How can a tiny ant change how lions hunt? There's a hand. It involves trees and elephants.

So you've got these tiny three milligram ants that are defending trees against three billion

milligram elephants. It's Tuesday February 27th and you're listening to Science Friday.

I'm Scifry producer Charles Berquist. Coming up, we'll talk with researchers studying the predator-prey dynamics of the African savanna about the chain of effects

one invasive ant species had on the ecosystem.

But first Kathleen Davis talks with two researchers investigating the psychology of trivia, how to get better at it and why some people seem to be much more adept at recalling fun trivia facts than others.

Here's Kathleen. I love doing trivia. Every couple of weeks I go to my local

dive bar for trivia night. I'm also an avid Jeopardy Watcher. But despite all this, I'm still not very good. But rather than give up on my dream of being a top-tier trivia player, this got me thinking, can I actually get better at trivia and why are some people better

at it than others? A new study in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review looked at exactly this and here to break down the psychology of trivia are two co-authors of that paper

Dr. Monica 2, psychology researcher at Emory University and a Jeopardy winner.

She's based in Atlanta, Georgia,

and Dr. Maryam Alley, assistant professor of psychology

at Columbia University in New York.

Welcome both of you to Science Friday.

It's amazing to be here.

Thank you.

Yeah, thanks so much for having us.

I'm really excited.

Yeah, so am I.

So Monica, tell me a little bit about where the idea for this study came from I mean was it from your time on Jeopardy?

Yeah I mean to be fully frank since I first was on Jeopardy as a senior in high school.

When I went to college and I majored in psychology,

...