- Blue Origin selected to build NASA's next lunar lander: NASA has chosen Blue Origin to develop the Blue Moon lander concept, which will transport crews and supplies between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface. This partnership aims to support NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon.
- Searching for black holes near Earth: Astronomers have discovered compelling evidence of a rare type of black hole within Messier 4, the closest globular star cluster to Earth, located approximately 6,000 light-years away. This finding sheds light on the existence of black holes in our cosmic neighborhood.
- Confirmation of a vast ancient ocean on Mars: Scientists analyzing data from China's Zhurong Mars rover have provided further confirmation that a massive ocean once covered significant portions of Mars' northern hemisphere lowlands. This discovery contributes to our understanding of Mars' past and its potential for habitability.
- The Science Report: Research indicates that deep ocean circulation around Antarctica is slowing down, aligning with predictions made by climate change models. The presence of micro and nano-plastics is now impacting global food safety and security. A study finds no discernible difference in the brain structure of gender-diverse teenagers compared to their cisgender counterparts. A skeptical examination of optical illusions often mistaken as proof of paranormal activity. To listen to this episode and access show links, visit https://spacetimewithstuartgary.com/listen. You can also support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member through www.bitesz.supercast.com or premium versions on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Discover more SpaceTime episodes and other podcasts at https://bitesz.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-with-stuart-gary--2458531/support.
00:00:00
Stuart Gary: This is Space Time series 26 episode 64 for
00:00:03
broadcast on the 29th of May 2023. Coming up on Space Time
00:00:09
Blue Origin to build a Lunar Lander for NASA. The search for
00:00:13
black holes close to Earth and more evidence supporting the
00:00:17
existence of a vast Northern Martian Ocean. All that and more
00:00:22
coming up on Space Time.
00:00:25
Generic: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Garry.
00:00:45
Stuart Gary: NASA has selected Blue Origin to develop its Blue
00:00:49
Moon Lunar Lander concept to carry crews and supplies between
00:00:53
lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon. The new spacecraft
00:00:57
will need to be fully operational in time for the
00:00:59
aardema five mission which is currently stated to launch in
00:01:02
2029. The $3.4 billion.
00:01:06
Blue Origin Lunar Lander contract follows the awarding
00:01:09
two years ago of a separate Lunar Lander contract with
00:01:12
SpaceX. SpaceX offered the HLS a modified version of its reusable
00:01:17
starship into planetary colonial transport spacecraft. It'll
00:01:21
shuttle crews and supplies between lunar orbit and the
00:01:24
Moon's surface for the atoms. Three and four missions in 2026
00:01:28
2028 respectively.
00:01:31
That contract was valued at $2.9 billion. However, both companies
00:01:35
would be putting in at least as much a gain of their own money
00:01:38
in order to get the spacecraft developed. In time. NASA's head,
00:01:42
Bill Nelson says having two separate companies developing
00:01:45
different lunar Landers will give NASA reliability and back
00:01:49
ups.
00:01:49
Having two very distinct a Lunar Lander designs with different
00:01:53
approaches as to how they meet NASA's mission needs, provides
00:01:56
more robustness and should ensure a regular cadence of
00:02:00
lunar landings. The Artemis program marks NASA's return to
00:02:04
the Moon after Apollo more than 50 years ago.
00:02:08
Blue Origin's Blue Moon Lander is being developed in
00:02:11
association with Boeing and Lockheed Martin as well as
00:02:14
several other partner companies including Draper as Robotic and
00:02:18
Honeybee robotics. Lockheed Martin's involvement will also
00:02:22
include developing a space tanker which will then be used
00:02:25
to refuel the Blue Moon Lander in lunar orbit.
00:02:28
Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos plans to use
00:02:32
its yet to be flown new Glen heavy lift rocket in order to
00:02:35
launch both its Lander and its refueling tanker. The current
00:02:39
short term Artemis rundown looks like this. The unmanned Artemis
00:02:43
one mission providing a maiden test flight for the SLS rocket
00:02:47
and sending the Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back to
00:02:50
Earth again has been complete success next year.
00:02:54
Artemus two will repeat that exercise, but this time carrying
00:02:58
a crew. Artemi three which at this stage is stated for 2026
00:03:02
will see the Orion SLS spacecraft dock directly with
00:03:06
the starship HLS Lander.
00:03:08
Two crew members will then transfer to the Lunar Lander and
00:03:11
descend down to the Moon's surface and they'll stay for
00:03:14
about a week near the Moon's south pole while the remaining
00:03:17
pairs stay aboard the Orion Yama Four mission will launch in 2028
00:03:23
with Aema five in 2029. But instead of docking directly with
00:03:27
the lunar Landers, these will use the yet to be built lunar
00:03:30
Gateway space station.
00:03:31
A sort of lunar orbital staging post crew can then transfer from
00:03:35
their Orion capsules into the docked HLS and Blue Moon Landers
00:03:40
to shuttle down of the lunar surface and back again. Of
00:03:43
course, the IUS program isn't just designed to return humans
00:03:46
to the lunar surface. Its real aim is to get people to MARS.
00:03:50
This report from NASA TV.
00:03:54
Generic: Between 1968 and 1972 America launched nine human
00:03:59
missions to the Moon six of which successfully touched down
00:04:02
allowing 12 men to walk on the lunar surface. NASA's next
00:04:07
chapter of lunar exploration called Artemis has the task of
00:04:11
not just going to the Moon to create a long term human
00:04:14
presence on and around it, but also to prepare for ever more
00:04:18
complex human missions to MARS. So what will an Artemis mission
00:04:23
look like?
00:04:25
Everything is designed and tested with our most important
00:04:29
element in mind, the astronauts, their deep space human rated
00:04:33
spacecraft called Orion built in three parts, the crew module
00:04:37
where up to four astronauts will live and work throughout the
00:04:39
flight.
00:04:40
The service module with life support systems for the crew and
00:04:43
its own engine and field reserves and to launch a board
00:04:46
system with engines capable of pulling the crew to safety
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during launch. Should anything go wrong to accomplish the task
00:04:52
of launching our crew in heavy payloads.
00:04:54
NASA is building the space launch system comprising of a
00:04:58
cargo hold, an exploration upper stage, a massive core stage and
00:05:02
two extended solid rocket boosters altogether. This is the
00:05:05
world's most powerful rocket and it exceeds the legendary Saturn
00:05:09
five of the Apollo era in numerous ways sitting on the
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launch pad.
00:05:13
The entire rocket fully fueled weighs just over £6 million 5.2
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million of which is just the fuel once ignited. There is no
00:05:22
stopping what comes next. All four R S 25 engines and the two
00:05:26
solid rocket boosters come to life.
00:05:28
Thundering our crew upwards two minutes after ignition, the
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solid rocket boosters are spent and released eight minutes after
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launch. The core stage is depleted and separated. The
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upper stage fires briefly placing Orion into a parking
00:05:42
orbit around the Earth.
00:05:44
Here the crew reconfigure the spacecraft and check systems to
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confirm everything is ready for deep space travel with a go for
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mission control. The crew reignites the exploration upper
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stage engines to leave Earth entirely.
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The exact timing of this maneuver is critical to reach a
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speed that can escape Earth's gravitational pull, but also put
00:06:05
Orion on a course that will intersect the Moon days later,
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once the burn is complete, the upper stage of the SLS is
00:06:11
jettisoned and the crew aboard Orion coast for several days
00:06:15
toward all that awaits them at the Moon.
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Approaching the Moon. We see the fundamental differences between
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Artemis and Apollo instead of requiring Orion to serve as an
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expendable lunar command module or to carry a constrained Lunar
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Lander.
00:06:29
The Artemis missions will take advantage of a different
00:06:31
approach, pre staging everything needed for lunar missions will
00:06:35
be positioned in advance by commercial and international
00:06:38
partners. This includes rovers, science experiments and human
00:06:42
rated systems on the surface.
00:06:44
But it also includes a dedicated lunar station in orbit around
00:06:47
the Moon called Gateway. Here at this station, we can pre stage a
00:06:51
robust Lunar Lander and establish a strong
00:06:53
communications relay designed with open standards.
00:06:57
The Gateway can be expanded as new missions and partnerships
00:07:00
develop, allowing multiple human missions on the Moon at the same
00:07:03
time and enabling ongoing science to be conducted even
00:07:07
between human missions. The Gateway is also capable of
00:07:10
adjusting its orbit to allow access to every part of the
00:07:13
Moon, something the Apollo missions could not do.
00:07:16
But the real key in this approach is placing Gateway in a
00:07:18
unique halo orbit to perfect the maneuvers needed for MARS
00:07:22
missions. And with the growing list of commercial and
00:07:25
international opportunities.
00:07:27
Gateway is the ideal hub between Earth and all that lies beyond
00:07:31
returning to our crew as they approach Gateway, the Orion must
00:07:34
match the elliptical orbit of the station in order to
00:07:37
successfully dock once on board, preselected crew members
00:07:41
transfer to the Lunar Lander while those assigned to Gateway
00:07:43
remain on station.
00:07:45
The Lunar Lander system itself is built for three unique steps
00:07:49
descending from the halo orbit of Gateway down to a low lunar
00:07:52
orbit, descending from low lunar orbit to the surface.
00:07:56
And once the lunar mission is complete, launching from the
00:08:00
surface of the Moon and ascending all the way back to
00:08:02
the orbiting Gateway.
00:08:09
Once back aboard the Orion spacecraft and undocked from
00:08:11
Gateway, the crew fire their engine want to break out of the
00:08:15
halo orbit and once again to sling the spacecraft around the
00:08:19
Moon, placing it on a multi day trajectory back towards Earth as
00:08:24
they near the end of this journey. The service module is
00:08:27
released and the crew module is oriented heat shield first
00:08:31
entering Earth's atmosphere at 25 MPH.
00:08:35
The friction of air slows Orion considerably while also
00:08:38
subjecting it to temperatures of 5000 degrees with the Orion. Now
00:08:43
at just 300 MPH, a series of parachutes uniquely tested and
00:08:47
produced for this moment, deploy, decelerating the craft
00:08:50
to just 20 MPH for splashdown with each successful mission.
00:08:58
Artemus ushers in the next wave of men and women to explore our
00:09:02
Moon and prove that together we are ready to go beyond.
00:09:13
Stuart Gary: This Space Time. Still to come a search for black
00:09:18
holes close to Earth and more evidence supporting the
00:09:21
existence of a vast Northern Martian ocean on the red planet.
00:09:25
All that and more still to come on Space Time.
00:09:45
Astronomers have come up with some of their best evidence yet
00:09:48
for the presence of a rare class of black hole which may be
00:09:52
lurking in the heart of one of the closest globular clusters to
00:09:55
Earth messi F four located just 6000 light years away. One of
00:10:00
the big questions puzzling astronomers is why black holes
00:10:03
only seem to come in two sizes.
00:10:05
It seems there are either stellar mass black holes which
00:10:08
are formed either from the collapse of giant stars or from
00:10:11
the merger of two neutron stars or alternatively, there are
00:10:14
super massive black holes which are millions to billions of
00:10:18
times larger than their stellar counterparts and are found at
00:10:21
the centers of most if not all Galaxies, astronomers don't seem
00:10:25
to find many intermediate sized black holes those tens of
00:10:29
thousands to hundreds of thousands of solar masses in
00:10:31
size.
00:10:32
It's been estimated that our milky way galaxy is littered
00:10:36
with maybe 100 million stellar mass black holes and the
00:10:39
universe appears flooded with supermassive black holes. The
00:10:43
long sought after missing link are the so called intermediate
00:10:47
mass black holes. And for decades.
00:10:50
Astronomers have been wondering where are they and why are they
00:10:52
so rare over the years, astronomers have identified a
00:10:56
few possible intermediate mass black hole candidates. Two of
00:11:01
the best are three XMM J 21 50 22.4 minus 055 108 which Hubble
00:11:08
helped discover back in 2020 and H LX one which was identified in
00:11:13
2009.
00:11:14
Both of these reside in dense globular star clusters in the
00:11:18
outskirts of other Galaxies. Globular clusters are tightly
00:11:22
bound ancient stellar spheres containing thousands to millions
00:11:27
of stars all bound together by gravity.
00:11:30
They're commonly found in the halos of Galaxies. The milky
00:11:34
way, for example, has at least 150 globular clusters and our
00:11:38
nearest big neighboring galaxy Andromeda has an estimated 500
00:11:42
globular clusters are both much older and far more dense than
00:11:46
their open cluster counterparts, which are found in the discs of
00:11:49
Galaxies.
00:11:51
Many globular clusters are comprised of stars which are all
00:11:54
thought to have originally formed at the same time from the
00:11:56
collapse of the same molecular gas and dust cloud.
00:12:00
However, others appear to be the surviving cause of ancient
00:12:03
Galaxies which have been cannibalized by other Galaxies
00:12:06
through galactic mergers. So far, the possible intermediate
00:12:10
mass black hole candidates discovered appear to be
00:12:13
reasonably small with around a few tens of thousands of solar
00:12:17
masses.
00:12:17
And they're all thought to have once have been at the centers of
00:12:21
dwarf Galaxies. NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory has also
00:12:25
helped make many possible intermediate mass black hole
00:12:28
discoveries including a large sample in 2018, looking much
00:12:32
closer to home.
00:12:33
There have been a number of suspected intermediate mass
00:12:36
black holes detected in dense globular clusters orbiting the
00:12:39
halo of the milky way. For example, in 2008 Hubble
00:12:43
astronomers announced the suspected presence of an
00:12:46
intermediate mass black hole in the globular cluster Omega
00:12:49
Centauri for a number of reasons including the need for more
00:12:53
data.
00:12:53
These and other intermediate mass black hole findings still
00:12:57
remaining conclusive and alternative explanations can't
00:13:01
be ruled out. Now, scientists have used the unique
00:13:04
capabilities of the Hubble space telescope to zero in on the core
00:13:09
of the globular star cluster mef four using far higher precision
00:13:13
than available for previous searchers.
00:13:15
The study's lead author Eduardo Vireo from the space telescope
00:13:19
Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland says his team has
00:13:22
detected what could be a possible intermediate mass black
00:13:25
hole of roughly 800 solar masses.
00:13:28
A report in the Journal, the monthly notices, the Royal
00:13:31
Astronomical Society says the suspected object can't be seen
00:13:34
directly but its mass can be calculated by studying the
00:13:38
motions of stars caught in its gravitational field, but
00:13:42
measuring their motion takes time and a lot of precision
00:13:46
which is where Hubble comes in the trail.
00:13:48
And colleagues examined two years worth of m four
00:13:51
observations from Hubble studying individual stars in the
00:13:54
suspected black hole.
00:13:56
Now, the Hubble data tends to rule out alternative theories
00:13:59
for this object such as a compact central cluster of
00:14:02
unresolved stellar remnants like neutron stars or smaller stellar
00:14:06
mass black holes swirling around each other. But tra says he's
00:14:10
confident that he's now narrowed down in a very tiny region with
00:14:13
a lot of concentrated mass.
00:14:16
It's about three times smaller than the densest dark mass found
00:14:19
before in other globular clusters. And he says the
00:14:22
region's more compact than what can be reproduced using
00:14:26
numerical simulations. Even when one takes into account other
00:14:29
highly compacted objects like stellar mass, black holes,
00:14:32
neutron stars or white dwarves.
00:14:35
But Charles says the observations showed that the
00:14:37
closer to the central mass, the more randomly the stars are
00:14:40
moving and the greater the central mass, the faster the
00:14:43
stellar velocity is.
00:14:45
He says there's simply no other physics to explain such a
00:14:48
compact concentration of mass. A grouping of such close knit
00:14:52
objects would be dynamically unstable. So if the object isn't
00:14:56
a single intermediate mass black hole, it would require an
00:14:58
estimated 40 smaller stellar mass black holes cramped into an
00:15:02
area of space 1/10 of a light year across in order to produce
00:15:06
the same sort of stellar motions.
00:15:08
And the consequences of that are that they would simply either
00:15:11
merge or be ejected out of the system by the immense
00:15:15
gravitational perturbations. This report from NASA TV, it's.
00:15:20
spk_3: Estimated that our galaxy is littered with 100 million
00:15:24
small black holes created from exploded stars while the
00:15:28
universe at large is flooded with super massive black holes,
00:15:32
millions or billions of times our sun's mass and found in the
00:15:36
centers of Galaxies. A long sought missing link between the
00:15:41
two is an intermediate mass black hole weighing in at
00:15:45
hundreds to thousands of solar masses.
00:15:48
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble space telescope have possibly
00:15:53
detected one of these elusive intermediate mass black holes in
00:15:56
the core of the globular star cluster. Meier four located 6000
00:16:01
light years away from Earth. They calculated the suspected
00:16:05
black hole's mass by studying the motion of stars caught in
00:16:09
its gravitational field using 12.5 years worth of mesi four
00:16:13
observations from Hubble.
00:16:16
The researchers estimate that the black hole could be as much
00:16:19
as 800 times the mass of our sun. Thanks to Hubble's high
00:16:23
precision observations over a long period of time, scientists
00:16:28
can search the skies to help us uncover the mysteries of this
00:16:31
missing link and better understand our place in the
00:16:35
universe.
00:16:37
Stuart Gary: This is Space Time still to come. More evidence
00:16:41
supporting a vast Northern Martian ocean. And later in the
00:16:44
science report, a new study confirms that deep ocean
00:16:47
circulation around Antarctica has slowed down and that's
00:16:51
important because it's one of the predictions made in climate
00:16:54
change models. All that and more still to come on Space Time.
00:17:15
Scientists examining data from China's Juang MARS Rover claim
00:17:19
to have now confirmed that a giant Martian Ocean once
00:17:23
occupied vast areas of the red planet's northern hemisphere
00:17:27
lowlands. Orbital observations of.
00:17:30
MARS show clear evidence of features that look like beaches
00:17:34
and sea shores bordering what appears to have once been a vast
00:17:38
liquid water, ocean and ocean which would have covered much of
00:17:42
the Martian northern hemisphere billions of years ago back in a
00:17:45
time when the red planet was a far warmer wetter world with a
00:17:49
much thicker atmosphere than what we see today.
00:17:52
And ground observations by NASA Rovers have confirmed that
00:17:56
liquid water did once flow in the many streams and rivers
00:18:00
which appear to have criss crossed the now freeze dried
00:18:03
desert planet.
00:18:04
A popular hypothesis of a paleo ocean air in the Martian
00:18:08
northern lowlands suggests that it would have formed a special
00:18:11
marine sedimentary geological unit which scientists call the
00:18:14
vacio spalla formation. But up until now, there's been no in
00:18:18
situ data to support this idea and that's where Beijing's rover
00:18:23
comes in.
00:18:24
Now, a team of scientists claim their in situ observations using
00:18:27
data from Xan provide the first direct evidence of marine
00:18:31
sedimentary rocks in the Martian Lowlands. The data was obtained
00:18:36
by multi spectral cameras carried on the Zang rover in
00:18:40
2021. The Zang rover carried by China's Tianwen one spacecraft
00:18:45
successfully landed on the southern edge of the Utopia
00:18:48
plans in the eastern part of the great northern plain.
00:18:52
Part of the rover's mission was to search for any possible
00:18:55
evidence for or against the existence of an ancient ocean on
00:18:58
MARS, which possibly could have hosted early life after all here
00:19:03
on Earth.
00:19:04
Wherever you find evidence of liquid water, there's evidence
00:19:07
of life since landing, the Jurong rover has been heading
00:19:10
south towards a potential coastline area. Observing the
00:19:13
expo for set assis form me along the way. Before shutting down,
00:19:18
Gero traveled about 1921 m and used different imaging and
00:19:23
analysis systems to conduct in situ observations of rock
00:19:27
outcrops and features.
00:19:29
The navigation and terrain cameras obtained 106 sets of
00:19:33
panoramic images which recorded in detail surface morphology and
00:19:37
structural characteristics of many of the rocks. Along the
00:19:40
way.
00:19:41
The study's authors examine the photos sent back by the rovers
00:19:44
on board cameras finding that the exposed rocks develop
00:19:47
bedding structures which are significantly different from the
00:19:51
common volcanic rocks seen in other areas of the Martian
00:19:54
surface. And they're also very different from the bedding
00:19:57
structures formed by a alien or wind driven sand position.
00:20:02
In fact, these structures indicated bidirectional flow
00:20:04
characteristics and that's consistent with what we see here
00:20:08
on Earth in low energy tidal currents. Since the observed
00:20:12
rocks were all located in the Jurong inspection area.
00:20:15
The research team have named the geological feature, it
00:20:17
represents the Jurong member during the study. The authors
00:20:21
found that the rocks in this section typically retain local
00:20:25
len shaped cross bedding fabrics, mainly composed of a
00:20:28
variety of small scale cross bedding accompanied by a small
00:20:31
amount of len shaped fleecer bedding and sedimentary
00:20:34
structures which look like small channels.
00:20:36
Among these, the layers that make up the cross bedding
00:20:39
overlap and they tend to tilt in two opposite directions. And
00:20:43
that's indicating a bidirectional patio current
00:20:45
environment.
00:20:47
In addition, since the thicknesses and grain size of
00:20:50
the strata have large differences in different
00:20:52
directions. It indicates that there are differences in the
00:20:54
intensity of paleo currents in the two directions. This
00:20:58
bidirectional water flow pattern is usually formed by fluid
00:21:02
action with periodic flow direction changes.
00:21:04
And that's not common in alien or flu environments, but it is
00:21:09
common in the shallow sea environments on Earth. Of
00:21:13
course, compared with Earth's big single Moon MARS is only two
00:21:17
really tiny little moons, furs and D mass. And that means any
00:21:22
surface tidal action would have extremely low energy.
00:21:25
And so only really small scale bedding structures could be
00:21:29
formed in this sort of tidal environment. Still, the bed
00:21:33
forms and sedimentary structures identified in the study do show
00:21:36
clear evidence supporting an aqueous flow rather than some
00:21:39
sort of wind deposition.
00:21:41
Overall, the team's observational results of the
00:21:44
Juang member Rox in this study are providing the first direct
00:21:47
evidence which supports the existence of an ancient ocean in
00:21:51
the Northern Martian plains and that's significant this Space
00:21:56
Time and time.
00:22:14
Now, to take a brief look at some of the other stories making
00:22:16
news in science this week, with the science report, scientists
00:22:20
have confirmed that the deep ocean circulation around
00:22:23
Antarctica has slowed down by approximately 30 per cent since
00:22:27
the 19 nineties. The findings reported in the Journal nature
00:22:31
confirm the warnings of climate change models which predicted
00:22:35
that deep ocean circulation would be about to collapse.
00:22:39
Melting glaciers release fresh water into the ocean and this
00:22:43
water is less dense than salty water. And so it reduces the
00:22:46
amount of water sinking near Antarctica, slowing the ocean
00:22:49
currents.
00:22:50
The slowing of the deep water circulation could have serious
00:22:54
impacts for the climate for sea level rise and for ocean
00:22:57
ecosystems. A recent study projected the slowdown of the
00:23:01
Antarctic overturning by 40 per cent by 2050 and this new
00:23:05
research confirms that this change is already occurring.
00:23:11
Australia's National Science Agency, the CSIRO is warning
00:23:15
that micro and nano plastics are now pervasive in our food supply
00:23:19
system and may be affecting food safety and security on a global
00:23:23
scale. This study is the first to analyze the academic
00:23:27
literature on microplastics from a food safety and food security
00:23:30
risk viewpoint.
00:23:31
Building on past studies which primarily track plastics in
00:23:34
fish. It shows that plastics in their additives are present in a
00:23:38
range of concentrations, not only in fish but also in many
00:23:41
other products including meat, chicken rice, water, takeaway
00:23:45
food and beverages and even fresh produce.
00:23:48
The plastics are entering the human food chain through
00:23:51
numerous pathways such as ingestion shown by the fish
00:23:55
studies. But also surprisingly through food processing and
00:23:58
packaging, for example, fresh food can be plastic free when
00:24:02
it's picked or caught but contain plastics. By the time
00:24:05
it's been handled packaged and made its way to consumers.
00:24:08
Things like machinery, cutting boards and plastic wrapping can
00:24:11
all deposit micro and nano plastics onto food. Another
00:24:15
important pathway for these contaminants to enter our
00:24:17
agricultural system is through biosolids sourced from
00:24:20
wastewater treatment. Biosolids are a rich fertilizer for
00:24:24
agricultural land, but they can also contain plastic particles
00:24:28
from many different sources such as the washing of synthetic
00:24:31
clothing.
00:24:32
And these particles can build up in the soil and change the soil
00:24:35
structure over time which may affect crop production, food
00:24:39
security and ecosystem resilience. Eventually, some get
00:24:43
absorbed by the roots of plants and that's how we end up eating
00:24:46
them.
00:24:48
A new study has confirmed that a comparison of brains of teens
00:24:52
who are gender diverse and those who are not show no difference
00:24:56
in brain size or capacity. However, they are also showing
00:24:59
there might be some differences in specific brain features.
00:25:04
The findings reported in the Journal of the American Medical
00:25:06
Association looked at 2165 teenagers in the Netherlands and
00:25:11
found no differences in brain volume. But they did find that
00:25:15
for young people who signed male at birth, parts of one area of
00:25:18
the brain appear to be thicker among youth who reported gender
00:25:22
diversity.
00:25:23
While more research is needed, the authors say they're not
00:25:26
trained to develop diagnostic tests to confirm a person's
00:25:28
gender identity or treatments too in brackets affect anyone.
00:25:32
Instead they want to learn more about neurobiology and gender
00:25:36
diversity in order to move towards de stigmatization and
00:25:39
improve the quality of life for people with diverse gender
00:25:43
identities.
00:25:45
Well, people all like to think of themselves as being the
00:25:47
pinnacle of evolution. I hate to say it, but the truth is our
00:25:51
brains are somewhat dumb. In fact, it's a wonder we can walk
00:25:55
across the room without accidentally killing ourselves.
00:25:58
And the proof is, you suddenly have no idea how far away
00:26:01
something is.
00:26:02
If you simply close one eye, also, your sense of danger is
00:26:06
largely color coded and your very ability to remain upright
00:26:09
depends on stuff in your middle ear. So it's not surprising that
00:26:13
when presented with stimuli that your brain simply doesn't really
00:26:16
understand, it makes stuff up.
00:26:19
And unfortunately, for the skeptics out there, that means
00:26:22
some people immediately jump to the idea of ghosts or the
00:26:25
supernatural in reality. A lot of so-called paranormal
00:26:29
phenomena is nothing more than old fashioned optical illusion.
00:26:33
And Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics says there's some
00:26:36
really common ones out.
00:26:37
Tim Mendham: There, there's a study done and these pictures
00:26:40
crop up all the time in sort of paranormal sites, websites and
00:26:43
you know, on TV, and they are pictures or videos of a
00:26:46
paranormal or whatever activity and what they do prove is that
00:26:49
your eyes can be fooled.
00:26:51
And as a witness, you're not very good, which are two things
00:26:53
that are sort of big in the law as every policeman will tell
00:26:56
you, you see things we've done there and you remember things
00:26:59
that never happened. So the observation powers of people are
00:27:02
fairly limit that they will jump to conclusions, which is where
00:27:04
optical illusions come from.
00:27:05
Whether it's seeing a rabbit or an old lady in a silhouette or
00:27:09
two faces kissing or a vase or a parador comes into a lot that's
00:27:14
about faces and things like that. And the shapes that you
00:27:15
know, face in the cloud, man in the Moon, all those things, but
00:27:18
you can take it further and you see things that you think are
00:27:20
true and even logically true, but that aren't what you think.
00:27:23
And there's often simple explanations.
00:27:25
One is called the Brock and Specter, which is basically if
00:27:27
you're standing in a mist, clouds behind you rather than
00:27:30
above you behind you. And the light is coming from in front
00:27:33
and you will create a shadow in the mist, which looks like an
00:27:36
aura around you because the shadow is a bit bigger than your
00:27:38
body is and that can be on the ground or it can be in the mist
00:27:40
or it can be all sorts of things.
00:27:42
And people say, look, it's an aura, it's a spirit around, you
00:27:44
know, it's a shadow but it's a quite natural explanation for
00:27:47
it. It's called the Brock inspector. And that one happens
00:27:49
all the time. There's obviously mirages and mirages are real and
00:27:52
they can be photographed.
00:27:53
You think that they can be photographed. There's not a lot
00:27:55
of human interaction necessarily in there, but, you know, things
00:27:58
floating in the sky and it talks about ships floating in the sky,
00:28:01
cities floating in the sky by different atmospheric layers,
00:28:05
isn't it? That's right. That's right.
00:28:06
But people see it and they think it's the paranormal thing. But
00:28:08
then there's this very simple explanation of layers of hot and
00:28:11
cold air which interact with each other and magnify and move
00:28:14
an image which is somewhere else. That's pretty
00:28:17
straightforward. There's gravity hills, which is, there's one
00:28:19
near Adelaide, I think where you can park a car or stop a car on
00:28:22
a hill and it will seem to roll up hill.
00:28:24
Yes, same as balls and things. And I remember way back when
00:28:27
you're going into the old fairs and a magic house, et cetera,
00:28:31
and they often have a little sort of rolling ball that seems
00:28:33
to be rolling uphill, Coney Island, Luna Park, all those
00:28:36
things. Yeah.
00:28:36
And they were sort of fascinating because basically
00:28:40
you were not sure where the horizon was, you were not sure
00:28:42
whether you were level or not and they used to fool you by
00:28:45
having something that looked like it was upright, but it was
00:28:47
actually leaning to one side and that's what these gravity hills
00:28:50
are.
00:28:50
You can't necessarily see the horizon and you think something
00:28:54
is level or downhill when it's actually uphill and vice versa.
00:28:56
And that's a pretty standard thing. Nothing. You don't say it
00:29:00
happens all the time. But when there is a place where it does
00:29:02
happen all the time, it often gets a named as a place in
00:29:04
Florida called Spook Hill, which is blamed on the ghost of an
00:29:06
alligator Florida.
00:29:07
But it's actually just one of these things where you can't
00:29:09
quite see the horizon. So you can't compare it to how things
00:29:12
whether they're flat or not. And you just assume because of the
00:29:15
slight gradient you believe is going downhill when it's
00:29:18
actually going uphill or vice versa.
00:29:19
And that's the sort of thing that happens all the time, all
00:29:22
these things, there's a whole range of these things about
00:29:24
hills and you think the slope is going the wrong way. So that's
00:29:26
the fairly common optical illusion which is easily
00:29:29
explained, but looks impressive that the whole definition of an
00:29:32
optical illusion, it looks impressive. A dull looking one
00:29:36
is not going to have much of an effect.
00:29:37
A good one will stay in your mind and say in a lot of
00:29:40
people's minds when they see it, but it's not necessarily what
00:29:42
they think it is. So your ability to reason your ability
00:29:45
to eye witness your ability to see what you want to see are all
00:29:49
problems that actually exist in law courts and in real life.
00:29:52
Stuart Gary: That's Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics and
00:30:11
that's the show for now. SpaceTime is available every
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