SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 23
The Astronomy, Space and Science News Podcast
Snowball Earth Evidence, Blue Origin's Parachute Failure, and the Moon Illusion Explained
In this episode of SpaceTime, we dive into groundbreaking geological research that provides compelling evidence for the Snowball Earth hypothesis, suggesting that glaciers may have covered the planet from pole to pole hundreds of millions of years ago. This research reveals insights into Earth's climatic history and the emergence of multicellular life following this extreme glaciation event.
Blue Origin's Lunar Gravity Mission
We also discuss the recent Blue Origin mission, where the New Shepard spacecraft experienced a parachute failure during a lunar gravity simulation flight. Despite the malfunction, mission managers confirm that the capsule was designed to land safely with two parachutes, and investigations are underway to understand the issue.
The Moon Illusion: Why Does It Appear Larger on the Horizon?
Additionally, we explore the fascinating phenomenon known as the Moon illusion, which causes the Moon to appear larger when it is near the horizon compared to when it is high in the sky. We delve into the psychological and perceptual factors that contribute to this optical illusion, despite the Moon's actual size remaining constant.
00:00 Space Time Series 28 Episode 23 for broadcast on 21 February 2025
00:49 Evidence supporting the Snowball Earth hypothesis
06:30 Implications for Earth's climatic history
12:15 Blue Origin's lunar gravity mission details
18:00 Analysis of parachute failure during descent
22:45 The Moon illusion and its psychological explanations
27:00 Understanding optical illusions in astronomy
30:15 The self-domestication of wolves and its implications
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com (https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/about
✍️ Episode References
NASA
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
New England Journal of Medicine
Royal Society B
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-astronomy-science-news--2458531/support.
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 28 episode 23
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 21st of February
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2025 coming up on SpaceTime was Snowball
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 Earth a global event blue origin
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 experiences a parachute failure during a
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 lunar gravity Mission and have you ever
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 wondered why the Moon looks so much
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 bigger when it's near the Horizon all
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 that and more coming up on
00:00:23 --> 00:00:27 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:27 --> 00:00:28 Stuart Gary
00:00:29 --> 00:00:36 [Music]
00:00:44 --> 00:00:45 geologists have uncovered strong
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 evidence that massive glaciers covered
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 the Earth all the way from the poles
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 down to the equator hundreds of millions
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 of years ago the findings reported in
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 the proceedings of the National Academy
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 of Sciences supports the longstanding
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 hypothesis known as snowball Earth it
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 suggests that from about 720 to 635
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 million years ago and for reasons that
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 are still unclear a runaway chain of
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 events radically altered the planet's
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 climate temperatures plummeted and eyce
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 sheets that may have been several
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 kilometers thick crept over every
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 centimeter of the planet's surface the
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 study's lead author Liam Courtney Davies
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 from the University of Colorado Boulder
00:01:23 --> 00:01:24 says these findings present the first
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 physical evidence that snowball Earth
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 really did reach the heart of continents
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 at the the equator to reach their
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 conclusions the authors looked at the
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 Front Range of Colorado's Rocky
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Mountains courney Davis says a series of
00:01:38 --> 00:01:39 rocks there nicknamed the Tava
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 sandstones hold clues about this frigid
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 period in Earth's past the authors used
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 a dating technique called laser ablation
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 Mass spectrometry zaps minerals with
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 lasers in order to release some of the
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 atoms inside they showed that these
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 rocks had been forced underground
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 between 690 and 660 million years ago in
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 all likelihood due to the weight of the
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 huge GL IES pressing down from above
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 Courtney Davies says the research will
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 help scientists better understand a
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 critical phase not just in the planet's
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 geological history but also in the
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 history of life on Earth as well see the
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 first multicellular organisms may have
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 emerged in oceans immediately after
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 snowball Earth th he says if you have
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 the climate evolving you have life
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 evolving with it and all these things
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 will happening during the snowball Earth
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 upheaval the term snowball Earth
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 actually dates back to a paper published
00:02:29 --> 00:02:33 in 19 92 but despite Decades of research
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 scientists are yet to agree whether the
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 entire Globe actually froze over for
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 example geologists have discovered the
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 Fingerprints of thick ice from this time
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 period along ancient coastal areas but
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 not within the interior of continents
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 close to the equator and this is where
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 Colorado enters the picture at that time
00:02:51 --> 00:02:52 Colorado didn't sit in the northern
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 latitudes where it does today instead it
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 rested over the equator as a landlock
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 segment of an ancient supercontinent
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 so if glacies formed there scientists
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 believe they could have formed anywhere
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 and it's the search for that missing
00:03:06 --> 00:03:07 piece of the puzzle which brought
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 Courtney Davies and colleagues to the
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 taer sandstones today these features
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 poke up through the gr at several
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 locations along Colorado's Front Range
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 most notably around Pike's Peak now to
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 the untrained eye they might seem like
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 ordinary looking yellowish brown rocks
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 running in vertical bands between a
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 centimeter and several meters wide but
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 for geologists these features have an
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 unusual history they likely began as
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 horizontal sands on the surface of
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 Colorado sometime in the past Courtney
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 Davies says forces then pushed them
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 underground like claws digging into the
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 Earth's crust they became classical
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44 geological features known as injectites
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 that often form below eyce sheets
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 including in modern day Antarctica the
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 authors wanted to find out if the Tava
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 sandstones were also connected to I
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 sheets to do that they first calculated
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 the age of mineral veins that were
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 slicing through these features they
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 collected tiny samples of the minerals
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 which were rich in iron oxide
00:04:03 --> 00:04:04 essentially rust and then hit them with
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 a laser in the process the minerals
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 released small quantities of uranium now
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 because uranium decays into lead at a
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 set rate the authors could use that as a
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 sort of atomic time marker to determine
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 the age of the rocks and the finding
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 suggested the T of sandstone had been
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 pushed underground at the time of
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 snowball Earth it means that at that
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 time thick eye sheets formed over
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 Colorado exposing the Sands to int tense
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 pressure eventually and with nowhere
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 else to go they push down into the
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 Bedrock below this is spacetime still to
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 come blue origin experiences a parachute
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 failure during its lunar gravity Mission
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 and have you ever wondered why the moon
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 always looks bigger when it's near the
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 Horizon all that and more still to come
00:04:48 --> 00:04:52 on SpaceTime
00:04:52 --> 00:05:05 [Music]
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 blue origins new Shepherds experienced
00:05:07 --> 00:05:08 the male function during an unmanned
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 suborbital flight finesse designed to
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 simulate lunar gravity one of the
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 capsure's three parachutes failed to
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 fully open during its descent back to
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 Earth Mission managers stress the
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 capture was designed to land safely with
00:05:22 --> 00:05:23 just two parachutes but they're
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 investigating the issue the NS 29
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 Mission blasted off from its West Texas
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 Launchpad with the new shepher booster
00:05:30 --> 00:05:34 performing nominally 5 4 commanded to
00:05:34 --> 00:05:38 start 2
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 1 and lift off clear the tower heading
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 to space all right we've hit Mo main
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 engine cut off shortly here we'll see
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 separation the zerog indicator means
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 that we have uh reached separation of
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 the two vehicles and now uh the crew
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 capsule and the booster are now coasting
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 to their Apes simultaneously after
00:05:57 --> 00:05:58 deploying the capsule the reusable
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 booster medic successful vertical
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 touchdown back on its Landing Pad 7
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 minutes after launch descending the
00:06:05 --> 00:06:06 booster is nearing the ground right now
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 those air brakes have deployed which is
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 really cutting the the boosters velocity
00:06:11 --> 00:06:15 down all right there's engine
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 relight and touchdown meanwhile the
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 capsu continued skywards towards its
00:06:19 --> 00:06:23 apery just over 100 km above the ground
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 it then began returning to Earth but as
00:06:26 --> 00:06:27 it descended towards the west Texas
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 desert only two of its three parachutes
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 fully opened the third finally unfilled
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 just before landing there's the drug
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 deployment and there you see the main
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 parachutes being pulled out by those
00:06:40 --> 00:06:44 drugs beautiful beautiful the parachutes
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 have a slightly new design one of those
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 is lagging on its uh inflation but uh
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 that's all right we have we've designed
00:06:51 --> 00:06:52 the system to have backups to the
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 backups uh this this system can safely
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 land with fewer than three parachutes so
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 we're going to continue following this
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 uh as it approaches the west Texas
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 desert for the capsule descend that
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 that's the correct expected descent
00:07:06 --> 00:07:07 speed for the capsule after the
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 parachutes have deployed right about 16
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 M hour yeah now as we descent uh under
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 parachutes um now they are essential for
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 providing a gentle touchdown of our
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 capsule but lot many backup systems one
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 of the nominal systems we use for
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 Touchdown is our retro thrust system
00:07:22 --> 00:07:23 that might kick up a little bit of dust
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 and that third shoot looks like it has
00:07:25 --> 00:07:26 now inflated which is great and
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 touchdown all right beautiful touchdown
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 of the capsule today on our 29th Mission
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 here incredible to see now our capsule
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 recovery team is currently driving out
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 in a convoy they're going to meet the
00:07:39 --> 00:07:40 capsule they're going to Safe the
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 vehicle and open the hatch and extract
00:07:43 --> 00:07:44 some of the payloads today the mission
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 was carrying 16 payloads inside the
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 capsule plus one mounted externally all
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 were designed to test in simulated lunar
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 gravity during the flight these include
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 packages designed to test insitu
00:07:56 --> 00:07:57 resource utilization performing
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 construction and excavation on the LUN
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 surface there was the Luna G combustion
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 investigation package designed to
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 understand material flammability on the
00:08:06 --> 00:08:07 lunar surface compared to Earth
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 measuring flame propagation directly
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 during the flight other experiments
00:08:12 --> 00:08:13 included instruments to detect
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 subsurface water instruments to look at
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 dust mitigation studies looking at flow
00:08:18 --> 00:08:19 physics and phase changes in lunar
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 gravity Advanced habitation systems
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 sensors and instrumentation performance
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 spacecraft avionics and entry descent
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 and Landing systems the pale loads were
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 able to experience 2 minutes of lunar
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 gravity simulated thanks to the
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 capsule's new reaction control system
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 rotating the module at Red of 11
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 revolutions per minute that spin was
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 enough to simulate 1 16 Earth's gravity
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 which is about the same as lunar gravity
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 previously the moon's gravity could only
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 be simulated for a few seconds at a time
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 usually using a centrius drop tower or
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 for 20 seconds on board a parabolic jet
00:08:54 --> 00:08:58 flight this is spacetime still to come
00:08:58 --> 00:08:59 have you ever wondered why the Moon
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 always looks bigger when it's on the
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 horizon and later in the science report
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 a new study suggest that just like cats
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 wolves may have actually domesticated
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 themselves all that and more still to
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 come on
00:09:12 --> 00:09:19 [Music]
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 SpaceTime have you ever wondered why the
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 moon always looks big go when it's near
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 the Horizon in reality we know it's not
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 but that's not the impression it gives
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 and we call that the Moon Illusion it's
00:09:38 --> 00:09:39 actually a trick which your mind plays
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 on you because when it's high up in the
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 sky there's nothing to compare it to so
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 it looks smaller in fact photographs
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 have proven that the Moon is the same
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 size whether it's near the horizon or
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 whether it's high in the sky but still
00:09:51 --> 00:09:52 that's not what you perceive with your
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 eyes it's simply an illusion rooted in
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 the way one's brain processes visual
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 information even though people have been
00:10:00 --> 00:10:01 observing it for thousands of years
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 there's still not a satisfying
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 scientific explanation for exactly why
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 we see the moon the way we do go out on
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 any night of the full moon find a good
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 spot and just watch it rise or set it's
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 always a breathtaking experience and
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 it's always fascinating how when we
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 observe the moon near the Horizon it
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 looks huge whether it's peaking over the
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 shoulder of a distant Mountain rising
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 out of the sea hovering behind a
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 cityscape of buildings or simply looming
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 over a Thicket of trees
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 but of course in reality it's all in
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 your head the moon's seeming bigness is
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 simply an illusion rather than any sort
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 of effect of our atmosphere or some of
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 the type of physics and if you want to
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 you can prove it for yourself in a
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 variety of ways just hold up your
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 outstretched index figure next to the
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 moon for most people you'll find your
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 fingernail and the moon are about the
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 same size so when you look at it high in
00:10:52 --> 00:10:53 the sky and then you look at it it's
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 near the Horizon you'll find its
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 diameter hasn't changed another way to
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 size check the Moon is to take a photo
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 when it's near the Horizon and then
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 another when it's high in the sky so if
00:11:04 --> 00:11:05 you kept your camera zoom settings the
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 same you'll find that the moon's the
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 same with side to side in both images in
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 fact it may actually appear a little bit
00:11:11 --> 00:11:12 squashed in the vertical Direction when
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 it's near the Horizon that's the result
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 of the atmosphere acting like a wake
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 lens but there is one notable way in
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 which the moon's appearance is actually
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 different when it's low in the sky see
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 it tends to have a more yellow or orange
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 Hue compared to when it's high overhead
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 this happens because when on the horizon
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31 the moon's lights traveling a longer
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 distance through the atmosphere now as
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 this light travels further more of the
00:11:36 --> 00:11:37 shorter Bluer waver lengths of the light
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 are scattered away it's called R
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 scattering that leaves more of the
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 longer R wavelengths to reach your eye
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 dust and pollution can also deepen the
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 reddish color so as to our original
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 question why the Moon looks biger on the
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 horizon well we don't
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 know in general the proposed
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 explanations have to do with a couple of
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 key elements of how humans perceive the
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 world around them how the human brain
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 perceives the size of objects that are
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 near and further away and how far away
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 we expect objects to be when they're
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 near the Horizon it seems our brains
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 can't comprehend that the moon's
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 distance doesn't change that much no
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 matter where it is in the sky on a given
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 night and there's also something about
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 the objects in the foreground of your
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 lunar view that play a role perhaps
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 trees mountains and buildings help trick
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26 your brain into thinking the moon's both
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 closer and bigger than it really is
00:12:29 --> 00:12:30 there was an effect discovered about a
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 century ago called the ponzo illusion
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 that describes how this works in this
00:12:35 --> 00:12:36 illusion you have a scene where two
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 lines are converging like railroad
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 tracks stretching away into the distance
00:12:41 --> 00:12:42 now on top of these lines draw two
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 horizontal bars of equal length
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 surprisingly the horizontal bars appear
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 to be different sizes because your
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 brain's hard white sense of how distance
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 Works forces you to perceive it in this
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 way this effect is related to how Force
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 perspective Works in paintings trouble
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 is it's not a perfect explanation NASA
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 astronauts in orbit also see the Moon
00:13:03 --> 00:13:04 Illusion and they don't have any
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 foreground objects to act as distance
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 Clues so there's clearly a lot more
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 going on that we simply don't understand
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 this report from Nessa TV so why does
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 the Moon look larger on the horizon uh
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 the short answer is we don't know we've
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 been talking about this for 2 years
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 Aristotle mentions it and in our own
00:13:24 --> 00:13:25 time scientists are designing
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 experiments to figure out exactly what's
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 going on but there's no no consensus yet
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 here's what we do know the atmosphere
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 isn't magnifying the moon if anything
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 atmospheric refraction squashes it a
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 little bit and the moon's not closer to
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 us at the Horizon it's about 1.5%
00:13:41 --> 00:13:45 farther away also it isn't just the moon
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 constellations look huge on the horizon
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 too one popular idea is that this is a
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 variation on the ponzo illusion
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 everything in our experience seems to
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 shrink as it recedes toward the Horizon
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 I mean clouds and Plaines and cars and
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 ships but the moon doesn't do that so
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 our minds make up a story to reconcile
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 this inconsistency somehow the moon gets
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 bigger when it's at the Horizon that's
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 one popular hypothesis but there are
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 others and we're still waiting for the
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 experiment that will convince everyone
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 that we understand this so why does the
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 Moon look larger on the horizon we don't
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 really know but scientists are still
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 trying to figure it out and in that
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 report from Nessa TV we heard from Nessa
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 scientist Ernie Wright this is
00:14:29 --> 00:14:36 [Music]
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 SpaceTime and time now to take another
00:14:47 --> 00:14:48 brief look at some of the other stories
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 making news and science this week with
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 the science report a new study suggest
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 that giving kids with peanut allergies a
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 small amount of peanut butter up to say
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 a tablespoon a day can help reduce their
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 peanut sensitivity the findings reported
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 in the New England Journal of Medicine
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 based on a trial of 73 children aged
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 between 4 and 14 years who were allergic
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 to peanuts but could tolerate up to 143
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 Mig of peanut protein about half a
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 peanut at the start of the trial they
00:15:17 --> 00:15:18 found that slowly building up their
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 peanut exposure using storeo peanut
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 butter was effective in raising their
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 ability to eat peanuts however the
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 authors stressed not to try this at home
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 without proper medical supervision
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 vision and only after Consulting your
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 doctor us surgeons say a gene edited Pig
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 kidney that was transplanted into a
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 62-year-old man who was dependent on
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 dialysis began functioning immediately a
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 report in the New England Journal of
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 Medicine says the kidney which had
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 undergone 69 Gene edits to reduce the
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 chances of rejection promptly and
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 progressively began cutting his creatine
00:15:52 --> 00:15:53 levels which is a measure of kidney
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 function however despite the gene edits
00:15:56 --> 00:15:57 the man experienced symptoms of
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 rejection 8 days after the transplant
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 drugs that further suppress the man's
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 immune system put a stop to this but
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 despite the kidney's continuing to
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 function the man died 52 days after the
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 transplant later an autopsy revealed no
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 signs of kidney rejection in his body
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 but the autopsy also revealed severe
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 heart disease and scarring and that may
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 have been the reason why he
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 died it's long been suggested that
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 humans picked out more docile wolves and
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 bred them leading to the development of
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 the domesticated dog but a new study
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 reported in the journal the proceedings
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 the Royal Society B suggests that like
00:16:34 --> 00:16:35 cats wolves may actually have
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 domesticated themselves the researchers
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 used computer simulations to show that
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 FR or wolves that tolerated humans would
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 have had better access to human food
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 scraps and Thrive naturally leading to
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 Tamer wolves and eventually domesticated
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 dogs as they bred together now this
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 Theory's been suggested before but
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 critics have always argue would take too
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 long given to how quickly we think
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 wolves turned into icated dogs however
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 this new study's Authors say their
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 simulations show that self-domestication
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 could have happened quite quickly
00:17:06 --> 00:17:07 certainly quickly enough to have played
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 a major role in the evolution of wolves
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 into man's best
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13 friend well we've all heard of the
00:17:14 --> 00:17:15 infamous Devil's Triangle between
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 Bermuda South Florida and Puerto Rico
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 the place where according to the myth
00:17:20 --> 00:17:21 aircraft and ships are said to
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 mysteriously disappear of course in
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 reality the true loss rates there are no
00:17:26 --> 00:17:27 greater than anywhere else with similar
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 traffic levels and we the conditions
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 well now there's a new place called The
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 Great Lakes triangle since the 1990s
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 America's Great Lakes have been rumored
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 to have their own mysterious cursed
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 triangle in Lake Michigan between Benton
00:17:41 --> 00:17:44 Harbor man toak and lington Tim menum
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 from Australian skeptic says there is no
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 mystery about the Great Lakes triangle
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 researchers have known for years where
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 most of the shipwrecks are located and
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 why the vessels went down though he does
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 admit some 225 are mysteriously still
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 missing yeah there's a triangle
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 everywhere apparently where mysterious
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 things happen obviously Bermuda Triangle
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 there's an Alaska triangle there's a
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 devil C triangle of Japan you'll
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 probably find triangles those that are
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 popping up all over the place triangles
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 are very convenient shape or you need
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 three places and you got a triangle but
00:18:15 --> 00:18:16 this story about the Lake Michigan
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 Triangle or the Great Lakes triangle up
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 in the north us Southern Canada hasn't
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 been around that long story goes that
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 it's an area where ships mysteriously
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 disappear and never found no reason for
00:18:27 --> 00:18:31 it and started off in 1975 apparently
00:18:31 --> 00:18:32 with a newspaper article that was pretty
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 much a joke that time people refer to
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 the Michigan Triangle and then a year
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 later there was a book came out that
00:18:39 --> 00:18:40 didn't sell quite as well as the B
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 triangle books but it was around and it
00:18:43 --> 00:18:44 sort of disappeared a bit and then it of
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 has come back again often promoted by
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 two of guys who like to sort of race you
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 these sort of interesting situations of
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 all these ships having disappeared in in
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 the Great Lakes area unfortunately the
00:18:54 --> 00:18:55 people who actually do research the
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 great lakes and who follow every ship
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 that been in the area and that's they've
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 been doing this since 1812 so that's
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 like 200 years of knowing where they
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 went and what happened to them Etc and
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 when they stopped operating Etc and the
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 say of all the thousands thousands of
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 ships on the great lake or boat and all
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 them collecting of shipwreck information
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 there's only a few which they think are
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 still missing which might have been
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 collisions or storms or whatever vast
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 majority of those are not actually in
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 the triangle which is common with all
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 these triangles the the muta triangle
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 proponents claim all sorts of ships
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 going down often didn't go down anywhere
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 near the muta triangle but it's a sort
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 of it's a romantic myth and it sort of
00:19:31 --> 00:19:32 sticks around for a long time and
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 despite the fact that it's been debunked
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 over and over again it has resurces and
00:19:37 --> 00:19:38 everybody wants their publicity that's
00:19:38 --> 00:19:43 timendum from Australian
00:19:43 --> 00:19:55 [Music]
00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 Skeptics and that's the show for now
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