SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 17
The Astronomy, Space and Science News Podcast
Volcanic Activity on Io, Ceres and the Building Blocks of Life, and New Exoplanet Search Technology
In this episode of SpaceTime, we explore the astonishing discovery of the largest volcanic hotspot ever observed on Jupiter's moon, Io. NASA's Juno mission reveals a feature that dwarfs Earth's Lake Superior and produces eruptions with six times the energy output of all the world's power plants. This unprecedented volcanic activity is driven by intense gravitational interactions with Jupiter, resulting in a dynamic landscape riddled with approximately 400 volcanoes.
The Mystery of Ceres' Organic Compounds
We also delve into new findings regarding the dwarf planet Ceres, where scientists have determined that organic deposits on its surface likely did not originate from its interior. Instead, these building blocks of life may have arrived through impacts from meteoroids, raising questions about the origins of life-sustaining compounds in our solar system.
Advancements in Exoplanet Detection Technology
Additionally, we discuss the latest advancements in technology designed to search for Earth-like exoplanets. The newly developed coronagraph for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will significantly enhance our ability to directly image distant planets by blocking out starlight, paving the way for future missions aimed at identifying habitable worlds beyond our solar system.
00:00 Space Time Series 28 Episode 17 for broadcast on 7 February 2025
00:49 Discovery of a massive volcanic hotspot on Io
06:30 Insights into organic compounds on Ceres
12:15 New technology for exoplanet detection
18:00 Omega-3 fatty acids and biological aging
22:45 Infants' sense of smell development
27:00 Tasmania's tallest trees documented
30:15 Flat Earth theory and recent Antarctic explorations
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✍️ Episode References
NASA
Nature
Journal of Geophysical Research
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21699356
Journal of Astrobiology
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/astrobiology
Australian Journal of Biology
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/25465238?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 28 episode 17
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast on the 7th of February
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 2025 coming up on space time IO exhibits
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 its most powerful volcanic activity so
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 far the dwarf planet series and the
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 building blocks of life and new
00:00:17 --> 00:00:18 technology to search for distant
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 earthlike exoplanets in deep space all
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 that and more coming up on space
00:00:24 --> 00:00:28 time welcome to SpaceTime with Stuart
00:00:28 --> 00:00:37 Gary
00:00:37 --> 00:00:44 [Music]
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 scientists with NASA's Gino Mission have
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 discovered the largest and most powerful
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 volcanic hotspot ever seen on the Jovian
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 Moon IO even by the standards of IO the
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 most volcanically active W in the solar
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 system this new feature in the moon
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 southern hemisphere is it extreme the
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 Hotpot is not only larger than Earth's
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 Lake Superior it also buches out
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 eruptions with six times the total
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 energy output of all the wilts power
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 plants the massive feature was detected
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 by Juno's Jovian infrared aoral mapper
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 instrument Juno principal investigator
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 Scott Bolton from the southwest Research
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 Institute in San Antonio Texas says the
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 find was made during the spacecraft's
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 two really close flybys of IO as part of
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 Juno's extended Mission Bolton says
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 while each flyby provided evidence on
00:01:30 --> 00:01:31 this tormented Moon that exceeded
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 science expectations the data from the
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 latest the most distant of the two
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 flybys really blew the team's Minds the
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 source of I's torment is the massive
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 gravitational tidle interactions with
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 its host planet Jupiter about the size
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 of the Earth's Moon IO orbits extremely
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 close to the mammoth gas giant at its
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 elliptical orbit whips it around Jupiter
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 every 42 and 1/2 hours now as this
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 distance varies so does Jupiter's
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 gravitational pullon iio which leads to
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 the Tiny Moon being relentlessly
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 squeezed and stretched the result an
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 immense amount of energy from frictional
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 Heating and that melts portions of io's
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 interior resulting in a seemingly
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 endless series of volcanic plumes and
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 Ash venting into the atmosphere from an
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 estimated 400 volcanoes that riddle its
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 surface designed to capture the infrared
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 light emerging from deep inside Jupiter
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 Juno's Jovian infrared auroral mappa
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 probes the gas Giant's weather layer
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 peering some 50 to 70 kilm below its
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 Cloud tops but since NASA extended
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 Juno's Mission the team have also been
00:02:33 --> 00:02:34 using the instrument to study the
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 Galilean moons IO Europa ganim and
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 Kalisto during its extended Mission
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 Juno's trajectory passes very close to
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 IO every other orbit flying over the
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 same part of the Moon every time
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 previously the spacecraft made a series
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 of close flybys of IO in December 2023
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 and February 2024 getting to within 1500
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 km of its surface and this latest flyby
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 took place on December the 27th bringing
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 the spacecraft to within about 74 km
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 of the Moon with its infrared instrument
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 trained on io's Southern Hemisphere and
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 while doing so Juno detected an event of
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 extreme infrared Radiance a massive hot
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 spot so strong that it literally
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 saturated the detector Bolton and
00:03:17 --> 00:03:18 colleagues believe they actually
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 detected a few closely spaced hotpots
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 that all emitted at the same time
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 suggesting a vast subsurface magma
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 chamber the data supports that this is
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 the most intense volcanic eruption ever
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 did detected on iO you also is estimate
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 that this as yet unnamed feature spans
00:03:34 --> 00:03:38 about 100 square km previous record
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 holder was I's Loki Peta Al of a lake of
00:03:40 --> 00:03:44 about 20 Square km the total power
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 value of the new hotspots Radiance
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 measured well above 80 trillion Watts
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 the feature was also captured by the
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 missions Juno cam invisible light the
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 authors then compare the Juno cam images
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 from two previous iio flybys with those
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 collected on December the 27th and while
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 these most recent images are of lower
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 resolution since Juno was further away
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 the relative changes in the surface
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 coloring around the new discovered
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 hotspot was still very clear such
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 changes in io's surface are known in the
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 planetary science Community to be
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 associated with hot spots and volcanic
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 activity an eruption of this magnitude
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 is likely to leave longlived signatures
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 other large eruptions in IO have created
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 varying features such as pyroclastic
00:04:26 --> 00:04:27 deposits composed of rock fragments
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 spewed out by a volcano small lava flows
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 that may be fed by fishes and Volcanic
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 plume deposits rich in Sulfur and sulfur
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 dioxide Mission managers will use an
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 upcoming more distant flyby of Iowa on
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 March the 3D to look at the Hotpot again
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 and search for changes in the landscape
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 needless to say we'll keep you informed
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 this is spacetime still to come the
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 dwarf planet series in the building
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 blocks of life and new technology to
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 search for distant earthlike exoplanets
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 in deep space all that and more still to
00:04:59 --> 00:05:00 come
00:05:00 --> 00:05:01 on
00:05:01 --> 00:05:15 [Music]
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 SpaceTime scientists are being faced
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 with a new puzzle about the dwarf planet
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 series a new study suggest that organic
00:05:23 --> 00:05:24 deposits discovered on the surface of
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 this bizarre Cayo volcanic world are
00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 unlikely to have originated from its
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 interior organic molecules are among the
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 necessary inventory of life-friendly
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 worlds on Earth the compounds of carbon
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 hydrogen and in smaller quantities other
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 elements form the basic building blocks
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 of all life in recent years scientists
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 have found such molecules at Great
00:05:46 --> 00:05:47 distances from the Sun on trans
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 neptunian objects comets and Far Away
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 asteroids these bodies are thought to be
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 largely unaltered remnants from the
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 early days of the solar system 4.6
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 billion years ago the building blocks of
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 life may therefore have been part of
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 their basic configuration from the very
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 beginning and possibly reach the inner
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 solar system only later now for the
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 current study the authors look for
00:06:09 --> 00:06:10 previously unknown deposits of organic
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 material on the dwarf planet series with
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 its location in the middle of the main
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 asteroid built between the orbits of
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 Mars and Jupiter this strange little
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 world appears neither clearly native to
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 the inner nor the outer Solar System
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 earlier Studies have even suggested that
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 this location May well be its birthplace
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 scientists are there for interested in
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 the origins of series organic components
00:06:33 --> 00:06:34 did they originate locally in the
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 asteroid built or did they arrive later
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 evidence of deposits of organic material
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 on the series were already found during
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 the early stages of NASA's Dawn Mission
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 the dawn spacecraft reach Series in
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 March 2015 remaining in orbit studying
00:06:49 --> 00:06:50 this unique world for about 3 and A2
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 years during this time its scientific
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 camera system and spectrometer scan the
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 entire surface of the dwarf planet
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 potential patches of organic material
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 can be detected from the camera's data
00:07:02 --> 00:07:03 and the brightness of the light
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 reflected from these areas increases
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 noticeably with increasing wavelength
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 meanwhile the spectrometer splits this
00:07:10 --> 00:07:11 light into many more wavelengths than
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 the camera can and therefore canot
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 identify the presence of any Organics
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 unfortunately this remote data isn't
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 sufficient to be able to identify
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21 individual types of molecules Beyond
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 Reasonable Doubt however scientists are
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 certain that the discovered deposits
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 consist of organic compounds that have a
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 chain-like structure scientists refer to
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 such molecules as alphatic hydrocarbons
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 the authors of the study have now used
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 artificial intelligence to comb through
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 the entire surface of the dwarf planet
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 looking for traces of alphatic organic
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 molecules the study's lead author rangan
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 Sea from the max plank Institute says
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 the SES of such organic molecules are
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 actually quite rare on series and devoid
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 of any cryo volcanic signatures the vast
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 majority of deposits can be found along
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 the edge or near the large eratic crater
00:07:57 --> 00:07:58 in the dwarf planet's northern
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 hemisphere
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 only three other deposits are located
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 there and two of these patches were not
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 previously known a closer look at the
00:08:06 --> 00:08:07 structures around the organic materials
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 locations has failed to find any
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 evidence of current or past volcanic or
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 tectonic activity there are no trenches
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 no Canyons no volcanic domes or vents
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 nothing nor were there any deep impact
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 craters nearby now during the dawn
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 Mission series showed itself to be an
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 extraordinarily cryo volcanic World a
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 watery brine is hidden under its surf
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 surf which in some places has been
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 seeping out on of the surface until
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 fairly recently now it is possible that
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 series unique cryo volcanism may have
00:08:38 --> 00:08:39 transported some organic material from
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 the interior to the surface but these
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 new results simply aren't supporting
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 that hypothesis there's just no evidence
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 for organic matter at the SES of cryo
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 volcanic activity and where organic
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 compounds have been detected there's no
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 evidence of deeper surface activity so
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 the authors are suggesting that the
00:08:57 --> 00:08:58 impact of meteoroids from the outer
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 asteroid belt probably introduced the
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 organic material to series and computer
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 simulation showed that these bodies
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 could frequently collide with series now
00:09:08 --> 00:09:09 importantly since these nearby neighbors
00:09:10 --> 00:09:11 aren't picking up a lot of speed only a
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 small amount of heat would be generated
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 by the impacts and organic compounds
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 could survive these temperatures
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 unfortunately Dawn didn't detect all
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 types of organic compounds it's just as
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 likely that the building blocks of life
00:09:24 --> 00:09:25 could have been formed in series
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 subsurface ocean perhaps even reaching
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 the surface the authors would like to
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 see a future land emission to series to
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 detect the origins of any organic
00:09:34 --> 00:09:38 material this is spacetime still to come
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 new technology to search for distant
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 earthlike exoplanets in deep space and
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 later in the science report scientists
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 carry out a survey of tasmania's tallest
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 trees all that and more still to come on
00:09:51 --> 00:09:52 SpaceTime
00:09:52 --> 00:09:59 [Music]
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 scientists and Engineers are continuing
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 their work building NASA's next big
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 window on the cosmos the Nancy Grace ran
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 Space Telescope one of the key
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 technology demonstration instruments the
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 Roman chronograph has just arrived at
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 NASA's Godard space flight center in
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 greenb Maryland there it'll be
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 incorporated into the new orbiting
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 Observatory the Roman coronograph will
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 help increase the variety of distant
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 exoplanets that is planets orbiting
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 other stars that scientists will be able
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 to directly image it'll help pave the
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 way in the search for habitable worlds
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 outside our solar system by blocking out
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 the glare of Starlight that would
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 otherwise hide an orbiting Planet the
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 chronograph was shipped cross country
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 from where it was made at NASA's jet
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 propulsion laboratory in Pasad
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 California once proven on Roman similar
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 Technologies on a future Mission could
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 enable astronomers to use the chonograph
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 to identify chemicals in an EXO planet's
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 atmosphere including ones that
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 potentially indicate the presence of
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 life from other star systems planet
00:11:06 --> 00:11:07 Earth would appear approximately 10
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 billion times dimmer than the Sun and
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 the two are relatively close together so
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 trying to directly image the Earth would
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 be like trying to see a speck of
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 bioluminous and algae next to a
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 lighthouse from 5 km away even with
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 previous chronographic Technologies the
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 glare from a masked star would still
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 overwhelm an earthlike planet and that's
00:11:28 --> 00:11:29 where the Roman chronograph comes in
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 it'll demonstrate techniques that can
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 remove more unwanted Starlight than past
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 space chronographs and it does this by
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 using several movable components these
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 moving parts will make it the first
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 active coronograph in space its main
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 tools are two deformable mirrors each
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 just 5 cm in diameter and back by more
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 than 2 tiny Pistons that move up and
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 down these Pistons work together to
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 change the shape of the deformable
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 mirrors so that they can compensate for
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 unwanted stray light that spills around
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 the edges of The Masks the deformable
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 mirrors also help correct for
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 imperfections in the Roman telescope's
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 other Optics although they're too small
00:12:08 --> 00:12:09 to affect Roman's other high Precision
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 measurements the imperfections can allow
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 stray Starlight in and precise changes
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 made to each deformable mirror shape
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 imperceptible to the uned eye compensate
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 for these imperfections so far more than
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 5 exoplanets have been discovered
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 most have been detected indirectly
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 meaning their presence is inferred based
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 on how they affect their parent star
00:12:31 --> 00:12:32 detecting these relative changes in the
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 parent star is a lot easier than trying
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 to see the signal from the much fainter
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 planet in fact of the more than 5
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 exoplanets fewer than 70 have been
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 directly imaged and those planets that
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 have been directly imaged to date aren't
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 like the Earth most are much bigger a
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 lot hotter and typically much further
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 from their host stars now these features
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 make them easier to detect but it also
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 means that they're far less hospitable
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 for Life as We Know It to look for
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 potentially habitable worlds ssts need
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 to image planets that are not only
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 billions of times dimmer than their
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 stars but also orbit their stars in the
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 so-called habitable zone the Goldilocks
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 region where it's not too hot and not
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 too cold but just right for liquid water
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 to exist on a planet surface and what
00:13:17 --> 00:13:18 NASA learns from the Roman coronograph
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 will help Blaze the path for future
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 mirrors designed to directly image
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 earth-sized planets orbiting in the
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 habitable zones of sunlike
00:13:26 --> 00:13:30 stars this report from NASA TV they is
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 there life out there are we alone one
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 NASA instrument will get us closer to
00:13:36 --> 00:13:37 finding answers to some of Humanity's
00:13:37 --> 00:13:38 biggest
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 questions NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 Telescope will fly with an instrument on
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 board called the coronagraph that will
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 allow scientists to see exoplanets or
00:13:48 --> 00:13:49 worlds beyond our solar system like
00:13:49 --> 00:13:53 never before so a coronograph is a
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 camera or an instrument that we use to
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 look at planets around other stars and
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 the reason we need a special instrument
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 to do this is because stars are so much
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 brighter than planets and what we need
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 to do is we need to put something in
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 front of the star to block the light
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 from the Star so that we can instead see
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 the very faint light coming from the
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 planet the Roman coronograph built at
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 NASA's jet propulsion lab will take a
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 giant leap forward in our ability to see
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 worlds beyond our solar system and we'll
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 observe larger exoplanets roughly the
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 size of Jupiter testing the technology
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 to see these planets is the stepping
00:14:30 --> 00:14:31 stone toward one day capturing direct
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 images of earthlike planets around
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 sunlike Stars these Technologies include
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 different specially designed masks and
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 self flexing mirrors that will work
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 together to block Starlight making
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 planets orbiting these Stars observable
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46 testing technologies that could enable
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 future missions like NASA's habitable
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 worlds Observatory Mission concept and
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 one of the primary goals for the
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 habitable world's Observatory will be to
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 use a coronograph using the technology
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 that we demonstrate in the Roman
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 coronograph to look for signs of life
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 around earth like planets orbiting
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 sunlike Stars if we show that these
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 Technologies work together well we will
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 have demonstrated about a thousand times
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 better performance of a coronograph in
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 blocking staright and allowing Planet
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 light to come through than any
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 coronograph ever built as an embarks on
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 its Journey to the Stars aboard NASA's
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope the
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 Roman coronograph instrument will pave
00:15:29 --> 00:15:30 the way for future searches for
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 habitable worlds and ultimately the
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 search for life beyond Earth and in that
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 report from Messa TV we heard from Roman
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 chonograph instrument technologist
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 Vanessa Bailey and Roman coronograph
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 Deputy project scientist Jason rhods
00:15:44 --> 00:15:48 this SpaceTime
00:15:48 --> 00:15:54 [Music]
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 and time now to take another brief look
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 at some of the other stories making USS
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 in science this week with a science
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 report a new study claims consuming a
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids may
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 help your organs stay young the findings
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 reported in the journal Nature based on
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 clinical trials showing that consuming
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 just one gram of Omega-3 per day appears
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 to slow down your rate of biological
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 aging biological aging is the gradual
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 process by which all cells tissues and
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 all organs slowly but surely
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 deteriorate a new study has discovered
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 that babies start to be able to sense
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 smells at the age of Just 4 weeks a
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 report of the journal Jane neosi scanned
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 baby's brains as they were exposed to
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 Pleasant and unpleasant odors in order
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 to see when the Sens of smell first
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 develops in infants the authors found
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 that at just one month of age smells
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 triggered activity in the smell
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 detecting and sensory processing regions
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 of baby's brains the level of brain
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 activity VAR between odors but unlike
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 adults different smells didn't trigger
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 unique activity patterns in a baby's
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 brain however measuring How Deeply
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 babies inhaled the researchers found
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10 they inhaled more vigorously when the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 smells were nice than when they were
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 nasty scientists have documented the
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 tallest trees in Tasmania including what
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 the authors say is Australia's tallest
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 known living tree a 96 M High giant
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 eucalypt called Centurion Now by
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 comparison the authors found the tallest
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 known tree in Victoria to be 93 m tall
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 in Western Australia it was 78 M High
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 the tallest tree in New South wals was
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 71 M high and queensland's Big Bob at
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 72.8 M is the tallest tree in the
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 Sunshine State the authors say there
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 were no known trees over 70 m in height
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 in South Australia the Northern
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 Territory or the act the researchers
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 also discovered a tree with a trunk
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 volume of 463 cubic M which they say is
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 easily the largest known Tree in
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 Australia the findings reported in the
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 Australian Journal of biology set out to
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 document the tallest trees in Tasmania
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 and found six species of eucalyp with
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 trees that are either more than 70 M
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 tall or 11 1/2 m in girth these giant
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 trees occur in a band between dry
00:18:15 --> 00:18:16 forests and temperate rainforests and
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 the researchers say they're vulnerable
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 to fire with 60% of the largest known
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 trees already killed by fire since
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 2004 by the way for the record the
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 world's tallest trees are the giant
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 Redwood sycamores of the Pacific
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 Northwest the biggest of which is the
00:18:31 --> 00:18:58 mighty Hyperion which stands 11 16.07%
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 Over the Horizon see flat earthers have
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 long maintained that Antarctica holds
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 the key to proving the Earth is flat in
00:19:06 --> 00:19:07 the Flat Earth view of the world
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 Antarctica is actually an ice wall that
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 encircles the other continents and holds
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 in the oceans now if the flat Earth's
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 view was correct the sun would need to
00:19:15 --> 00:19:18 rise and set each day even in Antarctica
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 and it could simply never Circle the sky
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 over 24 hours but Tim menum from
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 Australian skeptic says after seeing the
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 sun fail to set flat earthers are now
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 busy searching for ways to to try and
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 reconcile the 24-hour son with their
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 current Flat Earth theories the
00:19:33 --> 00:19:34 interesting thing about Flat Earth is is
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 some it's a lot of them actually it's a
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37 lot more than you think they should be
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 one of the producers I worked with at
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 the Abc during my more than quarter of a
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 century at the organization was a flat
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 earther and you could not convince her
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 that the Earth wasn't flat no matter and
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 I said NASA have checked they've been in
00:19:51 --> 00:19:52 space they've looked it's definitely
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 round and how come all the other around
00:19:55 --> 00:19:56 government cover the other ones around
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 this is an educated person is a producer
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 at the journal at the Abc the thing you
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 discover is that education has no
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 bearing on belief in certain things if
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 people want to believe something
00:20:06 --> 00:20:07 education goes out the window or they
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 will fit it to the education the thing
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 with flat earther is there's a lot more
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 flat earther than you think there are if
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 you talk to them some of them are very
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 sophisticated in their explanations for
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 why the Earth is flat and why other
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 people think it's round they hate to use
00:20:19 --> 00:20:21 the term the globe that's wrong one
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 particular um experiment if you like was
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 to by a pastor believe it or not from
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 Colorado who took a bunch of senior
00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 leading bloggers and on Flat Earth who
00:20:31 --> 00:20:32 are you know Pro Flat Earth down to
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 Antarctica because according to Flat
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 Earth the theory Antarctica is on the
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 rim with the big ice wall governed by
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 Nasser I believe they're patrolling it
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 yeah whatever the case that the sun does
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 set and Rise as we said it every day and
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 that therefore on a flat Earth there
00:20:47 --> 00:20:48 should be no place on the Earth where
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 the sun does not set and they took into
00:20:50 --> 00:20:52 Antarctica during the southern Summers
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 where the Sun never sets it dips down
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 close to the Horizon but it doesn't
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 actually set and these Flat Earth said
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 whoops well that negates the theory but
00:21:00 --> 00:21:01 of course like all these people and
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 believers they were soon finding reasons
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 for why that might happen and you oh
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 this is only in this particular area I
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 don't know why they'd say that the
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 moving to any place in Antarctic or all
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 than Northern Arctic as well and you'd
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 see the same phenomenon but like all
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 believers they will find an explanation
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 and some says I don't think it falsifies
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 a plane or Earth PL n e Earth I don't
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 think it proves the globe I think it's a
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 singular data point so they're out there
00:21:25 --> 00:21:26 and like all people who believe in
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 certain phenomenon or conspiracy theory
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 or whatever it's very hard to convince
00:21:30 --> 00:21:31 them otherwise even when you show them
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 convincing evidence that's timum from
00:21:34 --> 00:21:37 Australian
00:21:37 --> 00:21:49 [Music]
00:21:49 --> 00:21:53 Skeptics and that's the show for now
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 SpaceTime is available every Monday
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00:22:45 --> 00:22:46 been listening to SpaceTime with Stuart
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 Gary this has been another quality
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