Learn about the Moses Illusion, which shows how your brain processes information; why urine is yellow; and how watching horror movies can help reduce anxiety. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: Buy ANOMIA on Amazon — https://amazon.com (please support our sponsors!) The Moses Illusion Shows How Bad You Are at Fact-Checking Why is Pee a Shade of Yellow, No Matter What You Eat or Drink? Suffer From Anxiety? There's a Horror Movie for That 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 the Moses Illusion, which shows how your brain processes information; why urine is yellow; and how watching horror movies can help reduce anxiety.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
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.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/why-youre-bad-at-fact-checking-reducing-anxiety-with-horror-movies-and-why-urine-is-yellow
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 about an illusion that shows how your brain processes information, why pee is yellow, and how watching horror movies can help reduce anxiety.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity on the award-winning Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: We've got three trivia questions for you. Are you ready? Question one, how many of each animal did Moses take on the Ark? Question two, what's the nationality of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the telephone? Question three, what were the first words uttered by Louis Armstrong when he set foot on the moon?
CODY GOUGH: Let's recap and see how you did. How many of each animal did Moses take on the Ark? You might have said two, but Moses didn't take animals on the Ark. That was Noah.
ASHLEY HAMER: For number two, what's the nationality of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the telephone? You might have said American. But, Thomas Edison didn't invent the telephone. That was Alexander Graham Bell.
CODY GOUGH: And what were the first words uttered by Louis Armstrong when he set foot on the moon? Your answer might have been one small step for man. But that answer is a giant leap. Louis Armstrong is a legendary trumpet player whose name is actually pronounced Louis.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well he pronounced his own name Louis. Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: Ah, there we go. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon.
ASHLEY HAMER: So why did the questions fool you? It's all in how your brain processes information. This bit of trickery is called the Moses illusion. And it shows how bad you are at picking up on errors in your everyday life. Researchers first came up with it in a 1981 study where more than 80% of participants missed the problem with the Moses question.
CODY GOUGH: Studies show that illusions like this can lead people to pick up false information about the world. Fortunately, there's one way around this. When people are asked to play fact checker and correct errors as they read, they're much less likely to pick up false information than people who just read what they're given. The takeaway is that if you assume anything you hear or read could be wrong, then you'll be more likely to notice when it is.
ASHLEY HAMER: But you can rest assured that we check all our facts on this podcast, the award-winning Curiosity Monthly.
CODY GOUGH: We all see the same sky and ask why is the sky blue? But we also all go to the bathroom. So how come we never ask why is our pee yellow? Lucky for you, we're science nerds. So we've got some answers, and they might tell you something about your health.
Long story short, urine is yellow because of a chemical called urobilin or urochrome. Here's the deal. Your body has a massive amount of red blood cells, but they don't last very long before they need to be washed out of your system. Even after they've passed their expiration dates, red blood cells contain iron. White blood cells gobble up that iron to keep it in your body, and then they ditch that ex-red blood cell wrapper. That's called bilirubin.
Some of that bilirubin heads to your kidneys, where your kidneys suck out valuable nutrients and transform that bilirubin into a molecule that happens to be yellow. The amount of water in your body can dilute that chemical, which is why our urine can range from crystal clear to a deep amber color. So very generally speaking, that's why the more clear your urine is, the more hydrated you are. If it's deeper yellow or amber or honey colored, then you might want to hydrate a little more. And if it's neon yellow, then you might have excess riboflavin in your system, which means you probably just popped a multivitamin.
ASHLEY HAMER: Or you drank an energy drink.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yep.
CODY GOUGH: Other non-yellow colors are possible. And we are not medical professionals, so don't panic. But you might want to see a doctor if it comes out brownish, pink, or reddish, orange, or even blue and green. That's actually a thing that can happen with certain rare genetic diseases. And for fizziness or foaminess can happen sometimes, too. If it's just fizzy once in a while, then it's probably a harmless hydraulic effect. If it's regularly foaming, then it could be kidney problems or excess protein in your diet. No matter what color or consistency it is, if you're concerned, talk to your doctor.
ASHLEY HAMER: Today's episode is sponsored by Anomia spelled A-N-O-M-I-A. It's a game we've been playing on our lunch breaks in the office. I'm not even a gamer, and I like it.
CODY GOUGH: I am a gamer, and I also like it. The word anomia refers to when you can't remember a word, but it's on the tip of your tongue. The game Anomia is a quick and easy card game where you have to come up with words that fit into different categories.
ASHLEY HAMER: Think fast. Name a mountain range, a comet, a science fiction author, a type of wood.
CODY GOUGH: This is a game where you have to think fast. And you can play it anywhere with any one. If you like curiosity, then you will love this game because it'll tap into all the random things you learn every day.
ASHLEY HAMER: And there's no waiting. It could be your turn at any time. So it keeps you on your toes.
CODY GOUGH: Quick. Name a poet, a contagious disease, a news magazine.
ASHLEY HAMER: This is the perfect game to play with friends and family at any party or family game night. The more people playing, the more fast paced and hilarious it gets.
CODY GOUGH: It really brings people together and gets everybody laughing. And new for 2018 is a kids version called Anomia Kids for ages five and up, meaning even more fun for all ages.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's a pretty perfect gift idea for any of your friends who like games and maybe even some who don't. Look for Anomia and Anomia Kids, spelled A-N-O-M-I-A at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and your local toy and game shop.
CODY GOUGH: We'll also put a link to buy Anomia in today's show notes.
ASHLEY HAMER: More than 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety. A lot of people deal with it using calming remedies. But other people, horror movies. And today, we'll talk about the science behind that.
CODY GOUGH: Quick. Name a horror movie.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh gosh, It. I think that might have been one of the first horror movies I ever saw.
CODY GOUGH: Oh, that was pretty quick.
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, yeah.
CODY GOUGH: You would have won that round in Anomia. Is that your favorite horror movie?
ASHLEY HAMER: I am not a fan of horror movies. I don't like them. Do you?
CODY GOUGH: I wouldn't say I like them. But I would say that they have their intended effect. You know how you grew up near the Redwoods?
ASHLEY HAMER: Mm-hmm.
CODY GOUGH: I was on a road trip with some friends and we stopped and stayed at a cabin in the Redwood Forest.
ASHLEY HAMER: Nice.
CODY GOUGH: Where there's no cell phone reception anywhere, middle of nowhere, pitch black everywhere. And they bust out Cabin In The Woods.
ASHLEY HAMER: Ah ha ha.
CODY GOUGH: Which is a horror movie. I was not happy. But it was all right. It's not like the scariest movie in the world. But, now I associate the Redwoods a little bit with the horror movies.
ASHLEY HAMER: Fear.
CODY GOUGH: Fear, terror-- It's really unfortunate that it didn't have the same effect that some people experience based on this research we're about to talk about.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right. So believe it or not, people have been using horror movies or TV shows to deal with their anxiety for decades. Essentially, the horror they're watching helps them redirect their general anxiety onto something that's not only not real, but not affecting them directly. In turn, that helps defuse whatever they're dealing with. You know how you feel kind of relieved after you make it through a high-stress situation? Well, researchers think that could be one reason why some anxious people find horror films therapeutic. The genre helps you voluntarily get experience with negative emotions under controlled circumstances. Since you're confronting your fears in a safe environment like a cozy living room, it's easier for a person to separate irrational fears from reality and remember that things could always be worse.
There's also some brain chemistry going on. The amygdala is the part of the brain that signals danger. And it can be hyperactive in people who have generalized anxiety disorder. If people with hyperactive amygdalas self-medicate with a regular dose of horror, their fear and anxiety reaction may decrease over time. This has been studied, but only with very specific images. So it's hard to say if that would work with horror movies in general. More research is definitely needed in this area, especially since horror movies are definitely not therapeutic for everyone.
CODY GOUGH: Case in point.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yes. One study reported that about a half dozen people had to seek clinical help after they saw The Exorcist because the lingering fear was so intense according to Purdue Professor Glenn Sparks. This is also why horror can be so polarizing. The way you handle the triggering material depends on how your unique brain processes it. Just remember, if you get too scared, you can always turn it off and try meditating instead. You can always save a good horror movie to stimulate your next date night.
CODY GOUGH: Read about today's stories and more on curiosity.com.
ASHLEY HAMER: Join us again tomorrow with the award-winning 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.