SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 156
Superflares: A Century-Long Threat?
A new study warns of the potential for our Sun to unleash superflares, with the threat estimated at once per century. These massive eruptions could engulf the Earth, challenging our understanding of solar behaviour. Evidence from other sun-like stars suggests that such violent solar events may be more common than previously thought, urging caution as we continue to study these phenomena.
Binary Star Discovery Near Galactic Core
Astronomers have identified the first binary star system near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. This discovery, made using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, offers new insights into how stars can survive in extreme gravitational environments. The findings could pave the way for detecting planets orbiting close to this massive black hole.
NASA's Lucy Mission: Onward to Jupiter
NASA's Lucy spacecraft has completed its second close flyby of Earth, gaining a gravity assist to propel it towards Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. This manoeuvre is part of Lucy's 12-year mission to study these ancient celestial bodies, believed to be remnants from the early solar system. The spacecraft's journey promises to unlock new secrets about the formation of our planetary neighbourhood.
00:00 This is Spacetime Series 27, episode 156 for broadcast on 27th December 2024
00:48 New observations suggest our sun may be far more violent than previously thought
05:17 Astronomers detect binary star system near supermassive black hole
08:49 NASA's Lucy spacecraft makes second close flyby of the Earth
10:37 NASA's Lucy mission is heading to the Jupiter Trojans
12:26 Sea ice levels in the ocean surrounding Antarctica reach new record lows in 2023
13:52 A new study claims drinking moderate amounts of wine can ward off heart disease
15:05 There are headlines saying believing in Loch Ness monster makes you less stressed
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com (https://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) Enjoy incredible discounts and bonuses! Plus, it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌
Check out our newest sponsor - Old Glory (https://www.bitesz.com/oldglory) - Iconic Music and Sports Merch and now with official NASA merchandise. Well worth a look...
Become a supporter of this Podcast for as little as $3 per month and access commercial-free episodes plus bonuses: https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/about (https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/about)
✍️ Episode References
NASA Lucy spacecraft
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/lucy/overview/index.html
Max Planck Institute
European Southern Observatory
Kepler space telescope
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html
Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/
British Medical Journal
European Heart Journal
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj
Australian Sceptics
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/24808034?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 27 episode 156
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast on the 27th of December
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 2024 coming up on SpaceTime a new study
00:00:10 --> 00:00:11 warns the threat of super flares from
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 the Sun could be as high as one per
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 Century the first ever binary star
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 system found near our Galaxy's Central
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 super massive black hole and NASA's locy
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 spacecraft swoops down low past the
00:00:23 --> 00:00:28 Earth all that and more coming up on
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:31 --> 00:00:35 Stuart
00:00:35 --> 00:00:41 [Music]
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 Gary new observations suggest that our
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 sun may be far more violent than
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 previously thought and may be capable of
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 erupting massive super flares able to
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 engulf the Earth the findings are based
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 on evidence showing other sunlike stars
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 regularly hurl huge amounts of radiation
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 into space at a rate of at least once
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 per Century now there's no question that
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 our sun can be a temperamental Star as
00:01:11 --> 00:01:12 this year's unusually strong solar
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 storms have already proven some of which
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 led to remarkable auroral activity at
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 lower latitudes but can our local star
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 become even more Furious evidence of the
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 most violent solar Tantrums can be found
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 in prehistoric tree trunk rings and in
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 samples of millennial old glacial ice
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 however from these indirect sources the
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 exact frequency of superf flares can't
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 be determined and direct measurements of
00:01:36 --> 00:01:37 the amount of radiation reaching the
00:01:37 --> 00:01:38 earth from the sun has only been
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 available since the beginning of the
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 Space Age modern space telescopes
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 observe thousands upon thousands of
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 stars and record their brightness
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 fluctuations invisible light superf
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 flares which release amounts of energy
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 of more than an ocan Jewels or within a
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 short space of time show themselves in
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 the observational data as short
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 pronounced peaks in brightness in the
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 current study astronomers analyzed the
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 data from
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 56450 sunlike stars as seen by NASA's
00:02:06 --> 00:02:10 Kepler space telescope between 2009 and
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 2013 now scientists only focused on
00:02:13 --> 00:02:14 stars with surface temperatures and
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 brightnesses similar to that of our sun
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 still they identifi
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 2 superf flares on
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 2527 of The
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 56450 observed stars now when you crunch
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 the numbers that means that on a one
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 sunlike star produces a super flare
00:02:32 --> 00:02:35 approximately once per Century the
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 study's lead author valer vasilia from
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 the max plank Institute says his team
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 was surprised that sunlike stars were so
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 prone to such frequent super flares see
00:02:45 --> 00:02:46 earlier servers by other groups had
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 found average intervals of a thousand or
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 even 10 years but the thing is these
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 earlier studies weren't able to
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 determine the exact source of the flare
00:02:56 --> 00:02:57 and therefore they had to limit
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 themselves to stars that didn't have any
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 nearby Neighbors in the telescope image
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 and that's where the current study comes
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 in it's the most precise and sensitive
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 to date when it especially high flux of
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 energetic particles from the Sun reaches
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 the Earth's atmosphere it produces a
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 detectable amount of radioactive atoms
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 such as the radioactive isotope carbon
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 14 and these atoms are then deposited in
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 natural archives such as tree rings and
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 glacial ice so a sudden influx of high
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 energy solar particles can be deduced by
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 simply measuring the amount of carbon 14
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 in a given area and this has allowed
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 researchers to identify five extreme
00:03:34 --> 00:03:35 solar particle events and three
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 candidates within the past 12 years
00:03:38 --> 00:03:39 of the hollene leading to an average
00:03:39 --> 00:03:43 occurrence rate of once every 1500 years
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 with the most violent believed to have
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 occurred around the year
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 775 however it's quite possible that
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 many more such violent particle events
00:03:52 --> 00:03:53 and also more Super flares would have
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 occurred on the sun in the
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 past it's unclear whether gigantic solar
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 flares are always by coronal mass
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 ejections nor is it clear what the
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 relationship between super flares and
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 extreme solar particle events is and
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 this new study doesn't reveal when or if
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 the sun will throw out another fit
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 however the results to urge caution the
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 new data is a stark reminder that even
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 the most extreme solar events imaginable
00:04:20 --> 00:04:21 are all part of the sun's natural
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 repertoire for example during the famous
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 Carrington event of 1859 one of the most
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 violent solar storms in the past 200
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 years t graph networks collapsed across
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 large parts of Europe and North America
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 now according to our best estimates the
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 associated flares released only 100th
00:04:38 --> 00:04:42 the energy of a potential super flare so
00:04:42 --> 00:04:43 we may well have something to look
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 forward to this is spacetime still to
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 come the first ever binary star found
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 near the super massive black hole at the
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 center of our galaxy and nessa's Lucy
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 spacecraft swoops just a few hundred
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 kilm above the Earth on its way to
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 Jupiter all that and more still to come
00:05:00 --> 00:05:01 on
00:05:01 --> 00:05:16 [Music]
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 SpaceTime astronomers have for the first
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 time ever detected a binary star system
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 orbiting close to Sagittarius A star the
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 super massive black hole at the center
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 of our galaxy The Discovery reported in
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 the journal Nature communication s was
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 based on data collected by the European
00:05:32 --> 00:05:33 Southern observatory's very large
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 telescope in Chile the find will help
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 astronomers better understand how Stars
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 can survive in environments of extreme
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 gravity and could pave the way for the
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 detection of planets orbiting close to
00:05:44 --> 00:05:48 Sagittarius A star located 27 light
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 years away Sagittarius A star is the
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 center point around which our entire
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 Milky Way galaxy revolves and contains
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 some 4.3 million times the mass of house
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 Sun the study's lead author floran fisa
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 from the University of cologne says
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 binary stars that is pairs of stars
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 oring each other are very common
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 throughout the Universe but they've
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 never before been found so near a super
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 massive black hole where intense gravity
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 can make Stella a systems unstable this
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 new discovery therefore shows that some
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 binaries can briefly Thrive even under
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 destructive conditions you could say
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 that D9 as the newly discovered binary
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 systems been called was detected just in
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 time as its estimates to only be 2.7
00:06:31 --> 00:06:32 million years old and the strong
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 gravitational forces of the nearby black
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 hole will probably cause it to merge
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 into a single star within just a million
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 years or so now that might sound like a
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 long time but when looking at the edge
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 of the universe it's just the blink of
00:06:45 --> 00:06:48 an eye importantly it provides a brief
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 window on Cosmic time scales to observe
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 such a binary system now for many years
00:06:53 --> 00:06:54 scientist also thought that extreme
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 environments near a super massive black
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 hole would have prevented new stars from
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 forming there but several young Stars
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 found in close proximity to Sagittarius
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 AAR have now disproved this assumption
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 and the discovery of a young binary star
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 system shows that even Stellar peirs
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 have the potential to form in these
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 harsh conditions the D9 system shows
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 clear signs of the presence of gas and
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 dust around the stars that suggest that
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 it could be a very young Stellar system
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 the newly discovered binary was found in
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 a dense cluster of stars and other
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 objects orbiting Sagittarius A star
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 known as the s-cluster
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 most enigmatic in the cluster are the G
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 objects which behave like stars but look
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 more like clouds of gas and dust it was
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38 during their observations of these
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 mysterious objects the team found a
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 surprising pattern in D9 the data
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 obtained with the vt's erors instrument
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 combined with archival data from the
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 synony instrument revealed recurring
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 variations in the velocity of the star
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 indicating that D9 was actually two
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 stars orbiting each other the results
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 are shedding new light on what the
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 mysterious G objects could be
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 the authors proposed that they might
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 actually be a combination of binary
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 stars that have not yet merged and the
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 leftover material from already merg
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 stars but the precise nature of many of
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 the objects orbiting Sagittarius A star
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 as well as exactly how they could have
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 formed so close to a super massive black
00:08:16 --> 00:08:21 hole remains a mystery this SpaceTime
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 still to come NASA's Lucy spacecraft
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 swoops close to the Earth and later in
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 the science report more evidence they're
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 drinking a small to moderate amount of
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 wine could help W of heart disease all
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 that and more still to come on
00:08:34 --> 00:08:43 [Music]
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 SpaceTime NASA's Lucy spacecraft has
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 successfully undertaken its second close
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 flyby of the Earth as it continues to
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 build up speed on its journey to study
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 Jupiter Trojan asteroids the spacecraft
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 swooped down just 360 km above
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 Australia's East Coast as it gained a
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 gravity assist to change its course and
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 fling it out towards its next Target
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 through the main asteroid built and out
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 towards the neverbe explored Jovian
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 Trojan asteroids its close encounter
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 with the Earth increased its speed with
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22 respect to the Sun by more than 7.31
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 km/s the Jovian Trojans are two small
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 bundles of ancient asteroids which are
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 caught in a gravity well in Jupiter's
00:09:29 --> 00:09:30 orbit
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 the first group of Trojans travels 60°
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 ahead of Jupiter in its orbit around the
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 sun while the second group travels 60°
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 behind the gas GI these are known as the
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 L grangian L4 and L5 positions areas
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 with a gravitational tug of war of
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 primary and secondary objects allows a
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 body to remain in that position for an
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 extended period of time the second Earth
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 gravity assist occurred 3 years into
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 Lucy's 12year Voyage the first gravity
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 assist was back in October 20 22 just a
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 year after its launch that boosted the
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 spacecraft from an initial one-year
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 orbit around the Sun to its present
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 2-year orbit allowing it to reach the
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 inner limits of the main asteroid belt
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 and this enabled Lucy's first asteroid
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 encounter with a small asteroid dinking
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 ish and its tiny satellite Moon Salim
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 this month's latest gravity assist
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 boosted the spacecraft into a six-year
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 orbit one that will carry Lucy through
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 the main asteroid buildt or it will fly
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 past the asteroid dundle Johansson on
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 April the 20th 20 2 and then into the
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 Trojan asteroid swarm that leads Jupiter
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 in its orbit for the first Trojan
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 asteroid encounter in
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 2027 this report from NASA
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 TV NASA's Lucy mission is heading to the
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 Jupiter Trojans two swarms of asteroids
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 trapped in Jupiter's orbit when it
00:10:49 --> 00:10:50 arrives it will provide the first
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 close-up look at these primitive objects
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 thought to be fossils from the dawn of
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 the solar system but to get there Lucy
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 needs a Little Help from the
00:10:59 --> 00:11:04 [Music]
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 Earth after launching on October 16th
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 2021 Lucy returned home exactly one year
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 later for the first of three Earth
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 gravity assists stealing an undetectably
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 small amount of Earth's orbital energy
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 to boost the
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 spacecraft this allowed Lucy to skim the
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 inner edge of the main asteroid belt
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 between Mars and Jupiter on November 1st
00:11:26 --> 00:11:30 2023 it flew by asteroid dink NES and
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 discovered a small moon on December 12th
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 at 1:20 p.m. eastern time it crossed the
00:11:36 --> 00:11:37 moon's orbit from the direction of the
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 sun greeted by a brilliant view of
00:11:39 --> 00:11:43 Australia and the Pacific Ocean in the
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 hour before closest approach Lucy skims
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 through Earth's upper atmosphere
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 traveling over 9 m per second bidding
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 farewell to home until its third and
00:11:52 --> 00:11:56 final gravity assist in December
00:11:56 --> 00:12:00 2030 the 2024 encounter boost Lucy's
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 velocity by 4 1/2 m/ second relative to
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 the sun putting it on course for The L4
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 Trojans that travel ahead of Jupiter but
00:12:09 --> 00:12:10 first Lucy will Traverse the main
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 asteroid belt making a flyby of asteroid
00:12:13 --> 00:12:18 Donald Johansson on April 20th
00:12:18 --> 00:12:26 [Music]
00:12:26 --> 00:12:37 2025 this is spacetime
00:12:37 --> 00:12:45 [Music]
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46 and time now to take another brief look
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 at some of the other stories making us
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 in science this week with a science
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 report a new study has shown that in
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 2023 sea ice levels in the oceans
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 surrounding Antarctica reach new record
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 lows Falling by as much as 80% in some
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 areas the findings reported in the
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 journal Nature suggest that these low
00:13:06 --> 00:13:07 levels of sea ice change the
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 interactions between the oceans and the
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 atmosphere increasing the frequency of
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 storms the authors say repeated low ice
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 cover in subsequent Winters will
00:13:16 --> 00:13:17 strengthen these impacts and are likely
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 to lead to profound changes in Far Away
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 places including the tropics and the
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 Northern
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 Hemisphere a new study warns that men
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 with enlarged breast tissue that's not
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 caused by by excess weight could be at a
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 heightened risk of dying before the age
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 of
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 75 the study by Danish researchers was
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 reported in the British medical journal
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 the condition known as G of cosos mestia
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 is often caused by a hormone imbalance
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 the authors found a 37% increase in the
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 risk of death in people who have
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 enlarged breast tissue compared to those
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 who
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 don't well of course it's Christmas and
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 the holidays and new year coming up so
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 it's time for another study on alcohol
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 consumption now ear this year we
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 reported a study which specifically
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 stated that no amount of alcohol is
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 healthy for you and the more alcohol you
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 drink the more it's likely to shorten
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 your lifespan but now comes a new report
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 from the European heart Journal it
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 claims to have found evidence that
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 drinking a small or moderate amount of
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 wine could actually help ward off heart
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 disease in people with otherwise healthy
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 diets as part of a Spanish study looking
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 at the Mediterranean diet in people at a
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 high risk of developing heart disease
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 researchers asked 1 32 participants
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 how much wine they drank and they then
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 tested the participants urine for a more
00:14:34 --> 00:14:37 objective measurement following up over
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 four to 5 years researchers said that
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 those who drank half to one glass of
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 wine a day were 50% less likely to have
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 a heart problem compared to those who
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 rarely or never drank wine however this
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 reduced risk disappeared for those who
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 drank more than a glass of wine a day
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54 the authors say that while this study
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 was quite specific looking at
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57 Mediterranean people eating
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 Mediterranean diets it does add to
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 evidence of the potential health
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 benefits of a glass of wine when drunk
00:15:03 --> 00:15:04 in
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 moderation through in now headlines
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 being broadcast that believing in the
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 likeness monster will make you far less
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 stressed than believing in God buts Tim
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 menum from a strange Skeptics explains
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 it's just another classic case of the
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 media misunderstanding the science and
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 getting everything the wrong way around
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 this is a classic case of a headline
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 misunderstanding totally the science
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 there was a study that was done by
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 Manchester ropan University looking at
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 comparing stress with beliefs and what
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 they found out using a particular test
00:15:36 --> 00:15:37 which is wait for called the rash
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 purified revised paranormal belief scale
00:15:40 --> 00:15:41 and this is a revised version or
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 purified version of a previous one which
00:15:43 --> 00:15:44 they thought wasn't very good so what
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 they found out was that people with
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 stress tended to believe in God and
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 religion as opposed to people with less
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 stress believe in New Age theories and
00:15:52 --> 00:15:53 the Paranormal ghosts and that sort of
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 stuff the suggestion is that because God
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 and religion and that sort of stuff is
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 is something we don't have control over
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 that it often has a major impact on our
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 lives and people get worried about it
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 they lack personal control which is
00:16:05 --> 00:16:06 understandable in a way if if if
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 something's going to drop on your head
00:16:08 --> 00:16:09 you've got no control over it but you're
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 worried about it your stress levels are
00:16:11 --> 00:16:12 going to go up it's the randomness of
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 life if you like that that that upsets
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 people very much the Lo Ness monster or
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 Bigfoot do the same thing well no this
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 is this is the weird thing there this
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 news report that came out saying that
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 believing in the lockness monster will
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 make you far less stressed than
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 believing in God well that's not the way
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 it works totally misunder stand
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 correlation and coration because
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 basically they saying almost suggesting
00:16:32 --> 00:16:33 that go ahead and believe in a Lo Ness
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 monster and it'll make you feel good no
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 the suggestion is that if you have less
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 stress you might be more inclined to
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 believe in a lockness monster you got
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 more time on your hands to think of
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 other things haven't you well yes
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 perhaps people get things back to front
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 the causation and the correlation that
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 they mix them up um I saw a story once
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 that um kids who smoke will this this a
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 true social study story kids who smoke
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 will muck up in school no actually it's
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 not the smoking that causes it's the
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 other way kids who MK up in school tend
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03 to have smoking people get around the
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 wrong way and they actually end up
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 making policy on the basis of seeing
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 things back to front so you could say
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 I'll encourage more people to see the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:11 lockdown sponsor then they'll feel good
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 but no they see the lockdown sponsor
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 because they feel good the real issue is
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 that people who are stressed tend to
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 have more belief in God and religion
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 because they worry about Randomness and
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 that lends that tends towards them
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 towards this random impact philosophy
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 whereas lock there and that doesn't
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 particularly hurt anybody so people with
00:17:29 --> 00:17:30 less dress are very happy to accept that
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 they apparently spoke with about 3
00:17:32 --> 00:17:33 people I think it what so that's a
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 decent size stud sample size yeah yeah
00:17:36 --> 00:17:40 that's Tim mum from Australian
00:17:40 --> 00:17:53 [Music]
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 Skeptics and that's the show for now
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 SpaceTime is available every Monday
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 Wednesday and Friday through Apple
00:17:59 --> 00:18:03 podcasts iTunes Stitcher Google podcast
00:18:03 --> 00:18:07 pocketcasts Spotify acast Amazon music
00:18:07 --> 00:18:08 bites.com
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 SoundCloud YouTube your favorite podcast
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 download provider and from SpaceTime
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 with Stewart gar.com space 's Also
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 broadcast through the National Science
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 Foundation on science Zone Radio and on
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 both iHeart radio and TuneIn radio and
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 you can help to support our show by
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 visiting the SpaceTime store for a range
00:18:27 --> 00:18:30 of promotional merizing goodies or by
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 becoming A Spacetime Patron which gives
00:18:32 --> 00:18:34 you access to Triple episode commercial
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 free versions of the show as well as
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 lots of burnus audio content which
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 doesn't go to air access to our
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 exclusive Facebook group and other
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 Awards just go to SpaceTime with Stewart
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 gary.com for full details you've been
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 listening to SpaceTime with Stewart Gary
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 this has been another quality podcast
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 production from bites.com