Learn about a scientific tool to cure hiccups; why corvids owe big brains to longer childhoods; and how spacecraft move. Finally, the first-ever scientific tool to cure hiccups by Grant Currin Team describes science-based hiccups intervention. (2021). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/uoth-tds061821.php Alvarez, J., Anderson, J. M., Snyder, P. L., Mirahmadizadeh, A., Godoy, D. A., Fox, M., & Seifi, A. (2021). Evaluation of the Forced Inspiratory Suction and Swallow Tool to Stop Hiccups. JAMA Network Open, 4(6), e2113933. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13933 https://newatlas.com/author/ben-coxworth. (2021, June 21). Drinking device claimed to help halt hiccups. New Atlas. https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/fisst-hiccaway-hiccups/ Herndon, J. (2018, May 29). Why Do We Hiccup? Healthline; Healthline Media. https://www.healthline.com/health/why-do-we-hiccup#Why-we-get-hiccups Corvids owe big brains to parenting/long childhoods by Steffie Drucker Extended parenting helps young birds grow smarter. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/mpif-eph052920.php Heidt, A. (2020, June 8). Like humans, these big-brained birds may owe their smarts to long childhoods. Science | AAAS. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/humans-these-big-brained-birds-may-owe-their-smarts-long-childhoods Extended parenting and the evolution of cognition | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. (2020). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rstb.2019.0495 If space is full of nothing, how can spacecraft move? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Nathan in Clive, Iowa) How does a rocket work in space where there is no air to push against? | Science Guys | Union University, a Christian College in Tennessee. (2014). Uu.edu. https://www.uu.edu/dept/physics/scienceguys/2002Sept.cfm Howell, E. (2013, April 9). How Do Space Rockets Work Without Air? Livescience.com; Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/34475-how-do-space-rockets-work-without-air.html Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Learn about a scientific tool to cure hiccups; why corvids owe big brains to longer childhoods; and how spacecraft move.
Finally, the first-ever scientific tool to cure hiccups by Grant Currin
Corvids owe big brains to parenting/long childhoods by Steffie Drucker
If space is full of nothing, how can spacecraft move? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Nathan in Clive, Iowa)
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/tool-to-cure-hiccups-corvid-childhoods-how-spacecraft-move
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 the first-ever scientific tool to cure hiccups; and why a longer childhood means bigger brains for smart birds called corvids. We’ll also answer a listener question about how spacecraft are able to move around even though space is full of nothing.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Stop holding your breath. Put down the glass of water. Drop that spoonful of sugar. That’s right: Researchers in Texas have invented a cure for the hiccups.
Hiccups are annoying for most, but they can be particularly unpleasant and super persistent for certain people, like those with certain neuromuscular injuries and cancer patients undergoing some kinds of chemotherapy.
That’s why the FISST is such a big deal. FISST stands for “forced inspiratory suction and swallow tool.” It looks like a chunky drinking straw, and that’s basically how it’s used. When someone has the hiccups, they put the FISST into a glass of water and then suck the liquid through a pressure valve at the base of the straw before swallowing.
Again, this thing is basically a high-tech straw.
Hiccups get their name from the sound that’s made when the glottis — the part of your throat that contains your vocal cords — closes really quickly. That’s the sound of a hiccup. But the pesky condition starts deeper in the body, at the diaphragm. That’s the sheet of muscle under the lungs that usually makes it so you can take smooth, rhythmic breaths. Hiccups happen when something throws the diaphragm out of whack and causes involuntary contractions.
The FISST is designed to put the diaphragm back in its normal rhythm. The idea is that forcefully sucking while swallowing will stimulate two nerves connected to the diaphragm. That should make the diaphragm contract while part of the throat temporarily closes. The sequence of events is thought to bring a bout of hiccups to an end.
But does it work? It’s too early to say. The researchers tested out the invention by giving them to 600 people. When they surveyed the group, about 250 people replied, telling researchers the FISST effectively stopped hiccups a whopping 92 percent of the time.
That’s not proof, especially since there was no control group, but it’s a good sign. With any luck, stronger evidence will be on its way soon. The researchers are waiting to conduct a double-blind clinical trial that should offer high-quality data. Their current challenge is developing a convincing placebo straw to give the control group.
But if you’re curious, you can try it out for yourself. The device is commercially available as the “HiccAway,” and it’s got mostly positive reviews. This isn’t a sponsored story, by the way — we just thought it was a cool invention!
Childhood seems to last forever when you’re a kid. And that’s no illusion — compared to many other animal species, humans have especially long childhoods. But we’re not the only ones, and a study on some smart birds shows that that lengthy childhood is time well spent: the longer youngsters spend with their parents, the more successful they are when they leave the nest.
To understand the evolutionary benefits of parenting, scientists looked at two species of brainy birds called corvids, whose brain-to-body ratio is similar to ours. These birds have also demonstrated some skills we thought only humans could do, like using tools and recognizing themselves in mirrors.
First, researchers created a database detailing the life history of thousands of species of birds, including more than 120 corvids. Chicken-like birds called megapodes have a hands-off parenting style: Adults lay their eggs in burrows and bounce! Babies hatch with their eyes fully open, dig themselves out of layers of soil and even take flight the same day. Corvids, by comparison, live with their parents for up to four years. That’s equivalent to about 20 years in human terms, so it’s roughly similar to our own childhoods. Along with that long childhood came bigger bodies and brains than their deadbeat-parent cousins.
Next, scientists put the survival skills of wild corvids to the test. They challenged a group of Siberian jays to retrieve food from a puzzle box. The young that were taken care of by their parents learned to unlock the puzzle box faster than jays who didn’t have a parent to teach them. Those smarts made them more likely to live longer and start their own families.
Researchers also watched New Caledonian crows learn to gather food using tools. It typically takes a year for a young crow to learn this skill — a big time investment for parents who have other mouths to feed. But the adults are patient with the youngsters. They feed them, show them how to collect food, and even let them “steal” the tools to give it a try. No wonder these crows have the largest brain-to-body ratio of all corvids.
Practicing under a parent’s wing lets corvid and human kids make mistakes and fine-tune life skills. That leaves them with larger brains, sharper skills, and, ultimately, a better shot at survival.
We got a listener question from Nathan in Clive, Iowa, who asks, “If space is full of nothing, what allows spacecraft to move in space?”
This is a really important question, Nathan! Here on Earth, we’re familiar with vehicles that use “stuff” to move. Like, cars and trains use friction between their wheels and the road or tracks to propel them forward. Airplanes and helicopters push against the air in our atmosphere to stay aloft. But out in space, where there’s no road, no tracks, and no air, how do rockets go anywhere?
This all comes down to our old friend Isaac Newton and his third law of motion: every action produces an equal and opposite reaction. That law is also known as the conservation of momentum. Momentum is a number that combines an object’s mass with its velocity, but what’s important here is that Newton’s third law says that whatever’s happening to a system, total momentum stays the same. Like, if you shoot a T-shirt cannon while standing on a skateboard? First of all, I want to live your life, but second, your skateboard will be pushed back with the same momentum as the T-shirt, but in different directions. The two numbers cancel each other out, and total momentum stays the same.
But that’s on Earth, with friction from the ground and air molecules slowing you down. If you were out in space with your moon boots firmly stuck to that skateboard, shooting the T-shirt cannon would send you flying backward even faster. That’s exactly what rockets do. Exhaust gases get momentum as they’re expelled from the rocket engine. As those gases move in one direction, the rocket moves in the other direction, and momentum stays the same. If you had a spacesuit, you could do the same thing in space by shooting a T-shirt cannon, throwing a bowling ball, or anything else you could give a bit of momentum to. You’d start moving in the opposite direction — no ground, air, or “stuff” required.
Thanks for your question, Nathan! If you have a question, send a voice recording or an email to curiosity at discovery dot com, or leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208.
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll hear next week on Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Next week, you’ll learn about how doctors can use cosmic rays in medical diagnoses;
Two new species of ancient human we just discovered;
A mysterious battery that’s been going and going and going — for more than 175 years;
How that song that’s stuck in your head may be helping your long-term memory;
And more! Okay, so now, let’s recap what we learned today.
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ASHLEY: Today’s writers were Grant Currin and Steffie Drucker.
CODY: Our managing editor is Ashley Hamer, who was also a writer on today’s episode.
ASHLEY: Our producer and audio editor is Cody Gough.
CODY: Have a great weekend! [AD LIB SOMETHING FUNNY] Then, join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!