Why Can’t You Hold Your Breath to Death?

Learn about why you can’t suffocate by holding your breath; how being angry makes you more likely to believe misinformation; and that time scholars tried to kick Latin out of English, thanks to words like honorificabilitudinitatibus.

Why can't you suffocate by holding your breath? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from Daniel in Beirut)

• Parkes, M. J. (2005). Breath-holding and its breakpoint. Experimental Physiology, 91(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1113/expphysiol.2005.031625
• Parkes, M. J. (2012). The Limits of Breath Holding. Scientific American, 306(4), 74–79. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0412-74

Being angry makes you more likely to believe misinformation by Kelsey Donk

• Dolan, E. W. (2021, January 8). A new study has found being angry increases your vulnerability to misinformation. PsyPost; PsyPost. https://www.psypost.org/2021/01/a-new-study-has-found-being-angry-increases-your-vulnerability-to-misinformation-59061
• Han, J., Cha, M., & Lee, W. (2020). Anger contributes to the spread of COVID-19 misinformation. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-39
• Greenstein, M., & Franklin, N. (2020). Anger increases susceptibility to misinformation. Experimental Psychology, 67(3), 202–209. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000489

16th-Century Scholars Once Tried to Kick Latin Out of English by Arika Okrent

• Specktor, B. (2017, October 2). Shakespeare’s Longest Word Is a Whopping 27-Letters Long. Reader’s Digest; Reader’s Digest. https://www.rd.com/article/shakespeares-longest-word/
• BERLIN, R. L. G. (2014, January 28). Johnson: What might have been. The Economist; The Economist. https://www.economist.com/prospero/2014/01/28/johnson-what-might-have-been

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