Today we discuss how early morning classes at universities could be leading to poor academic performance, how scientists uncovered the world’s oldest runestone, and a new breakthrough treatment in postpartum depression.
Today we discuss how early morning classes at universities could be leading to poor academic performance, how scientists uncovered the world’s oldest runestone, and a new breakthrough treatment in postpartum depression.
School Sleep
Ancient Runestone
Postpartum Depression Pill
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Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/school-sleep-ancient-runestone-postpartum-depression-pill
[SFX: INTRO MUSIC/WHOOSH]
NATE: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery. Time flies when you’re learnin’ super cool stuff. I’m Nate.
CALLI: And I’m Calli. If you’re dropping in for the first time, welcome to Curiosity, where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your mind. If you’re a loyal listener, welcome back!
NATE: Today you’ll learn about how early morning classes at universities could be leading to poor academic performance, how scientists uncovered the world’s oldest runestone, and a new breakthrough treatment in postpartum depression.
CALLI: Without further ado, let’s satisfy some curiosity!
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Calli, when you were in school, did you feel like you were a better student in your early morning classes or your later afternoon classes?
CALLI: You know, I actually liked my early morning classes, but I know that's not everybody's cup of tea.
NATE: My freshman year, I took Econ 101 as a like an eight or 830 class. And oh.
CALLI: No.
NATE: That was just a terrible idea. Someone should have told me no one even recommended. Like, maybe don't take early morning classes your first semester of college. Well, not everyone is like you. A new study that was published in the journal Nature Human Behavior reveals that early morning classes are correlated with poor academic performance. So researchers wanted to look into whether students at a university did better at school during the morning, afternoon or night. And the researchers did this by analyzing university students’ digital footprints through their Wi-Fi usage when they were connected, how long they were connected and where they were.
CALLI: Okay. So it's almost like digital archeology, which is pretty interesting. But how would that tell the researchers anything about their grades?
NATE: Well, I'm not there yet. What this part of the study did was reveal that across 23,391 students, class attendance was down for most students who had classes in the morning compared to students who went to class at later times. In fact, the students with earlier schedules were 10% more likely to miss their class than any of their peers. And this was before they even started looking at the students grades thing.
CALLI: Okay. So when they looked at grades, what did they find?
NATE: They increased their sample size for this part of the study, looking into nearly 34,000 students. And this time they compared the students class schedules with their GPAs and discovered that there was a negative link between how many morning classes a person takes and how steeply their GPA declines over the course of a semester, meaning that the more morning classes a person took, the more likely it was that their grades are going to suffer by the end of the semester.
CALLI: I get that some people are sleeping in more often, but I always assumed that most people were kind of like me taking morning classes out of preference.
NATE: Well, it turns out more often than not, it's out of necessity. The researchers didn't have access to hard data on this, but anecdotally they noticed that a lot of the classes students were failing out of were classes that didn't have other times available, or if they did, they were at peak hours that were more popular class times like 11 a.m. and those filled up a lot more quickly at class registration times. Plus, another point the researchers managed to hit on was wake up and sleep times. They checked nearly 40,000 students log in to the university's learning management system and were able to estimate sleep and wake times. Judging by their last log in for the day, they determined that students went to bed roughly the same time every night. But on the mornings they went to their earlier classes. They woke up an average of a full hour earlier than normal.
CALLI: Got it. Okay. So this really is kind of as simple as just the cliche of the sleep deprived college student.
NATE: Yeah, but but it doesn't have to be this way. The researchers concluded that universities need to stop scheduling mandatory early morning classes. Early classes are set up a certain way for certain reasons. For example, classrooms are more likely to be available at those hours. But it's a double edged sword because students are missing class more often, they're getting less sleep and as a result, their grades are suffering. So the researchers believe more variety and scheduling could be a way to cut this problem at the root.
CALLI: Well, this is just one school, though. Is there any data that supports this is from other schools?
NATE: Yeah, actually, there is. Coincidentally, a very similar study was published a week before this one that revealed that every additional hour of average nightly sleep is associated with a 0.07 point increase in end of semester GPA. The study we're talking about was at the University of Singapore. This other study was performed at Carnegie Mellon, which is in Pennsylvania. Lack of sleep leading to worse grades is a universal problem and it's one with an easy solution. The researchers on the Singapore study hope their methods can be adopted by universities across the world, especially since wi fi log in data and university learning system info are readily accessible to faculty because if the numbers add up for other schools, this could really turn around the concept of student success around the world.
CALLI: Kind of wish we'd known about this when I was still in college.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
CALLI: Here’s a fun hook. Feeny Researchers have found a 2000 year old Viking runestone.
NATE: We love it when they find any kind of really old stuff around here. But first things first isn't a runestone tied to divination like old timey magic to see into the future.
CALLI: I mean, it can be the word runestone actually has quite a few meanings, each of which is equally popular. One of the most well-known definitions is a stone that juts out of the earth, covered in symbols or runic inscriptions from an ancient time, usually from ancient Scandinavia. And it can also be found outside of older churches. Another kind of runestone like you're talking about is a small piece of stone or bone covered in these symbols meant to be used in the process of divination. Think of something like a crystal ball, but made of stone. And then the other kind which makes talking about rune stones confusing, are just smaller stones with runic symbols written on them, like, for instance, a family crest.
NATE: Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. So which one is this?
CALLI: It wasn't clear at first. And a grave was found as part of an excavation project by the Museum of Cultural History, who wanted to excavate an area in Scandinavia before a new highway was built. This is sort of the rich historical area where huge archeological finds have been made, such as an ancient Viking helmet. But back in the fall of 2021, archeologists found a big block of red tinted sandstone etched with runic to get descriptions. This wasn't all that exciting on its own. I mean, thousands of stones with runic inscriptions have been found in Scandinavia over the years. But once they began looking into the stone a little bit more, they found out a few interesting things written on it.
NATE: Good. Ominous set up there. Mystical ancient ruins written in a mysterious language found buried deep beneath the earth. This is going to be going to be good.
CALLI: Well, so the first problem the researchers faced was translating the stone. Runic writing is quite notorious for being very difficult to decipher. It's agreed that runes are all written in some kind of old writing system, but most scholars are debating even today which one. So translating runes isn't as simple as plugging the text into Google Translate or exchanging one letter for another. It's actually comparing the symbols to a number of different theories on the language.
NATE: Oh, fun. This sounds difficult.
CALLI: Well, one theory suggests that the runic alphabet, which is known as futhark, was taken from the Etruscan alphabet in ancient northern Italy. But another theory is that runes came from the Latin alphabet after a history of exchange between ancient Germanic people and the Romans. What makes this even more tough to figure out is that there are at least three varieties of Runic script that all had their own unique evolutions across time and geography. And if that didn't already make translating runes damn near impossible, the way runes were written also changed across time and geography. For instance, some were carved later on were drawn and in between the changes to the language bleed into each iteration.
NATE: Oh, good. Yeah. This is fun. You could have just saved some time and explained that we don't know what it says.
CALLI: Okay. But. But that's the crazy part. They think they have part of the rune figured out. One part of the stone is carved with the first three characters of the runic alphabet and eight runes on the front spell the word “idiberug” when converted into Roman letters. Amazingly, the name idiberug was a female name in this era. Unfortunately, the name idiberug was also a familial name. This means that the stone might have been a dedication to a woman named idiberug or a family crest.
NATE: All right. So overall, it's probably not related to divination then.
CALLI: Right. It's more than likely some kind of family crest. But that's the best we've got for now. Most of the stone is untranslated, covered in lines positioned in a grid pattern, small zigzag figures and other as of yet untranslated runic text. Worst, because the text is so chaotic, the researchers believe this could even be the work of someone just learning how to carve runes, meaning the text means literally nothing.
NATE: So this super old like amazing find might just be something someone threw in the trash. Like just trying to get good at this is the equivalent of like an artist trash can when they're trying to learn how to draw themselves in an Iron Man suit.
CALLI: Yes. Yes. This could very well be the ancient Scandinavian version of that trash can. But that doesn't mean there's no value in what the stone has to tell us. For example, this could actually tell us more about the early history of runic writing, including when the first rune stones were made. We know next to nothing about the system or even the time period it originates from. Only 30 of the thousands of rhinestones we found are believed to date from before the year 550 C.E. and before this discovery, none dated earlier than 300 CE. It might not allow us to see into the future, but it does mean that this one runestone changes the timeline. We knew of runic writing by a few hundred years, meaning we can see better into the past. But I'm kind with you. I think this might be somebody's homework project.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Postpartum depression is one of the absolute worst things that can happen to a person after giving birth. And unfortunately, there aren't too many reliable treatments available. But thankfully, new research has uncovered a drug that can help treat postpartum depression at a rate we've really never seen before.
CALLI: So some people call this the baby blues. But postpartum depression or PPD is really no joke. After giving birth, somebody with PPD could have intense anxiety, feelings of depression, and possibly even suicidal ideation, as well as sleeplessness and an overall inability to care for their child. So I know there are treatment methods available, but learning about more would be a godsend, especially for anybody with PPD.
NATE: Well, this news comes out of a research collaboration between clinical and preclinical investigators from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, who discovered that a specific drug called Brexanolone can reduce PPD symptoms by an extreme amount for up to 90 days at a time.
CALLI: That would be amazing. Okay, so how does this work?
NATE: The drug is a drip, so you get hooked up to an IV and slowly pumped with a serum that has a derivative of progesterone. Progesterone is a steroid the body naturally produces to prepare itself for pregnancy. But doctors had noticed that this drug also significantly reduced depression symptoms for women who needed it and had no idea why until now. It turns out that Brexanolone starts inhibiting or preventing the inflammatory pathways in the brain associated with depression from being triggered.
CALLI: Wait, are you saying that this is an anti-inflammatory drug?
NATE: Yes, it is. And this has led the researchers to conclude that PPD is caused, at least in part, by inflammation. To explain it more in-depth, there are receptors in the brain that kind of act like tollbooths. So at a tollbooth, you're not allowed to pass unless you have money at the brain's tollbooth. These receptors are looking to stop the entry of cytokines and chemokines, which are chemicals associated with inflammation. Think of them as somebody trying to skip the tollbooth without paying. But during postpartum depression, the tollbooth starts to get a little mixed up and starts thinking cytokines and chemokines are good, right? Then suddenly the pathways to our brain associated with depression become inflamed.
CALLI: Why? Okay, this is the point I'm confused about. Why would those tollbooths or the receptors, why would they get mixed up?
NATE: We actually still don't know that part. We do have some theories, though. For example, after giving birth something called GABAergic transmission deficiency, you might occur, which sounds really complicated. It's not that bad. So GABA is something in our central nervous system that tells our bodies when to stop certain neuron activities. Basically, the tollbooth operator’s bosses stop telling them to stop the bad dudes from coming in. That's just a theory. And it hasn't actually been tested in any meaningful way.
CALLI: So why is this medicine effective when so many other treatments haven't been?
NATE: Probably because it's the first known anti-inflammatory treatment for PPD. So research studies have shown that one in eight women experience PPD symptoms and that the depression symptoms in particular have risen nearly 700% in the last few decades. Like other depressions, PPD is usually treated with a combination of antidepressants, therapy or both. But in most cases, at least, some PPD symptoms remain untreated for weeks or even months after birth. But with Brexanolone, we now have a clearer path than ever to making PPD a thing of the past.
CALLI: That's amazing. Okay, so when can we get our hands on brexanolone if we need it?
NATE: Good news on that front. It was actually approved for use back in 2019. Back then, the antidepressant qualities weren't clear, but now that they are brexanolone use is on the rise everywhere. And what's even better is the news that brexanolone is anti-inflammatory bona fides mean that it could be effective for treating other kinds of depression that increase inflammatory markers in the body. The team behind this study hopes that this will lead the way to more cost effective versions of brexanolone, maybe like an over-the-counter pill or even a topical cream. That way we won't just be helping with PPD. We'll be helping with all kinds of depression.
[SFX: WHOOSH]
NATE: Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up. Early to bed, early to rise - and late to graduate?! New research out of Singapore suggests that early class times are associated with a decline in grade point averages, and that’s linked to students waking up earlier than their bodies are accustomed to on days of early classwork. The researchers suggest that mandatory early meeting times should be abolished - because if they are, then student success could increase across the board!
CALLI: There is so much we don’t know about the history of runic writing - including when it started. But a recent discovery of a 2,000 year old runestone may actually give us the answers we’re looking for, since the stone contains text from a time we didn’t previously believe knew how to use runic writing. Much mystery remains in the history of this ancient script, but soon, we may unlock some of the deepest secrets of a very mysterious point in history.
NATE: Postpartum depression is one of the most under-discussed yet silently deadly ailments facing women everywhere today. But it was recently discovered that a pill called brexanolone can actually treat PPD - because it’s an anti-inflammatory! This means that scientists now believe that at least part of PPD is caused by an inflammation of certain brain functions, and due to brexanolone’s success in treating PPD, it might even become a viable treatment for MANY kinds of depression!