If Life Existed on Mars, How Would We Know?

Learn about how atheists and believers have different moral compasses; how scientists will know if life ever existed on Mars; and how to persuade people to do what you want using the foot-in-the-door technique.

Atheists and believers both have moral compasses -- they're just different by Kelsey Donk

• Ståhl, T. (2021). The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0246593. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246593
• The Local. (2015, April 13). Sweden “least religious” nation in Western world. The Local Sweden; The Local. https://www.thelocal.se/20150413/swedes-least-religious-in-western-world/

How will scientists know if life ever existed on Mars? by Cameron Duke

• Fossil Record of the Cyanobacteria. (2021). Berkeley.edu. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html
• NASA’s Mars 2020 Will Hunt for Microscopic Fossils. (2019, November 12). NASA. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-mars-2020-will-hunt-for-microscopic-fossils
• Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). (2020). Nasa.gov. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/pixl/
• Stromatolites and other early life. (2020). Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Stromatolites-and-other-evidence-1666.aspx

The Foot-in-the-Door Technique Can Persuade People to Do What You Want by Annie Hartman

• Freedman, J. L., & Fraser, S. C. (1966). Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4(2), 195–202. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023552
• Patel, N. (2014, October 13). Foot-In-The-Door Technique: How To Get People To Seamlessly Take Action. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2014/10/13/foot-in-the-door-technique-how-to-get-people-to-take-seamlessly-take-action/?sh=704615917d9e
• Zuckerman, M., Iazzaro, M. M., & Waldgeir, D. (1979). Undermining Effects of the Foot-in-the-Door Technique with Extrinsic Rewards. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 9(3), 292–296. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1979.tb02712.x

Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://www.amazon.com/Curiosity-com-Curiosity-Daily-from/dp/B07CP17DJY

Find episode transcript: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/if-life-existed-on-mars-how-would-we-know

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.