Four types of thinker, the cyclosporiasis outbreak, and the UK’s biggest telescope threatened

Summary

Science Weekly – Podcast Summary

Episode Title: Four types of thinker, the cyclosporiasis outbreak, and the UK’s biggest telescope threatened
Date: August 6, 2026
Host: Madeline Findlay (with contributions from Ian Sample and guest Joshua Tassoff)

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Overview

This episode explores three compelling science stories:

1. A new study clustering people into four types of thinkers, examining what occupies our minds daily and how this relates to happiness;
2. The largest-ever U.S. outbreak of cyclospora, its impact on public health, and why lettuce so often seems to be to blame;
3. News that the iconic Jodrell Bank Observatory (UK’s "clearest eyes on the sky") is under threat due to funding cuts, and what this means for UK science.

The tone is engaging, thoughtful, and slightly humorous—balancing the seriousness of the stories with everyday curiosity.

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1. What Are We Thinking? The Four Types of Thinker

[Start: 01:16]

Why Study Our Thoughts?

• Ian Sample introduces a recent study from Claremont Graduate University, led by Joshua Tassoff, exploring what people think about during daily life and how these thoughts might be patterned across individuals.
  • Joshua Tassoff (03:18): "Much of what we actually consume and produce are our own thoughts. Thoughts make the plans that make productive economic behavior possible."
• The study aims to shift perspective in economics and psychology: beyond just observable actions, our internal thought patterns play a profound role in shaping behavior and well-being.

Methodology

• Participants: 258 Americans
• Process: Downloaded an app which beeped 8 times daily over several weeks; participants recorded:
  • What they were thinking
  • What they were doing
  • How happy they felt
• Results: Over 23,000 real-time responses

Key Findings

[04:45]

• Top thought categories:
  • Sensations: ~20%
  • Work: ~17%
  • Food and drink: ~14%
  • Hobbies/leisure: ~10%
• Other insights:
  • "Loves and hates" often centered on relationships (loved ones, pets) or work (sometimes disliked).
  • "Needed" thoughts (sleep and coffee) were universally relatable.
  • Worries were more often about mothers/daughters than fathers/sons.
• On happiness:
  • Joshua Tassoff (06:11): "What people are thinking about is a strong predictor of their current happiness, and that's controlling for what they're doing or who they are…what people are thinking about explains more of their happiness than what they're doing or who they are."

Trade-offs in Thinking

• Comparable to labor/leisure in economics:
  • Tassoff (06:57): "There's a similar trade-off that's happening in your head...If you're thinking about productive things, you're doing work in your head that's cutting into your happy thoughts."

The Four Types of Thinker

[07:24]

• Study suggested people cluster into four loose groups (acknowledged as preliminary):
  1. Worriers:
     • Concerned about world events, public safety, public health.
     • Listen to more music (possibly as self-medication for stress).
  2. Domestic Thinkers:
     • Focused on chores, household issues, family, and finances.
  3. Bodily Thinkers:
     • Highly attuned to bodily sensations, health, and symptoms, sometimes due to feeling unwell.
  4. Work Hard, Play Hards:
     • Think about work and leisure more than others and are the happiest group.
     • Madeline Findlay (09:11): "One of the things I really liked about that group was…the words associated with it. There was 'presentation,' but there was also 'nail.' So it was like, these people are like, 'I'm gonna nail that presentation.'"

Methodological Limitations

[10:29]

• Acknowledged biases and constraints:
  • Context/environment (pandemics, personal crises) heavily influence thoughts.
  • Intimacy/privacy concerns might limit honesty.
  • "Partial thoughts" often hard to articulate in writing.
  • Notably low reporting of sexual thoughts—possibly due to reluctance to share.
  • About 25% of beeps went unanswered.
  • Further, longer, and larger-scale studies are needed for confidence and nuance.

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2. Cyclospora Outbreak in the U.S.: Why Lettuce?

[11:43]

Summary of the Outbreak

• Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite causing gastrointestinal illness, primarily via contaminated fresh produce (lettuce, herbs, fruits) or water.
• Symptoms: One week after exposure—diarrhea (often explosive), bloating, nausea, mild fever, loss of appetite.
• 2026 Outbreak: Largest on record, with over 11,500 cases estimated across the U.S., with two confirmed fatalities (with underlying health problems).
• Origins: One outbreak traced to shredded iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell, sourced from Taylor Farms in Mexico (a major supplier for many chains). Others still untraced.

Why Is It So Hard to Trace and Respond?

[13:57]

• Multiple delays in detection/reporting:
  • Long incubation period (one week).
  • Reliance on specific testing by physicians.
  • Cumbersome reporting pathway: individual → doctor → state -> CDC.
• Under-reporting is highly likely.
• Public Health Infrastructure: Recent cuts under the Trump administration have left state/local health authorities and the specialized parasitic team at CDC severely understaffed (parasite team reduced from 11 to 3).
  • Madeline Findlay (13:57): "There's probably a good reason why people are saying the response has been slow and the communication to the public hasn't been very clear."

Why Is Lettuce Frequently Implicated?

[15:39]

• Agricultural Factors:
  • Lettuce is irrigated and washed, sometimes with untreated water.
  • Structural—lettuce's folds and crevices can harbour pathogens.
  • Rarely cooked, widely consumed raw.
  • It’s ubiquitous in many foods (salads, sandwiches, tacos, etc.)
• Advice: While not an issue in the UK, it's currently safest to avoid lettuce in the US/Mexico. Other produce: peel or cook where possible.

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3. Jodrell Bank Observatory Funding Crisis

[17:20]

What Is Jodrell Bank and Why Is It Important?

• Jodrell Bank Observatory: UNESCO World Heritage site featuring the iconic Lovell Telescope (76-meter-wide radio dish).
• Built in 1957; was the only instrument able to track Sputnik post-launch.
• Central to UK radio astronomy and key to research on dark energy/matter, galaxy and planet evolution.

Funding Threat and Its Implications

• Funding Agency: Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC, funded by UKRI).
• Crisis Reasons:
  • Rising electricity/staff costs.
  • Past overspending.
  • Government prioritizing new growth areas (e.g., quantum, AI) at the expense of basic science.
• Immediate Threat: Pulling funding from the "E Merlin" network, of which Lovell is a core part, would be existential for Jodrell Bank.
  • Ian Sample (17:49): "If you pull the money for E Merlin, you pull the rug out from underneath Jodrell Bank."

Wider Impact and Future Options

[19:59]

• Scale of the need: £2.8 million required—a small fraction of the £10bn UKRI budget, but apparently unavailable due to competing pressures.

• Shift in priorities: Fundamental science may lose out to growth-tech R&D. But basic research historically drives longer-term progress and expertise.

  • Ian Sample (20:26): "You have to think about this fundamental science...It's often the fundamental science that leads to the big step changes that drive what we can call progress."

• Possible solutions:

  • University of Manchester support (but all UK universities are squeezed).
  • Charging global telescope users—a break with current precedent.
  • Partnering with space agencies for tracking services (e.g., space debris).

• Madeline Findlay (22:51): jokingly proposes: "Time to start taxing people for making mess in space and using that money to fund these sorts of trackers."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Madeline Findlay (09:35): "I feel partly attacked, partly seen by the worriers group. I think that's where I fit in."
• On food safety:
  • Madeline Findlay (15:39): "If you're traveling in those places, beware the lettuce."
• On telescope funding:
  • Ian Sample (17:49): "If you pull the money for E Merlin, you pull the rug out from underneath Jodrell Bank."
• On scientific priorities:
  • Ian Sample (20:26): "It's often fundamental science that leads to the big step changes that drive what we can call progress."
• On potential space litter tax:
  • Madeline Findlay (22:51): "Time to start taxing people for making mess in space and using that money to fund these sorts of trackers."

---

Key Timestamps

• 01:16 – Introduction: What do you spend your days thinking about?
• 02:52 – Motivation for thought-pattern study (Tassoff segment)
• 04:02 – Study methodology explained
• 04:45 – What people think about, primary thought categories
• 06:11 – Thoughts as predictors of happiness
• 07:24 – The four clusters of thinkers detailed
• 10:29 – Limitations of the study
• 11:43 – Cyclospora outbreak, symptoms, and scale
• 13:57 – Obstacles to tracking the outbreak and public health funding cuts
• 15:39 – Why lettuce spreads cyclospora so frequently
• 17:20 – Jodrell Bank Observatory under threat: context and history
• 19:59 – Significance of research priorities and possible solutions
• 22:51 – Funding suggestions and the joking space debris tax

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Takeaways

• Our daily thoughts are diverse, patternable, and deeply tied to our happiness.
• Food safety outbreaks are often multi-layered problems—lettuce is especially high-risk due to its preparation and consumption habits.
• Funding shortages threaten even the most iconic scientific infrastructure, with basic science potentially giving way to more "sellable" technological innovation—raising critical questions about the future of research.

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This summary captures the essence, key insights, and memorable moments of the episode in the host's thorough and conversational tone.

Transcript

[Madeline Findlay]

This is the Guardian.

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[Madeline Findlay]

What do you spend your day thinking about? Work? World events? Health woes? When you're going to get that next cup of coffee? According to a new study, we can all be loosely grouped into four types of thinkers. But which one are you? Whatever one you fall into. Our thoughts are often occupied by food. And if you're in the US right now, you might be wondering to yourself, dare I eat that lettuce?

[Ian Sample]

When is it going to be safe

[Joshua Tassoff]

to eat lettuce again? I don't know.

[Ian Sample]

I haven't thought about it. It's the first time I've been asked that question.

[Madeline Findlay]

The largest ever cyclospora outbreak continues in the country and it's now been linked to two fatalities. So when will infections get under control? And here in the uk, funding has been slashed for a telescope said to be the world's clearest eyes on the sky. Artists, musicians and scientists are speaking out today. We're bringing you three stories you need to know about this week from the Guardian. I'm Madeline Findlay and this is Science Weekly. Ian, you recently wrote about a preprint study from Claremont Graduate University in California that was all about trying to figure out what we think about in our daily lives. Why were they curious about our day to day ponderings?

[Ian Sample]

So this work was led by an associate professor of economic sciences called Joshua Tassoff. He was just really interested in this idea of what is it people are thinking about from moment to moment, from day to day. Why are we thinking about those things and do any kind of patterns emerge over time or across different people. And I spoke to him about this, and here's what he had to say about why he got interested in this.

[Joshua Tassoff]

In economics, sort of in the standard approach, we only look at what people directly consume, Sort of the observable things that people consume and the observable things that people produce. But it seems seems like much of what we actually consume and much of what we actually produce are our own thoughts. Thoughts make the plans that make productive economic behavior possible.

[Madeline Findlay]

Thoughts are notoriously difficult to capture. Right. If you ask me, what are you thinking? I'm suddenly thinking about what I'm thinking about. So how did the researchers go about trying to find out what people are thinking?

[Ian Sample]

A really good point, first of all, just about how hard it is to analyze our own thoughts. But what these researchers did was they recruited a bunch of people. It was 258Americans, and they got them to download an app. And once you had this app, it would beep randomly at eight times throughout the day for a couple of weeks. And when it beeped, you had to write down what were you thinking. You also had to say what you were doing and then also how happy you felt. And in all, they got more than 23,000 real time responses on which to kind of take this first dive into seeing what people are thinking throughout the course of a day.

[Madeline Findlay]

So what did the participants report?

[Ian Sample]

About a fifth of our thoughts or about a fifth of the thoughts in this cohort at least, were around our sensation. So sensory information, how am I feeling? But work was about 17% of the thoughts in this group. And then I think about 14% was food and drink.

[Madeline Findlay]

Well, I was going to say surely thinking about food, then, you know, when

[Ian Sample]

you get to sort of 10%, you're looking, say 10% of thoughts are around sort of hobbies, pastimes, things we like doing in leisure time. But then you can sort of start delving in a little bit deeper. And I thought there was some really fun stuff here. I mean, if you look at sort of loves and hates, obviously a lot of love for boyfriends, girlfriends, family, pets, a lot of hate for work, sometimes co workers. And then if you look at what people said they were thinking about when that thought was about something that they felt they needed. And I love this one, it was sleep and coffee, which I think a lot of us can.

[Madeline Findlay]

Yeah, that sounds funny.

[Ian Sample]

A lot of us can connect with. And another thing I thought was interesting was if you look at the thoughts people had that they associated with things they were worried about people worried about mothers and daughters way more than they did about fathers and sons. But one thing Josh pulled out of this he thought was really interesting was that what people were thinking about was really quite sort of closely linked to their levels of happiness.

[Joshua Tassoff]

What people are thinking about is a strong predictor of their current happiness, and that's controlling for what they're doing or who they are. And in fact, what we find is that what people are thinking about explains more of their happiness than what they're doing or who they are.

[Ian Sample]

But one of the other things that Josh picked out of this was really interesting, was that they think that, you know, just as we have this trade off where we have to work to make money, to have the life we want to have and so on, that we're also doing a similar kind of trade off with our thinking, that we can't constantly be thinking happy thoughts all the time or sort of, you know, just having all these really joyful things. We also have to be thinking about thoughts which are going to perhaps be more productive in the long term.

[Joshua Tassoff]

The standard model in economics is that you're trading off labor with leisure. And what we find is that there's this a very similar trade off that's happening in your head, that there's happy thoughts that you could be thinking about on your own. But if you're thinking about productive things, you're doing work in your head that's cutting into your happy thoughts.

[Madeline Findlay]

And what about larger patterns in the data? Do we think in similar ways to each other?

[Ian Sample]

Well, there was a really interesting part in the study where they looked at kind of how people clustered in the way they were thinking. And you know, this is a small study, but they found that you can sort of group people by almost like vibes and you can separate out sort of four groups. Now, you know, there's no suggestion that these four groups are set in stone, but the four that they picked out were, you know, one group being the sort of the warriors they called them. And, and these were people who were, you know, more concerned with world events, about things that were impacting on sort of public safety, public health. And so, you know, this would obviously be things like wars, thinking about the pandemic or post pandemic. Those people interestingly, also listen to more music than average. And it may be that that was a kind of a self medication to sort of balance out sort of emotional stress. Another group that they identified they called sort of domestic thinkers. And their thoughts were more dominated than others by chores around the house, things they had to do at home, Home, finances. And another group they had, they called the Bodily Thinkers. And these ones, they were very attuned to how they were, were feeling. And these people had more intrusive thoughts. And one thing I think this is quite a good example of how we might move around different groups is that may have just been a group of people and you would find them in any study who were just a bit under the weather. And clearly they're going to be focused on symptoms. And then the final group, they call them the work hard playhards. And these are people who, they did think about work more than most people. They also thought about their sort of leisure time activities more than most people. These people were actually the happiest of all the four groups. So I think there may be something in that, that if you're sort of engaged in your work in a positive way, but you're also thinking about what is going on in your outside life, it's probably not a bad, bad recipe for happiness.

[Madeline Findlay]

Yeah. One of the things that I really liked about that group was the words associated with it. There was presentation, but there was also nail. So it was like, these people are like, I'm gonna nail that presentation.

[Ian Sample]

Well, I love that because I was talking to Josh about that and we were saying nail. So is that sort of, you know, a verb or a noun? And we think, you know, I presume it's a verb, but maybe they just think about nails.

[Madeline Findlay]

I've got to admit, Ian, hearing those groups, I feel partly attacked, partly seen by the worriers group. I think that's where I fit in. If I was going to put you in a group, I would put you in the work hard, play hard. Okay, but look, I have a few questions about this study, because first off, what I'm thinking about is not only dependent on my personal context, but also the kind of wider context around me. Like you said, if there's a pandemic going on, if there's issues going on in my house, you know, the plumbing's gone, the electric's gone. Plus, I think if there was a buzzer going off, there would be times where I wouldn't necessarily want to admit what I was thinking about. You know, it's like sharing your Google searches. There's something very intimate about sharing your thoughts at any one time. What can we really take from this study?

[Ian Sample]

I fully agree. Right. There are a lot of limitations from this, and this is kind of an exploratory study to see if this kind of methodology could be useful as you say if a buzzer goes off and you have to write down your thoughts. An awful lot of my thoughts are partial thoughts that I can't even. They're not even crystallized into thoughts that I can articulate. And obviously there's also things which people don't want to share that they're thinking about. And it's interesting that they got very few responses where people were thinking about sex. And like, maybe people don't think about sex as much as we suspect they do, but it really was very low and possibly linked to that. About a quarter of the beeps were not responded to. So, yeah, I think there are plenty of limitations on that front. I think what I just really like to see is to see this done kind of bigger and for longer and to really dig into it and have more confidence in those numbers. Matty, this summer we know there's been this unprecedented public health event in the US the country's experiencing its largest ever outbreak of cyclospora. What's been going on with that?

[Madeline Findlay]

So in early July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC in the US started investigating, investigating hundreds of cases across the country of cyclospiriasis. Now, cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal illness caused by a microscopic parasite, cyclospora. And it's not something that's spread really from person to person. It's a foodborne illness, typically. So the cyclospora hide out on fresh produce, things like lettuce, herbs, fruits, and also in water contaminated by human faeces. Now, if you consume cyclospora, typically about a week later, you're going to start experiencing symptoms like watery, often explosive diarrhoea, gas, bloating, nausea, loss of appetite. You might get a mild fever as well. And late spring, early summer is cyclospora season. It's when you see these sorts of outbreaks, but the one this year has just been absolutely ginormous. The numbers have been extraordinary. So there have been thousands of lab confirmed cases, but actually it looks like there are more than 11,500 cases across the U.S. it's not currently clear why that is. The FDA are investigating at least six outbreaks. One has been traced back to shredded iceberg lettuce sold at Taco Bell, and that has been again traced back. The evidence points to Taylor Farms in Mexico. And this is kind of a mega producer of fresh produce that supplies places like Taco Bell, Walmart, Costco, McDonald's. But where the source of the other outbreaks are remains a mystery.

[Ian Sample]

So this is a huge thing to have to go and investigate. And, Maddie, sadly, we know there have been two deaths linked to cyclospora in Michigan, and the report suggests that those people had underlying health problems. But even so, does that really tell us anything about how this outbreak is being managed?

[Madeline Findlay]

These sorts of outbreaks are really difficult to get a handle on and there's a few different reasons for it. First off, there's a really long incubation period. So that week between consuming cyclospora and then getting sick, that's quite a long time. And then it depends on lots of different factors. So the first is that if you get sick, then you go to your doctor. Then the next thing is, if you go to your doctor, do they request the specific test that looks for cyclospora? Then is that result then reported to state authorities? And the state authorities then have to share that with the cdc, who then work with investigating authorities, and then the investigating authorities have to get in touch with those people and find out what those people were eating maybe weeks ago. So you can see why it's so hard to figure out what's going on and why there's a massive lag in data and also why most of the cases go unreported. Why the numbers, the official numbers, are so much lower than probably the real numbers. But at the same time, the Trump administration last year did push through a lot of cuts to state and local health authorities in the billions, and the CDC saw a cut in their workforce of about 25%. And there is a specialized parasitic team at the CDC and their numbers went from 11 to three. So there's probably a good reason why people are saying the response has been slow and the communication to the public hasn't been very clear.

[Ian Sample]

Finally, on this one, Maddy, I've got to ask, why is it always lettuce? Why is lettuce always the culprit in cyclospora?

[Madeline Findlay]

Yeah, people aren't imagining this. It is often lettuce and there are a few different reasons why. So the first is how lettuce is grown. So often it's irrigated and washed, and the way that that's done means that it can come in contact with untreated water. Then you look at the lettuce itself. Itself, you know, has a lot of nooks and crannies and folds where the cyclospora can harbour. But with lettuce, unlike a lot of other fruits and vegetables, you can't cook it and we consume a lot of lettuce, salads, sandwiches, baguettes, tacos. It's in so much of our food. So at the moment, if you're in the US or Mexico, I would avoid personally eating lettuce. When it comes to other fruits and vegetables, peel them, cook them. Fresh produce is something to be very careful around. Thankfully, we don't have it here in the uk, but if you're traveling in those places, beware the lettuce. Coming up, why the UK's most iconic telescope is under threat.

[Joshua Tassoff]

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[Madeline Findlay]

Now. Ian Last week the news broke that the iconic Jodrell Bank Observatory might be closing in 2028. And this week, a huge range of celebrities and scientists, people like Tim Peak, Professor Brian Cox, Brian May, Jarvis Cocker, all signed a letter to try and save Jodrell Bank. So, so what is this all about? Why is it under threat?

[Ian Sample]

Let me give you a bit of a picture of Jodrell bank itself, first of all. So Jodrell bank is like a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And the thing people will recognize if they've ever driven past it, is this 76 meter wide radio telescope dish, which is the Lovell Telescope. Now, that is a grade one listed structure. It's part of our national heritage, but it's also a very active telescope. It was actually built in 1957 and they finished it just before Sputnik launched. It was at the time the only telescope that could then track Sputnik. And so that level telescope, Jodrell bank, the site where it is, this is in Cheshire, is a really big part of what's called radio astronomy, which is astronomy in the sort of radio wave range of the spectrum in this country and also globally. Why it's been hit though, is that the, the Science and Technology Facilities Council, the stfc, which is funded by ukri, they have essentially overspent in the past and they've been hit by electricity costs rising. They run a lot of the UK facilities and when electricity prices go up, their bills really are horrendous. Staff costs have gone up. So basically science in the UK at least, is having its own cost of living crisis. And so SGFC now has to find a lot of money before 2030, just to balance the books. And we're talking hundreds of millions of pounds and loads of other telescopes and other areas of physics have been hit as well. But Jodrell bank is probably the most iconic one, the one that a lot of people will know about, and it's been hit because the funding is being pulled for what's called E Merlin. E Merlin is this network of seven radio telescopes in the UK of which the Lovell Telescope is one. And I spoke to the Associate Director at Jotrell bank and he said, basically, if you pull the money for E Merlin, you pull the rug out from underneath Jotrell Bank. And so it is existential for them now, you know, there are hopes to find other ways to fund it, which they're being required to do with, but we don't know how well that will go yet.

[Madeline Findlay]

Ian, the fact that this could have such a major impact on UK astronomy and 2.8 million pounds, you know, it's not change that you find down the back of the sofa, but at the same time, the UK Research and Innovation Agency, you would think for something this iconic and important, that they would be able to find that money. So what does this say about our research priorities right now and. And where that's headed?

[Ian Sample]

You're right. I mean, the UKRI budget is about 10 billion, but they don't have the money they need to run the facilities and to fund the commitments that they've already made. Now, there's also some reprioritization, so the government is looking at trying to move government funding to areas like quantum computing and AI and things like that. And sensibly trying to find big growth areas are going to, you know, feed into our economy in the sort of medium term. But you have to think about this fundamental science that is done. Jodrell bank at the moment is involved with work on dark energy, dark matter, the sort of invisible substance that you see clumping around galaxies. It's also looking at how planets evolve, how galaxies evolve. It is often the fundamental science that leads to the big step changes that drive what we can call progress. I mean, some people might say, well, look where. Whereas progress in technology. But the shift in emphasis there and the loss of some of this more fundamental research is something that we may, you know, you may end up paying for in the longer term, or at least not having the expertise in the UK and not having the sovereign facilities in the UK anymore.

[Madeline Findlay]

Critical science depends on this money. People's jobs depend on this money. Do you think they're going to find it?

[Ian Sample]

Well, I think For Jodrell bank, there are certainly some possibilities. They are very connected to the University of Manchester. The University of Manchester is very keen to keep the Lovell telescope going. But, you know, show me a university in the UK that has any money. But one option, you know, one idea may be to go to the users of Jodrell bank and say, we don't have any money. Can you contribute? And this means going globally, essentially cap in hand. Now, at the moment, telescopes are shared essentially for free, and so that would kind of break a precedent. It's an option, though. Another thing is that Jodrell bank has really recently shown that they can track space debris and space objects by basically bouncing radar off these objects and jotrelbank can detect that. And so that could actually be a really useful facilities for space agencies. So it may be that they could get some funding from space agencies who want to be able to track space debris. And so there are some options that are being explored, but none of those are, you know, are in the bag yet.

[Madeline Findlay]

Time to start taxing people for making mess in space and using that money to fund these sorts of trackers.

[Ian Sample]

That's a really fair point.

[Madeline Findlay]

Ian, thank you so much.

[Ian Sample]

Thank you.

[Madeline Findlay]

A big thanks again to Ian. This episode was produced by Ellie Sands. The sound design was by Joel Cox and the executive producer was Ellie Burie. We'll be back on Tuesday. See you then.

[Ian Sample]

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I've got ideas.

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