Learn about how the mysterious Hypatia stone could change what we know about our solar system; what wind chill actually means; and how you can learn skills faster with a 15-minute workout. 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: The Mysterious Hypatia Stone Doesn't Match the Ingredients of Our Solar System — https://curiosity.im/2MBj6KQ What Does Wind Chill Even Mean? Not What You Think — https://curiosity.im/2sYSqux You Can Learn Skills Faster With One 15-Minute Workout — https://curiosity.im/2MC5rDk If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about how the mysterious Hypatia stone could change what we know about our solar system; what wind chill actually means; and how you can learn skills faster with a 15-minute workout.
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:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/what-wind-chill-really-means-learning-skills-faster-with-a-workout-and-the-hypatia-stone
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about how the mysterious Hypatia [high-PAY-shuh] stone could change what we know about our solar system; what wind chill actually means; and how you can learn skills faster with a 15-minute workout.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The Mysterious Hypatia Stone Doesn't Match the Ingredients of Our Solar System — https://curiosity.im/2MBj6KQ (Ashley)
Have you heard of the Hypatia [high-PAY-shuh] Stone? It’s really mysterious, and researchers don’t know where it came from. I’m not talking, like, they don’t know which country it came from, or even what planet. This rock doesn’t match the ingredients of our solar system. And its origins could change what we think we know about how our solar system was formed. Here’s the story. The Hypatia stone was found in 1996 by a geologist in southwest Egypt, and it was named after the earlist known female mathematician and astronomer. The stone was covered in the kinds of microscopic diamonds that suggest it came from outer space. In 2013, researchers at the University of Johannesburg confirmed this, and said it was likely the core of a comet — the first one we’ve ever found. The stone didn’t have the ingredients of any known comet, though, so for a paper published in December 2017, that team took a second crack at analyzing the stone. This time, they used sophisticated electron microscopy techniques to get a closer look at its exact composition. It turns out that the mineral matrix is all wrong for an object from our solar system. It also contains the kinds of carbon compounds you generally see in interstellar dust, which is not something you typically find in our neck of the woods. But the Hypatia stone’s real claim to fame is the mineral grains. They’re made up of nickel, phosphorus, and iron — but not in any ratio we're familiar with. And according to the researchers, that could mean the stone formed before our sun did. If it didn't form before our solar system, though, then that means something even weirder. Right now, the most popular theory about how our part of the universe was formed is that the bodies in our solar system formed from a huge, uniform cloud of dust. That's why you find the same compounds in all the rocky stuff, like planets, moons, and meteors. If the Hypatia stone formed around the same time as everything else, though, then that means the cloud wasn't uniform. Either way, we know that the Hypatia stone formed in the kind of cold environment you’d find way, way beyond Neptune. The next step is for researchers to dig further into where this rock came from. Who knew something so tiny could have such big implications? [ad lib]
What Does Wind Chill Even Mean? Not What You Think — https://curiosity.im/2sYSqux (Cody)
If you’re like Ashley and me, you may have just spent several days hibernating during the ridiculous cold snap sweeping the country. The Chicago river is frozen solid, and temperatures dropped to around 15 to 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. That’s about 26 to 28 below zero Celsius. And the wind chill was even twice that cold! That might sound scary, but do you know what wind chill even means? Grab a cup of hot chocolate and settle in by the fire, because I’m about to tell you why talking about wind chill is kind of like blowing a bunch of hot air. [did you make any hot chocolate when everything was closed Wednesday, Ashley? / ad lib]
CODY: Lemme cut to the chase: Wind chill doesn't tell you whether it's freezing outside; it just predicts how fast you'll get frostbite. And, as it turns out, it's even pretty lousy at that. The first idea of a "wind chill" factor was developed by a pair of American scientists working in Antarctica. They wanted to measure how wind was able to make objects lose heat more quickly than they would usually. This new metric was measured in kilocalories per hour per square meter, so the technical-sounding term was mostly used by scientists until the 1960s. Then, the U.S. military realized it might come in handy for troops, so they translated the metric into "equivalent temperature" — that is, degrees Fahrenheit. That's when it caught on like wildfire, appearing in TV and radio weather reports everywhere. Then, the National Weather Service recruited scientists to revise the wind-chill formula by using experiments with real people. It was brilliant in its simplicity: If you know the temperature and wind speed outside, then you can know your risk of frostbite. Kind of. Here's the problem: It assumes a whole lot of things that probably don't apply to you. Wind chill only predicts your risk of frostbite if you're these things: you’re 5 foot 6, you’re overweight, the sun is not shining, you have no trees or buildings blocking the wind, and you're walking steadily at 3 miles per hour straight into a headwind. Pretty specific. Despite this glaring flaw and many calling to abandon the metric, the National Weather service still promotes wind chill as the be-all end-all. Luckily, there are better alternatives out there. If you use Accuweather, you can check its RealFeel temperature to know how it feels outside. And for a more scientific measure, try the Universal Thermal Climate Index, or UTCI. Either way: bundle up this week, stay warm, and don’t forget to pick up some hot cocoa on your way home.
You Can Learn Skills Faster With One 15-Minute Workout — https://curiosity.im/2MC5rDk (Ashley)
There's a growing body of research showing that if you’re trying to learn a new skill, then a post-practice workout might be in order. Whether you want to learn the guitar or you’re trying to get good at swing dancing, today I’ve got a tip for how you can learn skills faster with a 15-minute workout. [ad lib / Cody I wonder if this works for video games]
ASHLEY: This research comes from Marc Roig. He’s an assistant professor at the School of Physical & Occupational Therapy at McGill University in Canada. And he’s done a lot of research into when and how hard you should exercise to boost your learning. In his newest study, he looked into what's going on in the brains of people who perform a post-practice workout. For the study, 25 participants performed a computer-tracking task that involved using a joystick to keep a cursor inside of a moving target on the screen. The joystick was a dynamometer, which means it works by measuring how much you squeeze the grip of your hand, instead of measuring what direction you tilt it. Then, half of the participants did 15 minutes of high-intensity interval training on a stationary bike, while the other half just hung out. Then, participants came back to try that computer task 8 hours later, and again 24 hours later. While all this was going on, the participants wore EEG and EMG sensors. Those electroencephalography and electromyography sensors measured their brain and muscle activity. And when they combed through the data, the researchers found that those who had exercised were better at performing the tracking task 24 hours later — AND they had quieter, more efficient brain activity during the task than those who hadn't exercised. They believed this was because exercise had made the connections between and within the two brain hemispheres more efficient overall. One of the senior authors on the paper said, quote, “What this means, in concrete terms, is that exercise may help free up part of your brain to do other things,” unquote. And by the way, there wasn’t much a difference in performance between the two groups after 8 hours. The exercisers performed significantly better only after they’d gotten a good night’s sleep, 24 hours later. This suggests that sleep can interact with exercise to optimize the consolidation of motor memories. The takeaway is clear: If you're learning a new skill, make sure to include exercise as a fundamental part of your practice sessions. Hit the gym, ride your bike, or go for a run after you learn something new — and, of course, get a good night's sleep — and you may learn it faster than you'd ever believe you could.
CODY: Today’s ad-free episode was brought to you by our Patrons. Special thanks to Muhammad Shifaz, Sergio Moreno, Luke Chapman, John Friesen, Braeden Johnson, and Daeus Bencomo, for your support on Patreon. We really appreciate it!
ASHLEY: To learn more about how you can support Curiosity Daily, AND how to get access to our feature-length Patreon-exclusive podcasts, please visit patreon-dot-com-slash-curiosity-dot-com, all spelled out.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!