Learn about why small talk is important for coworkers during the workday; why gossip is actually pretty good for you; and how some frogs survive the winter by literally becoming “frogcicles.”
Learn about why small talk is important for coworkers during the workday; why gossip is actually pretty good for you; and how some frogs survive the winter by literally becoming “frogcicles.”
Small talk during the workday is crucial, and remote workers may not be getting enough of it by Kelsey Donk
Gossip Gets A Bad Rap, But It's Actually Pretty Good For You by Ashley Hamer
For some frogs, surviving the winter means becoming a “frogcicle” by Cameron Duke
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/small-talk-is-important-and-remote-workers-arent-getting-enough
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 small talk is important for coworkers during the workday; why gossip is actually pretty good for you; and how some frogs survive the winter by literally becoming “frogcicles.”
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
These days, when remote workers get together, they tend to enter a video chat with a really specific goal. They don’t do a lot of so-called “watercooler talk.” But according to a new study, that might be the wrong way to go. It turns out that everyone’s job satisfaction benefits when there’s time for small talk. And there’s a very specific reason why.
For this study, researchers analyzed transcripts from a research project called Artwalk Campus, where people completed tours of public art around Santa Cruz, California. One person would sit in a lab and give another person directions to different art installations over the phone. The activity made time for both task-based conversations, when the first person was giving directions, and off-task conversations, when the second person was walking to their destination. While looking at the transcripts, the researchers found that while the person giving directions talked more in on-task conversations, the other person made up for it by speaking more in the off-task conversations. And importantly, the more balanced their speaking time was, the more the pair enjoyed the activity.
The researchers call this balancing act reciprocity in conversation. It’s pretty familiar to most of us, but this is the first time the phenomenon has been described scientifically. Basically, when we work in defined roles to accomplish a task, we automatically take corrective action to make sure there’s a two-way flow of conversation. This isn’t as simple as just swapping roles: studies have demonstrated that that just results in the original leader continuing to dominate the conversation. Reciprocity in conversation only happens once we drop our roles and talk like regular people.
In the regular workday, people regularly take on some roles where they do most of the talking, and other roles where they sit back and listen. Small talk around the watercooler gives everyone an opportunity to hear from their colleagues and put in their two cents. It balances things out. The more people feel that balance, the happier they are while working.
That’s an important reminder in our age of Zoom meetings. Small talk at the beginning or end of a video call is not wasted time — it’s what makes everyone’s jobs enjoyable. So take that time to talk about your weekend or gripe about the day’s headlines. It’s worth it in the end.
Speaking of talking to people: let’s talk about the latest HOT GOSS. Or, I guess... let’s talk about gossip. Like, as a concept. Researchers have been studying gossip and its surprisingly positive effects on the human psyche. And just like small talk with co-workers, it turns out that spilling the tea can have a lot of social benefits.
For one thing, research has shown that gossiping can increase levels of the hormone oxytocin. That’s often called the pleasure hormone, and it’s the same one that’s released during sex and mother-child bonding. Italian scientists figured this out with a 2017 study where they had 22 female college students join in a discussion about a, quote, “recent unplanned pregnancy on campus." The scientists measured the participants’ hormone levels before and after. Sure enough, the women had higher levels of oxytocin in their saliva swab after the gossip session as compared with a neutral conversation.
The lead author of the study explained that gossip brings people closer together than they would be if they were talking about some impersonal topic. It can also help us figure out who to trust. Gossip may have other important social functions, too, including establishing group rules, punishing trespassers, and exercising social influence by making and breaking reputations.
This isn’t the first study to establish the social benefits of gossiping. Evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar also found that up to two-thirds of all conversations are spent on social topics, and that hot gos’ may serve an evolutionary purpose by keeping individuals from freeloading off of the group. Another study found that gossiping helps individuals learn about group norms — in other words, what counts as acceptable behavior. A Yale psychologist even went so far as to say that not participating in gossip at some level can be unhealthy, and abnormal.
So go ahead. Spill that tea!
It’s cold in Chicago right now. I can barely stand to be outside in a winter coat, hat, and boots. But animals live outside. How do they survive the cold? Well, in the case of some frog species, the answer is: they freeze. Into little frogcicles.
Don’t worry! They survive just fine. This amphibian superpower is called freeze tolerance, and it’s one that only five frog species in North America are known to have. Typically, freezing solid is something you don’t want to do because, well... you know how the human body is roughly two-thirds water? And you know how water expands when it freezes? Yeah. When a part of your body freezes, those two facts come together in the worst way.
Frogs are cold-blooded, meaning that they don’t generate their own body heat. If the air around them cools, they cool with it. When ice begins to form on the frog’s skin, its liver gets to work breaking down chains of stored sugar into simple sugars called glucose. The heart pumps this glucose into the cells, where it replaces most of the water and acts as a natural antifreeze. That displaced water moves to the body cavity, where it will freeze solid. That’s not to say the frog’s whole body is frozen: no more than 70 percent of the water in its body actually turns to ice. Still, once this process is complete, the frog stops breathing and its heart stops beating. That’s right: at this point, it’s technically dead. Kind of makes other types of hibernation seem tame by comparison.
How long the frog can stand to be frozen depends on the species. Some frogs can only stand to freeze for a few days at a time — any longer and they can’t recover. But wood frogs in Alaska have them beat. These guys can hibernate Demolition-Man-style for up to seven months at a time. But even the short-haulers can still survive the winter this way. They’ll just thaw for a while, then refreeze, then thaw again until winter is over.
When spring arrives, the frogcicles thaw and the little guys hop to their ponds. There, they’ll go on to mate with the rest of the adorable little zombies who literally died to survive the winter. [Pretty froggin’ cool! OR They were gone, but not frog-gotten.]
Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up. Starting with
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk, Ashley Hamer, and Cameron Duke, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: WORD ON THE STREET is… you’re gonna join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!