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: SKILLSHARE: Two months of unlimited access to more than 20 thousand classes for just 99 cents This Roman Emperor's Motivational Advice Will Definitely Get You Out of Bed in the Morning Your Tongue Isn't One Muscle The World's Shortest IQ Test is Only Three Questions Want to read Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"? Get the audiobook for free with a trial of Audible! We handpick reading recommendations we think you may like. If you choose to make a purchase through that link, Curiosity will get a share of the sale. Learn about these topics and more onCuriosity.com, and download our5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation onFacebook,Twitter, andInstagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable ourAlexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
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:
Want to read Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"? Get the audiobook for free with a trial of Audible! We handpick reading recommendations we think you may like. If you choose to make a purchase through that link, Curiosity will get a share of the sale.
Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/tongue-muscles-marcus-aurelius-motivational-advice-and-the-worlds-shortest-iq-test
[MUSIC PLAYING] CODY GOUGH: Hi. We've got three stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll hear some motivational advice from Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. You'll learn about the muscles in your tongue. Yes, that's muscles, not muscle. And you'll take the world's shortest IQ test. It's only three questions.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cody, do you know what the strongest muscle in your body is?
CODY GOUGH: Your brain?
ASHLEY HAMER: No, your brain isn't a muscle.
CODY GOUGH: It's kind of a muscle.
ASHLEY HAMER: No. No, it's not.
CODY GOUGH: It's nothing--
ASHLEY HAMER: It's just not a muscle.
CODY GOUGH: --like a muscle.
ASHLEY HAMER: No.
CODY GOUGH: It's an organ.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: I don't know. The strongest muscle in my body-- I don't have very many strong muscles.
[LAUGHTER]
So I don't really know.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, a lot of people say it's your quads maybe. And then a lot of people will say tongue. But it's not the strongest muscle in your body for two reasons. One, it's not. And two, it's more than just one muscle.
CODY GOUGH: What, the tongue?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, it's actually a bunch of muscles.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. This was really surprising to me. Today in myth busting, your tongue is more than just one muscle. It's a bunch of muscles. Most of the muscles in your body attach to bone. But a lot of the muscles in your tongue just attach to each other. That's how octopus arms and elephant trunks work too, by the way. But that's beside the point.
Your tongue has four muscles that don't attach to anything. And they're called the intrinsic muscles. Those all travel in different directions, which is why your tongue can do neat tricks like tying a cherry stem or licking a kitchen beater clean.
Four more muscles anchor your tongue to your head. One attaches to the base of the skull, another to the throat, one on the lower jaw, and another stretches up to the roof of your mouth. These muscles are all bilateral, which means they're partially separated by a center line that helps them work on both sides of your mouth.
You can read more about the tongue today on curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. But here's something cool. Researchers can actually measure your tongue's endurance with something called the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument. It has you put a little balloon on your tongue and press up on it as hard as you can. We've got a link to watch a video of the little instrument in our full write-up.
CODY GOUGH: Ashley, do you have a favorite motivational phrase or a piece of advice that you use?
ASHLEY HAMER: I sure do.
CODY GOUGH: What is it?
ASHLEY HAMER: Sucking at something is the first step to becoming good at something.
CODY GOUGH: Oh, I like that.
ASHLEY HAMER: Isn't that great?
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: Don't be afraid to be bad at something because you're always bad at it at the beginning.
CODY GOUGH: Right.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's how you get good.
CODY GOUGH: Right. That's really great. Today, we have some advice from a place you might not expect, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. We're really big on the Marcus Aurelius beat.
[LAUGHTER]
ASHLEY HAMER: We really are. We got a finger on the pulse of Marcus Aurelius.
[LAUGHTER]
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, that's the guy who was in charge of an empire from 161 to 180 AD. He wrote one of history's most influential and admired books, simply called, Meditations. And it's got some really great advice for kicking any lazy habits you've got and getting stuff done.
Let's see if this will get you out of bed in the morning. Quote, "At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself, I have to go to work as a human being. What do I have to complain of if I'm going to do what I was born for, the things I was brought into the world to do. Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?" unquote.
ASHLEY HAMER: Dang.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. Now let's say you come back at Marcus by saying your bed is comfy and you're happy, so why get up. Here's another excerpt, quote, "So you were born to feel nice, instead of doing things and experiencing them. Don't you see the plants, the birds, the ants, and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order as best they can? And you're not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren't you running to do what your nature demands?" unquote.
The very convincing emperor's musings reflect the beliefs of stoicism in ancient Greek philosophy from around 300 BC. That teaches the development of self-control to overcome destructive emotions. Now as we've discussed on this show, sleep is not particularly destructive for the most part. But Marcus Aurelius would say that it can be destructive if done in excess. So the next time you have a hard time getting out of bed, remind yourself to do your job as a human being. It's more fun anyway.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, the bees are putting you to shame.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. And the ants.
ASHLEY HAMER: Those ants.
CODY GOUGH: And the Ents and the Entwives.
[LAUGHTER]
You can also find motivational advice, by the way, from classes offered by today's sponsor, Skillshare.
ASHLEY HAMER: One thing that gets me out of bed every day is my job. I get to write about and schedule the coolest stuff at curiosity.com. But it's a tough job figuring out when we should talk about every story. Fortunately, there's a Skillshare class called Creating an Editorial Calendar with Purpose I've learned a lot about how to give you what you want from Curiosity and take care of business at the same time.
CODY GOUGH: You see Skillshare is an online learning platform with more than 20,000 classes in business, marketing, design, technology, and more. And Skillshare's classes are all taught by real experts in their fields or public motivational speakers.
ASHLEY HAMER: The class I mentioned was taught by a business and content strategist just with more than 10 years of professional experience. And you can take classes from experts on everything you're curious about or want to get better at, like writing, photography, video editing, cooking, game design, coding, arts and crafts, productivity and more.
CODY GOUGH: I'm getting more into Instagram these days, so I took a class called Essays on Insta, How to Write for the Gram.
ASHLEY HAMER: Again, Skillshare offers more than 20,000 classes. And today, you can join the millions of students, like Cody and me, who are already learning on Skillshare.
CODY GOUGH: We've got a special offer for awesome listeners like you. Get two months of Skillshare for just $0.99. To sign up, visit Skillshare.com/curious.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's Skillshare.com/curious for two months of unlimited access to more than 20,000 classes, for just $0.99.
CODY GOUGH: You love Curiosity because that lifelong learning is important. So keep it up, and do your job as a human being. Start your two-month trial of Skillshare to learn more starting today.
ASHLEY HAMER: We're going to wrap up today with the world's shortest IQ test. It's called the Cognitive Reflection Test. And it was published in 2005 by psychologist Shane Frederick. He said he picked these questions because they make it easy for people to quickly jump to conclusions instead of stopping to closely analyze the seemingly simple quiz items.
CODY GOUGH: So basically, these are deceptively simple questions. But if you don't stop for a second to think about it, you might just breeze through.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. So just take your time, read the questions.
CODY GOUGH: Or listen to them in this case.
ASHLEY HAMER: Or listen to them.
[LAUGHTER]
So this is a classic one, the bat and ball problem. A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? This one always gets me.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: I have heard it so many times and I never remember the answer.
CODY GOUGH: One more time. A bat and a ball together it costs $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? The answer is--
ASHLEY HAMER: The ball costs $0.05. You probably guessed $0.10, didn't you? I know I did. No judgment. A ball that costs $0.05, plus a bat that costs $1.05, will set you back $110. A Princeton study found that people who answered $0.10 were significantly less patient than those who got it correct. Yeah, guilty as charged.
CODY GOUGH: Mm-hmm. That's OK. Question two, the widget-making machine problem. If it takes five machines, five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
ASHLEY HAMER: If it takes five machines, five minutes to make five widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?
CODY GOUGH: This one throws me off all the time because it seems like it really complicated math problem, but it's really not. It would take 100 machines 5 minutes to make 100 widgets.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, I guessed right.
CODY GOUGH: So you got me to tell you the answer is 100 minutes. Five, five, five, 100, 100,100. Well, no. From the question, we know that it takes 5 minutes for one machine to make one widget. So it would take five minutes for any number of machines to make any number of widgets.
ASHLEY HAMER: The third one, the size-double-lilypad-patch problem. There's a patch of lily pads in a lake. Every day the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?
CODY GOUGH: Again, every day the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days to cover the whole lake, how long does it take for the patch to cover half the lake? And I love this question because I always get it right.
ASHLEY HAMER: Really?
CODY GOUGH: I don't know why.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, the answer, the lily pads would cover half the lake in 47 days. You might have guessed 24 days. It seems intuitive to cut the number of days in half because you're cutting the size of the lily pad patch in half. But if the area of the lake covered in lily pads doubles every day, it would only take one day for it to go from being half-covered to fully-covered. Take one day away from 48 days, and you're left with 47.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, it's simple stuff. But it's deceptively simple stuff.
ASHLEY HAMER: It is. It's tricky.
CODY GOUGH: Quiz your friends with it, and let us know how they do.
ASHLEY HAMER: Read about these stories and more, today on curiosity.com.
CODY GOUGH: Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily, and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Stay curious.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.