Tag: happiness

• Howdy Neighbor!

  Gallup Polls, famous for its political odds-making every election cycle, has released a new poll that attempts to draw correlation between general happiness and certain everyday activities - like saying hello to your neighbors. As Anthony and Jeff dig into the data, however, it reveals the way polling can seemingly justify misleading conclusions. [more]

  September 1, 2023Episodes

• Lightning Seen and Lightning Round

  Scientists have never been able to adequately explain where lightning comes from. Now the first detailed observations of its emergence inside a cloud have exposed how electric fields grow strong enough to create bolts. Jeff and Anthony step through how scientists have been able to record the spark of lightning. Then, Anthony starts his own lightning - a lightning round of headlines! Paralyzing rats, happiness from marriage, celebrity worship, sleeping in space, and more! [more]

  January 21, 2022Episodes

• Kid Free and A Sun on Earth

  Does choosing to have children affect your happiness? For years, the accepted wisdom was that people with kids tend to report more happiness than those who remain childless. But now a new study delves deeper into the question. As two sides of that coin themselves, Anthony and Jeff have opinions. Then, a big new step toward fusion-based power has been taken. A bold, 35 country partnership crosses a new milestone in building the sun on earth, and Jeff and Anthony break down just how impressive it is. [more]

  June 25, 2021Episodes

• How the Dinosaurs Went Extinct and Ambivalence

  In a paper published in Scientific Reports, Harvard astronomers offer a new view on what may have caused dinosaurs to go extinct 66 million years ago. Jeff and Anthony look at the evidence. Then, what if the key to having an open mind is not caring? Anthony and Jeff examine a study about ambivalence and the power of "meh". [more]

  February 26, 2021Episodes

• Buying Happiness and Getting Ceres-ous

  The old adage is that money can't buy happiness. But what if it can? Anthony and Jeff take a look at new studies that attempt to put that notion to the test, scientifically. The answer might surprise you. Then, a Finnish astrophysicist has written a paper detailing a plan for a human colony, not on Mars or the Moon, but in a floating satellite orbiting the dwarf planet Ceres, between Mars and Jupiter. Jeff and Anthony discuss the feasibility of such a plan, and whether they see themselves living on a discworld in 20 years. [more]

  January 31, 2021Episodes