In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you learn something new in just a few minutes: These Are the Differences Between Men and Women Narcissists Whatever You Do, Don't Put Coffee Grounds in Your Garden This Is How Often You Should Clean Your Keyboard Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter withCody Gough andAshley Hamer — for free! 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.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you learn something new in just a few minutes:
These Are the Differences Between Men and Women Narcissists
Whatever You Do, Don't Put Coffee Grounds in Your Garden
This Is How Often You Should Clean Your Keyboard
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer — for free! 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.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/types-of-narcissists-dont-garden-with-coffee-grounds-and-cleaning-your-keyboard
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 learn how male and female narcissists are different, why you should not put coffee grounds in your garden, and how often you should clean your keyboard, and how to do it.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity. Hey, Ashley. Do you know how to spot a narcissist?
ASHLEY HAMER: Is it someone who's just like gazing in the mirror all the time?
CODY GOUGH: Well, it depends actually.
ASHLEY HAMER: Interesting.
CODY GOUGH: Curiosity follows research on lots of mental conditions like narcissism, and we found that narcissists behave differently depending on whether they're male or female. Before I get into the differences, first, what is a narcissist?
Narcissistic personality disorder is defined by Mayo clinic as a mental condition in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention and admiration, troubled relationships, and a lack of empathy for others.
And it's actually not that rare. According to a 2009 study, about 6% of Americans have narcissistic personality disorder.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. So if you want to spot a narcissist, there are a few major clues. Like, if somebody is totally full of himself or herself, completely self-absorbed, not having time for anybody else, that kind of thing. But not all narcissists are created equal, and that's according to a recent meta analysis of three decades of narcissism research. And this included more than 475,000 participants.
The team looked at three aspects of narcissism. First, leadership and authority. Second, grandiose exhibitionism. And third, exploitative or entitlement. And they found that male and female narcissists did not score evenly across these groups. The widest gap in scores was in the entitlement camp, suggesting that male narcissists are more likely to feel entitled to certain things and exploit people than female narcissists are.
The exhibitionism aspect, on the other hand, had no gap at all. So both genders are equally likely to display vanity or self-absorption. The researchers also found that men, on average, are more narcissistic than women. And they think that could actually explain some broader gender disparities.
The study's lead author said that narcissism is associated with various interpersonal dysfunctions, like unethical behavior, aggression, not being able to hang on to healthy long-term relationships. But she said that narcissism also has been shown to boost self-esteem, emotional stability, and the tendency to emerge as a leader.
And so the team speculates that gender stereotypes might showcase or suppress which narcissistic traits either gender expresses. So like in a culture where women are criticized for being aggressive or authoritative, that might create pressure for women to suppress displays of narcissistic behavior.
ASHLEY HAMER: That makes a lot of sense.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, so there are some broader implications, of course, there's much more research to be done. But if you're looking for narcissistic traits in a person, now you know what to keep an eye out for.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, men and women are different. Cody, do you do any gardening?
CODY GOUGH: I do, yeah. At my back balcony, despite living in an apartment.
ASHLEY HAMER: What do you grow?
CODY GOUGH: Flowers.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cool.
CODY GOUGH: I just kind of go to the store and pick up whatever looks pretty and might bloom, and there you go.
ASHLEY HAMER: Nice. Well, do you ever put any compost or coffee grounds or anything in your garden?
CODY GOUGH: I have put used coffee grounds on the soil I guess to help flowers grow?
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. Well, Curiosity researched this, and you should stop doing that immediately.
CODY GOUGH: Oh no.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yes. We found that this is actually not the best idea. So coffee grounds do have nutrients like nitrogen, which is essential for plant growth. And people say it can be good for your garden to add organic material to the soil in general since bacteria will feed on it and break it down into more nutrients for the plants.
But if you research this online, people will say coffee grounds are highly acidic so you should only use them with acid loving plants like azaleas and blueberries. And if your soil already has a bunch of nitrogen, then the extra boost might stunt the growth of fruits and flowers. But the biggest problem is that coffee grounds are full of caffeine, and that is bad for your garden.
CODY GOUGH: But coffee and chocolate are plants, right? And they contain caffeine.
ASHLEY HAMER: Totally. But have you ever wondered why? Like, why do they make caffeine. There's got to be a reason since those two plants aren't even related. Coffee and chocolate plants evolve the ability to make caffeine independently. That's something biologists call convergent evolution.
So when two species evolve the same trait completely on their own, that trait is probably pretty important. Think wings on bats and birds or eyes on humans and squids, we're not related but we both evolved them because they're important to our survival. Well, for caffeine that reason is competition. It kills off any plants in the surrounding area.
CODY GOUGH: Oh-oh.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, so that's bad. A recent study in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening said that applying spent coffee grounds directly to urban agriculture soils, quote, "Greatly reduces plant growth," end quote. And that was true even when they composted the coffee grounds with other organic waste, which a lot of people say you should do.
Another study that compost spiked with coffee grounds can kill earthworms. And remember how adding organic material to your soil can attract helpful bacteria? Well, coffee grounds also have antibacterial properties. So maybe drink the coffee yourself and keep your grounds out of the garden.
CODY GOUGH: Yikes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. And while you might think that all the caffeine is gone once you brew the cup of coffee, spent coffee grounds still have about as much caffeine as a cup of tea. So, yeah, you're still doing some harm to your garden.
CODY GOUGH: Just in time for gardening season.
ASHLEY HAMER: Just in time. Don't do it.
CODY GOUGH: All right, so, Ashley, what is the dirtiest thing you come into contact with every day?
ASHLEY HAMER: A toilet seat, right?
CODY GOUGH: So actually no, toilet seats actually aren't really that bad.
ASHLEY HAMER: I guess, yeah, people clean them all the time.
CODY GOUGH: Well, yeah, there's a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona who told the BBC there aren't actually that many things cleaner than a toilet seat when it comes to germs.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow, it's just a big myth that everybody's spreading all over the place.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. Fun fact, well, bad news, the dirtiest thing you might come into contact with might be your keyboard.
ASHLEY HAMER: Ooh.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. A recent study from the University of Arizona found that the typical desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. Although, again, toilet seats kind of get a bad rap, but still, keyboards can be gross.
A study from Northwestern Memorial Hospital found that two drug resistant and deadly bacteria could survive for up to 24 hours on a keyboard. So microbiologists recommend that public keyboards and mice should be disinfected at least once a week. If you're the only one using your keyboard, chances aren't quite as high as that you'll get sick from the germs on it, but, hey, better safe than sorry.
So how do you stay clean? The National Center for Health research recommends these steps. First, wash your hands before doing anything on the keyboard. Once your hands are dry, turn off your computer, unplug it, and then turn the keyboard upside down and shake out any gross debris hiding in the key openings.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh man, mine is so full of crumbs, it's disgusting.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. And you don't want to shake too hard if you're shaking your laptop upside down, but you can also use a can of compressed air to help in case, again, you don't want to be throttling your $2,000 gaming laptop.
Then dampen a cotton swab with water or isopropyl alcohol. Don't get it really wet, just a little damp, then dab between the keys with the swab. And then dampen a lint free cloth and wipe down the rest of the keyboard. And you're set. If you've never cleaned your keyboard before--
ASHLEY HAMER: Do it.
CODY GOUGH: Do it now.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: You can read more about this and all of the stories we talked about today on curiosity.com.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily, and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious.
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.