Learn about the surprising reasons why the women’s restroom line is always longer; HSAM, the incredibly rare condition of having superhuman memory; and, how bamboo products impact the environment. 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: This Is the Surprising Reason the Women's Restroom Line Is Always Longer — https://curiosity.im/2lLiWHS HSAM Is the Incredibly Rare Condition of Superhuman Memory — https://curiosity.im/32Nd9kP Additional resources discussed: Dirty Fashion: How pollution in the global textiles supply chain is making viscose toxic | Changing Markets Foundation — http://changingmarkets.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CHANGING_MARKETS_DIRTY_FASHION_REPORT_SPREAD_WEB.pdf Clean by Design, Apparel Manufacturing and Pollution | NRDC — https://www.nrdc.org/resources/clean-design-apparel-manufacturing-and-pollution 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 the surprising reasons why the women’s restroom line is always longer; HSAM, the incredibly rare condition of having superhuman memory; and, how bamboo products impact the environment.
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:
Additional resources discussed:
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/womens-restroom-lines-superhuman-memory-and-is-bamboo-good-for-the-environment
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 why the women’s restroom line is always longer; an incredibly rare condition of having superhuman memory; and, how bamboo products impact the environment.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
This Is the Surprising Reason the Women's Restroom Line Is Always Longer — https://curiosity.im/2lLiWHS (from Saturday 10/12) (Ashley)
ASHLEY: We all know the line to get into the women’s restroom is pretty much always longer than the line to get into the men’s restroom. In fact, on average, women have to wait about 34 times as long as men. Well today you’re going to learn the surprising reasons why.
CODY: Alright, I admit, [ad lib about this story]
[more ad lib]
[even more ad lib because this is great]
ASHLEY: Researchers studied restroom lines, and a team at Ghent University came up with three main reasons for the difference in waiting time between men and women. The first reason is just the net number of toilets. Usually restrooms are the same size square in terms of space, but urinals take up less room than full bathroom stalls. The same size restroom that fits 10 stalls in the women’s room could fit 10 urinals plus two stalls in the men’s room. On average, you can fit 20 to 30 percent more toilets in a men’s room. The second reason is that according to scientific studies, women spend one-and-a-half to two times as long on the toilet. And that’s mostly practical; stalls take longer than urinals, you have to open and close the stall door, clean the toilet… stuff like that. Men spend an average of a minute in the restroom, while women take a minute and a half. And the third reason why women have to wait longer is that when the restroom lines fill up all at once, like during intermission at a theatre performance, those first two factors are multiplied — the impact of fewer stalls and more time taken leads to ridiculous lines in the women’s room, which adds to women’s waiting time. On top of all these reasons, there’s also the fact that women are more likely than men to have kids or elderly people with them, which could slow them down even more. But even if they don’t, there are a couple other factors like mensturation and having to remove more clothing. Okay, so women take longer, AND they have fewer facilities than men. The solution should seem simple, right? Just make the women’s restrooms bigger? Well that’s where money comes in. Plumbing codes set building requirements for the minimum number of toilets for men and for women, so it's up to builders and building owners to go above and beyond that number. And from a strictly economic standpoint, it doesn’t make sense for a building owner to increase restroom space that might cut into the amount of rentable area in a building. Fortunately, lawmakers in some cities and states have started to push for restroom equality. In 2005, New York City passed a bill that required newly constructed public spaces to have a 2-to-1 ratio of women's to men's toilets. But that bill doesn't apply to buildings built before 2005, so most public spaces still have no incentive to provide more restrooms for women. Some building managers are testing a possible solution in converting men’s restrooms into “all-gender” restrooms, just by changing the sign on the door. That might sound radical here in the U.S., but lots of European restrooms have rows of unisex stalls with communal sinks, so why not? And, let's face it: When the line is long and women have to wait, sometimes they end up using the men's room anyway. Maybe "potty parity" will come when we accept that, fix the signs, and move on.
HSAM Is the Incredibly Rare Condition of Superhuman Memory — https://curiosity.im/32Nd9kP (Cody)
Do you remember what were you doing on the morning of August 9th, 2002? If you're like most people, the answer is no. But the answer is yes, if you have an extremely rare condition called highly superior autobiographical memory, or HSAM. In fact, if you have HSAM, you'll probably remember almost everything about that day. Scientists don't know exactly what gives people with HSAM this superpower, but they have some theories. So let’s talk superhuman memory.
The first documented case of HSAM was published in 2006. "AJ", later revealed as Jill Price, described how she could take any date and remember exactly what she was doing on that day as well as if anything important occurred on that day. Every time she saw a date she would automatically recall everything that occurred on that date. She described it as non-stop, uncontrollable and totally exhausting.
Since then, a few more people have been tested and identified as having HSAM. When I say it’s extremely rare, I mean it: an estimated 60 people in the world have the condition.
What makes these people different is that they seem to have obsessive behaviors, like a tendency to collect, clean, or organize things to an unusual degree. More importantly, brain scans show structural differences in the parts associated with autobiographical memory creation.
The more interesting thing about the condition is not their differences from other people, but their similarities. For example, just because they have amazing memory recall doesn't mean those memories are perfect: People with HSAM are just as susceptible to false memories as the rest of us.
Likewise, people with HSAM recall their memories with the same systems everyone else does. The Guardian reports that this implies that something different must happen in between the encoding of a memory and its retrieval in someone with HSAM. What that is is anybody's guess, but scientists are trying to find out.
LISTENER QUESTION - is bamboo sustainable (Ashley)
ASHLEY: We got an email from Kerrie, who writes, “I love your podcasts and the recent podcast I listened to has me thinking about my purchases even more. So I was thinking OK, we need to buy more sustainable fabrics like cotton and wool...but what about bamboo? I did some research and found out that bamboo is not the great environmental product we thought it was for fabric.” Good point, Kerrie! Let’s get into it.
The reason bamboo is touted as a sustainable source for fabric is that the plant itself grows like crazy. It requires no fertilizer, much less water than cotton, little to no pesticides, it helps prevent soil erosion, and it can regenerate from its own roots, so it doesn’t need to be replanted, which saves on human labor. The fibers themselves are naturally antimicrobial. All great things! The downsides arrive when it comes time to process that bamboo into fabric. As you might imagine, it takes a lot of doing to turn raw wood into soft, cozy fabric. Most bamboo fabric is produced using the same process used to create viscose rayon from wood pulp. That process relies on some really toxic chemicals to break down the wood and extract the cellulose, which is the main ingredient in viscose fibers. Those chemicals include sodium hydroxide, which can burn the skin and eyes of the workers who handle it or breathe it in; carbon disulphide, which has long been known for its terrible effects on the nervous system; and sulphuric acid, which burns the lungs and can cause cancer in combination with other chemicals. Most of these chemicals are then released from the factory into the surrounding air and water as waste, which takes a terrible toll on the surrounding environment. So yeah, bamboo rayon is not all that environmentally friendly. If you want to buy bamboo fabric that is sustainable, look for fabric that’s labeled “lyocell” or “Tencel” — that’s made with a closed-loop manufacturing process that uses fewer chemicals. Bamboo linen is another fabric that’s better for the planet, since it uses mechanical processing instead of chemicals. Thanks for writing in, Kerrie! I definitely learned something.
If you have a question for the podcast, send it in to podcast at curiosity dot com.
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/clean-design-apparel-manufacturing-and-pollution
CODY: Before we recap what we learned today, we’ve got a special message for you if you’re a meat lover. Attention, fellow carnivores: this Sunday we’re going to be talking about the science of cooking meat in a special sponsored episode!
ASHLEY: That’s right! We’ll be joined by a special guest chef who has pro tips for picking the right cooking method for different cuts of meat, how to trap those juices by searing and tempering, and the science of what’s actually happening to the meat while you’re cooking.
BOTH: [ad lib about how mouth-watering the episode will be] And now, let’s recap what we learned today!
CODY: Today we learned that women wait in line for the restroom about 34 times longer than men do, because women take longer on average and because men usually have bigger facilities.
ASHLEY: And that about 60 people in the world have highly superior autobiographical memory, or HSAM, and researchers are trying to figure out why.
CODY: And that bamboo lyocell or tencel are more sustainable than bamboo rayon, because of the processes we use to make them into fabrics.
[ad lib optional]
CODY: Join us again Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes. And have a great weekend! I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Stay curious!