00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Stuart Gary: This is space time series 29 episode
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 125 for broadcast on 19 October
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 2026. Coming up on spacetime,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 a sample return mission to the Martian moon
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 Phobos. Our solar system's life
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 expectancy far shorter than previously
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 thought. And NASA's SpaceX Crew
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 13 mission arrives aboard the International
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 Space Station for what will be a six month
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 mission on the orbiting outpost. All that and
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 more coming up on, um, Space Time.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 Welcome to Space Time with Stuart
00:00:34 --> 00:00:34 Gary.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 Japan's Martian Moons exploration mission.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 The MMX is slated to launch today on the
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 first ever sample return mission to the Red
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 Planet's largest moon, Phobos. The flight
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 aboard a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 JAXA H3 rocket from the Tanegashima Space
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 Centre, 1 kilometres south of Tokyo, will
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 take a year to reach Mars, returning to Earth
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 and landing in the Australian outback in
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 2031. Despite the
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 large number of missions to Mars, its two
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 moons, Phobos and Deimos, remain a
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 mystery. There are huge open
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 questions about how they formed and, and what
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 they're made of. The most popular
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 hypothesis is that they're either captured
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 asteroids from the nearby main asteroid belt
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 between Mars and Jupiter, or they're the
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 remains of debris thrown up into orbit
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 following a giant asteroid collision onto the
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 Martian surface. But to find out what
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 really happened, scientists need to collect
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 samples. And that's where the Martian moon's
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 explorer mission comes in. MMX will
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 be the first spacecraft to orbit Phobos, the
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 first to land on it and and the first to
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 collect samples from its surface for return
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 to Earth. The 4
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 kilogrammes spacecraft will arrive at Mars in
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 August, transferring to orbit around the 27
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 kilometre wide moon a month later. And then
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 it'll map the surface of the tiny moon to
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 identify a suitable landing site. After
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 studying both Phobos and Deimos from orbit,
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 it'll deploy a small 25 kilogramme four
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 wheeled lander rover called IDEFX in
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 2029, which will descend down to the
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Phobian surface. The paving the way for the
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 MMX spacecraft which will land once or twice
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 in 2030, collecting up to 10 kilogrammes of
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 regolith using a pneumatic sampling system.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 The samples will then be packed into a return
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 module for the journey back to earth,
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 arriving in 2031. On the way
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 back, MMX will fly past Deimos, taking a
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 closer look and it will also carry out
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 observations of Mars itself. The
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 MMX spacecraft is equipped with a radiation
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 monitor, high resolution narrow and wide
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 field cameras, a LIDAR light detection and
00:02:58 --> 00:02:59 Ranging system system, a near infrared
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 spectrometer, a gamma ray and neutron
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 spectrometer, a Martian dust monitor, a mass
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 spectrum analyzer, a laser induced breakdown
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 spectroscope, gravity gradiometer and two
00:03:10 --> 00:03:13 different sampling devices. The Artifice
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 lander rover carries four of its own
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 scientific instruments including two cameras,
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 a radiometer and a Raman spectrometer
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 providing information to prepare for the
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 landing of the main spacecraft. Gravity
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 on Phobos is so low that Artifice will only
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 weigh the equivalent of 15 grammes on its
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 surface. And scientists want to see exactly
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 how difficult it will be to operate with such
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 a small gravitational potential.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 While the MMX mission is led by jaxa,
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 NASA, the French Space Agency, the
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 German Aerospace Centre, uh, and the European
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 Space Agency, ESA will also play key
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 roles and Blue Origin subsidiary
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 Honeybee Robotics developed the mission's all
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 important P sampler pneumatic sampling
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 system.
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 Chris Sackney: We're launching in October this year a
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 pneumatic sampler for MMX and we're expecting
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 to receive the sample back in 2031.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 Matt Wallace: It really took a village working for almost
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 two decades to get it to this point, to get
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 it to the launch pad. The primary purpose of
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 a uh, pneumatic sampler is to capture uh,
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 Phobos material. So by capturing
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 regolith that sits on the surface of Phobos,
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 we also capturing Martian samples.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 Chris Sackney: It carries high pressure gas, very
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 clean ultra purity nitrogen gas and
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 then that gets released to kick up the
00:04:32 --> 00:04:33 regolith
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 Matt Wallace: on the Phobos surface and then gas under
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 the pressure moves the regolith into the
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 container. This entire process happens in
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 a fraction of a second. You blink and it's
00:04:43 --> 00:04:44 all done.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 Chris Sackney: Um, once the canister
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 is ready to be stored, we'll release the
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 canister from our mechanism and that gets
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 stored into the sample return capsule and
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 eventually gets returned to Earth.
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 So the scientists are interested in how the
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 two moons of Mars were formed and
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 based on the sample we collect, they can
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 analyse the sample to determine whether it
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 was captured asteroids or created due to
00:05:10 --> 00:05:11 giant impact.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 Matt Wallace: The success of the pneumatic sampler is
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 primarily due to the uh, collaborative
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 efforts between NASA, uh,
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 JAXA and Blue Origin.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 Stuart Gary: And in that report from Blue Origin we heard
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 from the MMX Systems Technical programme
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 Manager Yuka Masuyama and MMX
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 Exploration Systems Vice President Chris
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 Sacney. This is space time
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 still to come. Our uh, solar system's life
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 expectancy is far shorter than previously
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 thought. And NASA's SpaceX Crew 13
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 mission arrives aboard the International
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 Space Station for what will be a six month
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 mission on the orbiting outpost. All that and
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 more still to come on, um, space time.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 A new study warns that our solar system will
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 end much sooner than previously thought,
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 thanks to massive gravitational perturbations
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 and resonances, causing the planets to
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 destabilise as our sun expands.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 The sun is 4.6 billion years old
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 and current estimates suggest it has a total
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 lifespan of around 12 billion years.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 That's about when it'll have used up its core
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 hydrogen fuel supply, which it's been fusing
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 into helium. When that happens, the Sun's
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 core will contract, increasing in pressure
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 and temperature until it gets hot enough to
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 start fusing helium in its core into carbon
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 and oxygen. Meanwhile, as the core
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 contracts, hydrogen in the shell around the
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 core will heat up and begin burning. At
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 the same time, the Sun's outer gaseous
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 envelope, which is now further away from that
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 contracted core, will cool and expand,
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 turning the sun into a bloated old red
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 giant star. As the Sun's outer
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 envelope expands, it will engulf the inner
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 planets Mercury and Venus and most likely the
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Earth as well. And even if the Earth doesn't
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 get totally consumed, it'll be burned to a
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 crisp. All life will be gone. And as
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 the outer envelope continues to expand, it'll
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 detach from the Sun's core, becoming a
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 planetary nebula and exposing the Sun's white
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 hot stellar core as a white dwarf.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 And that's where this study begins. New
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 simulations suggest that the orbits of the
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 solar system's planets, including Earth, will
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 destabilise as the sun expands into a red
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 giant. The computations by
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 Konstantin Batygin and colleagues from the
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 California Institute of Technology are uh,
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 based on numerical experiments designed to
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 analyse the orbital dynamics of outer solar
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 system under different solar mass loss
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 scenarios. And they show how our
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 solar system's planets will undergo massive
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 gravitational perturbations and planetary
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 resonances, causing their orbits to
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 destabilise as the sun expands. And
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 depending on how much of the Sun's mass is
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 ejected during the red giant phase, it means
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 our solar system will be disassembled on a
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 far more rapid timescale than previously
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 thought. The computer simulations suggest
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 that about 40% of simulations will lead to
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 the disruption or violent scattering of the
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 planets while the sun is in its red giant
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 phase. And roughly 90% will break down within
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 3 billion years. That's much sooner than
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 what was expected. It means instead of
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 lasting some billion billion years, our solar
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 system is now only likely to survive for just
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 a billion years after the sun transforms
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 into, into a white dwarf.
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 This is space time still to come.
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 NASA's SpaceX Crew 13 have arrived aboard the
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 International Space Station just seven hours
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 and 50 minutes after blasting off from the
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 And later in the science report,
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 archaeologists have discovered the earliest
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 known evidence of ancient humans attacking
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 each other with spears. Talk about Cain and
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 Abel. All that and more still to come on
00:09:01 --> 00:09:02 space time.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 NASA's SpaceX Crew 13 have arrived aboard
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 the International Space Station. The crew of
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 four launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 from Pad 40 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 Base in Florida to rendezvousing with the
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 orbiting outpost seven hours and 50 minutes
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 after liftoff. Their Dragon capsule
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 Grace docked onto the forward port of the
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 Harmony Module for a planned six month
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 mission as part of the Expedition 75 crew.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 During their stay the team will work on some
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 250 experiments, including using
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 microgravity to produce human stem cells to
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 improve personalised medicine, disease
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 modelling and pharmaceutical testing for
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 conditions such as heart disease and
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 Parkinson's. They'll also explore crop
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 production through new mostly autonomous
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 plant growth systems. And they'll test how
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 plants grow outside dedicated facilities.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 They'll also undertech um, human health
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 studies examining factors linked to blood
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 flow anomalies in microgravity. And they'll
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 test a new in flight diagnostic device to
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 monitor astronaut health. Just three
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 hours after Crew 13 blasted off from Cape
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 Canaveral, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 rocket, this time from Space Launch Complex 4
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 East at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 California. Carrying more than 100 mini
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 satellites on the Transporter 18 mission.
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 These carry a range of experiments for
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 government departments, universities and
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 private enterprise. That was
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 followed by another SpaceX launch from
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 Florida, this one from Pad UH39A at the
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 Kennedy Space Centre. Carrying a new spy
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 satellite for the National Reconnaissance
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 Office. The highly classified
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 NROl 97 mission flew aboard the
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 Falcon Heavy rocket. The first use of this
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 rocket by the spy agency Falcon
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 Heavy is composed of three Falcon 9 boosters
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 strapped side by side. The use of a
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 Falcon Heavy suggests either a very high
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 orbital target or an extremely heavy payload.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 The two side boosters return to Landing Zones
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 1 and 2 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 Station eight minutes after launch. But the
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 core booster appears to have been expended
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 during the mission, meaning no fuel for a
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 boostback burn to Earth or a landing burn.
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 And it doesn't end there. In what's been a
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 really Busy week for SpaceX, just a week
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 after Crew 13's arrival on station, NASA's
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 SpaceX Crew 12 undocked UM from the orbiting
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 outpost Zenith Port of the Harmony module for
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 their return journey to Earth following their
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 eight month mission on station, splashing
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 down in the North Pacific Ocean off the
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 California coast west of Los Angeles. It
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 was an eventful mission for Crew 12.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 It began earlier than expected following the
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 earlier return to Earth of the Crew 11
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 mission due to a medical evacuation of one of
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 their crew members and it was also a late
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 crew Replacement for Crew 12 with the
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 original Russian cosmonaut intended to fly on
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 the mission, expelled from the United States
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 following spying allegations. Apparently it
00:12:11 --> 00:12:12 was caught violating international
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 Trafficking in Arms regulations by
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 photographing SpaceX engines, classified
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 documents and other technologies using his
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 phone at a SpaceX facility in Hawthorne,
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 California. Dear, oh dear. Looks like old
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 Cold War habits die hard. During
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 their 237 days on station, Crew 12
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 completed 3 orbits of
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 the planet, undertaking four spacewalks and
00:12:35 --> 00:12:37 carrying out research, testing stem cell
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 production for new therapies, demonstrating
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 on demand IV fluid generation for future
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 missions, and studying how the bacteria which
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 causes pneumonia can lead to long term heart
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 damage. They also conducted nutrition
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 focused research and examined how physical
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 characteristics may affect blood flow during
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 spaceflight in order to help keep astronauts
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 safe and healthy. Future long duration
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 missions to the Moon and Mars More
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 and more it's all becoming about Artemis
00:13:05 --> 00:13:06 this is space time.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:14 Tim Mendham: Foreign.
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 Stuart Gary: Look at some of the other stories making news
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 in Science this week with a Science report.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 A new study claims men with deeper voices
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 might seem stronger but are not more
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 attractive to women. The findings, reported
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 in the Journal of the Royal Society Open
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 Science, modified videos of 17 white
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 British males to give them deeper voices.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 American men watching the videos thought the
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 men in the videos were stronger and better at
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 fighting, but the deeper voices didn't make
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 them any more attractive to American women
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 watching the same videos. Interestingly,
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 however, audio only recordings of the same
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 men but with higher pitched voices did make
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 them seem less attractive to the women. When
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 men were asked to guess the weights of the
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 men in the videos, they tended to guess that
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 those with deeper voices weighed more.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 A new study claims fewer 15 year olds are now
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 compared to two years ago. The analysis by
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 the Centres for Disease Control and
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 Prevention questioned ninth graders in
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 American junior high schools. The study found
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 that the overall number of junior high school
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 freshmen identifying as LGB fell from
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 17% in 2023 down to
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 11% last year. That's interesting
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 because historically 10% of the population
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 identify as gay or lesbian. The authors found
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 the most dramatic shift was among girls. In
00:14:43 --> 00:14:46 2021, 30% of ninth graders
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 identified as lesbian or bisexual, but
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 by 2025 that number had plummeted
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 to 17%. The drop was largely
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 driven by a reduction in girls identifying
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 specifically as bisexual, which fell by half
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 from 26% down to 13%.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 The shift was far less significant for 15
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 year old boys, where identification shifted
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 only slightly from 9% in 2021 to
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 7% in 2025, and the
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 authors found that a client is more
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 concentrated among younger teens. Older
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 students, such as seniors in 12th grade, saw
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 little change, dipping only slightly from
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 18% down to 16%. Uh, as
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 for the reasons for the change, they're still
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 being debated, with some researchers
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 suggesting that the LGBTQ Alphabet
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 Identification PE during the isolation of the
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 COVID 19 pandemic, and that a
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 stabilisation or correction following a
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 decade of rapid growth was always expected.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 But others suggest that adopting certain
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 labels may have simply been a passing trend
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 popularised by the sociopolitical work
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50 targeting younger adolescents.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 The World Meteorological Organisation says
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 that sea surface temperatures in the central
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 and eastern tropical Pacific are now forecast
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 to increase to record levels during the next
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 three months. The new data reflects a
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 strengthening of the current Super El Nino.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 The WMO says that El Nino is firmly
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 established and there's a near 100%
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 likelihood that it will continue through
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 until at least February next year,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 potentially making it one of the strongest
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 since at least 1950.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 Scientists recorded an increase in
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 temperatures from an average of 1.6 degrees
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 Celsius above normal in June to 2.5
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 degrees above normal in August and is now
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 forecast to reach approximately 3.7 degrees
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 Celsius peaking around December. And for
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 Australia that means hotter conditions and
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 less rain.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 Anthropologists say a round hole in the
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 shoulder blade of a 75-year-old
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 Neanderthal fossil could be the earliest
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 known evidence of ancient humans attacking
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 one another with spears. The remains were
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 found under 7.5 metres of rock and sediment
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan and include a
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 15 millimetre diameter circular hole created
00:16:58 --> 00:17:01 by a sharpened wooden spear that penetrated
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 the left chest cavity from the front and
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 travelled through the body, including a lun
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 likely major arteries, before punching a hole
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 in the left scapula, which scientists say
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 would have quickly ended the Neanderthal's
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 life. The findings, published in the journal
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 Scientific Reports, say tiny bone shards
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 knocked out of place by the spear indicate it
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 entered from above on a downward trajectory.
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 Promoters of the pseudoscience of homoeopathy
00:17:26 --> 00:17:28 are making a concerted effort in the United
00:17:28 --> 00:17:29 States to limit the Food and Drug
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 Administration's ability to regulate the
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 swindle sceptics Timms Mendham says her
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 murders of the phoney practice have now
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 managed to convince a number of US Senators
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 to sponsor a bill, despite all the peer
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 reviewed scientific studies clearly showing
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 homoeopathy doesn't work.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 Tim Mendham: Homoeopathy is a medical in quotes
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 treatment developed in the late 1800s by a
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 German named Hahnemann, Samuel Hahnemann,
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 supposedly based on the idea that like
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 cures like that's one aspect of it. So if
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 you're suffering from colds and sniffles, you
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 should take a potion made up with onions,
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 which makes you sniffle, cry, etc. So
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 obviously that has a link to cold. Also, the
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 preparation is very important for
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 homoeopathy. You have to have continual
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 dilutions to make it work. So basically you
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 take your homoeopathic liquid which is made
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 from supposedly from these particular
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 chemicals, herbs, you name it rocks even in
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 some cases, and you take a drop of that and
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 you dilute it in a hundred drops of water
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 and then you take a drop of that, the
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 dilution to 100 and you drop it in another
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 100. So now you're down to what, 10? And
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 then you take another drop of that and then
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 you dilute it in another hundred and you're
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 now down to in a million and you keep doing
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 it. See that's like 1, 2, 3 dilutions. They
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 take it up to about 20, 30, 40, 50, even
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 100 dilutions, which means there's basically
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 nothing left of the thing you were diluting
00:18:46 --> 00:18:47 in the first place. There are various other
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 aspects to it. You're supposed to take your
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 dilution each time, bang it on something in
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 the test tube or whatever you've got to do.
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 Usually bang it on a Bible, which is strange,
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 but bang it on something hard, often
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 something leather, so it's a bit softer, so
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 it's not going to break the glass container.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:04 And then you sell it to people as a
00:19:04 --> 00:19:06 treatment, in some cases claimed to be a cure
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 for you name it, any condition at all you
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 want to name. Shyness, blockages. This is
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 an actual one that's being sold that I've
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 seen to treat blockages. Obviously blockages
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 is like a wall that stops you doing things.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:20 If someone got a bit of the Berlin Wall,
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 crushed it down, tried to dilute it and give
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 that to people as a treatment for, um,
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 emotional blockages. It's ludicrous. It's
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 diluted to the extent where there's nothing
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 left. The answer to that by the homoeopathic
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 community is that the water retains a memory
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 of this original subject, meaning that it
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 doesn't actually have to have anything left
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 in it, have a memory, which is a worry
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 because every time someone goes to the toilet
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 they add something to the water, which is a
00:19:45 --> 00:19:46 memory, therefore, of what you're drinking is
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 what you put down the toilet. The Fukushima
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 nuclear power station earthquake, some of
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 that would have gone in the water. Nuclear
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 action, it would have been diluted. Wouldn't
00:19:54 --> 00:19:55 matter how diluted it was, according to
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 hydropaths, still impactful, effective. And
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 so therefore everyone is digging radioactive
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 water regardless of where you are. The whole
00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 notion is silly. The reality is silly.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 It's been tested to see if it actually works.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 The big issue for testing something like that
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 is one, is it safe? And then two, does it
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 actually work? Is it efficacious? Homoeopathy
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 is probably safe. It's not going to. You're
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 paying for water, so a little bit of sugar
00:20:17 --> 00:20:18 water perhaps to add some flavour to it. So
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 it's expensive water, so it's not going to
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 hurt you. It's probably safe. Is it going to
00:20:21 --> 00:20:24 work? No. The answer is simple. No. In many
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 cases in the sceptical community, you say,
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 yeah, might be a little bit, yes, no,
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 whatever. Homoeopathy is one of those things
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 where you can say, no, it certainly doesn't
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 work better than placebos. And so many tests
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 have actually tested it and systematic
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 investigations have come out and said there's
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 nothing there. But there's a couple of
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 American senators who are now trying to get
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 the Food and Drug Administration in the US to
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 loosen up their, uh, controls on what could
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 actually be tested and what works. They are
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 obviously supporters of homoeopathy,
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 therefore, and there's a bit of an outrage by
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 the homoeopathic community as there would be.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:56 But this still doesn't change the evidence
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 that it doesn't work. It doesn't do anything,
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 perhaps makes people feel good. The trouble
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 is that is, if they think it's working,
00:21:02 --> 00:21:03 they're not going to go to established
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 medical practices. So they might be missing
00:21:05 --> 00:21:08 out on a cure for what may be a real
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 condition. And therefore that's when it
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 becomes dangerous. The substitution for
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 things that work by things that don't work.
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 Stuart Gary: So it's not just a case of these senators
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 wanting to get rid of the nanny state.
00:21:18 --> 00:21:19 There's more to it than that. There's
00:21:19 --> 00:21:21 actually some real harm that can come.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 Tim Mendham: Yes. Yeah, it certainly might be a nanny
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 state thing. They're not all tend to be sort
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 of nanny state oriented or, uh, anti nanny
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 state oriented politicians. Some of them come
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 from states where homeopathies and the
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 alternative medicine industry is a big thing.
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 So maybe there's a bit of protection for the
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 local industry. They just don't want people
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 interfering in this particular industry,
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 despite the fact that doesn't work.
00:21:42 --> 00:21:44 Stuart Gary: That's the sceptics. Tim Mendham and this
00:21:44 --> 00:21:45 is Space Time.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:04 And that's the show for now. Space Time
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 is available every Monday, Wednesday and
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 Friday through bytes.com, soundcloud,
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 YouTube, your favourite podcast download
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 provider, and from
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 spacetimewithstuartgarry.com
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 spacetime's also broadcast through the
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 National Science foundation on Science Zone
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22 Radio and on both iHeartradio and
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 TuneIn radio. And you can help to support our
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 show by visiting the Space Store for a range
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 of promotional merchandising goodies, or by
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 becoming a Space patron, which gives you
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 access to triple episode commercial free
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 versions of the show as well as lots of bonus
00:22:37 --> 00:22:39 audio content which doesn't go to air, access
00:22:39 --> 00:22:42 to our exclusive Facebook group and other
00:22:42 --> 00:22:43 rewards. Just go to
00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 spacetimewithstuartgarry.com for full
00:22:46 --> 00:22:49 details. You've been listening to Space Time
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 with Stuart Gary. This has been another
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 quality podcast production from bytes.com.