RecSciPod S01E04 full transcript
Timestamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 1:08 Tirth takes a science trivia quiz
- 11:33 Swimming study
- 21:18 Fake drunk study
- 33:08 What did you learn today, outro
Intro
Lu: No, I already did Y.
Tirth: You did?
Lu: Yeah.
Tirth: Randomness, just pure randomness.
Lu: Welcome everyone to another episode of Recreational Science. The podcast where we explore creativity in science by examining some of the funniest, wackiest, and most provocative studies ever done. I’m Lu.
Tirth: and I’m Tirth.
Lu: Tirth, I believe we said last time that you would finish the intro of this episode.
Tirth: Oh. I forgot. Yes, listeners, listeners, join us, please, on this exciting and innovative journey, on this spaceship that we call science, as we explore the boundless frontiers of our universe. How was that?
Lu: Mhm. Yeah. Okay. It was a little wordy, but pretty good. Not as easy as it looks, is it, Tirth?
Tirth: No, definitely not.
Lu: Yeah, now you appreciate all the hard work I do each and every episode.
Tirth: Oh, well I mean, I always appreciate everything you do, Lu.
Lu: Oh, you do? Oh, that’s nice of you.
Tirth: Yeah, always, always.
Tirth takes a science trivia quiz
Lu: Tirth, thank you for that compliment. Uh, I’m afraid I can’t return the favor.
Tirth: You’re welcome. That’s okay, I wouldn’t expect anything less.
Lu: Because people have told me, people have been coming up to me and telling me in the streets, you know, because people recognize me. I’m a very popular person.
Tirth: Uh-huh. Of course.
Lu: People have been saying, Lu, your co-host, Tirth, he doesn’t seem like he has any scientific expertise.
Tirth: Oh, I see.
Lu: Yeah, and also his beard looks fake.
Tirth: Okay. Wow.
Lu: Yeah, a lot of people have been coming up to me and saying both of those things.
Tirth: Listen, I got to say the second insult hurts me way more than the first one.
Lu: Oh, is that right?
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: Uh-huh. Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?
Tirth: Well, first of all, I would want to know the identities of these people – if this is just a random person who hangs out at the corner and yells at motorcycles and talks to the mirror, then it doesn’t matter that much, you know.
Lu: These are very important people, very, very important people.
Tirth: Oh, I see. Can you give me some hints? You don’t have to name them, just give me initials.
Lu: No, no, no. Please, please. No, no, no. This would violate podcaster listener privacy.
Tirth: I see. Very sacred.
Lu: Yeah. Sacred, exactly, exactly.
Tirth: Of course. Well, I would say this to them: who are we to judge anyone’s expertise in science? I say God is the only judge.
Lu: I see.
Tirth: Number one.
Lu: Uh-huh.
Tirth: And number two, this beard is 100% real, okay? And if you believe this beard is fake, you’re the exact type of person who’s going to fall for every single trap that AI is going to lay out for you in the future. All that misinformation, all that stuff, you’re going to fall for that.
Lu: I see.
Tirth: And in fact, I’m going to throw a gauntlet right here on this podcast, okay?
Lu: Mhm. Go ahead.
Tirth: Next episode, I’m going to attempt to peel off this fake beard of mine, and you’ll see I can’t peel it off, because it’s real. An enormous pain to myself, I’m willing to subject myself to this.
Lu: It’s interesting to me that you’re not willing to do it this episode, but rather next episode. That’s a little telling, a little telling.
Tirth: Well, I mean, I figured we have more important business to discuss.
Lu: We do have a more important business to discuss actually, Tirth, because I want people to know the Tirth that I know, the brilliant scientist, with expertise in many, many different fields of science. I want people to know that Tirth.
Tirth: Yes. Okay.
Lu: So, I’ve come up with a list of science questions to ask you, see if you can answer them. And I’m going to grade you. I’m going to give you a grade.
Tirth: Oh, okay. Wait, wait. Is this this episode or next episode?
Lu: This is right now, Tirth, right now. Okay? Pop quiz.
Tirth: I see. Okay, go ahead.
Lu: I got these questions from very legitimate uh scientific sources. Uh, you know, Nature, Science magazine, uh parade.com. So you ready?
Tirth: Yes.
Lu: There are 20 questions total. There’s two parts. Okay, each part containing 10 questions.
Tirth: Wow. Okay.
Lu: First question. What is the powerhouse of the cell?
Tirth: Mitochondria, baby.
Lu: Very good. It’s one point for Tirth. Next question. Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?
Tirth: Easy, fruit.
Lu: Very good.
Tirth: But I would say these are artificial distinctions anyway. Big taxonomy is a scam.
Lu: Okay, I’m just going to change that from a correct to an incorrect.
Tirth: Uh.
Lu: What are the four states of matter?
Tirth: uh, solid, liquid, gas and plasma.
Lu: Very good. Okay.
Tirth: I would say consciousness is the fifth state of matter, though.
Lu: Okay, again, taking away that point.
Tirth: It’s not fair, man.
Lu: What is the central dogma of molecular biology?
Tirth: Hmm, the central dogma of molecular biology is, you take the DNA and you make RNA from that, and you make protein from that.
Lu: Mhm, okay.
Tirth: In fact, there’s actually a correction to this, that RNA can go back to DNA.
Lu: Very good, Tirth. Very good.
Tirth: Yeah. But I don’t know if a protein can go back to DNA. I don’t think we know that yet.
Lu: Yeah, that’s interesting. very interesting.
Tirth: But law of symmetry, but the law of symmetry, you know, which is very important in physics, by the way, another science that’s, you know, another field of science very near and dear to my heart.
Lu: You’re risking me taking away another point.
Tirth: Damn, even that’s not working, huh?
Lu: Question number five. What’s the largest desert on earth?
Tirth: The Sahara.
Lu: Wrong.
Tirth: The Antarctica.
Lu: Yes. Sahara is the largest hot desert on earth.
Tirth: Yeah, yeah.
Lu: Not doing that well.
Tirth: Okay, okay, fine.
Lu: You have two right and three wrong.
Tirth: Please, five out of five.
Lu: How many times can you fold an ordinary sheet of paper? Just going to tee up one in the wrong column for you right now.
Tirth: Nine.
Lu: Incorrect.
Tirth: 16.
Lu: Would you, as a scientist, would you like to experiment?
Tirth: No, I think I know this. It’s like two to the some power and then it…
Lu: It’s actually seven. You were close.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: Nine’s very close. Okay, so questions are going to get a little bit harder.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: What is the degeneracy of the genetic code?
Tirth: Oh, there’s like multiple codons that encode for the same amino acid.
Lu: Very good. Didn’t think you were going to get that one, but very good. What is Einstein’s general theory of relativity about?
Tirth: Uh, well, in the simplest terms, it’s actually about gravity and matter, but it actually is a lot more complex than that, but we’ll stick with that.
Lu: Very good. That’s good. Next question. What did the double slit experiment show?
Tirth: Uh, again, a very complex question, but the simplest answer is, particles can be waves and, they can be thought of as particles.
Lu: Very good. The final question in this section, what is the Higgs boson?
Tirth: Again, a very complex question, the simplest answer is, uh, it’s supposed to interact and give some amount of mass to particles through its own field.
Lu: Okay, good. I’m glad you said field at the end.
Tirth: Called the Higgs mechanism.
Lu: Right, excitation of the Higgs field, which gives matter their mass.
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: Okay, very good. Now this next section, I got from ChatGPT. Let’s see how you do compared to AI.
Tirth: Okay, big fan of ChatGPT.
Lu: What did the biologist wear to impress their date?
Tirth: I have no idea, man.
Lu: Designer genes.
Tirth: That’s so bad.
Lu: What type of dog can do science?
Tirth: Oh. Lab.
Lu: Very good. Good job.
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: Why don’t scientists trust atoms?
Tirth: I have no idea.
Lu: This one’s very easy. Come on. Because they make up everything. Come on, Tirth. You’re making me look bad. I vouched for you earlier.
Tirth: It’s so stupid.
Lu: Why are chemists excellent for solving problems?
Tirth: Because they make everything up.
Lu: No, that’s the answer to the last question. Because they have all the solutions.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: Why didn’t the photon bring luggage to the airport?
Tirth: Because it travels light.
Lu: Good. Nice. What do you call an educated tube?
Tirth: Learned pipe.
Lu: No, a graduated cylinder.
Tirth: That’s so stupid. Oh my god.
Lu: Why did the neuron get promoted?
Tirth: Because it fired somebody else.
Lu: No, because it had great potential. What do you get when you mix sulfur, tungsten, and silver?
Tirth: Stag.
Lu: Very close. Very close. I’m going to give you half points.
Tirth: What is it?
Lu: Swag.
Tirth: Oh, yeah, tungsten is W. Yeah, okay.
Lu: Oh, I have a follow-up. What do you get when you mix Bismuth, Technicium, and Hydrogen?
Tirth: Are you allowed to say that on this pod?
Lu: No, no, no. Please.
Tirth: It’s Jesse Pinkman’s favorite word from Breaking Bad.
Lu: Is it? Okay. What is the chemical symbol for the element that causes arguments on Thanksgiving and is also found in wine?
Tirth: What? No idea.
Lu: What is the element, the chemical symbol for the element that causes arguments on Thanksgiving and is also found in wine?
Tirth: I mean, a lot of elements are found in wine.
Lu: Yeah, but what also causes arguments on Thanksgiving?
Tirth: A turkey.
Lu: No. Turkey is not found in wine. It’s not an element or a symbol for an element.
Tirth: Family.
Lu: No, please, please.
Tirth: Grape.
Lu: The answer, you want the answer? Let me mark that wrong first.
Tirth: Yes.
Lu: Fe, iron, the symbol for iron because Fe is found in feud and fermented grapes.
Tirth: Jesus Christ.
Lu: Yeah, this is all from ChatGPT.
Tirth: Oh my god, this is so…Hey, hey, I have a question. What model of ChatGPT are you using? Becaus this is a very dumb model.
Lu: The latest, the very latest model.
Tirth: No way. No way.
Lu: Final question, you ready?
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: Why can’t you grow flowers on Uranus?
Tirth: Because it’s full of crap.
Lu: That’s close. I’m going to give you half points. Because it’s too gassy. All right, you ready to hear your final score?
Tirth: Yes.
Lu: On the first section, you got 80% correct.
Tirth: Mhm.
Lu: On the second section, you only got 40% correct for a total score of 60%. Which is let’s say barely passing.
Tirth: I thought it should be 120%. Don’t you add them up?
Lu: Okay, I’m just going to take more points off. Now you’re failing. Ugh.
Tirth: Hey man, if you wanted a smarter scientist on this podcast, you should have gotten one of our other classmates.
Lu: I know, but you’re the only one I could convince to buy an expensive microphone.
Tirth: Yeah. Maybe the one with the lab would have been the smarter choice.
Lu: Maybe. All right, let’s move on to real science.
Tirth: All right, let’s do it. You start.
Swimming in syrup
Lu: Hey, what’s your favorite drink?
Tirth: Whiskey.
Lu: Ah. Would you swim in whiskey?
Tirth: Ooh, that’s a great question.
Lu: Or bathe in whiskey?
Tirth: Yes, I would.
Lu: You would?
Tirth: Yes.
Lu: What’s the most interesting fluid you’ve ever swam or bathed in or immersed yourself in? Keep it PG. Please.
Tirth: Thank you for clarifying, keep it PG. I was just about to ask you.
Lu: Yeah. Uh-huh.
Tirth: Um, for keeping it PG, the most interesting fluid that I’ve bathed in is the tears of my enemies.
Lu: Interesting. We’re being for real because I’m being very serious. This is a very serious question, Tirth. It’s a scientific question. Yes.
Tirth: Oh, it is. Okay, let me change my answer in that case.
Lu: Mhm.
Tirth: I’m a very boring guy. The most interesting fluid I’ve bathed in is probably, water from a garden hose.
Lu: Okay, like in a little kiddie pool that you filled up with a garden hose.
Tirth: No, no, not even a pool, just hook the hose up and just hose me down.
Lu: I see.
Tirth: What about you? What’s the most interesting fluid you’ve bathed in or, you know, swam in?
Lu: Well, as you know, I’m from Texas, from Houston…
Tirth: Yes. You may have mentioned it once or twice.
Lu: …and like all Texans and Houstonians, we regularly bathe in crude oil. Keeps the skin fresh, moist, and clean.
Tirth: Is that your secret?
Lu: It is. Yeah. The reason I bring all this up is the title of the paper I’m presenting today is, will humans swim faster or slower in syrup?
Tirth: Mhm.
Lu: This was published in 2004 in the journal Fluid Mechanics and Transport Phenomena, which is a very, very good journal.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: One of the best.
Tirth: Long name.
Lu: And I think the title of the article speaks for itself. But what’s interesting is this article has a forward written by the editors of the journal that I will just read to you right now.
Tirth: Yep, go ahead.
Lu: The forward says, “the scientific and engineering principles that underlie chemical engineering can also be used to understand a wide variety of other phenomena including in areas not thought of as being central to our profession. As such, applications might be of interest to our readers, we will consider brief submissions for publication in this category as R&D notes. These submissions will undergo review and novelty will be an important factor in reaching an editorial decision. The first such article, ‘Will humans swim faster or slower in syrup’ by Brian Gettlefinger and associate editor Ed Cusler, appears in this issue.”
Tirth: Yo, this is the perfect recreational science journal, man.
Lu: It is.
Tirth: They’re literally saying submit all your craziest shit to us.
Lu: Yes. As long as one of the authors is the associate editor.
Tirth: Yes, exactly.
Lu: As I was saying, this article probably needs no introduction because the title makes it very clear: will humans swim faster or slower in syrup?
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: Do you have a guess?
Tirth: Yes, I do.
Lu: Uh-huh. What is it?
Tirth: Uh, slower.
Lu: Oh, interesting, interesting. Okay. Well, I think you’ll be moderately surprised.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: So, I think the authors gave a pretty interesting intro to this paper. Despite it, again, it not really needing an introduction.
Tirth: Mhm.
Lu: So one of the authors was training for the US Olympic team in the 100 meter butterfly and the two authors noted that swimmers swim faster in salt water than fresh water due to buoyancy of the salt water.
Tirth: Mhm. Wow.
Lu: So they then argued over different properties of fluids and how they might affect swimming speed. But eventually they arrived at the question of whether a swimmer would swim faster in more viscous/thicker fluids.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: Now, I wanted to figure out which of the authors was training for the US Olympic team and I looked both of them up. Ed Cusler, who’s the associate editor of the journal was, I think, in his 60s at the time. The other guy, Brian Gettlefinger is a chemical engineer who received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and was also on the men’s swimming team there. Probably our guy.
Tirth: Wow. What an accomplished guy.
Lu: Yeah. So they arrived at a very, very important and interesting question, question that other scientists aren’t really asking. So, what did they do? Well, like any good scientists, they tested it and recorded the results. This is the kind of stuff we go to grad school to learn.
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: So methods, they used guar gum to thicken swimming pool water. Guar is a type of bean. So this is like a sugar extract from the bean. They chose this because it’s food grade and it’s also hypoallergenic. It’s used as a thickener in food a lot.
Tirth: Very considerate of them.
Lu: Yeah, they don’t want to give anybody any rashes or, you know. So they thought about using Xantham gum. I can’t pronounce that word. Xantham gum. They thought about using Xantham gum. Uh but they couldn’t find any. They also considered using corn syrup, but they thought it might cause a strain on the city’s sewer system.
Tirth: What? They really are very considerate.
Lu: They are very considerate. So they chose guar.
Tirth: Oh, okay.
Lu: All right, here are the actual methods. Listen very carefully because this is all key to the experiment.
Tirth: Okay. Yes.
Lu: They poured 310 kg of guar into a garbage can. The dimensions of the garbage can are 0.15 m cubed. And they stirred the mixture with a 1 kilowatt motor while pumping in pool water at a rate of 0.01 m cubed per second until they filled up the garbage can. And then they poured this mixture into a swimming pool, the dimensions of which is 650 m cube.
Tirth: I don’t understand any of these numbers.
Lu: They then stirred the mixture inside the pool for 36 hours with three submersible pumps each moving at a speed of at least 0.05 m cubed per second. Very rigorous, very rigorous stuff. Any criticism so far about their methods?
Tirth: Uh, yeah, just one. I wish they quoted these numbers in the Imperial system also, or whatever Americans use.
Lu: No, please, please, Tirth. In science, we stick with the metric. Okay?
Tirth: Okay, if you say so, man.
Lu: So the resulting solution they generated had a viscosity of 1.92 plus or minus 0.05 * 10 to the -3 Pascal seconds. So the viscosity is about twice that of water.
Tirth: Okay.
Lu: Twice that of normal pool, swimming pool water.
Tirth: That’s helpful.
Lu: And then they asked 10 competitive swimmers and six recreational swimmers…
Tirth: That’s us, man.
Lu: Please I’m professional. To swim 25 yards in water, 50 yards in guar solution and then 25 yards again in water. There’s the Imperial system that you wanted.
Tirth: Yes, love it. Now I actually understand these numbers.
Lu: So just to sum up, they had a normal swimming pool with normal swimming pool water with, you know, your chlorine and urine and everything else that’s normally found in swimming pool water. And then another pool that’s filled with this guar gum mixture, this syruppy mixture full of these like bean sugar.
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: So after all of this work, what did they find? Your guess is slower in guar.
Tirth: Slower, that’s right.
Lu: They actually found that there’s no difference in swimming speed.
Tirth: Wait, between the professionals and the recreationals?
Lu: For all 16 swimmers, there was no difference between regular water and guar gum.
Tirth: Wow. That’s crazy.
Lu: So their conclusion is that because human flow or human swimming is more turbulent and less like laminar flow, that the viscosity of the swimming pool doesn’t really affect them that much.
Tirth: Uh-huh. Because it’s so inefficient to begin with.
Lu: Not inefficient, like for instance microorganisms, when they swim, they’re more laminar, right? They’re directly affected by the viscosity of the water, like the drag. But when you’re human, you’re like splashing around with your arms and legs and kicking, right?
Tirth: Mhm. Yeah.
Lu: So you can more or less swim in like a ball pit.
Tirth: Yeah. That’s true.
Lu: So they’re arguing that maybe viscosity doesn’t matter as much.
Tirth: As much.
Lu: In that case. It still probably matters a little, right?
Tirth: Yeah, yeah.
Lu: Which brings me to my first criticism, which is, you know, guar, the solution they used is actually quite thin. So it’s only two times the viscosity of water, which is still not that viscous, right? It’s still not quite that thick.
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: And they only had 16 samples, 16 swimmers. So this is probably an experiment that’s underpowered to detect like a small difference.
Tirth: Right.
Lu: Underpowered meaning their sample size is too small to detect a small difference.
Tirth: Yes.
Lu: If they filled up the other swimming pool with oatmeal, right, they’d probably find a difference.
Tirth: Yeah. Or crude oil.
Lu: Or crude oil. Yeah. Any thoughts?
Tirth: Uh, I like the study. I – just like you – I agree they should have used a thicker liquid.
Lu: One good thing I liked about the paper is that their reporting of the methods is very rigorously. Very detailed. If you were to reproduce this study, you would have no problem reproducing exactly what they did.
Tirth: Yes. Right.
Lu: So in my opinion, great science.
Tirth: Yes, agreed.
Lu: Good study.
Tirth: Agreed on both counts.
Lu: Wonderful.
Tirth: Okay. Is it my turn?
Lu: Yeah, you ready?
Fake drunk confidence
Tirth: All right. Here’s the title of my paper.
Lu: Okay.
Tirth: It’s called, “Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder: people who think they’re drunk also think they’re attractive”
Lu: I see. People who think they’re drunk, not drunk people, but people who think they’re drunk also think they’re… interesting. Please, continue.
Tirth: Right. This is published in the British Journal of Psychology.
Lu: Amazing journal. One of my favorites.
Tirth: We at recreational science, we love journals that start with British – British Journal of Sports Medicine…British Journal of Psychology.
Lu: Very good journal.
Tirth: This was published in 2012. And it was published by a group, well, most of the people are listed in France, one person it says Ohio State University.
Lu: The Ohio State University?
Tirth: Oh, yes, I’m sorry. Please don’t come after us, the Ohio State. Yes. Thank you for the correction. Okay. So, here’s the premise of this paper. There’s this popular conception that people when they’re drunk or if they’re buzzed or whatever, they get beer goggles on, which basically means that they start seeing a lot of people around them as more attractive than they might be.
Lu: Mhm.
Tirth: They asked a companion question to this, namely, if people are drunk, do they think that they themselves are more attractive than they are? So, actually, what’s interesting about this study is that they actually did two studies as part of this paper. The first study is relatively simple, where people were actually given alcohol, they were told that they were being given alcohol, and so it’s very simple.
Lu: And they got drunk or buzzed.
Tirth: Yeah, well, you know, they were at a bar.
Lu: Oh, okay.
Tirth: Yeah, they got buzzed, they actually measured their blood alcohol level.
Lu: They were actually in a bar. They didn’t build a bar in a lab. They actually went to a bar.
Tirth: They’re actually, yeah, they did the first study in a bar. It was a field study.
Lu: Oh, field study. Okay. So not under controlled environments.
Tirth: No, no. That was the first study. The second study was much more controlled, where they basically posed as this food advertising agency and they put out an ad in the paper recruiting people, saying, “Hey, we want you to come over and try and taste this new non-alcoholic beverage and compare it to the alcoholic beverage and see which one you like better.” So, they had these people come in..
Lu: Okay, I like this. See, this is the thing with psychology that I had mentioned before. There’s always an element of trickery. Love it. Beautiful.
Tirth: I know, exactly. So that’s what they did. So, they had them come in. They split them into two groups. The entire first group was getting alcohol.
Lu: Mhm.
Tirth: Okay? But, half of the people in that group were actually told, “You’re not getting alcohol.” The second group was, they were not getting alcohol at all. They were getting a beverage that tasted like alcohol.
Lu: Okay.
Tirth: And within that group, half of the people were told, “Hey, you’re actually getting booze.” The other half were told, “You’re getting the non-alcoholic beverage.”
Lu: Okay. So, four groups total. One group got alcohol, told they were getting alcohol. One group got alcohol, told they were not getting alcohol. One group got fake alcohol, but told they were getting real alcohol. One group who got fake alcohol, but were told they were getting non-alcoholic drinks.
Tirth: That’s correct. So, they had them drink this thing.
Lu: Beautiful.
Tirth: Then they said, “Hey, listen, as part of this study, we want you to film an ad for this, for this company, this food company.” So, they filmed them. And then they said, “Hey, watch yourself on film and rate yourself as to how attractive you think you are.”
Lu: Oh, I love it.
Tirth: But it doesn’t stop here, man. It doesn’t stop here. This is so freaking cool. They then had an independent panel of judges who were not told ahead of time anything about who got alcohol and who didn’t. And they said, “Here’s a bunch of videos of people and in your best judgment, you can decide who’s drunk and who’s not drunk, and then rate their attractiveness.”
Lu: Oh, okay. Very good.
Tirth: Uh-huh. I was hoping they used chickens, but they didn’t.
Lu: Yeah.
Tirth: So, it was actually very interesting. The other thing that I really liked about the methods here is, they actually admit this openly, they’re like, one of the limitations of the second study is that people who drink, they can usually suss out if the drink they’re drinking is alcoholic or not, because it tastes different, the smell might be different. So, they said – what they did – is the non-alcoholic drink, they sprayed the rim with alcohol.
Lu: Oh, okay.
Tirth: So that they would smell it.
Lu: It’s very clever. These people, man, psychologists.
Tirth: And then the people who are getting…yeah, exactly, this is actually very cool.
Lu: Psychologists are the best scientists. I’m going to say that right now on the record.
Tirth: They thought of everything, man. And the people who are getting alcohol but were told they were not getting alcohol, they basically said, “Oh, the drink is so good, it tastes like alcohol, but there’s no alcohol in it.” So, that’s the setup here. The other thing I want to mention here is the number of people they used, because we talked about n with the first paper you presented.
Lu: Very important, sample size.
Tirth: The first study where they just went to, like, the local bar and they had people, and then they had them fill out, like, self-evaluations, they used 19 customers, and they’re all – sorry, 63% of them were men. And they received a lottery ticket for their participation.
Lu: Oh. Okay. Not like a free drink.
Tirth: No, no, a lottery ticket. And the second study, you know, with the four groups and all of that, they started with 94 men and some people dropped out or whatever. So, they ended up with 86 men. So, that’s the set up here. You want to dive into the results, or you have any questions before we move on?
Lu: Please. I’m dying to hear the results.
Tirth: Okay. So perhaps not surprisingly, the first study where they went to the barroom and they gave the people there just self-evaluations, they basically found that higher the blood alcohol level, the more attractive participants thought they were. They were rating themselves on a scale of 1 to 7. One is not attractive at all, and seven is extremely attractive.
Lu: Okay. But did they have a separate panel of judges determine whether these people were actually attractive? Because what if what if more attractive people were drinking more at that bar? Maybe people were buying them drinks.
Tirth: No, no. Wow, you should have been part of this study. They actually mentioned that at the very end. They’re like, one of the limitations of the first study is that attractive people tend to go to bars more.
Lu: Yeah. And drink more at the bars because maybe people are giving them free drinks. Confounding factor.
Tirth: That’s exactly…well, yeah, they didn’t mention that, but they said being attractive…Yeah, is this something you’re familiar with? Because I’m not.
Lu: Of course. I’ve never had to pay for a drink at a bar, please.
Tirth: Oh. Wow, my experience is the exact opposite. They often charge me double.
Lu: Oh, is that right?
Tirth: Yes, and for watered down drinks. Half the alcohol, double the price.
Lu: Okay. In attempt to get you to leave.
Tirth: Uh-huh. Indeed.
Lu: I see. It’s very unfortunate.
Tirth: I’ll just throw out some stats here, okay? This was a simple linear correlation where they looked at blood alcohol level and self-reported attractiveness. And often we use something called an R, you know, an R factor.
Lu: Yep.
Tirth: R was 0.56 here, which is actually a fairly strong correlation. Just for the listeners out there, 1 would be perfect correlation, 0 would be no correlation, meaning the two things you’re measuring are random. 0.5 is somewhere in between. So, 0.56 in a dirty experiment like this is actually pretty good.
Lu: Quite high. So, in this correlation, on the X-axis would be blood alcohol level, and on the Y-axis is their self-rated attractiveness. The other thing with R you can do is if you square the R, that gives you an estimate of how much of the Y variable, the dependent variable, can be explained by the X variable, the independent variable.
Tirth: Yeah. Perceived attractiveness. Which in this case, doing some dirty math, it comes out to 0.025… 0.25, sorry.
Lu: 0.25. Yeah. So about 0.25. So meaning 25% of the variability in people’s self judgment of their attractiveness can be explained by blood alcohol levels.
Tirth: Just straight up blood alcohol level.
Lu: Which is quite robust.
Tirth: Yeah, it’s pretty interesting. They even have a p-value here, just noting significance, 0.012.
Lu: So armed with this information, they proceeded to study two?
Tirth: Yes, they moved on to study two. Which is a lot more rigorous, you know? So, as I already mentioned, they chose 94 men. Participants were recruited via newspaper advertisements, and they were paid 14 euros an hour, which comes out to $21 an hour.
Lu: Oh, that’s pretty good
Tirth: And then, like I said, they formed a fake research firm for a food company.
Lu: Okay, just as a reminder, there are four categories, right?
Tirth: Yeah.
Lu: 1) People who got real alcohol and were told they got real alcohol, 2) people who got real alcohol but told they weren’t getting real alcohol, 3 )people who got fake alcohol but told they were getting real alcohol, and then 4) people who got fake alcohol but were told they were getting non-alcoholic drinks.
Tirth: Yeah. Correct. Okay, so, here’s the results. So, 1) people who got alcohol and who were told they got alcohol, they rated themselves, these are all median values, I think, was 3.96 on a scale of 1 through 7. So, they almost, they rated themselves as a 4. 2) People who got alcohol, but were told that they didn’t get alcohol, rated themselves 3.86. 3) Now people who got no alcohol, but were told they got alcohol, they rated themselves at 3.42. 4) People who got no alcohol, but were told and were also told they got no alcohol, rated themselves at 3.09.
Lu: Mhm.
Tirth: After they did all the stats, here’s what they found. People who thought they were getting alcohol, rated themselves as more attractive than people who didn’t think they were getting alcohol, regardless of whether they actually got alcohol or not.
Lu: Okay. I see. So just being told they were getting alcohol matters more than actually getting alcohol in terms of how highly they rated themselves.
Tirth: That’s correct. Belief, you know, they just believed that they were getting alcohol. And that alone was more than enough for them to say, “Hey, I’m more attractive than I am.”
Lu: Very good.
Tirth: So, obviously, as you may recall, the second part of the study is they recorded them and they had independent judges look at this and rate the people as well. What they basically found is that there’s no difference in the attractiveness in how the judges rated these people, whether or not they were drunk, whether or not they were given alcohol or not, whether or not they were told they got alcohol or not.
Lu: No difference in terms of what?
Tirth: None of that mattered.
Lu: Oh, okay. I see. Among the four different conditions, the attractiveness of the people in the four conditions were the same according to the judges. I see.
Tirth: Yes. So, anyway, the main conclusion they’re drawing from this is that this effect that we see in society or I guess at different bars or social settings, that people who drink think that they might be more attractive than they are, seems to be largely driven by their perception of whether or not they have alcohol or not. So, they’re just kind of fooling themselves.
Lu: What practical value does this study have? How can listeners use this information to their advantage?
Tirth: Um, well, I’ll say this, if our listeners are, you know, going out tonight or having a great night on the town, just like you and I used to back in the day, Lu, you know? They should just look in the mirror before they leave and say, “You are drunk,” and I think that’ll do the trick.
Lu: Mhm. Oh, to give themselves a boost of confidence.
Tirth: Yeah, they don’t even have to say, “You’re confident, you’re attractive, you’re powerful.” None of that stuff, okay? Just look in the mirror and say, “You are a drunk.”
Lu: Mm. Excellent study, Tirth. Excellent study. Loved it.
Tirth: Thank you.
What did you learn today?
Lu: Well, that brings us to the end of this episode of Recreational Science. Tirth, what did you learn today?
Tirth: Lu, I learned today that bathing in crude oil is the secret to vitality, fountain of youth.
Lu: Mhm. That’s right.
Tirth: What did you learn today, my friend?
Lu: I learned that if you’re going out to a bar, and you want to save some money but want the benefits of drinking alcohol, just take a shot of water and chase it with some mouthwash. It’s all you need.
Tirth: Indeed. Well, recreational science, come for the science, go home with personal finance tips.
Lu: Yes, exactly. All right guys, hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for listening and we will see you next time. Bye.
Tirth: Bye.
