00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 27 episode 144
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast on the 29th of November
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 2024 coming up on space time a new
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 discovery challenges our current
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 understanding of how planets are formed
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 a new Theory reveals the shape of a
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 photon and NASA's Swift Space Telescope
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 celebrates 20 years of Discovery 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 --> 00:00:48 astronomers have discovered an exoplanet
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 that's just 3 million years old and that
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 challenges our current understanding of
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 how quickly planets can form the newly
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 identified Planet tiedy 1B orbits its
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 host star once every seven Earth days
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 it's providing scientists with a glimpse
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 into the early stages of planetary
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 formation setting a new Benchmark for
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 young planets and marking a step forward
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 in our understanding of planetary
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 systems beyond our own the studies's
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 lead author medicine Barber from the
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 University of North Carolina at Chapel
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 Hill says current evidence suggests that
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 it took the Earth between 10 and 20
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 million years to form so TI 1 B's 3
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 million year age comes as quite a
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 surprise discovering planets like this
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 one allows scientists to to look back in
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 time catching a glimpse of planetary
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 formation as it's happening T 1B is the
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 youngest known transiting planet and as
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 such offers a unique window into the
00:01:40 --> 00:01:41 environment of an emerging planetary
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 system this discovery sheds fresh light
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 on the potential differences between our
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 solar system and other star systems
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 hosting close in giant planets like T 1B
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 providing a greater context for our own
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 Cosmic neighborhood this discovery also
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 opens new research Avenues as the planet
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 is still within its naal disc of
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 material allowing scientists to study
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 the formation process up close follow-up
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 studies will analyze how the planet's
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 atmosphere compares to the surrounding
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 dis material providing clues about its
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 journey into its compacted orbit barara
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 and colleagues will also examine whether
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 the T 1B is still growing by creating
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 more and more material or possibly
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 losing its upper atmosphere due to the
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 influence of its host star planets
00:02:25 --> 00:02:26 typically form from a flat
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 protoplanetary disc of dust and gas
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 which is why planets in our solar system
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 are aligned mostly in a pancake flat
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 Arrangement but in the tiedye system the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 disc is tilted misaligned with both the
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 planet and its star a surprising twist
00:02:41 --> 00:02:42 which challenges our understanding of
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 how planets are formed a report in the
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 journal Nature says the technique used
00:02:47 --> 00:02:48 to detect this planet makes its
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 Discovery especially significant now
00:02:51 --> 00:02:52 typically planets on the edge of their
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 solar system this young are impossible
00:02:55 --> 00:02:56 to observe due to the interference of
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 the surrounding disc however because
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 this Stars dis is Warped it allows a
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 rare observational opportunity the
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 authors employed a specially designed
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 search algorithm called Notch and
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 refined data extraction methods from
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 NASA's test mission in order to detect
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 and confirm the planet's existence and
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 now the real work of studying this odity
00:03:16 --> 00:03:20 if that's what it is can begin this
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 SpaceTime still to come a new Theory
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 reveals the shape of a photon and NASA's
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 Swift Space Telescope celebrating 20
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 years of discovery all that and more
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 still to come on
00:03:33 --> 00:03:47 [Music]
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 SpaceTime a new theory that explains how
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 light and matter interact at the quantum
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 level has enabled scientists to for the
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 first time Define the precise shape of a
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 single Photon photons are individual
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 particles of energy or light the new
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 findings reported in the journal
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 physical review letters explores the
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 nature of the photon in unprecedented
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 detail showing how they're emitted by
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 atoms or molecules and are then shaped
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 by their environments the nature of this
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 interaction leads to infinite
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 possibilities for light to exist and
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 propagate or travel through its
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 surrounding environment these Limitless
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 possibilities however make the
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 interactions exceptionally hard to model
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 resulting in a challenge that Quantum
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 physicists have been trying to address
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 for several decades by grouping these
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 possibilities into distinct sets
00:04:34 --> 00:04:35 scientists with the University of
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 Birmingham were able to produce a model
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 that describes not only the interactions
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 between the photon and the emitter but
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 also how the energy from that
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 interaction travels into the distant far
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 field at the same time they were able to
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 use their calculations to produce a sort
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 of visualization of the photon itself
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 and yes it looks like just a sphere with
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 different levels of light photons are
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 fundamental quantum mechanical Elemental
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 objects that are both waves and
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 particles you see neither the
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 description by itself fully captures all
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 of their characteristics and it's this
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 particle wave Duality that makes photons
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 difficult to pin down the study's lead
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 author Benjamin Yuan says the new
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 calculations enable this team to convert
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 a seemingly insolvable problem into
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 something that could be computed and
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 almost as a byproduct of the model they
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 were able to produce an image of the
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 photon something that hasn't been seen
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 before in physics now this work's
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 important because it opens up new
00:05:32 --> 00:05:33 avenues of research for Quantum
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 physicists and Material Science by being
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 able to precisely Define how a photon
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40 interacts with matter and with other
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 elements in its environment scientists
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 can design new nanophotonic technologies
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 that could change the way we communicate
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 securely detect pathogens or control
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 chemical reactions at a molecular level
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 it turns out the geometry and Optical
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 properties of the environment does have
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 a profound consequence for how photons
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 are emitted including the defining the
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 photon's shape its color and even How
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 likely it is to exist Yan says the work
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 helps to increase science's
00:06:07 --> 00:06:08 understanding of the energy exchange
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 between light and matter and to better
00:06:11 --> 00:06:12 understand how light radiates into its
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 nearby and distant surroundings now a
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 lot of this information had previously
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 been thought of as just noise but
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 there's so much information within it
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 that physicists can now make sense of it
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 all or at least some of it and they can
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 make use of that by understanding this
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 they set the found to be able to
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 engineer light matter interactions for
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 future applications such as better
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 sensors improve photovoltaic energy
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 cells and Quantum Computing in the
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 process opening up a much brighter world
00:06:42 --> 00:06:46 this SpaceTime still to come NASA's
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 Swift Space Telescope celebrates 20
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 years of Discovery and later in the
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 science report researchers unravel the
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 DNA history of modernday cattle all that
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 and more still to come on SpaceTime
00:06:58 --> 00:07:04 [Music]
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 NASA's Gamay burst hunting Swift Space
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 Telescope has just celebrated its 20th
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 year in Space over the past two decades
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 the Earth orbiting Observatory has made
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 great scientific strides hoping
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 astronomers identify what up until then
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 had been one of the greatest mysteries
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 in science the the source of Gamay
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 bursts Gamay bursts were first detected
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 back in the 1960s by American spy
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 satellites monitoring the Soviet Union's
00:07:39 --> 00:07:40 compliance with nuclear test band
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 treaties during the height of the Cold
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 War see atomic bombs give off powerful
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 bursts of gamma radiation during their
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 detonation and the United States have a
00:07:50 --> 00:07:51 network of satellites which can detect
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 this trouble is they were detecting
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 hundreds of these blasts every year not
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 in the atmosphere or on the ground but
00:07:58 --> 00:08:02 out in deep bace will be on the moon now
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 not only did this mean the Soviets were
00:08:04 --> 00:08:05 cheating on the treaty that wasn't
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 surprising as the Communists already had
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 a long history of breaking agreements
00:08:09 --> 00:08:10 but it also meant they must have
00:08:11 --> 00:08:12 hundreds possibly even thousands of
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 spare nuclear weapons for these tests
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 and certainly far more than the West it
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 also meant they had hundreds of spare
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 Rockets to launch all these bombs into
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 deep space for testing and they could do
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 it both far more reliably than the
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 Americans and without the West even
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 detecting the launchers now if all this
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 was true it meant the Russians
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 technology was far in advance of
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 anything the Free World had in fact the
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 West may never be a to catch up if
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 that's the case the Cold War was already
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 over and the Communists had won because
00:08:44 --> 00:08:45 of the implications the whole thing was
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 declared top secret while the military
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 considered its next course of action
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 luckily eventually the Pentagon allowed
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 astronomers to have a look at the data
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 and astronomers quickly determined that
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 all these events were taking place
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 billions of light EAS away far beyond
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 any human technology and certainly well
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 beyond the capabilities of the Soviets
00:09:05 --> 00:09:09 so the crisis was over but the cause of
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 these extraordinary Gamay bursts would
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 remain a mystery for decades to come
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 Gamay bursts you see are the most
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 powerful explosions in the universe
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 since the Big Bang but they're highly
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 ephemeral only lasting a couple of
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 seconds at most a Gamay burst will
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 appear somewhere in the sky without
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 warning roughly once every day the
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 typical Gamay burst releases as much
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 energy in a few seconds as what our sun
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 will produce during its entire lifespan
00:09:36 --> 00:09:37 but there was one clue see while the
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 actual burst itself usually lasts a few
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 seconds it generates a faint Afterglow
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 which can be observed for several
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 minutes sometimes a few months and
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 occasionally even a few years trouble is
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 in the beginning it was difficult for
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 astronomers to study Gamay bursts
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 because of the time taken to notify
00:09:54 --> 00:09:55 observatories around the other side of
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 the world to stop the important work
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 they were doing so they could Point
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 their t scope towards the location of
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 the Gamay burst and that's where NASA's
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 Swift Space Telescope comes in it was
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 developed to give astronom as a quick
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 response Observatory almost instantly
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 being able to point at the location of a
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 Gamay burst and it's thanks to Swift We
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 Now know the origins of Gamay bursts
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 they can be categorized as either short
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 period or long period depending on their
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 duration about 30% of Gamay bursts are
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 cataloged as short period bursts these
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 usually last less than than 2 seconds
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 with 200 milliseconds being the average
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 they're thought to originate from either
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 binary neutron star merges or merges
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 between neutron stars and Stell Mass
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 black holes resulting in what are
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 commonly called killer nerver explosions
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 on the other hand those over 2 seconds
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 which make up about 70% of all Gamay
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 bursts are categorized as long period
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51 bursts and they're associated with
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 galaxies featuring rapid star formation
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 they've been linked to the core collapse
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 of massive stars in Supernova events
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 creating Mass black
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 holes Swift uses several different
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 methods for orienting and stabilizing
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 itself in space in order to find and
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 study Gamay bursts sensors that detect
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 the sun's location and the direction of
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 the Earth's magnetic field provide the
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 spacecraft with a general sense of its
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 location then there's a device called
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 star tracker it looks at stars and
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 constellations and tells the spacecraft
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 how to maneuver to keep the observatory
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 precisely pointed in the same position
00:11:27 --> 00:11:28 during long
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 observations Swift uses three spinning
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 gyroscopes to carry out these moves
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 along its three axes the Gyros were
00:11:35 --> 00:11:36 designed to align at right angles with
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 each other but once in orbit scientists
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 discovered that they had been slightly
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 misaligned the flight operations team
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 eventually developed a strategy whereby
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 one of the Gyros worked to correct the
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 misalignment while the other two pointed
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 Swift to achieve the science goals
00:11:52 --> 00:11:53 however the team also wanted to be ready
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 in case one of the Gyros failed so in
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 2009 they developed a plan to operate
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 Swift using just two Gyros but of course
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 any change to the way a telescope
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 operates once it's in space carries risk
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 so since Swift was working well the team
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 sat on their plan for 15 years that was
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 until July 2023 when one of Swift's
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 Gyros began to fail because the
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 spacecraft couldn't hold its pointing
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 position accurately anymore observations
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 progressively got blurrier I thought the
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 gyro fell completely in March this year
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 because they already had the shifted two
00:12:28 --> 00:12:29 Gyros planned out out scientists were
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 able to quickly and thoroughly test
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 their procedure on the ground before
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 implementing it on the spacecraft and it
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 worked for the last 20 years Swift has
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 contributed to groundbreaking results
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 not only for Gamay buus but also for
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 black holes Stars comets and other
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 celestial objects Swift's principal
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 investigator es Bradley senko from
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 NASA's Gad space flight center in
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 Greenbelt Maryland says that after all
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 this time Swift remains a crucial part
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 of NASA's Fleet in fact the satellites
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 ability I ities have helped Pioneer a
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 new era of astrophysics known as
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 multimessenger astronomy and that's
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 giving scientists a more well-rounded
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 view of how the universe works this
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 report from Messa
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 TV satellite names aren't always easy to
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 understand but NASA's Neil gal's Swift
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 Observatory states its key ability up
00:13:20 --> 00:13:24 front launched on November 20th 2004
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 Swift is first and foremost a rapid
00:13:26 --> 00:13:30 response Gamay burst Explorer
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 Gamay bursts or grbs are the most
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 powerful explosions in the universe they
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 arise when massive stars run out of fuel
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 and collapse or when pairs of orbiting
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 neutron stars
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 collide grbs can be as brief as a few
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 milliseconds and happen in distant
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 galaxies which makes them hard to spot
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 despite this Swift has managed to
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 observe 1
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 grbs scientists and engineers designed
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 Swift's grb detector to see large
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 portions of the sky and quickly relay a
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 gb's location to the ground so other
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 missions could follow up they also
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 enabled Swift to change where it's
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 looking very rapidly so it can Target
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 its X-ray and UltraViolet optical
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 telescopes on any detected
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 event Swift owes much of its existence
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 to Neil gals who was a scientist at
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 NASA's Goddard space flight center Neil
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 was a global figure in Gamay astronomy
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 and gay bursts in
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 particular he was part of the small
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 group that first imagined Swift in 1998
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 and was instrumental in seeing it
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 through to launch and into its early
00:14:40 --> 00:14:44 mission after Neil passed away in 2017
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 Swift was renamed in his
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 honor over its 20 years of operation
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 Swift has proven incredibly useful and
00:14:51 --> 00:14:55 versatile its rapid detection alerts and
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 repointing have allowed missions like
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 NASA's Shandra web and Hubble to quickly
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 follow up on transient events Beyond grb
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 detections Swift's X-ray and UltraViolet
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 optical telescopes have enabled it to
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 perform science that no one imagined
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 prior to launch Swift has tracked near
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 Earth asteroids observed more distant
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 asteroid collisions studied comets seen
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 massive flares on distant Stars taken
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 ultraviolet surveys of nearby galaxies
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 and made countless observations of
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 short-lived Cosmic phenomena
00:15:30 --> 00:15:31 despite the failure of one of the
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 spinning reaction wheels that enable
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 Swift's rapid turning the spacecraft
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 remains as Nimble as it was in its first
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 year and it promises to remain a
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 critical first responder in NASA's
00:15:43 --> 00:15:47 astrophysics Fleet
00:15:47 --> 00:15:55 [Music]
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 and time now to take another brief look
00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 at some of the other stories making news
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 in science this week with a science
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 report new research warns that people on
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 blood thinning drugs double their risk
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 of an internal bleed if they start
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 taking a type of painkiller known as a
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory such as
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 ibuprofen the findings reported in the
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 European heart Journal looked at data
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 from
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 51794 Danish people who have been taking
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 blood thinness for blood clots fighting
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 the risk of a bleed was 2.09 Times
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 Higher among people taking non-steroidal
00:16:33 --> 00:16:34 anti-inflammatories compared to those
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 just taking the blood thinners the risk
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 for ibuprofen was 1.79 Times Higher for
00:16:40 --> 00:16:41 the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 dienic the risk was 3.3 times higher and
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 for the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
00:16:46 --> 00:16:50 neoen the risk was 4.1 Times Higher the
00:16:50 --> 00:16:51 authors looked at several types of blood
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 thinners and found a similar risk
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 pattern in
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 all a new study has looked at the DNA
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 history of an distinct group of
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 ancestors of modern day cattle showing a
00:17:01 --> 00:17:05 complex ancestry modern day domestic
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 cows are all descended from orox a large
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 species of wild roaming cattle that
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 lived up to 650 years ago but have
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 now been extinct for at least 400 years
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 a report in the journal Nature looked at
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 38 ancient Oro genomes finding four
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 major ancestry populations across Europe
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 Southwest Asia Northern Asia and South
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 Asia spanning some 47 years it seems
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 each of these ancestries responded
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 differently to climatic changes in human
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 pressures with the Southwest Asian orox
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 contributing the most genetically to
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 today's domestic cattle
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 breeds a new study has shown scientists
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 that the boundaries between solid and
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 liquid metals can be far less solid than
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 previously thought a report in the
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 journal Advanced science claims
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 researchers have discovered that the
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 liquid solid boundary can fluctuate back
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 and forth with metal atoms near the
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 surface Breaking Free from the crystal
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 lattice observing a metal alloy mass
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 solidifying in a sea of liquid metal the
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 team saw a phenomenon never seen before
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 the surface metal moves from a solid
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 state into a liquid state and then back
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 again at unexpectedly low temperatures
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 far below the melting point of the solid
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 metal the new discovery has potential
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 applications wherever metal alloys are
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 being
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 utilized psychologists say the human
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 brain is pre-wired to believe in the
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 Supernatural a new book looking at the
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 science behind some of the weird stuff
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 we interpret points to six simple ways
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 in which your mind is preprogrammed to
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 conjure up the supernatural Tim mendum
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 from Australian skeptic says it's just
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 the way the human brain works this is a
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 story written by two noted Skeptics
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 Chris French who runs the center for
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 anomalous Psychiatry or psychology in
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 London at London University and Richard
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 wisman who's another psychologist and a
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 well-known skeptic and they talk about
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 various reasons why people might believe
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 in ghosts especially and also just
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 general Supernatural things premonitions
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 reincarnation they expect first of all
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 for instance that one of the key factors
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 in why people believe is an expectation
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 what they call an expectation effect
00:19:11 --> 00:19:12 which is basically say they want to see
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 it and what they expect to see and
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 therefore they see it this is sometimes
00:19:15 --> 00:19:18 called with a top down processing effect
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 top down process is the same effect as
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 behind most optical illusions you expect
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 to say something and you see it and that
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 explains also faces man in the M that
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28 would have been important back in the to
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 day when we were chasing dinner around
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 the bush and hoping not to be eaten by a
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 lion that's exactly right and this is
00:19:34 --> 00:19:35 this is something you spot some you
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 expect you have to be aware but then
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 that comes to the second suggestion that
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 they make which is pattern spotting that
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 they hear or see something that fits a
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 pattern and that that therefore means
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 that if they hear a lion or hear what
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 they think is a lion it's advisable to
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 run away and that the person who stops
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 and waits to find out might not be
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 a not be around to very might say whoops
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 I made a I made a mistake you know
00:19:58 --> 00:19:59 expect
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00 effect and patent spotting are very
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 similar I want to see something so I do
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 see it and that's why a misleading
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 statement by say a psychic or something
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 can be latched onto as something real
00:20:09 --> 00:20:10 because the person wants to believe most
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 people who go to psychics do it because
00:20:12 --> 00:20:13 they actually believe in psychics even
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 if they take it as a bit of fun Etc they
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 do have a propensity to believe so
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18 they're halfway there already and that's
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 what every con man or otherwise or
00:20:21 --> 00:20:22 psychic or that s of thing relies upon
00:20:23 --> 00:20:24 the person's willingness to believe then
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 there's all sorts of things that people
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 see which is as we discussed before
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 about facial recognition you see faces
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 everywhere parolia parolia you see it in
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 everything from Taps to science to
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 clouds to you name it faces especially
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 but other other shapes as well so you
00:20:39 --> 00:20:40 you you can see things which actually
00:20:40 --> 00:20:41 aren't there but because it's so
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 familiar in the shape you want it to be
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 there unconscious Powers what something
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 is called the idiom motor effect which
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 is when your hand moves unknowingly
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 unconsciously little tiny movements oh
00:20:51 --> 00:20:52 this is Wier boards and things like that
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 talk about Ouija boards and put your
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 fingers on a Ouija board and start
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 spelling out letters and things like
00:20:57 --> 00:20:58 that they suggest that if you're do a
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 weijer board section put blindfold in
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 everybody and then see we have one
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 person without a blindfold who can take
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 note but yeah then see if you're
00:21:05 --> 00:21:06 actually swelling something there's an
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 unconscious movement in your hand you're
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 not cheating as such you're just pushing
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 the same way for water divining dowsing
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 when the rods move Etc that's often been
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 explain with an idom motor effect you
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 want to find water you will find water
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 or you'll find a reaction to what you
00:21:19 --> 00:21:21 think is water and that's a big
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 difference dig down deep enough you'll
00:21:23 --> 00:21:24 find water anywhere there's a water
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 table you should yeah you should in in
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 most cases and surprisingly actually how
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 often they don't find it which you
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 indicate that they don't remember those
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 ones do they those ones course doesn't
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 reinforce the positive they want to
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 reinforce then there's false memories
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 you think you saw something or you
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 didn't see something but someone tells
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 you you saw it and then you will believe
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 you saw it yeah if you told something
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 enough you tend to believe it even if it
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 didn't really happen that's right that's
00:21:49 --> 00:21:50 right and this has been shown to be very
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53 very true that the memory is not a video
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 camera or a take recorder it is a very
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 malleable thing so we have articles we
00:21:57 --> 00:21:58 got an article about this in the next
00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 issue of our magazine is that you can
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 manipulate it either unconsciously
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 yourself or by desire or someone can
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 manipulate you and this is often used in
00:22:07 --> 00:22:08 sort of magic tricks and things look
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 this spoon is bending by itself sitting
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 there and sort of people say oh yeah I
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 can see it but they never did and that
00:22:14 --> 00:22:16 links up with predetermined conclusions
00:22:16 --> 00:22:17 and brings you back to the start I want
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 something to happen I think something's
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 going to happen and therefore my
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 eyewitness accounts my memories show me
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 that it did happen and all those things
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 are fooling yourself really and and not
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 you know necessarily nasty way but it is
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 fooling yourself into believing ghosts
00:22:32 --> 00:22:36 premonitions psychic powers a lot of
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 paranormalium very normal nothing
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 particularly evil about it but it's just
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 other explanations and saying it's a
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 ghost that's Tim mum from Australian
00:22:44 --> 00:22:47 Skeptics
00:22:47 --> 00:22:55 [Music]
00:23:00 --> 00:23:03 and that's the show for now SpaceTime is
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 available every Monday Wednesday and
00:23:05 --> 00:23:08 Friday through Apple podcasts iTunes
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 Stitcher Google podcast pocketcasts
00:23:11 --> 00:23:15 Spotify acast Amazon music bit.com
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 SoundCloud YouTube your favorite podcast
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 download provider and from SpaceTime
00:23:20 --> 00:23:23 with Stewart gar.com space 's Also
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 broadcast through the National Science
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 Foundation on science Z Radio and on
00:23:27 --> 00:23:30 both iHeart radio and TuneIn radio and
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 you can help to support our show by
00:23:32 --> 00:23:34 visiting the SpaceTime store for a range
00:23:34 --> 00:23:37 of promotional merchandising goodies or
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 by becoming a space-time Patron which
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 gives you access to Triple episode
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 commercial free versions of the show as
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 well as lots of bonus audio content
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 which doesn't go to air access to our
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 exclusive Facebook group and other
00:23:49 --> 00:23:52 Awards just go to SpaceTime with Stewart
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 gary.com for full details you've been
00:23:55 --> 00:23:58 listening to SpaceTime with Stuart Gary
00:23:58 --> 00:23:59 this has been been another quality
00:23:59 --> 00:24:03 podcast production from bites.com