Learn about how the first dinosaur fossil was named before we had a word for dinosaurs; why the “spoiler paradox” says we actually enjoy a story more when we know the ending; and why some colors look brighter than others. 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: The First Dinosaur Fossil Was Named Before We Had A Word For Dinosaurs — https://curiosity.im/2HZtwDy Knowing the Ending Makes a Story Better, Not Worse, Says the Spoiler Paradox — https://curiosity.im/2HYS67R Additional resources discussed: Theories of Colour Vision | University of Calgary — https://psyc.ucalgary.ca/PACE/VA-Lab/colourperceptionweb/theories.htm Rods and Cones | Georgia State University — http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html Spectral Sensitivity | Hanover College — https://isle.hanover.edu/Ch03Eye/Ch03PurkinjieSim_evt.html 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 how the first dinosaur fossil was named before we had a word for dinosaurs; why the “spoiler paradox” says we actually enjoy a story more when we know the ending; and why some colors look brighter than others.
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 resources discussed:
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/spoilers-dont-spoil-stories-why-some-colors-look-brighter-and-pre-dinosaur-fossil-finds
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 how the first dinosaur fossil was named before we had a word for dinosaurs; and, why the “spoiler paradox” says we actually enjoy a story MORE when we know the ending. We’ll also answer a listener question about why some colors look brighter than others.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The First Dinosaur Fossil Was Named Before We Had A Word For Dinosaurs — https://curiosity.im/2HZtwDy (from Saturday) (Ashley)
Here’s a fun fact: the first dinosaur fossil was named before we had a word for dinosaurs. Here’s the story. Robert Plot gets the credit for discovering the first dinosaur bone in 1677. But at the time, his best guess as to what it belonged to was a giant human. A dinosaur fossil wasn’t correctly identified for what it was until the days of William Buckland, the first professor of geology at Oxford University. Buckland was said to have a colorful personality and taught his classes "like a Franciscan preacher." During one class, a student recounted that he paced up and down the lecture hall holding a hyena's skull, thrusting it in students' faces, and shouting "What rules the world?" (The answer, by the way, was "the stomach.") Buckland also acted as the unofficial curator of the museum on campus, and he traveled the world finding specimens for its collections. It was in these travels that he came across a key find made in 1815 England — the bones of an animal that would turn out to be the very same one discovered by Robert Plot over a hundred years prior. By looking at the bones of its teeth, jaw, and limbs, Buckland concluded in 1824 that they must be from some sort of extinct, carnivorous lizard. He named this ancient lizard "Megalosaurus," although, he didn't quite understand that his specimen was a dinosaur. Still, because we still use the name Megalosaurus today, Buckland holds the honor of being the first person to name a species of dinosaur. You heard that right: The first species of dinosaur was named before we knew what dinosaurs were — and before the word "dinosaur" was even invented. It wasn’t until 1842 when Sir Richard Owen named the family of fossils “Dinosauria,” meaning “terrible lizard.” With that, the name “dinosaur” was coined. Later in 1881, Owen founded London's Natural History Museum, which is still world famous for its dinosaur bone collection and displays. These days, studying dinosaurs is a pretty exciting line of work, and it all started with the work of William Buckland. [CODY: hopefully, dinosaur researchers aren’t so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they don’t stop to think if they should.]
Knowing the Ending Makes a Story Better, Not Worse, Says the Spoiler Paradox — https://curiosity.im/2HYS67R (Cody)
Long-time listener might remember the main takeaway from this next story. It was my Curiosity Challenge trivia question for LEVAR BURTON when we interviewed him last year. Which, by the way, was like, basically the best thing ever. And here’s the takeaway: knowing the ending makes a story better, not worse. That’s because of a thing called the spoiler paradox, and it says you might not have to spend so much energy avoiding Game of Thrones spoilers when it comes back in a couple weeks. [ad lib]
CODY: This comes from a 2011 study published in Psychological Science titled “Story spoilers don’t spoil stories.” Researchers from UC San Diego gave participants short stories from authors including Agatha Christie, Anton Chekhov, and Roald Dahl, and they all had some sort of juicy twist, mystery, or irony. The stories were given to the participants in three conditions: either the ending was revealed in the beginning of the text, or the ending was revealed in a text separate from the story, or the ending was not revealed at all. The study found that participants enjoyed the spoiled stories more than the unspoiled stories, and they preferred the stories that had the ending revealed in a separate text the most. Although we're calling this the spoiler paradox, it's not technically a paradox. It's just a little ironic how we go so far out of our way not to quote-unquote "ruin" the endings of stories when "ruining" them may actually improve them. And this is the case because when you know the end of a movie, book, or TV show, it frees up some space in your brain to focus in on details, instead of spending mental energy on trying to predict the ending. When that dimension of suspense regarding the outcome is not critical to the story, it could actually take away from the pleasure by distracting attention from relevant details and aesthetic attributes. I mean, you probably know how your favorite movie ends — the movie you’ve seen a million times. But it’s still your favorite movie, right? So obviously suspense isn’t always a fundamental part of enjoying a work. Try to spoil something for yourself and see if it helps you enjoy that thing more!
[FIRST ALERT]
CODY: Spoiler alert: today’s episode is sponsored by First Alert.
ASHLEY: There are three things every homeowner wants their home to be: smarter, safer, and more fun. What if I told you OneLink by First Alert can cover that whole trio?
CODY: First, meet your family’s new best friend, the OneLink Safe and Sound. It’s a hardwired smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarm with a premium home speaker, AND it’s Alexa enabled — all in one sleek device. It’s built with First Alert safety technology and provides an immersive, great sound experience.
ASHLEY: The Safe and Sound elevates any home. But it gets even better than that! OneLink by First Alert also offers the OneLink smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarm that works with the OneLink Safe and Sound. The device is easy to install and protects against both smoke and carbon monoxide. If smoke or CO is detected in the home, the smart alarm will notify you using exclusive voice and location technology, and send a notification to your smart phone, whether you’re at home or away.
CODY: A smart home should start with smart protection, and OneLink by First Alert welcomes you to a smarter, safer home. For more information, visit one-link-dot-first-alert-dot-com. One more time, that’s one-link-dot-first-alert-dot-com.
Listener Question — Why some colors look so “bright” (Ashley)
ASHLEY: We got a listener question from Josiah in Atlanta, Georgia, who writes, “Why does yellow seem "brighter" than the other colors of the rainbow? In the same vein, why does violet seem "darker" than other colors? Aren't all the colors of the rainbow the same brightness?” Great question, Josiah!
“Seeing” something is a function of light waves hitting the light-sensitive cells in your retina. Those cells come in two types: rods and cones. Rods work best at very low levels of light. In fact, they’re so sensitive to light that they can get overwhelmed by too much of it, which is why walking into a dark room after being outdoors can make you temporarily blind. But rods don’t help with color vision — that’s what cones are for. Your cone cells come in three types: red, green, and blue, each of which is sensitive to that particular range of light wavelengths. Red cones make up a whopping 64% of the cone cells in your retina, and green makes up 32%. Blue cones are only 2%. But hold up — what about yellow? Well, none of these cone cells acts on its own. It’s the combination of their signals that help you see color. When red cones are excited more than green cones, you see red. When the opposite happens, you see green. When your tiny smattering of blue cones are excited more than your red or green cones, you see blue. BUT, when your red cones AND your green cones are at peak excitement, and your blue cones are quiet, THAT’S when you see yellow. That level of excitement doesn’t happen for many other colors, aside from white, which is why yellow seems like it’s the brightest color in the spectrum. But why does violet seem so dark? Remember, your blue cones are the ones sensitive to short wavelengths down in the blue and violet end of the spectrum, and they only make up 2% of your whole retina. They’re also more light sensitive than the other cones, which means they don’t need as much light to activate. As a result, you can see violet in much darker environments than you can see yellow. In fact, there’s something called the Purkinje [Per-KEEN-yay] shift that happens in low light, when blues and violets actually look brighter and reds, yellows, and greens look darker. So, basically, yellow looks the brightest because it requires the greatest activation of your cone cells, and violet looks the darkest because it requires the least. Thanks for your question, Josiah!
https://psyc.ucalgary.ca/PACE/VA-Lab/colourperceptionweb/theories.htm
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html
https://isle.hanover.edu/Ch03Eye/Ch03PurkinjieSim_evt.html
CODY: Before we wrap up, we want to give a special shout-out to Dr. Mary Yancy and Muhammad Shifaz, who are executive producers for today’s episode thanks to their generous support on Patreon. Thank you SO. MUCH.
ASHLEY: If you’re listening and you want to support Curiosity Daily, then visit patreon-dot-com-slash-curiosity-dot-com, all spelled out. And if you haven’t already taken our poll, then please visit our Patreon page this weekend to tell us how you feel about hearing guests on this podcast. We really apprecaite it!
CODY: One more time, that’s patreon-dot-com-slash-curiosity-dot-com, all spelled out. Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!