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The mystery swarm of small earthquakes near the island of Santorini beg for more data collection. Also, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US goes offline and whales learn song like kids learn language.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield Production co-ordinator: Josie Hardy
(Photo: Greece earthquake. Credit: AFP)
Everyone, we assume, wants to be their best person. Few of us, perhaps, none, hits all their marks in this pursuit even if the way toward the goal is generally apparent. If you want to know how to do a better job hitting those marks, whether its walking 10,000 steps, learning Esperanto, or quitting smoking, a good person to consult would be Katy Milkman. Working at the nexus of economics and psychology, Milkman – the James G. Dinan Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative at Penn – studies the almost alchemical process of turning good intentions into solid actions.
In this Social Science Bites podcast, she details for interviewer David Edmonds some of the biases and some of the critical thinking processes that both define and then overcome the obstacles to changing our behavior. These range from concepts with such academic names as present bias and temptation bundling to the more colloquial ‘what the hell effect’ and its antidote, the emergency reserve. But the point of her research – especially as it gets translated to the public through her podcast Choiceology or her 2021 book How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be – is to find practical ways to change yourself.
For example, she explains that “it's important for goals to be measurable and achievable, although they should be a stretch. You know, if your goal is ‘exercise more,’ how can you measure that? How could you even set a commitment device, for instance? … It's also important to have a plan of, sort of, when will I do it, where will I do it, how will I get there. These are called “implementation intentions.” I think the most important part of them is they associate a cue with the action. So just like an actor needs a cue to know when to say their lines, we need to not forget to take action on our goals.”
Her influence in turn is felt practically. Choiceology, for example, is sponsored by the brokerage house Charles Schwab, and Milkman has been a consultant for organizations ranging from the U.S. government and Walmart to 24 Hour Fitness and the American Red Cross. She is a former president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making and a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.
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Smartwatches are increasingly popular and many of us use these wearable devices to monitor our performance and improve our fitness. But how reliable is the data they collect, and can they actually make us healthier?
CrowdScience listener Caitlin from Malawi is a big fan of her smartwatch. Her husband Fayaz, however, is much more sceptical of its accuracy, and has asked us to investigate. We meet up with them both at the gym, where Caitlin and presenter Caroline Steel put their fitness trackers – and themselves – to the test.
We visit public health researchers Dr Cailbhe Doherty and Rory Lambe, who investigate the accuracy of wearable consumer devices, at University College Dublin. Caroline again pushes herself to the limit to see how her smartwatch results measure up to those from gold standard laboratory equipment.
But is it crucial for smartwatches to be accurate? If they get us off the couch, is that what makes the difference to our health? Health behaviour expert Dr Ty Ferguson from the University of South Australia has studied this very question. And finally, how does quantifying our every move affect the way we think about ourselves and how we live? Professor Deborah Lupton from UNSW Sydney, shares some insights.
Presenter: Caroline Steel Producers: Jo Glanville and Sophie Ormiston Editor: Cathy Edwards Technical producer: Sarah Hockley Production co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Celebrations for the Lunar New Year kicked off on 29th January, and this year is the Year of the Snake.
We start things off by discussing the purpose of some mysterious serpent markings on the banks of the Orinoco River.
Next, we find out about the origins of snake oil, before digging into the psychology of why we trust snake-like people.
Plus, herpetologist Dr Mark O’Shea tells us all about his work identifying snakes, and what happened when he got bitten.
That, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenters: Marnie Chesterton, with Chhavi Sachdev and Christine Yohannes. Producers: Dan Welsh, with Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, William Hornbrook and Imaan Moin.
Nasa's OSIRIS-REx mission to collect a sample from an asteroid has been a great success. Asteroid Bennu's sample yields a watery pool of history, thanks to an international team of scientists including the London Natural History Museum's Sarah Russell.
Also, in a week of tumultuous changes to federal funding and programmes, we hear from some US scientists affected and concerned by Executive Orders from the White House. Betsy Southwood, formerly of the Environmental Protection Agency, is worried not just about the government employees’ careers, but the environment itself and the whole of environmental science in the US and the world. Chrystal Starbird runs a lab at the University of North Carolina and is worried about the fate of grants aimed at diversifying scientific expertise, but also that some grant schemes are getting erroneously included in the anti-DEI clampdown. And Lawrence Gostin is an eminent health lawyer, proud of the NIH and all it has achieved.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Photo: OSIRIS-REx Sample Return. Credit: Nasa/Getty Images)