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In this episode of SpaceTime, we uncover exciting new research challenging our understanding of dark matter, reveal hidden treasures beneath the Earth's surface, and explore the potential for life on Titan, Saturn's enigmatic moon.
Modified Newtonian Dynamics: A Dark Matter Alternative
Recent studies suggest that modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) may serve as a viable alternative to the elusive dark matter hypothesis. This theory, proposed by physicist Mordecai Milgrom, modifies Newton's laws to explain the gravitational behavior observed in galaxies without relying on dark matter. We delve into the latest findings that support MOND, including a novel method for measuring gravity in wide binary star systems, which indicates that gravity may actually be stronger than Newton's predictions under certain conditions.
Earth's Hidden Gold Reserves
A groundbreaking study reveals that Earth's core may contain vast reserves of gold and other precious metals, far beyond what is accessible on the surface. Researchers discovered traces of ruthenium in volcanic rocks from Hawaii, suggesting that these metals originated from the core and are leaking into the mantle. This research opens new avenues for understanding Earth's internal dynamics and the movement of materials from the core to the surface.
Searching for Life's Chemistry on Titan
NASA's upcoming Dragonfly mission aims to investigate the intriguing chemistry of life on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. With its organic-rich environment and unique geological features, Titan presents an opportunity to study prebiotic chemistry in a way that Earth cannot. We explore how Dragonfly will analyze the moon's surface and atmosphere to uncover clues about the processes that may have led to the emergence of life, potentially reshaping our understanding of habitability in the universe.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com (https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/)
✍️ Episode References
Astrophysical Journal
https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X (https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X)
Nature
https://www.nature.com/nature/ (https://www.nature.com/nature/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
00:00 This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 68 for broadcast on 6 June 2025
01:00 Modified Newtonian dynamics as an alternative to dark matter
12:15 Earth's hidden gold reserves
22:30 Searching for life's chemistry on Titan
30:00 Science report: Ancient tool-making from whale bones and quantum computing breakthroughs
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/27507595?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 This is Spacetime Series 28, episode 68
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 6th of June,
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 2025. Coming up on Spacetime,
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 confirmation of modified Newtonian
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 dynamics is a viable alternative to dark
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 matter. A new study shows the Earth's
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 core contains vast hidden gold reserves
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 and looking for the chemistry of life on
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 the Saturnian moon Titan. All that and
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 more coming up on Spaceime.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:31 Welcome to Space Time with Stuart
00:00:31 --> 00:00:38 [Music]
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 Garry. A new study has provided more
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 evidence that the hypothesis of modified
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 Newtonian dynamics or Mond could provide
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 a plausible alternative to dark matter.
00:00:55 --> 00:00:56 Dark matter is one of the biggest
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 mysteries in science today. It's a
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 mysterious invisible substance which
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 only interacts gravitationally with
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 ordinary so-called barionic matter,
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 providing the additional mass needed to,
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 for example, stop galaxies from flinging
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 apart as they revolve. And there's a lot
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 of it making up over 85% of all the
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 matter in the universe. And that's
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 disturbing for science because it means
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 less than 15% of the universe is made up
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 of the stuff we know, the normal bionic
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 matter, the stuff stars, planets,
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 houses, trees, cars, cats, and people
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 are made of. The problem is scientists
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 have no idea what dark matter is. There
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 are several subatomic candidates for it,
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 but there's no proof. And that's where
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 modified Newtonian dynamics or M comes
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 in. Now, M is a theory that proposes a
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 modified form of Newton's laws to
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 account for the observed properties of
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 galaxies. M was developed back in 1982
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 by Israeli physicist Morai Mgrim. Mgrim
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 noted that galaxy's rotational curve
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 data, which seemed to show the galaxies
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 contain more matter than is observed,
00:01:58 --> 00:01:59 could also be explained if the
00:02:00 --> 00:02:01 gravitational force experienced by a
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 star in the outer regions of a galaxy
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 decays more slowly than what's predicted
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 by Newton's law of gravity. So modifies
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 Newton's laws for extremely small
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 accelerations which are common in
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 galaxies and galaxy clusters and this
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 provided a good fit for the rotational
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 curve data while at the same time
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 leaving the dynamics of say our solar
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 system with its strong gravitational
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 field intact. The new research reported
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 in the astrophysical journal looked at
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 wide binary stars with separations
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 greater than 2 astronomical units
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33 which are interesting natural
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 laboratories for allowing a direct probe
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 of gravity at low acceleration. weaker
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 than about 1 nanome/s squared. By the
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 way, an astronomical unit, well, that's
00:02:42 --> 00:02:43 the average distance between the earth
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 and the sun. About 150 million
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 kilometers or 8.3 light minutes. And
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 that's where the new method comes in.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 Astrophysicist Caillong Sha from Seong
00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 University has developed a new method of
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 measuring gravity with all three
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 components of the velocities of stars as
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 a major improvement over existing
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 statistical methods which rely on sky
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 projected two-dimensional models. The
00:03:05 --> 00:03:06 new method derives directly the
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 probability three-dimensional
00:03:08 --> 00:03:09 distribution of gravity between a
00:03:10 --> 00:03:11 distant pair of stars in a binary
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 system. She says existing methods to
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 infer gravity have the limitation that
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 only the sky projected velocities are
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 being used and so they have limitations
00:03:21 --> 00:03:22 in accounting for the uncertainties of
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 factors including stellar masses to
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 derive the probability distribution of a
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 gravity parameter. This new method
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 overcomes these limitations. Until now,
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 the motions of wide binaries could only
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 be measured in a sort of snapshot method
00:03:36 --> 00:03:37 observed only at a specific phase of
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 orbital motion. That's because of the
00:03:40 --> 00:03:41 very long orbital periods of these
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 binaries, which ideally should be
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 observed for the full orbit. And that's
00:03:45 --> 00:03:46 where the new method comes in. It
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 requires accurate values for a third
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 velocity component, the line of sight or
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 radial velocity. So only wide binaries
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 with precisely measured radial
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 velocities could be used. Now to test
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 the model, Sheay looked at 300 wide
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 binaries with relatively precise radial
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 velocities which was selected from the
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 European Space Ay's Guide Database 3
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 release. Sheay found that for wide
00:04:08 --> 00:04:09 binaries whose stars orbit each other
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 with an internal acceleration greater
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 than about 10 nanome/s squared, the
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 inferred gravity is precisely Newtonian.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 But for an internal acceleration lower
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 than about 1 nanometer/s squared or a
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 separation greater than about 2
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 astronomical units, inferred gravity is
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 actually about 40 to 50% stronger than
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 Newton. The significance of this
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 deviation is 4.2 sigma, meaning that
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 standard gravity is outside the
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 99% probability range and that just
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 happens to match the predictions of
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 Mond. Sheay says the findings are
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 encouraging. Encouraging enough for
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 further investigation.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 This is spaceime. Still to come, a new
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 study shows that Earth's core would
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 contain vast amounts of gold reserves
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 and plans to look for the chemistry of
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 life on Saturn's moon Titan. All that
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 and more still to come on
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 Spaceime. This episode of Spaceime is
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 brought to you by Insta 360, the
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00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 surface, well, the X5's IP68
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00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 That's why the X5 features flow rate
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00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 information, be sure to check out the
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 links in our show notes. Once again,
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 that store
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 insta360.com and use the promo code
00:06:35 --> 00:06:42 spacetime. And now it's back to our
00:06:42 --> 00:06:50 [Music]
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 show. A new study has found that Earth's
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 largest gold reserves aren't kept deep
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 inside Fort Knox, but instead lie buried
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 deep under 3 kilometers of solid
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 rock. A report in the journal Nature
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 suggests that over
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 99% of Earth's stores of gold and
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 other precious metals are locked away
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 within Earth's metallic core and far
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 beyond the reaches of humans. The
00:07:13 --> 00:07:14 findings are based on the discovery of
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 traces of the precious metal ruinium in
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 volcanic rocks on the islands of Hawaii
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 that were literally blasted out from the
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 Earth's core. Now, compared to Earth's
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 rocky mantle, the metallic core contains
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 a slightly higher abundance of a
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 specific runinium isotope, RU 100.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 That's because part of the ruinium,
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33 which was locked in the Earth's core,
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34 together with gold and other precious
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 metals when the planet formed 4.6
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 billion years ago, came from a different
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 source than the scarce amount contained
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 in the Earth's mantle today. These
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 differences in RU00 are so tiny that
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 until now it was impossible to detect
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 them. But a new test has now made it
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 possible to resolve them. The unusually
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 higher RU00 signal found in lavas on
00:07:54 --> 00:07:55 Earth's surface would have ultimately
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 originated from the core mantle boundary
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 region that's 3 km down. The studies
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 authors Neils Mesling and Matias Wilbold
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 from Gnham University say the results
00:08:05 --> 00:08:06 confirm that material in the Earth's
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 core including gold and other precious
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 metals are leaking into the planet's
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 mantle above. The findings not only show
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 that the Earth's core isn't as isolated
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 as previously assumed, it also proves
00:08:16 --> 00:08:17 that huge volumes of superheated
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 metallic material, several hundreds of
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 quadrillion metric tons of rock
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 originate from the core mantle boundary
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 and then rise to the surface to form
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 oceanic islands like Hawaii. The authors
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 say these new findings are opening up an
00:08:30 --> 00:08:31 entirely new perspective on the
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 evolution of the internal dynamics of
00:08:34 --> 00:08:38 our home planet. This is spaceime. Still
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 to come, looking for the chemistry of
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 life on the moon Titan. And later in the
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 science report, a new study claims
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 humans may have been making tools from
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 whale bones as far back as 20 years
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 ago. All that and more still to come on
00:08:52 --> 00:08:53 Spaceime.
00:08:53 --> 00:09:02 [Music]
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 When it descends through the thick
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 golden haze of Saturn's moon Titan,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 NASA's Dragonfly rotocraft will find an
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 eerily similar Earthlike terrain. It'll
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 see dunes wrapping around Titan's
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 equator. There'll be clouds drifting
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 across its skies. Rain will be drizzling
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 down to the surface, forming rivers,
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 which flow into canyons, streaming into
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 lakes, and eventually seas. But not
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 everything is as familiar as it seems.
00:09:34 --> 00:09:38 See, at - 180° C, the sandunes on Titan
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 aren't silicut grains, but organic
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 material. The rivers, lakes, and seas
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 aren't water, but liquid methane and
00:09:45 --> 00:09:49 ethane. On Titan, water is frozen solid
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 forming bedrock. Titan, you see, is a
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 frigid world laden with organic
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 molecules. Yet, Dragonfly, a car-sized
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 rotocraft set to launch no earlier than
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 2028, will explore this frigid world to
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 potentially answer one of science's
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 biggest questions. How did life begin?
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 Now, I admit seeking answers about life
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 in a place where it can't likely survive
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 seems strange, but that's precisely the
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 point. Dragonfly principal investigator
00:10:15 --> 00:10:16 ZB Turtle from the John's Hopkins
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 Applied Physics Laboratory in Lurel,
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 Maryland says Dragonfly isn't a mission
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 to detect life. Instead, it's a mission
00:10:23 --> 00:10:24 to investigate the chemistry that came
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 before biology here on Earth. On Titan,
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 scientists can explore the chemical
00:10:29 --> 00:10:30 processes that may have led to life on
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 Earth without life complicating the
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 picture. See, on Earth, life has already
00:10:35 --> 00:10:36 reshaped everything, burying its
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 chemical forebears deep beneath eons of
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 evolution. Turtle says you need to go
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 from a simple to complex form of
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 chemistry before you can jump across to
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 biology. But science doesn't know all
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 the steps. And Titan will allow
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 researchers to uncover at least some of
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 them. In this way, I guess you can think
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 of Titan as an untouched chemical
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 laboratory where all the ingredients
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 known for life, organics, liquid, water,
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 and energy exist and have interacted in
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 the past. What dragonfly will uncover
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 will illuminate a past long since erased
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 on Earth. And it will refine science's
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 understanding of habitability and
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 whether the chemistry that sparked life
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 on Earth is actually a universal rule or
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 a wondrous cosmic fluke that only
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 happened once. Before NASA's Cassini
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 Huygens's mission, researchers didn't
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 know just how rich Titan is in organic
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 molecules. Huygen mission data combined
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 with laboratory experiments have
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 revealed a molecular smores board.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 ethane, propane, acetylene, acetone,
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 vinyl cyanide, benzene. These molecules
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 all fall to the surface forming thick
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 deposits on Titan's frozen water
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 bedrock. And scientists believe life
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 related chemistry could have started
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 there if given some liquid water, such
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 as from, say, an asteroid impact. And
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 that's why scientists are looking at a
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 specific location on Titan called Silk
00:11:51 --> 00:11:55 Crater, an 80 km wide impact site. It's
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 a key dragonfly destination, not only
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 because it's covered in organics, but
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00 also because it may have once had liquid
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 water for an extended period of time.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 See, the impact that forms silk melted
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 the frozen water bedrock, thereby
00:12:07 --> 00:12:08 creating a temporary pool of liquid
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 water that could have remained liquid
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 for hundreds of thousands of years under
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 an insulating layer of ice. Sort of like
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 winter ponds here on Earth. Now, if a
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 natural antifreeze like ammonia were
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 mixed in, the pool could have remained
00:12:20 --> 00:12:21 unfrozen even longer. blending water
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 with organics and the impact of silicon,
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 phosphorus, sulfur, and iron to form a
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 primordial soup. For decades now,
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 scientists have simulated Earth's early
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 conditions, mixing water with simple
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 organics to create a sort of prebiotic
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 soup, and then jumpst starting reactions
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 with an electrical shock. The problem is
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 time. Most of these tests last weeks,
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 maybe a few months or years at most. But
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 the milk pools and Silk Crater could
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46 possibly have lasted for tens of
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 thousands of years. Now, that's still
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 shorter than the hundreds of millions of
00:12:50 --> 00:12:51 years it took for life to emerge on
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 Earth, but potentially it's enough time
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 for critical chemistry to occur. Thing
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 is, we don't know how long it took for
00:12:58 --> 00:12:59 Earth life to be created because
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 conditions had to stabilize and the
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 chemistry itself needed time. But the
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 models show that if you do toss Titan's
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 organics into water, tens of thousands
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 of years should be plenty of time for
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 chemistry to happen. And Dragonfly will
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 test that theory. Landing near silk,
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 it'll fly from sight to sight, analyzing
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 the surface chemistry to investigate the
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 frozen remains of what could have been
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 prebiotic chemistry in action. Dragonfly
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 will use a mass spectrometer to search
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 for indicators of complex chemistry. For
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 example, on Earth, amino acids,
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 fundamental to proteins, appear in
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 specific patterns. A world without life
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 would merely manufacture the simplest
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 amino acids and form fewer complex ones.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 Now, generally, Titan isn't regarded as
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 habitable. It's far too cold for the
00:13:43 --> 00:13:44 chemistry of life as we know it to
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 occur. And there's no liquid water on
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 the surface where the organics and
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 likely energy sources exist. Still,
00:13:51 --> 00:13:52 scientists are assuming that if a place
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 has life's ingredients and enough time,
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 complex chemistry, eventually even life,
00:13:57 --> 00:13:58 could
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 emerge. Now, if Titan proves otherwise,
00:14:01 --> 00:14:02 it could mean scientists have
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 misunderstood something about how life
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 began. And that means life would be a
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 lot rarer than what we thought. But of
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 course, they won't know unless they
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 look. And that's where Dragonfly comes
00:14:12 --> 00:14:16 in. This report from NASA TV. Saturn's
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 largest moon, Titan, has a thick
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 atmosphere and a frozen surface rich in
00:14:20 --> 00:14:24 organic molecules. In 2034, a NASA
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 mission called Dragonfly will arrive at
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 Titan and study its chemical makeup.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 Dragonfly is a rocraft designed to visit
00:14:32 --> 00:14:36 multiple sites across the moon's varied
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 terrain. At each new landing site on
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 Titan's surface, Dragonfly uses a pulse
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 neutron generator and onboard gammaray
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 sensor to detect key elements such as
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 carbon and hydrogen in organic materials
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 or oxygen in water ice. Dragonfly
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 determines if there are well-defined
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 layers of these materials just below the
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 lander. For a closer inspection,
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 Dragonfly uses its drill to generate
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 tailings from Titan's hard, frozen
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 surface.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:06 These surface samples can then be
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 ingested through the pneumatic system
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 carried with Titan air into the chilled
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 sample lines into the sample collection
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 carousel. One of the carousel sample
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 cups is placed in a pneumatic port. The
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 cup captures the surface material from
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 the cold air stream and transfers it to
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 the chemical laboratory for measurement.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 Pulses from a laser release large
00:15:28 --> 00:15:29 organic molecules from the surface
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 sample for analysis in the mass
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 spectrometer. The mass spectrometer
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 sorts molecules by mass and measures
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 diagnostic fragments that tell dragonfly
00:15:39 --> 00:15:40 the kinds of chemical components that
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 are present in the surface and whether
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 there are molecules of prebiotic
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 interest. For those potential prebiotic
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 samples, a new cup is placed into an
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 oven and heated to release molecules
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 into a gas chromatograph where they are
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 sorted for size and type before entering
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 the mass spectrometer. This advanced
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 separation of organic components
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 includes isolating molecules with the
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 same formula but different chyal
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 arrangements or handedness. Having a
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 preference for one-handedness over
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 another is a key bio signature for life
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 on Earth. When the chemical analysis is
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 complete, Dragonfly may choose to take
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 another surface sample or find a new
00:16:19 --> 00:16:29 location on Titan to investigate.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 This is
00:16:31 --> 00:16:46 [Music]
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 spaceime. And time now to take another
00:16:49 --> 00:16:50 brief look at some of the other stories
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 making news in science this week with a
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 science report. A new study claims
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 humans may have been making tools from
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 well bones for at least the last 20
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 years. The findings reported in the
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03 journal Nature Communications are based
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 on an analysis of 83 bone tools and 90
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 additional bones excavated from dig
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 sites around Spain. The authors claimed
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 that these objects could represent the
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 earliest human use of whale remains. The
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 bones came from at least five species of
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 large whales, including sperm whales,
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 fin whales, blue whales, and right or
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 bowhead whales. Interestingly, a
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 chemical analysis of the bones also
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 showed that the feeding habits of the
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 wells were slightly different from those
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 species living
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 today. Scientists have for the first
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 time used a quantum computer to simulate
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 the chemical dynamics of real compounds
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 which could lead to new drugs and
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 medical treatments. A report in the
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 journal of the American Chemical Society
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 claims the creation of new drugs or
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 medical treatments are among the
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 greatest promises of quantum computing.
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 The research is a vital step towards
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 modeling more complex molecules and
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 designing bespoke chemicals that could
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 lead to improved sunscreen or skin
00:17:57 --> 00:17:58 cancer
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 treatments. A new study has found that
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 biodiversity in Antarctic cells may be
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 much greater than previously thought.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 The authors use DNA sequencing to
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 measure biodiversity in some of the
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 driest, coldest, and most nutrient poor
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 soils weathered debris in front of a
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 glacier in Antarctica. They found a
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 range of previously unsuspect
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 interactions between different organisms
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 and these results imply that new
00:18:21 --> 00:18:22 mutually beneficial relationships play
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 an essential role in shaping this
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 system. A report in the journal
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 Frontiers in Microbiology claims the
00:18:29 --> 00:18:30 findings indicate biodiversity in
00:18:30 --> 00:18:34 Arctica is far greater than previously
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 thought. One of the most famous sea
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 battles of the Second World War was the
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 Battle of the Denmark Strait which
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 occurred on the 24th of May 1941.
00:18:43 --> 00:18:44 It involved the British Royal Navy
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 battle cruiser HMS Hood. They fought the
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 Nazi Cremarine battleship Bismar and the
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 heavy cruiser Prince Ogans as they were
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 attempting to break out of the North
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 Atlantic between Greenland and Iceland
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 in order to launch attacks on Allied
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 merchant shipping. At the time, the Hood
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 was celebrated as one of Britain's
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 greatest all-time warships, a floating
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 recruitment poster exemplifying the
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 might of the Royal Navy. In fact, it had
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 traveled the world, showing how
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 Britannia ruled the seas. Yet, less than
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 half an hour after intercepting and
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 engaging Bismar, the Great Hood was
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 sunk, going down in just 3 minutes with
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 1 crew on board, only three of which
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 survived. It was a massive blow to
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 English pride at a time of war and a
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 huge propaganda boost for the Nazis. And
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 this is where this story gets
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 interesting. It's claimed the news of
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 the sinking of the hood was broken not
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 by official channels, but by a Scottish
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 medium, Helen Duncan, who was promptly
00:19:41 --> 00:19:42 arrested and charged with, of all
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 things, witchcraft in order to keep a
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 quiet. And as Tim Menum from Australian
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 Skeptics explains, that brought her to
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 the attention of no one less than Prime
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 Minister Winston Churchill. And that
00:19:53 --> 00:19:55 resulted in the media beating up the
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 story of Witty and Britain's last witch.
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 Apparently, Winston Churchill, who was
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00 prime minister of Britain during the
00:20:00 --> 00:20:03 Second World War, wrote a memo to the
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 courts here asking about why they were
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 harassing a particular lady who was
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 classed as a witch. Her name was Helen
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 Duncan. She was born in the late 1800s,
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 and she'd been around doing spiritual
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 meetings, seances, that sort of stuff,
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 calling up the dead. And during the war,
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 she happened to mention to someone from
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 the Admiraly a better ship sinking. Now,
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 the details are a bit vague as to how
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 much detail she had, but she said that a
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 ship had just sunk and that the the
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 person from the Adult said what phoned
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 up and found out that no one had heard
00:20:30 --> 00:20:31 of it yet. That turned out to be true.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:33 Now, like a lot of stories, it might be
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 embroidered a bit. But anyway, they
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 charged her with the witchcraft act sort
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 of designed to keep people like her off
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 the streets. And then Churchill wrote an
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 email saying, you know, what what are
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 you doing about this witch? Why are you
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 harassing this witch? Actually, what he
00:20:44 --> 00:20:46 was saying about why are you wasting
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 court time on such a stupid little
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 thing? and he called it obsolete tom
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 foolery during this rather serious
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 period of the second world war that she
00:20:53 --> 00:20:54 was fine actually she was put in prison
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 for a short time when she got out she
00:20:56 --> 00:20:57 continued practicing for a bit but not
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59 that much longer the story was that she
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 had a good reputation someone was saying
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 that actually the court case gave her a
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 better reputation of course a lot more
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 business her family descendants are very
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 much supportive of her but the story
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 goes it's pretty much the people who
00:21:10 --> 00:21:11 went to see her who were convinced were
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 from a mixture of backgrounds some of
00:21:13 --> 00:21:14 them pretty ordinary people some of them
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 in high positions believed her others
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 who had tested her didn't believe her a
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 famous ghost hunter named Henry Price
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 who was around that time in a lot of
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 famous cases and he investigated her and
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 he found out that she was his point of
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 the issue was a shank. He was a a fake.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 Yeah, this this is a time when spiritual
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 work case of she was listening to
00:21:32 --> 00:21:35 propaganda radio from the Germans and uh
00:21:35 --> 00:21:37 they boasted that the bismar had just
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 sunk the hood and uh she started
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 boasting about that herself and uh at
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 that stage the admiral hadn't been told
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 that the hood had been sunk and they
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 wanted to know how she found out and
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 there was no actual law they could
00:21:48 --> 00:21:49 charge her with so they dug up this
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 thing from the what was it 1735 the
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 witchcraft act that's right yeah a
00:21:54 --> 00:21:55 pretty old act it was actually still um
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 in place in Australia too for a long
00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 time She was I think in one state was
00:21:59 --> 00:22:01 only taken out about 20 years ago. They
00:22:01 --> 00:22:02 thought it was a bit silly law. No one
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 had ever been charged under it for a
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 long time. The issue was where did she
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 get her information from? Maybe she
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 heard it from other sources, you know,
00:22:09 --> 00:22:10 German sources or whatever. Or maybe
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 someone in the know told her before it
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 became common knowledge. And you often
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 wonder about some of these stories being
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 a bit embroidered as far as the
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 chronology goes, as far as, you know,
00:22:18 --> 00:22:19 what's the order of things, how much
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 details should you give, etc. uh this
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 thing about this story that came out
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 recently. Winston Churchill got involved
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 in this court case of this case against
00:22:27 --> 00:22:28 the witch. Not really true. He wrote an
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 email. Probably took him about 3 minutes
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 dictating it to somebody saying, you
00:22:32 --> 00:22:33 know, really don't you have more
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 important things to do? And uh that was
00:22:35 --> 00:22:36 probably it. That's Tim Mendum from
00:22:36 --> 00:22:40 Australian Skeptics.
00:22:40 --> 00:22:53 [Music]
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 And that's the show for now. Spacetime
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