Rachel Fultman
Appearances
Something You Should Know
Why Accidents Happen & Where to Find Courage When You Need It
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
Why Accidents Happen & Where to Find Courage When You Need It
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly, frickin' weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.
Something You Should Know
The Science of Changing Your Personality & What Really Happens to Your Trash
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
The Science of Changing Your Personality & What Really Happens to Your Trash
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly, frickin' weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.
Something You Should Know
What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You & How to Unlock Your True Voice
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
What Your Doctor Doesn’t Tell You & How to Unlock Your True Voice
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly, frickin' weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.
Something You Should Know
The Backstories of Your Favorite Music & Money Mastery in a Changing World - SYSK Choice
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
The Backstories of Your Favorite Music & Money Mastery in a Changing World - SYSK Choice
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly, frickin' weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week, wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.
Something You Should Know
Why Human Touch is So Important & Space Facts That Will Shock You - SYSK Choice
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
Why Human Touch is So Important & Space Facts That Will Shock You - SYSK Choice
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly, frickin' weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.
Something You Should Know
The Secrets to Being a Successful Adult & Building Your Own Mental Fitness
Thank you. Great to talk to you again. Thank you. Hey there. I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird. From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most
Something You Should Know
The Secrets to Being a Successful Adult & Building Your Own Mental Fitness
illegal cheese the weirdest thing i learned this week is the ultimate source for all things interesting informative and most importantly freaking weird check out the weirdest thing i learned this week wherever you get your podcast come on over whenever you're ready to get weird
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
about oh no i had this liquid mishap what do i do how do i fix it am i supposed to put this in a bowl of rice or you know i ended up taking this to the store they said i got it wet even though i didn't people are adjudicating this quite often from my estimation and so what about the rice thing because i've heard at first i heard it was a good thing to do then i heard oh god don't ever put your phone in rice and so i don't i don't know i i want well let's start with that question and then i'll go on to my story
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
So the rice thing actually isn't a good idea. That's a wives tale. It's not the best way to dry out the phone and in fact can end up doing more harm than good over time. So the best thing to do is power off the phone immediately, take out the battery if we're thinking about phones specifically. let all the components dry as much as possible.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
But a lot of times bringing it into a service repair place as quickly as you can, too, is also a better thing to do. But the rice thing is fascinating to me because I think it's one of those internet wives tales that just spread like wildfire. And now a lot of people do just assume it's the best thing to do.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I think that's usually the case. And a lot of times it's not immediate damage that we see, maybe it does bounce back in the short term. But over time, those parts corrode because you can never fully kind of get that moisture out of the device. Again, it also depends a lot on the type of liquid that we're talking about, you know, if it's in saltwater, if it's in the ocean,
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
if there are chemicals in the water chlorine all those things are going to have a different impact on the device and if it's fresh water and much of the time these liquid resistances are tested only on fresh water so they don't really take into account the other kinds of things that we're likely to encounter are there other situations or or other devices that i'm not thinking of that apply to this discussion
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
There are actually a huge range of devices, I think, that encounter moisture that we might not necessarily think about. We already mentioned wristwatches, but we can also think about smartwatches and particularly fitness devices like Fitbits and garments and trackers that people wear going to the gym and just encountering sweat on your wrist or your arm.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I found so many instances of people talking about exercise and how sweat might interfere with the heart rate sensor or the device would glitch or not work properly. We see a similar kind of wetness around sweat with people who wear VR headsets, which is just a very, very hot device to be wearing on your face.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
And then there are lots of other examples, just even things like Bluetooth speakers that people take into the shower. AirPods and headphones that people wear, you know, when they're running down the street or taking them to the pool or the beach. So what I found in my research was actually wetness is kind of everywhere.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
It seems like these are maybe very specific use cases, but people are talking about them all the time.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
That's a great question. I think my sense is that for most of the history of media technology devices, this wasn't a primary concern unless you were designing for people who were deep sea divers or maybe photographers who were going underwater, things like that, very specific use cases.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
But more recently, I think particularly around smartphones, it's kind of become an issue that a lot of manufacturers can't ignore now because one, I think over time people have gotten a little bit fed up with their devices breaking so much and not being able to use them in certain situations. And two, we just have so many more expectations that our technologies go wherever we go.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
And so I think in the last few years, you're beginning to see a lot more of these companies kind of lean into that advertising and that design around these water resistant features.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Even 10 years ago, it was considered only a kind of niche feature that a few companies would offer, and they would primarily be targeted at people like industrial workers, people in construction, outdoorsy, people who fish or who ski or snowmobiles or swimming, things like that. But now it's being recognized that this is a feature that consumers, I think, just widely desire.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Absolutely. And I think that's why we need as much as possible designs that support the way our bodies are. We all fumble. We all get busy. We all make mistakes. Our hands don't always work the way they're supposed to. People have tremors. People have Parkinson's, arthritis. There are so many different reasons as to why we might knock over a cup of coffee or drop something accidentally.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
And so I think that design needs to kind of adapt to meet the messiness of our bodies and the messiness of our environments, because it shouldn't be so costly just to be a human being that dumps over a cup of coffee.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
A lot of it has to do with what parts of the device the liquid gets into and how far it gets in there. So you're dealing with sensitive electronic equipment, you're dealing with chips and lots of connections. And as I mentioned before, that issue of corrosion is a big one. So in the short term, you might not see any issue at all, but metal corrodes very easily from liquid
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
And as it corrodes over time, you're going to be able to see, you know, maybe your phone is just running slower. Maybe it isn't charging as effectively. Basically, those insides are withering over time. And that's one of the real challenging parts about liquids is that it's not necessarily just that immediate incident.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
It can be, hey, even three, six, nine months from now, I'm going to see that something's just not working quite right because that corrosion is taking place over time.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Well, that's a good question. I think historically, it hasn't been a big priority for a lot of companies. And I think that phones that break make more money than phones that work. So is this a major conspiracy where they're all sitting around in a room saying, yeah, let's make phones that break? Not necessarily.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
But I do think that some of that fragility and breakability has been built into the business model for a long time. But on the other hand, there have been technical limits to what extent we can protect these devices. And I think those are improving over time. One of the newer technologies is nanocoding, where you can basically put an invisible film on the phone.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
It's dunked into this special solution that you can't even see. And that's proven to be very effective at waterproofing phones and other devices. But it still has some limitations. It can kind of degrade over time. We do have oleophobic coatings on our devices. That's what keeps our screens from developing fingerprints and things like that. And that technology has gotten better over time as well.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I think it's a combination of how we understand the business models behind our devices and also prioritizing technical developments in this area and saying, yes, this is a priority for our consumers. And yes, we want to develop this technology to the best of our ability.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Yeah, we actually call this torture testing, which I think is really fascinating. And in my work, I look at how there's all this language around punishing the device and using words like torture and abuse. And as you said, putting it through its paces.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
It's very interesting to think about the language that we use around testing the devices because it's almost treating it like a soldier that's going through battle and like, all right, let's see if it can survive. But I think that Those are good tests to do, right? It's certainly important to think about what can the device withstand and what it can't.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
But that language, I think, is problematic because it still kind of implies that there's a taboo around getting your device wet or mucky or dirty, and that only if it's kind of
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
put through this you know these torture chambers and abuse systems will it hold up will it have the metal to survive so i do have a problem with that kind of language because i think if we want to normalize these different uses and think about life being messy then we need to stop kind of thinking that we're torturing our phones necessarily
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I think that's definitely true. And, you know, there's a counter argument to be made, which is pretty interesting, that basically says, hey, fragility is sometimes a good thing because it encourages us to not bring our phone in the bathroom.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Some people say, hey, don't make it waterproof because then I can't take it in the shower and then I have to have my nice, quiet, peaceful shower without worrying about my phone ringing or having to respond to a text message.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
And in fact, I've seen in a number of movies and things lately, television shows, there are often plots where the device breaks because someone drops it, you know, in whatever liquid situation. And the person's really relieved, like, now I get a break from this thing.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
So there is that flip side to the story, I think, is that sometimes fragility ends up being a way to not be connected to our devices all the time.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I appreciate that. It's great to talk with you. And thanks again for the opportunity.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I mean, it's pretty much a constant refrain where people are talking about, oh no, I had this liquid mishap. What do I do? How do I fix it? Am I supposed to put this in a bowl of rice? Or, you know, I ended up taking this to the store. They said I got it wet, even though I didn't.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I think that's a really interesting point, and probably a lot of people feel that way. My intuition is that we've been, though, very socialized to feel that way, that it's our problem, it's our fault. If it breaks, it's not up to the manufacturer, and we as consumers are the ones who take the blame.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
But I do think that that's problematic given how important these devices are to our everyday lives, and as you pointed out, how expensive they are to repair.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Absolutely. Everyone's got that horror story. And I think what always comes along with that horror story is the feelings of panic and freaking out about, oh, my goodness, what am I going to do? And the fact that these things do happen so often points out that we're negotiating this kind of wetness and messiness in our everyday lives all the time. And these devices are our companions now.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
They really do accompany us to the bathroom and the pool and the laundry room. And so I think it's naive to imagine this kind of total separation between our technologies and these kind of wet experiences of everyday life.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I do think we're seeing some improvements in this regard. Partly it depends on whether you're looking at aftermarket solutions like various cases or coatings that you can get put on after the fact versus you're buying a product that's water resistant or waterproof. You're right that cost is often a big factor in these situations.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
And a lot of times you have to make the product like a smartphone bulkier or a little bit more difficult to use in order to also waterproof it. So part of it is a logistical issue. The other challenge I think is, When it comes to really clarifying to people what's the difference between something being water resistant and waterproof, I think consumers have a lot of confusion about this.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Coatings can wear off and degrade over time. And so it's kind of a murky area, I think, between making some design improvements, but also helping to better educate consumers about what their devices can tolerate and what they really can't.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Actually, what's interesting is that in the watch industry, the term waterproof was actually banned in advertising because it was misleading and companies would use it all the time. Oh, sure, it's waterproof. And so the Federal Trade Commission actually did pass some legislation saying companies weren't allowed to use the term waterproof anymore.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
That's not true across all industries, but I think it is somewhat of a taboo word now in many situations because companies don't want to overpromise in terms of what the device can withstand. And even when it comes to thinking about water resistance, it's a really complicated topic. It has a lot to do with how the device is tested. So it might have to be, is it splashed in water?
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Is it submerged in something? How long is it submerged? Can it tolerate being in soapy water versus a clean sink? So there are actually quite a bit of nuances when it comes to really what counts as resistance or different kinds of wetness.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Absolutely not. I think you're right. And we don't want to have unrealistic expectations about our technologies. In the end, everything that we use is fragile. Over time, things corrode, they break, they crack. But on the other hand, I think that the business models of a lot of companies around our devices are not built for durability. They're built for upgrade culture and replacement.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
Oh, you're going to use this phone for six months, a year, 18 months at the most, and then You'll have to replace it. And so I think that there's a lot of profitability and fragility and things can be built in a way to last longer and work better. But that's not always the primary criteria or the best way to think about durability. That's not what comes to mind first for companies.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
It does seem like there's been a lot of improvement in that regard. I think making devices increasingly drop proof and stronger glass is something that they've really worked on over the years. That seems like a significant area of improvement. But if you look at liquids, on the other hand, a lot of them, you know, you have to purchase this extra accidental damage from handling.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
It's called ADH policy where you have to get that extra warranty or insurance.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
if you want to prevent against that kind of damage and they'll often allow one or two incidents they're very very restrictive in terms of whether they'll let you replace the device or get it fixed and they also have these liquid contact indicators inside the device that can be tripped even sometimes just due to humidity or moisture in the air like maybe you took your phone into the bathroom and it happened to be near the shower
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
So I think as opposed to thinking about cracks and drops and things like that, liquids are still kind of far behind when we think of the penalties that kind of get assigned to us just for existing in everyday life.
Something You Should Know
Water vs. Tech: How Moisture Ruins Your Devices & Why We Need Stress
I've seen different ones over time. It's hard to know exactly which numbers are right. But from my research, at least, it looks like this is quite a frequent occurrence. If you go online even and just look at different forums from phone manufacturers, I mean, it's pretty much a constant refrain where people are talking
Something You Should Know
The Amazing Things Your Heart Does & The Power You Have to Change Lives
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
The Amazing Things Your Heart Does & The Power You Have to Change Lives
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and most importantly, freaking weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.
Something You Should Know
Seen, Heard, Valued: The Magic of Validation & Pronouns Are Weird! Here’s Why
Hey there, I'm Rachel Fultman, and I host a podcast from Popular Science called The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gondelman, Mary Roach, and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly weird.
Something You Should Know
Seen, Heard, Valued: The Magic of Validation & Pronouns Are Weird! Here’s Why
From flying Ford Pintos to the world's most illegal cheese, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly, frickin' weird. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week wherever you get your podcasts. Come on over whenever you're ready to get weird.