00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Stuart Gary: This is space Time Series 29, episode
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 134 for broadcast on the 9th of November
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 2026. Coming up on Space Time,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 are, uh, volcanoes still active on the red
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 planet Mars, NASA's Swift space
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 telescope destroyed, and China
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 to put a man on the moon before 2030.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 All that and more coming up on, um, Space
00:00:23 --> 00:00:24 Time.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 Stuart Gary: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart
00:00:28 --> 00:00:28 Gar.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 Stuart Gary: Could the Red planet Mars still be
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 volcanically active? The European Space
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 Agency's Exomars uh, Trace Gas Orbiter
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 has detected signs of what looks like
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 volcanic activity on the Martian surface.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 The findings, reported in the journal Science
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 Advances, are uh, based on evidence of gas
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 seeping up from Martian volcanic rifts.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 Fresh fissures along the Alba Mons region
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 hint at active spots under the surface where
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 gases from inside the planet appear to be
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 making their way up into the atmosphere. The
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 study's lead author, uh, Alexander
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 Trakomovsky from the Space Research
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 Institute, says the discovery suggests
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 Mars isn't geologically dead deep inside, but
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 but merely sleeping. Tchomovsky and
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 colleagues think the release of hydrogen
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 chloride comes from hot magma beneath the
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 surface. And the readings aren't new.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 Trace Gas Orbiter first detected hydrogen
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 chloride gas in the Martian atmosphere back
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 in 2021. On Earth, this
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 gas is commonly found escaping from magmatic
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 vents, leading researchers to wonder whether
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 the same thing is happening on Mars. At the
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 very least, these findings suggest Mars has
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 retained enough internal heat to support
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 volcanic activity until recently and
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 possibly still does. It was early
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 summer in the northern Martian hemisphere
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 when the authors noticed spikes of hydrogen
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 chloride where it shouldn't have been and
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 during an odd season. This gas varies
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 seasonally on Mars, uh, usually reaching its
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 maximum extent in the Northern Hemisphere
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 winter, then mostly disappearing during the
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 summer. Most of this variability is thought
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 to be linked to Martian dust and water
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 cycles. Yet there was one exception to this
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 pattern. Always in the same season and at the
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 same place above volcanic F on the flanks
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 of the Albemonts volcano in the early summer.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 Mars has the largest volcanoes in the solar
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 system, but it's not known how active these
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 are likely to be. Orbital imagery shows some
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 volcanoes appear to have been active within
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 the last few million years, and seismometers
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 have detected Marsquakes. Both of these
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 facts point to the possibility, at least, of
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 Mars being volcanically active. However,
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 no new lava flows, or eruptions for that
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 matter, have ever been observed. The
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 new findings are based on a combination of
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 atmospheric and geological analysis.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 First came the detection of hydrogen chloride
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 by infrared spectrometers aboard Trace Gas
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 Orbiter by its atmospheric chemistry suite,
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 which was Strongly localised and at a time
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 just after the frosts of winter sublimate.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 Then a closer look of the albumons region
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 using trace gas orbiter's camera showed what
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 looked like fresh and narrow fissures, in
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 some cases hundreds of metres long and
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 associated with colour changes on the
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 surface. Put together, the evidence
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 suggests that magmatic gases may have been
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 rising through these fissures, just like
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 fumaroles in volcanic regions on Earth,
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 blocked by the ice. During winter's frozen
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 temperatures on Mars, where it gets down to
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 minus 120 degrees Celsius, the fissures would
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 channel and release the chloride gas. As the
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 ice sublimates in early summer. The
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 discoloration detected around the fissures
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 could be caused by deposits left behind as
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 gases escape from below the surface. The
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 authors suggest that the seepage is connected
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 with a dormant magma chamber under the
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 Martian surface. If these
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 hydrothermal systems are active, they could
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 contain the ingredients and the energy needed
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 for microorganisms to develop, as well as a
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 shield for microorganisms from the hostile
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 and changing environment above the surface.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:20 It's a fascinating idea.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 This is space time still to come.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 NASA Swift Space telescope destroyed
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 and China to put a man on the moon before
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 2030. All that and more still to come
00:04:33 --> 00:04:34 on, uh, space time.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 NASA's Swift gamma ray Space Telescope has re
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 entered Earth's atmosphere in a fiery
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 uncontrolled descent, burning up in the skies
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 above the Pacific Ocean. The United States
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 Space force says the 1
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 kilogramme spacecraft hit the upper
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 atmosphere over Indonesia's northern Sumatra.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 No ground damage or injuries have been
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 reported. Any surviving fragments would have
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 hit the surface somewhere between 20.6
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 degrees south latitude and 20.6 degrees
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 north. Swift was launched on a
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 two year primary mission in 2004 to
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 explore gamma ray bursts, the most powerful
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 explosions in the universe. Because of the
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 mission's planned short duration, the
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 spacecraft wasn't equipped with its own
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 booster rockets. However, it kept operating
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 successfully for almost 22 years. But
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 the minibus sized observatory has been
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 experiencing increasing orbital decay in
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 recent years due to growing space weather
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 activity. And as the atmospheric drag
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 increased, NASA organised a last ditch rescue
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 mission to try and boost the spacecraft back
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 up to its original 600 kilometre high orbit.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 The agency contracted Catalyst Space to
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 launch its three armed robotic spacecraft to
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 intercept and latch onto Swift and then boost
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 it up to its original orbital altitude. But
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 the rescue craft itself experienced problems
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 shortly after release from its Pegasus launch
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 vehicle in July and by the time it
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 stabilised itself, it no longer had enough
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 fuel to carry out its primary mission and it
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 wound up crashing back to Earth in September.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 The demise of Swift takes nothing away from
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 the spectacular success of the mission, which
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 is explained in this report by NASA
00:06:27 --> 00:06:28 tv.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 NASA TV narrator: They occur approximately once per day.
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 Brief, intense, powerful explosions of
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 gamma ray radiation of, uh, the likes not
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 seen since the Big Bang. They're called
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 gamma ray bursts and scientists are
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 somewhat mystified as to their cause.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 Do they signal the birth of a black hole in a
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 massive stellar explosion? Are they the
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 product of two colliding neutron stars?
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 Or is there something else that
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 prompts this intriguing phenomenon? With its
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 launch into low Earth orbit in November
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 2004, scientists have a dedicated
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 tool with which to probe the gamma ray burst
00:07:07 --> 00:07:07 mystery
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 Elaine Harris: before Swift launch. To give you an example,
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 the satellite that actually, um, saw the
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 long burst, it took them eight hours
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 to go and look at that burst.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 Swift can do this in less than a minute.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 NASA TV narrator: Named after the bird able to quickly snatch
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 insects as it flies, the Swift
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 observatory is agile, quickly pointing its
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 instruments at gamma ray bursts and relaying
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 burst locations to the ground within seconds.
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 Elaine Harris: Zwift can see usually, I mean, on
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 average, hundred bursts per year. The number
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 of bursts that actually exist in the universe
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 that we think are actually happening in the
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 universe is of course much higher. We think
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 we actually see only maybe like one in a
00:07:48 --> 00:07:49 thousand.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 NASA TV narrator: This quick response is achieved by a
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 complement of three onboard instruments. The
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 largest, the Burst Alert telescope or
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 bat, can view approximately a
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 sixth of the entire sky at one time.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 The X ray and the ultraviolet optical
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 telescopes enable high precision X ray and
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 optical positions and spectra to be
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 determined. Swift burst alerts
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 allow both space based and ground based
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 telescopes around the world to observe a, uh,
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 burst's afterglow immediately after its
00:08:22 --> 00:08:22 detection.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 Elaine Harris: Swift doesn't just look at gamma ray
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 bursts and that's all they do. They study a
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 very large area of science which has come as
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 uh, an added bonus really to the mission.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 They've basically, for example, they detected
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 the first X ray flash coming from
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 a star that was just about to explode.
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 Stuart Gary: And in that report from NASA tv, we heard
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 from Swift programme scientist Elaina Harris.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 This is space time still to come.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 China releases details of its first manned
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 moon programme, confirming that it expects to
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 have taikonauts walking on the lunar surface
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 before 2030. And later in the science
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 report, a new study shows that patients with
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 female doctors do better in hospitals. All
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 that and more still to come on space time.
00:09:17 --> 00:09:18 Foreign.
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 Has released details of its planned man moon
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 programme, confirming that it expects to have
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 takanauts walking on the lunar surface before
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 2030. Beijing says its
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 plan calls for two rocket launchers, both
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 using the nation's new Long March 10A rocket.
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 One launcher will carry a Menzhou crew
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 module, the other a Lanyu lunar lander.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 The two vehicles will then rendezvous and
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 dock in lunar orbit where two targetnauts
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 will transfer to the lander from the Menzhu
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 capsule and descend down to the lunar surface
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 near the South Pole. Once on the ground, the
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 crew will plant the Chinese flag and
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 undertake scientific operations before
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 ascending back to orbit, transferring back to
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 the Menzhu capsule for the return journey to
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 earth. The Long March 10th is
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 a 93 metre tall three stage super heavy
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 lift rocket comprising a core stage and two
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 boosters. All three use the same common
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 design with a 5 metre wide fuselage equipped
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 with 7 kerosene and liquid oxygen burning
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 YF100K engines. The
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 stack can lift 70 tonnes into low earth orbit
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 and 27 tonnes into a translunar injection
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 orbit. The 14 ton
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 Manju or Dream vessel in Mandarin is
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 designed to be used for both low Earth orbit
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 missions carrying up to seven tychonauts and
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 for deep space missions to the moon with that
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 version. Carrying four tychonauts and
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 equipped with increased radiation protection
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 and an improved heat shield capacity needed
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 for the faster atmospheric re entry speeds on
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 lunar return missions. The Mengju spacecraft
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 itself comprises a crew module and an
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 expendable service module which is equipped
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 with propulsion, solar power and life support
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 systems. The 26 tonne
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 Lianyu lunar lander, Lianyu, being mandarin
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 for embracing the moon, will transfer the two
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 taikonauts from the menu in lunar orbit and
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 take them down to the surface and back up to
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 orbit again. It consists of a propulsion
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 stage and a landing and ascent stage. Unlike
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 the Apollo lunar module, Lanyu will jettison
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 its propulsion stage prior to landing.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 Beijing says development is progressing
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 across all three major systems along March
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 10, the menu and the Lianyu Key
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 tests on the escape system, lunar lander
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 demonstrations and rocket validation tests
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 have already been completed. The maiden
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 flight of the long March 10th carrying an
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 unmanned Menju spacecraft will be loaded with
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 cargo on a resupply mission to China's
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 Tiangong Space Station sometime next year.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 That'll provide final validation for the new
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 vehicles. Then in 2028, a uh
00:11:57 --> 00:11:58 beefed up version of the Long March 10th
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 carrying an unmanned land new lunar lander
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 will perform a lunar descent and ascent test
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 checking out the lander's propulsion and
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 guidance systems. Finally, in early
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 2029, a full scale unmanned dress
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 rehearsal mission complete with dual long
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 March 10 launch vehicles and both the Menu
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 and Lianyu vehicles will be undertaken,
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 including DEMONST rendezvous and docking in
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 lunar orbit. And that will be followed by
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 the highly historic manned mission.
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 This is space, time.
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 And time. Now to take a brief look at some of
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 the other stories making news in Science this
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 week with a Science report. A new study
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 has shown that both death and re
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 hospitalisation rates among hospitalised
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 patients are lower when those patients have a
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 female rather than a male doctor. A
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 report in the Journal of the American Medical
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 association looked at outcomes for nearly a
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 million adult inpatients in Toronto, Canada,
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 finding people treated by female doctors were
00:13:08 --> 00:13:11 less likely to die within 30 days and less
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 likely to end up back in hospital compared to
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 those treated by male doctors. Now the
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 differences were modest, but the pattern held
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 up under um, statistical testing. For
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 patients with a female doctor, 12.3%
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 died within 30 days compared to
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 13.7% for those with a male doctor.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 And 18.6% of patients with a female
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 doctor ended up back in hospital compared to
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 18.9% of those with a male doctor.
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 Now, the reasons for the differences are uh,
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 still unexplained and the study's authors are
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 now suggesting further work should be carried
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 out to look into this. The
00:13:47 --> 00:13:48 newest climate model from the World
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 Meteorological Organisation predicts the
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 current El Nino climate pattern driving hot
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 weather will strengthen to unprecedented
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 levels over the next three months. The
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 WMO says they declare an El Nino event when
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 sea surface temperatures in the tropical
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 Pacific reach 0.5 degrees Celsius
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 above average. And during the current
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 November January period they say these
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 temperatures could reach 3.8 degrees Celsius
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 above average, a level the WMO says
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 is literally off the monitoring charts.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 A new study warns that the brains of children
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 who eat more ultra processed foods may be
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 responding to food differently, ultimately
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 putting them at higher risk of gaining
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 weight. The findings reported in the Journal
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 of the American Medical association are uh,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 based on research involving 46 children with
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 a healthy weight aged between 7 and 10.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 The authors recorded data on their diet and
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 body fat. A month later they performed an
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 experiment monitoring how a section of the
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 kids brains linked to reward processing
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 responded to different images of food.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 They found that the kids who regularly ate
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 more ultra processed foods were likely to
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 have stronger responses to food in that brain
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 region. And after a year these kids were also
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 more likely to have an increased body mass
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 index and more body fat. Ultra
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 processed foods include sodas, energy drinks
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 and artificially sweetened juices as well as
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 potato chips, packaged cookies, candy, ice
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 cream, frozen dinners, instant noodles, hot
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 dogs, sausages and Luncheon meats.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 Palaeontologists have uncovered unequivocal
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 evidence of fossilised red blood cells and
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 amino acids of collagen from dinosaurs.
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 The discovery reported in the Journal of the
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 Proceedings of the National Academy of
00:15:33 --> 00:15:33 Sciences.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 PNAS fundamentally reshapes our understanding
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 of fossil preservation and molecular
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 longevity in deep time. The
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 mineralized red blood cells and intact heme
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 biomolecules were discovered in limb bones of
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 a 115 million year old theropod dinosaur
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 uncovered from a dig site in northwestern
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 Brazil. The world
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 is finally starting to wake up to the fact
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 that homoeopathy doesn't work. And it's just
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 a pseudo science whose livelihood is
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 dependent on people's gullibility. In recent
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 years, many countries that once financed
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 homoeopathy have now ceased, mostly thanks to
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 better education, evidence based science and
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 campaigns by the sceptical movement, the
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 sceptics. Tim Mendham says those pushing
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 these magic cure alls are now being forced to
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 find new ways to sell their products by
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 rebranding them and marketing them as dietary
00:16:23 --> 00:16:24 supplements.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 Tim Mendham: Homoeopathy, as you know, is the treatment of
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 everything under the sun with a like for like
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 solution of something. And the whole process
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 is extremely shonky. The evidence is
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 extremely shonky. If totally shonky, it's
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 generally regarded as 100% ineffective. Not
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 going to harm you necessarily, but it's
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 certainly not going to help you. And you're
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 paying for expensive water in the long run.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 In some cases, governments have been
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 underwriting treatments with this sort of
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 stuff. Homoeopathy, I think in the, uh, uk.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 France, France was quite strong actually for
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 a while, but they're now sort of withdrawing
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 that financial support. And therefore anyone
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 who wants to take homoeopathic, uh,
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 treatments has to pay for it themselves,
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 which is okay. Germany has been an outlier a
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 bit because this system was developed in
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 Germany. So they had a certain nationalism
00:17:05 --> 00:17:06 about the treatment, but they are actually
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 working as well. Spain has dropped it. I know
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 in Australia it's not supported by any sort
00:17:11 --> 00:17:11 of, uh,
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 Stuart Gary: the medical insurance that doctors take out
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 doesn't cover it. So that must say something.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 Tim Mendham: Medical insurance that doctors take out
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18 covers none of these things, not even
00:17:18 --> 00:17:20 chiropractic. Other things do, but they don't
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 cover homoeopathy really because it basically
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 has been tested and retested. There was a
00:17:24 --> 00:17:26 famous report that came out from the
00:17:26 --> 00:17:27 Australian National Health and Medical
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 Research Council which looked at every other
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 study available and it came out with a
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 finding that there's nothing there. Doesn't
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 stop people trying to sell home. Yeah, your
00:17:35 --> 00:17:36 local health food Store will sell
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 homoeopathic treatments. Pharmacies will
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 sell homoeopathic treatments as well. I must
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 admit, I went into one and having a look at
00:17:43 --> 00:17:44 it, the farmer said, don't bother, it doesn't
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 work. I think, well, why are you selling it
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 anyway? Makes money, I suppose. So. Therefore
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 there's been a big drop off in the sale of
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 homoeopathic treatments. It's a multi billion
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 dollar industry. Multi, multi billion dollar
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 industries. But the sales have been going
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 down quite dramatically, in some cases like
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 20% a year. So naturally, to try and retain
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 their income, their cash flow, they're now
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 rebranding some of this stuff as dietary
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 supplements. And now dietary supplements are
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 not like medicines, they fall under the food
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 regulations, ra the medical
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 regulations. So a lot more wiggle room in the
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 food thing than in a, um, medicine. But
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 pitching it as a dietary thing means you're
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 looking at a more wellness market. It's a
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 shifting of the market into areas which have
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 a warmer and fuzzier feeling than sickness
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 does. And that's the wellness industry. One
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 of the cleverest words ever used for
00:18:28 --> 00:18:28 marketing.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 Stuart Gary: I remember when the ABC began divesting
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 itself of scientific programmes and
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 documentaries, they replaced them with
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 wellness programmes, which sort of fits in
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 very nicely with what you've just said.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:41 Tim Mendham: Yeah, I know. The wellness industry is bigger
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 than the medical industry. It's huge. When
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 you say big pharma, someone should talk about
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 big wellness, big dietary, big supplement
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 industry. That's huge. It's bigger than the
00:18:49 --> 00:18:50 pharmaceutical industry.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 Stuart Gary: That's the sceptics. Timms Mendham. And this
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 is Space Time.
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