Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you learn something new in just a few minutes: This Smartwatch Turns Your Whole Arm Into a Touchscreen It May Seem Like It'd be Faster to Fly West, But Weirdly, the Opposite Is True Arianna Huffington's Bedtime Routine Is A "Sacrosanct Ritual" That Gives Her A Stress-Free Day Related links: "The Sleep Revolution" by Arianna Huffington
Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you learn something new in just a few minutes:
Related links:
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/touchscreen-arms-weird-flying-science-and-a-bedtime-routine-for-a-stress-free-day
[MUSIC PLAYING] CODY GOUGH: Hi, I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: We've got three stories from curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Today, we'll talk about a smartwatch that turns your whole arm into a touch screen. Some surprising science around air travel. And how Arianna Huffington's bedtime routine can give you a stress-free day.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity. All right, Ashley, what's the biggest problem with smartwatches?
ASHLEY HAMER: They're supposed to do everything that your smartphone does, but they're super tiny.
CODY GOUGH: Well, researchers at Carnegie Mellon's Future Interfaces Group have a prototype to fix that.
ASHLEY HAMER: What is it?
CODY GOUGH: It's called SkinTrack. And it turns your wrist into a touch screen. It uses sensors mounted on the side, and you wear a ring on your opposite hand. And that's all it takes for the watch to detect exactly what you're swiping, and pressing, and gesturing.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wait, so what's on your skin? Nothing's on your skin?
CODY GOUGH: Nothing's on your skin.
ASHLEY HAMER: You just touch random places. And then what happens?
CODY GOUGH: So, it basically lets you drag apps around your arms. So you can tap anywhere and open the app, which means you can put Spotify in your elbow. You can put your fitness tracker on your mid forearm. And of course, you can put the Curiosity app on your wrist.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's right. Right where it's available. That's great.
CODY GOUGH: Of course. Then they have another prototype called the AuraSense. Doesn't even need a ring because it can detect the electromagnetic fields that surround your fingers, but it's not as precise because you don't really generate a very powerful electromagnetic field. Typically.
ASHLEY HAMER: We're living in the future.
CODY GOUGH: Future technology.
ASHLEY HAMER: So exciting.
CODY GOUGH: Next stop, flying cars.
ASHLEY HAMER: Exactly. Speaking of flying cars, Cody, do you know which direction the Earth rotates?
CODY GOUGH: Ooh. East?
ASHLEY HAMER: That's right. The Earth rotates east. So doesn't it make sense that if you were flying west, you would actually get to your location faster than if you were flying east?
CODY GOUGH: Right, because the Earth is moving east. And if you're flying west, you're going against it. So-
ASHLEY HAMER: You're flying under you. It's giving you a little boost, but that's not the case. It's actually faster to fly east.
CODY GOUGH: So that doesn't make any sense.
ASHLEY HAMER: We were wondering that too. So Curiosity researched this, and we found out that it's because the air moves with the Earth, which is obvious when you think about it. But the atmosphere is also rotating. So when you fly in the air, you're not just free of the Earth. You're still in the atmosphere.
CODY GOUGH: Right.
ASHLEY HAMER: So say the Earth rotates at 1,000 miles per hour east.
CODY GOUGH: Right.
ASHLEY HAMER: So you've got a plane that's flying about 600 miles per hour west. Well, it's still flying 1,000 miles per hour east because so is the air. It's just flying 600 miles per hour slower east. So it's getting to its destination eventually.
CODY GOUGH: Wow!
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: It's easy to forget that we are all on a giant rock hurtling thousands of miles an hour through space.
ASHLEY HAMER: It is. Until you get up in the air, and you realize that you've got to think about that stuff.
CODY GOUGH: So, why is it faster to fly east?
ASHLEY HAMER: That's how the air is moving. So the air is helping you along. You're not having to fight it. But there's also another element at play. And that is the jet stream.
CODY GOUGH: What is a jet stream?
ASHLEY HAMER: So, the jet stream is a tunnel-like air current in the atmosphere where hot and cold air meet. You've probably heard weather people talk about this.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. It makes hurricanes and stuff.
ASHLEY HAMER: Exactly. So, the Earth's rotation pushes that into swirling patterns which is where you get hurricanes, and stuff like that. And in the northern hemisphere, where we live, the jet stream flows east, about 80 to 140 miles per hour. So it's really helping those east-traveling planes along.
CODY GOUGH: Something I want to think about before bed perhaps.
ASHLEY HAMER: What a segue!
CODY GOUGH: Thank you. Do you have a bedtime routine, and does it help you get ready for the next day?
ASHLEY HAMER: I do have a bedtime routine. It absolutely does not help me get ready for the next day.
CODY GOUGH: That's really unfortunate. Well, we've written about the importance of sleep on curiosity.com. And today, we've got an article looking at the bedtime routine of Arianna Huffington, who, I don't know if you know this, she collapsed from exhaustion in 2007.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, God.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, and then made it her personal mission to educate people on the importance of sleep. She's got five rules of sleep in her own words. Number one is sleep is a fundamental and non-negotiable human need. Number two-- exhaustion is a sign of chaos. Not a badge of honor.
So the whole only got four hours of sleep last night. That's not cool anymore. Number three-- a bedroom should be an oasis, a beautiful escape from the day. Number four-- usher your mobile device out of the bedroom before you go to bed.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, my gosh! That's so important. We have so many articles about this.
CODY GOUGH: And her fifth rule is when you walk through your bedroom door, leave unfinished business behind.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's good.
CODY GOUGH: And she has a physical way of doing that, basically. In The Telegraph, she wrote a column about her bedtime routine. She cleans her face with specific products. Then turns off all her devices. And, quote, unquote, "Gently escorts them out of the bedroom." Then she takes a bath next to a lit candle, and then changes into her sleep-only clothes.
But then finally, she'll review the things she's grateful for that day. So that, quote, "My blessings, not my worries, get the closing scene of the night," unquote.
ASHLEY HAMER: We have another article about how you can get a better night's sleep by doing the opposite of that. So it's really whatever is good for you, but you can try writing your to-do list for the next day. And there've been studies showing that that helps people get to sleep faster and sleep more soundly.
CODY GOUGH: So writing anything, really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Hopefully not the things you don't want to have nightmares about because that's the last thing you think about. That's no good.
ASHLEY HAMER: Just like, not monsters. Not monsters. Then you just dream about monsters.
CODY GOUGH: Right, but writing what you need to do, or organize it in your head, or writing what you're grateful for, will just end on a happy note. So, yeah. Get that pen and paper. Put a little notepad there.
ASHLEY HAMER: Absolutely.
CODY GOUGH: And you can read more about her advice, and all of these stories, and so much more on curiosity.com. She's also published a few books, including one called The Sleep Revolution, if you want to deep dive into her advice on sleep.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow for The Curiosity Digest, and learn something new in just a few minutes. I am Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.