Jan. 17, 2025

Cosmic Radio Mysteries, Moon's Water Origins, and IO's Volcanic Heart: S28E08

Cosmic Radio Mysteries, Moon's Water Origins, and IO's Volcanic Heart: S28E08

SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 08
Origins of Fast Radio Bursts Unveiled
Astronomers have pinpointed the source of fast radio bursts, specifically linking them to magnetars, a type of highly magnetic neutron star. This breakthrough, reported in Nature,...

SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 08
Origins of Fast Radio Bursts Unveiled
Astronomers have pinpointed the source of fast radio bursts, specifically linking them to magnetars, a type of highly magnetic neutron star. This breakthrough, reported in Nature, was achieved by analysing the scintillation of FRB2022 1022A, indicating its proximity to a magnetar within 10,000 kilometres. This discovery sheds light on the mysterious phenomenon, suggesting that all fast radio bursts might originate from similarly extreme environments.
Lunar Water's Terrestrial Origins
A groundbreaking study reveals that much of the Moon's water may have originated from early Earth. By examining Apollo-era lunar samples with a high precision triple oxygen isotope technique, scientists discovered a dual heritage of lunar water, tracing back to both proto-Earth and cometary impacts. This finding offers new insights into the Earth-Moon system's formation 4.5 billion years ago.
Juno's Insights into IO's Volcanism
NASA's Juno mission has uncovered that Jupiter's moon IO's volcanoes are powered by individual magma chambers rather than a global magma ocean. This revelation, stemming from Juno's close flybys and gravitational measurements, highlights the unique geological dynamics of the solar system's most volcanically active body. The findings provide a deeper understanding of tidal flexing and its effects on celestial bodies.
00:00 Astronomers have finally narrowed down the source of those mysterious fast radio bursts
08:01 New study shows much of moon's water originates on early proto Earth
10:32 Scientists with NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter have discovered volcanoes on IO
16:33 There now seems to be more carbon stored in human made stuff than natural world
18:41 Study shows each of the Disney princesses could have exposed themselves to illnesses
19:40 Alaska Triangle has highest recorded numbers of paranormal incidents in the world
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The Astronomy, Space, Technology & Science News Podcast.

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This is Space Time Series 28,
Episode 8, for broadcast on the

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17th of January 2025. Coming up
on Space Time, finally the

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discovery of the origins of fast
radio bursts, the link between

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Lunar Water and Earth's early
history, and NASA's Juno mission

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uncovers the heart of the Jovian
Moon IO's volcanic rage. All

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that and more coming up on Space
Time.

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Welcome to Space Time.

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With Stuart Gary.

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Astronomers have finally
narrowed down the source of

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those mysterious fast radio
bursts, or at least one of them.

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Discovering that it really did
originate around a rapidly

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spinning highly magnetic neutron
star known as a magnetar. Fast

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radio bursts are sudden
high-energy flashes at very

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specific wavelengths lasting
just a nanosecond or two and

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originating at cosmic distances.

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But in that short space of time,
they can release more energy

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than a half billion suns. The
very first fast radio burst was

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discovered back in 2007 in data
from the Parkes Radio Telescope

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in New South Wales. At first,
most were singular events,

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occurring just once at a
specific location and then never

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again.

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And that suggested they were
probably being caused by some

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sort of cataclysmic event, such
as a supernova. But astronomers

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are now detecting more and more
fast radio bursts that have

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repeated from the same location.
That suggests a very different

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cause.

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Feeding black holes, glitching
neutron stars and highly

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magnetized neutron stars called
magnetars have all been

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suspected. And it could be, in
fact, that all fast radio bursts

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are repeaters, just that some
are a lot more active than

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others. Now a report in the
journal Nature has pinned down

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the origins of at least one fast
radio burst using a novel

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technique that could be used to
find the origins of more.

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The study's authors focused on
FRB 2022-1022A, a previously

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discovered fast radio burst that
was detected in a galaxy about

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200 million light-years away.
They were able to zero in

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further more precisely to
determine the exact location of

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the radio signal by analysing
its scintillation, similar to

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how stars twinkle in the night
sky.

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The authors studied changes in
the fast radio burst's

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brightness and determined that
the burst must have originated

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in the immediate vicinity of its
source rather than much further

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out, as some models predicted.

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The team estimates that FRB
2022-1022A erupted in a region

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that's extremely close to a
rotating neutron star. 10,000

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kilometres away at most. Now,
that's less than the distance

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between New York and Singapore.
And at such close range, it

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means the burst probably emerged
from the neutron star's

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magnetosphere, a highly magnetic
region immediately surrounding

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the ultra-compact object.

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The study's lead author Ken
Zinimo says that in such

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environments of neutron stars,
the magnetic fields are really

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at the limits of what the
universe can produce. In fact,

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there's been a lot of debate
about whether such a bright

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radio emission could even escape
from such an extreme plasma

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environment.

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You see, atoms can't really
exist around these highly

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magnetic neutron stars. They'd
simply be torn apart by the

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magnetic fields. But it seems
that the energy stored in these

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magnetic fields, close to the
source, is twisting and

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reconfiguring in such a way that
it can be released as radio

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waves visible halfway across the
universe.

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Detections of fast radio bursts
have ramped up a lot in recent

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years, mostly due to the
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity

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Mapping Experimental CHIME. This
is a radio telescope array

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comprising four large stationary
receivers, each shaped like a

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half-pipe and tuned to detect
radio emissions within a range

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that's highly sensitive to fast
radio bursts.

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Since 2020, CHIME's detected
thousands of fast radio bursts

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from all over the sky. While
scientists generally agree that

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the bursts arise from extremely
compact objects, the exact

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physics driving them remains
unclear.

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Some models predict that they
should come from the turbulent

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magnetosphere immediately
surrounding the compact object,

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while others predict that the
bursts should originate much

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further out, as part of a
shockwave propagating out from

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the central object.

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So, to distinguish between the
two hypotheses, and determine

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exactly where fast radio bursts
arise, the authors considered

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the idea of scintillation. The
effect that occurs when light

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from a small bright source such
as a star filters through some

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sort of a medium such as a
galaxy's gas. We see the same

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thing happening here on Earth.

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As starlight features through
the gas of the atmosphere, it

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bends it in ways that make the
star appear to twinkle. And the

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smaller or further away the
object is, the more it twinkles.

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That's why light from larger,
closer objects such as planets

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experience less bending and
therefore don't appear to

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twinkle.

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The authors reasoned that if
they could estimate the degree

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to which a fast radio burst
scintillates, they could

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determine the relative size of
the region from where it

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originated. The smaller the
region, the closer the burst

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must be to its source, and the
more likely it is to have come

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from a magnetically turbulent
environment.

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On the other hand, the larger
the region, the further away the

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burst would be, giving more
support to the idea that fast

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radio bursts stem from far-out
shock waves. To test their

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hypothesis, the researchers
looked at FRB 2022-1022A. That's

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a fast radio burst first
detected by CHIME in 2022. The

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signal lasted about 2
milliseconds and was a

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relatively run-of-the-mill fast
radio burst in terms of its

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brightness.

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However, scientists at McGill
University found that FRB

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2022-1022A exhibited one
outstanding property. The light

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from the burst was highly
polarized, with the angle of

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polarization tracing a smooth
S-shaped curve.

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Now this pattern is interpreted
as evidence that the fast radio

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burst emission site is rotating,
a characteristic previously

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observed in pulsars, highly
magnetized rotating neutron

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stars. So, if FRB 2022-1022A
originated from close to a

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neutron star, the authors should
be able to prove this using

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scintillation. Nemo and
colleagues analyzed data from

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CHIME, observing steep
variations in brightness which

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signals scintillation.

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In other words, the fast radio
burst was twinkling. That means

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the authors had confirmed that
there was gas somewhere between

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the telescope and the fast radio
burst that was bending and

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filtering the radio waves.

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They then determined where this
gas was located, confirming that

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the gas within the fast radio
burst's host galaxy was

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responsible for some of the
scintillation. The gas acted as

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a sort of natural lens. Allowing
the researchers to zoom in on

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the fast radio burst site and
determine that the burst

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originated from an extremely
small region, estimated to be

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just around 10,000 kilometres
wide.

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Nemo says that means the FRB is
probably within hundreds of

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thousands of kilometres from the
source, and on cosmic scales,

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that's extremely close. Now for
comparison, one would expect the

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signal would be far more than
tens of millions of kilometres

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away were it to originate from a
shockwave.

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And under those conditions you
wouldn't see any scintillation.

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In other words, the results
clearly rule out the possibility

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that FRB 2022-1022A emerged from
the outskirts of a compact

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object. Instead, the study
proves for the first time that

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this fast radio burst originated
from very close to a neutron

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star.

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This is space-time. Still to
come, the link between Lunar

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Water and Earth's early history,
and NASA's Juno mission uncovers

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the heart of the Jovey Moon IO's
volcanic rage. All that and more

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still to come on Space Time.

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A new study has shown that much
of the Moon's water actually

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originated on the early
proto-Earth. The findings were

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reported in the Journal Of The
Proceedings Of The National

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Academy Of Sciences, analysed
water in nine samples from the

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Apollo-Era lunar missions using
a high-precision triple-oxygen

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isotope technique.

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The method separates water into
its various binding phases,

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loosely bound, tightly bound and
trapped within minerals. It does

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this through stepwise heating at
50°C, 150°C and at 1000°C.

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One of the study's authors,
Maxwell Thymans from the Vigier

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University in Brussels, says the
data provides crucial evidence

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that Lunar Water had a dual
heritage, one part originating

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from early Earth-like material
and another derived through

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cometary impacts. He says it's a
major step forward in

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unravelling where Lunar Water
comes from.

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The findings suggest that the
Moon inherited water tracing

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back to Earth's formation,
followed by later contributions

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from comet impacts delivering
the water reservoirs we see

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today. The Earth-Moon system was
created when a Mars-Sized

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planet, which we now call Theia,
slammed into the early

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proto-Earth some 4.5 billion
years ago, causing both bodies

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to melt into a magma ocean.

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Now eventually this all cooled
and coalesced to form the Earth

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as we have it today. And some of
the debris ejecta flung into

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orbit around the Earth from the
newly created planet eventually

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it created to form the Moon
sometime later. The study shows

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that the oxygen isotopic
composition closely matches

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enstatite chondrites, a
meteorite type believed to be

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one of the building blocks of
the Earth.

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But there are also clear signs
of cometary contribution, with a

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significant portion of Lunar
Water showing isotopic

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similarities to comets.
Interestingly, the findings also

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challenge the idea that the
majority of Lunar Water was

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produced through solar
interactions with lunar

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silicates, instead presenting a
far more complex mixing of

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sources.

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This is Space Time. Still to
come, NASA's Juno mission

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uncovers the heart of the Jovian
Moon IO's volcanic rage, and

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later in the science report, a
study looks at the sorts of

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illnesses Disney princesses
would have suffered were they

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real people. You can tell we're
in the silly season. All that

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and more still to come on Space
Time.

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Scientists with NASA's Juno
mission to Jupiter have

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discovered that the volcanoes on
Jupiter's Moon IO are each

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likely to be powered by their
own chamber of rolling hot magma

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rather than a single subsurface
magma ocean. The new findings

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reported in the journal Nature
solves a 44-year-old mystery

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about the subsurface origins of
the Moon's most demonstrative

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geological features.

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About the same size as the Earth
's Moon, IO is known as the most

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volcanically active body in our
solar system. It's home to an

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estimated 400 volcanoes,
blasting lava and plumes in

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seemingly continuous eruptions.
In fact, if you could live on

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IO, you wouldn't have weather
reports, you'd have geological

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reports, with mountain building
in the north and lava lakes

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forming in the east.

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IO was discovered by Galileo
Galilei in 1610. But it wasn't

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until the Voyager 1 flyby in
1979 that imaging scientist

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00:11:28,741 --> 00:11:31,584
Linda Morabito from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in

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Pasadena, California first
identified a volcanic plume

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erupting from the surface of IO
in an image taken by the

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spacecraft.

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GENED principal investigator
Scott Bolton from the Southwest

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Research Institute in San
Antonio, Texas says since

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Morabito's discovery, planetary
scientists have been wondering

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about how the volcanoes are
being fed from lava underneath

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the surface. Were there shallow
oceans of white-hot magma

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fueling the volcanoes, or were
their sources far more

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localised?

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00:11:59,487 --> 00:12:02,868
Scientists knew that data from
Juno's two very close flybys of

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00:12:03,108 --> 00:12:06,349
IO could give fresh insights on
how this tortured little Moon

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00:12:06,509 --> 00:12:10,070
actually worked. The Juno
spacecraft made extremely close

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00:12:10,130 --> 00:12:14,812
flybys of IO in December 2023
and February 2024, getting to

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00:12:14,812 --> 00:12:18,093
within 1,500 kilometres of its
pizza-faced surface.

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00:12:18,761 --> 00:12:21,664
During these close approaches,
Juno communicated with NASA's

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00:12:21,744 --> 00:12:24,146
Deep Space Communications
Network, acquiring

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00:12:24,206 --> 00:12:27,208
high-precision dual-frequency
Doppler data, which was then

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00:12:27,329 --> 00:12:30,411
used to measure IO's gravity by
tracking how it affected the

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00:12:30,431 --> 00:12:31,853
spacecraft's acceleration.

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00:12:32,353 --> 00:12:34,695
What the mission learned about
the Moon's gravity from these

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00:12:34,715 --> 00:12:38,238
flybys revealed lots of details
about a phenomenon known as

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00:12:38,278 --> 00:12:42,722
gravitational tidal flexing.
See, IO's extremely close to the

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00:12:42,742 --> 00:12:46,545
mammoth Jupiter, the largest
planet in our solar system. And

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00:12:46,585 --> 00:12:49,786
its elliptical orbit swings it
around the gas giant once every

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00:12:49,907 --> 00:12:51,447
42 and a half hours.

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00:12:52,167 --> 00:12:56,049
As this distance varies, so too
does Jupiter's gravitational

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00:12:56,169 --> 00:12:59,210
pull on the Moon, which causes
the Moon to be relentlessly

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00:12:59,370 --> 00:13:03,152
pulled and squeezed. The result
is an extreme case of

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00:13:03,172 --> 00:13:06,553
gravitational tidal flexing,
friction from tidal forces

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00:13:06,734 --> 00:13:10,415
generating internal heat. Bolton
says this constant flexing

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00:13:10,535 --> 00:13:14,077
creates immense energy, which
literally melts portions of IO's

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00:13:14,157 --> 00:13:14,777
interior.

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00:13:15,549 --> 00:13:18,530
Now, if IO had a global magma
ocean, Bolton knew that the

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00:13:18,630 --> 00:13:21,631
signal of its tidal deformation
would be much larger than a more

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00:13:21,711 --> 00:13:23,551
rigid, mostly solid interior.

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00:13:24,352 --> 00:13:27,853
So, depending on the results of
Juno's probing of IO's gravity

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00:13:27,933 --> 00:13:30,853
field, Bolton and colleagues
were able to tell if a global

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00:13:30,933 --> 00:13:34,975
magma ocean was indeed hiding
beneath its surface. The Juno

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00:13:35,075 --> 00:13:37,995
team compared Doppler data from
their two flybys with

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00:13:38,035 --> 00:13:41,056
observations from the agency's
previous missions to the Jovian

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00:13:41,136 --> 00:13:43,557
system and from ground-based
telescopes.

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00:13:44,137 --> 00:13:47,220
And they found that the tidal
deformation was consistent with

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00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,904
IO not having a shallow global
magma ocean. Juno's discovery

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00:13:51,984 --> 00:13:55,707
that tidal forces don't always
create global magma oceans has

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00:13:55,767 --> 00:13:58,409
implications for science's
understanding of other moons

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00:13:58,489 --> 00:14:02,212
too, including Enceladus and
Europa, and even exoplanets and

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00:14:02,292 --> 00:14:06,055
super-Earths. One of the teams
involved with the Juno mission

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00:14:06,316 --> 00:14:07,837
are with the University Of
Leicester.

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00:14:08,037 --> 00:14:11,200
The objectives of the Juno
mission are threefold.

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00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:15,263
There is... A study of the
internal structure of the

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00:14:15,303 --> 00:14:19,366
planet, how the mass is
distributed on the inside,

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00:14:19,406 --> 00:14:23,509
whether there is a solid core or
not. Secondly, there is an

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00:14:23,529 --> 00:14:27,072
objective to look deep within
the atmosphere of the planet,

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00:14:27,512 --> 00:14:31,075
above the visible cloud tops
that you can see from Earth, to

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00:14:31,395 --> 00:14:34,378
understand the structure of the
weather layers beneath the cloud

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00:14:34,438 --> 00:14:38,063
tops. The origin of the Great
Red Spot and so forth.

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00:14:38,844 --> 00:14:42,526
And thirdly, there is the
objective of looking at the

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00:14:42,586 --> 00:14:46,207
origins of the planet's auroras,
which are the most intense

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00:14:46,288 --> 00:14:49,689
auroras in the solar system. The
Earth, of course, has auroras

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00:14:49,709 --> 00:14:53,351
around the pole, so does Saturn
and so does Jupiter, but Jupiter

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00:14:53,351 --> 00:14:56,813
is by far the most powerful. And
we want to know the origin, the

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00:14:56,813 --> 00:15:00,214
physical origin, that drives the
auroras. And the connection with

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00:15:00,214 --> 00:15:02,276
the magnetic field at large
distances.

265
00:15:02,416 --> 00:15:04,997
The University Of Leicester's
involvement in the mission is

266
00:15:05,537 --> 00:15:10,320
through Professor Stan Cowley,
who is a science co-investigator

267
00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:12,901
on the main Juno science team.

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00:15:13,161 --> 00:15:18,064
And that was because we had been
involved in theoretical studies

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00:15:18,104 --> 00:15:22,667
of Jupiter's environment in the
immediate couple of years

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00:15:22,727 --> 00:15:27,129
beforehand and had produced a
research paper that was

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00:15:27,209 --> 00:15:28,870
published in 2001.

272
00:15:29,326 --> 00:15:35,008
Which has become the definitive
model of how Jupiter's auroras,

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00:15:35,248 --> 00:15:39,329
or how we think Jupiter's
auroras are actually generated.

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00:15:39,929 --> 00:15:44,270
And so when this mission was
being proposed to NASA, we were

275
00:15:44,270 --> 00:15:49,852
the go-to people to be involved
in the planning of the mission.

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00:15:50,672 --> 00:15:54,033
If we want to understand the
solar system and how it formed,

277
00:15:54,493 --> 00:15:57,454
how it evolved over time, then
we need to understand Jupiter.

278
00:15:57,654 --> 00:16:01,235
We understand quite a lot about
Jupiter, but we don't know the

279
00:16:01,275 --> 00:16:05,937
details of the interior, whether
or not it has a core, how much

280
00:16:06,177 --> 00:16:08,318
water is contained in the
atmosphere.

281
00:16:08,739 --> 00:16:12,900
So the details are really,
really important. And due to

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00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:18,082
Juno's unique polar orbit, we
really have an opportunity for a

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00:16:18,122 --> 00:16:21,644
step change in our knowledge. It
is a game changer. The results

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00:16:21,664 --> 00:16:24,765
that will come from the Juno
mission will significantly

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00:16:24,825 --> 00:16:28,142
enhance our knowledge of
Jupiter. Overall.

286
00:16:28,142 --> 00:16:30,623
And in that report from the
University Of Leicester, we

287
00:16:30,663 --> 00:16:34,745
heard from Professors Emma
Brunst and Stan Cowley. This is

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00:16:34,785 --> 00:16:35,605
Space Time.

289
00:16:52,212 --> 00:16:54,513
And time now to take another
brief look at some of the other

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00:16:54,553 --> 00:16:57,487
stories making use in science
this week. With a science

291
00:16:57,547 --> 00:16:57,987
report.

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00:16:58,808 --> 00:17:01,811
There now seems to be more
carbon stored in human-made

293
00:17:01,851 --> 00:17:04,853
stuff on the planet than what
there is carbon in the natural

294
00:17:04,933 --> 00:17:08,456
world. The findings reported in
the journal Cell Report

295
00:17:08,496 --> 00:17:11,499
Sustainability looked at how
much carbon is stored in

296
00:17:11,539 --> 00:17:14,622
long-lasting products such as
plastics and buildings. The

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00:17:14,642 --> 00:17:16,604
authors looked at the amount of
fossil carbon in the

298
00:17:16,664 --> 00:17:20,007
technosphere, that's the sum of
all human-made artifacts both in

299
00:17:20,127 --> 00:17:21,108
use and discarded.

300
00:17:21,748 --> 00:17:25,551
They estimate that some 8.4
billion tonnes of fossil carbon

301
00:17:25,671 --> 00:17:30,294
has been accumulated in the past
25 years, with approximately 0.4

302
00:17:30,334 --> 00:17:33,736
billion tonnes being added
annually. The authors say this

303
00:17:33,776 --> 00:17:37,237
has a huge potential to add to
greenhouse gas emissions if the

304
00:17:37,257 --> 00:17:39,879
carbon locked up in these
everyday objects were ever to be

305
00:17:39,979 --> 00:17:40,579
released.

306
00:17:42,260 --> 00:17:45,362
Researchers have shown that the
expected lifespan of a dementia

307
00:17:45,462 --> 00:17:48,404
patient after they've been
diagnosed varies dramatically

308
00:17:48,464 --> 00:17:51,525
depending on how old they are,
their gender and what type of

309
00:17:51,525 --> 00:17:54,908
disease they have. A report in
the British Medical Journal

310
00:17:55,068 --> 00:17:58,311
combined results from 261
studies, predominantly from

311
00:17:58,372 --> 00:18:00,974
Europe and North America,
looking at the lifespan of

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00:18:01,014 --> 00:18:01,995
dementia patients.

313
00:18:02,556 --> 00:18:05,579
The authors say life expectancy
varies greatly depending on the

314
00:18:05,619 --> 00:18:09,523
situation, with women diagnosed
around 60 likely to live another

315
00:18:09,623 --> 00:18:13,708
8.9 years, while men diagnosed
in the mid-80s have an average

316
00:18:13,748 --> 00:18:15,850
life expectancy of just 2.2
years.

317
00:18:16,502 --> 00:18:19,623
Overall, researchers say
dementia reduced life expectancy

318
00:18:19,703 --> 00:18:23,464
by about two years for people
with a diagnosis at age 85,

319
00:18:23,724 --> 00:18:27,085
three to four years with a
diagnosis at age 80, and up to

320
00:18:27,165 --> 00:18:32,587
13 years with a diagnosis at age
65. 13% of people were admitted

321
00:18:32,587 --> 00:18:35,267
to a nursing home in the first
year after their diagnosis,

322
00:18:35,407 --> 00:18:39,969
increasing to a third at three
years and 57% at five years.

323
00:18:41,469 --> 00:18:43,810
Well, here's a study that proves
we're now in what journalists

324
00:18:43,830 --> 00:18:47,616
call the silly season. The study
has shown how, had they been

325
00:18:47,696 --> 00:18:50,799
real, each of the Disney fairy
tale princesses could have

326
00:18:50,859 --> 00:18:54,102
exposed themselves to all sorts
of harmful substances and

327
00:18:54,162 --> 00:18:56,645
illnesses, at least according to
their storylines.

328
00:18:57,285 --> 00:18:59,768
The findings reported in the
British Medical Journal show

329
00:18:59,828 --> 00:19:02,610
that Snow White, for example,
would have been at risk of heart

330
00:19:02,650 --> 00:19:05,733
disease and mental health issues
for her time locked away in a

331
00:19:05,753 --> 00:19:08,576
castle, and the long-term
lasting effects of eating a

332
00:19:08,596 --> 00:19:10,738
poisoned apple should also be
considered.

333
00:19:11,402 --> 00:19:14,744
Jasmine and Belle's proximity to
large animals could put them at

334
00:19:14,804 --> 00:19:16,886
risk of all sorts of
animal-borne diseases.

335
00:19:17,206 --> 00:19:20,148
Cinderella's exposure to dust
and magical glitter could cause

336
00:19:20,208 --> 00:19:23,290
lung diseases. Pocahontas's
penchant for diving off a

337
00:19:23,970 --> 00:19:26,392
250-metre-tall cliff would
undoubtedly have led to broken

338
00:19:26,452 --> 00:19:26,872
bones.

339
00:19:27,172 --> 00:19:30,850
Aurora's infinite sleep carries
the risk of heart disease. Mulan

340
00:19:30,850 --> 00:19:33,797
's familial pressures would have
led to mental health issues, and

341
00:19:33,857 --> 00:19:36,939
anyone climbing up Rapunzel's
hair would have likely caused

342
00:19:36,939 --> 00:19:38,000
her permanent hair loss and
scalp damage.

343
00:19:40,612 --> 00:19:43,133
And finally for this week, we're
looking at the mystery of the

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00:19:43,153 --> 00:19:46,514
Alaska Triangle. It's a place
where travellers keep

345
00:19:46,574 --> 00:19:49,095
disappearing, and it just
happens to have the highest

346
00:19:49,136 --> 00:19:52,697
recorded numbers of paranormal
incidents in the world. But Tim

347
00:19:52,757 --> 00:19:55,438
Mendham from Australian Skeptics
wants to know, why are

348
00:19:55,438 --> 00:19:59,260
proponents of such zones so
geometrically challenged? Why

349
00:19:59,460 --> 00:20:01,080
are they always in triangles?

350
00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,941
The Alaska Triangle is where
supposedly a lot of people have

351
00:20:04,002 --> 00:20:06,422
disappeared. Someone's
suggesting that anywhere between

352
00:20:06,563 --> 00:20:10,388
500 and 2,000 mysterious
disappearances a year. Just

353
00:20:10,408 --> 00:20:14,391
quite the national US average.
There's a lot of wild country in

354
00:20:14,411 --> 00:20:17,072
Alaska, and a lot of bears as
well. There's somewhere between

355
00:20:17,132 --> 00:20:20,354
500 and 3,000, so no one's
really quite sure. And they say

356
00:20:20,534 --> 00:20:22,916
it's a consistent flow of UFO
sightings.

357
00:20:22,936 --> 00:20:25,817
Someone's one with the other,
people mysteriously

358
00:20:25,877 --> 00:20:28,699
disappearing. A lot of UFO
sightings, they're being taken

359
00:20:28,739 --> 00:20:32,781
away. And in this triangle,
which is formed by joining up

360
00:20:33,042 --> 00:20:36,083
various known sites within
Alaska, the people keep

361
00:20:36,123 --> 00:20:37,985
disappearing, fair enough.
Someone says, you know, some of

362
00:20:37,985 --> 00:20:39,786
these things that have
disappeared, they actually find

363
00:20:39,806 --> 00:20:41,968
the bodies later on. And it's
sort of, yep, a bear.

364
00:20:42,249 --> 00:20:44,211
You can't say that's always
going to be the case. People

365
00:20:44,271 --> 00:20:48,554
might just freeze to death. It's
a wild place. So my problem is

366
00:20:48,554 --> 00:20:51,357
that with all these things, like
the Bermuda Triangle, the Japan

367
00:20:51,437 --> 00:20:53,679
Sea Triangle, the Alaska
Triangle, everyone has

368
00:20:53,739 --> 00:20:56,762
triangles. I think that's a bit
boring. It's a geometrically

369
00:20:56,862 --> 00:21:00,105
challenged, I call it. No one
has a horrifying hexagram or a

370
00:21:00,125 --> 00:21:00,946
dangerous project.

371
00:21:00,946 --> 00:21:02,127
Yeah, Alaska Parallelogram.

372
00:21:03,488 --> 00:21:06,589
Pointed out very rudely, a
mathematician with obviously a

373
00:21:06,609 --> 00:21:09,390
typical wacky sense of humor
that mathematicians have, that a

374
00:21:09,410 --> 00:21:11,751
dodecahedron is a
three-dimensional space whereas

375
00:21:11,771 --> 00:21:14,572
a triangle is two-dimensional. I
think it will, you know, UFOs up

376
00:21:14,552 --> 00:21:16,113
in the sky, UFOs down in the
water.

377
00:21:16,113 --> 00:21:18,354
You've really got to have a
three-dimensional shape these

378
00:21:18,374 --> 00:21:21,455
days to account for all these
things. And triangles just

379
00:21:21,535 --> 00:21:23,976
doesn't do it. And often the
case like the Bermuda Triangle,

380
00:21:23,976 --> 00:21:26,697
a lot of the examples that are
used, they never happened in the

381
00:21:26,757 --> 00:21:29,178
area they say they did. I think
Bermuda Triangle, there were

382
00:21:29,178 --> 00:21:31,379
some cases raised that actually
happened in the Pacific.

383
00:21:31,499 --> 00:21:33,060
Well, the Gulf Of Mexico anyway,
yeah.

384
00:22:07,024 --> 00:22:10,567
And that's the show for now.
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385
00:22:10,647 --> 00:22:14,130
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Time with Stuart Gary.

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