Cosmic Monsters and Martian Rivers

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Stuart Gary: This is space Time Series 28, Episode

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96 for broadcast on 11 August

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2025. Coming up on Space

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A monster at the dawn of Time. New

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data suggest Mars was even wetter than scientists

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thought. And NASA's plans to put

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nuclear reactors on the Moon and Mars.

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All that and more coming up on, uh, Space

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Time.

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Voice Over Guy: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart

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Gary

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Stuart Gary: Astronomers have detected the most distant black hole ever

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seen. This monster from the dawn of time,

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catalogued as Casper's Lidz 9,

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dates back some 13.3 billion years to

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a time when the universe was just half a billion years

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old, barely 3% of its current

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age. And just as surprising is

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the size of this supermassive black hole, which is some

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300 million times the mass of our Sun. That

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raises questions about how it could have gotten so big

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so quickly, so early in the history of the universe.

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The findings reported in the Astrophysical Journal

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pushes back the boundaries of what current technology can

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detect, and it also provides a unique opportunity

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to study the structure and evolution of this

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enigmatic period of the cosmos. One of the

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study's authors, Steve Finkelstein from the University of

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Texas at Austin, says it's about as far back as you can

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practically go. He says while astronomers

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have found a few more distinct candidates, they're yet to find

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the very distinct spectroscopic signatures usually

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associated with a black hole. With

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spectroscopy, astronomers can split light into

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its many component wavelengths, allowing them to study

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an object's characteristics. To identify

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black holes, they first search for evidence of fast

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moving gas see as it circles around the

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accretion disc of a black hole. Light from the gas moving

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away from our point of view is stretched into the redder

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wavelengths, while at the same time the gas on

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the other side of the disc, which appears to be moving towards our

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point of view, appears to be compressed, making it bluer in

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wavelength. Finkelstein and colleagues used

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data from the Webb Space Telescope's caspers that's

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Candles Area Prism Epoch of Reionisation

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Survey Programme. Launched back in

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2021, the Webb Space Telescope provides the

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most far reaching views of space ever achieved,

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and Casper provides observations at its very

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outermost edge. Initially seen simply

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as an interesting speck in the program's imagery, Casper's

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Lodz 9 turned out to be part of a new

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class of galaxies, which astronomers refer to

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simply as little red dots. Present

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only during the first 1.5 billion years of the

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universe's existence, these galaxies are very

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compact, red and unexpectedly bright.

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Finkelstein says the discovery of little red dots was

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A major surprise from the early Webb data. That's because

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they look nothing like galaxies seen with the Hubble Space

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Telescope, Webb's visible light optical equivalent.

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So astronomers are now in the process figuring out exactly

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what they are and how they came to be. And

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Casper's lid Z9 may well help

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astronomers do that. For one, this

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galaxy adds to mounting evidence that supermassive

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black holes are the source of the unexpected brightness

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in little red dots. Uh, usually

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that sort of brightness would indicate an abundance of stars in

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the galaxy. The thing is that little red dots exist

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at a time when such large numbers of stars is highly

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unlikely. On the other hand, feeding black holes

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also shine brightly. That's because they

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compress and heat the materials they're consuming, creating

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tremendous amounts of light and energy. So

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by confirming the existence of a supermassive black hole

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in Casper's LRDZ 9, astronomers have found a

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striking example of this connection in little red dots.

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The newfound galaxy and its central supermassive black

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hole may also help to answer what causes the distinct red

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colour in little red dots. That may be thanks

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to a thick cloud of gas surrounding the black hole,

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skewing its light into redder wavelengths as it passes

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through. At around 300 million solar

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masses, this black hole equates around half the mass of

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all the stars in the host galaxy.

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And even among supermassive black holes, that's

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especially big. Finding such a

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massive black hole so early on in the universe's history

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provides astronomers with a valuable opportunity to

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study how these objects have developed. See,

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the thing is, a black hole present closer to our time

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later in the universe's evolution has had a diverse range

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of opportunities to grow bigger. Uh, but one

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present in the first few hundred million years of the cosmos

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hasn't had that sort of time, and that's

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a huge mystery. Finkelstein says it

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adds to growing evidence that early black holes grew much

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faster than we thought possible. Alternatively,

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they simply started out more massive than our current

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models can predict. It's a fascinating

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puzzle. This is space time.

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Still to come, new data suggest the Red planet,

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Mars was even wetter than scientists thought. And the

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United States announces plans to put nuclear reactors

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on the Moon and Mars. All that and more still

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to come on, uh, space time.

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A new study of ancient Martian river systems is

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suggesting that the Red Planet was even wetter than

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scientists had previously thought. The new

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findings presented to the Royal Astronomical Society's national

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meeting in Durham, are based on a close examination of

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more than 1500 kilometres of ancient Martian

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riverbeds. The authors looked at fluvial

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sinuous ridges, also known as inverted channels,

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across Nochesterra, a region in the Martian

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southern highlands. These are believed to have formed

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as sediments deposited by rivers hardened and was

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later exposed as the surrounding material eroded.

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Similar ridges have been found across a range of terrains on

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Mars. Their presence suggests that flowing

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water was once widespread in this region, with

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precipitation being the most likely source of the water.

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The study's lead author, Adam Looskut from the Open University

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says the findings indicate that surface water may well have

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been stable in Nochester Terra during the Noche and

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Hesperian transition. That's a period of

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Martian geologic and climatic change around

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3.7 billion years ago. Nochis

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Terra has not been studied as extensively as other regions of

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Mars, in part because it contains very few

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valley networks which are branching erosional

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features that have traditionally been used to infer

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historical rainfall and runoff. The study

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instead focuses on fuvial sinuous ridges

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as an alternative form of evidence for ancient surface

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water. Liskut says Nurche's terrace a sort

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of time capsule recording fundamental geological

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processes in a way that just isn't possible here on Earth

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Earth. To reach their conclusions, Liscott and

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colleagues used data from three orbital the

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Context Camera, the Mars Orbiter Laser

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Altimeter and the High Resolution imaging science

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experiment HiRISE. These

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datasets allow them to map the locations,

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lengths and morphologies of ridge systems across a

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wide area of the Red Planet. Many of the

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features appear to be isolated ridge segments, while others

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form systems extending for hundreds of kilometres

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and rising tens of metres above the surrounding terrain.

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The broad distribution and form of these ridges

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suggest that they likely formed over geologically significant

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periods under relatively stable surface conditions.

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The spatial distribution and extent of these features

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all indicate that the water source was precipitation.

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Leskut says the work provides a new piece of evidence

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suggesting that Mars was once a much more complex and

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active planet than what it is today. The

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fact that these ridges form extensive interconnected

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systems suggests that the watery conditions must have been

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relatively stable for long periods of time.

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So these findings are challenging existing

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theories that Mars was generally always

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cold and dry, with a few valleys formed through

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ice sheet and meltwater in sporadic short periods of

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warming. So a, uh, mostly warm wet

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Mars as opposed to the freeze dried desert we see

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today. All birds will for the sort of environment

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in, in which ancient life, had it ever existed on the Red

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Planet, may well have thrived.

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This is space time still to come.

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NASA to place nuclear reactors on the Moon and Mars

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and later in the science report New MRNA M

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Vaccine to target HIV aids.

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All that and more still to come on uh, space

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time.

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The United States has announced plans to develop nuclear

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reactors to supply power to its future bases on

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the moon and Mars. U.S. transportation

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Secretary and acting NASA chief Sean Duffy says the

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agency hopes to launch its first plant by the end of this

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decade. Duffy says NASA will appoint

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a nuclear power czar who will select two commercial

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proposals within the next six months. The move is

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being seen as an attempt by Washington to outflank

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plans for a joint Chinese Russian lunar base by

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Beijing and the Kremlin, which he slated for construction in the

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early2030s. NASA has been working on

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developing small lightweight fission nuclear power

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systems since the year 2000. In

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fact in 2001 NASA tested the safe

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30 experimental space fusion reactor.

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It was one of a series of small experimental nuclear

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reactors developed by the agency for electricity

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production in space. Unlike

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solar power, nuclear reactors can operate continuously

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around the clock. That's a requirement needed in order

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to deal with the Moon's 15 Earth Day long nights and the Red

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Planet's thick dust storms. The power planet would

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need to produce at least 100 kilowatts in order to support long

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term human operations, including in situ resource

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utilisation such as life support, communications,

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scientific equipment and the mining equipment needed to collect

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surface water ice. The current timeline would see

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the first reactor launched in late 2029

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using a heavy class lander capable of carrying at least

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15 metric tonnes of mass. NASA's

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Artemis programme will see humans return to lunar orbit

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aboard the Artemis 2 mission next year with

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Artemis 3 landing a crew on the lunar south

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pole in mid-2027. Duffy

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says the reactor is all part of a new space race against

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China. The ultimate goal is establishing a sustained human

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presence on the moon. He says a future manned

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lunar base would need to be established at the moon's south

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pole, near permanently shadowed craters where water

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ice is thought to be abundant.

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Sean Duffy: So this is not a new concept. This uh,

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has been discussed under Trump one under

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Biden. But uh, we are in the race. We're in a

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race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon. And

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uh, to have a base on the moon we need energy

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and some uh, of the key locations on

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the moon we're going to get solar power. But

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uh, this vision technology is critically uh, important

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and so we've spent hundreds of million dollars

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studying. Can we do it? We are now going to

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move beyond studying and we are going, we've given direction to

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go. Let's start to deploy our technology to move to

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actually make this a reality. And I think the stat we

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have is uh, it's 100 kilowatt output.

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That's the same amount of energy a 2,000 square foot home

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uses every three and a half days.

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So we're not talking about massive technology.

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We're not launching this live. That's obviously if you have any

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questions about that. No, we're not launching it live. But again energy

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is important and if we're going to be able to sustain

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life on the moon to then go to Mars,

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this technology is critically important. Um,

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and I would just note that we behind

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right. If we're going to engage

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um, in the race to the moon and the race to Mars, we have to get

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our act together. We have to marshal all of our

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resources, all of our focus on going to the moon,

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which is what we're going to do. Um, and again there's a lot of things that

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NASA does and a lot of people love a lot of the things that

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NASA does. But this is about space exploration

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and this is about this next phase.

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Um, a lot of people don't know even

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what Artemis is. Everyone knew what Apollo was.

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We all knew, the whole world knew what Apollo was. We were going to the

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moon. Artemis is, we're going back.

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So in uh, the first part of next year we are going to send

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Artemis 2 out, met the four astronauts,

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they're fantastic. Uh, we're going to go out around the moon

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and come back. Artemis 3, we are going to

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go back to the moon. We're going to land. The longest time

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we've spent in the past was three days. We're going to stay for six

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days and then after that we're able to start

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shipping uh, our assets to the moon

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unmanned. And we'll have those assets

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there as our astronauts arrive and we're able to uh,

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build a base. But this is critically important.

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There's a certain part of the moon that everyone knows is the best.

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We have ice there, we have sunlight there.

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We want to get there first and claim that for America

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and uh, to do this is this part

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of the fission technology is critically

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important to sustain life because solar won't do

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it. But it's just a lower amount of

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that fission technology that's going to allow human uh, life

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to sustain.

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Stuart Gary: That's acting NASA Chief and US Transportation

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Secretary Sean Duffy. And this is

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space, time

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and time. Now to take a brief look at some of the other stories making

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newgen science this week with the science report.

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Scientists have used MRNA technology,

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engineer new vaccines for HIV aids which

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have produced potent human responses to the virus in

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volunteers during early phase 1 clinical

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trials. A report in the journal Science

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Transitional Medicine claims using MRNA has

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allowed the authors to bypass common obstacles with

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HIV vaccines and it's another step towards

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a more effective and affordable vaccine regimen.

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The human immunodeficiency virus HIV

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attacks the immune system, causing acquired immune

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deficiency syndrome, or aids, which allows opportunistic

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diseases, normally easily combated by the body, to

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take hold, eventually killing the patient. The

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World Health Organisation says that since first being

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diagnosed in 1981, AIDS has killed over

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43 million people globally and infected

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more than 113 million. HIV

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is transmitted through body fluids. There is

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no cure, although it can be controlled using a

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combination of complex drug cocktails.

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Scientists have finally discovered the origins of

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potatoes, in the process solving a long standing

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mystery. A report of the journal search claims

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the humble spud's DNA shows that it originally

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evolved from tomatoes around 9 million years ago in

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South America. The authors say natural

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interbreeding between tomato like plants and potato like

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plants triggered the formation of the tubers which we know and

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love today. Potatoes had proved

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puzzling because in appearance modern potato plants

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are almost identical to three potato like species from Chile

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called E. Tuberosum. But those plants don't

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have any tubers. So scientists

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analysed a genetic sequence of 450 cultivated

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potatoes as well as 56 wild potato species, finding

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they all contained a mix of genetic M material from E.

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Tuberosum and tomato. And

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that suggests that they must have resulted from the two plant

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species hybridising long ago.

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Developing tubers allowed potatoes to flourish

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because that allows reproduction without seeds or

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pollination, and it acts as a food storage for the plants,

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helping them survive in harsh environmental conditions.

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And this allowed potatoes to rapidly spread right

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across south and Central America.

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A new study has shown that cockatoos have up to 30

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different dance moves in their repertoire, including head

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banging and body rolls. The findings, reported

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in the journal PLOS One, follow anecdotal observations

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of numerous species of captive and pet cockatoos

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performing various dance moves both with and without

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music. Scientists at Charles Sturt University

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identified 30 distinct dance movements,

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17 of which had not previously been described

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scientifically. Thing is, dancing results from

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complex brain processes, including imitation,

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learning and synchronised rhythmic movement. But

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spontaneous dancing in time, the music has only ever

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been reported in humans and parrots, although many

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wild birds also display rhythmic movements m as part of their

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courtship displays. However, as to what

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motivates captive birds to dance remains

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unclear. Maybe like people, they

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just like it A new

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study has found that people with lower cognitive abilities

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are more likely to be taken in by

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pseudoscientific claims. The findings,

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reported in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, are based

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on a meta analysis study trying to determine why some

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people are more likely than others to believe statements which

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sound profound, deep and meaningful, but, uh, are essentially

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meaningless word salads. Timms Mendham from

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Australian Sceptic says the authors found that receptivity

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to this type of language is more common among individuals

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with lower cognitive abilities and greater faith in intuition,

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as well as a stronger belief in the paranormal,

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conspiracy theories and religion.

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Tim Mendham: People with limited cognitive abilities or lower,

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uh, cognitive abilities are supposed to be more prone to

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believing in those statements that are, shall we

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say, vague, claim a lot don't make a lot of

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sense are rubbish. Meaningless BS

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is the polite way of referring to them. These word

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salads of just putting words together and see it sounds

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impressive. That must be true because it's hard to understand. At one

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stage it was suggested, and we've spoken about this in other sort of, uh,

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discussions about people who are emotionally unstable are more

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inclined to believe because they're worried about the world. The world sort of has it in

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for them. But this is people with lower cognitive abilities

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doesn't necessarily mean dumb or stupid. We know

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a lot of people who are very bright. The issue here is the

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ability to do critical thinking, to use

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reason when you're assessing what someone else does. If you are

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unable to apply critical thinking to a

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statement that someone makes, you're less likely to be able

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to take it apart and see. That doesn't make sense.

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I mean, literally, it doesn't make sense. Not that there's no evidence for it,

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not that it hasn't been proven. It's just that it's a garbage statement. It just

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sounds good, the sort of thing advertisers use all the time. Certainly a lot of

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mystics and a lot of people sort of trying to portray themselves as

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deep thinkers and deep philosophers. And it sounds impressive because

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it uses big words and things. Critical thinking is something we do all

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the time, but we don't necessarily apply it everywhere. We apply critical

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thinking when we decide what sort of fridge to buy, what sort of car to buy,

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how you get from one place to another, you have to choose. You weigh up the

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evidence way up and think, I will do this. When it comes to philosophies and

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religions and things like that, we do not use critical thinking. We use

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unreason to make our, uh, decisions. And that's what these

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things are. Relying on these things sound impressive. They have certainly have

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a bit of a religious, philosophical tone to them, these BS

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statements. Critical thinking it comes down to is the

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thing that sceptics push heavily. It

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doesn't matter what the answer is as long as you apply your critical thinking.

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Stuart Gary: That's Tim Mendham from Australian Sceptics,

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and that's the show for now. Space Time is

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Voice Over Guy: You've been listening to Space Time with Stuart Gary.

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This has been another quality podcast production from

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