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Stuart Gary: This is space time series 26 episode 73 for
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broadcast on the 19th of June 2023. Coming up on space time,
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key building blocks of life found on the Saturnian moon and
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sodas. Discovery of a supernova from one of the universe's first
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stars and understanding how Planet Earth's core was formed.
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All that and more coming up on space time.
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Generic: Welcome to space time with Stuart Garry.
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Stuart Gary: The search for extraterrestrial life in our
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solar system just got a whole lot more exciting with
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scientists discovering phosphorus, a key building block
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of life in the waters jetting out of the Saturnian ice moon
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and sodas.
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A report in the journal Nature says the chemical was discovered
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in data from nasa's Cassini mission which explored the
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Saturnian system for more than 13 years. Scientists detected
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phosphorus in the form of phosphates which appear to have
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originated from Enceladus Global Sub Surface Liquid Water Ocean.
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One of the study's authors, Christopher Glean from the South
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West Research Institute in San Antonio Texas says geochemical
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modeling was used last year to predict that phosphorus should
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be abundant in the ence and ocean abundant levels of
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phosphorus were discovered in plumes of ice samples spraying
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out of the ice moon's south pole tiger stripes.
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The Cassini spacecraft discovered in Sodus subsurface
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liquid water ocean early in its mission mission managers then
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quickly changed the spacecraft's plans.
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So could spend more time analyzing samples in the plumes
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of ice grains and gasses in geysers blasting out of cracks
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in the moon's icy surface analysis of a class of ice rich
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grains from Cassini's cosmic dust analyzer showed the
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presence of sodium phosphates.
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The team's observational results together with laboratory analog
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experiments now suggest that phosphorus is readily available
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in the insular in ocean as phosphates. And that's important
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because phosphorus in the form of phosphates is vital for life
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on Earth. It's essential for the creation of DNA and RNA for
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energy carrying molecules for cell membranes in animals.
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That's important for bones and teeth and it's even present in
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the sea's microbiome of plankton. Put simply life as we
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know it would not be possible without phosphates. Glen says
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the phosphate concentrations were found to be at least 100
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times higher in the moon's plume forming ocean waters than in
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Earth's oceans.
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He says, using a model to predict the presence of
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phosphates is one thing but then actually finding the evidence
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for phosphates was incredibly exciting.
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He's described it as a stunning result for astrobiology and a
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major step forward in science's search for life beyond Earth.
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One of the most profound discoveries in planetary science
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in the last quarter of a century is that worlds with oceans
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beneath the surface layer of ice are common in our solar system.
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These worlds include the icy moons of the giant planets such
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as Jupiter's Europa Calisto Ganymede, as well as the
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Saturnian moons, Enceladus and Titan. And in more distant
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bodies like Pluto worlds like Earth with surface oceans need
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to reside in a narrow range of distances from their host stars.
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The so called habitable zone where atmospheres and surface
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temperatures support the pooling of liquid water on the surface.
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But interior ocean worlds can occur over a much wider range of
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distances, thereby greatly expanding the number of
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habitable worlds that are likely to exist across the galaxy.
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Geochemical experiments and modeling show that such high
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phosphate concentrations result from enhanced phosphate mineral
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solubility in Enceladus and possibly also in other icy ocean
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worlds right across the solar system.
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Glean says that with this finding, the oceans of Enceladus
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are now known to satisfy what is generally considered to be the
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strictest requirement for life. He says the next step is clear,
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we need to go back to Enceladus to see if its habitable ocean is
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actually inhabited.
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That will be the most monumental achievement of science since the
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birth of humanity. You see if we find life on Mars, well, that'll
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be a great achievement but the Earth and Mars have been
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swapping rocks for billions of years.
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So it's possible we contaminated them or they contaminated us. We
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may be Martians. But if life's found in the oceans of Enceladus
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or places like that places, which are simply unlikely to
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have any contact with Earth. It means life can get started
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anywhere.
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And that has the most profound implications this space time
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still to come. Discovery of a supernova from one of the
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universe's first stars.
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And a new study tries to understand how Planet Earth's
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core likely formed all that and more still to come on space
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time, astronomers have just made an important Discovery in their
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quest to better understand the very first stars in the
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universe. They've found the chemical signatures confirming
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the existence of these stars.
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The universe's very first stars are thought to be unlike
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anything in the cosmos today. You see when the universe began
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13.82 billion years ago, the Big Bang as it's called, produced
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only two basic elements hydrogen and helium with only very trace
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amounts of lithium and bellum.
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Eventually these dense clouds of hydrogen and helium, which is
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all there was in the universe began cooling sufficiently to
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collapse under their own gravity and create the very first ever
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stars.
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It was an important moment in the universe's history because
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it ended the cosmic dark ages by bringing in the cosmic dawn the
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first light if you will. And with it, the epoch of
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realization which would eventually give us the universe
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we see around us today.
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But the details of these very first stars remains a mystery.
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As I mentioned earlier, we know they were made out of virtually
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pure hydrogen and helium because that's all there was.
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And we know that they produced all the other elements in the
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universe, either during their lives or when they died today,
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stars look the way they do because they contain small
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amounts of elements other than just hydrogen and helium.
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Now, astronomers refer to these other elements as metals and by
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measuring the chemical composition or metallic of a
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star, they can tell a lot about its evolution, its age and even
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its origins. But science knows very little about that first
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generation of stars, not even its size.
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Although speculation suggests that they would have been
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massive tens to hundreds of times bigger than stars like our
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sun. Major efforts are now underway to learn more about
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these ancient ancestors, using equipment like nasa's James Webb
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Space telescope and Australia's square kilometer array sky
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mapper projects.
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Physics tells us that when really, really massive stars,
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those may be 140 to 260 times the mass of our sun go supernova
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at the end of their lives, they generate an unusual type of core
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collapse supernova called a parent stability supernova.
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And these would have left a very unique chemical signature in the
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atmosphere of the next generation of stars.
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A signature that's quite unlike that of other supernovae. The
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problem is there's been no sign of this signature in ancient
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supernova remnants, at least not until now. Now, a new report in
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the journal nature outlines the first definitive association of
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a galactic halo star.
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It's a star that's really old with an abundance pattern
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originating from a parent stability supernova.
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One of the study's authors, Professor Alexander Hedger from
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Monash University says the chemically peculiar star LAMOST
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J1010 + 2358 located in the galactic halo is clear evidence
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of pair instability supernovae from very massive first stars in
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the early universe. This unique supernova type is due to a
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hydrodynamic instability caused by electron positron pair
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formation.
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At the very end of the massive star's life parent stability
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supernovae disrupt the entire star, meaning unlike other core
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collapse supernovae which can leave a neutron star, they leave
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no remnant a parent stability supernova explosion can be
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anything from a few times to hundreds of times more powerful
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than a normal supernova.
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And the explosion that made J1010 + 2358 was among the most
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energetic parent stability supernovae.
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The study found that the most likely progenitor for the star
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J1010 + 2358 was a 260 solar mass parent stability supernova
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Hedges says the work provides an essential clue for constraining
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the initial mass function of stars in the early universe. He
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says that prior to this study, there was no evidence of parent
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stability supernovae in the first stellar generation.
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But using the Subaru telescope Edger and colleagues conducted a
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follow up high resolution spectrographic observation
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focusing on J1010 + 2358. From this, they found and calculated
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the abundances of more than 10 elements. They showed that the
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star had low sodium and Cobalt abundances.
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In fact, its sodium to iron ratio is less than one in 100
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times that of the sun. The star also has a big difference in the
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abundance of elements with odd and even charge numbers like
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sodium magnesium, Cobalt and nickel. Now, that's a patent
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hedge says is unique to parent stability supernovae.
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He says the peculiar odd even variants along with deficiencies
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in sodium and alpha elements in the star are all consistent with
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the predicted chemical fingerprint of primordial pair
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instability supernovae from first generation stars with 260
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solar masses. The authors also found that the ida hydrogen
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abundance in the most J1010 + 2358 was 2.42 substantially
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greater than the most metal poor stars in the galactic halo.
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Suggesting that second generation stars created in the
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gas dominated by parent stability, supernovae ashes can
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still be quite metal rich. Etcher thinks that J1010 + 2358
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may in fact be the oldest star we know because they're really
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massive and burn through their nuclear fuel supplies really
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quickly.
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The stars that make parent stability supernovae have the
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shortest lifespans. And the metal rich gas they make can be
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used to form the next generation of stars. Hedges says the
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identification of such a massive primordial star suggests that
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the first stars would have been more massive than the stars
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forming in the present universe.
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And this confirms why we've never found a long lived low
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mass primordial star, parent stability supernovae were first
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hypothesized more than 80 years ago. They're the only type of
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supernovae which scientists believe they fully understand
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the workings of yet. They're also the only type which
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scientists have never uniquely identified before.
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So this Discovery is an important cornerstone in
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science's understanding of how massive stars explode. Parent
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stability supernovae also play a crucial role in astronomy's
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understanding of the birth masses of black holes. And they
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determine what gravitational wave signals we can observe from
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black hole mergers.
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Edger says J1010 + 2358 confirms the existence of primordial
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stars of several 100 solar masses for the very first time
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stars in this mass range end their lives as black holes
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capable of swallowing up the entire mass of the star instead
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of it exploding. In fact, he says they may be the first
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stellar mass black holes in the universe.
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Professor Alexander Heger : So the universe cut it off with
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just hydrogen helium after the Big Bang and then all the metals
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after that were made by stars and subsequent generation of
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stars. So one generation live exploded and then the next
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generation of stars formed. And so now astronomers classify
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these stars in terms of populations.
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And due to some history to this, we call population one that are
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the dominant population, our Galaxies stars that form around
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our age similar to our sun. So that form within the last 2
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billion years. And then there's some older generation of stars
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that have been discovered and that are called population two
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stars.
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But then there is also a population of stars which has
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been the very first generation that's formed out of the
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pristine primordial matter that was made in the Big Bang
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directly where there was no initial cellar enrichment. And
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this is called the population three of stars.
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So these have initially no metals at all or no heavy
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elements, two elements heavier than hydrogen or helium, which
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astronomers generally call metals. So there has been this
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kind of generation because you know, the Big Bang has not made
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each other elements, but only hydrogen and helium. And so
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those stars made of supreme material are called population
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three.
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But then there is a property of stars that the bigger they are,
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the shorter they live and only stars that are less than about
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80% of the mass of the sun, they can live as long as the age of
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the universe. And so in principle, if there were any of
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stars that were less massive than 0.8 smaller masses when
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they were born, even if they were born as the first
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generation, they would have lived as long as the age of the
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universe.
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So we would see them today, but we have never found one of those
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stars directly. So we know they have existed, but we haven't
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seen any of these smaller mass stars.
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So generally, it's thought that this first generation of stars
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were largely made of parts that were larger, bigger than 0.8
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solar mass as far as in the present day in the universe.
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When we look, the dominant population of parts are about
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the mass of the sun or less. And so we know that the first
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generation probably was very different than what you see
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today.
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Stuart Gary: And that's because they were formed in a different
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way and virtually pure hydrogen and helium maybe trace amounts
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of lithium. And really, that's it. When you look for these
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stars. Although none or any exist today, there would be
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telltale signatures which you'd find in the atmospheres of say
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population two stars. Yes.
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Professor Alexander Heger : So that is the trick now is
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observation. So at present, we can't. But when the first
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generation of stars formed the only few 100 maybe less than a
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billion years after the Big Bang, so all of these bigger
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stars would be gone. And so the only way for us to see anything
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of them.
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If you can't see the stars directly is from their ashes or
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when they exploded and then make the next generation of stars,
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which as you said, this population three, we call
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population three. So any kind of stars that are very old and not
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population three. So they would form from the ashes.
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And if they were polluted only by one or a few of the
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supernova, then the the material from this earlier supernova
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explosion would have made this next generation of stars. And if
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they are low enough in Mars, they live until the present day.
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And this is where we can see it.
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And we can see in the atmosphere of these stars, the materials
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that came from the star, the one generation of stars population
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three stars that live before them and make these elements.
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And because depending on how massive stars are, when they
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die, they produce a very unique signature of elements, a ratio
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of elements relative to each other kind of like a chemical
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fingerprint if you like and that is what we can observe and then
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inverse that and say, OK, if you see this kind of signature, we
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know what kind of star must have exploded.
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Stuart Gary: And so what you're looking for is a very specific
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type of co colase supernovae, a parent stability supernovae.
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What does that mean?
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Professor Alexander Heger : So there is depending on mass of
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the stars, they can end their lives in different ways. Of
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stars below somewhere around 8 to 10 solar masses, they will
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end their lives as a planetary nebula and leave behind a white
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dwarf. And if the stars get somewhat more massive, they
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start making so called coup supernova.
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And those make a neutron star or in some cases, a, a mass of the
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star gets larger, they will collapse and make black holes
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and in some cases supernova or not, or other spectacular there.
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But if the mass of the car gets large enough somewhere above 140
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solar masses, initially, when those stars die, they explode in
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a very spectacular supernova called pa stability supernova.
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Electron positron supernova. This is because of some property
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of the equation of state that the temperature inside the star
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is very high and the density is very low and they can make pairs
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of electrons and positron posit one is the antiparticle of the
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electron and that changes how compressible the gas is.
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And the star can actually, the pressure can no longer sustain
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against the gravity of the star contracts rapidly. And then
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there's very rapid thermonuclear burning and then explodes in a
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spectacular explosion.
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Stuart Gary: And this leaves a very specific chemical signature
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and that's what your works found.
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Professor Alexander Heger : Professor Alexander Heger : Yes,
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this kind of supernova even explode and make a very
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particular peculiar abundant pattern that has much more
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elements that have an even charge number. So like oxygen
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magnesium and much less of these elements that have an bought
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charge number like sodium or aluminum.
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And this, this particular from the signature when such a
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supernova goes off from population three, because there
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are no initial metals. And that is what turns out it affects how
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strong this even pattern is that you see the signature. And it's
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a very unique signature. We have been looking for that to see
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this in any kind of star for long time because it was a very
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clear signature.
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And in contrast to all other kinds of supernovae appear for
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the supernovae actually understand how they work
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extremely well. And so predicting the signatures are
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sort of straightforward, unique and yet it has never been found.
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And that was really a big puzzle for a long time.
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Stuart Gary: And now you found it, tell me about it all.
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Professor Alexander Heger : Professor Alexander Heger : Yes.
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And so there was no one star that has been found called J
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10102358. And so it was found by the Lamos telescope in China
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close to Beijing. And so they identify stars and do follow up
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with a more powerful telescope, a Subaru telescope.
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And then they analyze the spectra of the star and track
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from that information about the abundance of the elements or
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particularly the relative abundance of the elements that
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is in the atmosphere of that star. One very interesting thing
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is that in the past, people have largely looked at stars that
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have extremely low metallic as the oldest stars in the
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universe.
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And that is because we know that after the Big Bang, there was
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this pure material then successfully, the universe was
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more and more enriched in metals in the ashes from subsequent
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supernovas, they polluted with metals. All these heavier things
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is basically just the waste product of stars or we are made
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of mostly.
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And so it's very clear that when you find a star that has a few
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mild, it must have formed very early in the universe very soon
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after population three. And the rest was kind of an easy
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identification. Also know that when a supernovae goes off, they
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actually can make a lot of metals. In particular here in
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supernovae, they are really big star and when they explode, they
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leave no remnant behind.
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So no neutron star or black hole that could swallow all of these
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ashes, waste products of the star. So everything is and you
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make a vast amount of metals, 100 solar masses of them. And
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you would expect that there so much metals, you don't pollute
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things just a little bit, but you can actually pollute it by a
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lot more when this explosion goes off.
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And so the prediction was there might be a lot of stars that
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have the sign, but they are not that lower metallic but somewhat
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higher in metallic as well. But the problem now is that in our
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galaxy, there's many, many stars of higher metallic and only
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these low metallic stars that are very rare that they easily
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stick out and can be analyzed as old objects.
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But the other ones have many similarities if you don't look
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in much detail to many of the stars that sit in our galaxy.
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And so finding one of those with a particular signature, you have
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to look very closely and it's like finding a needle in a
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haystack, literally a very big haystack because there's 100
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billion stars in our galaxy.
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And so this was remarkable to find now one of those cars that
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is somewhat higher enriched than the low metallic object or also
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a low metallic object.
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They usually identified with the first generation or the ashes
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from the first generation, but now show the signature and not
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being at very low metallic but at high metal that has been
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predicted by theory. And it is really remarkable, you have to
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see that signature also with this high enrichment level that
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corresponds to having actually one of these supernovae that
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produces lots of metals in one spot.
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Stuart Gary: It's not the first time we've seen evidence of
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parent stability supernovae.
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Professor Alexander Heger : Well, there have been a few
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light curves that have been sort of associated with it, but not
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all of them were actually none of them was really unique often
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that has been revised that there may have been other
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counterparts. None of these are as much of a smoking gun than
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finding the chemical signature.
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Stuart Gary: Yeah, the difference is this time we're
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looking at the virgen being a population three star, right?
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Professor Alexander Heger : And so most of the light curves, you
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see the first car that live in our current universe where they
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are much metal rich. And so this is, this is the other aspect
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that it's not just absolutely a smoking gun for the parents a
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little bit also, that had to be top three parents believe that
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had to make that signature.
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Stuart Gary: It's a stunning Discovery. What are its
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implications?
00:22:13
Professor Alexander Heger : Professor Alexander Heger : Yes.
00:22:13
So the indication is that we didn't know. Well, we still
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don't know exactly what the initial mask functions. So how
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many stars or what mask do you make in the first generation?
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What typical masses of the first generation I mentioned at the
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beginning that there were probably not a lot of
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population, three stars had below 4.8 solar masses because
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they would have lived as long as the edge of the universe and
00:22:33
they would be around, but we have never found one.
00:22:35
So we know there probably were more masses, but we don't know
00:22:38
how massive they were, whether they were all about 50 solar
00:22:41
masses or around 20 Pacific. But now we have found this object
00:22:45
which had to come from a star that was probably at least 250
00:22:48
solar masses when it was born.
00:22:50
So we know that most likely have been very massive stars in the
00:22:54
early universe and the stars around that a little bit more
00:22:57
massive than what was the per of this object?
00:22:59
They would not have exploded, but they would have made a black
00:23:02
hole. So that is implied also that we should expect to see
00:23:05
black holes of a few 100 solar masses being born in the first
00:23:09
generation of stars.
00:23:10
So it gives us a very, a very good indication that what the
00:23:13
typical mass scale of the first generation may have been or at
00:23:15
least that there have been some of these stars that were that
00:23:18
massive of hundreds of solar masses. Very important to know.
00:23:21
Stuart Gary: That's Professor Alexander Hedger from Monash
00:23:24
University and this space time still to come understanding how
00:23:30
Planet Earth's core formed. And later in the science report, new
00:23:34
questions of ethics raised as scientists use stem cells to
00:23:38
create clone, synthetic human embryos. All that and more still
00:23:42
to come on space time.
00:24:00
Scientists have developed new techniques to provide fresh
00:24:03
insights into the differentiation of Planet Earth.
00:24:07
The findings reported in the journal science advances were
00:24:10
developed by Carnegie University researchers, Ying Wei Fei and
00:24:14
Ling Wang.
00:24:15
They provide fresh insights into the processes by which the dense
00:24:19
materials that form the Earth's core descended into the depths
00:24:22
of the planet, leaving behind geochemical traces that have
00:24:26
long mystified scientists like everything else in our solar
00:24:30
system.
00:24:31
Planet Earth accreted from the proto planetary disc of gas and
00:24:35
dust that surrounded the early nascent sun 4.6 billion years
00:24:39
ago as the Earth grew from collisions of smaller objects.
00:24:43
Over time.
00:24:44
The densest material sank inwards separating the planet
00:24:47
into distinct layers, including an iron nickel rich metallic
00:24:51
core and a silicate mantle fee says the segregation of the Cora
00:24:55
Mantel was the most important event in the geologic history of
00:24:59
the Earth.
00:25:00
That's because it allowed for convection, the liquid metal
00:25:03
outer core of the planet and that convection powers the
00:25:06
Earth's magnetic field which shields the planet and life on
00:25:09
it from cosmic rays and irradiation from the sun without
00:25:13
it life as we know, it simply couldn't exist. Each of the
00:25:17
Earth's layers has its own unique composition.
00:25:21
Although the Earth's core is predominantly iron and nickel
00:25:24
seismic data indicates that some lighter elements like oxygen,
00:25:28
sulfur, silicon and carbon were dissolved into it. And so
00:25:31
brought along for the ride to the planet center.
00:25:34
Likewise, the mantle is predominantly silicate, but its
00:25:37
concentrations of so called iron loving or Croyle elements have
00:25:42
mystified scientists for decades, understanding the
00:25:45
mechanisms by which materials migrated through these layers
00:25:49
and identifying any remnants of this process will improve
00:25:52
science's understanding of the ways in which the Earth's core
00:25:55
and mantle have interacted throughout the planet's history
00:25:58
to do this.
00:25:59
The authors used heavy hydraulic presses just like the ones used
00:26:03
to make synthetic diamonds in order to bring samples of
00:26:05
material to high pressures and temperatures mimicking the sort
00:26:09
of conditions found in the Earth's interior.
00:26:12
And this enabled them to recreate the Earth's
00:26:14
differentiation process in miniature and to probe different
00:26:17
possible ways by which the core was formed.
00:26:21
Using these tools, wake and fee developed a new method for
00:26:24
tracing the movement of the core forming liquid metal in their
00:26:27
sample as it migrated inwards. They showed that much like water
00:26:31
filtering through coffee grounds.
00:26:33
Under the dynamic conditions found on early Earth iron melts
00:26:37
could have passed through the cracks between a layer of solid
00:26:40
silicate crystals put a green boundary and in the process
00:26:43
exchange chemical elements, Wang and fee suggests that the
00:26:47
violent environment of the early Earth would have actually
00:26:50
created the circumstances that could have turned the mantle
00:26:53
into a sort of giant pourer of a coffee apparatus allowing the
00:26:57
perc population of liquid metal through an interconnected
00:27:00
network.
00:27:01
They analyzed the chemical exchanges during this
00:27:04
percolation process and found their results would account for
00:27:08
iron loving elements being left behind in the mantle shedding
00:27:11
light on a long standing geochemistry question.
00:27:15
Looking ahead, the authors believe their new technique is
00:27:18
also applicable to other rocky planets and will help answer
00:27:21
more questions about the core mantle interactions occurring
00:27:24
deep in their interiors this space time and time. Now to take
00:27:46
a brief look at some of the other stories making news in
00:27:48
science. This week.
00:27:50
With the science report, the annual meeting of the
00:27:53
International Society For Stem Cell Research has been told that
00:27:57
scientists have used stem cells to create clone synthetic human
00:28:01
embryos thereby sidestepping the need for eggs or sperm.
00:28:06
The historic announcement raises many ethical questions and will
00:28:09
likely lead to further debate about the so called 14 day rule
00:28:13
which is the current legal limit for using embryos or embryo like
00:28:17
structures for research purposes.
00:28:19
Professor Rachel Ankeny from the University Of Adelaide who was
00:28:23
not involved in the project says it's important to develop a much
00:28:26
deeper understanding of the earlier stages of human
00:28:29
development, especially as these are essential for developing
00:28:32
better clinical responses to things like infertility,
00:28:36
miscarriages and developmental errors.
00:28:39
However, researchers also need to consider whether these sorts
00:28:42
of models. If in fact, that's what they are are really all
00:28:46
that fundamentally different from human embryos. Although
00:28:49
they originate from different sources and processes, they have
00:28:52
the same characteristics as real human embryos, which makes the
00:28:56
issue about how science will view and treat them much more
00:28:59
complex.
00:29:00
Back in 2022 the Australian National Health And Medical
00:29:04
Research Council Regulator licensed Monash University
00:29:07
scientists to develop a similar novel being which they called an
00:29:11
IB blas toid.
00:29:12
These lack the ability to be implanted into a uterus and
00:29:15
develop full term. But the regulator ultimately determined
00:29:19
that I blasts did meet the definition of a human embryo and
00:29:23
were therefore subjected to existing laws on human embryo
00:29:27
research.
00:29:29
A new report has shown that three scientists conducting gain
00:29:33
of function research at the Wuhan Institute Of Virology were
00:29:36
the first ever humans to contract COVID-19. The findings
00:29:41
have been published on the substance newsletter public by
00:29:44
respected investigative journalist Michael Schoenberger
00:29:47
and Matt Tabai.
00:29:49
The new findings identified several patient zeros or is that
00:29:53
patient zero including Ben Hu Ping Yu and Yan Z who were all
00:29:58
scientists at the Wuhan Institute Of Virology when they
00:30:01
suddenly became ill around September 2019.
00:30:04
Importantly, the three were researching gain of function
00:30:08
experiments with SARS COVID two viruses gene of function
00:30:12
experiments are designed to increase a virus's in
00:30:15
effectiveness, making the pathogens stronger and thereby
00:30:18
allowing scientists to better understand the sorts of threats
00:30:22
they're likely to pose in the future.
00:30:24
But it's important that world's best practice, biological
00:30:27
containment facilities are used to prevent these deadly viruses
00:30:31
from escaping into the real world.
00:30:33
They followed the release of an independent investigation by the
00:30:36
US Department Of Energy in February which confirmed earlier
00:30:40
findings by the FBI that COVID-19 originated from an
00:30:44
accidental outbreak at the Wuhan Institute Of Virology. The US
00:30:49
State Department had also previously acknowledged
00:30:51
suspicions that the COVID pandemic may have originated
00:30:55
from a lab leak at Wuhan.
00:30:57
The now archived State Department report published on
00:31:00
January the 15th 2021 states that the US government has
00:31:04
reason to believe that several researchers inside the Institute
00:31:08
Of Virology became sick in the autumn of 2019 with symptoms
00:31:12
consistent with COVID-19, almost 7 million people have now been
00:31:17
killed by the COVID-19 Coronavirus.
00:31:21
However, the World Health Organization estimates the true
00:31:23
death toll is likely to be around 18 million with some 768
00:31:28
million confirmed cases globally. And that's almost 10
00:31:31
per cent of the world's population.
00:31:35
Scientists have detected the first virgin birth in
00:31:38
crocodiles. A report in the journal biology letters examined
00:31:42
the DNA of an American crocodile mother who lived an isolated
00:31:46
life and 12 of her eggs and found that a fully formed fetus
00:31:50
in one egg was genetically identical to the mother,
00:31:53
suggesting it had developed without the egg being fertilized
00:31:56
by a male crocodile.
00:31:58
This type of reproduction called Faculty pathogenesis is known to
00:32:03
occur in several species of fish, lizards and snakes, but
00:32:07
it's not been known in crocodiles before now. Although
00:32:10
the eggs didn't hatch, scientists say it's possible
00:32:13
that now extinct relatives of crocodiles and that includes
00:32:16
dinosaurs could have reproduced in just this way.
00:32:21
There are growing concerns among science based medical
00:32:24
practitioners that the World Health Organization is
00:32:27
validating, debunked pseudo scientific practices, the
00:32:31
constitution of the who clearly outlines its principles, namely
00:32:35
that enjoyment of the highest standard of health is a
00:32:38
fundamental human right?
00:32:40
And that unequal promotion of health and control of diseases
00:32:43
in different countries is a danger. Basically, it means
00:32:47
health for all regardless of race beliefs or socioeconomic
00:32:51
condition. The problem is since May 2013, the World Health
00:32:55
Organization began following a traditional medicine strategy,
00:32:59
some would say akin to witch doctors in which science plays
00:33:02
no role.
00:33:04
Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics says what the who sees
00:33:08
in traditional and complementary practices such as a traditional
00:33:12
Chinese medicine and naturopathy is an easy way to fulfill a goal
00:33:15
by simply acknowledging the presence of healers of various
00:33:18
types with little attention given to the kind of care
00:33:21
they're providing the.
00:33:23
Tim Mendham: Recent actions by the who in certain areas has
00:33:25
really tarnish it. I mean, it was doing good things and it
00:33:28
still does good things, vaccinations and treat disease
00:33:31
and the general health of people so great work.
00:33:34
But it's heavily funded by nations and apparently by China,
00:33:38
especially in some areas, it certainly seems to be leaning
00:33:41
pro China and pro China's policy as the case with the COVID
00:33:45
investigations, they want to be pretty naive in going and
00:33:47
expecting Chinese to be open with them.
00:33:49
But also in the fact of pushing traditional Chinese medicine,
00:33:51
this is something that's been happening in a number of places
00:33:53
actually around the world that there's a soft diplomacy
00:33:56
attitude of China has been to promote traditional Chinese
00:33:59
medicine, which relies a lot on herbal animal products,
00:34:03
obviously, you know, rhino horn and that sort of stuff.
00:34:05
And some very very strange medical diagnoses often
00:34:09
involving which is just an energy form that runs through
00:34:13
your body. And it's very unproven.
00:34:16
The story goes that after the revolution in China that brought
00:34:18
in the Communist Party Chairman Mao realized there weren't
00:34:21
enough proper medical facilities around. So here encourage this
00:34:24
use of these sort of folk cures if you like of traditional
00:34:27
Chinese medicine.
00:34:28
So now the who seem to be sort of promoting a lot of these
00:34:32
cues, they refer to things like the diagnosis that the liver qi
00:34:35
stagnation, whatever that means is an issue and that fire
00:34:39
harassing heart spirit patterns is another diagnosis. And the
00:34:42
same thing has happened in Australia too.
00:34:44
By the way, they're actually allowing a lot of these very
00:34:47
esoteric and abstract and quite frankly of unfounded diagnoses
00:34:51
of prognosis. If you like of people's conditions based on
00:34:55
completely out their belief system, which is totally
00:34:58
unfounded. And this is the TGA.
00:34:59
Stuart Gary: See the same thing with traditional Indian medicine
00:35:02
soon too.
00:35:02
Tim Mendham: Traditional Indian medicine is creeping in Ada
00:35:04
stuff. It's creeping in Australia and that's being
00:35:07
pushed heavily by the Indian government. In fact, they've got
00:35:09
a department of Ada who are pushing there, obviously trying
00:35:13
to sort of tap into that market, the folk market that the Chinese
00:35:16
have got a lot of and the Indians sort of pushing the same
00:35:18
thing outside of their own population.
00:35:20
So he goes, oh billion Chinese are using this traditional
00:35:24
Chinese medicine. It must be good. No, not necessarily. It
00:35:27
could just be a folk cure that's been around for a long time and
00:35:30
it hasn't changed and it still doesn't have much of a
00:35:32
foundation.
00:35:32
The same with a lot of Ayurveda stuff from India. And there's a
00:35:35
lot of other folk cures around the world, obviously, which
00:35:37
they'd all love to be sort of pushed by the who because it
00:35:40
helps them make a bit of money. So it's a sad thing with the who
00:35:43
is that while doing good stuff is also doing bad stuff.
00:35:46
Stuart Gary: That's Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics.
00:36:05
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