty much impossible to explore. And that’s why scientists have come up with a pretty cool potential solution: as in, a morphing spacecraft inspired by a stingray.
It’s known as BREEZE, which is short for Bio-inspired Ray for Extreme Environments and Zonal Explorations. And it was designed by the University of Buffalo's Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids (CRASH) Laboratory. It’s one of 12 revolutionary concepts selected by NASA as part of its Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which funds innovative projects that are in early-phase development.
The key is the unique design of BREEZE's morphing wings. They’ll use an internal tensioning system to generate thrust, ensure control and stability, and provide additional lift and mechanical compression. All of this allows for buoyancy control, which lets the BREEZE navigate through Venus' atmosphere the same way a stingray navigates through water.
This is especially important since the temperatures and air pressure on Venus are only stable enough for a craft survive ABOVE Venu’s dense clouds. Those are about 30 miles, or 50 kilometers, above the surface. In fact, some scientists have even speculated that these altitudes are where life could be found. That life would probably come in the form of extremophile organisms that thrive in a hot and acidic environment (as in, they’re thermoacidophilic).
The craft would circumnavigate the planet every four to six days. And it would gather atmospheric samples, track weather patterns, monitor volcanic activity, and gather other data on Venus’ environment. It would rely on solar panels to recharge its instruments.
But Venus doesn’t get all the glory: here on Earth, we could use this technology for missions to underwater environments. Or, of course, on other bodies in the solar system with dense atmospheres.
It’s one of many inspired ideas that have been proposed in recent years for exploring Venus' atmosphere. The next two decades will be an exciting time for space exploration. Whether it's stingray-inspired gliders in the atmosphere of Venus, dragonfly-inspired drones in the skies of Titan, or snake-inspired robots beneath the surface of Mars, there are several proposed missions to explore exotic and mysterious environments.
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ASHLEY: Today’s episode is sponsored by Mova Globes: rotating globes powered by light and earth’s magnetic field.
CODY: You probably can’t personally explore Venus right now, so how about putting it on your desk? Ashley has a Mova Globe of Mars on her desk, and there are plenty of other planets and moons to choose from — not to mention, of course, maps of Earth.
ASHLEY: Mova Globes use an out-of-this-world technology that’s the first of its kind. That’s why the globes turn on their own when they’re exposed to ambient light: hidden magnets make them move, so you don’t have to deal with batteries or messy cords.
CODY: There are 40 different designs of Mova Globes, including world maps, outer space, and even famous works of art. And no matter which design you choose, Mova Globes are the perfect decor for a conversation starter — not to mention a great gift for the person who has everything.
ASHLEY: And right now during their special holiday promotion, you can get 15 percent off everything, PLUS free shipping! This is their biggest deal of the year. So please visit Mova Globes, M-O-V-A-globes, dot-com-slash-curiosity and use coupon code CURIOSITY, that’s C-U-R-I-O-S-I-T-Y, for 15 percent off your purchase. PLUS free shipping!
CODY: One more time, that’s Mova-globes-dot-com-slash-curiosity, code CURIOSITY.
Recalling a Word on the Tip of Your Tongue Helps Ensure You'll Forget It Next Time — https://curiosity.im/2sotZtp (from 12/20) (Ashley)
Have you ever noticed that there are some words you forget again and again? Like, that word that means "improve" but starts with an A? It sounds like a girl's name. What is that word? We’re going to stop right there, because research shows that actually recalling a word on the tip of your tongue helps ensure you’ll forget it next time.
A study found that it's not the word, but the struggle to remember it that's to blame. Students were given definitions of words and asked to say whether they knew the word, didn't know the word, or if it was on the tip of their tongue; that’s something psychologists call a TOT, or tip-of-the-tongue, state. If they were in a TOT state, researchers randomly assigned them to spend either 10 or 30 seconds trying to remember the word before finally seeing what it was.
Two days later, the students were tested on the same words again. While you'd think they'd have an easier time recalling the words they got to see which was on the tips of their tongues, this wasn’t the case. The word remained on the tips of the students' tongues. This was twice as likely when a student spent more time trying to recall the word.
It turns out that trying to remember a word blazes a metaphorical trail in your brain, one that you're more likely to run down when the same word comes up again.
The science suggests that next time you have a word on the tip of your tongue, you should immediately look it up or ask someone. If you do get the word, say it to yourself. By laying down another procedural memory, you can help ameliorate the effects of the error. Ameliorate! It was right on the tip of my tongue.
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you can catch this weekend on curiosity-dot-com.
ASHLEY: This weekend, you’ll learn about how you can learn and unlearn emotions;
Why there are more exoplanets with multiple suns than we thought;
How bourbon whiskeys are like snowflakes;
An ancient beetle trapped in amber that shows how long insects have pollinated flowers;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Today’s stories were written by Ashley Hamer, and by Matt Williams for Universe Today, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity.com.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Curiosity Daily is produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Have a great weekend, and join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!