An In-Depth Podcast Review: Desperately Seeking Symmetry
Podcast analysis (essay)
In this podcast review essay, I will explore the intriguing concept of symmetries and mirroring in our lives as discussed in the episode "Desperately Seeking Symmetry." The podcast delves into different types of symmetries and how they affect us, including an experiment conducted by Lauren at Princeton where she scanned people's brains while they listened to a story, revealing how the brain can sync with the person speaking. This research sheds light on the relationship between our brains and external stimuli, highlighting the importance of symmetries and mirroring in our lives.
The first example of symmetry which was brought up in the podcast was the experiment conducted by Lauren at Princeton as she researched where a brain has its aha moment. She tells people a story and uses an fMRI to scan her brain while she is telling the story and to scan people’s brains while they listen to her. She turns the scans into voxels and compares the FMRIS to her own to determine how much their brain syncs with hers. She plots her data by one axis being the comprehension of the story and the amount of synchronization the person had compared to her brain. She notices an outlier in her data and the person is also called Laura. After trying to make a connection, she notices that they do not share anything in common however, Laura is very good at focusing. The outcome of the project is revealed that you can sync or focus by the brain mirroring the person who is speaking.
Another example of symmetry is chirality which essentially means that everything is always perceived in the same direction. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains with a bowl of milk, explaining that the molecules in the milk will always change. Following the explanation of chirality, they start to explain how it can change with mirrors. They explain with a spring as the direction goes clockwise however, it becomes counter-clockwise when shown in a mirror. The spring changes and it is not a spring. They explain with a famous drug which was marketed for pregnant women called thalidomide, which was harmless in its original form. However it can mirrored synthetically which can completely change the composition of the drug, making it toxic. This is how the podcast explains how mirroring can completely alter the beginning material.
The podcast further explains this with humans as we can never see ourselves in our true form when we use mirrors. A person recollects how he was treated differently and the poor treatment changed after he changed his hair part to look like everyone else. They use an example of Abraham Lincoln as there is a picture of reality and how we perceive him and a side picture of how he perceives himself. The change is drastic as the side of certain features switch, meaning that a beauty mark on the left side of a person’s face is on the right in a mirror. They provide a simple solution by mirroring the already mirrored image. This is another example of how mirrors alter reality and symmetry.
The podcast attempts to explain a final theory by tracing symmetry back to the source of life. They explain how energy can turn into matter if you use enough energy which can compose humans. However, they branch out that when electrons are made, they must balance out with anti-electrons which are named positrons. This makes the whole universe cancel out which negated the entire theory. They finally say that asymmetry is left over of billions of anti-matter which creates matter. Life is a result of asymmetry. If I were to learn more, I would want to branch out of the first failed theory and retest and re experiment with family members and friends. I believe that family members can relate in a way which their brains are synched with their genetics. Also, friends are relatable and are similar to one another. I also think that it could further be tested with people with ADHD disorders.
I believe if you find a certain pattern with the “aha moment” we could change the way we teach and focus to help students achieve better grades. With the theory of chirality, I believe the experiment could be further explained by testing various foods and materials by synthetically mirroring the molecule. After mirroring the molecule I believe there might be a pattern with the changes and a certain type of material it morphs into. I also believe that the theory of sourcing life again could be changed by actually experimenting and making matter out of energy. This is how I would change the failed theories and how I would expand them.
