Hidden Brain

Share this post

A brief history of grillin’ stuff

news.hiddenbrain.org

A brief history of grillin’ stuff

Plus, what we can learn from the way kids learn

Jun 29, 2022
Share this post

A brief history of grillin’ stuff

news.hiddenbrain.org

“I think he was hypocritical in the way that many people are hypocritical, in that all of us are hypocritical when we have an intellectual belief about something, but we don't have the will to act upon those beliefs.” Annette Gordon-Reed

BRAIN WAVES

  • Fire up the grill. While cooking with fire has been around for, oh, a couple million years or so, the concept of the American backyard cookout is relatively new, according to the Smithsonian’s National Institute of American History. With the economy booming after World War II, more people began to travel, visiting places like Mexico, California, Southeast Asia, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. They developed a taste for the cuisine of these other cultures. “Returning home, they re-created these experiences in their new suburban backyards, with patios, tropical drinks, and the grill, where they cooked meals craved by a postwar meat-mad America,” the National Institute of American History reports. “The outdoor patio grill created a new kind of space for American families. It associated food with recreation and relaxation.” Of course, some of us take it a little more seriously.

  • Learning without trying. We retain information better when we come across it incidentally — at least, that’s the finding behind a new study on learning. “Our knowledge of the world is populated with categories such as dogs, cups, and chairs,” the study’s (PDF) abstract reads. “Such categories shape how we perceive, remember, and reason about their members.” Researchers wanted to see how well people could remember the names of a couple of made-up creatures. Some study volunteers were exposed to images of the creatures while playing a computer game. A control group was explicitly told they would be learning about these creatures. Turns out, the folks who were incidentally exposed to the images during a computer game learned the names faster than the control group. “As children, we learn what a ‘dog’ and a ‘chair’ is just by being exposed to them -- with no intention to learn,” writes Jeff Grabmeier at Ohio State News. “We can still learn the same way as adults.”

  • Money origins. What’s the point of money? The answer might seem obvious: We need it to get paid for our work and to buy the things we need. But there’s also a deeper way to look at the role of money in our lives. What if the cash and coins we carry are not just tools for transactions, but manifestations of human relationships? Listen to learn more.

ON THE HIDDEN BRAIN PODCAST

June 27: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Those words, penned by Thomas Jefferson more than 240 years ago, continue to inspire many Americans. And yet they were written by a man who owned hundreds of people, and fathered six children by an enslaved woman. This week, we revisit our 2018 conversation with historian Annette Gordon-Reed about the contradictions in Jefferson's life — and how those contradictions might resonate in our own lives.

Listen on Apple

Listen on Spotify

ON THE MY UNSUNG HERO PODCAST

June 28: In 1991, Pierce Forde was in a serious motorcycle accident. His body began to go into shock when the voice of a stranger offered some words of comfort.

Listen on Apple

Listen on Spotify

Don’t forget to send us the story of your unsung hero! Record a voice memo on your phone and email it to myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org.

MIND GAMES

First, I threw away the outside and cooked the inside. Then I ate the outside and threw away the inside. What did I eat?

LAST WEEK’S PUZZLE

What five-letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

The answer: Shorter.

FROM THE TWITTERATI…

Twitter avatar for @_Chaeldn
Thee Grand Pree 🏁 @_Chaeldn
Another fantastic series from @HiddenBrain The money series is a good listen ✨✨✨
10:55 AM ∙ Jun 23, 2022
Twitter avatar for @Vasuideates
Vasu Ramanujam @Vasuideates
⁦@HiddenBrain⁩ ⁦@ShankarVedantam⁩ , enjoyed listening to todays inspiring episode. This is one of those instances where I don’t wish Paul to have a “dream come true” moment. Rooting for him and his family to stay blessed.
podcasts.apple.com‎Hidden Brain: The Premonition on Apple Podcasts‎Show Hidden Brain, Ep The Premonition - Jun 20, 2022
1:54 AM ∙ Jun 22, 2022
Twitter avatar for @samuelwilkes
Sam Wilkes @samuelwilkes
I related to so much in this episode. I grew up thinking I was dumb because I was not doing well in school and it wasn’t really until I was 30 that I believed I was smart in any way
Twitter avatar for @HiddenBrain
Hidden Brain @HiddenBrain
Measures like IQ tests tend to categorize our abilities. But as @sbkaufman explains, these tests only tell us so much. Listen and follow: https://t.co/GEhLt9XYXq
4:36 PM ∙ Jun 17, 2022

A MOMENT OF JOY

Legends…

Have an idea for Hidden Brain? A story you want to share with us? Send an email to ideas@hiddenbrain.org. And if you’d like to support our work, you can do so here. Listen to us on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform.

Share this post

A brief history of grillin’ stuff

news.hiddenbrain.org
TopNew

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Shankar Vedantam
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing