Learn about why you’re happier before achieving a goal than you are after; why horsepower probably doesn’t mean what you think it means; and how to keep your skin safe from the potentially harmful bacteria in your makeup bag. 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: Here's Why You're Happier Before Achieving a Goal Than You Are After — https://curiosity.com/topics/heres-why-youre-happier-before-achieving-a-goal-than-you-are-after-curiosity Horsepower Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means — https://curiosity.com/topics/horsepower-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-means-curiosity Additional sources: Revealed: The deadly superbugs lurking in more than 9 in 10 make-up bags | EurekAlert! — https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-12/au-rtd120219.php Microbiological study of used cosmetic products: highlighting possible impact on consumer health | Society for Applied Microbiology — https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jam.14479 What You Really Need to Know About Makeup Expiration Dates | Byrdie — https://www.byrdie.com/makeup-expiration-dates-mascara-foundation-lipstick 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 you’re happier before achieving a goal than you are after; why horsepower probably doesn’t mean what you think it means; and how to keep your skin safe from the potentially harmful bacteria in your makeup bag.
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/the-germs-lurking-in-your-makeup-why-progress-feels-better-than-achieving-a-goal-and-what-horsepower-really-means
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 you’re happier before achieving a goal than you are after; why horsepower probably doesn’t mean what you think it means; and how to keep your skin safe from the potentially harmful bacteria in your makeup bag.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Here's Why You're Happier Before Achieving a Goal Than You Are After — https://curiosity.com/topics/heres-why-youre-happier-before-achieving-a-goal-than-you-are-after-curiosity (Ashley)
Picture this: you FINALLY reach that goal you’re been working towards, whether it's running a marathon or graduating from college, and you feel … deflated. You’d think you’d feel happier after achieving that goal than you were before, but that’s not the case. Well believe it or not, what you’re feeling is perfectly normal. And luckily, there are ways to cope.
It all comes down to dopamine. You know dopamine is pretty much your brain's "reward chemical?” For decades, researchers have explained it like this: you see chocolate, you eat chocolate, and boom, you’re rewarded with a burst of dopamine. But new science is saying that dopamine’s role isn’t actually in the reward, but in the motivation to pursue the reward: you see chocolate, dopamine urges you to eat the chocolate, and the chocolate tastes amazing.
This is definitely an over-simplification, since dopamine does more than that. But most of the time when we talk about dopamine, it’s in reference to the reward pathway — which is technically known as the mesolimbic dopamine system.
It makes sense that researchers would associate dopamine in this area with reward, since its levels are heightened when people do things like listen to music or eat chocolate. But studies also show heightened dopamine levels in situations you wouldn't consider rewarding. I’m talking about war veterans experiencing PTSD flashbacks, or rats that have recently lost a fight. If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, dopamine's role in this reward pathway really comes down to what's known as "incentive salience." That’s basically, identifying incentives and making us want them, whether those incentives are the taste of chocolate or a feeling of safety.
So, it makes sense that you’d feel deflated after you've achieved a big goal. While you’re striving for that goal, your reward pathway is constantly juiced up with dopamine. Once you achieve the goal, it’s rewarding, but also fleeting. In other words, it really is about the journey, not the destination.
Fortunately, you can avoid the post-goal crash by understanding this and finding ways to celebrate your achievement to extend the pleasure. Another way is to set more goals, even small ones, for after your big goal is achieved. Running a marathon? Plan a recovery run with a friend a week or two afterward to keep that dopamine flowing. Graduating from college? Plan a camping trip to celebrate. Don't make the goals too lofty — you don't want to burn yourself out. But having something small to strive for when the lights go down could help avoid that post-goal crash.
Horsepower Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means — https://curiosity.com/topics/horsepower-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-means-curiosity (Cody)
Here’s a question: how many horses does it take to produce one horsepower? Well it’s not “one.” And believe it or not, it was never meant to. I know we don’t talk about cars very much on this podcast, but I’m guessing you’re gonna hear the term “horsepower” mentioned on some car commercials in the near future. Perhaps during a certain widely-watched championship football game in early February. So today we thought we’d loosen the reins on our topic choices and talk transportation terminology.
Working at peak performance, a horse can produce about 14.9 horsepower, and a human can produce about 5. Not all horses are created equal, though. So if a Tesla S P90D has 503 horsepower in the rear, we could conceivably be talking 500 or so Belgian draft horses, OR thousands of Thumbelinas.
So then: what is a horsepower? In the US, it's 33,000 foot-pounds-per-minute. (Metric countries, hold your horses. I’ll get to you soon.) That means that if you hook up a 33-pound bucket to a horse exerting one horsepower, it can get dragged 1,000 feet in a minute. Increase the weight to 330 pounds, and the horse can only go 100 feet; bring it down to 1 pound and that horse is going to move 33,000 feet in a minute (theoretically). The unit was invented by James Watt (as in, the guy a "watt" is named after). And he named “horsepower” after the amount of work the average horse could be relied on to do.
Now, with a measurement this antiquated, you might expect it hasn't been affected by the metric-imperial battle. Well hold your horses, because it has! Countries that use the metric system do the same calculations James Watt laid out, but instead of foot-pounds, they calculate meter-kilograms. That means that German pferdestärke [PFAIR-deh-shtair-keh] (PS) and the Italian cavalli vapore (CV) are both measures of horsepower, but they're 1.4 percent less than the horsepower measurements you get in the U.S. Phew; if you thought Celsius was confusing, it just goes to show: maybe you shouldn’t put the cart before the horse.
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Deadly superbugs in makeup bags - Mae (Ashley)
People talk a lot about self-care these days, so here’s a hot self-care tip: Burn your makeup bag and bury the ashes. According to a recent study, the makeup bottles, compacts, and applicators you keep in that bag often contain potentially harmful bacteria like E. coli and Staph. It’s certainly cause for concern, but luckily, there are ways for us makeup-wearers to keep ourselves a little safer.
To figure this out, British researchers analyzed about 450 used, donated makeup products spanning five product categories: eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, lip gloss, and beauty blenders, which are a newfangled type of sponge used to apply makeup. They found harmful microorganisms in the vast majority of them. Of the actual makeup, lip gloss had the highest bacterial load while lipstick had the lowest. But the worst offenders were the beauty blenders. A whopping 90 percent of these makeup sponges were contaminated with potentially pathogenic bacteria. 93 percent of the blenders had never been cleaned, though the majority of their owners admitted to dropping them on the floor.
Gross, right? So how do you keep from smearing Staph bacteria on your face? There are two things to watch out for. One is expiration dates. Not all countries are required to put expiration dates on makeup, so here’s a good rule of thumb: if it goes on your face, you shouldn’t keep it any longer than a year, and you should shorten that timeline for anything that goes on your eyes or contains a lot of liquid. And what about beauty blenders? Well, if you listen to this podcast a lot, you know how gross kitchen sponges can get. You also know how impossible they are to “sanitize” without making the worst bacteria even stronger. You’re supposed to throw kitchen sponges out every week or so, and you may want to do the same with your beauty blenders.
Number two: hygiene. Wash your hands first and use a clean applicator instead of applying the product directly to your skin. The study notes that many of these products were used in bathrooms, which contain their share of harmful bugs and are generally not an ideal place for makeup. With these safeguards in place, you can feel better about your next glow-up — and leave E. coli out of it.
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Ashley Hamer, Reuben Westmas, and Mae Rice, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Scriptwriting was by Cody Gough and Sonja Hodgen. Curiosity Daily is 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!