CrowdScience - Why do we gossip?

Gossip often has negative connotations, but does it get a bad rap? Might it serve a useful function and should we think of gossiping as an advanced social skill rather than a personality defect? CrowdScience listener Jayogi thinks it might be useful, and has asked CrowdScience to dig into the reasons why we find it so hard to resist salacious stories.

Presenter Datshiane Navanayagam meets a scientist who views gossip as a key evolutionary adaption - as humans started to live in bigger cooperative groups, gossiping was a way of bonding and establishing acceptable group behaviour as well as cementing reputations of trustworthiness.

Datshiane heads to the local park to catch some real gossiping in action and finds out that whilst people like to gossip they don’t consider themselves gossipers.

Datshi asks a team of scientists what information we are most keen to share and glean in these interactions and if there is such a thing as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ gossip. She hears that in some group settings – like in the workplace - gossip can enhance cooperation and limit free-riders, but that it can also have a more self-serving dark side.

Datshiane finds out if our stone-age gossipy minds are fit to operate in the world of mass communication and social media – is our fixation on celebrities related to our being hard wired to gossip?

Presenter: Datshiane Navanayagam Producer: Melanie Brown

[Image: Gossiping people. Credit: Getty Images]

Short Wave - The Resurgence Of Psychedelic Psychiatry

Psychedelics like ketamine and psilocybin are getting a second look as a way to treat psychiatric problems like depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, even PTSD. NPR neuroscience correspondent Jon Hamilton explains how these drugs are helping brain scientists understand what causes mental illness and find new ways to treat it.

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Science In Action - On the trail of rare blood clots

On Wednesday the EU’s EMA and UK’s JCVI announced a suspected correlation between vaccination and an extremely rare type of blood clot. Prof Sabine Eichinger is a co-author of a new paper suggesting a link with vaccination or the immune response to Covid vaccination and suggests the name VIPIT for the condition. One of her patients died at the end of February having presented with a rare combination of symptoms – blood clots and a low blood platelet count. Sabine tells Roland the dots they have managed to join in the story so far.

Scientists at Fermilab in the USA posted four papers and announced an exciting development in particle physics that might lift the curtain on science beyond the Standard Model. Their measurement of something known as g-2 (“gee minus two”, just fyi), by measuring with phenomenal accuracy the magnetic properties of muons flying round in circles confirms a 20-year old attempt at a similar value by colleagues at Brookhaven. At the time, it was breathtaking but suspicious. Muons, rather like heavy electrons, don’t quite behave as the Standard Model might have us believe, hinting at fields and possibly particles or forces hitherto unknown. Dr. Harry Cliffe – a member of the LHCb team who found something similarly weird two weeks ago - describes the finding and the level of excitement amongst theorists worldwide.

Superfans around the world have learned to speak fluent Klingon, a fictional language originating from Star Trek. In a quest to understand the science behind these languages often dismissed as gobbledygook, Gaia Vince has been speaking to some of the linguists responsible for creating these languages. It’s time for her to relax the tongue, loosen those jaw muscles and wrap her head around the scientific building blocks embedded in language and what languages like Klingon tell us about prehistoric forms of communication.

Meanwhile, primatologist Edward Wright of the Max Plank Institute has been hanging out with mountain gorillas in Rwanda and recording the sound of their “chest clapping”. As he describes in the journal Scientific Reports his work confirms what scientists have long suspected - that the famous gesture - often portrayed in films - is a measure of size and strength - allowing communication in the dense, tropical forests in which the animals live.

Image: Platelets, computer illustration. Credit: Sebastian Kaulitzki /Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield

Short Wave - Smell Therapy

A curious symptom of COVID-19 that can stick with patients for a long time is loss of smell. Researchers don't know exactly how prevalent the loss of smell ism and while most people recover from it, some will not. This has given new life to a very specific treatment: smell training. Emily Kwong talks to the Atlantic's science reporter Sarah Zhang about how practicing how to smell might help those who've lost their sense of smell.

For more on smell training, read Sarah's piece in The Atlantic.

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Short Wave - The Queen’s Squeak

"Dialects" is one of those words tossed around a lot when talking about human language. They indicate where a speaker is from. But dialects aren't exclusive to humans; scientists have known for a while that whales and songbirds also show these variations in language. Today, NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce explains research that expands that list to include naked mole rats.

Yearning for more episodes about communication between animals? Or wish we would cover something else entirely? We'd love to hear your suggestions — shortwave@npr.org.

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Short Wave - Vaccinations Are Up, But So Are COVID-19 Cases

More than 61 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. We're also now averaging over 3 million shots per day. But at the same time, in at least 20 states, reported cases are on the rise again. So today, NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey rounds up some of the latest coronavirus news – on vaccines, CDC guidance on travel, the possibility of a fourth wave, and more.

Have questions or concerns around the pandemic? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Short Wave - How To Reach Out When Someone You Know May Be At Risk Of Suicide

Currently, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. But research shows that suicide is preventable. Host Emily Kwong talks with NPR health correspondent Rhitu Chatterjee about the signs that someone you know may be thinking about dying, the ways you can support them, and how to possibly prevent suicide.

To read more of the story, find Rhitu's reporting here.

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CrowdScience - If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound?

If a tree falls in a forest, and no-one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? This is an age-old debate that listener Richard and his family have been arguing about for years. Can CrowdScience settle it once and for all?

Caroline Steel speaks to experts in hearing, biology, philosophy, physics and sound design, which takes her to some unexpected places.

Professor Stefan Bleek is an expert in psychoacoustics who says that sounds only exist in our heads. Dr Eleanor Knox and Dr Bryan Roberts are philosophers that make her question if anything exists outside our own perception. Professor Lilach Hadany wonders if it’s limited to humans and animals - could other plants hear the falling tree too? And Mat Eric Hart is a sound designer who says that sound is subjective – it’s always tangled up with our own interpretations.

Things get truly weird as we delve into the strange implications of quantum physics. If there is such a thing as reality, doesn’t it change when we’re there to observe it? Does the tree even fall if we aren’t there?

Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Anand Jagatia

(Image: Fallen Tree. Credit: Getty Images)