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Cocaine bees and predicting iPhone vs Android users

October 14, 2025 · 45 min

Show notes

The paradox of cocaine reinforcement is one of the biggest paradoxes in science. Why is cocaine so addictive to humans? Do bees enjoy cocaine as much as us?

Why do some people prefer Apple iPhones while others prefer Android phones? Are there fundamental psychological differences between iPhone and Android users? Can you predict who uses which phone?

In this episode, Lu quizzes Tirth on different -ologies, or scientific fields of study. The two then discuss the behavior of honeybees on short- and long-term cocaine use and the differences in personality traits between iPhone and Android users.

Timestamps:

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 1:15 Ologies quiz
  • 17:37 Cocaine bee study
  • 30:46 iPhone vs Android study
  • 43:34 What did you learn today, outro

Article links:

  • Barron et al., 2009. Effects of cocaine on honey bee dance behavior. Journal of Experimental Biology. https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/212/2/163/18461/Effects-of-cocaine-on-honey-bee-dance-behaviour
  • Shaw et al., 2016. Predicting Smartphone Operating System from Personality and Individual Differences. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2016.0324

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Theme music by Dasein: https://open.spotify.com/artist/77H3GPgYigeKNlZKGx11KZ

Recreational Science is produced by Scientafic (https://www.scientafic.com/recscipod)

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