Solar Flares, Jupiter's Core, and Life on Exoplanets

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Stuart Gary: This is Space Time Series 28, episode

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109 for broadcast on 10 September

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2025. Coming up on Space Time,

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solar flares over six times hotter than

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previously thought. Understanding how the

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planet Jupiter's core was formed. And

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could life be evolving right now on our, uh,

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nearest exoplanetary neighbours? All that

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and more coming up on Space Time.

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Voice Over Guy: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart

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Gary

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Stuart Gary: A new study has shown, uh, that massive explosions of

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energy blasting off the sun, known as solar flares,

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can reach temperatures of over 60 million degrees,

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some six and a half times hotter than previously thought.

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The findings reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

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may provide an unexpected solution to a 50 year

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old mystery about our nearest star. These

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dramatic events greatly increase the levels of

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solar X rays and radiation reaching the Earth and they're

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hazardous to spacecraft and astronauts as well as

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affecting our planet's upper atmosphere. Solar

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flares heat parts of the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona,

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to temperatures of more than 10 million degrees.

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That compares to the sun's surface temperature of 6,000

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degrees and uh, its core temperature of about 15 million

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degrees. The new research examined evidence of how

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flares heat solar plasma, which is made up of ions and

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electrons. The study's authors argue that

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solar flare ions, positively charged particles that make

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up half of the plasma, can reach temperatures of more than 60

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million degrees. The study's lead author,

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Alexander Russell from the University of St. Andrews, says

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solar flares very likely heat the ions more

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strongly than they do electrons. Russell says

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recent discoveries show that a process called magnetic

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reconnection heats ions 6.5 times

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as much as they do electrons. And this appears to be a

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universal law confirmed in near Earth, uh, space, the

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solar wind and in computer simulations.

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However, Russell points out that no one had previously connected

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work in those fields to solar flares.

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He says solar physics had historically always assumed that

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ions and electrons must have the same temperature.

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However, redoing the calculations using modern data,

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Russell found that ion and electron temperature differences can

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last for as long as 10 minutes in important parts of

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solar flares, opening the way to consider super hot

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ions for the first time. And the new

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ion temperature data fits in well with

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observations of the width of solar flare spectral

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lines, potentially solving an astrophysics mystery that

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stood for nearly half a century. See, there's been

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a long standing question ever since the 1970s

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about why flare spectral lines, bright enhancements

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of the solar radio radiation at specific colours in extreme

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ultraviolet and X ray light, are uh, broader than they should

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be. And historically this was believed to be

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caused by turbulent motions. But that

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interpretation came under pressure as scientists tried to

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identify the nature of the turbulence. That's where the

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new work comes in. After nearly 50 years,

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it argues for a paradigm shift where the ion

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temperature can make a large contribution to explaining the

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enigmatic line width of solar flare spectra.

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This is space time still to come.

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Understanding how the gas giant Jupiter formed its

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core. And could life be evolving right now

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on our nearest exoplanetary neighbours? All that

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and more still to come on space time.

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Alex Zaharov-Reutt: Foreign.

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Stuart Gary: The long standing mystery of how Jupiter's core was

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formed has just been given a new twist, with fresh computer

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simulations suggesting a giant impact couldn't have

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created what astronomers are seeing. A

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report in the Journal of the Monthly Notices of the Royal

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Astronomical Society suggests a giant impact may not

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have been responsible for the formation of the Jovian core.

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After all, it had been thought that a colossal

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collision with an early planet containing half of

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Jupiter's core material could have mixed up the central region of

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the gas giant enough to explain the interior we

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see today. But the new modelling suggests

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its makeup's actually down to how the growing planet

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absorbed heavy and light materials as it formed

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and evolved. Unlike what scientists once expected,

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the core of the largest planet in our solar system

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doesn't have a sharp boundary. Instead,

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it simply gradually blends into the surrounding

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layer of mostly hydrogen, forming a structure known

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as a dilute core. Now, how this dilute

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core formed has been a key question among astronomers ever

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since NASA's Juno spacecraft first revealed its

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existence. Before Juno, scientists

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speculated that Jupiter's core would simply be pure

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metallic hydrogen. But Juno's readings

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changed all that. Jupiter is the fifth

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planet from the Sun. It is nearly two and a half times

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the mass of all the other planets in the solar system combined.

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Its diameter is some 11 times that of the Earth,

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and it's a full 10th the diameter of the Sun.

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Jupiter orbits the sun at an average distance of

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779 million kilometres, with an orbital

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period of 11.86 Earth years.

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Using new supercomputer simulations of planetary

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impacts, the authors tested whether a massive collision

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could have created Jupiter's dilute core.

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But the study found that a stable dilute core structure was

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not produced by any of the simulations conducted, even

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those involving impacts under really extreme conditions.

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Instead, the simulations demonstrated that the

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dense rock and ice core material displaced by an

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impact would quickly resettle, leaving a distinct

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boundary within the outer layers of hydrogen and helium,

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rather than forming a smooth transition zone between the two

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regions. The study's lead author, Thomas

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Sanders from Durham University, says it was fascinating to

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explore how a gas giant like Jupiter would

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respond to one of the most violent events a growing planet could

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ever experience. The simulations showed that

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this kind of impact quite literally shakes the planet

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to its core, just not in the right way to explain

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the interior of Jupiter as it's now understood.

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We now know Jupiter isn't the only planet with a

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dilute core. Astronomers recently found evidence that

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Saturn has one too. The fact that Saturn

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also has a dilute core strengthens the idea that these

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structures are not the results of rare, extremely

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high energy impacts, but instead form gradually

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during the long process of planetary growth and

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evolution. This is space time

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still to come. Could life be evolving right now on our

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nearest exoplanetary neighbours? And later in the Science

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report, the new technology which will increase

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Internet speeds by up to 45%.

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All that and more still to come on, uh, space time.

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Scientists are speculating over the tantalising possibility

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that life could be evolving right now on, um, some of

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Earth's nearest exoplanetary neighbours.

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The prospect of life beyond Earth and whether we're alone

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in the universe is one of those ultimate questions

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of science. When rocky Earth like planets were

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first discovered orbiting in the habitable zones of some of our

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nearest stellar neighbours, excitement among scientists

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skyrocketed. That was until they realised

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that any hopes of life would be dashed by the high levels of

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radiation which would be bombarding these worlds.

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For example, Proxima Centauri is one of three

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planets in the Alpha Centauri star system, which is the nearest

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stellar system to the sun. Scientists have

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discovered three planets orbiting Proxima Centauri.

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One of those, Proxima B, located some

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4.24 light years away, is a rocky Earth like

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planet located within Proxima Centauri's habitable

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zone. That's the distance from a star where it's not

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too hot and not too cold, but just right for

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liquid water, essential for life as we know it to pool

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on a planet's surface. The problem is

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Proxima b receives some 250 times more

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x ray radiation than the Earth does, and could also be

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experiencing deadly levels of ultraviolet radiation on its

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surface. So how could life possibly

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survive such a bombardment? Well,

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astronomers Lisa Kaltenegger and Jack o' Malley James

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from Cornell University believe they've got proof that

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life has already survived this kind of fierce radiation

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right here on Earth. Their work, which was reported

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in the monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, shows

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how life on Earth today evolved from creatures that

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actually thrived during an even greater ultraviolet

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radiation assault than what Proxima B and other nearby

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exoplanets are currently enduring. You see,

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the Earth of 4 billion years ago was a

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chaotic, irradiated hot mess.

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Yet in spite of this, somehow life gained

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a foothold and then expanded. Carlton Egger and

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o' Malley James say the same thing could be happening right now on

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some of our nearest exoplanetary neighbours.

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To reach their conclusions, the authors model the surface

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ultraviolet environments of the four exoplanets closest

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to Earth, uh, that are potentially habitable. Proxima M

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B, Trappist1E, Ross128B

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and LHS1140B.

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Now, all these planets orbit small spectral type M

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red dwarf stars. Unlike, um, our sun,

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Red dwarfs flare frequently, bathing any

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orbiting planets in high energy ultraviolet

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radiation. Now, uh, while it's, uh, unknown exactly what

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conditions prevail on the surface of the planets orbiting these flaring

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stars, it is known that such flares are both biologically

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damaging and they cause the erosion of a planetary

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atmosphere. High levels of radiation cause

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biological molecules like nucleic acids to mutate and

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even shut down. So o' ah, Malley James and

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Kaltenaga modelled various atmospheric compositions

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from ones very similar to present day Earth to eroded and

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anoxic atmospheres. Those with very thin atmospheres

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that don't block ultraviolet radiation well, and those

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without the protection of ozone. The models show

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that as atmospheres thin and ozone levels decrease,

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more high energy ultraviolet radiation reaches the ground.

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The authors then compared their models to early Earth's history

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from nearly 4 billion years ago through to today.

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Although the model planets all receive higher ultraviolet

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radiation doses than what's emitted by our sun today,

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it's still significantly less than what Earth received

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3.9 billion years ago. Kaltenega

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says given that the early Earth was inhabited, the research

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shows that ultraviolet radiation should not be a

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limiting factor for habitability of planets orbiting

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spectral type M stars. She says some of

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Earth's nearest neighbouring exoplanetary worlds remain

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intriguing targets in the search for life beyond

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our solar system.

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Jonathan Nally: My name is Lisa Kaltenegger. I am the director of the Carl Sagan

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Institute here at Cornell, developing the

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forensic toolkit to find life in the

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universe, inside our solar system and

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outside. We live in this

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amazing time where we found thousands

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of other planets, planets that don't orbit our own

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sun, but other suns, other stars that you

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can see in the night sky. And the

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next one over after our sun is

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actually a small red star called Proxima

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Centauri. And even the next star

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in only four light years away, has a

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planet that could potentially be like an Earth at

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the right distance. So it's not too hot and not too

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cold for there to be liquid surface

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water. So the big question that

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arose when looking at this young red

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sun is whether the harsh UV radiation

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that it flings out at its planet would

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actually be detrimental to life

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starting to evolve there. And what we figured

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out is when we calculated how much of this

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harsh UV radiation would make it to the

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ground on that planet, is that

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it would be worse than currently on Earth.

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So for you and me, it wouldn't be the best place to be.

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But it's less than it was on a

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young Earth. And on a young Earth,

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we had life. So the chances

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to finding life close to us

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around the closest stars that happen to be

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red young suns is much

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greater now. And so our quests

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to figure out whether we alone in the universe just

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got a tiny bit easier.

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Stuart Gary: That's Lisa Kaltenaga from Cornell University.

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And, um, this is space, time

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

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news in Science this week with a Science report.

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A new genetic study has shown that the first

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Australians arrived Down under sometime around

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50,000 years ago. The new findings,

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reported in the journal Archaeology in Oceania, analysed

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traces of Neanderthal DNA in Homo sapiens.

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The results are based on previous studies showing that Homo

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sapiens and Neanderthals interbred, uh, over a period of

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several thousand years between

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43,550

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1,500 years ago.

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So most modern non African humans, um, and that includes

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Indigenous Australians, carry between 1 and 4%

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Neanderthal DNA. The new findings are also

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in general agreement with the latest archaeological data from across

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Australia, which points to the first appearance of first

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nations in Australia in a range somewhere between

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43,000 and 54,000 years ago.

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Overall, the findings contradict previous estimates

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which suggested the arrival of the first Aboriginal Australians on

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what we call terra australis was 65,000

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years ago as a group known as the Sabul

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peoples. The seasonal

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outlook from the National Council for Foreign Emergency Services

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is warning that southwestern Victoria and patches of

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northern Western Australia are, uh, likely to face a heightened

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risk of bushfires or wildfires during this coming

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spring. The agency says the spring outlook

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has identified the Dampier Peninsula, the Derby coast and

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central Kimberley, the Little Sandy Desert and the south eastern

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Pilbara region of Western Australia as areas of

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concern over the next few months. They also

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conclude that the southeastern agricultural regions of the

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Murraylands in South Australia and The South, South

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West Central and parts of the Gippsland region of

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Victoria should also be at heightened alert during

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spring. New research has

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shown that transmitting the light through a hollow core optical

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fibre can actually speed up data transmission by as much

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as 45%. The findings, reported

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in the journal Nature Photonics, also show that hollow

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core fibre will allow data to travel further without the

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need of a boost. Regular fibre optic

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cables, such as the ones that might be connecting your home to

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the Internet, rely on data being transmitted through a thin

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glass tube. The authors found that because their

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new design guides light through the hollow core of the fibre,

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it's travelling through air rather than being impeded by

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the glass. Also, current optical fibre

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cables lose about half of the light sent through them by the time

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they reach about 20 kilometres from the point of origin.

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Because of this, they need amplifiers to boost the signal at, uh,

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regular intervals. The authors say their new holo

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fibres would let data travel 50% further

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before needing a boost. And that could open the door to much more

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data being transmitted without distortion.

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Samsung have used Europe's biggest tech show to launch their

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latest products. With the details, we're joined by

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technology editor Alex Harovroid from Tech Advice.

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Start live.

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Alex Zaharov-Reutt: There's a big conference in Germany called ifa. This is

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the European equivalent of the CES show in

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Las Vegas or the COMPI Tech show in Taiwan. And there's been lots

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of technological announcements. Samsung made a number of

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announcements. One was to launch the new Fan

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edition of its S25 range. This normally

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comes at this time of the year. It's the cheaper

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version of the flagship S25 series and

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comes a few months before Samsung launches its S26.

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Effectively, it has all the latest technologies, but at a cheaper

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price. And it behoves interested parties to

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see if the actual S25 range itself

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has received any discounts on sales. Because if you

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can get the full S25 or the plus or the Ultra at

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a cheaper rate than you could when it launched in January, that would be better

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than the cheaper Fan edition. So that's one of the things

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that people look out for this time of the year.

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Also, Samsung has the new S11, which is their

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tablet range. They have one in 14.6

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inches and one in 11 inches. Last year they had one in the 12

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inch size as well. They don't seem to have launched that mid

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size model this year. These are of course very thin.

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They compete with the iPad that is, uh, five

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millimetres thick. So Samsung of course has similar ambitions

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to be very sleek and thick. But the other

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big thing that Samsung launched was a new

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micro RGB television technology

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which is in 115 inches. So

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it's a giant size, something that's in between the

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QLED Nano displays and the OLED display.

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So this is a third technology. It's just going to mean

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there's more choice in the stores, more reason for you to

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want to spend thousands on a TV when some of the supermarkets sell

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80 inch TVs for under $1,000. And it's just the

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incessant progress and march of tech with AI and

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new technologies being the reasons why

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suddenly you have to spend more money.

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Stuart Gary: That's Alex Zaharov Vroith from TechAdvice, uh,

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live.

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And that's the show for now. Space Time

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is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through

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

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00:18:47.370 --> 00:18:50.290
This has been another quality podcast production from

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