And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Psst, hey, smarty pants, question.
What takes four balls, two feet, and a gate?
If you said a walk, you're right.
In this case, we're talking about a walk in baseball.
If the pitcher throws four pitches outside the strike zone.
Oh, just a little outside.
That's what's known as a ball.
Four balls, and the batter gets to walk to first base.
And that's ball four.
Take your base.
Which, of course, requires two feet.
And a gate.
No, not a G-A-T-E like the gate to your backyard, but a G-A-I-T gate, which describes the way a person walks.
Now, you're probably wondering, what's with all this talking about walking?
Well, for one thing, I am coming to you from Laitoli Tanzania, at the Laitoli Footprint Trail where, 36 million years ago, the footprints of our prehistoric ancestors were preserved in wet volcanic ash.
Kind of like the footprints of famous actors and actresses outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California.
I recall my feet were half as big as Dwayne the Rock Johnson's, but I wonder if they'll be bigger than my prehistoric ancestors.
All I have to do to find out is take a walk in their footsteps.
Hold it right there.
Do not take another step.
Who are you?
Officer Copper.
I'm an APD officer.
An APD officer?
In the Anthropology Police Department and you are in danger of disturbing an invaluable prehistoric site.
This isn't the Chinese theater in Hollywood.
You can't just walk around in these prehistoric footprints.
Sorry, I just thought... These footprints are proof our hominid ancestors were bipedal walkers.
Oh, dear.
And also, huh?
They're proof that links in the human evolutionary chain have been walking on two feet for millions of years.
Millions of years?
Wow.
I guess I really stepped in it, huh, Smarty Pants?
Almost stepped in it.
It's a good thing I was here.
Absolutely.
In fact I'm really glad you're here, because you must know a lot about walking if you patrol the Lytoli footprints.
When it comes to walking, I talk and walk the walk.
Great.
Hey, Smarty Pants, have you ever wondered why it takes so long for humans to learn how to walk compared to say, other animals?
Or why humans walk upright to begin with?
Or how walking affects your body and brain?
Great questions.
I'd be happy to answer them.
In that case, it's time to lace them up for another whiff of science and history on Who's Smarted.
Who's Smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who's Smart?
I'll see you next time.
I love that these projects build skills over time.
One month it's learning to design a working bow and arrow, and the next it's building a robot.
And what makes KiwiCo special is that these aren't one-and-done projects.
They're built to last, so kids can play, experiment and keep discovering long after the box is open.
KiwiCo makes it easy to give your child the gift of curiosity and confidence, delivered right to your door.
Tinker, create, innovate.
Get up to 50% off your first crate at KiwiCo.com with promo code SMARTED.
That's K-I-W-I-C-O.com, promo code SMARTED.
Smarty pants, walk with me.
So why do you think it takes so long for humans to learn to walk compared to other animals?
Is it because A the size and complexity of human brains cause babies to learn too much at once, so walking takes a while.
B, other animals are secretly smarter and laugh at our foibles behind our backs.
Or C, all mammals take their first steps around the same point in brain development.
If you said B that animals are secretly smarter and laughing at us, you are wrong.
Hate to think my pets were laughing at me.
But if you said A, humans take longer to walk because our brains are so large and complex.
Buzz.
Wait, that's incorrect too?
I thought that was the right answer.
Precisely.
That was the right answer, or rather the prevailing theory, until a landmark study showed that all mammals take their first steps around the same point in brain development.
Okay okay, but how does that explain why a baby elephant walks at just one day old and a human baby takes close to a year to walk?
Do elephant brains really develop that much faster?
Yes.
And no.
Okay.
The missing variable is mass, specifically brain mass.
Since humans have a larger brain than elephants, it takes longer for your brain to mature and for you to learn to walk.
Whoa.
Wait, I thought you said the size and complexity of human brains weren't a factor in learning to walk.
I didn't say they weren't a factor.
What I said was that's not the reason animals learn to walk before humans.
What we need is a conception of time from conception.
Huh?
During the landmark study on walking, researchers measured brain development from the time of conception or the creation of life.
Compared to other mammals, humans grow an unusual small portion of their brain in the womb, which helps explain why babies take so long to reach their walking milestone.
True or false, Smarty Pants?
The human brain is similar to other mammals, except for the fact that our brains are given more time to develop.
If you said true, you're correct.
Hold on.
Really?
That's what the findings suggest.
So, in theory, if a pig's brain were given more time to develop, a pig could be as smart as a human?
That's an extreme hypothetical, but sure, why not?
Humans evolved to have a large brain.
That takes a long time to mature, but the development track is strikingly similar to other mammals.
Who's to say after a couple million more years of evolution, pigs could be as smart as humans?
Wow, that really makes you think.
They certainly could be walking on two feet by then.
Why do you say that?
Because early humans were walking on two feet long before our larger brains evolved.
Smarty Pants, how long do you think humans have been walking on two feet?
I'll give you a clue.
We kind of hinted at the answer in the intro to the episode.
Is it 60,000 years?
600,000 years?
Or 6 million years?
The answer is six million years.
Whoa.
Whoa is right.
Humans have been walking for a long time.
Give or take a million years.
Uh, did you just say give or take a million years?
The further back we look, the harder it is to be exact.
But what we do know is that our early human ancestors, Australopithecus afarensis, the same species that made the Laetoli footprints, were bipedal walkers with long thighs, sturdy knees and arched feet similar to human legs and feet today.
Bipedal meaning two feet.
Exactly.
So, to make a six million year long story short, natural selection made humans good walkers, which made it easier to move through diverse environments.
With our hands free, we could gather food, carry tools.
Like smartphones.
And babies, before they learned to walk.
Nice.
True or false, smarty pants?
After nearly 6 million years of practice walking, it only took 80000 years for our species to populate the entire globe.
If you said true, that's correct.
Yes.
Around 100,000 years ago, our species began migrating out of Africa.
Shortly thereafter, we were found in Europe and Asia.
And around 16,000 years ago, we're found in the Americas.
Researchers believe the rapid spread began with... Say it with us, smarty pants.
Walking.
Ball four, take your base.
No, not that kind of walking.
That kind of walking.
In short, early humans adapted to move.
Hmm, that makes me wonder, how have our bodies adapted to six million years of walking?
What about our brains?
And what surprising things happen to us when we go for a simple walk?
The answers to those questions and more right after this quick break and a word from our sponsor.
October 10th is World Mental Health Day, and this year we're saying thank you to therapists.
Behind every person who takes a step forward on their mental health journey is a therapist who showed up, asked the right question or created a moment that changed everything.
BetterHelp therapists have supported more than 5 million people worldwide.
That's millions of stories and millions of small wins that add up to big change.
Personally, I'll never forget the first time in therapy when my therapist really helped me see a challenge from a new angle.
It was like a light bulb went on.
That's why I'm so grateful for the therapists who help people every day.
BetterHelp makes it easier to begin your own journey by matching you with a licensed therapist online.
With 12 plus years of experience and thousands of therapists, chances are they'll find the right match for you.
This World Mental Health Day celebrates the therapists making a difference.
Our listeners get 10% off the first month at BetterHelp.com slash WhoSmarted.
That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash WhoSmarted.
And now I feel silly for putting off building that website.
Squarespace's Blueprint AI thing literally built me a custom website in minutes.
I just told it a few details about the project and boom, it generated everything.
And everything you need is right there.
I can schedule guest interviews, send email campaigns, even sell merch all from one dashboard.
Now it's your turn to stop procrastinating and start building.
You can use Squarespace to launch that business site or any site that you've been dreaming about but putting off today.
There's no excuse anymore, especially since you can head to squarespacecom slash smarted for a free trial.
And when you're ready to launch, you can use code smarted to save 10 on your first purchase of a website or domain.
That's squarespace.com slash smarted, code smarted.
Autumn is in full swing and, if your homeschool is anything like the ones I know, fall is a time to get back into routines, while still juggling field trips, co-ops and even prepping for the holidays.
That's where IXL comes in.
It keeps your lessons structured and steady, while giving you the flexibility that homeschool families need.
What I love most about IXL is how personalized it is.
IXL adapts so kids can move forward when they're ready or revisit a topic until it really clicks.
IXL is an award-winning online learning platform with interactive practice across math, language arts, science and social studies for every grade, from pre-K through 12.
It gives kids the right challenge at the right time, keeps them motivated and gives parents real-time feedback and progress tracking.
Over 15 million students already use IXL and more than 75 research studies prove that it really works.
There's real peace of mind for homeschool parents.
Make an impact on your child's learning and get IXL now.
Who Smarted listeners get an exclusive 20 off IXL membership when you sign up today at ixlcom slash smarted.
That's 20% off at ixl.com slash smarted.
Now back to Who Smarted.
Ah, there's nothing like taking a nice walk outside to get some fresh air, clear your head and stretch your legs.
But here's the thing, smarty pants.
What do you think actually happens to your body and brain when you go for regular walks?
Does your heart pump faster and circulate blood and oxygen to your muscles and organs?
Does walking help make new connections between your brain cells?
Does the volume of your hippocampus, a brain region connected to memory, increase?
Or all of the above?
You probably hear where I'm going with this.
But yes, if you said all of the above, you're right.
It sounds like walking is some kind of wonder drug for your body and brain.
Agreed.
But that's not even close to all the benefits walking provides.
You mean there's more?
Oh, yeah.
A walking regimen slows the withering or shrinking of brain tissue caused by aging and increases molecules that stimulate the growth of new neurons.
Ooh.
That's cool.
But wait, there's more.
Scientists have determined that the nature of your thoughts are tied to the movement of your body.
Consider exercise music.
Psychologists have shown that songs with higher tempos motivate you to run faster.
And the faster you run, the higher tempo song you prefer.
Smartypants, they call that a feedback loop.
In a similar way, walking at your natural pace creates a feedback loop between the rhythm of your body and your mind.
In other words, walking helps connect you to yourself.
That's pretty heady stuff.
Literally.
Indeed.
A 20-year study tracking subjects' activity levels and personality traits showed the mental benefits of this feedback connection.
The researchers found those who moved their bodies more often tended to be more open, extroverted and agreeable.
Data also supports that walking on a regular basis lowers rates of depression.
That's incredible.
True or false, smarty pants?
Movement such as walking helps improve memory.
If you said true, you're right.
It might sound unbelievable, but the brain systems that support learning and memory also support mental mapping, which is kind of like your internal Google Maps.
That's pretty cool.
But how does it work?
It works thanks to something called theta waves.
Theta waves are a pulse or frequency observed in the brain during movement that aids learning and memory.
Theta is associated with spatial learning, and studies have shown that walking is the best way for humans to learn about the environments they move through.
That's like if you go on vacation to a place you've never been before.
All it takes is walking around a few times to learn where to go.
More or less, which isn't to say that you wouldn't get a similar result by riding a bike or driving slowly in a car.
But the theta waves in your brain help you draw a mental map much easier when you're walking.
I definitely feel more connected to my environment when I'm walking than, say, riding in a car.
Exactly.
Remember the hippocampus?
That region of the brain connected to memory that increases in volume when you walk regularly?
Uh-huh.
Well, that's the region of your brain responsible for mental mapping.
In other words, that's the part of your brain that helps you figure out, hey man, where am I?
Exactly.
Inside your hippocampus, place cells mark your position.
If you stay still, that position's place cell continues to fire.
However, if you move positions, the old place cells quit firing and another cell fires, marking your new position.
Like it's tracking you?
Correct.
In experiments with rodents...
This system was less efficient when they were wheeled around compared to walking around, which once again shows how much your brain prefers walking.
Wow, I've never thought about that.
Well, that's just it.
You don't have to think about it.
This system is going on in the background of your brain.
The background.
In the foreground, other brain systems are making sure you don't trip or collide with a passerby or step in a puddle or walk into traffic.
Smarty pants.
What do scientists call this dual background and foreground activity in the brain during walking?
Is it flickering, flip-flopping, or walking and chewing gum?
If you said flickering, you're right.
According to studies, your brain flickers between regions while walking, similar to how your thoughts flicker from one subject to another, or memories of the past, things in the present and stuff coming up in the future.
Flickering is both connected to creativity and bolstered by walking, which is why most creative geniuses love to take walks.
Aristotle Einstein Beethoven, Maya Angelou, Charles Dickens and Ben Franklin were all avid walkers.
Did you know?
A famous Irish mathematician, William Rowan Hamilton, pondered a single math problem on daily walks for seven years.
He eventually invented a number system called quaternions, which proved essential to the production of mobile phones.
I did not know that.
Oh, and smarty pants, did you know the plural of hippocampus is hippocampi?
That I knew.
But also, are we just going to stand around?
Let's do some walking.
Yes, I love walking and talking.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Not that way down the Liatoli Trail.
We can make our own footprints in the mud headed in the other direction.
Ah, yes.
Good idea.
A special shout out to Smarty fan Nate in Morristown Tennessee, whose family listens to, Who Smarted every night before bed.
We hear Nate's favorite thing about Who Smarted is that everything, including statues and penguins talks.
Yep, that might be my favorite part of being a trusty narrator.
Thanks for smarting with us.
This episode, Walking, was written by Dan Gold and voiced by Natasha Vaynblatt and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
Check out the survey at StarGlowSurvey.com.
That's StarGlowSurvey.com.
