May 14, 2026

Moon's Ice Mysteries, Aussie Rover's Lunar Mission, and a Distant World's Unexpected Atmosphere

Show Notes
Transcript

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 58 *Unlocking the mystery of water on the Moon New evidence suggests that water ice has been accumulating on the Moon for at least one and a half billion years. *An Australian Lunar rover to land on the Moon in 2030 NASA has scheduled the Australian developed ROOVER lunar rover to fly to the Moon in 2030 as part of the Intuitive Machines CT-4 mission to the lunar South Pole. *Discovery of an atmosphere on a distant frozen world that shouldn’t have one Astronomers have discovered a thin atmosphere on a distant world far beyond Neptune where no atmosphere should exist. *The Science Report Claims micro and nano-plastics in the atmosphere may contribute to global warming. Evidence of copper mining going back over 5000 years. Study shows astronauts need extra time to remember how to hold things when they get back to Earth. Skeptics guide to the limits of anecdotal evidence rather than rigorous scientific testing. Our Guests This Week: Associate Professor Ben Montet from the University of New South Wales Bepi Columbo mission MIXS principle investigator Emma Bunce University of Leicester Bepi Columbo mission SIMBIO-SYS principle investigator Gabriele Cremonese Bepi Columbo mission MPO-MAG investigator Daniel Heyner Technical University of Braunschweig And 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 premium versions 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.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.399
This is Spacetime Series twenty nine, episode fifty eight, well

2
00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:07.160
broadcast on the fifteenth of May twenty twenty six. Coming

3
00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.519
up on Space Time, unlocking the mystery of water on

4
00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:13.919
the Moon, a new Australian built lunarova to land on

5
00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:17.600
the Moon in twenty thirty, and discovery of an atmosphere

6
00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:21.199
on a distant frozen world which shouldn't have one. All

7
00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:24.679
that and more coming up on Spacetime.

8
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.440
Welcome to space Time with Stewart Gary.

9
00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:47.479
New evidence suggests that ice has been accumulating on the

10
00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:49.840
Moon for at least one and a half billion years.

11
00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:53.399
The findings reported in the General Nature Astronomy are also

12
00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:55.840
put into the best places on the learner's surface to

13
00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:59.679
find it. More than half a century after Apollo seventeen

14
00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:02.759
made the last manned lunar landing, a new space race

15
00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:06.319
to the Moon is underway. Last month successful Artemis two

16
00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:08.920
mission by the United States, and with both the United

17
00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.480
States and China now aiming to establish their own permanent

18
00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:17.319
bases there. Unlikely Apollo program, during which American astronauts landed

19
00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.200
at six different sites on the lunar surface, twenty first

20
00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:23.439
century emissions are all focused on a single location the

21
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:28.000
Moon's south pole. Spaceflight pioneer Robert Goddard proposed over a

22
00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:31.040
century ago that water ice deposits might exist at the

23
00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.799
lunar poles, and indirect evidence collected over the past twenty

24
00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:39.519
years has lent support to this hypothesis. In space exploration,

25
00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:42.959
water ice is a highly sought after resource. It can

26
00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:46.359
be processed into liquid water for drinking and irrigation, split

27
00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:49.680
into hydrogen oxygen for us as rocket fuel, and even

28
00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:52.319
used to study the history of celestial bodies in our

29
00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:56.799
Solar system. Now, researchers have uncovered new evidence showing that

30
00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:59.640
ice has been gradually accumulating at the Moon's poles for

31
00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:01.400
at least nest one and a half billion years in

32
00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:05.599
ancient cold traps on the lunar surface. Unlike Earth, whose

33
00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:08.319
tilted axis causes the Sun's position in the sky to

34
00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:11.080
change throughout the year, the Moon has almost no tilt,

35
00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:15.639
and so the Sun's always positioned approximately above the lunar equator. Now,

36
00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.000
if you're standing at one of the lunar poles, you'd

37
00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:20.360
see the Sun staying close to the horizon as it

38
00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.639
completes a monthly cycle, rather than rising and setting as

39
00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.199
it does here on Earth. As a result, sunlight can't

40
00:02:27.240 --> 00:02:30.319
reach and warm the deep permanently shadowed floors of craters

41
00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.080
at the lunar poles. But this wasn't always the case.

42
00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:36.319
In the distant past, the Moon did have a much

43
00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:39.520
greater axial tilt, but over the last few billion years

44
00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.680
it's been straightening out. In twenty twenty three, scientists showed

45
00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.400
that as the Moon's tilt decreased, more and more craters

46
00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:50.280
near the poles became permanently shadowed and cooled dramatically. By

47
00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.680
calculating when each crater lost its exposure to sunlight, the

48
00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:56.319
authors were able to deduce the age of each permpanly

49
00:02:56.360 --> 00:02:59.840
shadowed region. They set out to examine whether there was

50
00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:02.759
a connection between the age of a permanently shadowed region

51
00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.240
and the proportion of its area covered by ice. Ice

52
00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:09.840
reflects more ultraviolet light at certain wavelengths than the Moon's

53
00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:12.960
normal rocky surface, and that makes it possible to infer

54
00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:17.319
where it's located. And ultraviolet light provides an advantage because

55
00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:19.879
it emanates not only from the Sun but also from

56
00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.599
distant stars, and so it can enter permanently shattered areas.

57
00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:27.759
The author's analyzed data collected by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital

58
00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.719
which is equipped with the laser optimeter and alignment Alpha

59
00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:35.199
mapping instrument, which is sensitive to ultraviolet radiation. The spacecraft's

60
00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:38.199
been orbiting and mapping the Moon since two thousand and nine,

61
00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:41.280
and the new data is confirmed that permanently shadowed craters

62
00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:44.479
near the Moon's south pole are promising locations to find

63
00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:47.759
water ice. The authors found that while these coal traps

64
00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:50.159
have been accumulating water ice for at least the last

65
00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:53.479
one and a half billion years, not all are equally effective.

66
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.719
For example, the well known Shackleton Crater, which is very

67
00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.080
close to the Luna south pole, has been too warm

68
00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:02.000
for much of lunar Hitty Street to collect ice. However,

69
00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:05.039
Harworth Crater has acted as an efficient ice trap for

70
00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:08.000
billions of years and has therefore been identified as a

71
00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:11.840
prime target for future landed missions. One of the studies

72
00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:15.199
authors of Deed Aronson from Israel's Weisman Institute, says the

73
00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:18.319
data shows that the earlier origion became shadowed, the larger

74
00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.920
the area that was able to accumulate ice. This trend

75
00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:24.079
began at least one and a half billion years ago

76
00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.199
and has continued even over the past one hundred million years,

77
00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:30.480
and this suggests that ice has been building up on

78
00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.839
the Moon from a nearly continuous source or sources, rather

79
00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:36.920
than through a single catastrophic event such as a large

80
00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.519
comet or asteroid impact. For ice not only to form

81
00:04:40.519 --> 00:04:43.199
on the lunar's surface, but also to persist for hundreds

82
00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:46.639
of millions or even billions of years without evaporating, extremely

83
00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.920
low temperatures are required around minus one hundred and sixty

84
00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:53.920
degrees celsius, and regions that retain such cold temperatures year

85
00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.920
round are known as cold traps. While there are many

86
00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.560
permanly shadowed regions that qualifies cold traps, some do not

87
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:03.920
because their surrounding walls can radiate heat into the crater.

88
00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:07.879
To identify the most promising regions for fighting lunar ice,

89
00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.879
the authors used geometric calculations. They determine which permanently shadowed

90
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.600
regions also function as coal traps and when in the

91
00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:19.079
Moon's history they acquired that status. Aronson says the longer

92
00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:21.240
a given region has been a cold trap, the more

93
00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:25.839
ice it's accumulated. In most cases, a crater became shadowed

94
00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:27.959
and turned into a cold trap at the same time

95
00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:32.199
but not always. For example, Shackleton Crater has been shadowed

96
00:05:32.199 --> 00:05:34.199
for some three and a half billion years and was

97
00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:37.079
considered a promising site in the search for lunar ice,

98
00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:40.560
but Aaronson and colleagues discovered it only became a cold

99
00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:44.759
trap around half a billion years ago. To identify targets

100
00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:47.519
for future missions, the authors searched for the oldest coal

101
00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.600
traps and found several extensive ones more than three point

102
00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.800
three billion years old, located near the lunar south Pole.

103
00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:57.959
Now these findings are especially significant since locating and sampling

104
00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:00.160
lunar ice is one of the prime goals of as

105
00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:04.560
as atomis missions. Massa's long term vision includes establishing a

106
00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.240
permanent lunar base around twenty thirty, the surface preparation, and

107
00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:11.560
possibly a transit station for future man missions to Mass

108
00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.120
and beyond. Aronson says the gold standard proof for the

109
00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:17.720
existence of water ice on the Moon would be a sample.

110
00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:21.600
It would allow scientists to compare the chemical composition of

111
00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:23.800
water on the Moon with that of Earth and to

112
00:06:23.879 --> 00:06:27.160
assess whether and how manned lunar missions could make use

113
00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:31.519
of that resource. Although the origin of lunar water remains unresolved,

114
00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:36.879
scientists have built a simple mathematical model to explore various possibilities. Now,

115
00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:38.920
according to this model, the amount of ice on the

116
00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:43.680
lunar surface is affected by three processors. Water supply, evaporation,

117
00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.079
and what's known as impact gardening, the process in which

118
00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.439
it disturbance in the lunar soil and rocks redistributes ice

119
00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:54.240
and buries it beneath the surface. The observation that relatively

120
00:06:54.279 --> 00:06:57.000
little ice is found in younger colt traps, combined with

121
00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.000
the slow accumulation of ice over hundreds of millions of years,

122
00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:02.879
is led the authors to conclude that both water supply

123
00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.399
and water loss on the Moon occur at relatively rapid rates,

124
00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:09.639
like a fusst filling a leaking bucket. Now, one proposed

125
00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:12.399
source of lunar water is that volatile water from the

126
00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:17.120
Moon's interior reaches the surface through volcanic activity. Another possible

127
00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.279
source is the solar wind, that constant stream of charged

128
00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.759
particles flowing from the Sun, which includes lots and lots

129
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:27.720
of protons. Now, when these protons hit lunar regulith, they

130
00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:31.759
can capture electrons to form hydrogen, and these same impacts

131
00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:35.000
also break chemical bonds in some regularth minerals like silicon,

132
00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:38.680
releasing oxygen atoms, which can then combine with the hydrogen

133
00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:41.759
to form hydroxyls, and these can then further bond to

134
00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:45.680
form water. A third option is the ever popular asteroid

135
00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:49.560
in comet impact, but not a single catastrophic event. Instead,

136
00:07:49.639 --> 00:07:53.399
it involved modible impacts occurring every few million years, depositing

137
00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:57.279
lots and lots of water ice. Aronson says finding water

138
00:07:57.319 --> 00:07:59.839
beyond Earth in liquid and usable form is one of

139
00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:03.680
the most important challenges in astronomy. For example, it's vital

140
00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.160
for life as we know it. As Earth's natural satellite,

141
00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:10.040
the Moon is an excellent laboratory for studying the history

142
00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:14.199
of our planet and its water. This report from MESSTV.

143
00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.279
Since the nineteen sixties, scientists have suspected that frozen water

144
00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:21.639
could survive in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles.

145
00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:26.319
Both hydrogen and oxygen could be trapped within the lunar soil.

146
00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:29.120
So to find water on the Moon, scientists are looking

147
00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:33.120
for indications of hydrogen using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's Lend

148
00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:36.840
neutron detector by observing the interaction of neutrons with the

149
00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.240
lunar soil, scientists can interpret how much hydrogen is likely

150
00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:43.840
to be present. In order to make a detailed interpretation, however,

151
00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:47.960
LEND needs to observe a large number of neutrons. Because

152
00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:51.399
LRO is constantly moving, LEND is never over one place

153
00:08:51.480 --> 00:08:54.440
long enough to count many neutrons. So to make a

154
00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:58.840
detailed interpretation in neutron fluxed scientists add together many measurements

155
00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:03.120
from many orbits. With each orbit, LENDS data set gets

156
00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:07.399
larger and its picture of neutron flux continually improves over time.

157
00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:09.840
Places on the south pole of the Moon with the

158
00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:13.039
suppressed flux of neutrons because of their interaction with hydrogen,

159
00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:17.240
these areas strongly suggest the presence of water frozen within

160
00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:21.720
the soil. While previous lunar missions have observed indications of

161
00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.559
hydrogen at the Moon's south pole, the LEND measurements for

162
00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.000
the first time hinpoint where hydrogen and thus water is

163
00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:32.759
likely to exist. By combining years of LEND data, scientists

164
00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:35.879
see accumulating evidence that there is water on the Moon,

165
00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:39.759
and as LRO continues to return data, our picture of

166
00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:42.360
the Moon and its water will continue to get better

167
00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:43.320
in the years ahead.

168
00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:47.519
This is space time still to come, an Australian lunar

169
00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:49.879
road to land on the Moon in twenty thirty, and

170
00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:53.320
discovery of an atmosphere in a distant frozen world which

171
00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:56.120
shouldn't have one. All that and more still to come

172
00:09:56.759 --> 00:10:16.519
on space time. Nasaus slad the Australian developed Lunarova RuvA

173
00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:18.960
the flight of the Moon in twenty thirty as part

174
00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.879
of the Intuitive Machine CT four mission to the Luna

175
00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.360
South Pole. CT four will carry a squirite of six

176
00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:29.200
payloads designed to improve science's understanding of the lunar environment

177
00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.279
as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payloads Services initiative. The

178
00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.759
mission will fly abought the Intuitive Machines five hundred kilograms

179
00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:40.240
Nova d Lander, which is designed to deliver larger payloads

180
00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:44.399
to the lunar surface. NASAUS signed ruver with key research

181
00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:48.480
objectives including collecting new data about the local surface conditions.

182
00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:52.159
Yossi rover will be equipped with an integrated NASA payload,

183
00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:56.639
including an analysis instrument intended to demonstrate technology for scientific

184
00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:01.600
and exploration purposes. The Australian space seedbact Elo to consort him,

185
00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.440
which built and developed the rover, says the full mobile

186
00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:07.440
laboratory is designed to collect lunar regulars as part of

187
00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:11.399
a project to extract oxygen from the soil. Key technologies

188
00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:15.559
under development for the mission include extreme environmental robotics using

189
00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:19.559
AI and autonomous systems, the testing of new advanced sensors

190
00:11:19.559 --> 00:11:24.519
and power systems, and new communications technologies. This is space

191
00:11:24.600 --> 00:11:29.159
time still to come. Astronomers have discovered a thin atmosphere

192
00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.159
and a distant world far beyond Neptune with no atmosphere

193
00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:35.639
should exist, and later in the science report claims that

194
00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.240
both micro and nanoplastics floating in the atmosphere could be

195
00:11:39.320 --> 00:11:42.720
contributing to global warming. All that and more still to

196
00:11:42.759 --> 00:12:00.960
come on space time, astronomers to discover a thin atmosphere

197
00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.080
and a distant world far beyond Neptune where no atmosphere

198
00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:08.639
should exist. The tiny world, cataloged as trans Neptunian Objects

199
00:12:08.679 --> 00:12:11.200
sixty one, twenty five thirty three, two thousand and two

200
00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.919
XVEE ninety three, is just five hundred kilometers wide, which

201
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:17.799
theoretically is far too small to be able to retain

202
00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:21.759
any kind of sustainable atmosphere. The findings, reported in the

203
00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:25.679
journal Nature Astronomy, raises questions about when and how the

204
00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:30.159
atmosphere on this little world. Formed. Trans Neptunian objects, or

205
00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:33.840
t and os, include thousands of small comets, icy debris,

206
00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.879
and frozen worlds which circle the Sun beyond the orbit

207
00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:40.960
of Neptune. A thin atmosphere has been observed around another

208
00:12:41.000 --> 00:12:44.200
trans Neptunian object, the dwarf planet Pluto, that has a

209
00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:47.799
diameter of two three hundred and seventy seven kilometers, but

210
00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:49.840
studies of other objects in the outer room of the

211
00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:54.799
Solar System have yielded negative results. That's because trans Neptunian

212
00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:57.799
objects are so called, and they're usually so small that

213
00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:02.360
their surface gravity is simply too weak they retain any atmosphere. However,

214
00:13:02.519 --> 00:13:05.799
as astronomers watched sixty one twenty five thirty three two

215
00:13:05.799 --> 00:13:08.960
thousand and two XV ninety three passed directly in front

216
00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:11.799
of or a cult at distant background star, they were

217
00:13:11.879 --> 00:13:15.440
surprised to see the star's light gradually fade rather than

218
00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:19.080
suddenly wink out, and that indicates the light was being

219
00:13:19.080 --> 00:13:23.600
attenuated as it passed through a thin atmosphere. Calculations suggest

220
00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:26.200
that this atmosphere would probably only last about one thousand

221
00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:29.639
years unless it's replenished, so that means it must have

222
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:33.840
been created or at least replenished fairly recently. Observations by

223
00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:36.720
the James Webb Space Telescope show no signs of any

224
00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.759
frozen gases on the surface that might supplement to form

225
00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:43.639
an atmosphere. One possibility is that some sort of geological

226
00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.799
event brought frozen or liquid gases from deep inside the

227
00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.039
body up to its surface. Another is that a comet

228
00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.159
crashed into this body, releasing gases which then formed a

229
00:13:53.159 --> 00:14:13.679
temporary atmosphere. This is Space Time and Time Out of Tech.

230
00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:15.679
Another brief look at some of the other stories making

231
00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.120
us in science this week with a science report. A

232
00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:22.559
new study warns that micro and nanoplastics suspended in the

233
00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.360
air could be contributing to global warming, especially over oceanic

234
00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:30.639
garbage patches. The findings, reported in the General Nature Climate Change,

235
00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:34.000
claims the contribution of plastics is around sixteen point two

236
00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.799
percent of the warming effects of soot, also known as

237
00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:40.639
black carbon, and air pollutant that contributes to warming. The

238
00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:44.000
authors analyze the behavior of different plastic particles and combine

239
00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:47.840
their data with computer simulations that capture how particles travel

240
00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:51.559
in the atmosphere, finding that black and colored particles strongly

241
00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:55.840
absorb sunlight compared to white particles. Although this warming effect

242
00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.799
is small at the global level, it can exceed that

243
00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:00.720
of black carbon by up to alle factor of four

244
00:15:00.759 --> 00:15:05.000
point seven, especially over ocean regions were high concentrations of plastics,

245
00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:10.279
such as the North Pacific garbage Patch are located. Archaeologists

246
00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.240
have found evidence of people repeatedly climbing up to a

247
00:15:13.320 --> 00:15:16.240
cave some two hundred and thirty five meters above sea

248
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:19.879
level in Europe's Pyrenees Mountains thousands of years ago to

249
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.840
mine and process copper. A report in the journal Frontiers

250
00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:27.440
in Environmental Archaeology claims the prehistoric cave was found to

251
00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:30.240
be full of hearts that contained fragments of green rocks

252
00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.039
called malachite, which could represent early copper mining. The authors

253
00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:36.600
say visits to the cave started around five and a

254
00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:39.919
half thousand years ago and continued for over two thousand years.

255
00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:43.960
Archaeologists also discovered a child's finger burne and a baby tooth,

256
00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.240
which might suggest the cave was also a burial site.

257
00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:51.120
They said that discovery overturns past belief that human ancestors

258
00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:56.480
only ever passed through high altitude mountain areas. A new

259
00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:59.360
study shows that astronauts have to take extra time to

260
00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:02.039
remember how to grip and move objects when they transition

261
00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:05.799
to and from space. The findings, reported in the journal

262
00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.600
Jane neurosci found that gravity has a lasting imprint on

263
00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:12.360
the brands of people who have been living in microgravity,

264
00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:17.000
and it affects how they attempt to anticipate gravity's pool. Additionally,

265
00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.559
the authors say astronauts have spent months off the planet

266
00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.799
also tend to forget that objects are affected by gravity

267
00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.360
once they return to Earth. They actually forget that when

268
00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:31.519
they let go of something, it'll fall down. An article

269
00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:34.360
in the magazine Psychology Today, which is not peer reviewed,

270
00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:38.720
as slam scientists for dismissing claims of paranormal abilities and experiences,

271
00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:42.679
asking what are they scared of? The article claims reactions

272
00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:46.279
by scientists the papers on subjects like remote viewing went

273
00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:49.799
far beyond scientific critique and seemed to reflect a deeper

274
00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.840
discomfort with certain topics of investigation. The author claims that

275
00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:57.200
over the years they've come across responses that exceeded normal

276
00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:03.120
scientific disagreement. Some were subtle, remarkably direct. One reviewer, evaluating

277
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.799
a manuscript on remote viewing simply wrote, this is pseudoscience.

278
00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:11.160
Remote viewing is indistinguishable from random guessing. Of course you

279
00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:14.279
and I know is correct. Another reviewer of the same

280
00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:16.440
manuscript would not to say that it was an abuse

281
00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:20.200
of the reviewer's time. A paper by the author claiming

282
00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:23.200
how to provide evidence of life after death was dismissed

283
00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.799
with the comment how did you find twenty thousand words

284
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:29.119
to write about something that doesn't exist? The authors say,

285
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.920
addressing the subject matter seriously challenges deeply rooted assumptions about

286
00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:36.640
the relationship between mind and brain. This would raise complex

287
00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.400
questions about the nature of consciousness and the limits of

288
00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:44.240
current scientific models. Skeptics Tim Mendum points out the writer's

289
00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:47.279
problem isn't the subject matter, it's the fact that they're

290
00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:51.400
relying on hearsaying anecdotal evidence rather than undertaking a rigorous

291
00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.599
scientific testing of their hypothesis.

292
00:17:53.720 --> 00:17:56.000
An article that is published in Psychology Today, which is

293
00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:59.039
a popular consumer publication, it's not a lurted journal by

294
00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.079
the means of period view, does tend to have a

295
00:18:02.119 --> 00:18:04.680
bit of the sort of light on the evidence. More

296
00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:07.160
on ancid pipe articles are certainly the ones I've been

297
00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:09.359
looking at recently. One of they be saying that the

298
00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:12.720
scientific community often refuses to even look at what they

299
00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:17.000
call the sub shi phi psi question, which is the

300
00:18:17.200 --> 00:18:19.680
paranormal psychic sort of things, and they suggest that a

301
00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:22.200
skeptic should ask, what does the evidence suggest? Could there

302
00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.480
be another explanation? How can we test this us rigorously?

303
00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:28.079
The person here who's writing it talks about the need

304
00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:31.480
for skepticism in science, that scientists based around skepticism and

305
00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:34.920
critical thinking and assessing other people's claims. They say that

306
00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:38.160
in the article, the author says that we design experiments

307
00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:41.359
the emphasis of thinkers on we. They're obviously pitching themselves

308
00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:44.319
as a scientist, and so they understand the trouble with

309
00:18:44.359 --> 00:18:46.960
this when you talk about scientific evidence and critical thinking

310
00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:50.160
and looking as the sources. This article is anecdotal to

311
00:18:50.200 --> 00:18:53.079
appear simple. It basically says that when you put forward

312
00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:55.480
a theory or a paper or something like that about

313
00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.440
that is sympathetic too or a believer in pside phenomena,

314
00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:01.240
the reaction by the scientist is in simantaneous, don't go away,

315
00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:04.359
it's rubbish, and I can imagine actually that does happen.

316
00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:07.680
But the explanation this person gives is that it's either

317
00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:10.799
a religious based thing. It upsets the way I think

318
00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:13.039
about the world, et cetera. To an emotional response.

319
00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.880
They're saying it's a scientific response.

320
00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:18.880
They say they've got a few examples of this thing

321
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.440
that people being knocked back, and they don't have any

322
00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:22.759
sources really to this. They just say these things happen,

323
00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.440
don't say who, et cetera. Apparently doesn't happen to the

324
00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.000
author as well, and they instantly think it's censorship. Is

325
00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:31.279
the issue that we're being censored in our ideas, and

326
00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:35.240
they therefore confuse censorship with rejection. Right, just because your

327
00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:37.880
paper is being rejected as being a bit silly doesn't

328
00:19:37.880 --> 00:19:40.359
mean there's a censorship thing to stop you. Unless this

329
00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:42.799
person that happens all the time, Well maybe you're always

330
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:43.960
obmitting censorship thing.

331
00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:46.319
That's a case of shooting the messenger rather than the

332
00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:47.279
message totally.

333
00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:49.920
And then this person doesn't doubt the message. In fact,

334
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:52.400
they conclude their article with the central issue may not

335
00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:55.440
simply be whether SI exists. Perhaps the deeper question is

336
00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:58.519
what exactly are we so afraid of discovering? No, the

337
00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.640
deeper issue it does say it is. And if you're

338
00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:04.440
putting forward anecdotal evidence and pretty wishy washy scientific papers.

339
00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:07.200
It's not surprising that people who are assessing papers all

340
00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:10.000
the time coming across the weird claims would say, I've

341
00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:13.160
done this before. Certainly skeptic spaces all the time. I've

342
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.319
seen this before. I've seen your claim with fluky powers

343
00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:19.440
or bigfoot or whatever a hundred times before. I somehow

344
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:21.880
that we're going to get the answer to positive answer here,

345
00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:24.400
So try someone else. If that's what this person is

346
00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.559
complaining about, they're actually, as you say, blaming the person

347
00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:29.599
who's reacting to it. Now, this is a one on

348
00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:31.759
one reaction they're talking about. I send the paper, one

349
00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:34.599
scientist rejects it, where they don't understand the idea of

350
00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.200
one on many reaction. If a lot of scientists have

351
00:20:37.240 --> 00:20:39.599
seen this sort of thing, all go here we go again.

352
00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:41.799
It obviously says you're going to have better evidence.

353
00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:44.440
We see the same thing with global warming, where you'll

354
00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:48.039
find one scientist who skeptical of global warming, not mentioning

355
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.400
any Austraan geologists by name, Hello are you? And if

356
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:53.319
you're listening and you totally ignore the fact there are

357
00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:57.359
ten thousand other scientists who say global warming is real.

358
00:20:57.640 --> 00:20:59.920
This is always a case to this come across the

359
00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:02.480
claim especially sort of see their medicine and things of

360
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.559
that claim scientists are against scientists don't know what we're

361
00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:08.119
talking about. Here is my claim. Here's a scientist who

362
00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.119
endorses it. An you think, Nick, you found the one

363
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.119
is always a scientist to adore something. And there therefore,

364
00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:17.319
you know, criticize, why wipe off all scientific response and say,

365
00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:19.599
but he's a scientist who supported me. Therefore they have

366
00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:21.440
the informato bring a scientist as well. All the other

367
00:21:21.480 --> 00:21:25.039
scientists are obviously Probably it just doesn't follow. And the

368
00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:27.319
thing is, as you say, I always say, look at

369
00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:29.559
what you're presenting rather than the way people are reacting

370
00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:32.119
to it. Perhaps they are reacting to it with justifiable

371
00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:33.759
reasons that it's not very good.

372
00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:53.000
That's timendum and this space Time, and that's the show

373
00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:56.799
for now. Space Time is available every Monday, Wednesday and

374
00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:01.200
Friday through at fights dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite

375
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:04.880
podcast download provider, and from space Time with Stuart Gary

376
00:22:04.920 --> 00:22:09.279
dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation,

377
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:13.119
on Science Own Radio and on both iHeartRadio and tune

378
00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:15.920
In Radio. And you can help to support our show

379
00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:19.119
by visiting the Spacetime store for a range of promotional

380
00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:23.359
merchandising goodies, or by becoming a Spacetime Patron, which gives

381
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:26.559
you access to triple episode, commercial free versions of the show,

382
00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:29.400
as well as lots of burnus audio content which doesn't

383
00:22:29.400 --> 00:22:32.440
go to air, access to our exclusive Facebook group, and

384
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.960
other rewards. Just go to space Time with Stewart Gary

385
00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.720
dot com for full details.

386
00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:41.759
You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Gary. This

387
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:48.200
has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.

Moon's Ice Mysteries, Aussie Rover's Lunar Mission, and a Distant World's Unexpected Atmosphere

Listen On

Featured Episodes

Recent Episodes

Support On

Moon's Ice Mysteries, Aussie Rover's Lunar Mission, and a Distant World's Unexpected Atmosphere

Astronomy Daily Newsletter

Thank you!

Listen On

Featured Episodes

Recent Episodes

Support On