SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 24
The Astronomy, Space and Science News Podcast
Asteroid Impact Odds, Lunar Grand Canyons, and NASA's Stranded Astronauts
In this episode of SpaceTime, we discuss the alarming increase in the odds of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth, now estimated at 3.1% for December 22, 2032. This asteroid, measuring between 40 to 90 meters, poses a significant threat, and we delve into the implications of planetary defense strategies that could be employed to mitigate this risk.
The Origins of the Moon's Grand Canyons
We also explore new research that suggests the Moon's massive canyons, Vallis Schrodinger and Valles Plank, were carved out by asteroid impacts in a mere 10 minutes. This groundbreaking study provides insights into the Moon's geological history and will have important implications for future lunar missions, particularly the upcoming Artemis program.
NASA's Stranded Astronauts
Additionally, we cover the latest developments regarding NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wiltmore, who have been stranded aboard the International Space Station since June 2024. With the potential for an earlier return home due to a change in SpaceX's Crew 10 mission schedule, we discuss the challenges they faced during their extended stay in orbit.
00:00 Space Time Series 28 Episode 24 for broadcast on 24 February 2025
00:49 Increased odds of asteroid 2024 YR4 impact
06:30 Implications for planetary defense strategies
12:15 The formation of lunar canyons from asteroid impacts
18:00 Insights from the Schrodinger impact basin study
22:45 NASA astronauts' potential early return to Earth
27:00 Overview of La Nina's arrival in the eastern Pacific
30:15 The implications of losing the sense of taste
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✍️ Episode References
NASA
https://www.nasa.gov (https://www.nasa.gov/)
Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/ncomms (https://www.nature.com/ncomms) /
NOAA
https://www.noaa.gov (https://www.noaa.gov/)
Journal of the American Medical Association
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama)
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/jvp (https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/jvp)
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/25758379?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 28 episode 24
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 24th of February
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2025 coming up on SpaceTime the odds
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 narrowing for an Earth impact by the
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 city killer asteroid looking at the
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 origins of the moon's Grand Canyons and
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 NASA's stranded Starliner astronauts
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 coming home earlier than thought all
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 that and more coming up on
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:28 --> 00:00:38 steuart Gary
00:00:38 --> 00:00:45 [Music]
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 Nessa says there's now a 3.1% chance of
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 asteroid 2024 yr4 slamming into the
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 Earth on December the 22nd
00:00:54 --> 00:00:58 20132 that translates to odds of 1 in32
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 up from the 1 in 43 or 2.3% chance of an
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 impact earlier this month and roughly
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 three times greater than the original
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 estimate of one in 83 or 1.2% first
00:01:08 --> 00:01:12 calculated 4 weeks ago the 40 to 90 M
00:01:12 --> 00:01:13 wide asteroid is now the most
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 threatening space rock this big ever
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 recorded by modern forecasting
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 astronomers have estimated its size
00:01:20 --> 00:01:24 based on its brightness 2024 yr4 is on
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 an elongated elliptical orbit around the
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 sun it's currently moving away from the
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 earth making it more difficult to track
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 but it will be back in December 2028
00:01:34 --> 00:01:35 where scientists will get a good look at
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 it and be able to finalize its orbit and
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 trajectory the last time an asteroid
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 more than 30 m wide posed such a
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 significant risk to Earth was apus back
00:01:44 --> 00:01:48 in 2004 when it briefly had a 2.7%
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 chance of Earth impact in 2029 a
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 possibility later ruled out by
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 additional observations 2024 yr4 was
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 first detected on December the 27th last
00:01:59 --> 00:02:00 year by the old source observatory in
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 Chile the international asteroid warning
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 Network issued an alarm on January the
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 29th after the impact probability cross
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 the 1% barrier the agency says if that
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 risk Rises to over 10% it'll issue a
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 formal warning leading to a
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 recommendation for all United Nation
00:02:17 --> 00:02:18 members who have territories in the
00:02:19 --> 00:02:20 potential Impact Zone to start
00:02:20 --> 00:02:21 terrestrial
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 preparedness the potential Earth impact
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 site lies along an arc running from the
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 central eastern Pacific Ocean across
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 Northern South America in the Atlantic
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 Ocean and equatorial Africa before
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 finally ending in Northern India
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 Professor Fred judan from the school of
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 Earth and planetary Sciences at curtain
00:02:39 --> 00:02:40 University says that while the odds of
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 an impact are still incredibly low the
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 threat is not so small that it can be
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 easily ignored well I think the latest
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 news is really about the increase of
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 probability that it's going to smash on
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 Earth and uh it's still very very low I
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 think I've read a news somewhere that
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 there's even a 0.3% chance it would
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 impact the moon so it's even lower we
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 don't know whether it's a rocky body or
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 a rubble pile I guess one of the
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 interesting things is issues of
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 planetary defense now we've had the dart
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 Mission by NASA so we know a little bit
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 about planetary defense from an asteroid
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 don't we yeah so that that mission was
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 absolutely excellent I mean it really
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 showed us that by Smashing probe into
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 asteroid we can push them but it also
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 show us that we don't push them a lot
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 right so it takes time to really push an
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 asteroid out of the way because the
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 probe the weight of the probe is fairly
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 low and the mass of the asteroid is
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 really high so you need to smash mini
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 probe if you want to deflect a beginner
00:03:41 --> 00:03:45 asteroid now in the case of yr4 it's fa
00:03:45 --> 00:03:49 small it's between 40 m and 90 M that
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 doesn't seem very big but that could
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 level easily a city so that's something
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 to consider pushing it away destroying
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 all this safety measure that people are
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 considering and you mentioned the
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 structure and this structure is
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 absolutely important the structure the
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 nature of the asteroid it's very
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 important to know what we can do to
00:04:11 --> 00:04:12 prevent an impact let me give you an
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 example if it's a hard Rocky body and
00:04:15 --> 00:04:19 you try to impact a big enough object or
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 even data nuclear bomb there's a huge
00:04:22 --> 00:04:23 chance that it's going to fragment now
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 if it's a rubble pile asterid some study
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 we did at curtain really show that if
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 you detonate a nuclear B not at the
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 surface but near the surface then it
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 would withstand the sh and be pushed
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 away and maybe this kind of measure this
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 kind of approach is more efficient for
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 deflecting and steroid very quickly than
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 impacting probe over time because in the
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 case of yr4 it's going to come back in
00:04:50 --> 00:04:54 2028 and then again in 2032 and that's
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 when it could potentially impact so
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 that's a really short amount of time to
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 be able to push it out of the way that's
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 why it's important to consider all the
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 technique we can use to deflect this
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 Aster yeah I remember we did an
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 experiment like this on a small scale we
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 had a boulder and we had a rubble pile
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 and we fired a 223 rifle into each of
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 them and hit the Boulder and it moved
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 the boulder but when the bullet hit the
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 rubble pile it just went right through
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 and the rubble pile stayed where it was
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 it didn't really move the rubble pile
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 this is absolutely correct I mean that
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 that that's something to to really keep
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 in mind is like well if you detonate a
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 device at the surface you would fragment
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 the big one and then I don't know what
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 it would do to the rubble Pile in space
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 but the shock wave from something that
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 is detonated sufficiently far away you
00:05:44 --> 00:05:45 know those people they make the
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 calculation not too close not too far
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 very brilliant engineering and if you do
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 that then the verble pile will be easily
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 pushed away without theoretically
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 fragmenting it because obviously if you
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 fragment the asteroid you transform a
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 single ball into many many pieces it's
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 like instead of a bullet yeah instead of
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 a bullet now you got a shotgun spread so
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 if it was supposed to be the ocean and
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 now you fragment it and now it's going
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 to rain on every cities on Earth uh well
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 I mean you know not every along the fly
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 path yeah yeah yeah along the fly path
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 exactly then people are not going to be
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 really happy you know less damage but
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 still a lot of damage whereas before
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 they would have been nothing for this
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 particular City so there's really
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 ethical concern like that to consider
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 let's assume it's a solid body that's
00:06:37 --> 00:06:38 not going to wear burst that's going to
00:06:38 --> 00:06:39 cut through the atmosphere it's going to
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 go all the way to the surface what sort
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 of damage would something that's say 90
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 M across do on the planet well that's
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 why we call it the city killer not the
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 country killer or or the Planet Killer
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 because it's it's fairly small actually
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 if people want to imagine what it would
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 do it's like detonating a powerful
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 nuclear bomb it it's the same an impact
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 is an explosion it's not really like
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 digging a hole it's just an explosion
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 and well unfortunately you know in our
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 history of humankind we detonate a lot
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 of weapon as a test everywhere on the
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 planet and uh you know depending where
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 it's done it just leave a hole in the
00:07:16 --> 00:07:17 ground and the hole it would live it
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 would be the size of Arizona crater the
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 baringer crater which is about 1 kilm
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 wide so that's not that big however a
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 city would be completely leveled so here
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 I I live in purse and we have roughly 2
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 million inhabitant and the city would be
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34 completely destroyed now would have been
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 a bit of warning before so people can
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 evacuate but still it's really not nice
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 to lose a beautiful city like this if
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 you want but considering the bigger
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 implication not much I mean you know
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 it's not like you got to have a nuclear
00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 winter or anything like that plus
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 something that people need to consider
00:07:51 --> 00:07:55 Earth is covered by about 70% water so
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 you get 70% chance he going to land on
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 the ocean and the land is about 2%
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 inhabited in term of of cities I mean
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 you know of course there's people living
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 in Bush and stuff like that but in the
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 term of city it's about 2% coverage so
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 that's not there's very low Chance is
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 going to impact on a city much more like
00:08:13 --> 00:08:14 in the outback or something like that
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 well not that it's on the flat plan but
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 like you you know related to Australia
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 so the chance is really small and I
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 would say for scientists you know we we
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 almost would hope that it would impact
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 so we could study how things happen
00:08:27 --> 00:08:28 because there's going to be so little
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 consequence but again in middle of the
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 ocean it's safe in the outback it's safe
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 unfortunately if it's on a city that's
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 really not good news and that's why we
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 need to learn to deflect Aster maybe not
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 for this particular case but you know
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 for the training purpose not waiting the
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 absolute that minute to know how to do
00:08:47 --> 00:08:51 something and our first test is you know
00:08:51 --> 00:08:52 is our first practice that's not
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 reasonable I would think so using this
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 opportunity maybe trying to deflect this
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 one that would be interesting and I
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 think uh I might be wrong but I think I
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 read online that China is interested by
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 the prospect of doing that having their
00:09:07 --> 00:09:11 own dart Mission using another asteroid
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 and maybe this one as well so we'll see
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 how it goes the other option of course
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 is that it is the rubble pile and that
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 makes me think more of the tangus like
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 event I know what you're saying uh like
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 like a big explosion in the sky it's
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 still like tangus or chela blinks chela
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 blinks was really small it was a small
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 was a 10 m in diameter but still you
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 know broke a lot of Windows and things
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 like that but impact a St like that
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 explosion it's really a exponential
00:09:38 --> 00:09:42 scale so 90 m is not nine times more
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 powerful is so many more time powerful
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 like I said you know yes 500 time
00:09:48 --> 00:09:49 yoshima or something like that so that
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 that's really decent Rubble pile or not
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 I think that would be the same thing if
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 the explosion touch the ground okay it's
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 one thing but if it explodes in midair
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 with the power of nuclear bomb that has
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 exactly the same effect on a city that
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 still Level it the same way so Rubble
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 pile or not it's more for how we going
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 to deflect it which is important rather
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 than how it's going to impact on Earth
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 in my opinion that's Professor Fred
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 Jordan from the school of Earth and
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 planetary Sciences at curtain University
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 and this SpaceTime still to come looking
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 at the origins of the moon's Grand
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 Canyons and nessa's Stranded astronauts
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 now likely to come home a little bit
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 early ier than last planned all that and
00:10:31 --> 00:10:37 more still to come on
00:10:37 --> 00:10:48 [Music]
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 SpaceTime a new study has concluded that
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 two gigantic Canyons on the moon were
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 most likely carved out by streams of
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 impacting asteroids over a space of just
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 10 minutes the new findings reported in
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 the journal Nature Communications are
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 providing fresh insights into an area of
00:11:05 --> 00:11:06 the Moon which will be crucial in
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 upcoming lunar missions the Schrodinger
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 impact Basin with an estimated age of
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 3.81 billion years is located in the
00:11:14 --> 00:11:18 outer margin of the moon's 2 km
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 diameter South Pole atken Basin that's
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 one of the largest impact basins in the
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 solar system the Schrodinger Basin
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 itself is surrounded by canyons and
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 Ravines created by by streaks of Rocky
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 debris known as ejector rays that were
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 flung out during an impact event two
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 spectacular canyons in the complex are
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 valis Schrodinger and valis plank these
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 massive canyons are comparable in size
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 to North America's Grand Canyon with
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 Schrodinger measuring some 270 km long
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 and 2.7 km deep while plank is even
00:11:50 --> 00:11:55 larger at 280 km long and 3.5 km deep
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 however the exact nature of their
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 formation had always been unclear on
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 until now the new research is based on
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 images of the moon's surface used to
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 generate new topographic maps which were
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 then used to calculate flow directions
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 and speed of the debris ejected during
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 the canyon forming impact event and
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 these data could then be used to model
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 how the ejector rays were formed the
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 study's authors proposed that these
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 lunar Grand Canyons were carved out of
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 the lunar crust in less than 10 minutes
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 by ejector traveling at speeds of
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 between 0.95 and 1.28 km
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 m/s they calculate that the energy
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 needed to create these massive Canyons
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 would have been over 130 times the
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 energy of all the current Global
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 inventory of nuclear weapons rather than
00:12:41 --> 00:12:42 flying out symmetrically the work
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 suggest that the majority of the
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 excavated debris was asymmetrically
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 distributed away from the poles the
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 shrer impact Basin is close to the
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 exploration zone for the upcoming
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 Artemus man moon mission so these
00:12:55 --> 00:12:56 findings will have important
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 implications for future Luna missions
00:12:59 --> 00:13:00 possibly offering insights into the
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 composition of potential Landing zones
00:13:03 --> 00:13:07 this SpaceTime still to come Nas's
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 stranded astronauts Cy Williams and
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 Butch Wilmore who have been stuck aboard
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 the International Space Station since
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 June last year could be returning home
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 earlier than currently planned and later
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 in the science report it's official
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 linia has finally arrived in the Eastern
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 Pacific Ocean all that and more still to
00:13:25 --> 00:13:39 come on SpaceTime
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 [Music]
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 Nessa astronauts Sunni Williams and
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 Butch Wilmore have been stranded aboard
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 the International Space Station since
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 June last year could end up returning
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 home earlier than currently planned
00:13:52 --> 00:13:53 that's because SpaceX is looking at
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 swapping the dragon capsules for its
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 next twom man missions to the orbiting
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 Outpost the that would see the crew 10
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 Mission launch on March 12 two weeks
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 earlier than previously slated Wilmore
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 and Williams have now been stranded on
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 the space station for over 8 months on
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 what should have been an 8 to 10day
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 mission after problems developed with
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 the thrusters aboard their Boeing styl
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 on a spacecraft which was undertaking
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 its first man test flight NASA were
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 concerned about safety issues with the
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 spacecraft and Boeing eventually decided
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 to return the spacecraft to Earth
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 unmanned it ended up safely landing on
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 the Whit Sand Missile range after the
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 new crew 10 arrives on station Wilmore
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 and Williams will return to Earth with
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 the current crew 9 team aboard their
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 dragon capture which will be fitted with
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 two additional couches for the
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 astronauts this is
00:14:42 --> 00:14:57 [Music]
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 spacetime and time now to take a a brief
00:14:59 --> 00:15:00 look at some of the other stories making
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 news in science this week with a science
00:15:02 --> 00:15:06 report well after 7 months of waiting L
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 the cooler and wetter sister of El Nino
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 has finally arrived in the Eastern
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 Pacific Ocean however a report by Noah
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 the national oceanographic and
00:15:14 --> 00:15:15 Atmospheric administration's climate
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 Prediction Center has warned that Lenin
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 may not stick around for very long with
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 the Pacific likely to return to neutral
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 conditions either next month or in April
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 part of the elino Southern oscillation
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 or Enzo cycle Lenin appears when
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 energized easterly Trade Winds intensify
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 the upwelling of cooler water from the
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 depths of the Eastern tropical Pacific
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 causing a large scale cooling of surface
00:15:38 --> 00:15:39 waters in the eastern and Central
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 Pacific Ocean near the equator the
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 stronger than usual Trade Winds also
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 push warmer equator Waters westwards
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 towards Australia and Asia and this
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 dramatic cooling of the ocean surface
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 layers affects the Atmosphere by
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 modifying moisture content right across
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 the Pacific the new report has confirmed
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 that Lin conditions are now present it
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 measured sea surface temperature 0.7 de
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 C below average in an area of the
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 tropical Pacific known as the Nino 3.4
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 region and the signature of Lenin is
00:16:10 --> 00:16:11 also visible in the Central and Eastern
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 Pacific Ocean as areas of lower than
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 average water levels that's because
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 cooler water contracts lowering sea
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 levels conversely warmer water expands
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 increasing them linia causes shifts in
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 the path of mid latitude jet streams in
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 ways that intensify rainfall in some
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 regions and bring drought to others in
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 the Western Pacific for example rainfall
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 usually increases over Australia and
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 Indonesia clouds and rainfall become
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 more sporadic over the Central and
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 Eastern Pacific Ocean which can lead to
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 dry conditions in Brazil Argentina and
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 other parts of South America and wter
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 conditions over Central America in North
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 America cooler and stormier conditions
00:16:49 --> 00:16:50 often sit in across the Pacific
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 Northwest while the weather typically
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 becomes warmer and drier across the
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 Southern United States and across
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 northern Mexico
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 a new study warns that if you lose your
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 sense of smell or taste in adulthood
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 especially for saltiness and sourness
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 you may well be a risk of dying
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 prematurely the findings reported in the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:11 Journal of the American Medical
00:17:11 --> 00:17:15 Association followed 7 people for
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 around 6 to 7 years 662 of whom reported
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 losing their sense of taste now during
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 the study period 1,1 of those
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 participating died resulting in a
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 background chance of dying of 14% or
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 around one in seven people but for those
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 who lost their sense of taste the risk
00:17:33 --> 00:17:34 of dying during the study period was
00:17:34 --> 00:17:38 around 47% higher or around 1 in five
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 the biggest increases in death risk were
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 among those who stopped being able to
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 sense salty tastes as well as among men
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 who stopped being able to taste sourness
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 and among women who sto being able to
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 taste bitterness and that increased risk
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 of death was seen even among people who
00:17:53 --> 00:17:54 had lost their sense of taste but whose
00:17:54 --> 00:17:58 sense of smell had remained intact so it
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 seems although it's yet to be proven
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 that a loss in taste could serve as a
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 simple way of scanning high-risk
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 populations in order to determine who's
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 at risk of dying prematurely now all
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 we've got to do is work out why the
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 association seems to be
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 there paleontologists have Rewritten the
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 evolution of dinosaurs after discovering
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 fossils of the world's oldest known Mega
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 raptoid and the first evidence of
00:18:22 --> 00:18:26 karadon Sids in Australia the findings
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27 reported in the Journal of vertebrate
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 paleontology has has changed the history
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 of theropod dinosaurs uncovering a
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 predator hierarchy unique to Cretaceous
00:18:34 --> 00:18:37 Australia the research describes five
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 therapod fossils discovered along
00:18:39 --> 00:18:40 Victorious Coastline Unearthed in the
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 upper stres Lei group between 121.4 and
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 118 million years ago and from the umel
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 formation on the Otway Coast between 113
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 and 108 million years ago these fossils
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 are offering scientists new insights
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 into Victoria's ancient ecosystems it
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 was a time dominated by large powerful 6
00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 to 7 m long mear Rapids smaller 2 to 4 M
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 long karadon SIDS and small agile meter
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 long Southern Raptors the discovery also
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 shows how Victorious Predator hierarchy
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 diverge from South America where karadon
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 aaids reach Tyrannosaurus Rex likee
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 sizes up to 13 M toing over the mega
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 raptoid but in Victoria the roles were
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 reversed highlighting the uniqueness of
00:19:25 --> 00:19:29 Australia's Cretaceous ecosystem
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 a fraudster who claimed to be able to
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 cure a range of illnesses using a
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 so-called slapping therapy has been
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 jailed for 10 years in the UK after one
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 of his patients died Tim mum from
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 Australian skeptic says the con man had
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 used the same scam in Australia where
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 another patient died sling therapy is
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 one of those treatments for disease Etc
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 which people make up oh I've got a good
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 idea maybe we should try this there is
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 something close to it but not quite the
00:19:54 --> 00:19:55 same has been around a while called
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 tapping therapy you tap parts of the
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 body just tapping with sort of like two
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 fingers and that's supposed to help your
00:20:01 --> 00:20:02 health no evidence of that but there's
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 the one which is a lot more serious than
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 that it's slapping as in literally
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 slapping the face and slapping the body
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 hard and it's sort of developed by a
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 Chinese fellow named honi XO and he was
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 doing it in the UK he came to Australia
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 and was doing it there what He suggests
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18 is is that this is better than
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 medication this has a real effect he
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 says and it's better than medication and
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 in some instances specific instances
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 people who need insulin have been told
00:20:27 --> 00:20:28 not to take it and when you don't take
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 insulin and you have a bad case of
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 diabetes it can have immediate or very
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 short almost instantaneous effects and
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 what happens is that if you continue not
00:20:36 --> 00:20:37 to use it it can be fatal and that's
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 exactly what happened in Australia with
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 a young lad I think was 10 years old his
00:20:41 --> 00:20:42 parents were going through the slapping
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 I don't know if the kid was but the
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 parents wereth and this person was
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 suggesting don't take insulin it's bad
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 for you the slapping will do all the
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 things you needs to do so they stopped
00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 the insulin for the kid and then pretty
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 soon within a few days he was rushed off
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 the hospital and he died in a most
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 agonizing horrible way you start off
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 vomiting that coughing up bile all sorts
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 of terrible things happened so he was
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 charged in Australia he was found guilty
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 sentenced for 10 years but he got off on
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 appeal mainly because of of legal
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 technicality not because he was not
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11 guilty of slapping in the way but just
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 that saying the trial wasn't exactly as
00:21:14 --> 00:21:15 it should have been and therefore
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 they're going to have a retrial but in
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 the meantime he had actually moved to
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 England and was doing the same thing
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 there and with the same result of
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 another older woman there who was
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 suffering from diabetes and she thought
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 he was a messenger from God which is the
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 way he portrays himself and and same
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 problem insulin stopped and dies in in a
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 terribly agonizing way so he's moved
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 around from place to place and doing the
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 same sort of thing and now been thrown
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 in jail in the UK sounds like a silly
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 thing seconding someone for medical
00:21:41 --> 00:21:42 reasons yeah you get a red cheek and
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 might be a bit painful to you know what
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 harm can it do well it can kill you
00:21:46 --> 00:21:51 that's Tim mum from Australian Skeptics
00:21:51 --> 00:22:04 [Music]
00:22:04 --> 00:22:07 and that's the show for now SpaceTime is
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