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This episode of SpaceTime dives deep into the cosmos, revealing groundbreaking insights into the origins of heavy elements and the geological history of Mars.First, we explore a revolutionary study that uncovers how giant exploding stars produce uranium and other heavy elements. Researchers are now investigating gamma-ray burst jets and the surrounding cocoon formed by collapsed stars. This new framework suggests that high-energy photons can dissolve stellar material into neutrons, leading to the creation of heavy elements through a rapid neutron capture process. We discuss the implications of these findings and how they challenge long-held beliefs about nucleosynthesis in the universe. Shattering Beliefs About Asteroid Vesta
Next, we turn our attention to the asteroid Vesta, where a recent study published in Nature Astronomy reveals that its interior structure is far more uniform than previously thought. This discovery has led scientists to reconsider Vesta's identity, proposing that it may simply be a large asteroid rather than a protoplanet. We examine the research that challenges decades of assumptions about Vesta's formation and its role in understanding the early solar system. Did It Rain or Snow on Ancient Mars?
Finally, we investigate the ancient climate of Mars, with a new study suggesting that geological formations on the planet were shaped by heavy precipitation, indicating a warmer and wetter past. This research utilizes computer simulations to analyze how rain and snow may have contributed to the development of Martian valleys and channels. We discuss the significance of these findings and their implications for our understanding of Mars's climatic history. www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com (https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/)
✍️ Episode References
Astrophysical Journal
https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X (https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X)
Nature Astronomy
https://www.nature.com/natureastronomy/ (https://www.nature.com/natureastronomy/)
Journal of Geophysical Research Planets
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21699356 (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/21699356)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
00:00 New study provides clues explaining how exploding stars produce uranium and other heavy elements
06:21 New study suggests giant asteroid Vesta is really just a big asteroid
15:19 New study suggests heavy precipitation likely fed valleys on ancient Mars
19:49 A new study warns that microplastic pollution could compromise ocean carbon
22:17 More than 31,000 passwords belonging to Australian banks have been stolen
24:47 Space Time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through bitesz.com (https://play.headliner.app/episode/26995605?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 This is Spacetime series 28 episode 55
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast on the 7th of May 2025.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 Coming up on Spaceime, how giant
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 exploding stars make uranium, shattering
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 long-held beliefs about the main belt
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 asteroid Vesta, and a new study
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 resolving the question of whether it
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 rained or snowed on ancient Mars. All
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 that and more coming up on Spaceime.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:30 Welcome to Spaceime with Stuart Garry.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:37 [Music]
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 A new study has provided fresh clues
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 explaining how exploding stars produce
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 uranium and other heavy elements by
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 quite literally dissolving into
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 neutrons. Understanding the origin of
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 heavy elements on the periodic table is
00:00:58 --> 00:00:59 one of the most challenging open
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 problems in all of physics. We know that
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 all the elements other than hydrogen and
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 helium and small amounts of lithium and
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 burillium which were created in the big
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 bang 13.8 billion years ago are created
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 in stars either during their lifetimes
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 as they evolve or through spectacular
00:01:14 --> 00:01:18 supernova as they die. In the search for
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 understanding the conditions suitable
00:01:20 --> 00:01:21 for creating these elements through
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 nuclear synthesis, scientists are now
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 going where no researchers have gone
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 before. They're looking at gammaray
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 burst jets in the surrounding cocoon
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 emerging from collapsed stars. A report
00:01:33 --> 00:01:34 in the astrophysical journal suggests
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 that high energy photons produced deep
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 inside gammaray burst jets could
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 dissolve the outer layers of a star into
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 neutrons causing a series of processes
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 that may will result in the formation of
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 heavy elements. One of the study's
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 authors, Matthew Mumpower from the Los
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 Alamos National Laboratory says the
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 creation of heavy elements such as
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 uranium plutonium necessitates extreme
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 conditions. The thing is there are only
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 a few viable yet very rare scenarios in
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 which these elements can form and all of
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 these hypotheses require the need for
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 copious amounts of neutrons. So Mau and
00:02:09 --> 00:02:10 colleagues are proposing a new
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 phenomenon whereby those neutrons don't
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 pre-exist but are produced dramatically
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 by the star itself. Freeflying neutrons
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 have a short half-life of just 15
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 minutes. That limits the sort of
00:02:22 --> 00:02:23 scenarios in which they're available in
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 the abundances needed to form heavy
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 elements. Now the key to producing the
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 heaviest elements on the periodic table
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 is known as the rapid neutron capture
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 process and it's thought to be
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 responsible for the production of all
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 the naturally occurring thorium, uranium
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 and plutonium in the universe. The
00:02:40 --> 00:02:41 author's framework takes on the
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 challenging physics of this process and
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 then resolves it by proposing reactions
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 around the stars collapse which could
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 result in heavy element formation.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 In addition to understanding the
00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 formation of heavy elements, the
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 proposed framework also helps address
00:02:56 --> 00:02:57 critical questions around neutron
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 transport, multifysics simulations and
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 the observations of rare events. Now in
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 this scenario Mau proposes a massive
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 star begins to die as its nuclear fuel
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 runs out. Eventually the balancing act
00:03:11 --> 00:03:12 between the outward push of nuclear
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 energy as the star burns fuel and the
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 inward pull of gravity comes to an end
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 and gravity wins. no longer able to push
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 up against its own gravity, the star
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 collapses, forming a black hole at its
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 center. Now, if the black hole is
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 spinning fast enough, frame dragging
00:03:28 --> 00:03:29 effects from the extremely strong
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 gravitational field near the black hole,
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 wind up the magnetic field, and launch
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 powerful jets. Now, through subsequent
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 reactions, a broad spectrum of photons
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 are created, some of which are at very
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 high energies. That includes gamma rays.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 Mau says, "These photon jets blast
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 through the star ahead of it, creating a
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 hot cocoon of material around the jet,
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 sort of like a freight train plowing
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 through snow. At the interface between
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 the jet and the stellar material, high
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 energy photons can interact with atomic
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 nuclei, transmuting the photons into
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 neutrons, literally turning energy into
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 matter. Now, existing atomic nuclei may
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 also be dissolved into individual
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 nucleons, creating more free neutrons to
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 power the process. The calculations
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 suggest interaction with light and
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 matter can create neutrons incredibly
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 quickly on the order of a nancond. Now
00:04:18 --> 00:04:19 because they're charged, protons get
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 trapped in the jet by the strong
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 magnetic fields. But neutrons which are
00:04:24 --> 00:04:25 chargeless are plowed out of the jet
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 into the cocoon. Having experienced a
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 relativistic shock, the neutrons are
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 extremely dense compared to the
00:04:32 --> 00:04:33 surrounding stellar material and
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 therefore a rapid neutron capture
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 process could occur with heavy elements
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 and isotopes being forged then expelled
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 out into space as the stars ripped
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 apart. The process of protons converting
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 into neutrons along with free neutrons
00:04:47 --> 00:04:48 escaping into the surrounding cocoon to
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 form heavy elements involves a broad
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 range of physics principles and
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 encompasses all four fundamental forces
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 of nature. a true multifysics problem
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 combining areas of atomic and nuclear
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 physics with hydrodnamics and general
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 relativity. But more challenges remain
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 as the heavy isotopes created during
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 this rapid neutron capture process have
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 never been produced on Earth.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:11 Researchers know little about their
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 properties such as their atomic weight
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 and half-life. Still, the high energy
00:05:16 --> 00:05:17 jet framework produced by the authors
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 may help explain the origins of
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 kilanova, a glow of optical and infrared
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 electromagnetic radiation associated
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 with longduration gammaray bursts.
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 Kilanovas have been primarily associated
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 with the collision of two neutron stars
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 or through the merger of a neutron star
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 and a black hole. Now, these intense
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 collisions are one possible method for
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 confirming with observations the cosmic
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 factories of heavy element formation.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 But star dissolution through high energy
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 photon jets offer an alternative origin
00:05:47 --> 00:05:48 for the production of heavy elements and
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 the killer nerve they may manufacture. A
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 possibility not previously thought to be
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 associated with collapsing stars. As a
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 side note, it's worth remembering that
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 scientists have observed iron and
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 plutonium in deep sea sediments. These
00:06:03 --> 00:06:04 deposits are known to come from
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 extraterrestrial sources. Though as with
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 the phenomena producing killer, the
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 specific location or cosmic event
00:06:11 --> 00:06:12 remains elusive.
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 So the collapser high energy jet
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 scenario represents an intriguing
00:06:17 --> 00:06:18 possibility as the source for these
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 heavy elements found deep under the sea.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:22 This is
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 spaceime still to come. Shattering some
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 long-held beliefs about the asteroid
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 Vesta and a new study supported the
00:06:30 --> 00:06:31 long-held scientific view that
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 geological formations seen on the red
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 planet Mars were formed by water and
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 snow billions of years ago. All that and
00:06:38 --> 00:06:42 more still to come on
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 Spaceime. This episode of Spacetime is
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 brought to you by our official virtual
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00:08:20 --> 00:08:31 [Music]
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 A new study suggests that the mysterious
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 word of Vesta is really just a big
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 asteroid. The findings reported in the
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 journal Nature Astronomy show that
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 Vesta's interior structure is far more
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 uniform than previously thought. The
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 discovery has shocked many researchers
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 who until now assumed Vesta was a
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 protolanet that never grew to its full
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 potential. For decades, scientists
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 believed that Vesta, one of the largest
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 objects in the main asteroid belt
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 between Mars and Jupiter, wasn't just
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 another asteroid. They concluded that
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 Vesta had a crust, a mantle, and a core,
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 and they're the fundamental properties
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 of celestial bodies like planets. So
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 astronomers have been studying Vesta for
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 clues as to how early planets grew and
00:09:15 --> 00:09:16 what the Earth might have looked like in
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 its infancy. One of the studies authors,
00:09:19 --> 00:09:20 Seth Jacobson from Michigan State
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 University, says the lack of a core
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 investor was really quite surprising. So
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 what was Vesta's true identity? Well,
00:09:29 --> 00:09:30 the authors have come up with two
00:09:30 --> 00:09:31 hypotheses that need further
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 exploration. The first is that Vesta
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 went through an incomplete
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 differentiation, meaning it started the
00:09:38 --> 00:09:39 melting process needed to give the
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 asteroid distinct layers like a core,
00:09:42 --> 00:09:43 mantle, and crust, but it never finished
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 them. The second, which Jacobson first
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 floated an astronomy conference years
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 ago, is that Vesta is really just a
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 broken chunk off a growing planet.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 Jacobson wanted other researchers to
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 consider the possibility that some
00:09:56 --> 00:09:57 meteorites could be debris from
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 collisions that took place during the
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 planetary formation era 4.6 billion
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 years ago. He says that idea went from a
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 somewhat silly suggestion to a
00:10:06 --> 00:10:07 hypothesis that astronomers are now
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 taking seriously due to a reanalysis of
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 data from NASA's dawn mission. See, most
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 asteroids are made of very ancient
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 condritic material appearing like cosmic
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 sedimentary gravel. Now, in contrast,
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 Vesta's surface is covered in volcanic
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 basaltic rocks. And these rocks
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 indicated to scientists that Vista went
00:10:27 --> 00:10:28 through a melting process called
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 planetary differentiation where the
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 metal sinks to the center and forms a
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 core. NASA launched the Dawn spacecraft
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 in 2007 to study Veester and series, the
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 two largest objects in the main asteroid
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 belt. The goal was to better understand
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 how planets formed. Dawn spent many
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 months in 2011 and 2012 orbiting Vesta,
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 measuring its gravitational field,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 taking highresolution images, and
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 creating a very detailed map of its
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 surface. It then performed similar tasks
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 around the dwarf planet series. The
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 mission finally reaching an end in
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 2018. Jacobson says the more they use
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 the data, the better they got at
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 processing it, and they found ways to
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 more accurately calibrate measurements,
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 yielding an improved picture of Vesta's
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 makeup. Eventually, they decided to
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 reprocess Vesta's measurements. But for
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 years, conflicting gravity data from
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 Dawn's observations of Vesta created
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 puzzles. After nearly a decade of
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25 refining their calibration and
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 processing techniques, they finally
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 achieved a remarkable alignment between
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 Dorne's deep space network radiometric
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 data and onboard imaging data. The
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 authors were eventually able to show
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 that Vesta's history is far more complex
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 than previously thought and it was
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 shaped by unique processes like
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 interrupted planetary differentiation
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 and late stage collisions. Planetary
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 scientists can estimate the size of
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 celestial body's core by measuring
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 what's called the moment of inertia. It
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 describes how difficult it is to change
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 the rotation of an object around its
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 axis. Jacobson compared the concept to a
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 figure skater spinning on ice. They
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 change their speed by pulling their arms
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 in to speed up and moving them outwards
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 again to slow down. So their moment of
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 inertia is changed by changing the
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 position of their arms. Now in a similar
00:12:14 --> 00:12:15 way, an object in space with a larger
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 core is a bit like a ballerina with her
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 arms pulled in. Celestial bodies with a
00:12:20 --> 00:12:21 dense core move differently through
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 space than ones with no core at all. And
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 with this knowledge, the authors
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 measured the rotation and gravitational
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 field of Vesta. The results showed that
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 Vesta didn't behave like an object with
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 a core, challenging prior ideas about
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 how it formed. Of course, neither
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 hypothesis has been fully explored
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 enough to rule either out, and both have
00:12:41 --> 00:12:42 problems that still require a lot more
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 research to explain. Now, while
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 incomplete differentiation is possible,
00:12:47 --> 00:12:48 it doesn't line up with the meteorites
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 researchers have collected over time.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 Jacobson says he's very confident these
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 meteorites came from Vesta and they
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 don't show any obvious evidence of
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 incomplete differentiation. The
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 alternative explanation is based on the
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 idea that as the terrestrial planets
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 formed large collisions occurred mostly
00:13:06 --> 00:13:07 growing the planets but also generating
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 impact debris. Ejected materials from
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 these collisions would include rocks
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 resulting from melting and like Vesta
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 they wouldn't have a core. Jacobson's
00:13:17 --> 00:13:18 lab's already exploring the consequences
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 of giant impacts during the planetary
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 formation era. He's now working on the
00:13:23 --> 00:13:24 idea that some asteroids in the main
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 belt are pieces ejected from the growing
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 planets. But the idea is still far from
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 proven. More models need to be created
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 and fine-tuned to prove that Vista is an
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 ancient chunk of a forming planet.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 Jacobson says the paper's really only
00:13:39 --> 00:13:40 the beginning of a new direction of
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 study that could forever change how
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 scientists look at differentiated
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 worlds. No longer is the Vesta meteorite
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 collection simply a sample of a body in
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 space that failed to make it into a
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 planet. Instead, they could be pieces of
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 an ancient planet before it grew to full
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 completion. Scientists just don't know
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 which planet yet. The answers may be
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 contained in the Dawn data. This report
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 from NASA
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 TV. You know, when you work on a mission
00:14:10 --> 00:14:14 this long, it feels like a part of you.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 I've been a space enthusiast since I was
00:14:16 --> 00:14:17 four years
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 old. Getting to work on a mission like
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 this is it's a dream come
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 true. To me, Dawn is truly Earth's first
00:14:26 --> 00:14:30 interplanetary spaceship.
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 No other spacecraft has gone to a
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 distant body, gone into orbit around it,
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 maneuvered there, then broken out of
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 orbit, traveled elsewhere in the solar
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 system to another alien world and gone
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 into orbit around it. And it does that
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 with ion propulsion, which I first heard
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 of in a Star Trek
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 episode. We've turned ion propulsion
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 from science fiction into science fact.
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 The Dawn mission really is a journey
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 back to the beginning of the solar
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 system and that's why we call it
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 Dawn. We chose two time capsules from
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 the beginning of the solar system, Vesta
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 and Series, which are the most massive
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 and largest bodies in the main asteroid
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 belt. They both formed very early when
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 the solar system was forming out of the
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 protolanetary disc. And yet they ended
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 up in these two very different states.
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 Vesta is a dry, rocky body that looks a
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 lot like our
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 moon, whereas seriesir had a lot of
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 water and it looks much more like the
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 icy moons of the outer solar
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 system. And it seems like what
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 determined their eventual fate was the
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 location where they started. And we now
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 believe that series formed much farther
00:15:45 --> 00:15:49 from the sun than it is now. When Dawn
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 found the bright material in series,
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 what we saw was completely
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 mind-blowing, it was made of sodium
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 carbonate. Sodium carbonate is not
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 common in the solar system, but we see
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 it coming out of the plumes of
00:16:05 --> 00:16:09 Enceladus. We see it in lakes on Earth.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 And here it was on the surface of
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 series. Dawn serves as a lasting
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 reminder that the passion for bold
00:16:16 --> 00:16:20 adventures and our noble aspirations to
00:16:20 --> 00:16:24 reach out into the cosmos take us far
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 far beyond the confines of our humble
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 home here on planet Earth. In that
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 report from NASA TV, we heard from Dawn
00:16:32 --> 00:16:33 chief engineer and mission director Mark
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 Raymond and Dawn principal investigator
00:16:36 --> 00:16:40 Carol Raymond. This is spaceime still to
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 come. Did it rain or snow on the red
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 planet Mars? And later in the science
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 report, a new study has found that
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 spruce trees not only respond to solar
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 eclipses, but they actively anticipate
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 when they're about to happen. All that
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 and more still to come on
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 Spaceime. Hey there, Spacetime
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 listeners. Buckle up because I'm about
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03 to thrill you and tell you about our new
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00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 April the 22nd, is an absolute gamecher
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00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 backyard, now picture this. The X5
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 shoots jaw-dropping 8K 30 360° video,
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00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 the first 30 standard package purchases.
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 And for more information, be sure to
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 check out the links in our show notes.
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 Insta 360, brilliant technology for a
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 brilliant camera. And now it's back to
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00:18:39 --> 00:18:47 [Music]
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 A new study has supported the long-held
00:18:49 --> 00:18:50 scientific view that geological
00:18:50 --> 00:18:53 formations seen on the red planet Mars
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 suggests that heavy precipitation likely
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 fed many networks of valleys and
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 channels that shaped the Martian surface
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02 billions of years ago. The findings
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 reported in the Journal of Geophysical
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 Research Planets paints a picture of a
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 world that was relatively warm and wet,
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 very different from the frigid wasteland
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 we know today. The study's lead author
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 Amanda Steckle from the University of
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 Colorado Boulder says you can pull up
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 Google Earth images of places like Utah
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 and then zoom out and you'd see
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 similarities to the red planet Mars.
00:19:23 --> 00:19:26 Now, most scientists today agree that at
00:19:26 --> 00:19:27 least some water existed on the surface
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 of Mars during the Noin epoch roughly
00:19:30 --> 00:19:33 between 4.1 and 3.7 billion years ago.
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 But exactly where that water came from
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 has long been a mystery. Other
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 researchers say ancient Mars wasn't ever
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 warm and wet. It was always a cold and
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 dry desert. Now during the no chin, the
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 solar systems then young sun was only
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 about 75% as bright as it is today.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 Sprawling ice caps may therefore have
00:19:53 --> 00:19:54 covered the highlands around the Martian
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 equator, occasionally melting for short
00:19:56 --> 00:19:59 periods of time. So Stel and colleagues
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 set out to investigate the warm wet
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 versus cold dry hypotheses of the past
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 Martian climate. They drew on computer
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 simulations to explore how water may
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 have shaped the surface of Mars.
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 billions of years ago and they found
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 that it was precipitation from either
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 snow or rain which likely formed the
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 patterns of valleys and headwaters that
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 are still visible on Mars today. Stickle
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 says these valleys began in a large
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 range of elevations and it's hard to
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 explain that with just ice. Now
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 satellite images of Mars today still
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 reveal the fingerprints of water on the
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 red planet. Around the equator, for
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 example, vast networks of channels
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 spread from the Martian highlands,
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 branching like trees and emptying into
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 lakes and even possibly a Martian
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 northern ocean. In fact, NASA's Mars
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 Perseverance rover, which landed on the
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 red planet in 2021, is currently
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 exploring Jezro Crater, the site of one
00:20:52 --> 00:20:53 of these ancient lakes. During the
00:20:54 --> 00:20:55 Nurin, a powerful river emptied into
00:20:56 --> 00:20:57 this region, depositing a delta of
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 sediment on top of the crater floor. To
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 study that ancient past, Steel and
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 colleagues essentially created a digital
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 version of a portion of Mars. They drew
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 computer simulations originally
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 developed for Earth studies and then
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 used software to model the evolution of
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 the landscape on synthetic terrain that
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18 resembles Mars close to its equator. In
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 some cases, the authors added water to
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 that terrain from falling precipitation.
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 And in other cases, they included
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 melting ice caps. Then in the simulation
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 they let the water flow for tens to
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 hundreds of thousands of years. The
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 authors then examine the patterns that
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 formed as a result and specifically
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 where the headwaters feeding Mars's
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 branching valleys emerged. The scenarios
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 produced very different planets. In the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 case of melting ice caps, those valley
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46 heads formed largely at high elevations
00:21:46 --> 00:21:47 roughly around the edge of where the
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 ancient ice sat. But in the
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 precipitation examples, Martian
00:21:51 --> 00:21:53 headwaters were much more widespread,
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 forming at elevations ranging from below
00:21:56 --> 00:21:57 the planet's average surface to
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 altitudes of more than 11 ft high.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 STE says water from these ice caps
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 starts to form valleys only around a
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 very narrow band of elevations. Whereas,
00:22:07 --> 00:22:08 if you had distributed precipitation,
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 you can have valley heads forming
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 everywhere. The authors then compared
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 these predictions with actual data from
00:22:14 --> 00:22:17 the Martian surface taken by NASA's Mars
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 spacecraft. And the simulations that
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 included precipitation lined up more
00:22:23 --> 00:22:26 closely with the real red planet surface
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 data. Now, the authors are quick to
00:22:28 --> 00:22:29 point out that these results are not the
00:22:29 --> 00:22:32 final word on Mars's ancient climate. In
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 particular, how the planet managed to
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 stay warm enough to support snow and
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 rain still isn't clear, but that's for
00:22:38 --> 00:22:42 another paper. This is
00:22:42 --> 00:22:56 [Music]
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 spaceime. And time now to take another
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 brief look at some of the other stories
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 making news in science this week with a
00:23:02 --> 00:23:05 science report. A new study warns that
00:23:05 --> 00:23:08 microlastic pollution is now everywhere.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09 A report in the journal Nature says that
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 most research on microplastics in the
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 ocean is focused on water near the
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 surface, but it says that could
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 compromise a measurable part of the
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 carbon that cycles through the ocean.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 The authors studied microplastic
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 distribution recorded in different ocean
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 depths at over 1 stations around the
00:23:25 --> 00:23:29 world between 2014 and 2024.
00:23:29 --> 00:23:30 They found that although microplastic
00:23:30 --> 00:23:33 pieces decreased in number with depth,
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 they increased as a percentage of total
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 organic carbon particles from 0.1% at 30
00:23:38 --> 00:23:42 m to 5% at 2 m in depth. The authors
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 say a more consistent study method and
00:23:45 --> 00:23:46 international coordination and
00:23:46 --> 00:23:48 monitoring would help clarify exactly
00:23:48 --> 00:23:52 where microplastics end up in the ocean.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 A new study warns that healthare workers
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56 who wash their scrubs and uniforms at
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 home may unknowingly be contributing to
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 the spread of antibioticresistant
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 infections. A report in the journal plus
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 one looked at how well six models of
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 home washing machines decontaminated
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 swatches of a contaminated healthcare
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 workers's uniform using hot water and
00:24:11 --> 00:24:14 either a rapid or normal cycle. They
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15 found that half of the machines they
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 tested couldn't disinfect the clothes
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 during the rapid cycle and a third
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 failed to clean the fabric sufficiently
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 even during a full cycle. Additionally,
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 the authors sampled the insides of 12
00:24:25 --> 00:24:27 washing machines for any nasties that
00:24:27 --> 00:24:29 could have built up inside them. Not
00:24:29 --> 00:24:31 only did they find potentially
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33 pathogenic bacteria, but they also found
00:24:33 --> 00:24:37 that some had antibioticresistant genes.
00:24:37 --> 00:24:40 In an amazing discovery, a new study has
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 revealed that spruce trees not only
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 respond to solar eclipses, but actively
00:24:45 --> 00:24:47 anticipate them by synchronizing their
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 biological signals hours in advance into
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 a cohesive forestwide phenomenon. The
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 stunning discovery reported in the
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 journal of the Royal Society Open
00:24:56 --> 00:24:58 Science also shows that older trees
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 exhibit a more pronounced early
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 response, suggesting that these ancient
00:25:02 --> 00:25:04 sentinels retain decades of
00:25:04 --> 00:25:06 environmental memory and may use that to
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 inform younger trees of impending
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 events. The study adds to the emerging
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 evidence that plants are active
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 community of participants in their
00:25:15 --> 00:25:17 ecosystems capable of very complex
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 coordinated behaviors akin to those we
00:25:19 --> 00:25:22 see in animal groups. Makes you wonder
00:25:22 --> 00:25:24 whether lettuce really could scream when
00:25:24 --> 00:25:26 you eat
00:25:26 --> 00:25:29 it. More than 31 passwords belonging
00:25:29 --> 00:25:31 to Combank, A&Z, Westpack, and NAB
00:25:32 --> 00:25:33 customers have been stolen and are now
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 being shared online by cyber criminals.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 The passwords were stolen directly from
00:25:38 --> 00:25:40 users devices infected with
00:25:40 --> 00:25:47 infrastru.life.
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 Well, there were more than 31 of
00:25:49 --> 00:25:51 these passwords belonging to customers
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 of the big four banks. And not only are
00:25:54 --> 00:25:57 these available online and for sale, but
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 they can actually be available free of
00:25:58 --> 00:26:01 charge as well because there's seemingly
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 they have so many of them. So, while
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 some of this information may have been
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 leaked in previous password hacks, in
00:26:07 --> 00:26:08 this case, people using Windows
00:26:08 --> 00:26:10 computers have been targeted by malware.
00:26:10 --> 00:26:12 And this can sometimes be from their
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 kids or themselves looking for pirate
00:26:14 --> 00:26:17 content to unlock various games or apps
00:26:17 --> 00:26:19 or just pirating digital media and
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 somehow they get their computer
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 installed, normally a Windows PC, with
00:26:24 --> 00:26:25 malware. And so, this info stealer
00:26:25 --> 00:26:27 malware would then give the criminals
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 back door access into the user's
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 computer. they could use a key logger to
00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 see any changes they were making and
00:26:32 --> 00:26:34 even capture the authentication token
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 for when two factor authentication had
00:26:36 --> 00:26:39 gone through thus you know able to steal
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 people's money and cause a lot of havoc.
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 You need to make sure that you have
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 solid internet security software but
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 also and you should do that anyway
00:26:47 --> 00:26:49 irrespective of your you know banking
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 login details but you can also use a
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52 different computer device you can use an
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55 iPhone an iPad an Android tablet a Mac a
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 Linux computer something else that
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 you've also secured but iPads and
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 iPhones normally and Macs are the
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 generally speaking the most secure of
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 all so if you use a different device for
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 your sensitive login to superenuation
00:27:06 --> 00:27:07 which got hacked recently as well and
00:27:08 --> 00:27:10 bank websites and other sites that are
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12 sensitive then your main computer, even
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14 if it does get affected, shouldn't
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16 affect this other device. There's been
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 another attack just the other day, too,
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 wasn't there? Yes, this just came out
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 that cyber criminals have stolen nearly
00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 100 staff login from Australia's big
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 four banks and obviously that puts those
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 businesses at risk. These are
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 compromised staff credentials now and
00:27:30 --> 00:27:32 according to reports, this can allow
00:27:32 --> 00:27:35 hackers to get into initial access of
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 the systems from these banks and you can
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 be running all the latest software.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 there are zero day vulnerabilities that
00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 can be at play that allows sophisticated
00:27:43 --> 00:27:45 attackers to break into various systems.
00:27:45 --> 00:27:46 So, you know, you need to make sure your
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 data is backed up, that all your devices
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 are up to date in case of some
00:27:49 --> 00:27:51 ransomware or other attack that you've
00:27:51 --> 00:27:53 got the ability to do quick disaster
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 recovery and get going again. Otherwise,
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 this sort of attack can shut businesses
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 down. That's Alex Sahara from
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 techadvice.life.
00:28:01 --> 00:28:15 [Music]
00:28:15 --> 00:28:18 and that's the show for now. Spacetime
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00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 Spacetime's also broadcast through the
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00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 spaceimewithstartgary.com for full
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 details. You've been listening to
00:29:03 --> 00:29:05 SpaceTime with Stuart Garry. This has
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 been another quality podcast production
00:29:08 --> 00:29:11 from byes.com.