*By Alisha Haridasani*
It’s the most divisive question since the blue and black dress (or was it white and gold?!): Do you hear Yanny or Laurel?
Technically, the answer is "Laurel." But some people swear it's "Yanny."
The question, which is ripping the internet apart, revolves around an audio clip [reportedly](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/science/yanny-laurel.html) posted on Reddit by a student who found it on a vocabulary website when researching a school project under the word "laurel." The clip went viral, leaving many listeners questioning what they heard ー and maybe their sanity.
The discrepancy in what people hear could be due to circumstance, said Brad Story, professor of speech, language, and hearing at the University of Arizona.
“It really is going to depend on the information that you have in terms of your bias toward listening to it at that moment in time," said Story. "That’s what we call ‘top-down information’ ー trying to make sense of any kind of pattern that's present.”
The two words share very similar acoustic characteristics that your brain could selectively hear it one way or the other, he said.
The bass, frequency, and volume of the audio clip can also influence what someone hears. Some people posted videos on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JFLivesay/status/996585941241401346) where the audio levels were adjusted, changing how the clip could be heard.
So, whatever the *technical* answer to the question is, in reality, it can be both.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/yanny-vs-laurel).
The holiday season is here again ー and as consumers buy and spend, more personal information is being exposed online. The number and severity of cyberattacks are on the rise, and both consumers and businesses need protection. Shane Wall, chief technology officer at HP and global head of HP Labs sat down with Cheddar on Monday to discuss the state of cybersecurity heading into the new year.
The issue of food waste has the distinction of being a massive sustainability problem, the solution to a worldwide humanitarian crisis, and a dilemma that is eminently fixable. As part of Cheddar's The Future of Food special report, we spoke to two companies at the opposite end of the spectrum ー one a huge multinational conglomerate, the other a Philadelphia-based start-up ー trying to innovate their way out of a $1 trillion problem.
As Cheddar reflects on 2018, we are profiling the most innovative, flamboyant, and often-controversial entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who delivered the year's most memorable moments in business. Cheddar's Class Clown Award Goes to Elon Musk.
The Impossible Burger earned its Halal certification on Monday from the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America, marking a major milestone on the meat industry disruptor's path to feeding the world. Soon the Impossible Burger will be available in grocery stores, too, for home chefs who want to try their hand at cooking the meatless burger. David Lee, the COO and CFO of Impossible Foods, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's plan to "serve the world."
Mattel's newest game, "Silicon Valley Startups," is training the entrepreneurs of the future ー and there's real money on the line. The new game pits entrepreneurs against each other to pitch ideas to investors. In a related contest, one aspiring entrepreneur will walk away with $50,001, thanks to a partnership between Silicon Valley Startups and "Shark Tank" investor Daymond John. Together John and Mattel will award the entrepreneur with "the best of the worst" idea. "I love pitching, I love startups ー and believe it or not some of the worst ideas have become the best things," John told Cheddar on Monday.
Daymond John, an investor on ABC's "Shark Tank," told Cheddar on Monday he's all-in on ride-hailing. And with both Uber and Lyft planning to go public, he's gearing up to invest in Uber, but only once the market has stepped back a bit following the initial public offering. He said he likes the company because his own life would be disrupted if it disappeared. "If Uber or Lyft went away, my life would be disrupted ... I think it's been around for quite some time and I think they're just going to expand globally and I like it," he said.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Dec. 10, 2018.
A.I. robot Sophia is getting a software upgrade, one that will inch her ー and perhaps A.I. ー even closer to humanity. According to her creator, not only will Sophia earn her citizenship, she will reach a level of advancement equal to human beings in roughly five to 10 years.
Birchbox wants a bigger piece of the cosmetics market, but courting obsessive shoppers is not part of its plan, according to CEO and co-founder Katia Beauchamp. "We are focused on that non-obsessed consumer, that casual consumer," she said in an interview with Cheddar Friday.
The markets plunged again on Friday, capping off a wild week on Wall Street. Fears of slowing global growth, exacerbated by U.S.-China tensions, and a weaker-than-anticipated jobs report contributed to the losses. The tech-heavy Cheddar 50 Index, which measures the performance of Cheddar's 50 top companies ー from Apple to GM ー fell 4 percent on Friday.
