SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 149
* Did Earth's Oceans Come from Comets?
New research suggests that Earth's oceans may have originated from comets, reigniting the debate about the origins of Earth's water. Recent observations of Comet 67P reveal a similar molecular signature to Earth's oceans, challenging previous findings and suggesting Jupiter family comets could have contributed to Earth's water supply. This discovery, led by Kathleen Mandit from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, highlights the importance of understanding the origins of water, a crucial element for life on Earth.
* Discovery of a Rare Main Belt Comet
A mysterious object in the main asteroid belt has been confirmed as a rare main belt comet. Identified as 456P PanSTARRS, this comet displays regular cometary features despite residing in the main asteroid belt. This discovery, led by Henry Heissch from the Planetary Science Institute, adds to the small but growing list of known main belt comets, offering new insights into the icy bodies of the solar system and their potential to trace ices across the cosmos.
* BepiColombo's Fifth Mercury Flyby
The BepiColombo spacecraft has successfully completed its fifth flyby of Mercury, bringing it closer to entering orbit around the solar system's innermost planet. This mission, a collaboration between ESA and JAXA, aims to uncover the mysteries of Mercury's surface and magnetic field. During the flyby, BepiColombo's instruments collected valuable data, including the first mid-infrared measurements of Mercury's surface, crucial for understanding the planet's composition.
00:00 New observations suggest that Earth oceans may have come from comets after all
09:22 Main belt comets are icy objects found in the main asteroid belt
12:43 The BepiColombo spacecraft has completed its fifth flyby of Mercury
15:10 Eating a healthy diet during pregnancy is linked to lower risk of autism
17:27 Samsung are testing new artificial intelligence upgrades for their Galaxy smartphones
19:36 Space Time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com (https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com)
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/24561411?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 27 episode 149
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 11th of December
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 2024 coming up on SpaceTime new
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 observations suggest that Earth oceans
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 may have come from comets after all
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 discovery of a new and rare main belt
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 Comet and Bey Columbo successfully
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 undertakes its fifth Mercury flyby 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 --> 00:00:30 Stuart Gary
00:00:30 --> 00:00:38 [Music]
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 scientists have discovered much to their
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 surprise that water on the comet 67p
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 sherov jir cenco actually does have a
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 similar molecular signature to the water
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 found in Earth's oceans the new findings
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 contradict other Research into the
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 possible origins of Earth's water and it
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 reopens the case that Jupiter family
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 comets like 67p could have helped
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 deliver water to Earth knowing where our
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 water came from is sort of important
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 after all liquid water is essential for
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 Life as we know it while some of Earth's
00:01:16 --> 00:01:17 water likely already existed in the
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 protoplanetary disc of gas and dust from
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 which the earth was formed 4.6 billion
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 years ago some scientists believe that
00:01:24 --> 00:01:25 much of it would have vaporized because
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 of Earth proximity to the sun's intense
00:01:27 --> 00:01:31 heat during its formation so exactly how
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 the Earth became rich in liquid water
00:01:33 --> 00:01:34 has remained a key source of debate
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 among scientists for years we know that
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 some of Earth's water originated through
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 Vapor vented from volcanoes that Vapor
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 condensed and then rained down onto the
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 oceans but scientists have also found
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 evidence that a substantial portion of
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 our oceans came from Ice and minerals on
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 asteroids and possibly comets that
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 crashed onto the earth a wave of comet
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 and asteroid collisions with the solar
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 systems inner planets during what's
00:02:00 --> 00:02:01 known as the late heavy bombardment 4
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 billion years ago would have made this
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 possible while the case connecting
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 asteroid water with Earth is strong the
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 role of comets has puzzled scientists
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 see several measurements of Jupiter
00:02:13 --> 00:02:14 family comets which contain primitive
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 materials from the early solar system
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 and are thought to have formed beyond
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 the orbit of Saturn show a strong link
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 between their water and Earth's this
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 link is based on a k molecular signature
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 which scientists can use to trace the
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 origins of water across the solar system
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 the signature is the ratio of dyum to
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 regular hydrogen in the water and it
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 gives scientists clues about where the
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 body containing the water likely formed
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 now duum is simply a stable isotope of
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 hydrogen which unlike normal hydrogen
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 atoms sometimes called proteum and which
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 are composed of a single electron
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 orbiting a single proton nucleus dyum
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 also contains a neutron in its nucleus
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 but it's not very common just one out of
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 every 6 hydrogen atoms on average is
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 a duum isotope when compared to Earth's
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 water this hydrogen detarium ratio in
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 comets and asteroids can reveal whether
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 there's a connection because water with
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 duum is more likely to form in cold
00:03:13 --> 00:03:14 environments there's a higher
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 concentration of the isotop on objects
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 that form far from the sun such as
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 comets compared to objects that form
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 closer to the Sun like asteroids and
00:03:23 --> 00:03:24 measurements within the last couple of
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 Decades of dierum in the water vapor of
00:03:27 --> 00:03:28 several Jupiter family comets showed
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 similar levels to earthwater the stud's
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 lead author Kathleen manded from NASA
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 Godard space flight center in Greenbelt
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 Maryland says it's starting to look like
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 these comets may have played a major
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 role in delivering water to Earth her
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 research reported in the Journal of
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 science advances revises the abundance
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 of tum in the comet
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 67p but back in 2014 the European space
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 agency's Rosetta mission to Comet 67p
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 challenged the idea that Jupiter family
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 comets help fill Earth's water reservoir
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 back then scientists who analyze
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 Rosetta's water measurements found the
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 highest concentrations of dyum of any
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 Comet and about three times more dyum
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 than what there is in Earth's oceans so
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 Mand and colleagues decided to use an
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 advanced statistical computation
00:04:14 --> 00:04:15 technique in order to automate the
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 laborious process of isolating duum Rich
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 water in more than 1 Rosetta
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 measurements Rosetta made these
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 measurements in the comr of gas and dust
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 surrounding Comet 67p and mandate's team
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 which included Rosetta's scientists was
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 the first to analyze all of the rosette
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 emissions water measurements spanning
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 the entire Mission you see the
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 researchers wanted to understand what
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 physical processes caused variability in
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 the hydrogen isotope ratios measured in
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 comets lab studies and cometry
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 observations had already shown that
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 cometry dust could affect the readings
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 of the hydrogen ratio that researchers
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 detected in Comet vapor and that could
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 change science's understanding of where
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 cometry water comes from and how it
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 Compares with Earth's water the authors
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 found a clear connection between uteri
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 measurements in the coma of comet 67p
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 and the amount of dust around the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 Rosetta spacecraft showing that the
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 measurements taken near the spacecraft
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 in some parts of the comet's coma may
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 not have been representative of the true
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 composition of the comet's body see as
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 the comet moves in its orbit closer to
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 the Sun its surface warms up and that
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 causes gas to be released from the
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 surface including dust which is coated
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 in bits of water ice and it just so
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 happens that water with duum tends to
00:05:31 --> 00:05:32 stick to dust grains far more easily
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 than regular water when the ice in these
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 dust grains is then released into the
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 coma this effect could make the comet
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 appear to have far more detarium than
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 what it actually does mandit and
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 colleagues say that by the time the dust
00:05:45 --> 00:05:46 gets to the outer part of the coma at
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 least 110 km from the cometry body it's
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 dried out and with the detarium rich
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 water gone the spacecraft can accurately
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 measure the amount of detarium coming
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 from the cometry body this all has huge
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 implications not only for understanding
00:06:00 --> 00:06:01 the comet's role in delivering Earth's
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 water but also for understanding cometry
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 observations which are providing
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 insights into the formation of the early
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 solar system madit says it means there's
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 a great opportunity to revisit past
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 observations and prepare for future ones
00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 that can better account for the effects
00:06:16 --> 00:06:25 of dust this report from NASA TV
00:06:25 --> 00:06:31 [Music]
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 one of the things that makes comets
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 excited is the fact that they're Dynamic
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 and changing and a lot of activity Rosa
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 is trying to understand the physical
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 chemical and geophysical properties of
00:06:44 --> 00:06:45 com
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 67p we have many ways in which we're
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 trying to understand what is this thing
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 made of how is it structured how does it
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 work how does it absorb heat from the
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 Sun and how do these gases come out
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 what's really happening in size the comp
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 the history of what comets are like
00:07:01 --> 00:07:05 inside has baffled humankind for decades
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 comets have only proved us wrong time
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 and time again part of science is sit on
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 the ground and deduce what's happening
00:07:12 --> 00:07:13 far
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 away started out thinking that comets
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 were maybe a floating
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 sandbank there was a time that we
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 thought of a comet as like an onion with
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 layers and then we went to a dirty
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 snowball it turns out that that's just
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 complet completely wrong what is exactly
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 the nucleus was not clear before and we
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 are now getting to understand what a
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 nucleus is made of and we started to see
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 the feature that are on the surface
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 everything was different from what we
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 expected we see smooth Sandy looking
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 areas we see Cliffs that are a kilometer
00:07:48 --> 00:07:52 High we see rough patches we see rocks
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 we've never seen anything like this
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 before we see that the surface of the
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 comet is mostly organic dust below that
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 is Harbor crust more questions are
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 arising from What Lies Beneath that
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 surface the radar tomography is the
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 first attempt ever to see inside the
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 comet we can see that this comet is very
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 rich in ice is just hidden by the crust
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 of dark
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 material the composition of ice is still
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 something that we don't completely
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 understand what it is is very
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 extraterrestrial so the properties of
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 ice and the properties of Rock may be
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 really important for explaining how this
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 Comet works and maybe more comets in
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 general and then eventually get at the
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 big question of how comets formed and
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 how they might have contributed to the
00:08:41 --> 00:08:53 formation of other planets like the
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 Earth and in that report from NASA TV
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 weard from Asam heggy a co-investigator
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 on the concert instrument on the Rosetta
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 Mission Rosetta Mission Project
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 scientist clauder Alexander Rosetta
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 Mission participating scientist Murphy
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 gatty and the deputy principal
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 investigator for the M instrument Mark
00:09:11 --> 00:09:15 Hoffer this is spacetime still to come
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 discovery of a rare main belt Comet and
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 the Bey Columbus spacecraft undertakes
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 its fifth Mercury flyby all that and
00:09:23 --> 00:09:32 more still to come on SpaceTime
00:09:32 --> 00:09:41 [Music]
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 a mysterious object discovered in the
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 main asteroid built between Mars and
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 chuper back in 2021 has now finally been
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 identified as a comet mainbuilt comets
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 are icy objects found in the main
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 asteroid built rather than the cold
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 outer solar system where most comet-like
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 bodies usually originate from belt
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 comets have regular cometry like
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 features including Tails extending away
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 from the Sun and fuzzy clouds of gas and
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 dust called Comas which originate from
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 the comet's nucleus they were first
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 discovered back in 2006 and belong to a
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 larger group of solar system objects
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 known as active asteroids which look
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 like comets but of asteroid-like orbits
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 in the warm inner solar system this
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 larger group includes objects whose coma
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 and Tails are made of ejected dust
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27 produced after an impact or through
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 Rapid rotation rather than than just the
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 ejected dust due to the vaporization of
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 ice both main bu comets and active
00:10:35 --> 00:10:36 asteroids in general are still
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 relatively rare but scientists are now
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 discovering more and more of them as
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 they begin to learn what to look for the
00:10:43 --> 00:10:44 study's lead author Henry heish from the
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 planetary Science Institute observed an
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 active asteroid cataloged as 456p pan
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 Stars twice using the Millan bade
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 telescope and the low Discovery
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 telescope in October 2024 to establish
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 its status as only the 14th confirmed
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 belt Comet a report in the journal
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 research notes of theas suggested this
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 object isn't just an asteroid that's
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 experienced a one of event that caused
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 it to show activity one time but it's an
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 inherently active icy body similar to
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 other comets from the outer solar system
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 H says that if 456p pan star's activity
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 were due to something other than ice
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 vaporization then its tail would be
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 expected to appear only once randomly
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 and not repeatedly appear whenever it
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 was close to the Sun an icy object on
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 the other hand heats up every time it
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 approaches the sun and the vaporized ice
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 drags dust out along with it on the
00:11:35 --> 00:11:36 other hand when the same object then
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 moves away from the Sun it cools and
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 this activity stops observations of
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 repeated dust ejection activity during
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 close approaches to the Sun a currently
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 considered the best and most reliable
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 way of identifying main belt comets Hy
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 says there are very few confirmed main
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 belt comets known and he wants to build
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 up the population so astronomers can get
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 a clearer idea of what their broer
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 properties are such as their size their
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 activity duration and their distribution
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 within the asteroid build this would
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 allow them to better use and Trace ises
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 across the solar system this is
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 spacetime still to come baby Columbo
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 undertakes its fifth Mercury flyby and
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 later in the science report a new study
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 claims that eating healthier during
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 pregnancy has been linked to a lower
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 chance of giving birth to a child with
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 autism all that and more still to come
00:12:27 --> 00:12:44 on SpaceTime
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45 the Bey Columbus spacecraft has just
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 completed its fifth flyby of the planet
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 Mercury the close encounter will help
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 the probe burn off some of its speed as
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 it repairs to enter orbit around the
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 Solar System's mysterious in immerse
00:12:56 --> 00:12:57 planet in
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 2026 the space raft swoop down to within
00:13:00 --> 00:13:29 some
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 red light something that depends both on
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 its temperature and the composition of
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 its surface in fact it's the first time
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 any spacecraft has measured what Mercury
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 looks like in the midinfrared range the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 data that matiz is collecting during its
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 Mission will reveal what types of
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 minerals the planet surface is made of
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 one of the key Mercury mysteries that
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 Bey kumbo is designed to tackle Bey
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 Columbo's other science instruments will
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 monitor the environment outside
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 Mercury's magnetic field including the
00:13:56 --> 00:13:57 influence of the constant stream of
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 charged particles from the Sun called
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 the solar wind on this radiated Planet
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 other instruments switched on during the
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 flyby included the magnetometer a gamma
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 ray and neutron spectrometer an x-ray
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 and particle spectrometer a dust Monitor
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 and an instrument that detects plasma
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 waves electrical fields and radio waves
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 pippy Columbo is a joint Mission between
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 the European Space Agency Issa and the
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Jaa
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 and it's the most complex Mission ever
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 to orbit Mercury it comprises two
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 separate SES orbiters EA's Mercury
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 planetary Orbiter and Jax's Mercury
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 magnetospheric Orbiter during the cruise
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 phase of their mission to Mercury the
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 two orbiters are attached to a Mercury
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 transfer module but once they're about
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 to achieve Mercury orbit insertion
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 they'll separate from the transfer
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 module and move to their own independent
00:14:48 --> 00:14:52 orbits needless to say we'll keep you
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 informed this is spacetime
00:14:54 --> 00:15:10 [Music]
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 and time now to take another brief look
00:15:12 --> 00:15:13 at some of the other stories making news
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 in science this week with the science
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 report new research shows that eating a
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 healthier diet during pregnancy is
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 linked to a lower risk of giving birth
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 to a child that would later be diagnosed
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 with autism the findings reported in the
00:15:27 --> 00:15:28 Journal of the American Medical
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 Association are based on data from two
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 large studies of parents and children
00:15:32 --> 00:15:36 involving nearly 85 pregnancies the
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 authors looked at Food questionnaires
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 autism diagnosis and autism Associated
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 traits they say that when calculating
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 the overall healthiness of Mom's diet
00:15:46 --> 00:15:47 those who adhere to a healthy prenatal
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 diet were 22% less likely to have a
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 child who would later be diagnosed with
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 autism and children of mothers with a
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 healthy prenatal diet were less likely
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 to have social communication
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 difficulties
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 a new study has found that mill worms
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 are able to eat and digest
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 microplastics with microplastics being
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 found in just about everything we
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 consume knowing there could be a
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 solution out there is a big step forward
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 the findings reported in the journal
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 biological letters suggest that these
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 tiny creatures could play a small but
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 very slow part in managing plastic
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 pollution the authors fed MW worms a
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 mixture of brown and microplastics from
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 melted face masks in the lab and found
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 the MW worms consumed about half of the
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 microplastics they were given without
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 any negative consequences for survival
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 and development they say while this
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 means that milw worms could play a role
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 in tackling the plastic pollution crisis
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 it'd be quite slow that's because it
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 would take 100 milw worms roughly four
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 to five months just to consume one face
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 mask in microplastic
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 form a new study warns that the humble
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 bumblebee sensor smell could be impacted
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 by heat waves a report in the Journal of
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 the proceedings of the Royal Society B
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 exposed bumblebees from two common
00:17:01 --> 00:17:02 European species to temperatures of up
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 to 40° C mimicking heat waves in order
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 to see how it changed their behavior the
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 authors found that after the heat the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 bees showed reduced antenna responses to
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 Floral scents suggesting that they may
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 have lost their sense of smell
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 scientists say this affected female
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 worker bees far more than male mating
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 bees and the reduced sense of smell
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 could make it harder for bees to find
00:17:26 --> 00:17:29 food Samsung are testing the water with
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 proposed new artificial intelligence
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 upgrades for their Galaxy smartphones
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 with the details we're joined by
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 technology editor Alex saharo roid from
00:17:37 --> 00:17:40 Tech advice. life the uh underlying
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 operating system of Samsung devices it
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 is Android but they're still on top is
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 called the one UI and this is now up to
00:17:47 --> 00:17:51 version 7 so Samsung previewed the one
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 UI 7 beta obviously to talk about
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 powerful AI features these updates
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 include Advanced writing assist tool so
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 this is is integrated into the OS text
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 can be selected without needing to
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 switch between applications so it's
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 within the same interface which is what
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 you'd expect and something that you
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 actually see on Apple devices normally a
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 lot of people are using AI tools so they
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 have to go from chat gbt back to word
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 and this is even though word for example
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 now has Cod pilot I mean there's a lot
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 of integration you've got upgraded call
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 features where the call transcript now
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 supports 29 languages and this is where
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 when call recording is enabled recorded
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 calls will automatically be transcribed
00:18:32 --> 00:18:33 for reference later on this is only
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 going to be for Samsung Galaxy s24 users
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 to start with initially it's going to be
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 Germany India Korea Poland and the UK do
00:18:41 --> 00:18:42 we know how often people upgrade their
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 phones look it has stretched out as the
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 cost of living has gone up and devices
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 have become more expensive I mean people
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 used to eagly update their phone year on
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 year now of course not everybody did
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 that and people have been holding on to
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 their devices for three four five years
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 and that's why Samsung and Google and
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 others promising seven years of updates
00:19:01 --> 00:19:04 for their devices now clearly a device
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 that was you know sold in 2024 is not
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 going to be anywhere near as exciting as
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 a device sold in 2030 but if the updates
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 are still made available then the
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 security updates is what is really of
00:19:16 --> 00:19:17 concern to most people because they
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18 don't want to get hacked and we have
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 seen a bounceback in the number of phone
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 sales over the past year compared to the
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 last 2 or 3 years where phone CES
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 dropped off after a bit of a boost
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 during the pandemic so yeah people
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 holding on to the devices more than ever
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 but there's always the temptation to
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 upgrade when you see these cool new AI
00:19:34 --> 00:19:35 features that are supposed to make your
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 life easier that's Alex Sahara Roy from
00:19:38 --> 00:19:42 take advice.
00:19:42 --> 00:19:54 [Music]
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 life and that's the show for now
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