Learn about your exposome, the friendly cloud of germs that surrounds you; why bosses don’t encourage curiosity as much as they think they do (and what that’s a bad thing); and the aptly named Tree That Owns Itself in Athens, Georgia. 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: Your Exposome Is the Friendly Cloud of Germs That Surrounds You Bosses Don't Encourage Curiosity as Much as They Think They Do There's a Tree That Owns Itself in Athens, Georgia Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey 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! Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Learn about your exposome, the friendly cloud of germs that surrounds you; why bosses don’t encourage curiosity as much as they think they do (and what that’s a bad thing); and the aptly named Tree That Owns Itself in Athens, Georgia.
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:
Please tell us about yourself and help us improve the show by taking our listener survey! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/curiosity-listener-survey
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!
Learn about these topics and more on Curiosity.com, and download our 5-star app for Android and iOS. Then, join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus: Amazon smart speaker users, enable our Alexa Flash Briefing to learn something new in just a few minutes every day!
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/your-exposome-germ-cloud-the-tree-that-owns-itself-and-bosses-dont-encourage-curiosity
[MUSIC PLAYING] 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: I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn about the friendly cloud of germs that surrounds you, why bosses don't encourage curiosity as much as they think they do, and why there's a tree in Georgia that owns itself.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity on the award-winning Curiosity Daily, that also owns itself.
[LAUGHS]
You've probably heard of the microbiome. That's the collection of microscopic organisms that make their homes deep within your body. They're just as much of your friend as they are your foe. Well, guess what? There's also a cloud of microorganisms that surrounds you everywhere you go, and we just developed a new way to explore it. This is so cool to me.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, it's super cool.
CODY GOUGH: It feels like a power in a video game, where you have some force-field or aura around you.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, germ force-field.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. The cloud of microorganisms hanging out around you is called your exposome, which is an awesome word. Any time you exhale or scratch a patch of dry skin say, you're adding to that invisible community of microorganisms. The cloud's actual composition will change based on your diet, your genes, your pets, and your hometown among other things.
So exposomes can be very different from one person to the next. In fact, a few years ago, researchers were able to perform experiments and collect the air in a room where people have been sitting, and their exposomes were so different. Each person could be identified based on exposome data alone.
Now, calm down before you get all excited about the implications for the next season of CSI. This research was done in a sterilized environment, so what database of serial killer exposomes isn't going to happen anytime soon. But there's still a whole lot you can learn by identifying your little bodies. And researchers at Stanford have been able to build precise profiles of various people's microbial clouds using an ingenious repurposing of an air monitoring device.
Because these air monitors clip right on to participants, the researchers were able to track environmental influences, seasonal changes, and any other particulate spikes. Because of the portability of the devices, this method could be used to gauge the health of a person's exposome outside of a laboratory setting. In other words, you could track your allergy flare-ups to specific changes in your exposome. No more blaming flower pollen for what the trees have done. In the meantime, I'll just be looking forward to research figuring out a way to attach red LED lights to your exposome. I want to be like Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen.
[LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: We almost hate to say it around here, but the word curiosity has become a bit of a buzzword. If you've looked for a new job lately, you've probably seen it come up in lots of job descriptions. They'll say we welcome your curiosity, or you must have intellectual curiosity. But according to recent research highlighted in Harvard Business Review, employees don't feel like they have as much freedom to be curious as their bosses think they do.
CODY GOUGH: I got to say I love that we wrote about this but talk about the least relevant thing to us, personally, we've ever written. Does your boss encourage curiosity? Looks around.
[LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: It's kind of my job.
[LAUGHS]
CODY GOUGH: Well, we're lucky but not everybody else is. Yeah, we're in a good spot.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah.
CODY GOUGH: I have definitely been in places where curiosity is not so encouraged.
ASHLEY HAMER: For sure. So for a quick recap, curiosity is objectively good. Research has shown that curiosity makes people better at their jobs. It helps them learn and remember more. It makes them less prone to bias and stereotyping. And it makes them better at receiving feedback. So it's clearly in a company's best interest to foster a culture of curiosity. And some bosses think they're encouraging that, but they're not.
Spencer Harrison of INSEAD just released a new study with Aaron Pincus and Jon Cohen of SurveyMonkey. They surveyed more than 23,000 people, including 16,000 mid and lower level employees and more than 1,500 C-suite executives. 83% of those higher-up executives said curiosity is encouraged a great deal or a good amount at their company, but only 52% of lower-level employees said the same. Likewise, 49% of C-level executives agreed with the statement "being curious leads to earning more money." Whereas, a whopping 81% of employees thought curiosity had no bearing on the money they make. Not good, but there's a fix.
Harrison suggested this. "Acknowledge that everyone is curious in some area of their life." If it's not at work, it might be in a favorite hobby or a side project. Then encourage employees to bring those interests to work. By identifying what their curious side of the office, employees are more likely to let that curiosity bleed over into their work responsibilities. Managers should also set a good example by being curious themselves. They need to ask questions with a sincere interest in the answers and admit when they don't know something. That's a scary idea when you want to look competent and in charge.
But Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School assures us that asking questions makes people appear more competent, not less, oh, and give employees time to explore their interests. It's hard to be curious with your boss breathing down your neck.
CODY GOUGH: I mean this does have limits. I was printing a cryptocurrency last year, and I still can't get curiosity coin off the ground.
[LAUGHS]
Today's episode is sponsored by purple mattress, better sleep, better you. Better sleep, better you isn't just some tagline. If you don't sleep well, you're not going to have a good time.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yep.
CODY GOUGH: When I come in to work if I'm supposed to work on an episode or two of this show and I'm well-rested, I can cover the better part of three or four episodes in a day just get things outlined and set up. If I don't sleep well, I'm lucky to get one episode done, and that's no bueno. If you're struggling to get a good night's sleep, you've got to try a purple mattress.
ASHLEY HAMER: The purple mattress will probably feel different than anything you've ever experienced because it uses this brand-new material that was developed by an actual rocket scientist. It's not like the memory foam you're probably used to.
CODY GOUGH: The purple material feels very unique because it's both firm and soft at the same time. So it keeps everything supported while still feeling really comfortable. Plus, it's breathable, so it sleeps cool. It ends up giving you this zero gravity leg feel, so it works for any sleeping position. Although, the healthiest sleeping position is on your back.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's right.
CODY GOUGH: You're going to love purple. And right now, our listeners will get a free purple pillow with the purchase of a mattress. That's in addition to the great, free gifts they're offering sitewide. Just text curious to 474747. The only way to get this free pillow is to text curious to 474747.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's C-U-R-I-O-U-S to 474747.
CODY GOUGH: Our last story today is about a tree called the Tree That Owns Itself. It's a tree in Athens, Georgia. And Ashley, guess who owns it?
ASHLEY HAMER: Does it own it?
CODY GOUGH: It does.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow.
[LAUGHS]
CODY GOUGH: How would you guess?
ASHLEY HAMER: The power of language.
CODY GOUGH: It's so powerful indeed. This tree grew on a local family's land for hundreds of years. In the early 1800s when Athens became an official city, it was the tallest tree in town. And around 1890, the tree made the local news for gaining its independence. The tree was owned by the family of William H. Jackson. He was a professor at the University of Georgia, and he had grown up with the tree and thought of it as a friend.
So legend has it, he gave the tree the legal deed and a circular plot of land around its trunk. Jackson's original deed has never actually been found, but there is a plaque at the foot of the tree that features an approximation of its text quote "for in and consideration of the great love, I bear this tree and the great desires I have for its protection for all time. I convey entire possession of itself and all lands within eight feet of the tree on all sides. William Jackson" unquote.
Nowadays, the Tree That Owns Itself is actually technically the son of the Tree That Owns Itself, though, people usually drop the first clause in conversation. The original tree fell down in 1942 after an ice storm damaged it beyond repair. But the people of Athens missed it so much, they replaced it with a seedling grown from one of the original tree's acorns. Today, that seedling is more than 50 feet tall, and it's cared for by the Junior Ladies Garden Club of Athens.
Now, it's not technically legal to own property if you're a tree down in Athens, Georgia, but it's something of a gentleman's agreement or gentleman trees agreement or general trees agreement, as it were, that the government continues to respect the tree's autonomy. Now, all it needs is an Entwive.
[LAUGHS]
ASHLEY HAMER: That was pretty good.
[LAUGHTER]
Read about today's stories and more on curiosity.com.
CODY GOUGH: Join us again tomorrow with the award-winning Curiosity Daily to learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Stay curious.
SPEAKER: On the Westwood One Podcast Network.