Sept. 15, 2026
Cosmic Revelations: 27 New Worlds and Saturn's Mysterious Decagonal Jet
SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 111 27 new Trans Neptunian Objects discovered in the outer solar system The first ever joint observation of Trans Neptunian objects by NASA’s Hubble and Webb space telescopes has discovered 27 new worlds in the dark outer reaches of the solar system. A decagon discovered at Saturn's south pole New observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a giant, evolving, 10-sided decagon atmospheric structure encircling Saturn's south pole. LINK’s failed rescue mission scopes its target but can’t save it The LINK spacecraft which was meant to rescue NASA's doomed Swift Gamma Ray space Telescope has now reached to within 15 kilometres of Swift and has even managed to take some images of the stricken observatory. The Science Report The latest data on HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in Australia paints a mixed picture. Climate change forcing a decline in global sea weed forests. Asian elephants shown to resist impulsive behaviour in favour of rational problem solving. The artificial-intelligence chatbot Claude cracks Fermat’s last theorem. Alex on Tech the phone duo.
Our Guests This Week Dr Fred Jourdan from Curtin University ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist Johannes Benkhoff DLR Planetary Scientist Jorn Helbert Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/
Our Guests This Week Dr Fred Jourdan from Curtin University ESA BepiColombo Project Scientist Johannes Benkhoff DLR Planetary Scientist Jorn Helbert Our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/
The Astronomy, Space, Technology & Science News Podcast.
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Stuart Gary: This is Space Time series 29 episode 111
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for broadcast on 16 September
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2026. Coming up on Space Time,
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27 new trans Neptunian objects discovered
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in the outer regions of our solar system. A
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uh, Decagon discovered at Saturn's south pole
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and the Lynx spacecraft catches up to the
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target it was unable to save.
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All that and more coming up on um, Space
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Time. Welcome to
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Space Time with Stuart G.
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The first ever joint observation of Trans
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neptunian objects by NASA's Hubble and Webb
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Space Telescopes has discovered 27 new
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worlds in the dark outer reaches of our solar
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system. The findings reported in the
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Astronomical Journal represent the deepest
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search for Trans Neptunian objects ever
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undertaken and included some of the smallest
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and faintest celestial bodies ever seen,
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including one object just five kilometres
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wide. It's the first time
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astronomers have combined the power of Hubble
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and Webb to search for these far flung solar
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system bodies. Hubble looked in visible
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light and Webb searched infrared wavelengths.
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Surprisingly the authors found fewer small
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Trans Neptunian objects than expected. And
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the colours of these bodies follow the same
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relationships as those of their larger family
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members. Trans Neptunian objects are uh,
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typically small faint icy worlds orbiting
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the sun around and beyond the orbit of
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Neptune. Most are uh, more than 100 million
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times dimmer than objects visible to the
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unaided eye. As part of
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the study authors analysed the colour,
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composition and size distribution of the 27
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newly discovered tiny any dim Trans Neptunian
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objects. This class of small bodies
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offers the best view yet of the early stage
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of planetary building. A time more than
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4.6 billion years ago when a
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protoplanetary disc of dust and pebbles in
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orbit around the sun coalesced into city
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sized planetesimals, the solid building
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blocks that clump and accrete together to
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eventually form planets
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beyond Neptune. This second stage has never
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happened, leaving behind a frozen population
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of planetesimals. The authors measured the
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objects colours, which are sort of like
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fingerprints of surface composition as well
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as their sizes and the determination of their
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orbits. They studied two different types
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of Trans Neptunian objects. The first
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known as dynamically cold Trans Neptunian
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objects, are on their original relatively
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circular orbits around the sun in the plane
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of the solar system. What we call the
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ecliptic. The second type, dynamically hot
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Trans Neptunian objects formed between the
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current locations of Uranus and Neptune, but
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were then pushed outwards to their current
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locations locations when the gas giants
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migrated to their current orbits early in the
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Solar system's history and today these reside
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in highly elliptical orbits which move in and
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out of the plane of our solar system.
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Before these observations, astronomers, uh,
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thought that small trans neptunian objects
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from both hot and cold populations would have
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undergone many collisions, changing their
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surface compositions compared to larger trans
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Neptunian objects. But that's not
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what their observations showed. Instead,
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the smaller bodies look just like their
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larger counterparts. Uh, this implies that
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collisions are not changing the surfaces of
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these bodies significantly, perhaps because
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there are fewer collisions than expected, or
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possibly because trans neptunian objects
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somehow retain their primordial pre collision
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compositions. The authors are still trying to
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unravel this mystery and one of those
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authors, Anastasia Morgan from Northern
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Arizona University, says it was fascinating
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to see that these smaller objects are somehow
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remembering and preserving the history of how
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they were formed. She says these dynamically
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hot trans neptunian objects retained a
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signature of where they were born, even
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though they've been orbitally scrambled since
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then. Both hot and cold populations
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seem to keep the same colours as when they
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were formed, with little change since the
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birth of the Solar system. The Webb data also
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allowed researchers to measure the number of
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objects of each size. They found
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that the overall size distribution for birth
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populations was surprisingly similar.
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Despite forming in different regions of the
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early solar system. Morgan says the
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process seems to be insensitive to disc
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conditions producing similar planetesimal
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sizes, whether the disc is hot or cold and
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dense or fluffy. She also found there were
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far, uh, fewer of these small bodies than
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expected based on some well understood and
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accepted planetary formation models.
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This report from NASA tv.
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NASA TV: The outer solar system is home to some of the
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oldest objects in existence. These
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tiny frozen worlds have spent billions of
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years orbiting in darkness, largely untouched
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since the planets first formed. Now,
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by combining the power of NASA's Hubble and
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James Webb space telescopes, scientists are
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uncovering new clues about the earliest days
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of our solar system by studying these
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frozen worlds, called Trans neptunian
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Objects, or TNOs.
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TNOs orbit the sun beyond
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Neptune. They are surviving relics from the
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solar system's formation more than four and a
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half billion years ago. As dust,
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rock and ice collided, they gradually grew
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into larger bodies known as planetesimals.
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Closer to the sun, this process produced
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the planets. But far beyond Neptune,
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countless small icy bodies remained.
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To study them, astronomers combined
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Hubble's observations in visible light with
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Webb's observations in infrared, providing
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a more complete picture of their sizes,
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orbits and surface compositions.
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With 27 previously unknown objects
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discovered, including some of the smallest
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directly observed. The survey became the
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deepest search for trans neptunian objects
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ever conducted. Scientists expected
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these tiny worlds to look very different from
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larger TNOs over billions of
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years. Collisions should have broken many
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apart and altered their surfaces.
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Instead, the smallest objects closely
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resembled their much larger neighbours. Their
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colours, which provide information about
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their surface composition, follow the same
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pattern seen among larger TNOs.
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That suggests these tiny worlds have
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preserved much of their original surface
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composition for billions of years and that
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collisions may have been less destructive or
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less common than expected.
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Researchers also found fewer very small
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TNOs than some models predicted,
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providing another clue about how the earliest
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building blocks of planets formed together.
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Hubble and Webb are giving scientists a new
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look at some of our solar system's oldest
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survivors, helping them uncover how the
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planets, including Earth, first began
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to form.
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Stuart Gary: This is space time still to come,
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A decagon discovered at Saturn's south pole
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and the Lynx spacecraft, which was meant to
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rescue NASA's doomed Swift Gamma Ray Space
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Telescope, has now reached its target but is
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unable to save it. All that and more coming
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up on space time.
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New observations by NASA's Hubble Space
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Telescope have revealed a giant evolving 10
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sided decagon atmospheric structure
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encircling Saturn's south pole.
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The discovery, reported in the journal
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Science Advances, marks the first time a
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large regular sided jet stream pattern has
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been observed in the planet's southern
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hemisphere. Generally speaking, the
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feature appears remarkably similar to
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Saturn's famous north pole hexagon, but it's
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also distinctly different from its six sided
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counterpart, suggesting scientists may be
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witnessing a new atmospheric phenomenon
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developing on the iconic ringed world.
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The observations were taken as part of Opal
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Hubble's Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy
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programme, which has been imaging the planets
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annually for more than a decade. By piecing
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together several years of Hubble
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observations, the authors found subtle hints
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of the structure beginning to emerge around
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2023, long before it became a clearly
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defined pattern. One of the study's authors,
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Amy Simon from NASA's Goddard Space Flight
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Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, says no one's
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ever seen anything quite like this in
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Saturn's southern hemisphere before. The
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northern hexagon's been there every time
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scientists looked at it over more than 40
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years. But according to Simon, the southern
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feature is very different and it appears to
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be strengthening, giving scientists a rare
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opportunity to watch as this giant
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atmospheric pattern evolves and develops.
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The discovery was made possible because of
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Saturn's changing axial tilt, consequently
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its seasons, which are gradually bringing the
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planet's south pole back into view from
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Earth. That's where astronomers who
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collectively analysed images of Saturn from
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ground based observatories first identified
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the feature. They first noticed a subtle
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undulating band along the south pole in
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ground based telescope observations in 2024.
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Additional ground based imagery taken last
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year hinted more strongly at this decagonal
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structure. And that's when the Hubble archive
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of observations came into play.
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Given Saturn's symmetry and its north pole
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jet stream system, astronomers have been
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searching for a counterpart to Saturn's
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northern hexagon at the south pole in Hubble
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images since 1990. And images from
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which orbited
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Saturn between 2004 and 2017, showed
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no inkling of any sort of long lived
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formation there. But it was a review of the
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Hubble data which confirmed the feature's
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presence in 2023, the earliest recording
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of its existence. So what are we
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talking about here? The wave sits within one
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of Saturn's powerful jet streams and extends
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through multiple layers of the planet's
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atmosphere, indicating it's not just a cloud
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level feature, but a vertically extended
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atmospheric structure. Uh, the
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decagon's apparent position shifts slightly
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because Hubble captures images in different
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wavelengths and those different wavelengths
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are probing different altitudes in Saturn's
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atmosphere. According to Simon, the
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most intriguing part is that this seems to
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have only occurred recently. So the question
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is why has it suddenly appeared? The
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authors say further study using Both Hubble
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and NASA's Webb Space Telescopes, as well as
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new analyses of computer models will need to
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be undertaken to better understand how this
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decagon formed, how long it may last and how
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it compares with the long lived hexagon in
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the north. Hubble's long
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operational lifespan has allowed astronomers
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to track changes over time throughout the
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solar system's planets as well as other
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astronomical objects. Rather than providing
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just a single snapshot, the OPAL programme
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allows astronomers to follow seasonal
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changes, track short lived storms and
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identify other atmospheric features that
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evolve slowly over, uh, time. This
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is space time still to come.
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Link's failed rescue mission scopes its
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target but can't save it. And later in the
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Science report, the artificial intelligence
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chatbot Claude cracks Fermet's last
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theorem. All that and more still to come
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on space time.
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The Link spacecraft, which was meant to
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rescue NASA's doomed Swift Gamma Ray Space
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telescope, has now reached within 15
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kilometres of swift and has even managed to
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snap some images of the stricken observatory.
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The rescue attempt to save Swift was
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abandoned two weeks ago following systems
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failures aboard Link, which sent the vehicle
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into an uncontrolled wild multi axial spin.
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Lynx Operators, Catalyst Space Technologies
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were able to restore some limited attitude
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control over the three armed robotic salvage
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vehicle. But by then fuel reserves were too
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low to proceed with a rescue attempt.
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Nevertheless, Catalyst was able to use its
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sensors gather data on the DOOM telescope for
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NASA. Now making the best out of a bad
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deal, the company is using the failed mission
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as a practise run for future satellite
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servicing operations. Launched
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in 2004, Swift was designed as an
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orbital early warning system, giving
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astronomers a heads up for short period
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events like gamma ray bursts, the biggest
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explosions in the universe since the Big
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Bang, thereby allowing them the time they
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need to swing their telescopes towards the
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unprecedented blasts. But
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Swift was only ever designed to last a few
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years and so it wasn't equipped with boosters
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to allow it to maintain its orbital altitude
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against the effects of atmospheric dragon.
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And as the latest solar storm hit the Earth,
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causing the planet's atmosphere to expand and
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contract, that atmospheric drag has caused
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orbital decay, gradually dropping Swift from
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its original 600 kilometre high orbit to just
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335 kilometres today.
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And it's continuing to drop. In fact, NASA
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now anticipates Swift will plunge through the
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atmosphere sometime between October and the
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end of the year. And of course, just like
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Swift, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's also
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in a low Earth orbit and it too isn't fitted
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with any boosters. See NASA was always able
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to keep hubble in its 500 to 550 kilometres
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high orbit, using space shuttles on servicing
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missions to boost the observatory back up.
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But with the premature mothballing of the
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shuttle fleet in 2011, Hubble uh, is also
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slowly losing altitude. And so
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Catalyst is now developing a next generation
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linked spacecraft, hopefully one that will be
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more reliable, which could be used to boost
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Hubble back up into a higher orbit,
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consequently extending its life.
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This is space time.
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And time outta. Take another brief look at
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some of the other storeys making news in
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Science this week with a Science report.
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The latest data on HIV and sexually
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transmitted diseases in Australia has just
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been released and it's painting a mixed
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picture of progress and ongoing challenges.
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The report by the University of New South
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Wales Kirby Institute shows HIV diagnoses
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uh, have fallen significantly over the past
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decade with the nation achieving the UN AIDS
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targets. That's where 95% of people living
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with HIV are diagnosed, 95% of those
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diagnosed are on treatment and 95% of those
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on treatment have HIV that's virally
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suppressed. However, uh, the study shows
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progress remains uneven across communities.
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Meanwhile, syphilis and gonorrhoea diagnoses
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remain high with concerning increases among
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females and disproportionately high sexually
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transmitted disease rates among first nations
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people. A new study
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has warned that climate change is forcing a
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decline in global seaweed forests, which is
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drastically outpacing, uh, restoration
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efforts. Seaweed forests soak up
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carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They're
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also important habitats for marine life. And
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there have been concerted efforts to plant
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more seaweed in the battle against rising
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carbon levels. But now a report in the
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journal PLOS Biology estimates that 25
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million hectares of wild kelp forest will be
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lost due to climate change by 2050.
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That's 6,000 times the area which has been
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restored since 1958.
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Scientists have discovered that Asian
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elephants can resist impulse behaviour in
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favour of a more rational and effective
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course of problem solving. The findings,
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reported in the journal papers in
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palaeontology, involved 16 Asian elephants
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who were presented with a transparent box
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with small holes through which they could see
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and smell the fruit inside. They
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consistently resisted the temptation to try
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and reach directly for the food and instead
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used an opening on the side of the box that
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they had been shown earlier. When the box was
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later rotated, the elephants at first
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succumbed to the impulse to reach for the
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previous position of the opening, but they
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quickly corrected their behaviour. The
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authors say that this inhibitory control
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might be a key part of elephant's famed
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problem solving and socialising skills.
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An advanced prototype of the artificial
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intelligence chatbot Claude has produced a 13
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million line computer cheque proof of
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Fermat's last theorem in just 11 days.
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The company behind the project Anthropic says
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the same project is expected to take humans
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around a decade to solve. The results show
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that AI will play an increasingly important
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part in creating algorithmically checkable
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versions of mathematicians work. And it
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hints that such technology could soon
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scrutinise the entire library of mathematical
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knowledge. By the way, Fermont's last
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theorem states that no three positive
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integers A, B and C satisfy the equation A
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to the power of N +B to the power of n equals
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C to the power of n for any integer value of
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n greater than 2. For over, uh,
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350 years, mathematicians have
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tried and failed to prove or disprove the
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1637 claim, turning it into one of the most
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famous challenges in the history of
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mathematics. Well,
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weren't we the fools Forget calling it the
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fold.
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Apple have just done a flip on us, calling
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their new iPhone the Duo instead.
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So, how good is it with the details? We're
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joined by technology editor Alex Zaharov Roy
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from Tech Advice Start Live.
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Jonathan Nally: So, yeah, it's called the iPhone Duo. Now, it
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always did seem a bit unusual to me that
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Apple would copy the name of what Samsung was
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doing with the Fold, or even with Ultra,
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which is the name of Samsung's, uh, premium
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device. I mean, the Duo doesn't have the
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telephoto camera. It's got a few things that
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are missing, but it's got plenty that people
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thought wouldn't be there. The interface
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wasn't just the standard interface slapped
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onto a slightly wider screen where Samsung
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just has the normal, uh, telephone and
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messaging and camera and whatever other icons
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on the bottom. Apple really thought it out.
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You've got this thumb width's worth of space
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compared to a normal iPhone mini or even just
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a normal iPhone on the right hand side. And
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when you've got a screen that's only 5.4 or
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5.5 inches diagonally, it's obviously
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squatter, it's not as tall as a normal phone.
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So you want to preserve as much of that
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vertical viewing space as possible. That
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means you don't put the time at the very top,
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you don't put the little icons for your WI fi
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and signal strength and all that other sort
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of stuff. And at the bottom you don't put the
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four icons for the phone and the message on
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the bottom. Apple shoved all that to the
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right where your thumb is when the phone is
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closed. Even the icon for the battery
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signal strength and the time I think it is
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that is now in a little circle.
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Stuart Gary: So you're not losing any of the
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Jonathan Nally: picture, you're maximising the amount of
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vertical space you've got because normally
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it's taken up by stuff. And even the apps
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that Apple has made, notes and all sorts of
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other things, a lot of their controls are now
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on the right hand side where your thumb is.
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But then when you open it up you have this
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7.6-inch canvas. Now, it's smaller than an
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iPad mini, but it looks pretty much like an
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iPad mini. The crease, it's still there if
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you hold it in the right light. But the way
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that the screen has a matte coating under
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normal circumstances you can't see the
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crease. The problem is of course, the price.
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Now, in Australian dollars, we're talking
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$3,499 for the
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256 gig model. And this goes
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all the way up to
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$5,899 for
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the two terabyte model. I mean even the 512
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gig, it's 3,899, the one terabyte
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4,699. So that's definitely expensive
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prices. And this is where people are going to
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go on phone plans just to afford it. But even
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00:20:02.990 --> 00:20:05.750
the 256 gig model over 36 months is nearly
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100 dol. And this year, because of all the
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price rises with the RAM and SSD, a 2
472
00:20:10.330 --> 00:20:13.250
terabyte iPhone 18 Pro Max is something
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like $4,699. That's like
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$1,000 more this year for the same 2
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terabyte model, which is, uh, on the iPhone
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18 Pro Max,
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00:20:21.850 --> 00:20:24.690
Stuart Gary: I download all my music onto my phone,
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so I need the full two terabytes just to
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survive. That's my life. Five grand on the
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phone, that's huge.
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00:20:30.530 --> 00:20:32.530
Jonathan Nally: Yeah. And if you paid off over three years, I
482
00:20:32.530 --> 00:20:33.810
mean, you've got to be paying, you know, I
483
00:20:33.810 --> 00:20:36.690
don't know, 150 or more per month over three
484
00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:39.230
years, not including your plan. So there's
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going to be a lot of hard choices to be made.
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Stuart Gary: So 18 pro max, we've now got the larger
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00:20:43.990 --> 00:20:46.110
battery, a smaller dynamic island, the
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00:20:46.110 --> 00:20:48.990
smaller 2 nanometer, uh, a20 chipset. Is that
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00:20:48.990 --> 00:20:49.190
right?
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00:20:49.190 --> 00:20:51.590
Jonathan Nally: Exactly right, yeah. It's a 6 core CPU up to
491
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20 faster than the a19 Pro from last year.
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Stuart Gary: And the cameras are better too, I believe.
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00:20:55.950 --> 00:20:57.870
Jonathan Nally: Yes, absolutely. Now they've got, uh, this
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new variable aperture. So it's like having
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00:21:00.390 --> 00:21:03.030
this hexagonal series of little shutters that
496
00:21:03.030 --> 00:21:05.630
can make the hole very small. Like your iris
497
00:21:05.630 --> 00:21:06.950
goes smaller in your eye when you're looking
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at a bright light or you can widen it to let
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00:21:08.790 --> 00:21:10.930
more light in. So you've got these Pro camera
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00:21:10.930 --> 00:21:13.450
controls. The app as well shows histograms
501
00:21:13.450 --> 00:21:15.250
and a bunch of other pro things that you'll
502
00:21:15.250 --> 00:21:17.450
only get on this, uh, latest model. Longer
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battery life as well. The biggest battery
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ever.
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Stuart Gary: All the features that we talked about on the
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00:21:21.370 --> 00:21:24.290
18 Pro Max, are they also on the Duo
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00:21:24.290 --> 00:21:24.730
as well?
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00:21:24.810 --> 00:21:27.410
Jonathan Nally: No. So the Duo. See, the Duo only has two
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00:21:27.410 --> 00:21:29.570
cameras, not three. I mean, I wish it had the
510
00:21:29.570 --> 00:21:32.090
third telephoto, but it's thinner than even
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00:21:32.090 --> 00:21:33.730
the iPhone air was. But of course, when you
512
00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:35.530
fold it, it's almost the thickest iPhone
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00:21:35.530 --> 00:21:37.730
Apple's ever made. Only the 3GS was thicker,
514
00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:39.570
but it still fits in the hand and in your
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00:21:39.570 --> 00:21:41.210
pocket nicely. But we have to wait for a
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00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:42.990
future model to get all cameras and even the
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00:21:42.990 --> 00:21:44.310
cameras. Although Apple sort of said, oh,
518
00:21:44.310 --> 00:21:45.830
it's the same camera. Well, no, it's not. It
519
00:21:45.830 --> 00:21:47.590
doesn't have the same level of optical image
520
00:21:47.590 --> 00:21:49.710
stabilisation. Various things are just not as
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00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:51.510
good because you're limited in the amount of
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00:21:51.510 --> 00:21:54.470
space that you have in such a thin device. So
523
00:21:54.470 --> 00:21:55.830
that's why they didn't call the Ultra,
524
00:21:55.830 --> 00:21:57.070
because it's not. They didn't call it the
525
00:21:57.070 --> 00:21:59.630
Fold because, well, that's Samsung's name and
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00:21:59.630 --> 00:22:01.670
Google's name as well. Unfortunately, it has
527
00:22:01.670 --> 00:22:04.230
arrived in a time when memory and SSD
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00:22:04.310 --> 00:22:06.630
is ridiculously expensive and that has caused
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00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:07.830
prices to skyrocket.
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00:22:07.830 --> 00:22:10.230
Stuart Gary: Well, we know that Elon Musk's building a new
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chip factory in the United States. It'll be
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00:22:12.110 --> 00:22:13.670
the biggest in the world. Is that going to
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00:22:13.670 --> 00:22:15.330
lower prices? And if so, uh, how long will
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00:22:15.330 --> 00:22:15.730
that take?
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00:22:15.730 --> 00:22:17.850
Jonathan Nally: Well, look, these chip factories take 2, 3
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00:22:17.850 --> 00:22:19.570
years to build and then they've got to be
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00:22:19.570 --> 00:22:20.090
ramped up.
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00:22:20.090 --> 00:22:22.610
Stuart Gary: That's, um, Alex Zaharov Roy from TechAdvice
539
00:22:22.930 --> 00:22:25.730
Life. And this is Space Time.
540
00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:44.100
And that's the show for now. Space Time is
541
00:22:44.100 --> 00:22:46.220
available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday
542
00:22:46.220 --> 00:22:48.780
through bytes.com soundcloud,
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YouTube, your favourite podcast download
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provider, and from
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spacetime's also broadcast through the
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National Science foundation on Science Zone
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Radio and on both iHeartradio and
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TuneIn radio. And you can help to support our
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show by visiting the Space store for a range
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of promotional merchandise or by
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becoming a Space Time patron, which gives you
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access to triple episode commercial free
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versions of the show as well as lots of bonus
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audio. Ah, content which doesn't go to air,
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access to our exclusive Facebook group and
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other rewards. Just go to
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spacetimewithstewartgarry.com for full
559
00:23:26.120 --> 00:23:29.080
details. You've been listening to Space Time
560
00:23:29.080 --> 00:23:31.560
with Stuart Gary. This has been another
561
00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:34.520
quality podcast production from bytes.com.
0
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.960
Stuart Gary: This is Space Time series 29 episode 111
1
00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:05.397
for broadcast on 16 September
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00:00:05.536 --> 00:00:08.400
2026. Coming up on Space Time,
3
00:00:09.040 --> 00:00:11.960
27 new trans Neptunian objects discovered
4
00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:14.680
in the outer regions of our solar system. A
5
00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:17.520
uh, Decagon discovered at Saturn's south pole
6
00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:20.640
and the Lynx spacecraft catches up to the
7
00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:22.640
target it was unable to save.
8
00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:26.000
All that and more coming up on um, Space
9
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:28.680
Time. Welcome to
10
00:00:28.680 --> 00:00:30.800
Space Time with Stuart G.
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00:00:47.180 --> 00:00:49.340
The first ever joint observation of Trans
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00:00:49.340 --> 00:00:51.660
neptunian objects by NASA's Hubble and Webb
13
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Space Telescopes has discovered 27 new
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worlds in the dark outer reaches of our solar
15
00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:59.310
system. The findings reported in the
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Astronomical Journal represent the deepest
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search for Trans Neptunian objects ever
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undertaken and included some of the smallest
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and faintest celestial bodies ever seen,
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including one object just five kilometres
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wide. It's the first time
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astronomers have combined the power of Hubble
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and Webb to search for these far flung solar
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system bodies. Hubble looked in visible
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light and Webb searched infrared wavelengths.
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Surprisingly the authors found fewer small
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Trans Neptunian objects than expected. And
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the colours of these bodies follow the same
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relationships as those of their larger family
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members. Trans Neptunian objects are uh,
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typically small faint icy worlds orbiting
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the sun around and beyond the orbit of
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Neptune. Most are uh, more than 100 million
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times dimmer than objects visible to the
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unaided eye. As part of
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the study authors analysed the colour,
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composition and size distribution of the 27
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newly discovered tiny any dim Trans Neptunian
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objects. This class of small bodies
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offers the best view yet of the early stage
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of planetary building. A time more than
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4.6 billion years ago when a
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protoplanetary disc of dust and pebbles in
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orbit around the sun coalesced into city
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sized planetesimals, the solid building
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blocks that clump and accrete together to
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eventually form planets
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beyond Neptune. This second stage has never
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happened, leaving behind a frozen population
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of planetesimals. The authors measured the
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objects colours, which are sort of like
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fingerprints of surface composition as well
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as their sizes and the determination of their
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orbits. They studied two different types
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of Trans Neptunian objects. The first
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known as dynamically cold Trans Neptunian
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objects, are on their original relatively
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circular orbits around the sun in the plane
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of the solar system. What we call the
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ecliptic. The second type, dynamically hot
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Trans Neptunian objects formed between the
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current locations of Uranus and Neptune, but
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were then pushed outwards to their current
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locations locations when the gas giants
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migrated to their current orbits early in the
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Solar system's history and today these reside
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in highly elliptical orbits which move in and
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out of the plane of our solar system.
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Before these observations, astronomers, uh,
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thought that small trans neptunian objects
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from both hot and cold populations would have
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undergone many collisions, changing their
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surface compositions compared to larger trans
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Neptunian objects. But that's not
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what their observations showed. Instead,
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the smaller bodies look just like their
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larger counterparts. Uh, this implies that
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collisions are not changing the surfaces of
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these bodies significantly, perhaps because
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there are fewer collisions than expected, or
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possibly because trans neptunian objects
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somehow retain their primordial pre collision
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compositions. The authors are still trying to
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unravel this mystery and one of those
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authors, Anastasia Morgan from Northern
86
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Arizona University, says it was fascinating
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to see that these smaller objects are somehow
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remembering and preserving the history of how
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they were formed. She says these dynamically
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hot trans neptunian objects retained a
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signature of where they were born, even
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though they've been orbitally scrambled since
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then. Both hot and cold populations
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seem to keep the same colours as when they
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were formed, with little change since the
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birth of the Solar system. The Webb data also
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allowed researchers to measure the number of
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objects of each size. They found
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that the overall size distribution for birth
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populations was surprisingly similar.
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Despite forming in different regions of the
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early solar system. Morgan says the
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process seems to be insensitive to disc
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conditions producing similar planetesimal
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sizes, whether the disc is hot or cold and
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dense or fluffy. She also found there were
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far, uh, fewer of these small bodies than
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expected based on some well understood and
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accepted planetary formation models.
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This report from NASA tv.
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NASA TV: The outer solar system is home to some of the
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oldest objects in existence. These
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tiny frozen worlds have spent billions of
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00:04:58.050 --> 00:05:01.050
years orbiting in darkness, largely untouched
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since the planets first formed. Now,
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by combining the power of NASA's Hubble and
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James Webb space telescopes, scientists are
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uncovering new clues about the earliest days
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of our solar system by studying these
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frozen worlds, called Trans neptunian
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Objects, or TNOs.
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TNOs orbit the sun beyond
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Neptune. They are surviving relics from the
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solar system's formation more than four and a
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half billion years ago. As dust,
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rock and ice collided, they gradually grew
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into larger bodies known as planetesimals.
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Closer to the sun, this process produced
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the planets. But far beyond Neptune,
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countless small icy bodies remained.
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To study them, astronomers combined
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Hubble's observations in visible light with
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Webb's observations in infrared, providing
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a more complete picture of their sizes,
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orbits and surface compositions.
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With 27 previously unknown objects
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discovered, including some of the smallest
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directly observed. The survey became the
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deepest search for trans neptunian objects
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ever conducted. Scientists expected
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these tiny worlds to look very different from
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larger TNOs over billions of
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years. Collisions should have broken many
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apart and altered their surfaces.
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Instead, the smallest objects closely
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resembled their much larger neighbours. Their
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colours, which provide information about
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their surface composition, follow the same
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pattern seen among larger TNOs.
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That suggests these tiny worlds have
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preserved much of their original surface
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composition for billions of years and that
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collisions may have been less destructive or
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less common than expected.
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Researchers also found fewer very small
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TNOs than some models predicted,
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providing another clue about how the earliest
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building blocks of planets formed together.
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Hubble and Webb are giving scientists a new
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look at some of our solar system's oldest
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survivors, helping them uncover how the
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planets, including Earth, first began
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to form.
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Stuart Gary: This is space time still to come,
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A decagon discovered at Saturn's south pole
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and the Lynx spacecraft, which was meant to
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rescue NASA's doomed Swift Gamma Ray Space
168
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Telescope, has now reached its target but is
169
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unable to save it. All that and more coming
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up on space time.
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New observations by NASA's Hubble Space
172
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Telescope have revealed a giant evolving 10
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sided decagon atmospheric structure
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encircling Saturn's south pole.
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The discovery, reported in the journal
176
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Science Advances, marks the first time a
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large regular sided jet stream pattern has
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been observed in the planet's southern
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hemisphere. Generally speaking, the
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feature appears remarkably similar to
181
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Saturn's famous north pole hexagon, but it's
182
00:08:08.700 --> 00:08:10.980
also distinctly different from its six sided
183
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counterpart, suggesting scientists may be
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witnessing a new atmospheric phenomenon
185
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developing on the iconic ringed world.
186
00:08:18.390 --> 00:08:20.910
The observations were taken as part of Opal
187
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Hubble's Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy
188
00:08:23.390 --> 00:08:25.550
programme, which has been imaging the planets
189
00:08:25.550 --> 00:08:28.430
annually for more than a decade. By piecing
190
00:08:28.430 --> 00:08:30.070
together several years of Hubble
191
00:08:30.070 --> 00:08:32.390
observations, the authors found subtle hints
192
00:08:32.390 --> 00:08:34.190
of the structure beginning to emerge around
193
00:08:34.190 --> 00:08:37.110
2023, long before it became a clearly
194
00:08:37.110 --> 00:08:39.750
defined pattern. One of the study's authors,
195
00:08:39.750 --> 00:08:42.070
Amy Simon from NASA's Goddard Space Flight
196
00:08:42.070 --> 00:08:44.440
Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, says no one's
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ever seen anything quite like this in
198
00:08:46.040 --> 00:08:48.520
Saturn's southern hemisphere before. The
199
00:08:48.520 --> 00:08:50.360
northern hexagon's been there every time
200
00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:52.320
scientists looked at it over more than 40
201
00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:55.160
years. But according to Simon, the southern
202
00:08:55.160 --> 00:08:57.640
feature is very different and it appears to
203
00:08:57.640 --> 00:08:59.879
be strengthening, giving scientists a rare
204
00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:01.760
opportunity to watch as this giant
205
00:09:01.760 --> 00:09:04.240
atmospheric pattern evolves and develops.
206
00:09:05.280 --> 00:09:07.840
The discovery was made possible because of
207
00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.520
Saturn's changing axial tilt, consequently
208
00:09:10.520 --> 00:09:12.770
its seasons, which are gradually bringing the
209
00:09:12.770 --> 00:09:14.930
planet's south pole back into view from
210
00:09:14.930 --> 00:09:17.170
Earth. That's where astronomers who
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collectively analysed images of Saturn from
212
00:09:19.250 --> 00:09:21.330
ground based observatories first identified
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the feature. They first noticed a subtle
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undulating band along the south pole in
215
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ground based telescope observations in 2024.
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Additional ground based imagery taken last
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year hinted more strongly at this decagonal
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structure. And that's when the Hubble archive
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of observations came into play.
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Given Saturn's symmetry and its north pole
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jet stream system, astronomers have been
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searching for a counterpart to Saturn's
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northern hexagon at the south pole in Hubble
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images since 1990. And images from
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which orbited
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Saturn between 2004 and 2017, showed
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no inkling of any sort of long lived
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formation there. But it was a review of the
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Hubble data which confirmed the feature's
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presence in 2023, the earliest recording
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of its existence. So what are we
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talking about here? The wave sits within one
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of Saturn's powerful jet streams and extends
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through multiple layers of the planet's
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atmosphere, indicating it's not just a cloud
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level feature, but a vertically extended
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atmospheric structure. Uh, the
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decagon's apparent position shifts slightly
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because Hubble captures images in different
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wavelengths and those different wavelengths
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are probing different altitudes in Saturn's
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atmosphere. According to Simon, the
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most intriguing part is that this seems to
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have only occurred recently. So the question
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is why has it suddenly appeared? The
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authors say further study using Both Hubble
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and NASA's Webb Space Telescopes, as well as
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new analyses of computer models will need to
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be undertaken to better understand how this
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decagon formed, how long it may last and how
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it compares with the long lived hexagon in
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the north. Hubble's long
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operational lifespan has allowed astronomers
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to track changes over time throughout the
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solar system's planets as well as other
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astronomical objects. Rather than providing
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just a single snapshot, the OPAL programme
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allows astronomers to follow seasonal
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changes, track short lived storms and
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identify other atmospheric features that
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evolve slowly over, uh, time. This
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is space time still to come.
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Link's failed rescue mission scopes its
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target but can't save it. And later in the
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Science report, the artificial intelligence
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chatbot Claude cracks Fermet's last
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theorem. All that and more still to come
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on space time.
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The Link spacecraft, which was meant to
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rescue NASA's doomed Swift Gamma Ray Space
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telescope, has now reached within 15
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kilometres of swift and has even managed to
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snap some images of the stricken observatory.
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The rescue attempt to save Swift was
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abandoned two weeks ago following systems
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failures aboard Link, which sent the vehicle
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into an uncontrolled wild multi axial spin.
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Lynx Operators, Catalyst Space Technologies
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were able to restore some limited attitude
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control over the three armed robotic salvage
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vehicle. But by then fuel reserves were too
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low to proceed with a rescue attempt.
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Nevertheless, Catalyst was able to use its
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sensors gather data on the DOOM telescope for
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NASA. Now making the best out of a bad
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deal, the company is using the failed mission
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as a practise run for future satellite
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servicing operations. Launched
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in 2004, Swift was designed as an
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orbital early warning system, giving
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astronomers a heads up for short period
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events like gamma ray bursts, the biggest
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explosions in the universe since the Big
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Bang, thereby allowing them the time they
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need to swing their telescopes towards the
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unprecedented blasts. But
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Swift was only ever designed to last a few
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years and so it wasn't equipped with boosters
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to allow it to maintain its orbital altitude
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against the effects of atmospheric dragon.
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And as the latest solar storm hit the Earth,
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causing the planet's atmosphere to expand and
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contract, that atmospheric drag has caused
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orbital decay, gradually dropping Swift from
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its original 600 kilometre high orbit to just
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335 kilometres today.
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And it's continuing to drop. In fact, NASA
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now anticipates Swift will plunge through the
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atmosphere sometime between October and the
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end of the year. And of course, just like
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Swift, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's also
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in a low Earth orbit and it too isn't fitted
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with any boosters. See NASA was always able
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to keep hubble in its 500 to 550 kilometres
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high orbit, using space shuttles on servicing
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missions to boost the observatory back up.
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But with the premature mothballing of the
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shuttle fleet in 2011, Hubble uh, is also
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slowly losing altitude. And so
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Catalyst is now developing a next generation
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linked spacecraft, hopefully one that will be
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more reliable, which could be used to boost
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Hubble back up into a higher orbit,
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consequently extending its life.
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This is space time.
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And time outta. Take another brief look at
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some of the other storeys making news in
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Science this week with a Science report.
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The latest data on HIV and sexually
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transmitted diseases in Australia has just
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been released and it's painting a mixed
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picture of progress and ongoing challenges.
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The report by the University of New South
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Wales Kirby Institute shows HIV diagnoses
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uh, have fallen significantly over the past
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decade with the nation achieving the UN AIDS
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targets. That's where 95% of people living
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with HIV are diagnosed, 95% of those
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diagnosed are on treatment and 95% of those
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on treatment have HIV that's virally
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suppressed. However, uh, the study shows
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progress remains uneven across communities.
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Meanwhile, syphilis and gonorrhoea diagnoses
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remain high with concerning increases among
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females and disproportionately high sexually
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transmitted disease rates among first nations
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people. A new study
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has warned that climate change is forcing a
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decline in global seaweed forests, which is
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drastically outpacing, uh, restoration
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efforts. Seaweed forests soak up
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carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They're
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also important habitats for marine life. And
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there have been concerted efforts to plant
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more seaweed in the battle against rising
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carbon levels. But now a report in the
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journal PLOS Biology estimates that 25
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million hectares of wild kelp forest will be
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lost due to climate change by 2050.
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That's 6,000 times the area which has been
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restored since 1958.
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Scientists have discovered that Asian
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elephants can resist impulse behaviour in
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favour of a more rational and effective
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course of problem solving. The findings,
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reported in the journal papers in
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palaeontology, involved 16 Asian elephants
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who were presented with a transparent box
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with small holes through which they could see
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and smell the fruit inside. They
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consistently resisted the temptation to try
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and reach directly for the food and instead
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used an opening on the side of the box that
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they had been shown earlier. When the box was
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later rotated, the elephants at first
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succumbed to the impulse to reach for the
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previous position of the opening, but they
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quickly corrected their behaviour. The
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authors say that this inhibitory control
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might be a key part of elephant's famed
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problem solving and socialising skills.
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An advanced prototype of the artificial
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intelligence chatbot Claude has produced a 13
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million line computer cheque proof of
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Fermat's last theorem in just 11 days.
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The company behind the project Anthropic says
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the same project is expected to take humans
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around a decade to solve. The results show
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that AI will play an increasingly important
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part in creating algorithmically checkable
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versions of mathematicians work. And it
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hints that such technology could soon
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scrutinise the entire library of mathematical
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knowledge. By the way, Fermont's last
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theorem states that no three positive
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integers A, B and C satisfy the equation A
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00:17:26.340 --> 00:17:28.980
to the power of N +B to the power of n equals
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C to the power of n for any integer value of
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n greater than 2. For over, uh,
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00:17:33.850 --> 00:17:36.690
350 years, mathematicians have
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00:17:36.690 --> 00:17:39.210
tried and failed to prove or disprove the
402
00:17:39.210 --> 00:17:41.970
1637 claim, turning it into one of the most
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famous challenges in the history of
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mathematics. Well,
405
00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:48.889
weren't we the fools Forget calling it the
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fold.
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Apple have just done a flip on us, calling
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00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:53.410
their new iPhone the Duo instead.
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So, how good is it with the details? We're
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joined by technology editor Alex Zaharov Roy
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from Tech Advice Start Live.
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Jonathan Nally: So, yeah, it's called the iPhone Duo. Now, it
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always did seem a bit unusual to me that
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Apple would copy the name of what Samsung was
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doing with the Fold, or even with Ultra,
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which is the name of Samsung's, uh, premium
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device. I mean, the Duo doesn't have the
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telephoto camera. It's got a few things that
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are missing, but it's got plenty that people
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thought wouldn't be there. The interface
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wasn't just the standard interface slapped
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onto a slightly wider screen where Samsung
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just has the normal, uh, telephone and
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messaging and camera and whatever other icons
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on the bottom. Apple really thought it out.
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You've got this thumb width's worth of space
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compared to a normal iPhone mini or even just
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a normal iPhone on the right hand side. And
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when you've got a screen that's only 5.4 or
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5.5 inches diagonally, it's obviously
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squatter, it's not as tall as a normal phone.
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So you want to preserve as much of that
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vertical viewing space as possible. That
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means you don't put the time at the very top,
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you don't put the little icons for your WI fi
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and signal strength and all that other sort
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of stuff. And at the bottom you don't put the
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four icons for the phone and the message on
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the bottom. Apple shoved all that to the
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right where your thumb is when the phone is
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closed. Even the icon for the battery
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signal strength and the time I think it is
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that is now in a little circle.
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Stuart Gary: So you're not losing any of the
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Jonathan Nally: picture, you're maximising the amount of
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vertical space you've got because normally
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it's taken up by stuff. And even the apps
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that Apple has made, notes and all sorts of
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other things, a lot of their controls are now
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on the right hand side where your thumb is.
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But then when you open it up you have this
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7.6-inch canvas. Now, it's smaller than an
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iPad mini, but it looks pretty much like an
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iPad mini. The crease, it's still there if
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you hold it in the right light. But the way
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that the screen has a matte coating under
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normal circumstances you can't see the
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crease. The problem is of course, the price.
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Now, in Australian dollars, we're talking
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$3,499 for the
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256 gig model. And this goes
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all the way up to
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$5,899 for
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the two terabyte model. I mean even the 512
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gig, it's 3,899, the one terabyte
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4,699. So that's definitely expensive
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prices. And this is where people are going to
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go on phone plans just to afford it. But even
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the 256 gig model over 36 months is nearly
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100 dol. And this year, because of all the
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price rises with the RAM and SSD, a 2
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terabyte iPhone 18 Pro Max is something
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like $4,699. That's like
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$1,000 more this year for the same 2
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terabyte model, which is, uh, on the iPhone
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18 Pro Max,
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Stuart Gary: I download all my music onto my phone,
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so I need the full two terabytes just to
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survive. That's my life. Five grand on the
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phone, that's huge.
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Jonathan Nally: Yeah. And if you paid off over three years, I
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mean, you've got to be paying, you know, I
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00:20:33.810 --> 00:20:36.690
don't know, 150 or more per month over three
484
00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:39.230
years, not including your plan. So there's
485
00:20:39.230 --> 00:20:41.070
going to be a lot of hard choices to be made.
486
00:20:41.070 --> 00:20:43.990
Stuart Gary: So 18 pro max, we've now got the larger
487
00:20:43.990 --> 00:20:46.110
battery, a smaller dynamic island, the
488
00:20:46.110 --> 00:20:48.990
smaller 2 nanometer, uh, a20 chipset. Is that
489
00:20:48.990 --> 00:20:49.190
right?
490
00:20:49.190 --> 00:20:51.590
Jonathan Nally: Exactly right, yeah. It's a 6 core CPU up to
491
00:20:51.590 --> 00:20:54.390
20 faster than the a19 Pro from last year.
492
00:20:54.390 --> 00:20:55.950
Stuart Gary: And the cameras are better too, I believe.
493
00:20:55.950 --> 00:20:57.870
Jonathan Nally: Yes, absolutely. Now they've got, uh, this
494
00:20:57.870 --> 00:21:00.390
new variable aperture. So it's like having
495
00:21:00.390 --> 00:21:03.030
this hexagonal series of little shutters that
496
00:21:03.030 --> 00:21:05.630
can make the hole very small. Like your iris
497
00:21:05.630 --> 00:21:06.950
goes smaller in your eye when you're looking
498
00:21:06.950 --> 00:21:08.790
at a bright light or you can widen it to let
499
00:21:08.790 --> 00:21:10.930
more light in. So you've got these Pro camera
500
00:21:10.930 --> 00:21:13.450
controls. The app as well shows histograms
501
00:21:13.450 --> 00:21:15.250
and a bunch of other pro things that you'll
502
00:21:15.250 --> 00:21:17.450
only get on this, uh, latest model. Longer
503
00:21:17.450 --> 00:21:18.850
battery life as well. The biggest battery
504
00:21:18.850 --> 00:21:19.130
ever.
505
00:21:19.130 --> 00:21:21.370
Stuart Gary: All the features that we talked about on the
506
00:21:21.370 --> 00:21:24.290
18 Pro Max, are they also on the Duo
507
00:21:24.290 --> 00:21:24.730
as well?
508
00:21:24.810 --> 00:21:27.410
Jonathan Nally: No. So the Duo. See, the Duo only has two
509
00:21:27.410 --> 00:21:29.570
cameras, not three. I mean, I wish it had the
510
00:21:29.570 --> 00:21:32.090
third telephoto, but it's thinner than even
511
00:21:32.090 --> 00:21:33.730
the iPhone air was. But of course, when you
512
00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:35.530
fold it, it's almost the thickest iPhone
513
00:21:35.530 --> 00:21:37.730
Apple's ever made. Only the 3GS was thicker,
514
00:21:37.730 --> 00:21:39.570
but it still fits in the hand and in your
515
00:21:39.570 --> 00:21:41.210
pocket nicely. But we have to wait for a
516
00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:42.990
future model to get all cameras and even the
517
00:21:42.990 --> 00:21:44.310
cameras. Although Apple sort of said, oh,
518
00:21:44.310 --> 00:21:45.830
it's the same camera. Well, no, it's not. It
519
00:21:45.830 --> 00:21:47.590
doesn't have the same level of optical image
520
00:21:47.590 --> 00:21:49.710
stabilisation. Various things are just not as
521
00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:51.510
good because you're limited in the amount of
522
00:21:51.510 --> 00:21:54.470
space that you have in such a thin device. So
523
00:21:54.470 --> 00:21:55.830
that's why they didn't call the Ultra,
524
00:21:55.830 --> 00:21:57.070
because it's not. They didn't call it the
525
00:21:57.070 --> 00:21:59.630
Fold because, well, that's Samsung's name and
526
00:21:59.630 --> 00:22:01.670
Google's name as well. Unfortunately, it has
527
00:22:01.670 --> 00:22:04.230
arrived in a time when memory and SSD
528
00:22:04.310 --> 00:22:06.630
is ridiculously expensive and that has caused
529
00:22:06.630 --> 00:22:07.830
prices to skyrocket.
530
00:22:07.830 --> 00:22:10.230
Stuart Gary: Well, we know that Elon Musk's building a new
531
00:22:10.230 --> 00:22:12.110
chip factory in the United States. It'll be
532
00:22:12.110 --> 00:22:13.670
the biggest in the world. Is that going to
533
00:22:13.670 --> 00:22:15.330
lower prices? And if so, uh, how long will
534
00:22:15.330 --> 00:22:15.730
that take?
535
00:22:15.730 --> 00:22:17.850
Jonathan Nally: Well, look, these chip factories take 2, 3
536
00:22:17.850 --> 00:22:19.570
years to build and then they've got to be
537
00:22:19.570 --> 00:22:20.090
ramped up.
538
00:22:20.090 --> 00:22:22.610
Stuart Gary: That's, um, Alex Zaharov Roy from TechAdvice
539
00:22:22.930 --> 00:22:25.730
Life. And this is Space Time.
540
00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:44.100
And that's the show for now. Space Time is
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with Stuart Gary. This has been another
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