May 23, 2025
Unraveling Dark Matter's Origins, Mars' Stunning Aurora Discovery, and New X-Ray Mysteries
Sponsor Details: This episode is brought to with the support of NordVPN....the official VPN service of SpaceTime. To check out your special SpaceTime discount with 30 day money back guarantee, visit https://www.nordvpn.com/stuartgary or use the coupon...
Sponsor Details:
This episode is brought to with the support of NordVPN.. ..the official VPN service of SpaceTime. To check out your special SpaceTime discount with 30 day money back guarantee, visit www.nordvpn.com/stuartgary or use the coupon code STUARTGARY at checkout.
This episode of SpaceTime delves into groundbreaking discoveries and theories that reshape our understanding of the universe, including the origins of dark matter, the first visible light auroras on Mars, and new insights into massive X-ray explosions near supermassive black holes.
The Birth of Dark Matter Explained
A new hypothesis suggests that dark matter, which constitutes about 85% of the universe's mass, may have originated from massless particles that condensed as they slowed down. This theory, outlined in the journal Physical Review Letters, proposes that these particles formed during the early universe's chaotic conditions, akin to steam turning into water. We discuss how this model could be tested using existing cosmic microwave background radiation data, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of dark matter's properties and formation.
Visible Light Auroras on Mars
In a historic achievement, NASA's Perseverance rover has captured the first visible light auroras on Mars, confirming long-held theories about Martian atmospheric phenomena. This event, triggered by a massive solar flare, opens up new avenues for auroral research and suggests that future astronauts could witness these stunning displays on the Martian surface. We explore the implications of this discovery and how it enhances our understanding of solar interactions with planetary atmospheres.
Quasiperiodic Eruptions: A New Type of X-ray Explosion
Astronomers have identified a new type of X-ray outburst known as quasiperiodic eruptions, occurring near supermassive black holes. Observed in a galaxy 300 million light-years away, these eruptions exhibit a unique pattern, with events occurring every 4.5 days. We discuss the mechanisms behind these eruptions and their significance in understanding the dynamics of black holes and their surrounding environments.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Physical Review Letters
https://journals.aps.org/prl/
Science Advances
https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv
Astrophysical Journal
https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support .
00:00 This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 62 for broadcast on 23 May 2025
01:00 New theory explaining the birth of dark matter
12:15 First visible light auroras detected on Mars
20:30 Discovery of quasiperiodic eruptions near supermassive black holes
30:00 Science report: AI chatbots exaggerate research summaries
This episode is brought to with the support of NordVPN.. ..the official VPN service of SpaceTime. To check out your special SpaceTime discount with 30 day money back guarantee, visit www.nordvpn.com/stuartgary or use the coupon code STUARTGARY at checkout.
This episode of SpaceTime delves into groundbreaking discoveries and theories that reshape our understanding of the universe, including the origins of dark matter, the first visible light auroras on Mars, and new insights into massive X-ray explosions near supermassive black holes.
The Birth of Dark Matter Explained
A new hypothesis suggests that dark matter, which constitutes about 85% of the universe's mass, may have originated from massless particles that condensed as they slowed down. This theory, outlined in the journal Physical Review Letters, proposes that these particles formed during the early universe's chaotic conditions, akin to steam turning into water. We discuss how this model could be tested using existing cosmic microwave background radiation data, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of dark matter's properties and formation.
Visible Light Auroras on Mars
In a historic achievement, NASA's Perseverance rover has captured the first visible light auroras on Mars, confirming long-held theories about Martian atmospheric phenomena. This event, triggered by a massive solar flare, opens up new avenues for auroral research and suggests that future astronauts could witness these stunning displays on the Martian surface. We explore the implications of this discovery and how it enhances our understanding of solar interactions with planetary atmospheres.
Quasiperiodic Eruptions: A New Type of X-ray Explosion
Astronomers have identified a new type of X-ray outburst known as quasiperiodic eruptions, occurring near supermassive black holes. Observed in a galaxy 300 million light-years away, these eruptions exhibit a unique pattern, with events occurring every 4.5 days. We discuss the mechanisms behind these eruptions and their significance in understanding the dynamics of black holes and their surrounding environments.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Physical Review Letters
https://journals.aps.org/prl/
Science Advances
https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv
Astrophysical Journal
https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-space-astronomy--2458531/support .
00:00 This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 62 for broadcast on 23 May 2025
01:00 New theory explaining the birth of dark matter
12:15 First visible light auroras detected on Mars
20:30 Discovery of quasiperiodic eruptions near supermassive black holes
30:00 Science report: AI chatbots exaggerate research summaries
The Astronomy, Space, Technology & Science News Podcast.
WEBVTT
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Stuart Gary: this is space Time Series 28 Episode
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62 for broadcast on 23
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May 2025 coming up on
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SpaceTime, A new theory to explain the birth
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of dark matter. the first visible light auroral
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activity seen on Mars and a new type
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of massive X ray explosion discovered near
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monster black holes. All that and more
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coming up on Space Time.
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Voice Over Guy: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary
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Stuart Gary: A new study claims that the invisible, mysterious
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substance known as dark matter, may have formed when fast
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particles slowed down and got heavy. A
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new hypothesis reported in the journal Physical Review
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Letters suggests that dark matter, which makes up some
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85% of all material in the universe, sprang
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up from particles that rapidly condensed, sort of like
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steam turning into water. Of course, scientists still
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have no idea exactly what dark matter is.
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They only know it exists because they can see its gravitational
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influence on, normal so called baryonic matter, stopping
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galaxies from spinning apart as they rotate and
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magnifying distant objects. The study's
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authors say dark matter could have formed in the early life of the
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universe from the collision of high energy massless particles that
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lost their zip and took on an incredible amount of mass
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immediately upon pairing. Importantly,
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they claim their hypothesis can be tested using
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existing observational data. The
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extremely low energy particles they suggest make up dark
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matter would have a unique signature in the cosmic
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microwave background radiation, the leftover energy
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from the Big Bang, which fills the universe today as
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a faint glow. The study's lead author,
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Robert Caldwell from Dartmouth College, says dark matter
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started its life as near massless relativistic
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particles similar to photons. That's
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totally different to what dark matter is thought to be cold
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lumps that give galaxies their mass. Caldwell
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says. This new idea tries to explain how dark
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matter went from being light to being lumpy. These
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particles were similar to photons, massless
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particles that are the basic energy or quanta of light.
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And it was in this early chaos that extremely large
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numbers of these particles bonded to each other.
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Caldwell and colleagues theorized that these massless particles
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were pulled together by the opposing directions of their
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spin, sort of like the attraction between the north and south
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poles of a magnet. As the particles cooled,
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an imbalance in the particles spins caused their energy
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to plummet like steam, but rapidly condensing into
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water. And the outcome was the cold,
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heavy particles that scientists now think constitute
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dark matter. The most unexpected part of
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this mathematical model was the energy plummet that bridges
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the high density energy and the lumpy low energy,
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Caldwell says. At this stage, it's like these pairs were getting ready
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to become Dark matter. And this phase transition
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helps explain the abundance of dark matter being detected
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today. It all sprang from high density
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clusters of extremely energetic particles in the early
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universe. The study introduces a theoretical
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particle that would have initiated the transition to dark
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matter. The thing is, scientists already know
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that electrons can undergo a similar transition.
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See, at low temperatures, two electrons can form what are known as
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Cooper pairs. They can conduct electricity without
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resistance and are the active mechanism in certain
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superconductors. In fact, the authors cite the
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existence of Cooper pairs as evidence that the massless
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particles in their theory would have been capable of condensing
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into dark matter. they look towards superconductivity for
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clues as to whether a certain interaction could cause
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energy to drop so suddenly. As and Cooper pairs are
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the proof that this mechanism exists. The
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metamorphosis of these particles from the cosmic equivalent of
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a double espresso into day old oatmeal explains
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the vast deficit in the energy density of the current
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universe compared to its early days.
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Scientists know that density has declined since the Big Bang
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as the universe's energies expanded outwards.
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But the author's new idea also accounts for the
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increase in the density of mass. They say
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structures get their mass due to the density of cold
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dark matter. But there also has to be a
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mechanism where an energy density drops close to what we
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see around us today. their theory
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suggests that the particle pairs entered a cold, nearly
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pressureless state as they got slower and heavier.
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And this characteristic would make them stand out in the
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cosmic microwave background radiation. The
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cosmic microwave background radiation has been studied
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by several large scale projects. And the
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authors say both existing and future data from these
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projects could be used to test their ideas.
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This is space time still to come,
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the first visible light aurorae seen on Mars
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and a new type of massive X ray explosion
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discovered near monster black holes. All that and
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more still to come on spacetime.
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Foreign
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M Perseverance rovers made history by detecting
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visible light auroral activity on another planet
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for the first time. The detections were made
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during March last year, near the peak of the current
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solar cycle. And they were confirmed by
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NASA's Mars orbiting maven spacecraft.
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The event, reported in the journal Science Advances, was
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triggered by a massive solar flare on the sun which
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generated a coronal mass ejection, a huge
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explosion of gas and magnetic energy that carries
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vast amounts of solar energetic particles out into
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space. And this solar activity led to
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stunning auroral displays across the solar system,
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including on Mars, where the six wheeled KAR
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size Perseverance rover saw them in the skies above
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jethro Crater, the study's lead author, Elise
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Knudsen from the University of Oslo, says the discovery opens
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up new possibilities for auroral research and
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confirms that aurorae could be visible to future
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astronauts on the Martian surface. On
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Earth, aurorae form when solar particles interact with the
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planet's global magnetic field, funneling these
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particles towards the poles along magnetic field lines,
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during which time they collide with atoms and molecules in
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the Earth's atmosphere, emitting light. The most
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common color seen in earthly aurora is green, caused
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by collisions with oxygen atoms. For years,
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scientists have theorized that green light auroras would also
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exist on Mars, but suggested they would be much
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fainter and harder to capture than the green auroral
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activity seen on Earth. due to the red
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planet's lack of a global magnetic field. Mars
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has a different type of auroral activity to what we see
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on Earth. These include solar energetic
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particle aurorae, which Maven discovered in 2014.
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These occur when super energetic particles from the sun hit
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the Martian atmosphere, causing a reaction that makes the atmosphere
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glow across the entire night sky.
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While MAVENS already observed solar energetic particle
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aurora in ultraviolet light from Mars, the phenomenon has
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never been observed in visible light from the ground.
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Since solar energetic particle aurora typically occur during
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solar storms which increase during solar maximum
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like what we're in now, Knudsen and colleagues set their
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sights on capturing visible images and
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spectra of solar energetic particle aurorae from the
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Martian surface at the very peak of the Sun's current
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solar cycle. Through modeling, Knudsen determined
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the optimal angle for the Perseverance Rover's Supercam
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spectrometer MASTCAM Z camera to successfully
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observe the solar energetic particle aurora in
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visible light. And with this observational strategy
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now in place, it all came down to the timing and
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understanding the physics of coronal mass ejections.
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Scientists with the MAVEN mission determined there was a
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noticeable solar storm heading towards the red planet in
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March 2024, which should arrive a few days
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after the initial eruption on the Sun. And so
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they issued a Mars Space Weather Alert notification to
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all currently operating Mars missions. Few
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days later, that coronal mass ejection impacted Mars,
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providing a light show for the rover to capture and showing
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the aurora to be near uniform right across the
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sky. To confirm the presence of solar
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energetic particles during the auroral observations, the
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authors looked to maven's Solar energetic Particle instrument,
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which was additionally corroborated by data from the European
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Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter. That
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data from both orbital missions confirmed that the rover
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team on the ground had managed to successfully catch a
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glimpse of the phenomenon in the very narrow time
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window available. This is space
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time. Still to come. A new
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type of massive X ray explosion discovered near monster
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black holes. And later in the Science report,
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confirmation that artificial intelligence
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chatbots exaggerate the extent and
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scope of research in scientific papers.
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All that and more still to come on
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SpaceTime.
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And now it's back to our show.
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Astronomers have, for the first time probe the physical
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environment of a recently discovered new type of
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repeating X ray outburst. Found to exist near
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monster supermassive black holes.
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These massive X ray flares have been named
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quasiperiodic eruptions.
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Astronomers recently observed these events in a system
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named an sky, which is located in a galaxy about
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300 million light years away in the constellation
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Virgo. This event was the first
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indication that something unusual might be happening.
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It was the eighth and so far most powerful
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quasiperiodic eruption source discovered, setting
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the record in terms of both timing and duration. With
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eruptions every four and a half Earth days and with each
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eruption lasting around a day and a half.
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The observations were achieved by NASA's Neutron Star
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Interior Composition Explorer, or NISA telescope,
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which is mounted aboard the International Space Station.
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Additional information was provided by NASA's Swift
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Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X Ray
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Observatory, as well as the European Space Agency's XMM
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Newton Space Telescope. The study's lead author,
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Joanne Charaborti from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
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says these quasiperiodic eruptions are both mysterious
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and intensely interesting. One of the most
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intriguing aspects is their quasi periodic nature.
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See Astronomers are still trying to develop the mythologies and
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frameworks needed to understand exactly what's causing
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them. The findings reported in the
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Astrophysical Journal suggest that these eruptions occur
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in systems where a relatively low mass object passes
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through the disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black
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hole that holds holds hundreds of thousands to billions of
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times the mass of the Sun. When the lower mass
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object punches through the disk, its passage drives out
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expanding clouds of hot gas, which astronomers then
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observe as quasiperiodic eruptions in X rays.
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Astronomers think the eruption's quasi periodicity
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occurs because the smaller object's orbit isn't
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perfectly circular and spirals towards the black
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hole over time. Also, the extreme gravity
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close to the black hole warps the very fabric of
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spacetime, altering the object's orbit so they don't close
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on themselves with each cycle. Scientists
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current understanding suggests that these eruptions repeat
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until the disk disappears or until the orbiting object
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disintegrates, either of which could take several years.
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An ski's extreme properties may be due to the nature of
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the disk around its supermassive black hole.
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In most quasi periodic eruption systems, a
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supermassive black hole likely shreds the passing
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star, creating a small disk very close to itself.
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But in an ski's case, the authors think the disk is
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much larger and can involve objects further away,
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creating the longer timescale observed.
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Nice's position on the International Space Station allows it
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to observe an ski about 16 times every day.
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And this frequency of observations was critical in
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detecting the X ray fluctuations that revealed an
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SKI was producing quasiperiodic eruptions.
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The authors used data from Nicer and Exmier Newton
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to map the rapid evolution of the ejected material driving the
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observed eruptions in unprecedented detail. By
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studying variations in X ray intensity during the
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rise and fall of each eruption, they found
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that each impact resulted in roughly about a, quarter
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Jupiter's worth of mass, reaching expansion
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velocities around 15% the speed of light.
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And Nicer was then able to measure the size and
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temperature of the roughly spherical bubble of debris as
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it expanded. This report from
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NASA TV from its.
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Tim Mendham: Perch on the International Space Station, NASA's
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nicer X ray telescope has helped map a
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mysterious cosmic event for the first time
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it happened in a galaxy 300 million light years away.
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Astronomers call this system an Sky.
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An SKI produces a type of recurring X ray
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outburst called a qpe, or
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quasiperiodic eruption. These
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events were just recently discovered. AN
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SKY is only the eighth known QPE emitter and is the
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most energetic to date. Some
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scientists think QPEs occur when a lower mass
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object orbits a supermassive black hole in
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the center of a galaxy. When the smaller
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object passes through the disk of gas around the monster
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black hole, it produces a cloud of debris that
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causes an X ray outburst. The low mass
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object isn't on a circular orbit, and its motion
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is affected by the distortion of spacetime near the black
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hole. So the eruptions don't repeat over the same
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exact time frame, which is what makes them
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quasiperiodic. An ski's
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outbursts are the longest of all the QPES astronomers
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have studied, with eruptions every 4.5 days
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or so that last approximately one and a half days.
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That may be caused by a larger disk engulfing an
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object farther away. Nicer's
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observations of an SKI allowed scientists to probe the
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gas ejected from the disk. After each collision, the
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gas expands, reaching velocities about
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15% the speed of light and produces the
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X rays we see. As qpes,
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Nicer and other missions will continue to
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study AN SKY and other qpes, helping
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astronomers reveal their secrets.
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Stuart Gary: This is spacetime
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and time.
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now to take another brief look at some of the other stories making news in
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Science this week with a Science report. A
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new study has shown that artificial intelligence chatbots
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driven by large language models tend to exaggerate the
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scope of research when summarizing scientific
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papers. A report in the Journal of the Royal
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Society Open Science analyzed
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4,900 chatbot generated summaries of
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scientific abstracts. These abstracts
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themselves are short summaries found at the start of a scientific
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paper. They found the artificial intelligence
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was five times more likely to overgeneralize findings
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than a human expert. Now, the authors didn't
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ask the chatbots to write the summaries for an expert
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audience, but they did request systematic details and
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faithful abstract summaries in their prompts.
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Ironically, prompting for accuracy tended to increase
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overgeneralizations. And newer, larger language
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models were far less accurate than the older ones.
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In other words, AI is getting better at
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exaggerating and lying.
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Engineers have invented a small neuromorphic device
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that detects hand movement, stores memories, and
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processes information very much like a human brain,
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but without the need for an external computer.
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A report in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies
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claims the innovation marks a strong step towards
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enabling instant visual processing in autonomous
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vehicles as well as advanced robotics and other next
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generation applications for improved human
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interactions. Neuromorphic vision systems are
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designed to use similar analog processing to our brains,
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which can greatly reduce the amount of energy needed to perform
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complex visual tasks compared with the digital
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technologies being used today.
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Scientists have discovered the oldest ancestor for all
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living Australian tree frogs. A report in
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the journal Vertebrate Paleontology has shown that the newly
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identified species has distinct links with tree
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frogs found in South America.
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Previously, scientists believed Australian and South American tree
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frogs separated from each other about 33 million years
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ago. But the new discovery shows the split
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actually happened much earlier, about 55 million years
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ago.
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And now for the silliest story of the week. A
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former CIA agent claims he was taught to use his
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psychic abilities to undertake a remote viewing
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of the red planet Mars in its ancient past.
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And he claims he saw human civilizations
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there that were aware they were destined to face
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extinction. The trouble is, Tim Mendham from
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Australian Skeptics points out that while astronomers have mapped every
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inch of the Martian surface by satellite, they yet to find
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any evidence of ancient ruins. Even
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the famous face on Mars, sphinx in nearby pyramid
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shaped structures all turned out to be nothing more than the
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simple play of light and shade on natural rock
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formations.
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Tim mend: The CIA did real tests of psychics during
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the 70s 80s.
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Stuart Gary: This is the remote viewing stuff.
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Tim mend: Yeah, remote viewing, the power to influence something else like
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telekinesis, move things, various things as
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they would. And if you really are following the CIA as they
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probably should be, trying out any avenue they could find
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to see if there's something to an advantage to their site.
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Right. And they looked at psychic power for a number of years and then
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after a while said nothing worth looking at here. Not even
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anything that's sort of half inkling that could be developed.
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So there's nothing there to look at. And they spent a lot of money for it. And ever
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since then people have said, well the CIA looked at it, it must be true. No,
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they looked at it. They try everything. They tried looking at people who can knock
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goats over with that thought. They look at all sorts of strange things just
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in case one of them proved true. And in a way this is proof
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that it doesn't. It's not true because they stopped. Then they handed over all
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the information about it. It's available paper of the CIA investigations
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of UFOs. They readily handed over the information.
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Stuart Gary: They made a movie about it, several.
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Tim mend: So this was someone who was supposedly was one of the
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subjects being tested by the CIA. It's called Project
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Stargate was the actual program that was looking at remote viewing,
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which is seeing things from a distance. And this fellow claimed he could
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also see into the past and the future. He was describing himself
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as remote viewer number one. Says, wow, he must have been the best.
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For the first, we had high opinions of himself.
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And he reckoned he was given coordinates of a spot on Mars and
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the notation one million years BC and the
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location. And he spotted buildings, a pyramid. And he
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spotted humans, actual humans, but very tall humans
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who were looking very sad and very miserable because they were just about
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to be wiped out by some planetoid that brushed
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past Mars and stole the atmosphere from Mars. Would have happened very
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quickly. I think they must have had some warnings. So the visions he saw
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were inside this pyramid. Looked very sparse and a lot
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of people looking sad, and then they were gone. So he said there was definitely
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life on Mars. It's human, not even humanoid. It's
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human, big, tall, twice the size of us, living in giant
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pyramids. The CIA seriously looking at this, trying to find
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examples, evidence, and they couldn't find any. Okay. Whether
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you believe the CIA or not, this guy claims he did
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find something. He told them, and of course, instantly the evidence was
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covered up. So he's come back here 50 years later. Talk about
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what he, what he discovered then as remote
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viewer number one. There's no way to prove it. Obviously, 1,000,000 years
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BC is a very, very strange figure to choose.
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Seeing tall humanoids.
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Stuart Gary: You just saw the movie Avatar.
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Tim mend: Yeah, quite possibly it's just all too
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1950s science fiction sort of thing. As much as
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we all love 1950s science fiction, it's not necessarily
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an accurate, depiction of the way things are.
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Stuart Gary: That's Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics.
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And that's the show for now. Space Time is
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00:21:36.010 --> 00:21:38.570
available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through
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details. You've been listening to Space Time
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with Stuart Gary
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Voice Over Guy: This has been another quality podcast production from
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bitesz.com
0
00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:09.300
Stuart Gary: this is space Time Series 28 Episode
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00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:11.704
62 for broadcast on 23
2
00:00:11.829 --> 00:00:14.380
May 2025 coming up on
3
00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.300
SpaceTime, A new theory to explain the birth
4
00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:20.230
of dark matter. the first visible light auroral
5
00:00:20.230 --> 00:00:23.190
activity seen on Mars and a new type
6
00:00:23.190 --> 00:00:25.990
of massive X ray explosion discovered near
7
00:00:25.990 --> 00:00:28.820
monster black holes. All that and more
8
00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:30.640
coming up on Space Time.
9
00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:34.800
Voice Over Guy: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary
10
00:00:50.830 --> 00:00:53.550
Stuart Gary: A new study claims that the invisible, mysterious
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00:00:53.550 --> 00:00:56.240
substance known as dark matter, may have formed when fast
12
00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.180
particles slowed down and got heavy. A
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00:00:59.180 --> 00:01:01.940
new hypothesis reported in the journal Physical Review
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00:01:01.940 --> 00:01:04.660
Letters suggests that dark matter, which makes up some
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85% of all material in the universe, sprang
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up from particles that rapidly condensed, sort of like
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steam turning into water. Of course, scientists still
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have no idea exactly what dark matter is.
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They only know it exists because they can see its gravitational
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influence on, normal so called baryonic matter, stopping
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galaxies from spinning apart as they rotate and
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magnifying distant objects. The study's
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authors say dark matter could have formed in the early life of the
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universe from the collision of high energy massless particles that
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lost their zip and took on an incredible amount of mass
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immediately upon pairing. Importantly,
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they claim their hypothesis can be tested using
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existing observational data. The
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extremely low energy particles they suggest make up dark
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matter would have a unique signature in the cosmic
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microwave background radiation, the leftover energy
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from the Big Bang, which fills the universe today as
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a faint glow. The study's lead author,
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Robert Caldwell from Dartmouth College, says dark matter
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started its life as near massless relativistic
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particles similar to photons. That's
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totally different to what dark matter is thought to be cold
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lumps that give galaxies their mass. Caldwell
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says. This new idea tries to explain how dark
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matter went from being light to being lumpy. These
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particles were similar to photons, massless
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particles that are the basic energy or quanta of light.
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And it was in this early chaos that extremely large
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numbers of these particles bonded to each other.
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Caldwell and colleagues theorized that these massless particles
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were pulled together by the opposing directions of their
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spin, sort of like the attraction between the north and south
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poles of a magnet. As the particles cooled,
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an imbalance in the particles spins caused their energy
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to plummet like steam, but rapidly condensing into
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water. And the outcome was the cold,
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heavy particles that scientists now think constitute
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dark matter. The most unexpected part of
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this mathematical model was the energy plummet that bridges
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the high density energy and the lumpy low energy,
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Caldwell says. At this stage, it's like these pairs were getting ready
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to become Dark matter. And this phase transition
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helps explain the abundance of dark matter being detected
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today. It all sprang from high density
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clusters of extremely energetic particles in the early
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universe. The study introduces a theoretical
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particle that would have initiated the transition to dark
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matter. The thing is, scientists already know
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that electrons can undergo a similar transition.
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See, at low temperatures, two electrons can form what are known as
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Cooper pairs. They can conduct electricity without
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resistance and are the active mechanism in certain
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superconductors. In fact, the authors cite the
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existence of Cooper pairs as evidence that the massless
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particles in their theory would have been capable of condensing
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into dark matter. they look towards superconductivity for
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clues as to whether a certain interaction could cause
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energy to drop so suddenly. As and Cooper pairs are
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the proof that this mechanism exists. The
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metamorphosis of these particles from the cosmic equivalent of
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a double espresso into day old oatmeal explains
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the vast deficit in the energy density of the current
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universe compared to its early days.
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Scientists know that density has declined since the Big Bang
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as the universe's energies expanded outwards.
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But the author's new idea also accounts for the
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increase in the density of mass. They say
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structures get their mass due to the density of cold
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dark matter. But there also has to be a
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mechanism where an energy density drops close to what we
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see around us today. their theory
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suggests that the particle pairs entered a cold, nearly
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pressureless state as they got slower and heavier.
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And this characteristic would make them stand out in the
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cosmic microwave background radiation. The
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cosmic microwave background radiation has been studied
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by several large scale projects. And the
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authors say both existing and future data from these
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projects could be used to test their ideas.
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This is space time still to come,
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the first visible light aurorae seen on Mars
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and a new type of massive X ray explosion
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discovered near monster black holes. All that and
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more still to come on spacetime.
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Foreign
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M Perseverance rovers made history by detecting
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visible light auroral activity on another planet
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for the first time. The detections were made
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during March last year, near the peak of the current
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solar cycle. And they were confirmed by
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NASA's Mars orbiting maven spacecraft.
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The event, reported in the journal Science Advances, was
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triggered by a massive solar flare on the sun which
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generated a coronal mass ejection, a huge
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explosion of gas and magnetic energy that carries
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vast amounts of solar energetic particles out into
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space. And this solar activity led to
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stunning auroral displays across the solar system,
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including on Mars, where the six wheeled KAR
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size Perseverance rover saw them in the skies above
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jethro Crater, the study's lead author, Elise
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Knudsen from the University of Oslo, says the discovery opens
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up new possibilities for auroral research and
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confirms that aurorae could be visible to future
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astronauts on the Martian surface. On
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Earth, aurorae form when solar particles interact with the
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planet's global magnetic field, funneling these
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particles towards the poles along magnetic field lines,
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during which time they collide with atoms and molecules in
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the Earth's atmosphere, emitting light. The most
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common color seen in earthly aurora is green, caused
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by collisions with oxygen atoms. For years,
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scientists have theorized that green light auroras would also
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exist on Mars, but suggested they would be much
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fainter and harder to capture than the green auroral
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activity seen on Earth. due to the red
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planet's lack of a global magnetic field. Mars
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has a different type of auroral activity to what we see
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on Earth. These include solar energetic
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particle aurorae, which Maven discovered in 2014.
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These occur when super energetic particles from the sun hit
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the Martian atmosphere, causing a reaction that makes the atmosphere
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glow across the entire night sky.
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While MAVENS already observed solar energetic particle
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aurora in ultraviolet light from Mars, the phenomenon has
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never been observed in visible light from the ground.
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Since solar energetic particle aurora typically occur during
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solar storms which increase during solar maximum
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like what we're in now, Knudsen and colleagues set their
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sights on capturing visible images and
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spectra of solar energetic particle aurorae from the
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Martian surface at the very peak of the Sun's current
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solar cycle. Through modeling, Knudsen determined
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the optimal angle for the Perseverance Rover's Supercam
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spectrometer MASTCAM Z camera to successfully
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observe the solar energetic particle aurora in
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visible light. And with this observational strategy
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now in place, it all came down to the timing and
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understanding the physics of coronal mass ejections.
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Scientists with the MAVEN mission determined there was a
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noticeable solar storm heading towards the red planet in
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March 2024, which should arrive a few days
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after the initial eruption on the Sun. And so
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they issued a Mars Space Weather Alert notification to
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all currently operating Mars missions. Few
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days later, that coronal mass ejection impacted Mars,
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providing a light show for the rover to capture and showing
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the aurora to be near uniform right across the
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sky. To confirm the presence of solar
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energetic particles during the auroral observations, the
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authors looked to maven's Solar energetic Particle instrument,
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which was additionally corroborated by data from the European
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Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter. That
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data from both orbital missions confirmed that the rover
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team on the ground had managed to successfully catch a
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glimpse of the phenomenon in the very narrow time
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window available. This is space
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time. Still to come. A new
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type of massive X ray explosion discovered near monster
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black holes. And later in the Science report,
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confirmation that artificial intelligence
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chatbots exaggerate the extent and
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scope of research in scientific papers.
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All that and more still to come on
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SpaceTime.
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And now it's back to our show.
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Astronomers have, for the first time probe the physical
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environment of a recently discovered new type of
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repeating X ray outburst. Found to exist near
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monster supermassive black holes.
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These massive X ray flares have been named
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quasiperiodic eruptions.
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Astronomers recently observed these events in a system
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named an sky, which is located in a galaxy about
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300 million light years away in the constellation
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Virgo. This event was the first
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indication that something unusual might be happening.
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It was the eighth and so far most powerful
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quasiperiodic eruption source discovered, setting
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the record in terms of both timing and duration. With
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eruptions every four and a half Earth days and with each
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eruption lasting around a day and a half.
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The observations were achieved by NASA's Neutron Star
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Interior Composition Explorer, or NISA telescope,
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which is mounted aboard the International Space Station.
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Additional information was provided by NASA's Swift
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Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X Ray
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Observatory, as well as the European Space Agency's XMM
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Newton Space Telescope. The study's lead author,
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Joanne Charaborti from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
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says these quasiperiodic eruptions are both mysterious
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and intensely interesting. One of the most
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intriguing aspects is their quasi periodic nature.
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See Astronomers are still trying to develop the mythologies and
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frameworks needed to understand exactly what's causing
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them. The findings reported in the
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Astrophysical Journal suggest that these eruptions occur
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in systems where a relatively low mass object passes
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through the disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black
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hole that holds holds hundreds of thousands to billions of
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times the mass of the Sun. When the lower mass
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object punches through the disk, its passage drives out
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expanding clouds of hot gas, which astronomers then
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observe as quasiperiodic eruptions in X rays.
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Astronomers think the eruption's quasi periodicity
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occurs because the smaller object's orbit isn't
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perfectly circular and spirals towards the black
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hole over time. Also, the extreme gravity
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close to the black hole warps the very fabric of
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spacetime, altering the object's orbit so they don't close
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on themselves with each cycle. Scientists
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current understanding suggests that these eruptions repeat
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until the disk disappears or until the orbiting object
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disintegrates, either of which could take several years.
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An ski's extreme properties may be due to the nature of
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the disk around its supermassive black hole.
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In most quasi periodic eruption systems, a
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supermassive black hole likely shreds the passing
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star, creating a small disk very close to itself.
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But in an ski's case, the authors think the disk is
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much larger and can involve objects further away,
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creating the longer timescale observed.
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Nice's position on the International Space Station allows it
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to observe an ski about 16 times every day.
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And this frequency of observations was critical in
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detecting the X ray fluctuations that revealed an
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SKI was producing quasiperiodic eruptions.
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The authors used data from Nicer and Exmier Newton
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to map the rapid evolution of the ejected material driving the
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observed eruptions in unprecedented detail. By
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studying variations in X ray intensity during the
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rise and fall of each eruption, they found
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that each impact resulted in roughly about a, quarter
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Jupiter's worth of mass, reaching expansion
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velocities around 15% the speed of light.
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And Nicer was then able to measure the size and
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temperature of the roughly spherical bubble of debris as
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it expanded. This report from
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NASA TV from its.
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Tim Mendham: Perch on the International Space Station, NASA's
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nicer X ray telescope has helped map a
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mysterious cosmic event for the first time
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it happened in a galaxy 300 million light years away.
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Astronomers call this system an Sky.
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An SKI produces a type of recurring X ray
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outburst called a qpe, or
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quasiperiodic eruption. These
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events were just recently discovered. AN
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SKY is only the eighth known QPE emitter and is the
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most energetic to date. Some
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scientists think QPEs occur when a lower mass
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object orbits a supermassive black hole in
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the center of a galaxy. When the smaller
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object passes through the disk of gas around the monster
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black hole, it produces a cloud of debris that
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causes an X ray outburst. The low mass
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object isn't on a circular orbit, and its motion
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is affected by the distortion of spacetime near the black
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hole. So the eruptions don't repeat over the same
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exact time frame, which is what makes them
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quasiperiodic. An ski's
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outbursts are the longest of all the QPES astronomers
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have studied, with eruptions every 4.5 days
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or so that last approximately one and a half days.
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That may be caused by a larger disk engulfing an
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object farther away. Nicer's
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observations of an SKI allowed scientists to probe the
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gas ejected from the disk. After each collision, the
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gas expands, reaching velocities about
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15% the speed of light and produces the
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X rays we see. As qpes,
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Nicer and other missions will continue to
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study AN SKY and other qpes, helping
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astronomers reveal their secrets.
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Stuart Gary: This is spacetime
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and time.
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now to take another brief look at some of the other stories making news in
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Science this week with a Science report. A
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new study has shown that artificial intelligence chatbots
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driven by large language models tend to exaggerate the
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scope of research when summarizing scientific
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papers. A report in the Journal of the Royal
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Society Open Science analyzed
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4,900 chatbot generated summaries of
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scientific abstracts. These abstracts
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themselves are short summaries found at the start of a scientific
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paper. They found the artificial intelligence
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was five times more likely to overgeneralize findings
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than a human expert. Now, the authors didn't
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ask the chatbots to write the summaries for an expert
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audience, but they did request systematic details and
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faithful abstract summaries in their prompts.
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Ironically, prompting for accuracy tended to increase
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overgeneralizations. And newer, larger language
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models were far less accurate than the older ones.
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In other words, AI is getting better at
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exaggerating and lying.
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Engineers have invented a small neuromorphic device
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that detects hand movement, stores memories, and
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processes information very much like a human brain,
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but without the need for an external computer.
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A report in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies
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claims the innovation marks a strong step towards
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enabling instant visual processing in autonomous
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vehicles as well as advanced robotics and other next
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generation applications for improved human
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interactions. Neuromorphic vision systems are
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designed to use similar analog processing to our brains,
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which can greatly reduce the amount of energy needed to perform
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complex visual tasks compared with the digital
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technologies being used today.
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Scientists have discovered the oldest ancestor for all
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living Australian tree frogs. A report in
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the journal Vertebrate Paleontology has shown that the newly
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identified species has distinct links with tree
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frogs found in South America.
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Previously, scientists believed Australian and South American tree
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frogs separated from each other about 33 million years
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ago. But the new discovery shows the split
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actually happened much earlier, about 55 million years
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ago.
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And now for the silliest story of the week. A
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former CIA agent claims he was taught to use his
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psychic abilities to undertake a remote viewing
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of the red planet Mars in its ancient past.
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And he claims he saw human civilizations
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there that were aware they were destined to face
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extinction. The trouble is, Tim Mendham from
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Australian Skeptics points out that while astronomers have mapped every
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inch of the Martian surface by satellite, they yet to find
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any evidence of ancient ruins. Even
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the famous face on Mars, sphinx in nearby pyramid
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shaped structures all turned out to be nothing more than the
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simple play of light and shade on natural rock
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formations.
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Tim mend: The CIA did real tests of psychics during
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the 70s 80s.
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Stuart Gary: This is the remote viewing stuff.
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Tim mend: Yeah, remote viewing, the power to influence something else like
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telekinesis, move things, various things as
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they would. And if you really are following the CIA as they
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probably should be, trying out any avenue they could find
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to see if there's something to an advantage to their site.
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Right. And they looked at psychic power for a number of years and then
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after a while said nothing worth looking at here. Not even
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anything that's sort of half inkling that could be developed.
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So there's nothing there to look at. And they spent a lot of money for it. And ever
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since then people have said, well the CIA looked at it, it must be true. No,
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they looked at it. They try everything. They tried looking at people who can knock
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goats over with that thought. They look at all sorts of strange things just
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in case one of them proved true. And in a way this is proof
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that it doesn't. It's not true because they stopped. Then they handed over all
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the information about it. It's available paper of the CIA investigations
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of UFOs. They readily handed over the information.
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Stuart Gary: They made a movie about it, several.
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Tim mend: So this was someone who was supposedly was one of the
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subjects being tested by the CIA. It's called Project
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Stargate was the actual program that was looking at remote viewing,
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which is seeing things from a distance. And this fellow claimed he could
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also see into the past and the future. He was describing himself
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as remote viewer number one. Says, wow, he must have been the best.
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For the first, we had high opinions of himself.
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And he reckoned he was given coordinates of a spot on Mars and
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the notation one million years BC and the
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location. And he spotted buildings, a pyramid. And he
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spotted humans, actual humans, but very tall humans
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who were looking very sad and very miserable because they were just about
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to be wiped out by some planetoid that brushed
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past Mars and stole the atmosphere from Mars. Would have happened very
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quickly. I think they must have had some warnings. So the visions he saw
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were inside this pyramid. Looked very sparse and a lot
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of people looking sad, and then they were gone. So he said there was definitely
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life on Mars. It's human, not even humanoid. It's
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human, big, tall, twice the size of us, living in giant
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pyramids. The CIA seriously looking at this, trying to find
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examples, evidence, and they couldn't find any. Okay. Whether
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you believe the CIA or not, this guy claims he did
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find something. He told them, and of course, instantly the evidence was
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covered up. So he's come back here 50 years later. Talk about
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what he, what he discovered then as remote
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viewer number one. There's no way to prove it. Obviously, 1,000,000 years
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BC is a very, very strange figure to choose.
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Seeing tall humanoids.
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Stuart Gary: You just saw the movie Avatar.
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Tim mend: Yeah, quite possibly it's just all too
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1950s science fiction sort of thing. As much as
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we all love 1950s science fiction, it's not necessarily
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an accurate, depiction of the way things are.
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Stuart Gary: That's Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics.
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And that's the show for now. Space Time is
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00:21:36.010 --> 00:21:38.570
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