Female Supreme Court justices get interrupted three times as often as male justices. Climbing stairs may be as effective as caffeine at perking you up. Plus, today's teens are doing pretty OK. Really.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to House to Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum,
a researcher and writer. Here at House to Works. Every week,
I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the
weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and
culture this week. Research suggests that stair climbing is at
least as effective at boosting your energy as a cup
(00:22):
of tea or coffee, and unrelated, a study into the
interpersonal politics of the Supreme Court shows that female justices
are interrupted three times as often as their male cohorts.
But First, Senior editor Katherine Whitbourne and our freelance writer
Melanie read ZEKEI McManus, which is one of my favorite
names to say, have our port for us about how
(00:42):
today's teens are doing compared with prior generations. It came
to our attention via a compatriot podcast, The Stuff of Life.
Here's the story. Smoking rates, lower, drinking rates, lower pre
martal sex and fistfight rates, lor and lore. The teenager
years used to be fraught with peril, but not anymore.
(01:02):
Results of the U. S Government's latest Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System survey taken in twenty fifteen shows teams are
dialing back on unsafe behaviors. Consider some of these stats.
In nineteen ninety one, the first year the survey was taken,
twenty seven percent of teens smoked. By twenty fifteen that
figure was around eleven percent, a sixty one percent decline.
(01:24):
In nineteen ninety one, eighty two percent of teams had
tried booze. That dropped to sixty three percent by twenty fifteen,
and in nineteen nine one, fifty four percent of teams
had already had six while in twenty fifteen the figure
was just forty one percent. Of course, it's not like
today's teams are perfect. Obesity rates are much higher than
twenty six years ago, and correspondingly, today's teens eat fewer vegetables.
(01:47):
The percentage of teams who have tried marijuana was thirty
nine percent in twenty fifteen compared to thirty one percent
in ninetee. And while smoking rates are down, twenty four
percent of teams are getting tobacco through e cigarettes or
hook us. But one of the most concerning new risky
behaviors is texting while driving, something not possible in surveys
(02:08):
showed of teens who had driven a vehicle during the
past thirty days, had texted or emailed while driving. To
dig into this topic further, download the Stuff of Life
podcast teen Dream, which takes a look at why we
tend to finally remember our teenage years and forget about
all of the confusion, anxiety, and ants they often paused.
(02:32):
Next up, staff editor Christopher Hassiotus and our freelancer Shelley
Danzy dive into the results of a study into exercise
versus caffeinated beverages for waking you up, though for the
generalized record, you can take my life, but you can
never take my coffee. Tired at the office, worn out
at work bypassed the long latte lines and the vending machine,
(02:55):
satas and head for the nearest stairwell. Researchers at the
University of Georgia's College of Education found that when you
pace yourself, walking up and downstairs for ten minutes gives
you a better energy boost than consuming fifty milligrams of caffeine,
which is the average amount of caffeine found in coffee, tea,
and sodas. The study, published in the journal Physiology and Behavior,
(03:17):
followed eighteen physically active college women aged eighteen to twenty three,
who are identified as consuming so called non extreme amounts
of caffeine, so from forty milligrams all the way to
four hundred milligrams per day. The US Food and Drug
Administration equates four hundred milligrams of caffeine to about four
or five cups of java. But don't let that milligram
high give you jitters. The FDA says that it's usually
(03:40):
not associated with negative effects. In addition to their modest
caffeine habit, the participants in the study all experienced chronic
insufficient sleep patterns are fewer than forty five hours of
snoozing each week. The researchers sought to compare and exercise
easily accessible to desk sitters, who typically have less time
for activity, but not enough time for a full exercise
routine requiring the whole change in the sweat clothes, shower,
(04:02):
and change back into work attire thing. On some days,
the participants swallowed a fifty milligram caffeine capsule or a
flower placebo. On the other days, they walked up and
downstairs at a moderate pace for ten minutes, covering about
thirty floors. To be sure there was a distinction between
the effects of the caffeine and the exercise. The participants
took cognitive, verbal, and computer based tests measuring vigor, working memory, attention,
(04:25):
and reaction time. Stair walkers did have a slight energy boost,
although there were no sizeable improvements in either attention or
memory due to the caffeine or exercise. The researchers acknowledged
that there's more research to be done, but it seems
that yep, taking the stairs can put pep in your step. Finally,
(04:49):
this week, Christian Sager, who you may have heard on
podcasts like Brain Stuff, Stuff to Blow Your Mind and
super Context, brings us a story that our freelancer Laurie L.
Dove wrote exploring research into the speech patterns and interpersonal
dynamics of Supreme Court justices. It found disparities along both
gender and ideological lines. A new study has found that
(05:11):
male justices interrupt their female counterparts three times more than
they interrupt other men on the bench. Tanya Jacoby, a
professor at Pritsker School of Law at Northwestern University in Chicago,
along with law student Dylan Schweers, examined a twelve year
period for the effects of gender ideology and seniority. Calculating
(05:34):
the number of times justices were interrupted, the results revealed
that out of seven thousand, two hundred and thirty nine
interruptions from two thousand and four to two thousand and fifteen,
female justices were subject to thirty two percent of disruptions.
In contrast, the female justices only interrupted other justices four
(05:55):
percent of the time. Even some of the male attorneys
appearing before the Supreme Court talked over female justices as
they were speaking, a move that's expressly forbidden in the
Court's conduct guide. This study also found ideological disparity, citing
evidence that conservatives interrupt liberals at significantly higher rates, and
(06:17):
seniority played a minor role when it came to jumping
into a conversation, according to the studies authors, as the
three women currently serving on the Court are also liberal.
The researchers addressed this overlap by analyzing different court makeups
over time by also incorporating the year's nineteen nine and
two thousand two into their research, in which the gender
(06:39):
count differed. Quote. If female justices are consistently interrupted more
than their male counterparts in this context, it would show
that gender dynamics are so powerful to persist even in
the face of high levels of power achieved by women,
says Jacoby. The study also revealed details about the relationships
(07:00):
between justices and how they may see one another. Relatively
liberal Justice Stephen Bryer seemed to particularly irk the now
deceased Justin Antonin Scalia, a prominent conservative. The authors wrote,
Scalia interrupted Brier at such an extraordinary rate as to
dwarf all other interruptions. In fact, Justice Scalia interrupted Justice
(07:23):
Brier nearly seven times as frequently as he did Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, another liberal, for instance. And by the way,
around here we referred to her as the notorious RBG.
These inequities are something researchers have been studying since at
least nineteen seventy five, when two sociologists at the University
of California of Santa Barbara secretly recorded two person conversations
(07:47):
in public places. Although the study was small, just thirty
one exchanges, it revealed that in mixed gender conversations, men
were responsible for forty seven of the forty eight interruptions
in those conversations. Larger studies have replicated the findings, including
a fourteen project at George Washington University, which found that
(08:09):
men interrupted women thirty three percent more during a three
minute discussion than when they were talking with other men.
One suggested solution to all this interrupting is to drop
gendered speech patterns. Women are more likely to jump into
discussions with starter phrases like may I ask or other
connecting phrases. The female Supreme Court Justices who have become
(08:33):
most successful in being heard, have adapted speech patterns similar
to their male counterparts. Jacoby wrote, three of the four
women who have served on the Court show clear downward
trends in their use of polite phrasing. Very few of
the men show similar patterns. The female justices keep talking
(08:53):
despite being interrupted, and when they are the ones jumping
into a conversation, they delve right into the point they
are making. Researchers say it helps to use words that
display conviction, such as no instead of believe, and speak
in shorter sentences that are more difficult to interrupt. Perhaps
(09:13):
the most effective strategy of all, simply ask the interrupter
to wait until you are done. That's our show for
this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. Further
thanks to our audio tech Tristan McNeil, our audio producer
Dylan Fagan, and our editorial Liaison's Christopher Hasiotis and Alison Loudermilk.
(09:34):
Subscribe to now now for more of the latest science news,
and send us links to anything you'd like to hear
us cover. Plus. Do you attend a local Renaissance festival?
What do you dig about it? You can send us
an email at now podcast at how stuff works dot com,
and of course, for lots more stories like these, head
on over to our home planet, now dot how stuff
works dot com.
Welcome to House to Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum,
a researcher and writer. Here at House to Works. Every week,
I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the
weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and
culture this week. Research suggests that stair climbing is at
least as effective at boosting your energy as a cup
(00:22):
of tea or coffee, and unrelated, a study into the
interpersonal politics of the Supreme Court shows that female justices
are interrupted three times as often as their male cohorts.
But First, Senior editor Katherine Whitbourne and our freelance writer
Melanie read ZEKEI McManus, which is one of my favorite
names to say, have our port for us about how
(00:42):
today's teens are doing compared with prior generations. It came
to our attention via a compatriot podcast, The Stuff of Life.
Here's the story. Smoking rates, lower, drinking rates, lower pre
martal sex and fistfight rates, lor and lore. The teenager
years used to be fraught with peril, but not anymore.
(01:02):
Results of the U. S Government's latest Youth Risk Behavior
Surveillance System survey taken in twenty fifteen shows teams are
dialing back on unsafe behaviors. Consider some of these stats.
In nineteen ninety one, the first year the survey was taken,
twenty seven percent of teens smoked. By twenty fifteen that
figure was around eleven percent, a sixty one percent decline.
(01:24):
In nineteen ninety one, eighty two percent of teams had
tried booze. That dropped to sixty three percent by twenty fifteen,
and in nineteen nine one, fifty four percent of teams
had already had six while in twenty fifteen the figure
was just forty one percent. Of course, it's not like
today's teams are perfect. Obesity rates are much higher than
twenty six years ago, and correspondingly, today's teens eat fewer vegetables.
(01:47):
The percentage of teams who have tried marijuana was thirty
nine percent in twenty fifteen compared to thirty one percent
in ninetee. And while smoking rates are down, twenty four
percent of teams are getting tobacco through e cigarettes or
hook us. But one of the most concerning new risky
behaviors is texting while driving, something not possible in surveys
(02:08):
showed of teens who had driven a vehicle during the
past thirty days, had texted or emailed while driving. To
dig into this topic further, download the Stuff of Life
podcast teen Dream, which takes a look at why we
tend to finally remember our teenage years and forget about
all of the confusion, anxiety, and ants they often paused.
(02:32):
Next up, staff editor Christopher Hassiotus and our freelancer Shelley
Danzy dive into the results of a study into exercise
versus caffeinated beverages for waking you up, though for the
generalized record, you can take my life, but you can
never take my coffee. Tired at the office, worn out
at work bypassed the long latte lines and the vending machine,
(02:55):
satas and head for the nearest stairwell. Researchers at the
University of Georgia's College of Education found that when you
pace yourself, walking up and downstairs for ten minutes gives
you a better energy boost than consuming fifty milligrams of caffeine,
which is the average amount of caffeine found in coffee, tea,
and sodas. The study, published in the journal Physiology and Behavior,
(03:17):
followed eighteen physically active college women aged eighteen to twenty three,
who are identified as consuming so called non extreme amounts
of caffeine, so from forty milligrams all the way to
four hundred milligrams per day. The US Food and Drug
Administration equates four hundred milligrams of caffeine to about four
or five cups of java. But don't let that milligram
high give you jitters. The FDA says that it's usually
(03:40):
not associated with negative effects. In addition to their modest
caffeine habit, the participants in the study all experienced chronic
insufficient sleep patterns are fewer than forty five hours of
snoozing each week. The researchers sought to compare and exercise
easily accessible to desk sitters, who typically have less time
for activity, but not enough time for a full exercise
routine requiring the whole change in the sweat clothes, shower,
(04:02):
and change back into work attire thing. On some days,
the participants swallowed a fifty milligram caffeine capsule or a
flower placebo. On the other days, they walked up and
downstairs at a moderate pace for ten minutes, covering about
thirty floors. To be sure there was a distinction between
the effects of the caffeine and the exercise. The participants
took cognitive, verbal, and computer based tests measuring vigor, working memory, attention,
(04:25):
and reaction time. Stair walkers did have a slight energy boost,
although there were no sizeable improvements in either attention or
memory due to the caffeine or exercise. The researchers acknowledged
that there's more research to be done, but it seems
that yep, taking the stairs can put pep in your step. Finally,
(04:49):
this week, Christian Sager, who you may have heard on
podcasts like Brain Stuff, Stuff to Blow Your Mind and
super Context, brings us a story that our freelancer Laurie L.
Dove wrote exploring research into the speech patterns and interpersonal
dynamics of Supreme Court justices. It found disparities along both
gender and ideological lines. A new study has found that
(05:11):
male justices interrupt their female counterparts three times more than
they interrupt other men on the bench. Tanya Jacoby, a
professor at Pritsker School of Law at Northwestern University in Chicago,
along with law student Dylan Schweers, examined a twelve year
period for the effects of gender ideology and seniority. Calculating
(05:34):
the number of times justices were interrupted, the results revealed
that out of seven thousand, two hundred and thirty nine
interruptions from two thousand and four to two thousand and fifteen,
female justices were subject to thirty two percent of disruptions.
In contrast, the female justices only interrupted other justices four
(05:55):
percent of the time. Even some of the male attorneys
appearing before the Supreme Court talked over female justices as
they were speaking, a move that's expressly forbidden in the
Court's conduct guide. This study also found ideological disparity, citing
evidence that conservatives interrupt liberals at significantly higher rates, and
(06:17):
seniority played a minor role when it came to jumping
into a conversation, according to the studies authors, as the
three women currently serving on the Court are also liberal.
The researchers addressed this overlap by analyzing different court makeups
over time by also incorporating the year's nineteen nine and
two thousand two into their research, in which the gender
(06:39):
count differed. Quote. If female justices are consistently interrupted more
than their male counterparts in this context, it would show
that gender dynamics are so powerful to persist even in
the face of high levels of power achieved by women,
says Jacoby. The study also revealed details about the relationships
(07:00):
between justices and how they may see one another. Relatively
liberal Justice Stephen Bryer seemed to particularly irk the now
deceased Justin Antonin Scalia, a prominent conservative. The authors wrote,
Scalia interrupted Brier at such an extraordinary rate as to
dwarf all other interruptions. In fact, Justice Scalia interrupted Justice
(07:23):
Brier nearly seven times as frequently as he did Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, another liberal, for instance. And by the way,
around here we referred to her as the notorious RBG.
These inequities are something researchers have been studying since at
least nineteen seventy five, when two sociologists at the University
of California of Santa Barbara secretly recorded two person conversations
(07:47):
in public places. Although the study was small, just thirty
one exchanges, it revealed that in mixed gender conversations, men
were responsible for forty seven of the forty eight interruptions
in those conversations. Larger studies have replicated the findings, including
a fourteen project at George Washington University, which found that
(08:09):
men interrupted women thirty three percent more during a three
minute discussion than when they were talking with other men.
One suggested solution to all this interrupting is to drop
gendered speech patterns. Women are more likely to jump into
discussions with starter phrases like may I ask or other
connecting phrases. The female Supreme Court Justices who have become
(08:33):
most successful in being heard, have adapted speech patterns similar
to their male counterparts. Jacoby wrote, three of the four
women who have served on the Court show clear downward
trends in their use of polite phrasing. Very few of
the men show similar patterns. The female justices keep talking
(08:53):
despite being interrupted, and when they are the ones jumping
into a conversation, they delve right into the point they
are making. Researchers say it helps to use words that
display conviction, such as no instead of believe, and speak
in shorter sentences that are more difficult to interrupt. Perhaps
(09:13):
the most effective strategy of all, simply ask the interrupter
to wait until you are done. That's our show for
this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. Further
thanks to our audio tech Tristan McNeil, our audio producer
Dylan Fagan, and our editorial Liaison's Christopher Hasiotis and Alison Loudermilk.
(09:34):
Subscribe to now now for more of the latest science news,
and send us links to anything you'd like to hear
us cover. Plus. Do you attend a local Renaissance festival?
What do you dig about it? You can send us
an email at now podcast at how stuff works dot com,
and of course, for lots more stories like these, head
on over to our home planet, now dot how stuff
works dot com.
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