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Something You Should Know

SYSK Choice: The Science Behind Human Quirks & Why Counting is Complicated

Something You Should Know

Mike Carruthers | OmniCastMedia

Science, Social Sciences, Self-improvement, Education, Health & Fitness

4.64K Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

During the holiday season, you likely use a lot of power strips to plug in lights and decorations. This episode begins with some advice about what NEVER to plug in to a power strip for the safety of everyone in your home. And you will probably be surprised by what you hear. https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/things-you-should-never-do-with-power-strips/ Human beings are quirky. We do things and behave in ways that are frankly a bit odd. Where do these quirks come from and why do we do them? Here to explore some of the fascinating quirks of our humanness is Marty Jopson. Marty is the resident science reporter on BBC TV’s “The One Show” and is author of the book, The Science of Being Human: Why We Behave, Think and Feel the Way We Do (https://amzn.to/2VYTZqY). What could be more objective than counting? If you want to find out how many of something you have – you count them. It seems pretty obvious. However, counting turns out to be a bit trickier than you might think. People can and do use numbers and counting to deceive you if you don’t understand what they are doing. Joining me to explain the interesting world of counting is Deborah Stone. She is a scholar who has taught at Brandeis, MIT, Duke, Dartmouth, Yale, Tulane, among others and she is author of the book Counting: How We Use Numbers to Decide What Matters (https://amzn.to/33UeKZ1) One important difference between men and women is that men are generally better at asking for what they want. Listen as I describe the consequences of that and what women can do to get more of what they want – and the solution is fairly simple. Source: Linda Babcock author of Women Don't Ask (https://amzn.to/3AHEjNj). PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Now get a complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total T when you text SYSK to 231 -231. Tune in to Planet Money every week for entertaining stories and insights about how money shapes our world! Listen now to Planet Money from NPR -- wherever you get your podcasts. When you hire with Indeed you only pay for quality applications that match your must-have job requirements. Visit https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING to start hiring now! With Shopify, everything you need to customize your business to your needs is already in your hands. Sign up for a FREE trial at https://Shopify.com/sysk ! Constant Wonder is a podcast that will bring more wonder and awe to your day. Listen to Constant Wonder wherever you get your podcasts! https://www.byuradio.org/constantwonder Did you know you could reduce the number of unwanted calls & emails with Online Privacy Protection from Discover? - And it's FREE! Just activate it in the Discover App. See terms & learn more at https://Discover.com/Online Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

There's something so romantic about winter and I don't know whether that's just because

0:05.4

I'm a bit of a homebody and I love a 5.

0:08.0

But I think it's just the holiday period, it's just for me, it's the most romantic period.

0:14.1

And I think anyone who's listened to my records will know that I'm quite a big fan of romance.

0:18.8

Joy in every sip with red cups now back at Starbucks.

0:27.8

Today on something you should know, the things you should never do with a power strip.

0:33.5

Then the quirks of being human, for example how humans move in a crowd.

0:39.2

And the human phenomenon of phantom traffic jams.

0:43.0

And if you were to look at a phantom traffic jam from a helicopter,

0:46.4

the traffic jam itself moves back, coulds down the motorway.

0:51.0

And the speed it moves backwards down the motorway is a universal constant.

0:54.9

It's so much as it's the same thing everywhere in the world.

0:58.2

Also an interesting and seldom discussed difference between men and women.

1:03.3

And counting.

1:04.5

Numbers and counting may seem simple.

1:07.4

And I want people to understand that numbers aren't 100% objective the way we're taught to think of them.

1:14.8

They're human judgments and when people measure or count anything,

1:18.2

they have to decide what belongs in the category of their counting.

1:22.7

Call this today on something you should know.

1:52.7

The

2:09.8

unfinished story of America's national anthem or the humble farmer who walked across six

2:15.2

continents and met the world's most elite people.

...

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