Learn about what makes fruit mealy; a new therapy technique for parents that could reduce their kids’ anxiety; and what scientists learned when they tried to build a second Earth, in the notorious story of “Biosphere 2.”
Learn about what makes fruit mealy; a new therapy technique for parents that could reduce their kids’ anxiety; and what scientists learned when they tried to build a second Earth, in the notorious story of “Biosphere 2.”
What makes fruit mealy? by Andrea Michelson
Giving parents therapy can help kids just as much as giving the kids therapy by Steffie Drucker
What scientists learned when they tried to build a second Earth by Cameron Duke
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/therapy-for-parents-can-ease-kids-anxiety-what-makes-fruit-mealy-and-lessons-from-the-second-earth-biosphere-2
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 what makes fruit mealy; a new therapy technique for parents that could reduce their kids’ anxiety; and what scientists learned when they tried to build a second Earth, in the notorious story of “Biosphere 2.”
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
There’s nothing like the disappointment of biting into a piece of fruit and realizing that it’s mealy. You’ve waited days for it to ripen and you finally take a bite, but instead of juicy, crisp deliciousness, you’re met with a dry, cottony mouthful that you’d rather spit out. Here’s why it happens and what you can do about it.
As a fruit ripens, a bunch of different things happen: it changes color, starches convert to sugars, and it gets softer. That softening is due to substances breaking down in and around the cell walls — both a substance called pectin that holds the cells together, and the cell walls themselves.
But if you interfere with the ripening process, that softening can happen all wrong. When the pectin breaks down but the cell walls stay strong, the cells won’t burst open and release their delicious juice. Instead, the flesh will just dissolve into individual cells. That’s mealiness. Nobody wants that.
But different fruit ripens in different ways, so there are different ways to avoid mealy fruit depending on which fruit you’re talking about. Apples are generally picked right before they’re ripe, then stored in freezing temperatures with low oxygen to keep them from ripening until right before they hit the stores. If the storage temperature isn’t cold enough, they’re more likely to go mealy before you buy them.
But once you get them home, you can store them on the counter for a few days or pop them in fridge immediately to keep them for a month or two. Store them in the crisper drawer, since the low humidity elsewhere in the fridge can make mealiness worse by sapping moisture and making the cells shrivel up.
On the other hand, you definitely don’t want to refrigerate a peach before it’s fully ripe. Stone fruits like peaches, plums, and nectarines can become mealy if they’re exposed to cold temperatures too soon. Your best bet is to let your stonefruit ripen at room temperature and out of sunlight until it’s fragrant and just soft enough. You can store it in the fridge for a couple of days after that, but not much more. You won’t be able to resist a ripe peach for long, anyway.
What if it were possible to treat a child’s anxiety not through therapy for the child, but therapy for their parents? That’s what a new technique aims to do.
More than 4 million American kids struggle with clinical anxiety, according to the CDC. The typical treatment plan includes things like medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, but it’s not effective in about half of cases. So Yale researchers wondered if they’d have more success by treating children through their parents. Their new program is called Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions, or “SPACE,” and it specifically targets parents’ responses to their kids’ anxiety.
Now, clearly, we inherit a lot from our parents. Some of that is obviously genetic. But a lot has to do with the way we’re raised. When it comes to inherited anxiety, the Yale scientists say it’s more about nurture than nature. Parents want to protect their kids. So if a child has social anxiety, it makes perfect sense that a parent might shield them from overwhelming social situations by avoiding crowds. Or when a kid struggles with separation anxiety, a parent might stay next to their bed until they fall asleep. But while that may offer temporary comfort, the researchers say it’s actually making the problem worse. Accommodating a child’s anxiety allows it to fester, and boosts its chances of continuing into adulthood.
So these researchers taught parents to do something different. Instead of accommodating their child’s fears, they were told to affirm their feelings and offer encouragement like, “I know you can handle it.” It may sound like tough love, but that’s kind of the point — it shows kids that it’s important to get back on the horse and that challenges become easier to face with time and experience.
To test the treatment, scientists recruited 124 kids aged 7-14 who were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Some went through 12 weeks of talk therapy, others had their parents go through 12 weeks of SPACE counseling sessions. SPACE turned out to be just as effective as traditional therapy. Which is good news! Therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all, and what works for one person may not work for another. SPACE may be especially helpful for kids who have a hard time with therapy since it can put parents in charge of the situation instead.
It’s good to know that when it comes to a child’s anxiety, parents can have their back.
About 30 years ago, a team of scientists and environmentalists kicked off a wildly ambitious project: to build a sealed, self-contained second Earth on a 3.14-acre plot of land in Arizona. It was designed to be a prototype Mars habitat. They called it Biosphere 2. And here’s the story of what happened.
In September of 1991, four men and four women passed through the airlock into the sealed atmosphere of Biosphere 2. (By the way, if you’re wondering: Biosphere 1 is Earth. Get it?) Everything inside was carefully engineered. It had sections that mimicked Earth biomes, like a savanna, a rainforest, and an ocean with a functioning coral reef. These weren’t just for show. They had real plants and animals so they could function with all the same environmental processes that life relies on. Even before ground broke on the project, the idea of building a mini-Earth captured a lot of people’s imaginations. TIME Magazine called it “Noah’s Ark: The Sequel.” In hindsight, this may have set expectations too high.
Almost immediately, Biosphere 2 had problems. It was supposed to support human life for 100 years, but issues began just 24 hours in. Chief among these was the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By day two, it had risen to more than double Earth’s current level. At the same time, oxygen levels had depleted. The culprit? Soil bacteria, which broke down the abundant nutrients in the soil and released carbon dioxide as a byproduct while consuming lots of oxygen. The oxygen level got so low that the crew’s doctor couldn’t even do simple arithmetic.
Then, two weeks into the project, a Biospherian (as they were called), sustained a hand injury and had to be evacuated. When she was allowed to reenter with a few supplies, observers complained that it undermined the project’s purity. Media pressure plus the stress of isolation took a psychological toll on the Biospherians. When they finally emerged in 1993, most weren’t speaking to each other.
While most people consider Biosphere 2 a failure, it enabled a lot of scientific achievements. Its agricultural productivity was incredible, allowing the Biospherians to grow 80 percent of their food on just a half-acre. It was the first facility to be able to recycle 100 percent of its water, something the International Space Station didn’t do until 2009. And after the original project ended, Biosphere 2 was used as a one-of-a-kind laboratory to study the effects of climate change. Early experiments showing the effects of ocean acidification on corals were performed on the artificial reef in Biosphere 2’s ocean.
While the original project may have failed, Biosphere 2 made some serious scientific contributions. Sometimes we learn more from our failures than from our successes.
ASHLEY: Let’s recap what we learned today to wrap up.
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CODY: Today’s stories were written by Andrea Michelson, Steffie Drucker, and Cameron Duke, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was 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!