Learn how fathers benefit from being involved with their newborn babies, what you can do to control your dreams with science, and why the asterisk is used for corrections.
Learn how fathers benefit from being involved with their newborn babies, what you can do to control your dreams with science, and why the asterisk is used for corrections.
Being Involved with the Baby Early on Benefits a Father's Mental Health by Kelsey Donk
You Can Control Your Dreams with Science by Ashley Hamer
When did we start using asterisks for corrections? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Aya from South Africa)
Previous interviews with internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch:
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/you-can-control-your-dreams-with-science
[MUSIC PLAYING] ASHLEY HAMER: Hi. You're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity.com. I'm Ashley Hamer.
NATALIA REAGAN: And I'm Natalia Reagan. Today, you learn about, how fathers benefit from being involved with their newborn babies, how you can control your dreams with science, and when people started using an asterisk to correct typos.
ASHLEY HAMER: Let's satisfy some curiosity.
[SWOOSH]
When a baby is born, they need close contact with adults to thrive. But a new study now shows that someone else can benefit from close contact with a new baby, dads. Being involved with the baby early on benefits a father's mental health. And I think we're all thinking about Cody right now, the story.
It may come as a surprise to learn that mothers aren't the only ones who can experience postpartum depression, sometimes known as the baby blues. Around 8% to 10% of fathers feel low during those first few months of parenthood too. But past research has mostly focused on how a father's involvement with his baby affects the baby and the mother. This study is the first to look at how that involvement influences the father's own well-being.
For a study recently published in the journal, Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers interviewed 881 dads from low income areas and diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds in the United States. They talked to the dads a month after their babies were born. And asked them about how much time they spent with the new baby. They also asked how confident the dads felt about their parenting abilities. And how much material support the baby would have.
Then the researchers measured the dad's depression symptoms using the Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale. They came back to assess depression symptoms when the babies were six-months-old and one-year-old. They found that the more time the fathers spent with their babies, the better they felt about their parenting skills. And the more they were able to provide material support, the less likely the dads were to experience postpartum depression.
The researchers think they know why. Dads who are more involved with their infants might feel like more competent parents. They also might feel more satisfied as parents over time. And together, those good feelings might keep depression at bay. Researchers say the study's findings could mean big things for paid paternal leave policies.
Basically, the study shows that if a father is involved in his baby's life early and often, the father's mental health and the health of the whole family might be better. As a result, businesses, and policy makers may want to create more opportunities for dads to spend time with their babies early on without having to worry about making ends meet. According to this research, that would go a long way toward improving their own mental health and the health of their families.
[SWOOSH]
NATALIA REAGAN: Imagine how much more fun you'd have sleeping if you could control your dreams. Turns out, you might be able to. It's called lucid dreaming. And increasingly, scientists have been looking into how we can use it to our advantage. In 2017, researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia put three lucid dreaming techniques to the test. And what they found out can help you lucid dream too.
The first technique they tested is called reality testing. 10 times per day, participants were told to ask themselves, "Am I dreaming?" And then perform a reality test like, trying to inhale through their closed mouth. When you're dreaming, you can do that thing since, the you that's sleeping probably has their mouth open. The idea is that testing reality throughout the day might help you test it in your dreams.
The second technique is called wake back to bed. Participants had to set an alarm to wake up after five hours of sleep, read a document about lucid dreaming, and then go back to sleep. The idea here is that lucid dreaming happens during REM sleep. And REM sleep happens more easily after you've been asleep a while.
The final technique is called mnemonic induction of lucid dreams or MILD. This strategy just has participants repeat the phrase, "Next time, I'm dreaming, I will remember that I'm dreaming", just as they fall asleep. The study had one group use only reality testing. One group used both reality testing and wake back to bed. And the final group used all three, reality testing, wake back to bed, and mild. So what happened?
Well, in the test week when they didn't use any lucid dreaming techniques, the participants reported that about 8% of their dreams were lucid. After that, the group that had the biggest lucid dreaming boost was the one that used all three techniques. Not only did they experience lucidity in more than 17% of their dreams, so twice as often, but the people in that group who fell asleep fastest reported that nearly 46% of their dreams were lucid. Wow!
So if you want to fly like Superman, or more practically, rehearse tomorrow's presentation, while you snooze, boring, you know what to do. Test reality a few times a day. Tell yourself, you'll remember you're dreaming as you drift off. And set an alarm in the middle of the night. Sweet dreams and good luck.
[SWOOSH]
ASHLEY HAMER: We got a listener question from Aya from South Africa, who writes, "Who came up with using an asterisk to indicate your correcting a word in a previous statement?" Fantastic question, Aya. What Aya's referring to is that thing in online chat or text messaging, where one person accidentally sends a typo, and then they clarify by sending the corrected word next to an asterisk. I'm not going to beat around the bush. We don't really know who came up with this, or even when. Don't get me wrong. There's been some great research done on all sorts of internet linguistics.
And for a full review, you should definitely check out the four episodes we did with internet linguist, Gretchen McCulloch, last year. We'll link to those in the show notes. But while we can trace the origin of emoji, and LOL, and all sorts of net speak, this one is tough. But we do have a few clues.
First off, the only reason we need to use asterisk for correction is because we're sending our messages quickly. And those messages can't be edited. So the first place I looked was in what many recognize as the first online chat room, CompuServe CB simulator, which got its start in 1980. I actually used this in the 90s. But screenshots from the era show people correcting themselves by simply typing out the correct word. No dice.
IRC or internet relay chat from 1988 doesn't use it either. And it's also not mentioned in online etiquette or netiquette advice for AOL chat room users as recently as the year 2000. In fact, on IRC the asterisk was used differently. If you typed /me, M-E, followed by an action like rolls eyes, the client turns that into an action, asterisk Ashley rolls eyes. I found a chat archive that used it that way as recently as 2006. That may have given rise to the current trend of surrounding actions with asterisks like, asterisk rolls eyes asterisk.
In fact, the very first mention of this correction use of the asterisk online doesn't show up until 2007 in a research paper about this phenomenon in the chat logs of World of Warcraft. It almost surely existed before then. But that's where the trail goes cold. It's worth mentioning that in linguistic's research, the asterisk is used to denote a correction, but in the opposite direction. It's placed next to the error, not the correction. Still that's about the closest cousin to this kind of usage.
In conclusion, my best hunch is that the typo asterisk showed up between 2000 and 2007. If you have evidence to the contrary, or if you have a question that you'd like to ask, send it in to podcast@curiosity.com, or leave us a voicemail at 312-596-5208.
NATALIA REAGAN: I have always used an asterisk when you write something. And you put it right next to it. And you want to add more information down below.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, that footnote thing. That's another explanation that people will use. But it doesn't really make any sense to me that that would give rise to a correction, right? That asterisk is a lot like a footnote.
NATALIA REAGAN: It's almost like a read in parentheses. Like, what you're trying to really say.
[SWOOSH]
Before we recap what we learned today, here's a sneak peek at what you'll hear next week on Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Next week, you'll learn about, the time scientists tried growing prehistoric sized insects, why you should have a virtual commute, how humans aren't the only animals capable of deception, why spacesuits are white, and more. I'm also so excited to tell you that we will also talk to the Alie Ward of Ologies podcast fame. I can't even wait.
NATALIA REAGAN: We are very excited.
ASHLEY HAMER: But for now, let's recap what we learned today.
NATALIA REAGAN: Well, Ashley, we learned that a father's mental health is positively affected by being involved with their newborn babies lives. The study supports the importance of paternity leave. And makes me really happy that Cody is able to bond with his little one. So Hi, Cody.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, I'm very impressed with our company. And how generous they are with paternity leave. It's really cool.
NATALIA REAGAN: I've told a couple of people about it. And I've said, Oh, I'm filling in for somebody on paternity leave. And they're like, you mean, maternity leave. And I, no, paternity leave. Dads are important.
[LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. You don't want to just leave a new mother alone with her newborn for 8 hours a day. My goodness.
NATALIA REAGAN: No, it's a team effort right there. Especially, if we evolved in like a village scenario. We had multiple people helping out. So two is nothing.
ASHLEY HAMER: Definitely is. That's right. Well, we also learned that three techniques can be used to help you improve your lucid dreaming. And I think I'm going to try them. It includes reality testing. So just being like, is this real? Can I inhale through my closed mouth? So that you'll do that when you're dreaming.
Number two is waking up in the middle of deep sleep to read about lucid dreaming, or really anything. It just means that you need to go back to sleep. So that you'll immediately start dreaming. And just before you drift off, you have to tell yourself that you'll remember your dreaming. This seems like a lot of work. But I think it's worth it.
NATALIA REAGAN: Oh, it's so worth it.
ASHLEY HAMER: Have you ever lucid dreamed?
NATALIA REAGAN: Actually, that's how I decided I wanted to be a primatologist.
ASHLEY HAMER: What?
NATALIA REAGAN: The first time I ever lucid dream, I had recurring King Kong nightmares as a child, starting at age two. Really bad ones where I'd hear the footsteps in the distance, the boom, boom, boom. And then he'd rip off the roof of my house. And eat my family members. And also eat me.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's so terrifying.
NATALIA REAGAN: So I died in my dreams a lot at the hands of King Kong. And then when I was eight, I was able to think to myself. I shrunk him down. I wanted him small. And so by the time the footsteps-- And to give you an idea, it was the house from Silver Spoons. And Ricky Schroder was on that show.
And I remember, I was in the house from Silver Spoons. And I opened the door. And instead of King Kong, it was an orangutan. And it hugged me. But after that, yeah, I lucid dream all the time. What about you?
ASHLEY HAMER: Not a lot. I have to say, I'm pretty jealous now. That's pretty awesome.
NATALIA REAGAN: Lucid dreaming is-- It's fun. But I was going to say, one of the weird things that happens, if you've ever seen Ghostbusters, at the end of the movie when ghosters basically like choose your destructor.
ASHLEY HAMER: No. But--
NATALIA REAGAN: Maybe not. OK, I may have--
[LAUGHS]
For those nerds out there, who are big Ghostbusters fans, the idea is basically, if something pops into your head, it will show up. So basically, in Ghostbusters, they think of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. And that ends up being their destructor, and tries to kill them.
ASHLEY HAMER: Right.
NATALIA REAGAN: So if I'm in a body of water and I think of sharks, boom. I'm getting eaten by a great white or a bull shark. If I think of King Kong, if I think of Godzilla, if I-- It's really interesting. Like, Lucid dreaming can weirdly backfire for me, where it's like-- But I can also like, I'm going to fly now. So I'm going to get myself out of this situation. But sometimes I can still land myself in shark infested water.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow! I'm so fascinated that that is a thing. That's amazing.
NATALIA REAGAN: I want you to be able to do it, Ashley.
ASHLEY HAMER: Well, now, I have to try.
NATALIA REAGAN: Yeah, that would be cool.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, there you go. I can do that.
NATALIA REAGAN: And lastly, we learned that figuring out when and who started using an asterisk to basically say you've written the wrong word is a tough question to answer. And while we don't have the definitive answer, we were able to narrow it down that it was somewhere between 2000 and 2007, and was in a research paper about World of Warcraft chat logs.
ASHLEY HAMER: This question was one of those ones where I wanted so badly to get the answer for the audience. And I feel bad that I couldn't. But it was so interesting to me that some of these things are so lost to time. Everybody says the internet is forever, right?
NATALIA REAGAN: Right.
ASHLEY HAMER: But so much of it is gone. I hope that in the future, some linguists will take up the charge and can do this.
NATALIA REAGAN: Hey, Ashley.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yes, Natalia?
NATALIA REAGAN: What's a butt's favorite punctuation mark?
[LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: I get it. We don't even need to answer it.
[LAUGHS]
NATALIA REAGAN: Sorry.
ASHLEY HAMER: It's a good one.
[SWOOSH]
NATALIA REAGAN: Today's stories were written by Ashley Hamer, Kelsey Doug. And edited by Ashley Hamer, who's the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY HAMER: Scriptwriting is by Natalia Reagan and Sonja Hodgen. Today's episode was edited by Natalia Reagan. And our producer is Cody Gough.
NATALIA REAGAN: Go ahead and try out those lucid dreaming techniques. Have a great weekend. And join us again on Monday to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY HAMER: And until then, stay curious.
[MUSIC PLAYING]