1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to How Stuff Works. Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogbaum, 2 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works. Every week, 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,160 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous developments we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: This week, research has revealed that you sleep so poorly 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: in new places because your brain keeps one eye or 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: rather one hemisphere open all night. And related only by 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: that I metaphor, there's a type of bacteria that can 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: see light, and scientists have sessed out that it works 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: basically the same way that our eyes work. But first, 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: senior writer Jon Van Strickland reports on how the quote 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: unquote average Netflix watcher is saving themselves from being subjected 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: to six point six days worth of advertisements per year. 14 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: The map comes from an anti cable blog, but the 15 00:00:52,920 --> 00:01:00,319 Speaker 1: implications are fascinating. That's according to bloggers Stephen Lovely from 16 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: cord cutting dot com, which covers stories about online streaming 17 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: services and how people can take the plunge and disconnect 18 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: their cable TV service with a minimum of pain and suffering. 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: Here's how he did the math. First, he cited a 20 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: January note from Netflix to shareholders that revealed the company 21 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: now has more than seventy five million subscribers globally and 22 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: at ce st. Netflix CEO Read Hastings said Netflix delivers 23 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,679 Speaker 1: one hundred twenty five million hours worth of content to 24 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: those subscribers every day. If you take the number of 25 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,560 Speaker 1: hours of content and divide by the number of subscribers, 26 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: you end up with one and two thirds hours of 27 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: streaming per customer per day. According to Nielsen, an average 28 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: hour of American cable television has nine hundred thirty eight 29 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: seconds of commercials. There are one thousand, five hundred sixty 30 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: three seconds of commercials in one and two thirds hours 31 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: of daily viewing. Multiply that by three hundred sixty five 32 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,680 Speaker 1: days in a year, and you get five sixty six 33 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: hundred seventeen seconds, or about a hundred fifty nine hours. 34 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,959 Speaker 1: That's more than six and a half day's total. Now, 35 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: not all Netflix subscribers avoid watching cable television. Some do both, 36 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,399 Speaker 1: and that one and two thirds hours is a very 37 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 1: rough average. If you watch a lot more Netflix than 38 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: that and don't watch cable TV, you're technically saving yourself 39 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: from seeing even more advertisements. And of course the numbers 40 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: of ads serve to audiences and other countries vary. It's 41 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: no secret that many consumers are tired of ads. The 42 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: popularity of ad skipping features on DVRs and ad free 43 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: streaming services proves it, and networks are taking notice. Back 44 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: in April, NBC Universal representative Linda Yacarino said that in 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen, Saturday Night Live will have fewer ads. 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: That breaks down to removing two full commercial breaks per episode. 47 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: But even those types of measures may not be in 48 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: off to stop consumers from leaving cable TV. According to 49 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: the U S Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the price 50 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: of cable packages has risen significantly faster than inflation rates. 51 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: Cost and the quality of experience are big issues for customers. 52 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: More than a million pay TV customers ended their subscriptions 53 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: last year, according to industry research group SNL Kagan. And 54 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: then there are the cord never's people who have never 55 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: subscribed to pay TV service. That number is growing to 56 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: putting a gentle squeeze on the gargantuan pay TV industry. 57 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: Next up, senior writer Robert Lamb explores study into why 58 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: we get such creptastic sleep during our first night in 59 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: a new place. It's actually deep interest to sleep researchers 60 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: because during these sleep studies they have to throw out 61 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: data from the subject first night due to the data's abnormalities. 62 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: It turns out that your brain is keeping watch. A 63 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: team of Brown University researchers set out to win instigate 64 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: the first night effect by pointing a whole array of 65 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: brain monitoring devices at thirty five volunteers during two nights 66 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: of slumber. They discovered the brain essentially sleeps with one 67 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: eye open during that first night, like Rambo clutching a 68 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: knife between his teeth, ready to wake and go all 69 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: stabby should the bad guys show up. Specifically, the default 70 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: mode network of the brains left hemisphere remains more active 71 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,919 Speaker 1: during the first night's slow wave phase. We're talking a 72 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: network of brain regions here concerned with introspective egoic chatter 73 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,239 Speaker 1: about the past in the future. That worrisome, depressive, teeth 74 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: gnashing voice the human seek to silence through everything from 75 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,359 Speaker 1: exercise and meditation to psychedelic drug use in various flow 76 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,720 Speaker 1: state hobbies. That's the voice that won't quite shut up. 77 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: During that first night in a strange and uncertain bedroom, 78 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,679 Speaker 1: the volunteers didn't report any unusual discomfort or anxiety. However, 79 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: I mean they didn't conduct the experiment in a haunted 80 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: house or anything. Rather, this increased activity just seems to 81 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 1: be business as usual for the sleeping brain in a 82 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: new locale. The researchers believe these findings to be the 83 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: first of their kind, so many questions remain. They only 84 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 1: looked at four networks in the brain, so they're not 85 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: sure if the left hemisphere is the lone watchman, or 86 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:15,800 Speaker 1: if it swaps out duties with the right, and if so, 87 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: why does the default mode network pull first watch. Of course, 88 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: humans aren't the only animals to sleep with one eye open. 89 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: Marine mammals especially demonstrate what's known as uni hemispheric slow 90 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: wave sleep, effectively resting the brains, halves, and shifts so 91 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: they're always awaken up to surface and grief. Funnily, today, 92 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: my fellow writer and researcher Christian Seger brings us the 93 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: slimy story of how single celled cyana bacteria see and 94 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: react to light by using their entire bodies as lenses. 95 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: How bacteria can move towards light has always been a mystery, 96 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: but now a team of researchers found that each organism 97 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: uses its entire body to refract in focus light, you know, 98 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: like your eyeballs. I often wonder how do those monstrous 99 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: slimes or gelatinous cubes moved towards me in the dungeon 100 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: they don't have eyes. After three hundred years of research, 101 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: science has finally found the answer the world's smallest example 102 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: of an eye. We already knew that certain ciano bacteria 103 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,280 Speaker 1: moved towards light sources, like say, a torch, but we 104 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: didn't know how they detected it. Thanks to a team 105 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: of British and German researchers whose work was published in 106 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: the journal E Life, we now know that while ciano 107 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,840 Speaker 1: bacteria is biological structures are different from ours, the physical 108 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: principles for how they sense light are actually quite similar 109 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,159 Speaker 1: to how we humans do it. But first, the heck 110 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: or cyano bacteria, Well, they're single cell blue green bacteria 111 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: that are pretty common in underwater environments. You know that 112 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: slippery green film you find on underwater rocks. This study 113 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: specifically looked at the species called Senecto cystus found in 114 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: fresh lakes and rivers, by testing a mutant version of 115 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: this bacteria. That's right, I said mutant that accumulates green 116 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: fluorescent proteins. The researchers were able to learn that each 117 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: cell body acts like a lens. Light hits its spherical 118 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: surface and then refracts on the other side of the 119 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: cell with intense focus. This triggers the cells photoreceptors, which 120 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: que the cell to steer toward the light. Now the 121 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: moving that's the creepy part. The bacteria each grow tiny 122 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: little tentacles called pea lee that reach out toward the light. 123 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: The pea ly tentacles only form on the side facing 124 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: the light source, attaching to the surface thereon and then 125 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: retracting to pull the bacteria along. While the light refraction 126 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 1: principle is essentially similar to human vision, a selector cystu 127 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 1: cell is about three thousands of a millimeter across, half 128 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: a billion times smaller than the human eye, so it's 129 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: resolution is low and can only perceive blurred outlines of objects, 130 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: kind of like when I take my glasses off. So 131 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: is this evidence of an evolutionary connection between bacteria and people? 132 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: Do other bacteria see the same way? And how will 133 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: this help me in my future battles against gelatinous cubes 134 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: and elder black Puddings. That's our show for this week. 135 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for tuning in. Subscribe now for more 136 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: of the latest and strangest science news, and Hey, send 137 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: us your ideas for new stories, plus any feedback or 138 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: music recommendations you might have. We're always on the lookout 139 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: for new bands. Shoot us an email at now, podcast 140 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,040 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com, and to access thousands 141 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: of other stories like these, check out our home planet 142 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: Now dot how stuff works dot com.