Learn about the 13 categories of emotions that music makes you feel; how scientists solved the mystery of two strangely small tyrannosaurus rex fossils; and surprising things that happen to a pregnant person’s body.
Learn about the 13 categories of emotions that music makes you feel; how scientists solved the mystery of two strangely small tyrannosaurus rex fossils; and surprising things that happen to a pregnant person’s body.
Research Suggests That Music Evokes 13 Key Emotions by Kelsey Donk
Two Tiny T-Rexes Turned Out to Be Teenagers by Mae Rice
Surprising Things Pregnancy Does to the Body by Kelsey Donk
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-13-emotions-music-evokes-surprising-things-pregnancy-does-to-the-body-and-solving-the-tiny-t-rex-mystery
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 new research that suggests music makes you feel 13 categories of emotions; how scientists solved the mystery of two strangely small tyrannosaurus rex fossils; and surprising things that happen to a pregnant person’s body.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Lately, we’ve talked a lot about experiences across cultures; stuff like whether things like music or emotions are universal, no matter where you come from. Well now, new research from UC Berkeley suggests that the emotions evoked by music are universal, too! The team found that those emotions can be mapped within at least 13 overarching categories. But these feelings still differ across cultures in some important ways.
To figure this out, the Berkeley scientists surveyed more than 2,500 people in the United States and China about their emotional responses to rock, folk, jazz, classical, marching band, experimental, and heavy metal. Then they crunched the numbers and put each distinct feeling into its own category. Eventually, they arrived at 13 overarching emotions: amusement, joy, eroticism, beauty, relaxation, sadness, dreaminess, triumph, anxiety, fear, annoyance, defiance, and feeling pumped up.
It turned out that participants in the US and China all identified similar emotions when they heard the same songs. The “Jaws” score, for instance, made everyone feel afraid; meanwhile, Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” struck feelings of sensuality.
But interestingly, while the general feelings people felt were universal, they judged differently in a couple ways: namely, when it came to how positive or negative, and stimulating or relaxing, those feelings were. Psychologists refer to those characteristics as “valence” and “arousal,” respectively.
That suggests that how we feel about our feelings is culture-specific. We can mostly agree that a song makes us feel joy or anger or annoyance. But depending on our cultural values, these feelings could be more or less positive or stimulating. Remember when we mentioned on a previous episode how “happiness” has a more upbeat connotation in Western cultures, and a more solemn, serene feel in Eastern cultures? The same thing is going on here.
The researchers translated their data into an interactive audio map, which we’ll link to in the show notes. You can move around the map and listen to thousands of music clips to find out if your emotional responses match up with the ones researchers found. Pretty cool!
So if you need something to pump you up or to make you feel “dreamy” or “heroic,” there’s now a surefire way to help. This research shows that how music makes us feel extends across cultures — even if our interpretations of those feelings might not.
Scientists have uncovered the mystery behind why two Tyrannosaurus rex fossils discovered in the early 2000s were so darn small. And it’s not because they’re some new, unidentified species!
And y’know, bigger isn’t always better, especially when it comes to T. rex skeletons. Yes, the Tyrannosaurus rex was famously enormous. But these two fossilized skeletons of smaller T. Rex specimens have recently clarified new aspects of the T. rex lifecycle.
The skeletons are nicknamed Jane and Petey, and at first, they confused researchers. They were small, by T. Rex standards; each was about the size of two horses placed end-to-end. The enormous, fossilized T. Rex skeletons at most museums are more like five horses long. Were Jane and Petey proof of a pygmy T. rex species?
Nope! Turns out they were… wait for it… teenagers. Museums usually stockpile the biggest possible T. rex fossils, so people just weren’t used to seeing younger specimens. That, and the fossils weren’t found near any prehistoric skateboards or copies of Fortnite. [Ashley, that’s what teenagers are into, right?] Ultimately, though, scientists figured out that what was going on using paleohistology. That’s the study of the microstructures inside fossilized bones. It involves analyzing the layers of bone in fossils, kind of like how you’d analyze the rings in a tree. Jane and Petey turned out to be somewhere between 13 and 15 years old. Not even old enough for a dino driver’s license.
Scientists already knew that T. rex didn’t fully mature until age 20, but these fossils offered new insights into what young T. rexes were like. They seem to have been quick on their feet, and they appear to have had relatively delicate table manners. A grown T. rex could bite down with about 8,000 pounds of force, so they just crushed bones and sucked out the marrow. Teenage T. rex, though, used its sharper teeth to slice meat off the bone.
Teenage T. rexes were also flexible. On average, they grew at about the same rate as modern birds and mammals, though their growth rate changed based on their food supply. When food was abundant, they grew quickly; in times of scarcity, they grew more slowly. Pretty neat trick! Even back in Jane and Petey’s day, bigger wasn’t always better.
The miracle of birth is — well — a miracle. It’s also pretty weird, and it makes some surprising things happen to pregnant bodies. Sure, there’s the baby bump. But did you know about voice changes, loosening joints, bad breath, and blood weight? Ah, the joys of reproductive health!
And today we’ll get into why pregnant people experience these weird, uncomfortable bodily changes.
The hormone changes that occur during pregnancy are real, and they’re to blame for a lot of these weird symptoms. The pregnant body gets flooded with estrogen and progesterone in order to grow a baby, and those hormones influence all sorts of things, including lung capacity, muscle control, and bodily fluids. They also cause the vocal cords to swell, which changes the voice. That’s why pregnant women often sound a little huskier than they normally would.
Another thing pregnancy hormones can do? Give you bad breath. At least, that’s the theory for why pregnant people tend to have a surge of smelly bacteria colonizing their mouths. This can also lead to inflamed, bleeding gums. Which is why along with regular doctor visits, regular dental checkups are a good idea during pregnancy.
Next up is “loosening joints.” That might sound scary, but it’s a super necessary part of being pregnant—and it’s also related to hormones. The body releases a hormone called ‘relaxin’ during pregnancy. No surprise, relaxin relaxes the connections between the bones. That’s because the pubic bone has to come apart a little so there’s room to deliver the baby. It’s normal, but it also means joint and lower back pain.
Pregnant people also have more blood than the rest of us do. Blood volume increases by up to 50 percent during pregnancy to feed all that extra growth. So, yes, some of the weight gain women experience during pregnancy is related to the fact that they’re carrying another human. But a lot of it is blood, too. And I mean, a LOT.
Now you know what to expect if you or someone you know gets pregnant. It’s going to get weird. But that’s also pretty normal!
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Kelsey Donk and Mae Rice, 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!