Last But Not Least - This American Life

Tim Keown, a high school student grew up thinking his town of Kankakee, Ill. was fantastic. But like most town, there's something about its past that Tim was unaware of.

He discovered that his town of 30,000 was ranked dead last in a list of worst places to live. This was published in The Places Rated Almanac, and was based on crime, job outlook, climate, culture, etc. It wasn't long before the town became the laughingstock of the country.

David Letterman published a top ten list about slogans for the town. One of them was "You'll come for our payphone, you'll stay because your car has been stolen." In an effort to improve the town's image, Letterman sent the Kankakee two gazebos to beautify the downtown.

The town has put up the gazebos, put citizens don't like to go there. It reminds them of how much their town was made fun of. Tim and other students were shocked to learn of this. They always thought their town was fine.

Students then recalled stories of how the perception people had of Kankakee affected them. One girl got teased on her academic exchange program for being from the town. Another girl was shopping for a prom dress and a clerk was reluctant to help them once it was clear what town they were from.

These students decided enough was enough. Since Letterman is retiring, they cut down one of the gazebos and turned it into a rocking chair as a retirement gift for the late night host.

One gazebo down, one to go.

Come Se Dice "Not It?" - This American Life

Adriana Cardona, editor of a Chicago-based bilingual newspaper approached a homeless man on the street. Her interaction with him led to a major investigative story that has been happening in Chicago for years under everyone's nose.

The homeless man told her his story. He's from Puerto Rico. His government paid for a one way ticket to Chicago so he could go to a rehab clinic for his drug use. When rehab didn't work, he was stranded, and had to live on the street. He's not alone.

After doing some investigating, Adriana discovered that the Puerto Rican government has been doing this for years. Homeless Puerto Ricans who encountered this are all over Chicago, and cities around the country. There's more to this story.

Reputable rehab clinics had no idea the clinics these people were sent to even existed. They are not listed anywhere, they're unmarked, and aren't run by a licensed organization. The state of Illinois was not aware this has happening.

Adriana tracked down a Puerto Rican health official. The official was surprised to learn these facilities were not licensed. Even though their government is aware of the problem, they aren't doing anything to fix it.

They believe any form of treatment is better than nothing.

The podcast also gave details on one of these homeless men, named Manuel. After leaving the rehab clinic Puerto Rico referred him to, he tried signing up for a real one, but the waiting list was too long. He is unable to get the HIV medication he needs, is still addicted to drugs, and now has to try to survive cold winters.

Do You Hear What I Hear? - This American Life

How many times have you heard a song, but don't know what it is called? We may type lyrics into Google or use the Shazam app to figure out the title of the song. One man went to great lengths in order to identify an unusual piece of music.

For the last two years, Dick Corbett has been fascinated by a piece of hold music that plays when he calls the doctor's office. To him, this music is very catchy and interesting to listen to. He would hear it when he called to inquire about his medical bill, and when he called his cardiologist. It turns out that his entire healthcare system uses this piece of hold music. He can't get away from this.

Sometimes Dick would call the hospital asking to be put on hold so he could listen to it. He is a very driven person, and will not stop listening until he figures out what this is. Dick tried to figure out what this music was by having someone listen to many clips of music to see if it matched. Nothing.

Eventually, a registrar at a hospital did some digging for him, and found out all the hospitals on his healthcare network have phones set to the Cisco default hold music. It is entitled "Opus No. 1." It turns out that many people, like Dick, like the song, and have been trying to find it somewhere. After that, the reporter tracked down the composer to let him know of his popularity.

His name is Tim Carleton, who recorded the song in 1989 when he was 16 years old. He no longer composes music. He hasn't profited off Cisco using the piece of music, which is now installed on 65 million of its units. Listening to it, Tim compares it to seeing an old high school yearbook photo of himself.

This American Life is very good at taking a stories that seem trivial and making them super interesting. Knowing Dick's background and personality are important to knowing why he would care so much about a piece of hold music. Tracking down the composer made the story well-rounded and gave listeners the significance of the sound.

Listen to "Opus No. 1" here.

Haunted - RadioLab

Dennis had a hard time leaving home. After leaving college, he spent most of his 20s living with his parents. When he was 28, he was finally ready to leave the nest. Months after he left, his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. A short while after his mother passed away, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and passed away.

After he lost both his parents, he was left with the house he tried to leave. He moves back in at the age of 32, and started doing renovations to the home.

Night after night, he dreamt that his parents came back to the house, and undid what renovations he had done to their house. Three separate friends came by the house, each telling him they felt a strange presence.

Paranormal investigators came by to see what this presence was. Dennis had always been a skeptic when it came to hauntings. He started believing when the lead investigator saw a presence that looked like Dennis's dad. He communicates with him through a flashlight. If his dad answers "yes" to a question, the flashlight flickers.

It turns out, there is a scientific explanation to why the flashlight flickers when he asks a question. Learning this, Dennis isn't disappointed. He is always a skeptic, though he won't ever let go of that experience.

A Burger a Day - Freakonomics Radio

What is the cheapest, nutritious, and most bountiful food that has ever existed? It has 390 calories, 23 grams of protein, and costs under $2. It's the McDouble. Is it wrong to classify a fast food hamburger as the most nutritious food? The host of Freakonomics doesn't think so.

One scholar argued that the only reason the McDouble is cheap, is that it doesn't factor in all the external costs, including poor farm workers. A Missouri farm worker doesn't see the debate that way. He argues that he is also a consumer, and low food prices, such as the McDouble, is a benefit to him. 

"Pay is only good in so much as what it can buy, and what you can buy is a McDonald's cheeseburger  for just a little over one buck at over 14,000 restaurants. And that is a good thing." - Blake Hurst, President of the Missouri Farm Bureau

As Blake Hurst pointed out, the McDouble is bountiful. There are McDonald's everywhere all across the country. If one needed to feed a large amount of people well and for the least amount of money possible, this burger would be the best choice.

This podcast suspends what people believe, and makes them think as an economist would. Obviously, the McDouble isn't the best food choice out there. But in order to get the most calories for the least amount of money, one would buy a hamburger from McDonald's. Economics is all about trying to get the most for the money.

What is Collective Hysteria? - Stuff You Should Know

Listen to this podcast here

Students at an all-girls boarding school in Mexico started showing troubling symptoms. Of the 3600 students, 600 showed signs of vomiting, fever, and trouble walking. Doctors and other experts came out to try to figure out what was causing this mystery illness. They found nothing.

This is an example of collective hysteria. It's defined as groups of people who all exhibit the same symptoms, though the conditions is non-existent. The brain has been tricked into showing these physical symptoms. This tends to affect women way more than men, though no one knows why. 

Mass hysteria is more likely to break out in isolated communities, and situations where there are highly formalized, structured rules. Such was the case in the Catholic boarding school in Mexico. This was also the case of the Dancing Plague of 1518.

That case started in the French town of Strasbourg when one woman began dancing in the street for four to six days. Soon, others joined in and by the month's end, there were 400. These people didn't know why they were dancing, or how to stop. 

Physicians called this plague a "natural disease," and concluded that the only way to stop it was to have them keep dancing. Musicians were brought in to these street to encourage the dancing. Eventually, some of these people died from heart attacks, exhaustion, and strokes. A historian said that marathon runners would not be able to handle the intense workout the victims of this plague went through. 

People who have mass hysteria are not faking their symptoms. The girls in the boarding school felt real sickness, and the dancers actually couldn't stop. 

According to this podcast, the media can play a role in spreading collective hysteria. This is shown by a case in New Zealand. In 2007, a drug was changed so the pill would be a different shape. It still contained the exact same active ingredient. After it was released, people started feeling different side effects. After the media reported on this, even more people exhibited the same side effects. Studies found that the most people felt symptoms in areas it was reported on the most. 

Those Cheating Teachers! - Freakonomics Radio

In recent years, teachers cheating on behalf of their students have become national news stories. But why is this happening?

The hosts of the show looked through data, and estimated that 5 percent of all elementary school classrooms in Chicago have cheated for their students. The major reason for this is incentives.

With new laws and policies, the stakes are higher for teachers to have their students do well on tests. Because of this, a tiny portion of teachers have been caught erasing and filling in correct answers so their students do better.

While the most common approach to handling this situation is to fire the teachers, an alternate route would be to make it harder to cheat. To do this, teachers from other schools can come in and proctor the tests. They could also hire exam proctors and create part time jobs, much like the U.S. government does with census takers.

Economics is all about incentives and opportunity costs. In order to make the problem of cheating go away, a solution that would yield positive benefits would be the best option. Simply firing these teachers would do no good, because other cheaters would pop in and take their place. Finding out a way to disincentivize cheating would be the most economical solution.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson's One-man Mission - 60 Minutes Podcast

This segment on the 60 Minutes podcast is a profile on astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. This was first broadcast on CBS on March 22. Watch it here.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, one of the most famous astrophysicists, is on a mission to make people think about the Earth from a cosmic perspective. This means realizing that the Earth isn't the only thing that matters. Selling out auditoriums all across the country, he wants to convince people that the planet is just a tiny speck in the grand scheme of the universe.

By convincing people of this fact, Tyson hopes this will bring the people of Earth close together. Maybe there won't be wars and conflict if people realized their insignificance.

The most mind-altering photo ever taken, according to Tyson, is the one taken by Apollo 8 nearly 46 years ago. This was a photo of Earth from outer space.

"This was the first time any of us had seen Earth the way nature intended. We're thinking we were exploring the moon, but really we discovered the Earth." - Neil deGrasse Tyson

After that picture was released, all of a sudden people were thinking about the Earth from a cosmic perspective. This reminded people that the universe is bigger than just us. After this, Earth Day was founded, legislation was passed to curb carbon emissions, and DDT was banned.

Earth from the moon, taken by Apollo 8

Tyson is been an influential figure on television, hosting Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, and the upcoming talk show Star Talk. He became interested in the universe after visiting a planetarium.

He hopes others will become "star-struck" like he was. But in order to start thinking from a cosmic perspective, people need to start looking up.

Three Miles - This American Life (Pt. 2)

This blog post covers part one of the This American Life episode "Three Miles."

Melanie did not pursue college, which was at first her dream. But many students from her high school did end up going to college--around two-thirds. Melanie did not end up with the life she wanted, though seeing the Fieldston campus did motivate her to try.

Part two of this story follows Jonathan, a student who has the complete opposite story as Melanie. Jonathan also went to University Heights and was in the exchange program with Fieldston. When he arrived on campus, he showed no emotion. He didn't believe that kind of life was for him and had no reaction. Jonathan also applied for the same scholarship as Melanie, and Jonathan won it though Melanie did not. When he was accepted to Wheaton College in Massachusetts, he felt no excitement. In fact, he didn't believe he was worthy of college, due to his environment growing up.

Jonathan had a girlfriend, Raquel, who graduated high school with him and is going to a different college. Over time, Jonathan started skipping classes and falling behind on his homework. He eventually dropped out. Raquel did finish her schooling, and is the only on of her friends who went to college who graduated. She and Jonathan broke up. Raquel is now a teacher, and Jonathan works in a gym.

What does this mean? Raquel, a minority having finished school, is now twice as more likely to move into the middle class than Jonathan and Melanie.

In order to achieve what Raquel's peers could not, she had to get past the fact that she did not get to enjoy all the luxuries those who attended Fieldston got. Other hardships faced was that she was the only black student in her classes, she saw her friends one by one dropping out of school, and her then boyfriend believed that he and other University High students are unworthy of college. She was at a clear disadvantage.

"How could you convince somebody that you deserve it when you don't even believe it yourself? It's a reoccurring theme in my life. I have to tell myself that I deserve this, because I work really hard for it." -- Raquel Hardy

In the end, Melanie did not achieve her goals. She now works at a supermarket and is embarrassed to tell people that. There could be people like Melanie working at grocery stores all across the country. Can anything be done to create less disadvantages for students?

Three Miles - This American Life (Pt. 1)

This blog post covers part one of the This American Life episode "Three Miles."

American public schools are more segregated today than they were a generation ago. The poorest congressional district in the country is the South Bronx, home to two very different schools separated by just three miles.

The first is University Heights High School, a public school. It is 97 percent black and Hispanic. The second is Fieldston, an elite private school. It is 70 percent white. The school boasts an 18-acre campus, complete with a pool, dance studio and art gallery. This explains the $43,000 tuition.

Students from University Heights started a pen pal program with Fieldston. One day, students from the the high school visited Fieldston and were overwhelmed.

This experience was an experiment in the concept of exposure. It's been said that seeing how the other half lives makes someone more likely to try to achieve that success. It's been 10 years since the University Heights students visited the private school. How did this experience change their life path?

The reporter is especially interested in one student in particular. Her name is Melanie and she had a powerful reaction when she stepped foot on the Fieldston campus. Melanie started to cry.

She had a strong reaction because that is what she always thought high school was supposed to look like, not a run-down school in the middle of the city. She was described by her teachers and peers as an overachiever and a bright girl. Melanie realized that she was not like these students, and that her high school was not adequately preparing her for the future.

Melanie was up for a very competitive scholarship, which takes students who go to high schools like hers, and gives them a full scholarship to an elite college. After passing many rounds of the application, she became a finalist. In the end, she did not get picked, and was so distraught, she decided not to pursue any college. Melanie believes that if she did get that scholarship, her life would be different.

Part two of this story explores what life for Melanie would be like, had she gone to college.

Go Ahead, Make Up New Words - TED Talks

Watch this podcast here

This talk was delivered by Erin McKean, a lexicographer. Her job is to put words into the dictionary. She says it is not her job to decide what is a word and what is not. That is the job of all English speakers.

"Every language is just a group of people who decide to understand each other" - Erin McKean

McKean points out that people are always encouraging each other to be creative, except in the case of words. There are certain words that describe different things and that is it. However, McKean says that creating new words is what keeps languages alive. She outlines six ways to create new words.

1. Steal from other languages. For example, we took "kumquat from Chinese and "caramel" from French
2. Compounding. Take two English words and mush them together (bookworm, sandcastle).
3. Blend words together (brunch, motel).
4. Functional shift. Change the way that words operate (friend is a noun, but on social media it is a verb).
5. Backformation. Take one word, and form a related word from it. For example, editors "edit" and bulldozers "bulldoze."
6. Take the first letters from something and push them together. "NASA"

We should keep making words because they grab people's attention and helps get our meaning across. We all can make words whenever we want. As long as they have a meaning for a group of people, the word is valid.

The Bus Stop - RadioLab

Sometimes, forgetting somethings can the both the problem and the solution. This episode of RadioLab tells the story of how a nursing home in Dusseldorf, Germany helped their Alzheimer and Dementia patients.

A common problem among these patients is that they become disoriented and confused. They sometimes believe they are still living in the past and want to escape. Nurses try to stop them, but there have been cases where they left the home. For example, one patient was found wandering in the woods. Another made it back to their old house, only to find other people living there. 

Most of these cases involve a patient getting onto a bus. One patient even got on one and made it 20 miles away before the nursing home found him. 

Patients would have to be locked in their rooms so they couldn't escape. One solution to this problem was seen as crazy, but had to be tried. A bus stop was erected at the entrance of the nursing home. Only buses would never stop there; it was fake. Staff would bring back patients who were seen waiting there. 

At first, citizens of the town who were not in the home believed it was a real bus stop and would wait there. Since then, this idea has had great success for the facility. One patient began to think she was a little girl again, and said she needed to get home to her parents. The staff let her put on her coat and go wait at the bus stop. After awhile, she forgot why she was waiting and a nurse brought her back inside. The patient was fine and relaxed after that experience. 

The bus stop would be used every couple of days at the nursing home. Patients would always have a sense of urgency to go home, but then after a while forget why they would want to go home and come back to the present. 

Would this idea work in America? Just by having a bus stop, the nursing home would be lying to their patients. But as it was shown in Germany, the concept works. 

Vanishing Words - RadioLab

It's been almost five years since I first heard this story. I love writing, words, and interpreting data, so it's natural that this episode of RadioLab always stuck with me. What if you could pinpoint the moment a person's health started to decline, just from what they wrote? This episode does just that, with the work of the influential detective novelist Agatha Christie.

The story starts with Ian Lancashire of the University of Toronto. He compiled the work of Agatha Christie and turned her words into data. Prior to this, Lancashire has analyzed the works of other authors to unlock the secrets of their minds. For example the word "because" does not appear in John Milton's poetry for an unknown reason.

He wanted to analyze a more modern author, so he looked at Agatha Christie, who was the most published author at the time. Lancashire is analyzing 50 years worth of her writing. Christie has written over 80 books and sold a billion of them. The computer that her books were scanned into is looking for word choice, word frequency, vocabulary, etc.

The computer found that her vocabulary and structure was consistent for the first 72 books.

"Something happened on Book #73. Something drastic." -- Jad Abumrad (host)

Her use of indefinite words (something, anything, etc.) increased 6 times. Her vocabulary went down by 20 percent.

"That is astounding. That's 1/5 of her vocabulary lost." -- Ian Lancashire, University of Toronto 

Perhaps Christie knew somethings in her mind was slowing down? the 73rd book was titled Elephants Can Remember, about an aging female novelist with memory loss who helps a detective solve a crime.

This book shows the beginning of her Alzheimer's, which was never officially diagnosed. This shows that writing from anyone can hold clues to what can come in your health. What can we determine from our writing skills?

What's the "Best" Exercise? - Freakonomics Radio

In this episode of Freakonomics, a listener asked what the best, most efficient form of exercise for her to be doing. Economics involves getting the most out of small investments, so this question relates to the subject well. For the answer, the host turns to a series of experts.

According to Gretchen Reynolds, writer of the Phys Ed column of the New York Times, 80 percent of Americans are not meeting the recommended amount of exercise. This means that for anyone who is trying to get the needed amount of physical activity are ahead of most people.

The next expert, nutrition expert Dr. Peter Attia believes that the wrong question is being asked. It's not about what the most efficient form of exercise is, it's about what the person's desired outcome of that exercise is. The rest of the show looks at exercise to increase longevity.

Reynolds believes the squat is the best exercise for longevity. This exercise uses muscles you need to get up out of a chair.

"One of the best indicators of whether you will be independent well into your twilight years is if you can get up out of a chair." --Gretchen Reynolds

 Another expert, David Meltzer of the University of Chicago says the intensity of exercise is measured by the number of calories burned. This is given a score called the metabolic equivalent score. For example, running is a 10, golfing is a 4.5 and resting is a 1.

The experts suggest three I's to the most efficient and cost effective exercising. The first is intensity. Reynolds suggests exercising very hard for a brief period, resting, then going hard again will yield the same results as moderate exercise for two hours. Attia mentions individualization, meaning that only certain exercises will work for certain people. They all agree on the third "I, I...like to do it. The exercise has to be something you will stick with.

Leakin Park - Serial

Listen to episode here

With every mystery, coincidences that are too unusual to be swept under the rug arise. This episode of Serial examines the most pressing, and whether or not there could have been another suspect.

This is episode 3 of Serial, a podcast recounting a true crime that happened in 1999. When Hae Lee Min, a high school student goes missing, her boyfriend Adnan becomes the main suspect. He is later tried and convicted of killing her, though he has always maintained his innocence. Episode 3 talks about the mysterious story of Mr. S, and his connection to the case.

Mr. S. was driving back to work from lunch when he decided to pull over on the side of the road to relieve himself. He walked 127 feet into the woods to do so, which is where he discovered Hae's body. He alerted authorities right away.

Why would he be considered a suspect? It was discussed in the episode why he would need to walk 127 feet into the woods in order to relieve himself. That's a far walk. Hae's body was also very well hidden under a log. When the detective reached the scene after the body's discovery, he could barely see it. How was it that he just happened to find that spot and notice a well hidden body?

A background check on Mr. S. found that he had some trouble in the past. He was taken in for indecent exposure many times. That also brings up another question: Why would someone with a history of indecent exposure feel the need to walk that far into the woods to urinate?

The first time the detectives question Mr. S., he fails his polygraph test when he told his story. He told them he was nervous about a real estate deal that day, so they did a do over. Mr. S. passed the next polygraph test and then faded from suspicion.

There are still unanswered questions about Mr. S. The odds of him happening to stumble upon her body are slim. He may not have killed her, but he might have had prior knowledge to her whereabouts. Or everything could have been a coincidence and his story checks out. What do you think about Mr. S.? Could he have been connected to the crime?

Site Map

The Three Hardest Words in the English Language - Freakonomics Radio

We're humans. We don't know everything. When is the last time you gave an answer to someone when really, you didn't know the answer? People do this all the time. This episode of Freakonomics Radio looks at the three hardest words to say: I don't know.

Stephen Dubner, the host of Freakonomics regularly gives speeches to various companies. He often sees that when a subordinate is asked a question by their boss, the employee will always give an answer, even if they have no idea what they're talking about. Why can't the person just admit they don't have the answer?

"MBA's are incredibly good at faking the answers when they don't know. But that's so counterproductive" - Steve Levitt, Prof. of Economics, University of Chicago

To find out, Dubner sought the expertise of Amanda Waterman, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Leeds. She conducted studies with children on the subject of the episode. She asked children questions that the only logical answer is "I don't know." Such questions included "Is red heavier than blue?" and "What do feet eat for breakfast?" Three-fourths of the children responded to the question, even though there was no answer.

There is an impulse for children to answer because of pressure in the academic setting. When a teacher poses a question, they want to seem smart so their peers and the teacher respect them more. This transfers into the workplace. Adults answer to their boss so they leave a better impression. In the same study, 25 percent of adults answered the questions when the right answer is "I don't know." The hosts say that we give firm answers to questions we don't know all the time.

Marketers and businessmen sometimes admit to not knowing when they should. For example, professor of economics and co-host Steve Levitt found that companies that need to conduct tests on their products or its advertising have trouble doing this. That is because the first step in conducting an experiment is admitting that they don't know the answer to something.

The hosts of the show urge us to start to create a culture where saying "I don't know" is okay to do. If we answer when we don't know the answer, we never learn. Admitting we have no idea about something is the first step into learning for ourselves, which makes things more productive for society overall.

The next time you are asked a question you don't know the answer to, what will you do?

The Alibi - Serial

Listen to this episode here

What were you doing six weeks ago last Friday around 2:00 pm? If you are unable to answer, you could be going to jail for a long time.

The podcast "Serial" follows one real murder case throughout 12 episodes. The story starts in 1999 in Baltimore after school gets out. Hae Min Lee, a high school student disappears, and was later found strangled to death. The suspect is her boyfriend and homecoming king Adnan Syed. Throughout the trial, he claims he's innocent.

After the lengthy trial, Adnan was found guilty. It was later discovered that the lawyer representing Adnan didn't follow through with a potential witness named Asia McClain. This witness could have proven his innocence. A letter written by Asia claims that Adnan was at the library at the time of the murder.

Woven throughout the first episode of this story are interviews from Asia, Adnan's friends, and Adnan himself from prison. He still maintains his innocence. The host of the show, along with Asia don't know what to believe.

Future episodes of the show will explore the story further, featuring background information on those involved and examinations on the evidence. Telling one story throughout many episodes is unique for a podcast, and audiences took notice. It quickly became one of the most popular podcasts ever, with 68 million downloads. Listeners get to keep track of characters, hear their stories, and piece together the puzzle to decide for themselves if Adnan was guilty. Because this is a real story, it makes it more interesting for the audience.

The opening of the episode was interesting, in that the host asked teenagers what they were doing last Friday in order to understand the difficulty Adnan had remembering what he was doing. Some could not answer, and some gave conflicting reports.

The Chocolate Curse - Planet Money

Listen to this episode of Planet Money here.

Have you noticed the quality of chocolate declining in the past few years? No? Many chocolate companies are switching to a lesser quality cocoa bean, and are hoping no one notices.

Cocoa beans  are difficult to grow. They only thrive in certain regions of the world, and are very prone to diseases. Ecuador has a reputation for growing some of the finest beans in the world. One Ecuadorian farmer noticed that all of his trees succumbed to Witch's Broom disease, making the cocoa unusable.

Witch's Broom disease

This farmer wanted to make a plant that would not easily get disease, and could be grown in more places. After cross breeding different species for 12 years, he stumbled upon the solution. He created a super cocoa tree. These trees are much shorter than usual, but grow cocoa pods the size of a human head. It grew 10 times the amount of cocoa, known as CCN. This made chocolate companies very interested.

However, CCN did not taste at all like the fine chocolate Ecuador was known for. One farmer described it as a "rusty nails" taste. This caused Ecuador's chocolate rating to be downgraded.

Years later, the flavor of these beans were improved through new processes. It didn't taste as good as the old Ecuadorian chocolate, though. It tasted bland. But this was good enough for chocolate companies, who soon started mixing this in with other chocolate. After taste tests, consumers could not tell the difference in taste, with many believing this to be fine chocolate. Odds are, we all have eaten chocolate with this bean in it.

I don't believe the majority of us have refined enough palettes to tell the difference between this and finer chocolate. When we're craving it, chocolate all tastes the same. I have not noticed a decline in flavor, though it is happening.

The Trust Engineers - RadioLab

Facebook and other online social media websites are changing the way we communicate with each other. While some use it to spread positive messages, just as many use it for gossip and to share their anger. On this episode of RadioLab, a group of social engineers from Facebook are looked at to see how they are changing this experience to make the world a better place.

These social engineers act as problem solvers for the users of Facebook. Their goal is to make the users of Facebook friendlier with one another. A major problem for this group arose in late 2011 when millions of Christmas photos were uploaded to the website. When there's that many photos being uploaded, there are complaints about the photos that go with it. The most common is that someone is featured in the photo, and they find it embarrassing. If a user asks Facebook to take a photo down, they must check a box saying why, and then a real person determines if the photo should be taken down or not.

The workers at Facebook didn't just want to take down a photo because one user thought it was embarrassing. They wanted to create a conversation between the person who posted, and the person who wants the photo removed. They created a message box containing a pre-written statement for when a complaint is filed. They have the option to send this message to the person asking them to have the picture taken down. The engineers found that users will opt to talk with the person 50% of the time when prompted. This was a good rate, but they wanted it higher.

To do this, they fiddled with the wording of the message to see what will get the highest use rate. Using the word "please" made the rate go up, while the word "sorry" made it go down. The engineers conduct experiments on Facebook users because it contains the best representation of the public all in one place. An example of an experiment was the "I voted" button users could click if they voted in the last Presidential election. Users who saw that their friends voted were 2% more likely to vote themselves. This doesn't sound like much, but it brought in 340,000 more votes.

The episode talked about the Media uproar when they found out Facebook users were essentially lab rats for social experiments. Personally, I have no problem with what these experimenters are doing. They're figuring out ways for us to be more positive, more social, and to cast votes. It sounds like they're doing more good for society than anything else.

How Alien Hand Syndrome Works - Stuff You Should Know

This episode of Stuff You Should Know was first broadcast on March 5, 2009.

Link to Episode 

In many episodes of Stuff You Should Know, the hosts have discussed many medical and psychological conditions. This condition is by far the strangest, and the rarest. 

Alien Hand Syndrome was famously depicted in the movie Dr. Strangelove (1964), but who would have guessed this condition is real? Those who suffer from this condition will have control of one of their hands, but not the other. This "alien" hand will involuntarily start doing something at random times, even when you are sleeping. It might start changing the channel, unbutton your shirt, and in one unfortunate case, choke the person. 

Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Telltale signs of this condition include the limb feeling like it's foreign, the hand doesn't feel like it's attached to the body, and the limb has its own personality. Alien Hand Syndrome could be caused by a lesion on the corpus callosum, which in effect makes random messages fire to the alien arm. 

Being a rare disease, at 50 or less documented cases, it wasn't first recognized until 1909, and wasn't accepted by the medical establishment until 1972. There is no cure for this syndrome. 

It's interesting that a disease so rare could be depicted in so many films and shows. Though it was most famously depicted in Dr. Strangelove (so much so that doctors refer to this as Dr. Strangelove Syndrome), it can be found elsewhere. The condition was portrayed in an episode of House, South Park, and the Addams Family. This media attention adds to the mystery of the disorder. People may think this kind of condition can only happen in movies, but it is a real thing. Since it is so rare, finding a cure for it is unlikely to happen. 

Is Learning A Foreign Language Really Worth It? - Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio puts politics and personal views behind, and approaches subjects as economists. In this episode, the debate is not whether or not a student should learn a foreign language, but what is the return on investment (ROI) of learning a language.

How many of us have tried to learn a language? The average student spends 2-3 years studying a foreign language. I studied Spanish for two years in high school. I stopped after the second year because I forgot a lot of what I learned in between semesters. The topic of this episode was on the value of learning a new language, and if it is worth it for students to learn.

One consultant of the episode was Boaz Keyser, a professor at the University of Chicago. He conducted many studies on the subject. In one, a game was played with his grad students where each were given $20. There were 20 rounds of the game, each costing $1. Students could either pocket the dollar or bet the dollar by flipping a coin. If they won the coin toss, they were given $2.50. The study found that students were more likely to take risks when the game was played in a second language. Saiz says this could be due to various emotions attached to words in their own language. When they hear the same words in a different language, there is less emphasis on the meaning behind the words.

This study showed how thinking in a different language can affect us, and the study makes sense. If I were to see a sign marked "Danger" vs. "Peligro" I would be more afraid of the Danger sign because I am able to associate more danger related words to that quicker.

Albert Saiz, an economist at MIT conducted a study that showed those who learn a new language do earn more, but nothing significant. The average graduate who learned a new language earned 2 percent more than a peer who didn't. That means if the income is $30,000, they would earn just $600 more per year. The lowest return on investment is Spanish at 1.5% more earnings.

To discuss opportunity costs, Bryan Caplan of George Mason University was brought in. He says that under 1% of students learning a language in school claim to have learned it "very well." School instruction on language accounts for 1/6 the time a student is in high school.

"It makes me think that people are spending 3 years of their lives to acquire very few skills." - Bryan Caplan 

Though Caplan is in love with the German language and its culture, the economist in him wonders if learning a new language is worth it for students.

Is learning a new language worth it? It does stretch the mind and gets us to connect with other cultures. For many, learning about a new culture through their language is worth it right there. But from a monetary standpoint, it may not be. Since learning a new language doesn't account for a much higher income, students could be spending time in high school learning more valuable skills. In my failed attempt to learn Spanish, I could have used that time to take four other classes. Whether or not my time spent in a language class will hurt my future earnings, I will never know.

The Old College Try - This American Life

This post is on Act One of the This American Life episode "How I Got Into College."

After high school, the next major step for many students is college. For some, getting into college is a no-brainer. For others, the admittance process is a little more difficult. Then there are some who try anything in desperate attempts to ensure their enrollment. In this segment, host Ira Glass talks with Rick Clark, director of undergraduate admissions at Georgia Tech to discuss what he has seen students (and their parents) try.

Clark has seen emails from parent's email addresses signed as their child. When impersonating their high schooler, parents tend to use the words "awesome" and "cool" to try to sound young.

"Almost ironically I never see those words from a high school student." - Rick Clark

This parental involvement could be due to "demonstrated interest," a factor many schools are taking into account. Are students visiting the campus? Do they show an active interest in the school? Some parents who are worried their child isn't taking this initiative take measures into their own hands.

Things go awry in college essays too. Students often send the same essay to multiple schools, and forget to change the name of the school. Clark, who works for Georgia Tech, has read essays where students say they are excited to be attending Duke University. Whoops.

The college admittance process can be challenging and a lot of work. When parents intervene to the extent in the podcast, that helps no one. My parents helped me find schools and took tours with me. Parents should take an active role in the admittance process, but obviously impersonating a student is crossing the line.

To get into my school, an essay was not needed. I have written mock college essays for classes in high school, and the prompts were really vague. An example was "Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea?" Who knows what kind of response an admittance worker could be looking for? Should I be as vague as the prompt? Should I suck up and incorporate my great qualities? Maybe I'm fine as long as I get the name of the school right.

Buttons Not Buttons - RadioLab

Buttons. Everyone uses them in their daily lives to help perform tasks. They keep our clothes held together, turn on our phones, and change channels on our televisions. Often overlooked, these tools can make for interesting stories.

On this episode of RadioLab, three very different "button" themed stories are presented.

ACT ONE - 00:00 - 07:19
In the first tale, reporter Latif Nasser decides to go to the Elevator History Museum in New York City, where he meets Patrick Carr, curator of the museum. Carr has a secret he can't wait to share with Nasser: 80% of "close door" buttons on elevators are not hooked up. This is because elevators are very smart, and know the traffic of incoming passengers at various times of day.

"All you're doing is screwing up the elevator's timing by touching that thing." - Patrick Carr

This story shows that although buttons make life easier in some situations, in others they are useless. When I push the "close door" button on elevators, I expect the machine to do what I want. I'm sure this button works in areas with low traffic, but in office buildings where it is used frequently, users are powerless. All the button does is give people a meaningless amount of power.

ACT TWO - 07:20 - 16:10
This is not a story about literal buttons, but of founding father Button Gwinnett. Button was a Georgia politician and frequent debtor, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The following year, he got into a dual with a rival and died. With his signature being right below Hancock's, we have seen his name many times without realizing it.

In 1820 when the last of the founding fathers were dying, collecting these signatures became popular. Button's was the rarest, with 51 known examples in the world. His signature sold recently for $722,500. It is worth more than Ben Franklin's and maybe Shakespeare's.

"This is the autographic equivalent of a really expensive diamond" - Robert Krulwich

It's really interesting how a man who with his life was known for racking up debt and getting into fights can have such a valuable signature. He is unknown to most of the world, yet his name is worth more than some of the most famous people in history. Sometimes items can be arbitrarily valuable.

ACT THREE - 16:11 - 27:32
This last story is of the most high stakes button ever. It is portrayed in movies as the big red button on the President's desk that can start a nuclear war. Only there is one problem: this button doesn't exist.

The phrase "the President has his finger on the button" has been around longer than nuclear weapons. Existing conceptions from literature about scientists ending the world using a single button transferred to the powerful image of the President.

For starters, why would anyone want a button like that on their desk? What if it were bumped? The button is a symbol of just how much power the President has when it comes to starting wars. How could we deter the President from believing he has the almighty power to destroy entire ways of life?

An academic named Roger Fisher believed he had the answer. He proposed that a White House aide have embedded in his heart the launch codes for nuclear weapons, and carry around a briefcase containing a knife. If the President wishes to destroy an entire city and all of its inhabitants, he would first need to kill the aide to get the launch code. This sounds horrific, but does this idea have validity? Is this something more than a metaphor, or would it get in the way of White House business?

Introduction

My name is Kevin Danielson, a Professional Writing and Communications student at Southwest Minnesota State University. In today's world, there is a plethora of information that anyone can access. Though you can learn about anything, that knowledge won't be retained unless it is presented in an interesting way.

Podcasts are a great way to hear information, with each show having a unique format. These shows have the ability to create powerful discussions, unlock imagination, and satisfy one's sense of curiosty. Authors of some of the most popular podcasts include radio outlets such as NPR, WNYC, WBEZ.

With every podcast I listen to, I learn something new, from that deserves to be shared and researched further. After listening to these shows for many years, I want this blog to be used to share what I'm learning. Each post will focus on one episode that I have listened to recently, which will be supplemented with further research on the topic. Some posts may require my opinion and others may require analysis, depending on the show.

Above all, I want this blog to present information that can only come the the unique storytelling that a podcast provides.