1
00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:02,880
Speaker 1: Welcome to how s toff works Now. I'm your host,

2
00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:07,640
Speaker 1: Lauren vocal Baum, a researcher and writer here at houstf Works.

3
00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,440
Speaker 1: Every week, I'm bringing you three stories from our team

4
00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,000
Speaker 1: about the weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology,

5
00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:20,120
Speaker 1: and culture this week. It's not your imagination. There's way

6
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:24,960
Speaker 1: less personal space for airplane passengers these days, and unrelated,

7
00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,680
Speaker 1: future residents of the moon may live in tunnels carved

8
00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:32,400
Speaker 1: out millions of years ago by lunar lava. But First,

9
00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:36,280
Speaker 1: Senior editor Katherine Whitbourn and freelance writer Melanie read Zekei

10
00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:39,680
Speaker 1: McManus explore a new study into how the ways that

11
00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,199
Speaker 1: we play games with children can impact their development. It

12
00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:47,559
Speaker 1: seems that absolutely destroying a kid at uno could actually

13
00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:52,159
Speaker 1: be a good thing. You ever played a game with

14
00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,240
Speaker 1: a kid and helped her, wrote, So she didn't lose

15
00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:57,200
Speaker 1: to you, she wins. She's happy, so you're happy too.

16
00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,160
Speaker 1: But is that a good strategy for her development long term? Well?

17
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,240
Speaker 1: A new study from Amherst College and the University of Virginia,

18
00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,080
Speaker 1: published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology says that

19
00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,240
Speaker 1: intentionally throwing a game or a challenge may result in

20
00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:14,200
Speaker 1: kids who can't make good decisions or read important cues.

21
00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,559
Speaker 1: In the study, researchers played a game with children aged

22
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:19,959
Speaker 1: four and five where they had to find hidden objects.

23
00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:22,520
Speaker 1: Two adults gave the kids clues to the location of

24
00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:25,319
Speaker 1: the objects. One adult gave accurate clues while the other

25
00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,039
Speaker 1: gave false ones. Then the researchers set up the game

26
00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,360
Speaker 1: so that half the kids always found the hidden object

27
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,800
Speaker 1: no matter what the adults said. The remaining children played

28
00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,280
Speaker 1: a game left to chance, where they were more likely

29
00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,840
Speaker 1: to find the hidden object if they listened carefully and

30
00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,399
Speaker 1: figured out which adults gave useful clues. Then the researchers

31
00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:44,720
Speaker 1: asked the kids which of the two adults they'd select

32
00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,840
Speaker 1: to help them find more hidden objects. As you might expect,

33
00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 1: the kids in the unrigged game preferred the adult who

34
00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,800
Speaker 1: gave accurate tips, but those in the rigged version had

35
00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,120
Speaker 1: no preference. They didn't realize only one adult gave them

36
00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,400
Speaker 1: helpful information. That means if you always let it's beat

37
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,840
Speaker 1: you at all made, for example, they might not learn

38
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:04,840
Speaker 1: how to consider the number of cards in their hands

39
00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 1: or what's in the draw pile. Letting kids win all

40
00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,440
Speaker 1: the time could make them unable to spot important information

41
00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,079
Speaker 1: relevant to future success. There have been a lot of

42
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,520
Speaker 1: jokes about today's trophy culture, where all the kids on

43
00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,760
Speaker 1: a sports team get a trophy just for playing. Psychotherapist

44
00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,600
Speaker 1: Nicky Nance, who was not involved in the study we mentioned,

45
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,960
Speaker 1: says that participation trophies can hurt children in the long run.

46
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,399
Speaker 1: She said, these kids can feel angry and betrayed later

47
00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:31,679
Speaker 1: on when partners, teachers, and employers don't find their mere

48
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,280
Speaker 1: presence awesome. Other experts say that encouraging self esteem through

49
00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,519
Speaker 1: participation trophies isn't necessarily harmful, but it's important for children

50
00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,840
Speaker 1: to learn how to distinguish true accomplishments from just showing up.

51
00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:46,960
Speaker 1: Nance says the key is to praise kids when they

52
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,240
Speaker 1: do something impressive like strategize or creatively approach difficult tasks,

53
00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:54,000
Speaker 1: and that can only happen when we allow our children

54
00:02:54,080 --> 00:03:01,919
Speaker 1: to fail. Next up of editor Christopher Hasiotis and our

55
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,000
Speaker 1: freelance writer Patrick Jake Tiger bring us a story about

56
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,520
Speaker 1: the potential future of the moon. New research indicates that

57
00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:10,639
Speaker 1: it may be cheaper and easier for us to set

58
00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:18,280
Speaker 1: up Moon colonies than we ever thought possible. An internationally

59
00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,120
Speaker 1: cooperating team of engineers and scientists here on Earth have

60
00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,560
Speaker 1: been devising plans for a man based on the Moon

61
00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,280
Speaker 1: for a while now, a tentative construction date sometime around

62
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,400
Speaker 1: the year, and though it may sound like the hidden

63
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:34,200
Speaker 1: layer of a supervillain, it's no fantasy. But if colonists

64
00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:36,800
Speaker 1: are going to live lunar for extended periods, the best

65
00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,640
Speaker 1: place for them to do so is underground. That's because

66
00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,040
Speaker 1: the Moon's extremely minimal atmosphere provides almost no protection from

67
00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:47,200
Speaker 1: meteorites and exposure to harmful space radiation. The major drawback

68
00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,520
Speaker 1: of setting up shop in the lunar underground, of course,

69
00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,600
Speaker 1: has been that it would require sending a lot of

70
00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,320
Speaker 1: expensive machinery to the Moon to dig man made caverns

71
00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,760
Speaker 1: for lunar pioneers to live in. But things may be

72
00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,600
Speaker 1: looking up, and that's by looking within within the Moon.

73
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,520
Speaker 1: That is, thanks to new data gathered by satellites orbiting

74
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,760
Speaker 1: the Moon, there's a chance we could colonize the Moon

75
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,680
Speaker 1: without too much digging thanks to ready made underground cavities

76
00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:10,680
Speaker 1: called lava tubes. Inside the Moon, space is carved by

77
00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 1: underground rivers of molten lava from ancient lunar volcanoes. Yes,

78
00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,159
Speaker 1: the Moon was once home to volcanic activity, but when

79
00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:20,760
Speaker 1: the lava ran dry, the routes through which it flowed

80
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,240
Speaker 1: formed cylindrical channels. We see the same process happening here

81
00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:27,320
Speaker 1: on Earth in places like Hawaii, New Zealand, and Iceland.

82
00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,480
Speaker 1: But most of the Earth's lava carved tunnels usually measure

83
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,240
Speaker 1: less than a hundred feet or about thirty one across

84
00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,160
Speaker 1: at the maximum. Not so up on the Moon, where

85
00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,360
Speaker 1: satellite observations of lunar gravity suggest that the lava tubes

86
00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,880
Speaker 1: inside the Moon are much much larger in scale. In

87
00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,559
Speaker 1: the study that appears in the online journal Icarus, in fact,

88
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,479
Speaker 1: a team of Purdue University scientists conclude that lunar lava

89
00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,760
Speaker 1: tubes could be as wide as three point one miles

90
00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:55,159
Speaker 1: or five kilometers, and that these sub lunar tunnels could

91
00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,800
Speaker 1: remain structurally sound. As we set up shop on our

92
00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,320
Speaker 1: rocky satellite, NASA sine Tis already have scoped out one

93
00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,600
Speaker 1: lunar labatube called the Marius Hills Pit as a potential

94
00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,839
Speaker 1: location for an outpost. Give us a few decades, and

95
00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:17,360
Speaker 1: the man in the Moon could be getting some new neighbors. Finally,

96
00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:19,840
Speaker 1: this week, I've got another high flying piece for you

97
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,120
Speaker 1: from Patrick. Researchers and policymakers alike are drawing attention to

98
00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,080
Speaker 1: the amount of personal space, or rather the lack thereof,

99
00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,800
Speaker 1: the airline passengers deal with these days, and the negative

100
00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:36,920
Speaker 1: effects that that might be having. If you're feeling increasingly

101
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,160
Speaker 1: cramped on airline flights these days, you're not necessarily developing

102
00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,480
Speaker 1: a case of claustrophobia. In recent years, airlines have been

103
00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,599
Speaker 1: redesigning cabin space and seats alike in order to jam

104
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,159
Speaker 1: more and more passengers into planes and maintain profitability. And

105
00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,240
Speaker 1: that means less room for your knees, as you've probably realized,

106
00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,679
Speaker 1: but it also means less room for your upper body

107
00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,680
Speaker 1: and head, especially when someone reclines the seat in front

108
00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,200
Speaker 1: of you. According to the Astachusetts Institute of Technologies Airline

109
00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,760
Speaker 1: Data Project, US airlines have increased the average seat count

110
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,359
Speaker 1: in their single aisle aircraft from a hundred and thirty

111
00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:12,719
Speaker 1: seats to a hundred and forty two today. In order

112
00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:14,680
Speaker 1: to fit all those seats into the plane and still

113
00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,279
Speaker 1: preserves some leg room and knee room, airlines have gone

114
00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:20,800
Speaker 1: to using thinner, skinny seats, but something has to give

115
00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:24,080
Speaker 1: seat pitch. The distance between a point on an airline

116
00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:25,880
Speaker 1: seat in the same spot on the seat in front

117
00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,240
Speaker 1: of it has decreased significantly, from about thirty five inches

118
00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,600
Speaker 1: that's back in the nineteen seventies, to an average of

119
00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:36,080
Speaker 1: about thirty one inches or seventy nine centimeters today. According

120
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,560
Speaker 1: to New York Senator Charles Schumer, who has sought to

121
00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:42,119
Speaker 1: stop airlines from shrinking passenger space even further, that means

122
00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:43,720
Speaker 1: that when the person in front of you tilts the

123
00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,080
Speaker 1: seat back, it's going to be several inches closer to

124
00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:49,719
Speaker 1: your nose if you're sitting upright still. Lorenko, a psychology

125
00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,760
Speaker 1: professor at Emery University who studies how people perceive and

126
00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,320
Speaker 1: deal with personal space, told The Wall Street Journal that

127
00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:57,520
Speaker 1: the shrinking amount of headroom on planes could have a

128
00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:02,039
Speaker 1: significant psychological effect on passengers. Another psychologist, Martin Seiffe, of

129
00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:04,760
Speaker 1: the Anxiety and Phobia Treatment Center for White Planes Hospital

130
00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,520
Speaker 1: in New York, told the journal that high density seating

131
00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,240
Speaker 1: could raise the risk of passengers losing their tempers and

132
00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,360
Speaker 1: could even cause air rage incidents. Unfortunately, the trend of

133
00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:15,960
Speaker 1: putting more seats into airliners and reducing the amount of

134
00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:19,640
Speaker 1: passenger space seems to be continuing, and don't expect federal

135
00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,160
Speaker 1: regulators to step in. In April sixteen, the U Senate

136
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,080
Speaker 1: rejected an amendment to a spending bill by Schumer which

137
00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,760
Speaker 1: would have required the Federal Aviation Administration to set a

138
00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,680
Speaker 1: minimum seat size and distance between seat rows on airplanes.

139
00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:33,920
Speaker 1: I guess it's time to get to know your neighbors

140
00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:40,320
Speaker 1: even more. Intimately, that's our show for this week. Thank

141
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,760
Speaker 1: you so much for tuning in. Further thanks to our

142
00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,760
Speaker 1: audio producer Dylan Fagin, and to Noel Brown for giving

143
00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,120
Speaker 1: him a hand this week. Plus our editorial liaison Alice

144
00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:52,120
Speaker 1: in louder Milk. Subscribed to now Now for more of

145
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:54,320
Speaker 1: the latest science news and send us links to anything

146
00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:56,960
Speaker 1: you'd like to hear his cover. Plus let me know

147
00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,280
Speaker 1: what Harry Potter Universe house you got sorted into personal curiosity.

148
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: I am a proud hufflepuff. You can send us an

149
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,560
Speaker 1: email at now podcast at how stuff works dot com,

150
00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,320
Speaker 1: and of course, for lots more stories like these, head

151
00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:13,120
Speaker 1: on over to our home planet now that how stuff

152
00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,040
Speaker 1: Works dot com