00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 28 episode 4
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 8th of January
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2025 coming up on SpaceTime more
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 evidence that dark energy might not
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 exist after all new observations show
00:00:13 --> 00:00:17 the solar wind slowing down Beyond Pluto
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 and Venus's ancient layered folded rocks
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 are pointing to a volcanic origin all
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 that and more coming up on
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 Stuart
00:00:31 --> 00:00:38 [Music]
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47 a new paper claims that one of the
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 biggest mysteries in science Dark Energy
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 doesn't actually exist now if correct it
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 would force scientists to begin looking
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 for new ways to try and explain the
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 accelerating expansion of the universe
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 for the past 100 years physicists have
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 generally assumed that the cosmos is
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 growing equally in all directions they
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 employed the idea of dark energy as a
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 sort of placeholder to explain the
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 unknown physics behind this which they
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 simply don't understand the thing is
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 this contentious theories always had its
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 problems now a team of physicists and
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 astronomers from the University of canri
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 Christ Church New Zealand are once again
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 challenging the status quo using
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 improved analyses of supernova light
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 curves to show that the universe is
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 expanding in a more varied lumpier way
00:01:34 --> 00:01:35 the new evidence supports something
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 we've talked about before on SpaceTime
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 and on Star stuff before SpaceTime
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 namely the concept of time scape a model
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 of cosmic expansion which doesn't have
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 the need for Dark Energy because the
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 differences in stretching light aren't
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 the result of an accelerating universe
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 but instead a consequence of how we
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 calibrate time and distance time scape
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 takes into account the fact gravity
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 slows time so an ideal clock in empty
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 space would be ticking faster than one
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 inside a Galaxy the model suggested a
00:02:05 --> 00:02:06 clock in the Milky Way galaxy would be
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 about 35% slower than the same clock in
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 an average position in the large Cosmic
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 void meaning billions more years would
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 have passed in the voids this would in
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 turn allow more expansion of space
00:02:19 --> 00:02:20 making it seem like the expansion's
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 getting faster when such vast empty
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 voids grow to dominate the universe now
00:02:26 --> 00:02:27 once again the scientist behind this
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 study is Professor David wicher who's
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 LED previous Research into Timescape and
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 dark energy wiie says the new findings
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 confirm earlier studies that we don't
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 need dark energy to explain why the
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 universe appears to expand at an
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 accelerating rate he says dark energy is
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 simply a misidentification of variations
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 in kinetic energy of expansion which is
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 not uniform in the universe as lump is
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 the one we actually live in and the new
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 research May provide compelling evidence
00:02:55 --> 00:02:56 that could resolve some of the key
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 questions around some of the quirks of
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 our expanding Cosmo
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 see with the new data the universe's
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 biggest mystery could be settled by the
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 end of the decade the new analysis has
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 been published in the monthly notices of
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 the Royal Astronomical Society letters
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 dark energy is commonly thought to be a
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 weak anti-gravity Force which acts
00:03:16 --> 00:03:17 independently of matter and makes up
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 around 2/3 of the mass energy density of
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 the universe the standard Lambda called
00:03:23 --> 00:03:24 Dark Matter model of the universe
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 requires dark energy to explain the
00:03:27 --> 00:03:28 observed acceleration in the rate at
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 which the cosmos is expanding scientist
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 based these conclusions on measurements
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 to distant supern explosions in distant
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 galaxies which appear to be further away
00:03:38 --> 00:03:39 than they should be if the universe's
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 rate of expansion wasn't
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 accelerating the problem is the present
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 rate of expansion of the universe is
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 increasingly being challenged by new
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 observations firstly evidence from the
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 Afterglow of the Big Bang known as The
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 Cosmic microwave background radiation
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 shows the expansion of the early
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 universe is at odds with the current
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 expansion of the universe an anomaly
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 known as Hubble tension in addition
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 recent analyses of new high Precision
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 data from the Dark Energy spectroscopic
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 instrument Desi has found that the
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 Lambda cold Dark Matter model does not
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 fit in as well as models in which dark
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 energy is evolving over time rather than
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 remaining constant both the Hubble
00:04:18 --> 00:04:19 tension and the surprises revealed by
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 Desi are difficult to resolve in models
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 which use a simplified Oney old Cosmic
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 expansion law known as fredman's
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 equation now this assumes that on
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 average the Universe expands uniformly
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 as if all Cosmic structures were put in
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 a blender making it a featureless soup
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 with no complicating structure however
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 that's not the way the universe is the
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 present Universe actually contains a
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 complex Cosmic web of Galaxy clusters in
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 sheets and filaments and these surround
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 and thread through vast empty voids wiie
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 points out that we now have so much data
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 we can finally answer the question how
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 and why does a simple average expansion
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 law emerge from complexity he points out
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 that a simple expansion law consistent
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 with Einstein's general relativity
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 Theory doesn't have to obey Freeman's
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 equations the European space agency's
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 uclid satellite which was launched back
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 in July 2023 has the power to test and
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 distinguish the Freedman equation from
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 the Timescape alternative however this
00:05:18 --> 00:05:19 will require at least a thousand
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 independent highquality Supernova
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 observations when the proposed time
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 scape model was last tested back in 2017
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 the analysis suggested that it was only
00:05:29 --> 00:05:30 a slightly better fit than the Lambda
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 cold Dark Matter model as an explanation
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 for Cosmic expansion so Wilshire and
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 colleagues work closely with the pathon
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 plus collaboration team who had
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 painstakingly produced a catalog of
00:05:42 --> 00:05:46 1 distinct Supernova they say the
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 new data provides very strong evidence
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 for time scape and it may also point to
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 compelling resolution of Hubble tension
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 and other anomalies related to the
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 expansion of the universe further
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 observations from uid as well as the new
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 Nancy Grace Space Telescope will be
00:06:01 --> 00:06:02 needed to bolster support for the
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 Timescape model this explanation of dark
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 energy from Dr Don Lincoln of fery lab
00:06:08 --> 00:06:09 you know
00:06:09 --> 00:06:13 something science is pretty amazing for
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 thousands of years people have wondered
00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 about the ultimate building blocks of
00:06:16 --> 00:06:20 the cosmos and in the 20th and 21st
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 century we've made some incredible
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 progress for instance if you take a
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 bunch of quirks and you take some
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 leptons you take these quk and leptons
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 and you shake them up you can make atoms
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 atoms make up all of ordinary matter
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 from me to you to the most distant
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 galaxies in fact our best estimates tell
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 us that there are about 10 to the 80
00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 that's a one followed by 80 zeros of
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 atoms in the universe they're all
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 basically the same and we understand
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 them very well using chemistry and
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 nuclear physics however I have some
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 humbling news for you if you add up all
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 of the matter tied up in stars and
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 planets it only amounts to half a
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 percent of the matter and energy in the
00:07:04 --> 00:07:05 universe even if you include the
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 hydrogen gas between the stars and
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 galaxies that is invisible to ordinary
00:07:09 --> 00:07:14 light you still have only about 5%
00:07:14 --> 00:07:18 5% so what is the other 95% and how is
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 it that we've missed finding it
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 scientists think that the universe is
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 composed of three different substances
00:07:24 --> 00:07:28 5% is ordinary matter 27% is a substance
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 called dark matter and 68% is called
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 Dark Energy I want to tell you about
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 Dark Energy first I should tell you that
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 even though dark matter and dark energy
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 have similar names they are really very
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 different things scientists have known
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 for a long time that the universe is
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 expanding and have called that process
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 the Big Bang from what we understand
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 about gravity it seems clear that the
00:07:52 --> 00:07:53 expansion of the universe should be
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 slowing down after all gravity is an
00:07:56 --> 00:08:00 attractive Force if I throw this ball up
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 gravity will pull the ball back
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 downwards its motion will slow down what
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 we didn't know was how gravity would
00:08:06 --> 00:08:07 determine the ultimate fate of the
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 universe was the universe going to
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 expand Forever Without ever stopping
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 expand and stop at some unfathomable
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 distant time in the future or expand for
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 a while then have the expansion overcome
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 by gravity and have the universe
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 collapse in some sort of big crunch
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 nobody knew the answer and the debate
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 raged in order to resolve the question
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 we needed to understand the expansion
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 history of the universe and to do that
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 astronomers used a class of supern noi
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 which is the explosion of a Dying star
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 this kind of supern noi was very well
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 understood if you saw one you knew the
00:08:44 --> 00:08:45 brightness of the
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 explosion however just like a distant
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 candle appears dimmer than a close one
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 so too it is with exploding Stars by
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 knowing the intrinsic brightness of the
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 explosion and how bright the star
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 appeared in your telescope you could
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 work out how far away it was that's the
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 first measurement the second measurement
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 of distance uses the same idea as a
00:09:05 --> 00:09:06 train
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 [Music]
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 whistle that same drop and pitch that
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 you hear as the train passes and begins
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 to move away from you also shows up in
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 the study of distant stars in galaxies
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 Stars moving towards you appear Bluer
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 Than the same star when stationary while
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 Stars moving away from you appear
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 redder the faster the star moves away
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 from you the redder it
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 appears since distance galaxies appear
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 reddish they are moving away from us in
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 addition we can relate their distance
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 and their velocity if galaxies a certain
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41 distance away are moving with a
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 particular velocity galaxies twice as
00:09:44 --> 00:09:45 far away are moving with double the
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 velocity and so on in this way we can
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 measure the color of the distant
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 galaxies and determine their velocity
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 and then work out their distance it's
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 all a bit tricky but these two methods
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 of measuring distance are not very
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 controver veral and they should
00:10:01 --> 00:10:05 agree so in 1998 two experiments applied
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 these techniques and looked at the most
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 distant Supernova ever and they found
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 that Supernova were dimmer than
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 predicted by the expansion of the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 universe this means that the stars were
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 farther away than expected but that
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 meant something even more shocking it
00:10:21 --> 00:10:22 meant that the expansion of the universe
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 wasn't slowing down it was speeding up
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 that was really a mind-blowing
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 observation from what we knew about
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 gravity the expansion of the universe
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 should have been slowing down we didn't
00:10:34 --> 00:10:35 know the details but the slowing down
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 seemed assured and yet that's not what
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 the data said in physics data is King if
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 an idea disagrees with an accurate
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 measurement the idea is wrong so this
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 meant that in order for the expansion of
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 the universe to be getting faster there
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 had to be some form of gravity that was
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 repulsive it turns out that Einstein
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 once postulated a repulsive form of
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 gravity in its equations
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 this was because he knew that ordinary
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 matter should make the universe contract
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 and he needed some kind of repulsive
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 gravity to overcome the
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 attraction however when the universe was
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 found to be expanding in the 1920s
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 Einstein took that extra form of gravity
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 out of his equations he even called it
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 his biggest blunder imagine if he hadn't
00:11:19 --> 00:11:20 done that I mean the dude could have
00:11:20 --> 00:11:21 been
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 famous now it seems that we need a
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 repulsive kind of gravity to explain our
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 observations so what is the source of
00:11:29 --> 00:11:30 this new form of
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 gravity it turns out that if the
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 universe has an energy field of the
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 right kind it can make the expansion of
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 the universe accelerate this form of
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 energy is now called Dark Energy now to
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 be honest we aren't 100% sure about this
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 dark energy hypothesis although there
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 are now many measurements that support
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 the idea even though dark energy is the
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 most popular explanation for the
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 expansion mystery other suggestions have
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 been made while dark energy is a
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 constant energy density another idea
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 called quintessence is also a contender
00:12:05 --> 00:12:06 quintessence is an energy field that
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 varies in time and there are several
00:12:09 --> 00:12:10 ideas in
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 contention we need to understand that
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 the observation of the accelerating
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 expansion of the universe is only about
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 15 years old it took a little while to
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 assimilate the discovery and then many
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 years to design and build new facilities
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 to study it better over the next couple
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 of years several new observatories will
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 be operations to explore this surprising
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 discovery and I don't know what the
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 final answer will be but I do know that
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 anytime you don't understand 95% of
00:12:38 --> 00:12:39 something that somebody will figure it
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 out that's Dr Don Lincoln from fery lab
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 and this is spacetime still to come the
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 solar wind apparently slowing down once
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 it gets Beyond Pluto and scientists have
00:12:51 --> 00:12:52 discovered that some of the oldest
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 terrain on Venus known as Tess have
00:12:55 --> 00:12:56 layering which is consistent with
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 volcanic activity all that and more
00:12:59 --> 00:13:03 still to come on
00:13:03 --> 00:13:15 [Music]
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 SpaceTime new measurements by NASA's new
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 horizon spacecraft has confirmed earlier
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 data showing that the solar wind the
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 supersonic stream of charged particles
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 flowing from the Sun slows down the
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 further away it gets the fin findings
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 reported in the astrophysical journal
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 are providing important new insights
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 into some of the furthest reaches of
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 space ever explored previously only the
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 1970s vintage Pioneers 10 and 11 and
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 voyages 1 and 2 spacecraft had explored
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 the outer solar system and furthest
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 reaches of the heliosphere the bubble of
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 the sun's atmosphere which encompasses
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 the entire solar system but now New
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 Horizons is doing the same journey and
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 it's using far more modern and advanced
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 scientific instruments
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 the study's lead author Heather Elliot
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 from the southwest Research Institute in
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 Boulder Colorado says the sun's
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 influence on the space environment
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 extends World beyond the outer planets a
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 New Horizon showing new aspects of how
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 that environment changes with distance
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 New Horizons is collecting detailed
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 daily measurements of the solar wind
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 which is composed primarily of ionized
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 hydrogen that is free electrons and
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 protons as well as helium nuclei known
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 as alpha particles and Trace Amounts of
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 heavy ions and atomic nucle
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 including carbon nitrogen oxygen neon
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 magnesium sulfur silicon and iron all
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 ripped apart by the extreme million
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 degree temperatures in the sun's outer
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 atmosphere or Corona New Horizons is
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 also collecting data on other key
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 particles called Interstellar pickup
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 ions in the outer
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 heliosphere now these Interstellar
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 pickup ions are created when neutral
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 material from Interstellar space enters
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 our solar system becomes ionized by
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 light from the sun or through charge
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 exchange interactions with solar wind
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 ions as the solar wind moves further
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 away from the sun it's encountering an
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 increased amount of material from
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 Interstellar space and when Interstellar
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 material is ionized the solar wind picks
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 up that material and researchers
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 theorize slows down and heat in response
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 and New Horizons is now detected and
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 confirm this effect the authors compared
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 the New Horizon solar wind speed
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 measurements from 21 to 42 astronomical
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 units to speeds measured just one
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 astronomical unit recorded by both the
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 advanced composition Explorer or a
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 spacecraft and the solar terrestrial
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 relations Observatory or stereo
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 spacecraft by the way an astronomical
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 unit is the average distance between the
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 Earth and the sun which equates to 150
00:15:41 --> 00:15:45 million kilm or 8.3 L minutes by 21
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 astronomical units it seems New Horizons
00:15:48 --> 00:15:49 could be detecting the slowing down of
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 the solar wind in response to picking up
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 Interstellar material and when New
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 Horizons traveled Beyond Pluto between
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 33 and 42 astronomical units out from
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 the Sun the solar wind was measured at 6
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 to 7% slower than what it was at one
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 astronomical unit distance thereby
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 confirming the effect now in addition to
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 confirming the slowing of the solar wind
00:16:10 --> 00:16:11 at Great distances the change in the
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13 Solar wind's temperature and density
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 could also provide a means to estimate
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 when New Horizons will join the Voyer
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 spacecraft on the other side of the
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 termination shock that's the boundary
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 marking where the solar wind slows to
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 lessen the speed of sound as it
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 approaches the interstellar medium
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 Voyager One crossed the termination
00:16:29 --> 00:16:33 shocked back in 2004 at 94 astronomical
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 units followed by Voyager 2 in 2007 at
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 84 astronomical units now based on lower
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 levels of solar activity at the time of
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 measurements and lower solar wind
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 pressures as a result the termination
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 shocks expected to have moved closer to
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 the Sun since the Voyer Crossings
00:16:50 --> 00:16:51 extrapolating current trends in the New
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 Horizon's measurements also indicates
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 that the termination shock might now be
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 closer than one it was when intersected
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 by Voyager at the earliest New Horizons
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 could reach the termination shock next
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 year but as the solar cycle activity
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 increases towards solar Max the increase
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 in pressure will likely expand the
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 heliosphere and this could push the
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 termination shock back out to 84 to 94
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 astronomical units before New Horizons
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 is time to reach it that's the same
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 Range found by the voer spacecraft New
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 Horizon's Journey Through the outer
00:17:23 --> 00:17:24 heliosphere contrast somewhat with that
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 of the Voyages in that the current solar
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 cycle is fairly mild in comparison to
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 the very active solar cycle the voyagers
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 experience when they're in the outer
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 heliosphere of course right now the two
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 voyagers are beyond our solar system
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 flying through Interstellar space in
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 addition to measuring the solar wind New
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 Horizon's extreme sensitivity allows it
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 to also measure the low fluxes of
00:17:46 --> 00:17:47 interstellar pickup ions with
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 unprecedented time resolution if all
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 goes well New Horizons will be the first
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 spacecraft to measure both the solar
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 wind and Interstellar pickup irons at
00:17:56 --> 00:17:59 the termination shock the needless to
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 say will keep you informed this is
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 spacetime still to come researchers find
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 some of the oldest train on Venus known
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 as Tess have layering consistent with
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 volcanic activity and later in the
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 science report researchers in South
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 carea have developed swarms of tiny
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 robots that work together like ants
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 could we be entering a Brave New World
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 all that and more still to come on
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 SpaceTime
00:18:27 --> 00:18:41 [Music]
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42 scientists have found that some of the
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 oldest train on Venus known as Tess have
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 layering which is consistent with
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 volcanic activity the new findings could
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 provide fresh insights into the
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 enigmatic planet's geological history
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 TSS are tectonically deformed regions of
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 the surface of Venus they are often more
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 elevated than the surrounding landscape
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 they comprise about 7% of the planet
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 surface and are always the oldest
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 feature in their immediate surroundings
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 dating back about 750 million years the
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 new research reported in the journal
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 geology suggests that a significant
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 proportion of Tess have striations
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 consistent with layering the study's
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 lead author associate professor Paul
00:19:21 --> 00:19:22 burn from North Carolina State
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 University say Tes are either made up of
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 volcanic rocks or their counterparts to
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 the Earth's Continental crust but he
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 says the layering found on some tessay
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 isn't consistent with the continental
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 crust explanation buron colleagues
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 analyzed images of Venus's surface from
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 NASA's 1989 mellan Mission which used
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 radar to map 98% of the planet through
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 its dense atmosphere scientists have
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 been studying Venus's tessay formations
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 for decades but this layering of the
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 tessay hadn't previously been recognized
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 as widespread and according to burn this
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 layering wouldn't have been possible if
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 the Tess were simp portions of
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 continental crust continental crust at
00:20:02 --> 00:20:03 least here on Earth is composed mainly
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 of granite an ous rock formed when
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 tectonic plates move and water subducted
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 from the surface thing is granite
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 doesn't form layers now if there's
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 continental crust on Venus then it's
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 below the visible layered rocks aside
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 from volcanic activity the only other
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 way to make layered rock is through
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 sedimentary deposits things like
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 Sandstone or Limestone problem is there
00:20:26 --> 00:20:27 isn't anywhere on Venus today where
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 these kinds of rocks could formed the
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 surface of Venus is hot enough to melt
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 lead and it has 100 times the air
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 pressure at sea level on Earth so the
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 evidence right now points to some
00:20:38 --> 00:20:41 portions of Tess being made up of layer
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 volcanic rock similar to what's found
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 here on Earth either way the stud's
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 hoping to shed new light on Venus's
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 complicated geological history this is
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 spacetime
00:20:52 --> 00:21:06 [Music]
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 and time there to take another brief
00:21:08 --> 00:21:09 look at some of the other stories making
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 news in science this week with a science
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 report scientists have identified a new
00:21:14 --> 00:21:17 genetic link to autism spectrum disorder
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 a report in the American Journal of
00:21:19 --> 00:21:21 human genetics has identified a
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 previously unknown Gene variant on the
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 ddx53 gene on the X chromosome which
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29 appears to contribute to autism
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30 the disorder which affects more males
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 than females encompasses a group of
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 neurodevelopmental conditions that
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 results in challenges related to
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 Communications social understanding and
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 behavior the findings are based on
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 research on 10 individuals with autism
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 spectrum disorder from eight different
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 families and found that variance in the
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 ddx53 gene was maternally inherited and
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 present in all the
00:21:51 --> 00:21:54 individuals while ddx53 located on the X
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 chromosome was already known to play a
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 role in brain development and function
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 it was not previously definitively
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 associated with
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 autism following the recent wet linia
00:22:04 --> 00:22:07 years with widespread flooding today's
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 drri conditions have resulted in a drop
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12 in waterb bird numbers and breeding in
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 2024 the University of New South Wales
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 annual water Birds survey has observed
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 fewer waterb Birds breeding and a drop
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 of nearly 50% in overall numbers
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 compared to
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 20123 the researchers spotted
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 287 in this year's Serv survey
00:22:29 --> 00:22:32 that's down from
00:22:32 --> 00:22:36 579 ranking this year approximately
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 in the middle of the 42 years that the
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 survey's been
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 running scientists in South Korea have
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 developed swarms of tiny magnetic robots
00:22:44 --> 00:22:47 that work together like ants to achieve
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 truly Herculean Feats including
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 traversing and picking up objects up to
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 2 times their size the engineers
00:22:54 --> 00:22:57 testing the microbots found swarms could
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 climb an obstacle five times higher than
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 a single microbot and they could hold
00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 themselves one by one over an obstacle
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 swarms of a thousand microbots could
00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 wrap around a pill weighing 2 times
00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 the mass of an individual microbot and
00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 transport the drug through liquid
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 another swarm of microbots managed to
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 transport cargo and dry land which was
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 350 times heavier than each of the
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 individual microbots the research
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 reported in the journal device suggest
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 that these microbot swarms could operate
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29 under a rotating magnetic fi field and
00:23:29 --> 00:23:30 they could be used to tackle difficult
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 tasks in challenging environments that
00:23:32 --> 00:23:34 individual robots would struggle to
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 handle such as offering a minimally
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 invasive treatment for clogged arteries
00:23:38 --> 00:23:41 or precisely guiding
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 organisms the world's largest consumer
00:23:43 --> 00:23:46 electronic show CES is on again in Las
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48 Vegas with the details we're joined by
00:23:48 --> 00:23:51 Alex Sahara Roy from Tech advice. life
00:23:51 --> 00:23:55 LGS have recently commercialized their
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 transparent OLED television it's a
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 product that no one really wants at the
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01 stage that's right now interestingly LG
00:24:01 --> 00:24:04 is going to release a fridge with a
00:24:04 --> 00:24:07 transparent OLED door so this allows you
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 to see through the door inside of the
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 fridge now the front of the uh display
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 is like a giant
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 tablet opening the door for 10 minutes
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 and looking at what's inside to say what
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 do I really want to eat that's right and
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 you also have cameras in there that can
00:24:20 --> 00:24:23 use software nii to tell you what sort
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 of meals you can create with the
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 contents of what's in your fridge I mean
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 look that is a use
00:24:29 --> 00:24:32 uh reason to have a transparent screen
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 because obviously you can make a fridge
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 just with a transparent panel you don't
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 have to have a display in it but when
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 when it's a display it can be used as a
00:24:39 --> 00:24:40 tablet it can show you information and
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 so that is interesting and you know
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 there's going to be microwave ovens with
00:24:43 --> 00:24:45 multiple cameras inside so you can see
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 the cooking process and see if it's
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 cooked before you open the door I mean
00:24:48 --> 00:24:49 look manufacturers are trying to think
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 of ways to incorporate Ai and modern
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 tech into devices that just do very
00:24:54 --> 00:24:57 simple things keep food cold cook food
00:24:57 --> 00:24:58 so we're going to see a lot of creativ
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 there's some news from Nintendo as well
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 Nintendo has announced that it will
00:25:01 --> 00:25:04 launch its Nintendo switch by the end of
00:25:04 --> 00:25:05 the financial year for them which is
00:25:05 --> 00:25:08 March of 31st so if you just bought a
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10 Nintendo switch it's almost basically
00:25:10 --> 00:25:11 out of date and if you haven't bought
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 one but want to get one wait for the
00:25:12 --> 00:25:14 switch too and something that make me
00:25:14 --> 00:25:18 feel really old the flip phone turns 29
00:25:18 --> 00:25:20 I had one of those it was a lot of fun
00:25:20 --> 00:25:22 to have the original flip phone this was
00:25:22 --> 00:25:27 on January the 3rd 1996 29 it was
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 actually designed based on the
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 communicator that was seen in Star Trek
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 so it was just under 100 kg a clamshell
00:25:33 --> 00:25:36 flip phone it couldn't send SMS gr
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 receive them and it's the equivalent of
00:25:38 --> 00:25:42 about $1 in today's money blast from
00:25:42 --> 00:25:44 the past but you won't even connect to a
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 phone network today Apple's Vision Pro
00:25:46 --> 00:25:47 it's gone bye-bye at least for a little
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 while yes look it was listed by various
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 Tech Publications was one of the big
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 flops of last year of 2024 and not
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 because it uh didn't work I mean it
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 worked beautifully well the I had one on
00:25:57 --> 00:25:59 my head and it's quite incredible the
00:25:59 --> 00:26:01 problem is it's heavy and it's expensive
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 I mean in Australian dollars it's about5
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 six grand and in US dollar it's about
00:26:05 --> 00:26:07 $35 so you know more than what you
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 pay for traditional iPhone and Apple is
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 said to be working on ways to make it
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 lighter and cheaper but I've read
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 reports of they flx on exactly how to do
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 that because all the components are so
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 expensive so the word is that Apple has
00:26:20 --> 00:26:22 ceased production of the current Apple
00:26:22 --> 00:26:25 Vision Pro one and we just have to wait
00:26:25 --> 00:26:26 and see what they come up with hopefully
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 sometime later this year for version too
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 and last but by no means least Microsoft
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 have announced their own version of
00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 Apple's Mac Mini yes now there have been
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 a number of these small mini PCS over
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 the past few years copying Apple's Mac
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 Mini but what sets these ones apart is
00:26:41 --> 00:26:43 that they will have the arm processor
00:26:43 --> 00:26:46 inside which is what we see apple doing
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 with its current range of Macs where
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 have taken the iPhone chip and
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 supercharge it to become a chip capable
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 of running desktop applications and more
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56 and so Microsoft hasn't had Min PCS
00:26:56 --> 00:26:59 running arm and running Windows 11 and
00:26:59 --> 00:27:01 this new co-pilot plus capability which
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 is where all the AI is baked in we're
00:27:03 --> 00:27:05 expected to see a series of these mini
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 PCS with the arm chips arriving which
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 should turbocharge this category because
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 it'll be a cheap way for people to get
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 into the this small Mini PC that's
00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 running Windows 11 and running arm and
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 you know using very little power doing
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 all the things that Apple promised with
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20 its Max and it's also going to be coming
00:27:20 --> 00:27:23 on what is effectively Microsoft's 50th
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 year of existence their birthday is
00:27:25 --> 00:27:26 April 4
00:27:26 --> 00:27:30 1975 interestingly was April 1 1976 so
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 they're 49 years old that's Alex Sahara
00:27:32 --> 00:27:36 Roy from Tech advice start
00:27:36 --> 00:27:48 [Music]
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 life and that's the show for now
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00:28:40 --> 00:28:44 Stewart gary.com for full details you've
00:28:44 --> 00:28:46 been listening to SpaceTime with Stuart
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 Gary this has been another quality
00:28:48 --> 00:28:52 podcast production from bites.com