Dark Matter Dynamics, Solar Flare Trio, and Meteor Shower Wonders: S28E07

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This is Space Time, Series 28,
Episode 7, for broadcast on the

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15th of January, 2025. Coming up
on Space Time, could dark matter

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have shaped one of the Milky Way
galaxy's stellar streams? Our

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Sun emits three more powerful
solar flares all on the same

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day, and planet Earth
experiences a spectacular

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quadrant its meteor shower. All
that and more coming up on Space

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Time.

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Welcome to Space Time. With
Stuart Gary.

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Physicists have proposed a
solution to a long-standing

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puzzle surrounding the GD1
stellar stream, one of the

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best-studied streams of stars
within the Milky Way's galactic

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halo.

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The new research, reported in
the Astrophysical Journal

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Letters, proposes that a core
collapsing self-interacting dark

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matter sub-halo, that's a
smaller satellite halo within

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the galactic halo, could be
responsible for the strange spur

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and gap features observed in the
GD1 stellar stream. A stellar

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stream is a group of stars
moving collectively along a

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shared trajectory.

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A gap refers to a localized
under-density of stars along the

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stream while a spur is an
over-density of stars, extending

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outwards from the main body of
the stream. Since dark matter

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governs the motion of stellar
streams, astronomers can use

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these streams to trace invisible
dark matter in the galaxy.

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And this new research could have
significant implications for

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understanding the properties of
dark matter throughout the

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universe. The Milky Way's
galactic halo, a roughly

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spherical region surrounding the
galaxy, contains dark matter and

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extends well beyond the galaxy's
visible edge.

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Astronomers discovered that the
spur-and-gap features of the GD1

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stellar stream can't easily be
attributed to gravitational

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influences of known globular
clusters or satellite galaxies.

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But these features might be
explained by an unknown

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perturbing object, such as a
subhalo.

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The thing is, the object's
density would need to be

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significantly higher than what's
predicted by traditional cold

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dark matter subhalos. The study
's lead author, Hai-Bo Yu from

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the University Of California,
Riverside, says that these

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typically lack the sorts of
densities needed to produce the

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distinctive features observed in
the GD1 stream.

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However, the research
demonstrates that a collapsing,

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self-interacting dark matter
subhalo could achieve the

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necessary density. Now, such a
compact subhalo would need to be

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dense enough to exert the sorts
of gravitational influence

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required to account for the
observed perturbations in the

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GD1 stream.

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Mind you, scientists have no
idea what dark matter is. It

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can't be directly seen. They
know it exists because they can

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see its effect on regular
matter. And current estimates

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suggest dark matter makes up to
85% of all the matter in the

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universe.

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Cold dark matter, the prevailing
dark matter theory, assumes that

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dark matter particles are
collisionless. Self-interacting

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dark matter, a theoretical form
of dark matter, proposes that

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dark matter particles
self-interact through a new dark

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force.

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In their study, Yu and
colleagues used N-body numerical

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simulations to model the
behaviour of a collapsing

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self-interacting dark matter
sub-halo. Their findings

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therefore offer a new
explanation for the observed

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spur and gap features in the GD1
stream which have long been

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thought to indicate a close
encounter with some sort of

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dense object.

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Yu says in this new scenario,
the perturber is a

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self-interacting dark matter
sub-halo. Which is disrupting

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the spatial and velocity
distributions of the stars in

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the stream and creates the
distinctive features seen in the

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stream.

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Now, if correct, the discovery
also provides new insights into

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the very nature of this
mysterious substance called dark

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matter. This is Space-Time.
Still to come, the Sun emits

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three powerful solar flares all
on the one day, and we're in for

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a spectacular quadrant, its
meteor shower. All that and more

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still to come on Space-Time.

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Our local star the Sun has shown
its violent streak again,

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unleashing three significant
X-Class solar flares all on the

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same day. The flares were
categorised based on their

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intensity, with the first and
third classified as X1.1 flares,

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while the second was a more
powerful X1.5.

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X-Class flares represent the
highest intensity on the solar

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flare scale, with a logarithmic
numeric value further detailing

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their specific strength. The
three flares were detected by

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the Solar Ultraviolet Imager
operated by NOAA, the National

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Oceanographic And Atmospheric
Administration, America's

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Weather Bureau.

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Solar flares are powerful
eruptions of energy blasted out

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by the Sun. They're triggered by
snapping magnetic field lines

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emanating from sunspots on the
solar surface. Because the Sun's

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not a solid body, but a fluid,
different latitudes of the Sun

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rotate at different rates.

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And consequently, magnetic field
lines emanating from deep inside

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the Sun and travelling out
through the Sun's visible

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surface, the photosphere, are
twisted by this differential

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rotation. Eventually, the
twisting causes them to snap,

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and when they snap, they release
a solar flare.

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Now, if the solar flare is
pointed towards the Earth, it

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can't cause a lot of damage. It
can even destroy satellites and

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other spacecraft. It can also
shorten the life of orbiting

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spacecraft by causing Earth's
atmosphere to expand. That

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increases atmospheric drag and
consequently orbital decay,

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forcing a spacecraft to use more
fuel in order to maintain its

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operational orbit.

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It can disrupt... Radio
communications and navigation

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systems, impact power grids on
the ground causing blackouts,

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and they can increase an
astronaut's radiation exposure,

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posing a serious health hazard.

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In fact, even pilots, crew and
passengers in high-flying

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aircraft can get increased
radiation exposure when one of

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these space weather events
occurs. This increase in solar

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activity is all part of the Sun
's build-up to solar maximum,

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the peak of its current 11-year
solar cycle, which began back in

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November 2019.

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Once the Sun reaches solar max,
the crescendo of its violent

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outbursts, it will gradually
start to come down again until

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it reaches solar minimum, at
which point the Sun's polarity

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will flip. Its north pole will
become south and south pole

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north. This happens roughly
every 11 years, although the

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exact timing is still not fully
understood.

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This is Space-Time. Still to
come, the Quadrantids'meteor

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shower spectacular. And later in
the science report, a new study

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warns that a quarter of the
world's freshwater animals are

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now at risk of extinction. All
that and more still to come on

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Space Time.

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The Earth is currently
experiencing one of its most

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spectacular meteor showers, the
Quadrantids, which is lighting

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up the night sky with an array
of dazzling so-called shooting

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stars. Shooting stars, more
accurately meteors, are made up

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of dust and debris streams left
behind by passing comets and

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occasionally by asteroids.

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When the Earth's orbit around
the Sun happens to cross one of

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these streams, bits of dust and
debris end up falling into the

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Earth's atmosphere, causing them
to heat up due to friction with

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the air and eventually burn up.
Usually at altitudes of around

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80 kilometres, and sometimes
this can produce spectacular

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light shows.

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The Quadrantids themselves are
generated by debris from the

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near-Earth asteroid 1962-56-2003
EH1, which may actually be an

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extinct comet first noted by
Chinese astronomers in 1490.

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They're called the Quadrantids
because they appear to originate

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from a point in the sky called a
radiant, named after the defunct

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constellation Quadrans Morales.
Which is now part of the

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constellation Boötes near the
famous Plough Asterism.

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Observers enjoying dark skies
should see around 50 or more

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meteors an hour as the
Quadrantids reach their peak.

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The Royal Astronomical Society's
Deputy Director Robert Massey

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says sky watchers on the west
coast of the United States or in

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the Pacific could see as many as
70 or 80 meteors an hour,

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including some fireballs.

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Well, the Quadrantids meteors
are basically the result. With

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small pieces of debris coming
into the Earth's atmosphere at

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high speed. And by small, I mean
anything from grains of sand up

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to marble. It's not very big at
all. But they come in so fast,

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to 70 kilometers each second,
many times the speed of a

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bullet, that they heat the
atmosphere around them.

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And that hot air glows. And that
's what we see as a shooting

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star or a meteor. And typically,
they only last a fraction of a

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second. If you're very lucky,
you might see them lasting

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longer than that. But, you know,
normally they're very, very

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fleeting.

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Showers happen because the Earth
runs into a stream of debris

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rather than just random bits
coming in all over the sky. And

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that's what the quadrant is. It
's a shower that happens more or

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less at the same time every
year.

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It's associated with a
particular part in the sky, and

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that's because the Earth is
running into a particular stream

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of debris. Now, the name comes
from the fact that it's

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associated with the now defunct
constellation Quadrans Morales,

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which basically means a quadrant
mounted on a building. And this

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was a constellation that was...

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Created as many were in the 17th
and 18th centuries, but it

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wasn't adopted in the present
day. It's actually in the part

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of the sky between Earth's
major, which includes the

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planet, all of you are familiar
with that, the UK, and the

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constellation of Boötes, the
Earth's space. It's in that

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region of the sky, not far from
the pole star.

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The Quadrantids are unusual in
that they appear to be

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associated, not necessarily, but
maybe in extinct, with an

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asteroid. 2003 EH1, which means
it was discovered in 2003. Now

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it passes reasonably near the
Earth, it's a near-Earth object.

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We appear to be running into a
trail of debris associated with

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it. So the thinking is that
might actually be in spin

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clouds, so no longer anything
generated in time. Doesn't look

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like a comet these days, just
looks like a dot on even images

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on the wall from the largest
telescopes.

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But 500 years ago there was a
comet seen, in 1490, more than

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500 years ago, it was seen by
the Chinese and it may be

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connected to that. Maybe this
comet was once active, it's left

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a lot of debris and nobody
around the surface, which the

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Earth runs into this year, that
leads to the quadratus aeateus.

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Well the quadratus is not
active.

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To meet your showers going they
have a pretty strong intensity

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if you happen to be in the right
place right now so if you are on

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the west coast the us and
Pacific region you could see

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maybe 70 or 80 an hour if you're
in the UK you're going to see

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somewhat fewer than that or is
it's likely that's the case but

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but but it's still a strong
shower the great advantage this

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year is the moon isn't
interfering with it you haven't

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got to film the sky it's very
thin and crusty that means the

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light from the moon will not be
a big problem If you get out to

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the city into a dark place, away
from sources of light, then you

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have a chance maybe of seeing up
to a few tons of meteors an

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hour, maybe realistically
perhaps 20 to 25.

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They won't be the brightest
meteors on the whole, but it

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does include a fair number of
fireballs, fireballs, dramatic

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sand, you think, which really
means it's a really bright

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meteor. The Quadrantids is a
meteor shower that produces that

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kind of weather.

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So for that reason alone, if you
have the time to look out and

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the weather is good. Then do
take a look. The really nice

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thing about a meteor shower is
that you don't need any special

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equipment. You just basically
need to have half decent

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eyesight.

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If you have a telescope or
binoculars and you try to watch

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a meteor shower, you're going to
make it hard because you'll only

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be seeing it until it comes to
the sky. What you need to do is

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go in. Be prepared to wait
outside for a bit and just watch

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the sky. They could be anywhere
in the sky.

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So the biggest piece of advice
that I would give is just to

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look up, look at the sky, get an
uncluttered view, be away from

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the lights of towns and cities
and see what you see. Do be

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patient, don't go outside and if
you don't see one in the first

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five minutes be disappointed. I
think the thing to do is to give

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it maybe half an hour, you'd be
very surprised if you didn't see

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anything.

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Photographing meteor showers
requires patience. If you take

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your, say like our phone camera,
just click at the sky, you're

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00:12:48,104 --> 00:12:50,346
unlikely to capture anything
because they're so fast, they

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00:12:50,346 --> 00:12:53,488
only last perhaps a fraction of
a second, your reaction is not

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00:12:53,548 --> 00:12:54,709
going to be good enough to
photograph it.

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00:12:55,030 --> 00:12:57,711
So what people tend to do what
it used to do, which is they do

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00:12:58,312 --> 00:13:03,975
long exposures. So they open the
shutter or the electronic

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00:13:04,015 --> 00:13:05,936
shutter, depending on how you
define it, let's say something

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00:13:05,956 --> 00:13:09,898
like a phone, and leave it
running actually for as long, at

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00:13:09,918 --> 00:13:13,080
least in total, as a period of
minutes, anything up to half an

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00:13:13,100 --> 00:13:13,320
hour.

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00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,562
In some cases, they'll have all
the sky cameras that they might.

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00:13:17,142 --> 00:13:19,623
And you have to do that because
you never know exactly when the

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00:13:19,623 --> 00:13:23,586
meeting is coming. So you need a
long period of time still. If

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00:13:23,566 --> 00:13:28,766
you do it well, And I guess
people with DSLRs can run hours

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00:13:28,846 --> 00:13:31,388
from the next place to do this.
It's another option, just a

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00:13:31,848 --> 00:13:33,730
sophisticated digital camera.

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00:13:33,850 --> 00:13:36,912
We'll see a star trip, because
these are the result of the

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00:13:36,952 --> 00:13:39,595
Earth to the moon, and the stars
make a trail across the sky,

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00:13:39,735 --> 00:13:44,058
because they appear to move. And
then superimposed on that, we'll

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00:13:44,098 --> 00:13:47,441
see streaks of light, bright
streaks, and those meteors,

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00:13:47,481 --> 00:13:48,742
those would be the quantities.

247
00:13:49,082 --> 00:13:51,805
So it's not as simple as, say,
holding up your camera and

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00:13:51,805 --> 00:13:54,855
taking a picture of the Northern
Lights. My advice would be to

249
00:13:54,955 --> 00:13:57,497
read up on it before hand. Don't
try and do all the things. I

250
00:13:57,497 --> 00:14:00,640
think it'll be a struggle. But
if you've got the right kind of

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00:14:00,660 --> 00:14:04,323
set up, a decent tripod and
ability to open up your camera

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00:14:04,403 --> 00:14:06,604
for a long period of time, then
you should see something.

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00:14:07,025 --> 00:14:09,987
That's the Deputy Director of
the Royal Astronomical Society,

254
00:14:10,107 --> 00:14:13,630
Dr Robert Massey. And this is
Space Time.

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00:14:29,962 --> 00:14:32,164
And time now to take another
brief look at some of the other

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00:14:32,204 --> 00:14:35,626
stories making use in science
this week with a science report.

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00:14:36,427 --> 00:14:39,269
A new study warns that a quarter
of the world's freshwater

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00:14:39,369 --> 00:14:42,611
animals are now at risk of
extinction. The findings

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00:14:42,671 --> 00:14:45,333
reported in the journal Nature
are based on a study of more

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00:14:45,353 --> 00:14:48,655
than 23,000 fish, crustaceans
and insects.

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00:14:49,396 --> 00:14:52,118
Scientists classified the
species'extinction risks,

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00:14:52,218 --> 00:14:56,441
finding 24% were vulnerable or
worse, similar to the proportion

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00:14:56,441 --> 00:14:59,864
of high-risk freshwater mammals.
Birds, amphibians and reptiles.

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00:15:00,464 --> 00:15:03,127
However, the two groups have
different habitats and face

265
00:15:03,187 --> 00:15:06,270
different threats, with those in
this study most threatened by

266
00:15:06,370 --> 00:15:10,154
pollution, dams, water
extraction, land use change and

267
00:15:10,194 --> 00:15:13,878
invasive species. The authors
stress that the needs of this

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00:15:13,958 --> 00:15:17,281
group of animals should also be
considered when it comes to any

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00:15:17,441 --> 00:15:19,143
forms of freshwater management.

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00:15:20,704 --> 00:15:24,209
A new study has confirmed that
eating a diet of plant-based

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00:15:24,249 --> 00:15:27,774
foods could help increase your
microbiome that favours human

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00:15:27,834 --> 00:15:31,773
health. A report in the journal
Nature Microbiology looked into

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00:15:31,793 --> 00:15:35,896
the diets of over 21,500 people
and investigated what

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00:15:35,976 --> 00:15:38,978
microbiomes were present
depending on their food intake.

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00:15:39,458 --> 00:15:42,721
A microbiome simply refers to
the gut microbes in your

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00:15:42,741 --> 00:15:46,463
intestines. The authors then
compared the diets of omnivores

277
00:15:46,523 --> 00:15:50,586
against vegetarians and against
vegans. They suggested those who

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00:15:50,726 --> 00:15:53,808
ate high amounts of healthy
plant-based and fiber-rich foods

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00:15:53,948 --> 00:15:56,090
had larger colonies of good
microbes.

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00:15:56,210 --> 00:16:00,632
Those related to good health
compared to their peers. A new

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00:16:00,732 --> 00:16:03,593
study has shown that all that
scrolling and posting you're

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00:16:03,633 --> 00:16:06,454
doing might well end up causing
you to become far more

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00:16:06,534 --> 00:16:07,034
irritable.

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00:16:07,694 --> 00:16:10,375
A report in the Journal Of The
American Medical Association

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00:16:10,635 --> 00:16:14,036
surveyed over 40,000 people
about their social media habits

286
00:16:14,196 --> 00:16:17,937
and the potential effect it has
on their emotions. They found

287
00:16:17,977 --> 00:16:21,158
that people who frequently use
social media, especially those

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00:16:21,158 --> 00:16:24,099
who post it frequently, scored
significantly higher on an

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00:16:24,179 --> 00:16:27,320
irritability test compared to
their social media-free or

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00:16:27,340 --> 00:16:28,880
infrequent user peers.

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00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,141
Now, this kind of study can't
prove that your hours of

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00:16:32,221 --> 00:16:35,402
doom-scrolling are directly
making you ticked off, but in

293
00:16:35,382 --> 00:16:38,343
the light of known associations
of irritability and mental

294
00:16:38,383 --> 00:16:41,704
health issues, maybe you should
put down your phones just a

295
00:16:41,724 --> 00:16:42,304
little more.

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00:16:43,924 --> 00:16:46,405
Well, there's been massive news
in technology this week, with

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00:16:46,465 --> 00:16:49,186
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg
admitting what we've been

298
00:16:49,206 --> 00:16:52,107
telling you for years.
Fact-checkers can't be trusted

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00:16:52,127 --> 00:16:55,148
with the truth. They're
dishonest and they lie to push a

300
00:16:55,168 --> 00:16:56,089
political agenda.

301
00:16:56,809 --> 00:16:58,931
From the corrupt and
scientifically stupid

302
00:16:59,031 --> 00:17:02,353
fact-checkers of YouTube through
to the socialist fact-checkers

303
00:17:02,353 --> 00:17:06,435
of the RMIT Fact Lab, never
trust what they say, always do

304
00:17:06,495 --> 00:17:09,757
your own research, and always go
to the original source.

305
00:17:10,297 --> 00:17:13,339
The Babylon Bee probably put it
best when they wrote that the

306
00:17:13,399 --> 00:17:16,661
guy who said Facebook was not
suppressing free speech has now

307
00:17:16,701 --> 00:17:19,483
announced that Facebook will
stop suppressing free speech.

308
00:17:20,191 --> 00:17:22,832
With the details, we're joined
by technology editor Alex

309
00:17:22,872 --> 00:17:25,573
Saharov-Reut from
TechAdvice.Live.

310
00:17:25,793 --> 00:17:28,234
It was very surprising to see
Mark Zuckerberg with his fairly

311
00:17:28,274 --> 00:17:31,716
curly hair coming out and saying
on video that he was getting rid

312
00:17:31,716 --> 00:17:32,316
of fact checkers.

313
00:17:32,376 --> 00:17:35,517
Zuckerberg's admitted that his
fact checkers are phony.

314
00:17:35,597 --> 00:17:38,420
And he was going to implement
community notes in a system that

315
00:17:38,420 --> 00:17:41,480
's similar to X, which does
appear to be the fairest system.

316
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,181
The whole idea is that people
are picking up on other people

317
00:17:44,181 --> 00:17:46,682
and you're not relying upon the
single source of truth, be it

318
00:17:46,662 --> 00:17:49,123
the government or RMIT,
university, you know.

319
00:17:49,303 --> 00:17:52,544
Socialist scumbag fact-checkers
who are trying to sat down all

320
00:17:52,604 --> 00:17:55,885
sorts of views that don't align
with their views. And Mark

321
00:17:55,925 --> 00:17:58,125
Zuckerberg is doing this because
he's trying to save his

322
00:17:58,285 --> 00:17:59,386
political skin.

323
00:17:59,706 --> 00:18:02,006
Well, of course, Zuckerberg
admitted that he was taking

324
00:18:02,026 --> 00:18:03,227
instructions from the White
House.

325
00:18:03,307 --> 00:18:05,567
Well, in one sense, he would
have probably not had much

326
00:18:05,647 --> 00:18:07,668
choice. He would have become a
bit of an enemy himself. But the

327
00:18:07,668 --> 00:18:09,969
thing is, Mark Zuckerberg did
not appear to fight back. And

328
00:18:10,009 --> 00:18:13,510
given the fact he's had a
20-year apology tour, I don't

329
00:18:13,550 --> 00:18:16,330
trust Mark Zuckerberg. And for
him to come out, it's great to

330
00:18:16,330 --> 00:18:19,271
say that he's finally done it,
but probably a bit. 20 years too

331
00:18:19,311 --> 00:18:19,512
late.

332
00:18:19,652 --> 00:18:22,674
And of course, when it comes to
trust, Apple have had to do a

333
00:18:22,714 --> 00:18:27,157
big about-face. $95 million in
payouts after it was found that

334
00:18:27,337 --> 00:18:29,398
Siri really was listening in.
Yes.

335
00:18:29,458 --> 00:18:32,850
Now, the problem here is that
whether it's Google, whether it

336
00:18:32,850 --> 00:18:36,323
's Amazon Alexa or Siri, if you
say, hey, Siri, or Siri, or the

337
00:18:36,383 --> 00:18:39,145
wake word, then the system is
listening. And the problem is

338
00:18:39,165 --> 00:18:42,687
that when the system thinks it
has heard the word Siri because

339
00:18:42,687 --> 00:18:45,029
you said sorry, or because you
said some other word that

340
00:18:45,169 --> 00:18:48,492
sounded like that, it starts
listening and starts. Recording.

341
00:18:48,592 --> 00:18:49,312
Now, modern systems...

342
00:18:49,312 --> 00:18:51,074
That's not terrible if you run
an Indian clothing store.

343
00:18:51,934 --> 00:18:54,577
Well, what about Tom Cruise's
daughter, Suri? Oh, and I've

344
00:18:54,577 --> 00:18:56,939
heard the same sort of story for
young people called, you know,

345
00:18:56,959 --> 00:18:58,900
young girls called Alexa in
school. All their friends are

346
00:18:58,900 --> 00:19:01,062
like, Alexa, do this and do
that. And ha ha, it's very

347
00:19:01,122 --> 00:19:03,144
funny. But clearly, the drug
does wear off after a while.

348
00:19:03,204 --> 00:19:06,406
But the thought reason is that
because these interactions

349
00:19:06,547 --> 00:19:10,750
normally are not direct, where
you're giving the assistant an

350
00:19:10,750 --> 00:19:13,272
instruction, what was happening
is that the system would listen

351
00:19:13,532 --> 00:19:16,395
and it would then send these
conversations off to...

352
00:19:16,735 --> 00:19:19,397
Humans to listen and try and
figure out and try and train the

353
00:19:19,437 --> 00:19:21,699
system to do better. Now,
sometimes people were being

354
00:19:21,739 --> 00:19:25,122
recorded making love or having
arguments or getting beaten up,

355
00:19:25,422 --> 00:19:28,285
even murders and private
business information was being

356
00:19:28,485 --> 00:19:30,787
unveiled. And that's why some
people refuse to have any smart

357
00:19:30,827 --> 00:19:31,748
speakers in their home.

358
00:19:31,828 --> 00:19:35,351
I turned Siri off. Yeah. Well,
it is also possible to have Siri

359
00:19:35,711 --> 00:19:38,814
only be activated by pushing the
button on the side of your

360
00:19:38,814 --> 00:19:41,876
phone. I use Siri a lot. I use
it to set appointments and make

361
00:19:41,916 --> 00:19:44,879
calls and set timers and remind
me to do things and take notes.

362
00:19:44,999 --> 00:19:46,420
So it does have its uses.

363
00:19:46,420 --> 00:19:49,122
And you can tell your systems
now, they've brought this in

364
00:19:49,142 --> 00:19:52,104
over the past couple of years,
to not send your recordings, not

365
00:19:52,264 --> 00:19:55,626
share your recordings with
Apple. So I never want my

366
00:19:55,786 --> 00:19:58,488
recordings to be shared or any
of the diagnostic information. I

367
00:19:58,528 --> 00:20:00,429
always turn that off because I'm
worried about it too.

368
00:20:00,609 --> 00:20:03,872
Anyway, this lawsuit... Saw
Apple not admitting any

369
00:20:03,932 --> 00:20:06,995
liability. And it's hard to know
how they're going to avoid this

370
00:20:06,995 --> 00:20:09,638
in the future. I do know that if
I say, hey, Siri, oh, Siri, that

371
00:20:09,658 --> 00:20:12,782
another iPhone I have lights up
for a second, but instantly it

372
00:20:12,802 --> 00:20:15,565
turns off because it knows that
I haven't given it its command.

373
00:20:15,585 --> 00:20:18,048
And it was just sort of an
accidental wake word. So this is

374
00:20:18,048 --> 00:20:20,471
a problem where we need to trust
the companies to do what they

375
00:20:20,511 --> 00:20:22,293
say they're going to do. And if
not, they'll get caught out by

376
00:20:22,333 --> 00:20:24,955
some enterprising hacker. Find
hundreds of millions of dollars.

377
00:20:24,975 --> 00:20:27,257
Trusting companies is like
trusting governments, mate.

378
00:20:27,297 --> 00:20:31,841
They're famous last words. CES
has wrapped up in Las Vegas once

379
00:20:31,901 --> 00:20:35,524
again. Lots of gadgets. How many
of them do we really need is the

380
00:20:35,544 --> 00:20:38,766
big question, but there've been
some fantastic products as well,

381
00:20:38,826 --> 00:20:40,308
such as what NVIDIA are doing.

382
00:20:40,368 --> 00:20:43,610
Yeah, they've launched a whole
series of updates to their AI

383
00:20:43,650 --> 00:20:46,493
tips, the ones that we use when
we talk to chat VPT, but also

384
00:20:46,573 --> 00:20:50,456
launched a $3,000 supercomputer
that you can hold in your hand,

385
00:20:50,476 --> 00:20:54,179
a bit like an Apple Mac mini
that's meant to have... 1,000

386
00:20:54,219 --> 00:20:57,203
times the power of your existing
laptop computer.

387
00:20:57,423 --> 00:21:01,007
And although most people are not
using a computer powered by an

388
00:21:01,067 --> 00:21:04,010
NVIDIA chip to do their
computing, many people do have

389
00:21:04,010 --> 00:21:06,613
an NVIDIA graphics card. And
some of the graphics card

390
00:21:06,653 --> 00:21:10,117
capabilities, I mean, we will
soon have movies that look quite

391
00:21:10,177 --> 00:21:13,701
realistically human that are
completely designed on a

392
00:21:13,721 --> 00:21:14,082
computer.

393
00:21:14,262 --> 00:21:16,323
And it's going to put certain
actors and actresses out of

394
00:21:16,343 --> 00:21:18,483
work. If you don't have to have
humans and it can all be done by

395
00:21:18,483 --> 00:21:20,864
a computer, why not? But that's
just one of the many things

396
00:21:20,884 --> 00:21:24,105
there. BMW, who launched their
IDrive 24 years ago, there's a

397
00:21:24,125 --> 00:21:27,386
little system and a screen. Now
the entire windscreen,

398
00:21:27,606 --> 00:21:29,246
windshield, can be a display.

399
00:21:29,246 --> 00:21:31,987
One giant heads-up display, just
like a fire pit.

400
00:21:32,027 --> 00:21:34,688
That's right. And that'll keep,
they said, your eyes on the road

401
00:21:34,688 --> 00:21:38,128
and your hands on the wheel.
There was a concept of a system,

402
00:21:38,469 --> 00:21:40,689
like a mirror that you stood on.
It could weigh you, it could

403
00:21:41,129 --> 00:21:43,810
look at your weight, your
height, your heart.

404
00:21:43,930 --> 00:21:46,611
In metabolic health, I mean,
like a giant tricorder,

405
00:21:46,852 --> 00:21:49,573
Roborock, one of the vacuum
cleaner makers where the vacuum

406
00:21:49,613 --> 00:21:52,134
cleaner scurry around your
house, finds a teddy bear or

407
00:21:52,154 --> 00:21:54,576
something in the way, normally
it stops or has to go around it.

408
00:21:55,156 --> 00:21:58,118
With this particular robot, an
arm pops out of the top of the

409
00:21:58,198 --> 00:22:01,800
unit and it can physically lift
items out of the way. Oh, like

410
00:22:01,820 --> 00:22:03,601
the Jetsons. Yeah, it rose as a
robot.

411
00:22:03,721 --> 00:22:06,142
And like Jensen Huang did at one
of his previous keynotes where

412
00:22:06,142 --> 00:22:09,044
he had a whole stack of robots
behind him that just rose out of

413
00:22:09,044 --> 00:22:12,105
the stage. Well, he did it again
at CES. He had all these robots

414
00:22:12,125 --> 00:22:15,067
that just popped out. From
behind him. And these robots are

415
00:22:15,107 --> 00:22:17,228
incredibly advanced. There was
even a robot that's sort of the

416
00:22:17,248 --> 00:22:20,531
size of a child that was filmed
wandering around CES, walking

417
00:22:20,551 --> 00:22:21,191
quite naturally.

418
00:22:21,291 --> 00:22:26,074
So the age of the robot truly is
upon us. And the trick will be

419
00:22:26,054 --> 00:22:29,096
to get them to the price of
smartphones. You know, if you

420
00:22:29,096 --> 00:22:31,998
can afford to buy a robot that
can mind the kids, watch

421
00:22:32,038 --> 00:22:34,380
predictors, do various things
around the home for you, and it

422
00:22:34,380 --> 00:22:36,641
's around the cost of a mobile
phone, who wouldn't get one?

423
00:22:36,821 --> 00:22:40,500
Elon Musk sees a market... For
millions of them, at least one

424
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:42,643
for every human in the future.
There are plenty of cool things,

425
00:22:42,663 --> 00:22:46,147
smart glasses that can have a
little 3.5-inch monochrome

426
00:22:46,347 --> 00:22:49,872
display that you're looking at,
that can also have an AI agent

427
00:22:49,892 --> 00:22:51,894
that's listening to
conversations, answering

428
00:22:51,934 --> 00:22:54,197
questions during meetings, doing
live translations.

429
00:22:54,217 --> 00:22:56,440
That's technology editor Alex
Saharov-Royd from

430
00:22:56,500 --> 00:22:57,962
TechAdvice.life.

431
00:23:13,634 --> 00:23:17,156
And that's the show for now.
Space Time is available every

432
00:23:17,257 --> 00:23:20,719
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433
00:23:21,039 --> 00:23:25,422
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00:23:35,249 --> 00:23:37,790
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00:23:37,810 --> 00:23:41,793
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Time with Stuart Gary. This has

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