Starship Test Flight 14 Achieves Orbit

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Stuart Gary: This is space Time Series 29 Episode

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119 Full broadcast on 5

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October 2026 Coming up on

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spacetime, Starship Test Flight

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14 successfully achieves orbit for the first

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time. How Earth's weather changes the

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planet's centre of gravity and work about

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to begin on the world's first orbital power

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station. All that and more coming up

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on, uh, Space Time.

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Welcome to Space Time with Stuart

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G.

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The world's largest and most powerful rocket.

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SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy has

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successfully achieved orbit insertion during

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its latest test flight out of Texas.

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The massive 124 metre tall stainless

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steel spacecraft blasted into orbit from its

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launch pad at Starbase Texas in a thundering

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roar, climbing quickly into an almost clear

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blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds.

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Stuart Gary: 9, 8, 7,

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6, 5, 4,

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3, 2, 1.

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33 out of 33 engines lit on

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Super Heavy. The windows shaking a bit here.

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Commentator: Booster and chip avionics, power and

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telemetry nominal.

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Stuart Gary: Coming up on max Q. Maximum aerodynamic

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pressure on the rocket. Stress is going to

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come down now as we start flying through the

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upper parts of Earth's atmosphere.

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Stuart Gary: This 14th test flight used Super Heavy Block

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3 version 3 Booster 21 and Block 3

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version 3 Starship 41. New heat

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shield upgrades. Experiments employed for

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this flight included the first ever reuse of

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pre flown heat shield tiles.

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They'd been taken off ship 40 used on test

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flight 13 which splashed down in the Indian

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Ocean off the Western Australian coast and is

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now being transported back to Texas aboard

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the semi submersible vessel Forte. With

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arrival time dockside in Brownsville expected

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this week, Test Flight 14 also

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employed some new hardware and software

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tweaks in order to address ice clogging and

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relight issues experienced on the last test

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flight. No return to launch pad

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tower catches were planned for this mission,

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but while the mission was generally

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successful, it didn't all go smoothly. While

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all 33 of the rocket super heavy booster's

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Raptor engines ignited on liftoff, one

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unexpectedly shut down during the climb to

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orbit, with the others taking up the slack.

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The ascent was followed by a successful hot

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staging manoeuvre where the booster's engines

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gradually shut down in sequence with the

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upper Starship stage igniting its six Raptor

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engines while some of the booster's engines

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were still burning. Only then were the

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clamps released and the booster separated

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from Starship, performing a directional flip

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manoeuvre and reigniting 31 of the planned

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33 Raptor engines for the boostback burn to

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uh, Earth.

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Now, uh, on this particular test flight, the

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Boostback burn manoeuvre was intentionally

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designed to burn through the remaining liquid

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oxygen inside the booster's main tank to test

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the limits of booster performance ahead of

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future return to launch site missions.

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Commentator: Although we're not doing a tower catch today,

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we are going to simulate the same way that we

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would. So we'll do a 13 engine

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landing burn to slow down. We'll then

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transition to five and then transition down

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to three for the final hover.

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Stuart Gary: After descending through the atmosphere, the

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super heavy booster reignited 11 of the

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planned 13 engines for the high thrust

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portion of the landing burn before

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deliberately cutting down to five engines for

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trajectory fine tuning and then down to three

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engines before making a soft splashdown, uh,

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in the warm Gulf waters just seven minutes

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after launching.

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Elon Musk: So we are just about landing burn start. So

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that's where we'll first ignite the centre 13

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engines, bring that down to five and

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then finally down to three landing burn

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startup.

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Commentator: Down to five.

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That looks like a pretty soft splashdown.

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Stuart Gary: Uh, following splashdown and landing burn

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shutdown, the super heavy's flight

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termination system was deliberately triggered

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to destroy the booster in a demonstration of

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the safety hardware. Now, while

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this was going on the upper stage Starship

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continued its climb to orbit with all six of

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its Raptor engines burning.

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Commentator: Ship there still accelerating with

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six out of six engines under power. That is

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great to see. Just crossed over

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10,000 kilometres per hour.

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Tim Mendham: Ship is on a nominal trajectory and

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Elon Musk: we just heard that call out that ship is on

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nominal trajectory. So that's great news.

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Things are going pretty well so far.

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Stuart Gary: However, once again one of the Raptor vacuum

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engines unexpectedly shut down early.

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Stuart Gary: We just had Engine 6, one of the RVACs shut

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down early. We were planning on that one

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going for probably another 30 seconds. So

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similar to Flight 12 kind of

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scenario here where we had an RVAC out on the

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first flight of E3. So we do have engine out

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capability.

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So the ship adjusts for this. So still

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running on five out of this six

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and we should be getting to ship. Engine

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cutoff in about the next 10 seconds.

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Stuart Gary: Now, Starship still achieved its planned

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passive safe suborbital altitude. However,

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the loss of one of the vacuum Raptors

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triggered a review looking at a possible

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early return to Earth rather than the planned

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continuation of full orbit.

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Stuart Gary: All right, so we are in space.

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Now comes the next step. So the team

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obviously going to take a quick look at that.

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Uh, we've said it repeatedly, we're only

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going to commit to orbit if everything's

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looking really healthy and an engine out on

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ascent Even though you're not going to use it

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for, for the rest of time on orbit could

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drive us to not commit.

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Stuart Gary: Eventually a go no go poll for

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continuation of orbit was undertaken and

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approval given for that final 22nd orbital

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insertion burn, pushing Starship to over

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26,372 kilometres per

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hour and lifting the spacecraft to a roughly

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276 kilometre high orbit for the first

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time ever.

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Stuart Gary: Uh, waiting for a final, final

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confirmation on if we're going to make the

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attempt to go to orbit today or not. Little

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extra drama as we go through this position,

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go through this decision. The go no go poll

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for orbit has finished

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and we are go for orbit. Here we go. We are

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coming up on our orbital insertion

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burn again. We're looking for just a single

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Raptor to light one of those sea levels

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it's going to burn for

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uh, burn two is started. Single Raptor still

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lit, doing the work to push us into orbit.

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Two shut down, Burn two shut down. Insertion

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Starship is orbital all ah, right.

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Successful orbital insertion burn.

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Starship is in orbit. Huge

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milestone for the Starship teams, one that

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we've been looking to get to for a couple of

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years now.

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Stuart Gary: Then after a brief orbital coast phase, the

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payload bay doors were opened and the first

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of 26 new version 3 Starlink High

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Capacity high speed broadband satellites were

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deployed into orbit at a rate of roughly one

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per minute. Three of the satellites were

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equipped with cameras allowing mission

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managers to survey Starship's heat shield as

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they moved out of the payload bay. The first

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of the 26 Starlink satellites were launched

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as the ship flew over South Africa, with the

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last flying free over Indonesia.

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The satellite train formed a trailing arc

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behind and below the spacecraft, stretching

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out into orbit. Uh, the orbital mechanics of

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their deployment behind Starship meant they

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were travelling at a planned lower orbital

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speed, which meant they also dropped slightly

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in altitude again, just as expected.

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Once the satellites were all deployed,

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mission managers decided to end the flight

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early just to be safe and bring Starship

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home, um, after less than two orbits rather

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than the initially planned six. But because

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of the decision to return early, that would

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have meant firing one of the main Raptor

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engines close to and possibly affecting the

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orbits of the just deployed satellites.

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So instead the decision was taken to use

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Starship's reaction control system jets to

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gently lower the spacecraft down to below the

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orbital altit of the just released Starlinks.

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And only once this had been achieved was the

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go ahead given to fire one of the main sea

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level Raptor engines for what was to be

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Starship's first ever deorbit burn,

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slowing the vehicle down and beginning

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atmospheric re entry. The manoeuvre wouldn't

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have been necessary if the original 6 orbit

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plan had been followed as there then would

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have been sufficient separation between

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Starship and the Starlink satellites.

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Stuart Gary: We are in deorbit startup burn startup.

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Single Raptor ignited. All right, good burn.

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Nominal descent coast trajectory burn

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shutdown and shut down. That means

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Starship is headed home. It is headed

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towards the ocean. So good deorbit burn.

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Again that's just a really critical

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moment. We need to slow Starship down enough

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so its path is going to naturally now take it

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through the Earth's atmosphere and for a

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reentry and splashdown in the

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Northern Pacific. So deorbit burn

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complete.

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Stuart Gary: Reentry entry went just as planned with

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Starship reigniting all three of the Raptor

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sea level engines in the landing burn and

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flip manoeuvre before undertaking a soft

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splashdown landing on target in the North

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Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

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Stuart Gary: Final approach, Starship landing burn

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startup. Hearing chatter on the loops,

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everything's sounding pretty good on the

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engines right now.

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We are going to look to light all three for

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this initial landing burn. Eventually going

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down to two as we get closer to the water. Go

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down to one for kind of a constant velocity

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hover and then splash down.

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Commentator: Seeing all three lit down to two.

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Stuart Gary: Starship has landed and

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Starship has landed.

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Stuart Gary: This mission was a key step in efforts to get

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the Starship super heavy ready for regular

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commercial, military and scientific missions.

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Eventually, SpaceX boss Elon Musk envisaged

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its Starship as a fully reusable colonial

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transport system, carrying up to 100 people

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or 150 tons of cargo and supplies at a time

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into space, allowing humans to establish new

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colonies on the Moon, Mars and beyond.

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Musk sees Starship doing for space travel

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what airlines are now doing for global air

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transport. Fast, reliable travel with

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frequent turnarounds at reasonable prices.

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And of course, NASA has already contracted

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SpaceX's Starship and one of its competitors,

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Blue Origin, to provide lunar lander shuttle

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services between visiting Artemis Orion

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missions from Earth, uh, and manned bases on

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the lunar surface. However, before any of

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that happens, Starship will need to

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successfully demonstrate several key

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milestones, including an ability to refuel in

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space and the capability of docking with

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NASA's manned Orion spacecraft. The

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first of these tests, the docking capability,

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will be trialled next year on the Artemis 3

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mission, which will see both Starship and

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Blue Origin dock with a manned Orion capsule

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in low Earth orbit. Once certified for

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human spaceflight, Starship Super Heavy will

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begin replacing SpaceX's existing and very

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reliable workhorses, the Falcon 9 and Falcon

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Heavy launch vehicles and the crew Dragon and

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cargo Dragon capsules. Opening up a new

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chapter in space travel in the process

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changing man's spaceflight forever.

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This is space time still to come.

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How Earth's weather changes the planet's

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centre of gravity and work about to begin on

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the world's first orbital power station. All

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that and more still to come on uh, space

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time.

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A new study has shown uh, that changes in

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seasonal weather patterns like snowfall,

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monsoons and oceans actually physically

285
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shift Earth's uh, centre of mass every year.

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The findings reported in the Geophysical

287
00:12:16.410 --> 00:12:18.610
Journal International are based on detailed

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satellite tracking showing that these changes

289
00:12:21.090 --> 00:12:23.450
redistribute enough water around the planet

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to shift the Earth's centre of mass back and

291
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forth relative to its geometric centre.

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The difference only amounts to a few

293
00:12:30.410 --> 00:12:32.570
millimetres. But tracking these oscillations

294
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is a crucial reference point for satellite

295
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navigation and elevation measurements. The

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new study paints a vivid picture of

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springtime thaws, churning oceans and

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dense winter air shifting massive surface

299
00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:48.380
loads from season to season. The

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research hasn't been the first attempt to pin

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down Earth's real centre of mass. Over the

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decades scientists have pioneered many space

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based techniques to define and locate the

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centre of mass. But it's a moving goalpost.

305
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If the Earth were a hard blue marble, its

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centre of mass would simply overlap, uh, its

307
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geometric centre. Problem solved. But

308
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in reality the planet is sloshing and sagging

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under its own weight of water, air and ice.

310
00:13:14.810 --> 00:13:17.290
And because of this, Earth's centre of mass

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continually swivels around its geometric

312
00:13:19.770 --> 00:13:21.930
centre by as much as several millimetres.

313
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Previous estimates in 2017 and

314
00:13:24.690 --> 00:13:27.650
2023 differed by as much as 7 millimetres,

315
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which is almost as large as the motion

316
00:13:29.370 --> 00:13:32.010
itself. So to reduce this

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uncertainty, Donald Argus from NASA's Jet

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Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California

319
00:13:37.290 --> 00:13:39.660
developed a new technique based on ultra

320
00:13:39.660 --> 00:13:42.300
precise satellite tracking. Driven by

321
00:13:42.300 --> 00:13:44.660
gravity, satellites naturally orbit the

322
00:13:44.660 --> 00:13:47.060
Earth's uh, centre of mass as if bound by

323
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invisible tethers.

324
00:13:48.820 --> 00:13:51.380
Tiny changes in the distance between the

325
00:13:51.380 --> 00:13:53.580
satellites and ground stations reflect

326
00:13:53.580 --> 00:13:56.220
Earth's shifting centre of mass. But of

327
00:13:56.220 --> 00:13:57.940
course, using satellites to locate Earth's

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uh, centre of mass isn't a new idea. In

329
00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:03.860
fact, dense metal satellites launched in 1976

330
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and 1992 were exclusively dedicated

331
00:14:06.820 --> 00:14:09.150
to this very task. Resembling

332
00:14:09.150 --> 00:14:12.110
408 kilogramme disco balls, the two laser

333
00:14:12.110 --> 00:14:14.510
geodynamic satellites are uh, studded with

334
00:14:14.510 --> 00:14:16.990
reflective prisms and are then tracked with

335
00:14:16.990 --> 00:14:19.150
lasers from ground stations across more than

336
00:14:19.150 --> 00:14:21.950
20 countries. However, one limitation

337
00:14:21.950 --> 00:14:24.509
of satellite laser ranging is the uneven

338
00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:26.750
distribution of ground stations around the

339
00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:29.670
Earth. The new technique improves

340
00:14:29.670 --> 00:14:32.510
accuracy by adding GPS tracking into the mix

341
00:14:32.510 --> 00:14:34.190
along with orbital data from several

342
00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:36.270
satellites in low Earth orbit in order to

343
00:14:36.270 --> 00:14:39.260
provide a diverse array of targets. And it

344
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also considers how the weight of water and

345
00:14:41.420 --> 00:14:43.270
ice physically deforms the Earth's, uh,

346
00:14:43.380 --> 00:14:45.820
crust, taking ground stations along for the

347
00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:48.460
ride. Agus says his team are now

348
00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:50.420
estimating the size of the m movement of

349
00:14:50.420 --> 00:14:53.140
Earth's mass back and forth every year. And

350
00:14:53.140 --> 00:14:55.020
they're finding it's actually about half of

351
00:14:55.020 --> 00:14:57.700
what they previously thought. And the mass of

352
00:14:57.700 --> 00:14:59.700
Earth's water and air moving between the

353
00:14:59.700 --> 00:15:01.980
hemispheres is also smaller than previously

354
00:15:01.980 --> 00:15:02.300
thought.

355
00:15:02.780 --> 00:15:04.940
The authors tracked Earth's centre of mass as

356
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it oscillated seasonally, and they attributed

357
00:15:07.750 --> 00:15:09.990
this movement to three categories oceans,

358
00:15:10.070 --> 00:15:12.910
atmosphere and continental water, made up of

359
00:15:12.910 --> 00:15:15.470
land ice, snow, lake and river water, as well

360
00:15:15.470 --> 00:15:18.390
as soil moisture and groundwater. They found

361
00:15:18.390 --> 00:15:20.590
that snow accumulation in North America and

362
00:15:20.590 --> 00:15:23.510
Eurasia reaches its maximum in March and

363
00:15:23.510 --> 00:15:25.630
shifts Earth's centre of mass by about 3

364
00:15:25.630 --> 00:15:28.390
millimetres towards the North Pole. But then

365
00:15:28.390 --> 00:15:30.710
a month later in April, rainwater in the

366
00:15:30.710 --> 00:15:33.710
Apple river basin peaks at around 2,400

367
00:15:33.710 --> 00:15:36.290
gigatons, swinging Earth's centre of mass

368
00:15:36.290 --> 00:15:39.010
some 2.2 millimetres towards South America.

369
00:15:39.490 --> 00:15:42.010
And then the monsoon weather of Southeast

370
00:15:42.010 --> 00:15:44.730
Asia comes in, attaining a maximum of 600

371
00:15:44.730 --> 00:15:47.290
gigatons six months later in November, adding

372
00:15:47.290 --> 00:15:49.930
to the annual oscillation. It doesn't end

373
00:15:49.930 --> 00:15:52.890
there. Between August and October, the oceans

374
00:15:52.890 --> 00:15:55.290
swirl with meltwater and rain and Earth's

375
00:15:55.290 --> 00:15:57.370
centre of mass shifts towards the South

376
00:15:57.370 --> 00:16:00.290
Pacific Ocean. See, the Pacific Ocean is so

377
00:16:00.290 --> 00:16:02.480
large that mass changes there overshadow, uh,

378
00:16:03.050 --> 00:16:05.710
the loss or gain in other oceans. Those

379
00:16:05.710 --> 00:16:08.390
seasonal dynamics in the Mediterranean, Red

380
00:16:08.470 --> 00:16:11.350
North Baltic and Barents Sea also help shift

381
00:16:11.350 --> 00:16:13.350
Earth's centre of mass in their own small

382
00:16:13.430 --> 00:16:16.230
way. The authors also used a

383
00:16:16.230 --> 00:16:18.190
model developed by the European Centre for

384
00:16:18.190 --> 00:16:20.470
Medium Range Weather Forecasting to estimate

385
00:16:20.470 --> 00:16:23.070
how atmospheric changes affect Earth's centre

386
00:16:23.070 --> 00:16:24.630
of mass throughout the seasons.

387
00:16:25.190 --> 00:16:27.950
Fascinatingly, they found that cold, dense

388
00:16:27.950 --> 00:16:30.430
winter air helps to tip the scales over

389
00:16:30.430 --> 00:16:32.990
Arabia, Asia and North Africa around

390
00:16:32.990 --> 00:16:35.790
December 2021 each year and around South

391
00:16:35.790 --> 00:16:38.630
America and South Africa around June 21.

392
00:16:39.510 --> 00:16:42.230
The new mass calculations are consistent with

393
00:16:42.230 --> 00:16:44.990
observations made by Grace Foe the

394
00:16:44.990 --> 00:16:47.070
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

395
00:16:47.070 --> 00:16:49.910
Follow on mission. Launched in 2018,

396
00:16:50.070 --> 00:16:52.630
this mission's twin satellites map monthly

397
00:16:52.630 --> 00:16:54.470
fluctuations in the Earth's gravitational

398
00:16:54.470 --> 00:16:56.910
pull due primarily to mass m movement of

399
00:16:56.910 --> 00:16:59.600
water above and below ground. The two

400
00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:02.440
satellites fly in a precise formation and

401
00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:04.640
when the lead satellite passes over a dense

402
00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:07.120
body like say, a swollen river valley, the

403
00:17:07.120 --> 00:17:09.960
extra gravitational tug changes the distance

404
00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:12.800
to its twin by a small but measurable amount.

405
00:17:13.520 --> 00:17:15.760
This report from NASA tv.

406
00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.720
Frank Webb: Water is one of the main indicators of how

407
00:17:24.880 --> 00:17:27.360
the planet is responding to our evolving

408
00:17:27.710 --> 00:17:30.190
climate. We built our civilization

409
00:17:30.590 --> 00:17:32.550
around the climate that we had and the water

410
00:17:32.550 --> 00:17:34.590
resources that we had. And if those are

411
00:17:34.590 --> 00:17:36.910
changing, that can have a profound impact on

412
00:17:36.910 --> 00:17:38.670
how we operate our society.

413
00:17:39.710 --> 00:17:42.470
Phil Morton: Grace and Grace Follow on measure the motion

414
00:17:42.470 --> 00:17:44.230
of water around the Earth and they measure

415
00:17:44.230 --> 00:17:46.390
that in all forms of water. Water that's

416
00:17:46.390 --> 00:17:48.430
stored underground, water in the ocean, water

417
00:17:48.430 --> 00:17:50.710
that's frozen in the form of glaciers. So all

418
00:17:50.710 --> 00:17:52.590
of that together, uh, Grace can measure.

419
00:17:55.160 --> 00:17:57.560
Frank Webb: Grace Follow on is a mission to

420
00:17:57.800 --> 00:18:00.720
measure how water is distributed on the

421
00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.480
planet and how that changes from month to

422
00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:02.720
month.

423
00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.280
Phil Morton: GRACE stands for Gravity Recovery and Climate

424
00:18:05.280 --> 00:18:07.000
Experiment. And it's a follow on mission to

425
00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:08.999
this mission called Grace that uh, we

426
00:18:08.999 --> 00:18:11.520
launched in 2002 and that mission ended. And

427
00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:12.640
Grace Fallen is going to continue that

428
00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:13.320
science legacy.

429
00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:16.400
Frank Webb: Even though grace flew for 15 years. Climate

430
00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.320
is one of those things which takes place on

431
00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:20.090
decadal time scale scales. It's really

432
00:18:20.090 --> 00:18:21.850
important that we look at these trends over

433
00:18:21.930 --> 00:18:24.290
longer time periods so we can establish the

434
00:18:24.290 --> 00:18:25.610
forces which are driving them.

435
00:18:26.650 --> 00:18:29.530
Phil Morton: One follows the other, and between them they

436
00:18:29.610 --> 00:18:32.450
accurately track the distance between the two

437
00:18:32.450 --> 00:18:34.970
satellites and as they fly over

438
00:18:35.289 --> 00:18:38.130
changes in mass on the Earth, they

439
00:18:38.130 --> 00:18:40.370
move back and forth and we track those little

440
00:18:40.370 --> 00:18:42.970
changes very accurately. And we do that with

441
00:18:42.970 --> 00:18:45.090
Global Positioning System satellite

442
00:18:45.090 --> 00:18:47.830
information and, and with STAR cameras that

443
00:18:47.830 --> 00:18:49.470
are onboard the two spacecraft.

444
00:18:51.150 --> 00:18:53.550
I think there's an increasing awareness

445
00:18:53.870 --> 00:18:56.710
and consciousness around the Earth that water

446
00:18:56.710 --> 00:18:59.350
is a critical resource and that uh, the sea

447
00:18:59.350 --> 00:19:01.950
level is rising, the polar caps are melting,

448
00:19:02.029 --> 00:19:04.510
and that all these have long term

449
00:19:04.670 --> 00:19:06.750
ramifications on how we live.

450
00:19:07.390 --> 00:19:10.390
Frank Webb: The Grace Follow on measurements give us very

451
00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:12.790
clear and tangible information so we can make

452
00:19:12.790 --> 00:19:14.470
sound decisions in the future of how we

453
00:19:14.470 --> 00:19:15.390
manage our resources.

454
00:19:17.790 --> 00:19:20.190
Stuart Gary: And in that report from NASA tv, we heard

455
00:19:20.190 --> 00:19:22.550
from Grace project scientists Frank Webb,

456
00:19:22.550 --> 00:19:25.470
Phil Morton and Michael Watkins from NASA's

457
00:19:25.470 --> 00:19:27.830
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,

458
00:19:27.830 --> 00:19:30.430
California. This is space

459
00:19:30.510 --> 00:19:33.470
time still to come. Work

460
00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:35.390
about to begin on the world's first orbital

461
00:19:35.390 --> 00:19:37.750
power station. And later in the science

462
00:19:37.750 --> 00:19:40.240
report, the United States military follows

463
00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.760
Israel's lead and begins deploying new high

464
00:19:42.760 --> 00:19:45.600
energy laser weapons into the field. All that

465
00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:48.200
and more still to come on, um, space time.

466
00:20:04.130 --> 00:20:06.370
The United States military is moving forward

467
00:20:06.370 --> 00:20:08.730
with plans to build an orbital power station

468
00:20:08.730 --> 00:20:10.590
in order to beam energy down to the Earth's,

469
00:20:10.590 --> 00:20:13.370
uh, surface. The Pentagon has awarded

470
00:20:13.370 --> 00:20:16.090
Catalyst Space a contract to build a robotic

471
00:20:16.090 --> 00:20:18.650
spacecraft to help assemble an orbital power

472
00:20:18.650 --> 00:20:21.090
plant under the Asgard programme.

473
00:20:21.330 --> 00:20:23.850
Catalyst Nexus spacecraft will carry

474
00:20:23.850 --> 00:20:26.250
modular tiles developed by the U.S. naval

475
00:20:26.250 --> 00:20:28.450
Research Laboratory and place them in low

476
00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:31.260
Earth orbit. Its automated robotic arms

477
00:20:31.260 --> 00:20:33.260
will then assemble the tiles into a large

478
00:20:33.260 --> 00:20:35.300
solar array, which will then collect the

479
00:20:35.300 --> 00:20:37.900
converted sun like energy into microwaves and

480
00:20:37.900 --> 00:20:40.140
transmit that to receivers on the ground.

481
00:20:41.260 --> 00:20:43.260
Now, uh, if the technology can be scaled up,

482
00:20:43.260 --> 00:20:45.739
it could deliver power to remote bases, to

483
00:20:45.739 --> 00:20:48.220
unmanned systems as well as war zones,

484
00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:50.780
without the need to be entirely dependent on

485
00:20:50.780 --> 00:20:53.260
vulnerable power grids or fuel convoys.

486
00:20:53.740 --> 00:20:55.980
An orbital assembly would let these systems

487
00:20:55.980 --> 00:20:58.340
grow beyond the size constraints of a single

488
00:20:58.340 --> 00:21:01.290
launch vehicle. The platform will be designed

489
00:21:01.290 --> 00:21:04.090
to be resupplied, expanded and upgraded as

490
00:21:04.090 --> 00:21:06.530
needed. The Naval Research Laboratory has

491
00:21:06.530 --> 00:21:08.970
already tested solar to microwave conversion

492
00:21:08.970 --> 00:21:11.930
aboard its X37B space shuttle and

493
00:21:11.930 --> 00:21:14.530
it has transmitted 1.6 kilowatts of power

494
00:21:14.530 --> 00:21:16.730
across a distance of more than a kilometre on

495
00:21:16.730 --> 00:21:19.170
the ground. But this will be the first

496
00:21:19.170 --> 00:21:22.090
project combining power beaming with robotic

497
00:21:22.090 --> 00:21:24.570
orbital construction, potentially laying the

498
00:21:24.570 --> 00:21:26.330
groundwork for future orbital energy

499
00:21:26.330 --> 00:21:28.530
infrastructure supporting not just military

500
00:21:28.530 --> 00:21:30.930
operations, but also satellites and in

501
00:21:31.390 --> 00:21:34.310
manufacturing processes. It's an exciting

502
00:21:34.310 --> 00:21:36.950
new uh, horizon and one which is destined to

503
00:21:36.950 --> 00:21:39.790
grow. This is space, time.

504
00:21:54.910 --> 00:21:56.910
And time. Now to take a brief look at some of

505
00:21:56.910 --> 00:21:58.950
the other stories making news in Science this

506
00:21:58.950 --> 00:22:01.820
week with a Science report. A new

507
00:22:01.820 --> 00:22:04.060
study claims a combination of unhealthy

508
00:22:04.060 --> 00:22:06.540
lifestyles and pre existing illnesses could

509
00:22:06.540 --> 00:22:08.780
be the main reason why men are more likely to

510
00:22:08.780 --> 00:22:11.500
get cancer than women. The findings by

511
00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:13.700
Chinese researchers reported in the Journal

512
00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:15.860
of the American Medical association could

513
00:22:15.860 --> 00:22:17.780
explain most of the discrepancy between

514
00:22:17.860 --> 00:22:20.420
Chinese men and women. But these differences

515
00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:22.180
appear to be less important when

516
00:22:22.180 --> 00:22:24.540
investigating why cancer affects more British

517
00:22:24.540 --> 00:22:27.250
men than women. The authors analysed health

518
00:22:27.250 --> 00:22:30.170
Data on nearly 135,000 Chinese

519
00:22:30.170 --> 00:22:32.490
people and uh, over 455,000

520
00:22:32.570 --> 00:22:35.210
Brits. Looking at 34 cancers and

521
00:22:35.210 --> 00:22:37.730
lifestyle factors including smoking, heavy

522
00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:40.530
drinking, physical inactivity and diet, as

523
00:22:40.530 --> 00:22:42.570
well as any pre existing health conditions

524
00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:45.410
including chronic liver disease, diabetes and

525
00:22:45.410 --> 00:22:48.330
obesity. They found that together, uh,

526
00:22:48.330 --> 00:22:51.290
these Factors accounted for 84% of the

527
00:22:51.290 --> 00:22:53.650
male female gap in China, but just

528
00:22:53.650 --> 00:22:55.930
26% of the gap among Britons.

529
00:22:57.510 --> 00:22:59.710
The United States military have now followed

530
00:22:59.710 --> 00:23:01.950
Israel's lead and commenced deploying high

531
00:23:01.950 --> 00:23:04.310
energy laser weapons in the Strait of Hormuz

532
00:23:04.310 --> 00:23:06.790
in order to shoot down Iranian drones and

533
00:23:06.790 --> 00:23:09.710
cruise missiles. The new directed energy

534
00:23:09.710 --> 00:23:12.310
weapons are easy to operate with some being

535
00:23:12.310 --> 00:23:14.750
controlled by modified Xbox style game

536
00:23:14.750 --> 00:23:15.430
consoles.

537
00:23:15.830 --> 00:23:17.510
The new weapons systems are being used

538
00:23:17.510 --> 00:23:19.830
against the Islamic Republic at a fraction of

539
00:23:19.830 --> 00:23:21.870
the cost of conventional interceptor

540
00:23:21.870 --> 00:23:24.870
missiles. American laser weapon systems had

541
00:23:24.870 --> 00:23:27.110
previously been demonstrated using gamepad

542
00:23:27.110 --> 00:23:29.310
style controls designed to make them easier

543
00:23:29.310 --> 00:23:31.990
for soldiers to learn and operate. The United

544
00:23:31.990 --> 00:23:34.550
States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth tested

545
00:23:34.550 --> 00:23:36.070
one of the systems during a uh, June

546
00:23:36.070 --> 00:23:38.150
demonstration at the White Sands Missile

547
00:23:38.150 --> 00:23:40.550
Range in New Mexico, where directed energy

548
00:23:40.550 --> 00:23:42.910
weapons were used against aerial targets.

549
00:23:43.310 --> 00:23:46.070
The lasers are invisible to the unaided eye,

550
00:23:46.070 --> 00:23:48.630
but they are capable of disabling targets by

551
00:23:48.630 --> 00:23:51.030
concentrating energy in a small area until

552
00:23:51.030 --> 00:23:53.230
critical components overheat, uh, or fail.

553
00:23:54.010 --> 00:23:56.170
Their deployment highlights the growing link

554
00:23:56.170 --> 00:23:58.570
between space and missile defence systems,

555
00:23:58.650 --> 00:24:00.730
increasingly providing both warning and

556
00:24:00.730 --> 00:24:03.050
tracking data that helps terrestrial systems

557
00:24:03.050 --> 00:24:05.450
identify and engage incoming threats.

558
00:24:05.850 --> 00:24:08.490
The IDF has been deploying similar directed

559
00:24:08.490 --> 00:24:10.650
energy weapons systems against missiles,

560
00:24:10.650 --> 00:24:13.410
mortars and rockets fired by Hamas, Hezbollah

561
00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:15.810
and Islamic Jihad terrorist groups since the

562
00:24:15.810 --> 00:24:18.610
start of the year. A new

563
00:24:18.610 --> 00:24:21.530
study shows countries with more cats tend

564
00:24:21.530 --> 00:24:24.350
to be happier the findings, reported in the

565
00:24:24.350 --> 00:24:26.830
journal PLOS One, are based on data from

566
00:24:26.830 --> 00:24:29.230
93 countries, including Australia and New

567
00:24:29.230 --> 00:24:31.630
Zealand. The study looked at economic

568
00:24:31.790 --> 00:24:34.030
factors such as gross domestic product,

569
00:24:34.350 --> 00:24:36.510
family income and health costs.

570
00:24:36.990 --> 00:24:39.710
They found that domestic cat density was

571
00:24:39.710 --> 00:24:41.910
strongly correlated with positive happiness

572
00:24:41.910 --> 00:24:44.790
scores worldwide, consistent with studies on

573
00:24:44.790 --> 00:24:47.230
the benefits of pet ownership. However,

574
00:24:47.390 --> 00:24:49.670
countries with higher levels of the parasitic

575
00:24:49.670 --> 00:24:52.670
disease toxoplasmosis, which can be spread by

576
00:24:52.670 --> 00:24:54.260
cats, tended to be less happy.

577
00:24:54.890 --> 00:24:57.130
The authors say this paradox could be

578
00:24:57.130 --> 00:24:59.410
explained by higher numbers of cats in

579
00:24:59.410 --> 00:25:01.090
wealthier countries, where the cats are more

580
00:25:01.090 --> 00:25:03.690
likely to be kept indoors, more likely to be

581
00:25:03.690 --> 00:25:06.210
vaccinated and more likely to be fed pet

582
00:25:06.210 --> 00:25:08.850
food, giving them a greatly reduced chance of

583
00:25:08.850 --> 00:25:10.330
catching or spreading the disease.

584
00:25:12.090 --> 00:25:15.050
Scientists have finally created a true blue

585
00:25:15.050 --> 00:25:17.650
coloured rose Researchers from the

586
00:25:17.650 --> 00:25:20.330
Suntory Global Innovation Centre in Kyoto

587
00:25:20.330 --> 00:25:22.730
first developed a sort of blue rose back in

588
00:25:22.730 --> 00:25:25.530
2004 using a gene for an enzyme

589
00:25:25.530 --> 00:25:27.830
called Delphine Philodin that produces a blue

590
00:25:27.830 --> 00:25:30.590
pigment, but that turned um, the rose more

591
00:25:30.590 --> 00:25:33.270
mauve or lavender rather than a distinct true

592
00:25:33.270 --> 00:25:36.110
blue. So now Centauri scientists have

593
00:25:36.110 --> 00:25:38.350
added four CO pigmentation genes from three

594
00:25:38.350 --> 00:25:40.710
different blue flower species into a light

595
00:25:40.710 --> 00:25:43.550
pink coloured rose. These include a

596
00:25:43.550 --> 00:25:45.670
gene from the flower Canterbury bells that

597
00:25:45.670 --> 00:25:48.510
provides the vivid blue pigment malvidin, two

598
00:25:48.510 --> 00:25:50.870
genes from wishbone flowers which produce key

599
00:25:50.870 --> 00:25:53.750
helper molecules and a gene from gentian

600
00:25:53.750 --> 00:25:56.710
flowers which produces a specific CO pigment

601
00:25:56.710 --> 00:25:59.370
called isaoreantin, which deepens the blue

602
00:25:59.370 --> 00:26:02.170
shade and the resulting rose bushes have

603
00:26:02.170 --> 00:26:05.090
reliably produced unique violet blue flowers

604
00:26:05.090 --> 00:26:07.450
across seven years of greenhouse testing in

605
00:26:07.450 --> 00:26:10.010
Japan and three years of field trials in

606
00:26:10.010 --> 00:26:12.970
Colombia. And time out

607
00:26:12.970 --> 00:26:15.170
A brush up um on the truth behind a lot of

608
00:26:15.170 --> 00:26:17.570
those common myths and misinformation you

609
00:26:17.570 --> 00:26:19.970
might have trusted, but which scientists show

610
00:26:20.050 --> 00:26:22.770
are clearly wrong. The sceptics Timms

611
00:26:22.770 --> 00:26:25.050
Mendham says there's a lot of old persons

612
00:26:25.050 --> 00:26:26.850
tales out there that have been around for

613
00:26:26.850 --> 00:26:29.250
ages, but the truth is very different.

614
00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:32.150
Tim Mendham: Common myth. This was just almost like a

615
00:26:32.150 --> 00:26:34.230
survey done. There was a crowd sourcing thing

616
00:26:34.230 --> 00:26:35.550
that was done. They set up all these sort of

617
00:26:35.550 --> 00:26:37.270
common myths. People reacted to them. First

618
00:26:37.270 --> 00:26:39.230
one they turned up with is the taste zones on

619
00:26:39.230 --> 00:26:41.270
the human tongue. One side is salty, one side

620
00:26:41.270 --> 00:26:43.310
is sweet, down the front is this and the

621
00:26:43.310 --> 00:26:45.270
other etc. And then they wear Umami. Fits in,

622
00:26:45.270 --> 00:26:47.830
but never mind. But no, these little maps are

623
00:26:47.830 --> 00:26:50.070
wrong. There's no such thing. Doesn't exist.

624
00:26:50.070 --> 00:26:52.070
Do you wait 24 hours before reporting a

625
00:26:52.070 --> 00:26:53.590
missing person? No, you don't have to. If

626
00:26:53.590 --> 00:26:55.070
someone's missing, you can do it whenever you

627
00:26:55.070 --> 00:26:57.030
like. There's no legal requirement. Do dogs

628
00:26:57.030 --> 00:26:58.750
see in black and white? No, they do see

629
00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:00.310
colour. They just got a bit of a problem with

630
00:27:00.310 --> 00:27:02.330
red and green. So they're colour blind, but

631
00:27:02.330 --> 00:27:04.530
they do see colour. Is there an elf wolf that

632
00:27:04.530 --> 00:27:07.090
puts everything and everyone in line? There's

633
00:27:07.090 --> 00:27:09.370
a leading wolf that might be a guiding

634
00:27:09.370 --> 00:27:11.090
spirit, but not necessarily to try and make

635
00:27:11.090 --> 00:27:12.730
everyone toe the line. There's. That happens

636
00:27:12.730 --> 00:27:14.330
in chickens. The amount of spiders you eat

637
00:27:14.330 --> 00:27:16.210
while being asleep. That's a fascinating one

638
00:27:16.210 --> 00:27:17.690
because there was a story going around that

639
00:27:17.690 --> 00:27:19.570
you eat about 12 spiders in your life or

640
00:27:19.570 --> 00:27:21.130
something, your mouth is open and spiders

641
00:27:21.130 --> 00:27:23.090
crawling. It was actually invented by a tech

642
00:27:23.090 --> 00:27:25.490
journalist to prove how fake news travels

643
00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:27.290
around the Internet, which is interesting.

644
00:27:27.450 --> 00:27:29.250
Someone made up a story and see how far it

645
00:27:29.250 --> 00:27:31.090
would go. And it went a long way, except that

646
00:27:31.090 --> 00:27:33.010
the journalist never existed and neither did

647
00:27:33.010 --> 00:27:34.970
the magazine they claim that she wrote for.

648
00:27:34.970 --> 00:27:36.930
So in other words, someone made up, uh, a

649
00:27:36.930 --> 00:27:39.490
fake story about a fake story. And how far

650
00:27:39.490 --> 00:27:41.050
back it goes, you don't know. But who was the

651
00:27:41.050 --> 00:27:42.810
journalist who made up the story in the first

652
00:27:42.810 --> 00:27:44.570
place or made up the theory in the first

653
00:27:44.570 --> 00:27:46.210
place, saying that there was a journalist who

654
00:27:46.210 --> 00:27:49.210
made up a story about the spiders. There's

655
00:27:49.210 --> 00:27:51.170
urban legends within urban legends. Don't get

656
00:27:51.170 --> 00:27:52.850
up too close to a baby bird. The mother will

657
00:27:52.850 --> 00:27:55.130
smell it and abandon the nest. No, don't

658
00:27:55.130 --> 00:27:56.810
touch them. But not necessarily. They won't

659
00:27:56.810 --> 00:27:58.820
abandon the nest. Shaving makes your hair

660
00:27:58.820 --> 00:28:01.300
grow back thicker. No, just like when you get

661
00:28:01.300 --> 00:28:03.500
older, you get more hairs coming through.

662
00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:04.980
Shaving doesn't have a lot to do with it,

663
00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:07.220
apart from evening out the length of the hair

664
00:28:07.220 --> 00:28:10.060
and making them look thicker. Red flag to a

665
00:28:10.060 --> 00:28:12.380
bull. No, uh, bulls are partially colorblind,

666
00:28:12.380 --> 00:28:14.540
but it's the matter of waving the cape that,

667
00:28:14.540 --> 00:28:16.340
um, upsets the bull. They don't like people

668
00:28:16.340 --> 00:28:17.500
waving a flag at them.

669
00:28:17.580 --> 00:28:19.460
It doesn't have to be red. Looks good, but it

670
00:28:19.460 --> 00:28:21.460
doesn't have to be. Albert Einstein failed

671
00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:24.100
his math suggestion. No. That there was a

672
00:28:24.100 --> 00:28:26.180
confusion between the way they mark exams in

673
00:28:26.180 --> 00:28:28.340
Germany versus Switzerland, the scoring

674
00:28:28.340 --> 00:28:31.080
system. But it to five best to worst or one

675
00:28:31.080 --> 00:28:33.280
to five worst to best. They actually did

676
00:28:33.280 --> 00:28:35.440
quite well. In math, you only use 10% of your

677
00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:36.800
brain. Now, this is one that settled the

678
00:28:36.800 --> 00:28:38.240
time. I always thought it was a good excuse

679
00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:39.520
to actually drink too much because then you

680
00:28:39.520 --> 00:28:41.160
clear away the parts of the brain that don't

681
00:28:41.160 --> 00:28:43.360
work. But no, you use your whole brain to get

682
00:28:43.360 --> 00:28:45.319
the 10%. Heaven knows where that came from,

683
00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:47.480
but people still believe it. No, you use your

684
00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:48.920
brain all the time. Even when you're

685
00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:51.000
sleeping, the little brain bits are working

686
00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:52.320
away quite happily. Thank you.

687
00:28:52.320 --> 00:28:54.840
All over the place. So no sugar makes kids

688
00:28:54.840 --> 00:28:57.620
hyperactive? No, the tests have shown that

689
00:28:57.620 --> 00:28:59.500
it doesn't. The issue is it might have been

690
00:28:59.500 --> 00:29:01.380
the circumstances where they get lots of

691
00:29:01.380 --> 00:29:03.740
sugar, they become hyperactive, such as a

692
00:29:03.740 --> 00:29:05.060
birthday party or something like that, where

693
00:29:05.060 --> 00:29:06.900
if someone doesn't get sweets very often and

694
00:29:06.900 --> 00:29:08.330
you give them one, they get all excited. So,

695
00:29:08.330 --> 00:29:10.940
uh, it's a situation rather than the sugar.

696
00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:12.900
Lightning never strikes the same place twice?

697
00:29:13.060 --> 00:29:15.020
No. Obviously a lot of buildings have

698
00:29:15.020 --> 00:29:16.660
lightning rods. Some buildings have lightning

699
00:29:16.660 --> 00:29:18.780
laboratories built into them to try and

700
00:29:18.780 --> 00:29:20.620
measure how often lightning strikes and what

701
00:29:20.620 --> 00:29:22.500
force it is. You often don't get lightning

702
00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:23.980
hitting the same place twice, but it can.

703
00:29:23.980 --> 00:29:26.080
No reason why not. Great Wall of China is

704
00:29:26.080 --> 00:29:28.720
visible from space. No. One of the problems

705
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:30.240
is that the Great Wall of China is not that

706
00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:32.600
wide. It's about a single line roadway and

707
00:29:32.600 --> 00:29:33.430
it's not 1m.

708
00:29:33.760 --> 00:29:34.960
Stuart Gary: It's a whole bunch of walls.

709
00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:36.400
Tim Mendham: It's a whole bunch of walls. Yeah, because

710
00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:37.920
it's decayed and all sorts of things like

711
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:38.760
that. But I mean, it's.

712
00:29:38.760 --> 00:29:40.760
Stuart Gary: Technically you can see it from space now,

713
00:29:40.760 --> 00:29:43.320
but only because the spy satellites are so

714
00:29:43.320 --> 00:29:44.400
good in resolution now.

715
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:46.240
Tim Mendham: Yeah, that's right. Yes. I mean, but yeah,

716
00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.080
not for the human eye. Not to the human eye.

717
00:29:48.080 --> 00:29:49.160
And doesn't matter whether you're in the

718
00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:51.320
space station or what. It's not that wide. I

719
00:29:51.320 --> 00:29:53.160
mean, you've got three or four people walking

720
00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:54.800
abreast and that's about how wide it is.

721
00:29:54.800 --> 00:29:57.460
Napoleon Bonaparte was. No, he was average.

722
00:29:57.460 --> 00:29:59.260
It might have just been a publicity, a

723
00:29:59.260 --> 00:30:01.180
pejorative thing put out by the Brits. Five

724
00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:02.980
foot seven, which was average. It's not that

725
00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:04.460
unusual at the time. People are getting

726
00:30:04.460 --> 00:30:06.340
taller over the Years. Even in the last 200

727
00:30:06.340 --> 00:30:07.900
years, people are getting taller. The little

728
00:30:07.900 --> 00:30:09.700
corporal, they referred to him as. That was

729
00:30:09.700 --> 00:30:11.220
sort of saying almost putting him down.

730
00:30:11.220 --> 00:30:13.380
Similar way you sort of criticise the Nazi

731
00:30:13.380 --> 00:30:15.380
leaders based on their, um, testosterone

732
00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:17.060
level. But anyway, yeah, so he was. He was.

733
00:30:17.060 --> 00:30:19.100
He wasn't tall by. Necessarily by our

734
00:30:19.100 --> 00:30:21.180
standards these days. Cracking your knuckles

735
00:30:21.180 --> 00:30:23.540
causes arthritis now. Certainly annoying.

736
00:30:23.540 --> 00:30:25.100
Stuart Gary: I've never been cracking my knuckles.

737
00:30:25.330 --> 00:30:27.090
Tim Mendham: It doesn't cause arthritis. It said that.

738
00:30:27.090 --> 00:30:29.090
Yeah. It's popping fluid in the joints,

739
00:30:29.090 --> 00:30:31.650
forming bubbles. Form, blow up. Yeah.

740
00:30:31.650 --> 00:30:33.570
You have to wait three hours after eating to

741
00:30:33.570 --> 00:30:35.250
go for a swim. Apparently you don't. But they

742
00:30:35.250 --> 00:30:37.410
suggested that it is designed to stop kids

743
00:30:37.410 --> 00:30:39.330
throwing up if they've eaten too much. It's

744
00:30:39.330 --> 00:30:41.409
the same as eating a bit of food with 32

745
00:30:41.409 --> 00:30:43.210
chewing or something. I don't think anything

746
00:30:43.210 --> 00:30:45.530
lasts 32 chews on a particular food.

747
00:30:45.530 --> 00:30:47.610
Certainly not. Sue. Cats kill babies. They

748
00:30:47.610 --> 00:30:49.210
take the breath away, which is just out and

749
00:30:49.210 --> 00:30:51.210
out. Silly story. Also that cats used to lie

750
00:30:51.210 --> 00:30:53.640
on top of babies and suffocate them. No

751
00:30:53.640 --> 00:30:55.400
evidence. But it's a story that goes around.

752
00:30:55.480 --> 00:30:57.550
And lemmings don't. Suicide lemmings don't,

753
00:30:57.550 --> 00:30:59.320
uh, go rushing around when they over breed

754
00:30:59.320 --> 00:31:01.360
breeding season, get forced off and run away

755
00:31:01.360 --> 00:31:03.240
and fall over a cliff. No, that was made up.

756
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:04.680
There was actually suggestion. There was a

757
00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:07.070
Disney documentary. No, it's made up. And,

758
00:31:07.070 --> 00:31:09.720
um. Convincing that it's made up. All those

759
00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.080
things. Common beliefs that are sort of sound

760
00:31:12.080 --> 00:31:13.720
like fun and some people believe them.

761
00:31:13.720 --> 00:31:15.120
Seriously. Some people might believe them

762
00:31:15.120 --> 00:31:17.120
too. Seriously. And they organise their life

763
00:31:17.120 --> 00:31:18.840
according to them. Sorry to disappoint you.

764
00:31:18.840 --> 00:31:20.210
There's a lot of falsehoods out there,

765
00:31:20.760 --> 00:31:22.640
Stuart Gary: people who misunderstand average life

766
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:23.400
expectancy.

767
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:25.760
Tim Mendham: Yes. This is a wonderful thing, actually,

768
00:31:25.760 --> 00:31:28.360
that people say that way back when the

769
00:31:28.360 --> 00:31:30.400
average life expectancy was 40 years. So

770
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.880
aren't we doing a lot better? What we're

771
00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:33.840
doing better as is that babies don't die as

772
00:31:33.840 --> 00:31:36.560
often. So your average is a very poor

773
00:31:36.560 --> 00:31:37.960
indication of how long people live.

774
00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:40.140
People in the past lived till 80. Right. But,

775
00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:41.880
uh, there's also a lot of babies died under

776
00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:43.920
one year old, a lot more than now. So,

777
00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:46.360
therefore your average age between babies

778
00:31:46.360 --> 00:31:48.520
dying and people living to 80 was 40,

779
00:31:48.600 --> 00:31:50.760
roughly. Whatever. And these days your

780
00:31:50.760 --> 00:31:52.960
average age is in the 70s because part of the

781
00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:55.000
population is not dying at a very young age.

782
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:57.080
So, uh, that pushes the average up. So it's a

783
00:31:57.080 --> 00:32:00.000
bit of a statistical anomaly or a statistical

784
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.880
lie or a falsehood or wrong impression. It is

785
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:04.640
accurate, but it gives a false impression as

786
00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:06.720
to how long people lived. The problem was how

787
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.920
many babies died. And therefore living to

788
00:32:09.080 --> 00:32:11.320
average age 40 doesn't mean when you turn 40,

789
00:32:11.320 --> 00:32:12.640
you can't in the old days.

790
00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:14.520
Stuart Gary: And that brings you on to, um, do women live

791
00:32:14.520 --> 00:32:16.960
longer than men or is it just that men are in

792
00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:19.820
more dangerous environments and so they're

793
00:32:19.820 --> 00:32:21.900
more likely to die? And so the proportion of

794
00:32:21.900 --> 00:32:24.060
men compared to women living to a rope old

795
00:32:24.060 --> 00:32:24.700
age is lower?

796
00:32:24.700 --> 00:32:26.260
Tim Mendham: Yeah, well, that women nag me.

797
00:32:26.980 --> 00:32:29.460
Stuart Gary: Men just want to die. Earlier, a sexist would

798
00:32:29.460 --> 00:32:30.940
say this, would

799
00:32:30.940 --> 00:32:33.420
Tim Mendham: say, okay, was it lies, damned lies and

800
00:32:33.420 --> 00:32:35.419
statistics. And you got to look behind the

801
00:32:35.419 --> 00:32:37.740
statistics all the time about any survey you

802
00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:39.380
see. Look behind the statistics

803
00:32:40.260 --> 00:32:41.260
questions which put

804
00:32:41.260 --> 00:32:42.700
Stuart Gary: your mind in that frame of mind.

805
00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:44.700
Tim Mendham: Leading questions, leading analysis, all

806
00:32:44.700 --> 00:32:46.620
sorts of things. Yeah, statistics is a funny

807
00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:49.420
business, actually. And, um, I think 97% of

808
00:32:49.420 --> 00:32:50.380
statistics are wrong.

809
00:32:50.380 --> 00:32:53.120
Stuart Gary: That's the skip Timms Mendham. And

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00:32:53.120 --> 00:32:54.400
this is Space Time.

811
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:12.800
And that's the show for now. Space Time

812
00:33:12.800 --> 00:33:14.880
is available every Monday, Wednesday and

813
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Friday through bytes.com, soundcloud,

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830
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831
00:33:58.050 --> 00:34:00.450
with Stuart Gary. This has been another

832
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quality podcast production from bytes.com.