1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:05,000 This is Spacetime Series twenty six, Episode one hundred and nine, for broadcast 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:10,199 on the eleventh of September twenty twenty three. Coming up on Spacetime, Have 3 00:00:10,359 --> 00:00:17,839 they finally found Planet X? Japan's Chrism space telescope launches into orbit and discovery 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:24,079 of our own local baryonic acoustic oscillation. All that and more coming up on 5 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:49,079 Spacetime Welcome to Spacetime with Stewart Garry. Astronomers in Japan have found possible evidence 6 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:54,000 of an earthlike planet orbiting in the Kaiper Belt. The findings are reported in 7 00:00:54,039 --> 00:00:58,399 the Astronomical Journal and on the pre Press physics website archive dot org. Are 8 00:00:58,479 --> 00:01:03,799 based on the discovery event usual orbits for several Carper Belt objects, and suggest 9 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:08,239 a large Earth size planet orbiting around five hundred astronomical units out from the Sun. 10 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,840 An astronomical unit is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth, 11 00:01:14,079 --> 00:01:18,640 roughly one hundred and fifty million kilometers or eight point three light minutes. The 12 00:01:18,799 --> 00:01:23,040 Kiper Belt is a ring of comets, icy worlds, and frozen debris circling 13 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,640 the Sun out beyond the orbit of Neptune, which orbits some thirty astronomical units 14 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:33,640 out from the Sun. The dwarf planets Pluto and Sharon are probably the best 15 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,200 known Carper Belt objects. The new statis authors Patrick's to Fear like Kakwa from 16 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:45,000 Kindai University and Takashi Eater from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, describe the 17 00:01:45,079 --> 00:01:51,359 orbital properties of trans Neptunian objects, which appear to be consistent with gravitational perturbations 18 00:01:51,439 --> 00:01:55,040 that would have been caused by a planet not much bigger than the Earth orbiting 19 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:00,920 Among them, They also found a significant number of Carper built objects at inclination 20 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:06,920 orbits. Intrigued by their findings, follow up computer simulations designed to explain their 21 00:02:06,959 --> 00:02:12,919 observations showed that the most likely explanation was a relatively large carbo built object, 22 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:16,919 such as a planet. The simulations also showed that such a planet, if 23 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,000 it exists, would have a mass of between one and a half and three 24 00:02:21,159 --> 00:02:24,960 times that of the Earth, an inclination of approximately thirty degrees to the ecliptic 25 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:30,080 that is the plane where the planets roughly orbit the Sun, and an orbit 26 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:34,560 that would take the planet between two hundred and fifty and five hundred astronomical units 27 00:02:34,599 --> 00:02:38,599 out from the Sun. The new findings are just the latest effort in an 28 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:43,560 ongoing search for a so called planet nine, sometimes referred to as planet X. 29 00:02:44,159 --> 00:02:47,280 But what makes this new effort so interesting is that the suspected planets orbiting 30 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:53,080 much closer and than what previous studies have suggested. The first solid hints of 31 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:57,520 a possible planet X or planet nine came to light over a decade ago when 32 00:02:57,599 --> 00:03:01,879 astronomers were looking for objects which could pose a threat to the New Horizon spacecraft, 33 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:06,000 which at that time was on a mission to study Pluto on the Kuiper 34 00:03:06,039 --> 00:03:12,319 Belt. As they undertook their surveys, astronomers noticed some unusual gravitational perturbations in 35 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:15,719 the orbit of thirteen Kiper Belt objects, thought to have been caused by interactions 36 00:03:15,759 --> 00:03:22,360 with a yet to be discovered massive planet sized body. Then, careful calculations 37 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:25,879 of the orbit of a Kuiper Belt object twenty twelve VP one thirteen by planet 38 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:30,759 hunters in twenty fourteen led to the detection of similarities in the orbits of several 39 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:37,719 other distant Kuiper Belt objects, and it resulted in the new hypothesis postulating the 40 00:03:37,719 --> 00:03:43,199 possible existence of an unknown planet X or planet nine, now based on the 41 00:03:43,199 --> 00:03:46,599 earlier observations, the undiscovered world would be up to four times the size of 42 00:03:46,599 --> 00:03:52,240 the Earth and around nine times Earth's mass. Now that's a lot bigger what's 43 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:54,919 being proposed now. Also, the orbit was very different too. It was 44 00:03:54,960 --> 00:04:00,240 on a highly elongated orbit around the Sun, estimated to last at least fifteen 45 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:03,879 thousand earth years. If it exists, the mysterious planet X could be an 46 00:04:03,879 --> 00:04:09,199 interstellar rogue planet captured by the Sun's gravitational pool, or it could be a 47 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,319 planet that was stolen by the Sun's gravity from a neighboring star system early in 48 00:04:13,319 --> 00:04:15,839 the history of the Solar System, when the Sun was just leaving it still 49 00:04:15,839 --> 00:04:20,959 a nursery. Another option is that there are several models of planets in migration 50 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:26,240 within the Solar System, which suggests that as Jupiter and Satin migrated out to 51 00:04:26,319 --> 00:04:31,199 their current orbital positions, their gravitational perturbations caused Neptune and Uranus to also move 52 00:04:31,319 --> 00:04:36,680 outwards in the process, swapping their orbital positions and flinging a third ice giant, 53 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,040 which was part of the group, out into the Kiper Belt or possibly 54 00:04:41,079 --> 00:04:46,000 even beyond into interstellar space as a rogue planet. Oh And as for the 55 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,519 indecision between planet X and Planet nine. Well, the first ideas of a 56 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:54,800 planet X in the Kiper Belt came at a time when Plutter was still considered 57 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:59,759 a fully fledged planet before it was demoted to dwarf planet status, and so 58 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,720 Skyper Belt World would have been a tenth planet a planet X. This is 59 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:12,439 space time still to come. Japan's CHRISM space telescope launches into orbit and discovery 60 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,759 of our own local barryonic acoustic oscillation all that them or still to come on 61 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:40,560 spacetime. A powerful new Japanese X ray telescope is just blasted into orbit. 62 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,759 The X ray Imaging in Spectroscopy mission CHRISM was launched aboard an H two a 63 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:58,759 rocket from the Tankashima Space Center in southern Japan's just a gossip. We have 64 00:05:58,879 --> 00:06:02,079 a liftoff of the H Dwey launch peak or number of forty seven from jack 65 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:08,000 Start and the Gustimos based center at age forty two and level seconds am on 66 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:13,240 September stables depounced unt of time. The H Dewey is now flying about the 67 00:06:13,319 --> 00:06:17,839 amount of an ocean duley least led by Jackson, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 68 00:06:17,959 --> 00:06:21,800 and collaboration with NASA and the European Space Agency, the two thousand, three 69 00:06:21,879 --> 00:06:27,439 hundred kilograms spacecraft was placed into a five hundred and fifty kilometer high orbit. 70 00:06:28,079 --> 00:06:32,079 Jackson had been forced to scrub three earlier launch attempts hit bad weather. The 71 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:38,600 new orbiting observatory will spend the next month checking systems and calibrating instruments before beginning 72 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:43,639 a three year scientific mission. Once operational, CHRISM will study some of the 73 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,399 hardest objects in the universe, such as neutron stars, black holes as they're 74 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:55,240 feeding, and massive galaxy clusters. CHRISMS Principal investigator Richard Kelly from NASA's Gottat 75 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:59,399 Space Flight Center in green Belt, Maryland, says the spacecraft will also examine 76 00:06:59,439 --> 00:07:03,560 the aftermath of stellar explosions, and it will examine these speed of light particle 77 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:10,399 jets being launched from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. CHRISM will 78 00:07:10,399 --> 00:07:15,959 detect X rays with energies ranging from four hundred to twelve thousand electron vaults. 79 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:19,079 Now by comparison, the energy of visible light is around two to three electron 80 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:26,040 vaults. The electron vault range selected by scientists will provide astro physicists with new 81 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,879 information about some of the universe's hottest regions, some of its largest structures, 82 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:35,600 and objects with the strongest gravity. The mission has two principal instruments, Resolve 83 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:43,319 and EXTEND. Resolve as a microcalorometer spectrometer, developed in collaboration between NASA and 84 00:07:43,480 --> 00:07:47,759 JACKSA. When an X ray photon hits resolves six by six pixel detector, 85 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:54,120 its energy will cause a slight increase in temperature. By measuring each individual X 86 00:07:54,199 --> 00:07:59,399 rays energy, the instrument provides information about its source, such as its composition, 87 00:07:59,519 --> 00:08:03,680 it's and its physical state. But to detect these tiny temperature changes, 88 00:08:03,879 --> 00:08:09,920 Resolve needs to operate as just a fraction of degree above absolute zero minus two 89 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,480 hundred and seventy three point one five degrees celsius. To get that cold, 90 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:20,920 Resolves equipped with a multi stage mechanical cooling processor mounted inside a refrigerator size container 91 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:26,199 of liquid helium. Chrism's second instrument, Extend, is an image that developed 92 00:08:26,199 --> 00:08:30,240 by Jackson to give the spacecraft one of the largest fields of view of any 93 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,720 X ray imaging satellite ever flown. It will be able to observe an area 94 00:08:33,759 --> 00:08:39,320 about sixty percent larger than the average apparent size of the Moon, and the 95 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:45,120 images that collects will complement the data being collected by Resolve. Each instrument is 96 00:08:45,159 --> 00:08:48,080 mounted at the focus of its own X ray mirror assembly, designed and developed 97 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,200 by Godard. See The thing is, X ray wavelengths are so short they 98 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,679 pass straight between the atoms of dis shape mirrors used to capture visible, infrared, 99 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:03,559 and ultraviolet light become these issues. X ray astronomers use nested, curved 100 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,519 mirrors turn on their sides. When X ray photons hit these mirrors, they'll 101 00:09:07,559 --> 00:09:11,960 skip off the surfaces and into the detectors, just like a stone skipping across 102 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,840 the surface of a pond. Each of chrism's two mirrors houses hundreds of concentric, 103 00:09:16,919 --> 00:09:22,480 precisely shaped aluminum shells, builting quadrants and assembled into a circle. In 104 00:09:22,519 --> 00:09:26,799 all, there are over thirty two hundred individual mirror segments in the two mirror 105 00:09:26,799 --> 00:09:33,279 assemblies. Also aboard the h to A rocket for the launch was Jackson's Smart 106 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:39,080 Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM Spacecraft. SLIM is designed to demonstrate 107 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:45,759 new accurate pinpoint lunar landing techniques. NASA provided the laser retroreflector array used by 108 00:09:45,879 --> 00:09:50,759 SLIM as. Both agencies cooperate in international effort to further explore the Moon and 109 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:58,720 ultimately human exploration of Mars. This report from NASS TV SO X rays really 110 00:09:58,879 --> 00:10:07,960 shows us that's the universe is very argentina. We find X rays in jets 111 00:10:07,159 --> 00:10:13,440 erupting from the centers of active galaxies. We use them to measure the spin 112 00:10:13,919 --> 00:10:24,120 of black holes or supernova explosions. It takes a powerful event to produce cosmic 113 00:10:24,279 --> 00:10:28,440 X rays. Sometimes people also called the hot universe because you know when you 114 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:33,639 have this gas in galaxy clusters or also around galaxies that you can see only 115 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:37,240 in X rays. This gas is about ten million to one hundred million of 116 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,320 degrees, which is so hot. That's this gas does not radiating in opticals, 117 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,240 does not radiating in fright, but it only radiate an X rays. 118 00:10:46,879 --> 00:10:56,000 To further understand these hottest regions, we need the next generation X ray telescope. 119 00:10:56,879 --> 00:11:01,600 The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency or XA, is partnering with NASA and the 120 00:11:01,639 --> 00:11:11,120 European Space Agency to launch the next generation X ray space telescope. The telescope, 121 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:16,240 called CHRISM, weighs over five thousand pounds, stands over thirty feet tall 122 00:11:16,639 --> 00:11:22,960 and will orbit approximately three hundred and forty miles above Earth. We're familiar with 123 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:26,960 the medical uses of X rays. X ray light is energetic enough to pass 124 00:11:28,039 --> 00:11:33,240 through our skin. Our calcium dense bones absorb that light, blocking it from 125 00:11:33,279 --> 00:11:39,519 reaching the detector and creating a shadow. Luckily for US, X rays from 126 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:45,279 space don't make it through our atmosphere. But what that does mean is that 127 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:50,080 we have to send X ray hunting missions into orbit to detect this high energy 128 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:56,440 light. CHRISM also needs special kinds of mirrors, which are built at NASA's 129 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:01,320 Goddard Space Flight Center. The type of mirror is called a nested mirror. 130 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:09,279 It looks like like a cross section of the audience. X rays are so 131 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:15,480 energetic they fly right through typical mirrors. For the visible light, we typically 132 00:12:15,879 --> 00:12:18,879 placed the mirror like for that light just bounce back, but for the X 133 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:24,720 rays this doesn't work, So that we put the mirror like so that X 134 00:12:24,799 --> 00:12:31,559 rays just graze saurface of the shell. When they strike mirrors. At very 135 00:12:31,759 --> 00:12:37,120 shallow angles, X rays two can bounce and then so we made it that 136 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:43,799 like a corny call shell. Then X ray can be directed. CHRISM has 137 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,200 two instruments, each with their own mirror assembly, one for imaging called Extend, 138 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:56,639 the other for spectroscopy called Resolve. Jack's a built Extend to provide chrism 139 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:03,679 with a wide field of view. It can observe an area about sixty percent 140 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:13,120 larger than the average apparent size of the full moon. NASA's Resolve instrument is 141 00:13:13,159 --> 00:13:18,480 a spectrometer that splits X ray light like a prism so scientists can detect specific 142 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:24,600 elements present in the sources they're studying. It uses a small six by six 143 00:13:24,639 --> 00:13:31,440 pixel detector called a micro calorimeter, nestled in a refrigerator sized container of liquid 144 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:39,279 helium. Resolve will measure the small temperature changes caused when X rays hit one 145 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:45,879 of those pixels. To track such small temperature changes, resolves detectors must be 146 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:52,919 kept extremely cold. That liquid helium cryocooler will keep the instrument at point zero 147 00:13:54,120 --> 00:14:01,000 five degrees kelvin. It's so cold it is a fraction of a degree above 148 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:09,919 absolute zero. Heat is simply a product of moving atoms. Keeping resolves detector 149 00:14:09,399 --> 00:14:16,720 that cold means that the atoms barely move, so there's very little thermal noise 150 00:14:16,759 --> 00:14:30,639 in the system. It's what keeps these accurate measurements possible. Each X ray 151 00:14:30,639 --> 00:14:35,279 detected will help scientists pursue many questions about the hottest regions of the cosmos. 152 00:14:37,919 --> 00:14:48,120 What's happening in the extreme gravitational fields around black holes? Can we discover what 153 00:14:48,279 --> 00:14:56,440 is inside a neutron star? How did some of the universe's largest structures, 154 00:14:56,759 --> 00:15:07,039 like galaxy clusters evolve optical telescope you will just see in galaxies everywhere if you 155 00:15:07,639 --> 00:15:09,399 if you look at this same cluster of galaxies and X rays, you will 156 00:15:09,399 --> 00:15:13,480 see actually a lot of gas and the gas it constitutes actually most of the 157 00:15:13,519 --> 00:15:18,679 matter the cluster of the galaxies, which is something extreme important to understand because 158 00:15:18,679 --> 00:15:22,240 it means that most of the matter in the universe is not in the form 159 00:15:22,279 --> 00:15:26,480 of planets or stars, but it's really in the form and of these gas. 160 00:15:26,679 --> 00:15:35,480 So, but CHRISM really has this capability of decomposing this extraelites in a 161 00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:46,039 way that's much much more accurate than what has ever been done before. And 162 00:15:46,159 --> 00:15:50,600 in that report from Nassay TV, we heard from NASSA Chrism mission lestro physicist 163 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:58,120 Francis Maria at the Cashier Okajima this space time still to come discovery of the 164 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:03,559 local barry on a acoustic or oolation, and later in the Science report Australia 165 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,440 on course for increasingly hot and dry conditions. All that are more still the 166 00:16:07,519 --> 00:16:30,039 calm on space time. Astronomers have discovered an immense bubble eight hundred twenty million 167 00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:33,559 light years from Earth that's believed to be a fossil like remnant of the birth 168 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:37,879 of the universe. The bubble is thought to be the remains of a baryonic 169 00:16:37,919 --> 00:16:44,919 acoustic oscillation, a pressure wave of fluctuation in the density of visible baryonic that 170 00:16:45,159 --> 00:16:48,960 is, normal matter caused by acoustic density waves in the primordial plasma of the 171 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:55,519 early universe. In the same way that type one a supernova provide a standard 172 00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:00,679 candle for astronomical distance. Baryonic acoustic oscillations are over dense cities of matter, 173 00:17:00,759 --> 00:17:04,640 such as galaxies and galaxy clusters, and they're at set distances, just like 174 00:17:04,799 --> 00:17:11,359 standard candles or standard rulers at this time on the scale of cosmology. The 175 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,359 length of this standard ruler is given by the maximum distance acoustic waves could travel 176 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,680 in the primordial plasma before the plasma cool to a point where it became neutral. 177 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:26,000 Atoms that's the time of the epoch of recombination, which stopped the expansion 178 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:30,279 of the plasma density waves, freezing them at a place. The length of 179 00:17:30,279 --> 00:17:33,839 this standard ruler is about four hundred ninety million light years in today's universe, 180 00:17:34,519 --> 00:17:38,759 and it can be measured by looking at the large scale structure of matter using 181 00:17:38,799 --> 00:17:45,440 astronomical surveys. Current Big Bang theory tells us that during the first three hundred 182 00:17:45,519 --> 00:17:49,160 eighty thousand years of existence since the universe came into being thirteen point eight billion 183 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:53,880 years ago, it was a cauldron of harkwark gluon plasma, and within this 184 00:17:55,039 --> 00:18:00,400 plasma, electrons were separated from atomic nuclei. Now, during this period, 185 00:18:00,519 --> 00:18:04,599 regions with slightly higher densities began to collapse under gravity, even as the intense 186 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:11,119 bath of radiation was still attempting to push matter apart. This struggle between gravity 187 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,160 and radiation made the plasma oscillate or ripple, and spread outwards. The very 188 00:18:15,279 --> 00:18:19,920 largest ripples in the other universe depend on the distance a sound wave could travel, 189 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:25,000 set by the speed of sound and the plasma. This distance was the 190 00:18:25,039 --> 00:18:29,759 four hundred ninety million light years we mentioned earlier, and it became fixed in 191 00:18:29,839 --> 00:18:34,720 place once the universe cooled and stopped being a plasma, leaving vast three dimensional 192 00:18:34,839 --> 00:18:40,720 ripples in its wake. Then, throughout the eons of the Universe's existence, 193 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,960 galaxies and galaxy clusters formed at the density peaks of these enormous bubble like structures. 194 00:18:47,519 --> 00:18:51,079 The remnants of this plasma, now cooled down at just two point seven 195 00:18:51,079 --> 00:18:55,599 degrees above absolute zero, can still be seen across the universe as the cosmic 196 00:18:55,720 --> 00:19:00,599 microwave background radiation. You probably know it best as the faint white noise hiss 197 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:07,799 you get between stations on old analog radio and TV sets. The new structure, 198 00:19:07,799 --> 00:19:11,480 reported in the Astrophysical Journal, has been named Holilana, a term drawn 199 00:19:11,519 --> 00:19:18,000 from an Hawaiian creation chant involving the origins of structure. The studies lead author 200 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,319 Brent Tully from the University of Hawaii says he unexpectedly found the bubble while studying 201 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,839 a web of galaxies. He says his team weren't looking for it, but 202 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,119 it was so huge that it's spilled into the edges of the sector of the 203 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:36,000 scar that they were analyzing, and that piqued their interest as an enhancement in 204 00:19:36,039 --> 00:19:40,480 the density of galaxies. Turns out this bubbles a much stronger feature than expected. 205 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,480 The very large diameter of a billion light years is beyond theoretical expectations. 206 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:51,960 If its formation and evolution are in accordance with theory, then this baryonic acoustic 207 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:56,400 oscillation is closer than anticipated. That implies a higher value for the expansion rate 208 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:02,720 of the universe. Astronomer's low the bubble using data from the Cosmic Flows For 209 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:07,559 experiment, which is to date the largest compilation of precise distances to galaxies. 210 00:20:08,279 --> 00:20:12,119 Tally Co published a catalog last year, and this may be the first time 211 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:19,400 astronomers have identified an individual structure associated with a baryonic acoustic oscillation. The discovery 212 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:26,000 could help scientists bolster their knowledge on the effects of galaxy evolution. The same 213 00:20:26,039 --> 00:20:30,519 team of researchers also identified the Lanier Kya galaxy supercluster back in twenty fourteen. 214 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:36,559 That structure, which includes their own Milky Way galaxy on its outskirts, is 215 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:41,680 small in comparison, stretching at a diameter of about five hundred million light years. 216 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:45,240 Laniar Key extends to the near edge of this much larger bubble. Tully's 217 00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:49,759 team discovered that Ali Lana had already been noted in the twenty sixteen research paper 218 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:55,720 as the most prominent of several shell like structures seen in the Sloan Digital All 219 00:20:55,799 --> 00:21:00,720 Sky survey. However, the earlier work did not reveal the extent of the 220 00:21:00,759 --> 00:21:04,960 structure, and that team didn't conclude that they had found was the baryonic acoustic 221 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,839 oscillation. Using the Cosmic Flows full catalog, the authors were able to see 222 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:15,000 a full spherical shell of galaxies, identify its center and show that there really 223 00:21:15,039 --> 00:21:21,119 is a statistical enhancement in the density of galaxies in all directions from that center. 224 00:21:22,079 --> 00:21:26,519 Lellana encovers as many well known structures previously found by astronomers, such as 225 00:21:26,519 --> 00:21:30,640 the Harvard Smithsonian Great Wall containing the Coma cluster, the Hercules cluster, and 226 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:37,720 the Slowing Great Wall, the Boeties supercluster resides at its center. Computer simulations 227 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,920 have demonstrated that the shell structure identified as or Orlelana as less than a one 228 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:49,240 percent probability of being a statistical accident. Alilana has all the properties of a 229 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:56,480 theoretically anticipated baryonic acoustic oscillation, including the prominence of a rich supercluster at its 230 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,640 center. However, it does stand out stronger than expect. Also, a 231 00:22:00,799 --> 00:22:06,200 Elana is slightly larger than anticipated based on the theory of the Standard Model of 232 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:11,640 cosmology, but the size isn't accord with observations of the local expansion rate of 233 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,720 the universe and of galaxy flows on large scales. That also hinted subtle problems 234 00:22:15,799 --> 00:22:37,039 with the Standard Model. This space time and Time that to take a brief 235 00:22:37,079 --> 00:22:41,240 look at some of the other stories making us in science this week with the 236 00:22:41,319 --> 00:22:45,519 Science Report. A new study has found a worrying change in the Indian Ocean 237 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:52,000 surface temperatures, which are putting Southeast Australia on course for what it expected to 238 00:22:52,039 --> 00:22:57,000 be increasingly hot and dry conditions. The Indian Ocean dipole was found to be 239 00:22:57,079 --> 00:23:03,559 a major contributor to the severe drought and record hot temperatures seen across Australia last 240 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,319 year. The event, known as a positive Indian Ocean dipole, cut off 241 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:12,400 one of the major sources for Southern Australia's winter and spring rains. It also 242 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:17,519 set up the extremely hot and dry conditions which promoted the Black Summer bush fires 243 00:23:17,559 --> 00:23:22,240 of twenty nineteen and twenty twenty. The new research are reported in the journal 244 00:23:22,319 --> 00:23:27,039 Nature Reveals that these historically rare events have become far more frequent and intense over 245 00:23:27,039 --> 00:23:33,599 the past century, and the situation is expected to continue to worsen if greenhouse 246 00:23:33,599 --> 00:23:38,559 gas emissions continue to rise. To reach their conclusions, scientists used coral records 247 00:23:38,559 --> 00:23:45,400 from the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean to reconstruct Indian Ocean dipole variability over the last 248 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:51,839 millennium with unprecedented precision, and the authors found that historically strong events like last 249 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:56,880 year were incredibly rare. In fact, since the year twelve forty, scientists 250 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:02,079 could identify only ten of these extreme events, but four of those ten took 251 00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:07,119 place in the last sixty years. The research also showed that a persistent tight 252 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:11,519 coupling has existed between the variability of the Indian Ocean dipole and the Elnino southern 253 00:24:11,519 --> 00:24:18,119 oscillation in the Pacific Ocean during the last millennium. While the Indian Ocean dipole 254 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,039 and El Nino events can occur independently, periods of large year to year swings 255 00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:29,880 in the Indian oation variability also heightened Elno's southern oscillation variability across in the Pacific. 256 00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:36,680 Scientists have shown how the Black Death made the human immune system what it 257 00:24:36,759 --> 00:24:41,519 is today. Infectious diseases are one of the strongest drivers of human evolution, 258 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:48,359 and a pandemic can cause the genes involved in immune responses to evolve rapidly. 259 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,680 The study, reported in the journal Nature, analyzed ancient DNA samples from five 260 00:24:52,799 --> 00:24:56,960 hundred and sixteen individuals, all of whom died about the time of the Black 261 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:03,240 Death in the fourteenth century. They identified two hundred and forty five genetic variants. 262 00:25:03,319 --> 00:25:07,039 They are all very different when comparing pre and post Black Death samples. 263 00:25:07,799 --> 00:25:15,480 The variance associated with protection from Black Death bacterium overlap with genes associated with increased 264 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:21,640 susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. The authors say this highlights the contribution of a natural 265 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:27,559 selection of present day susceptibility towards chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The Black Death 266 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:33,440 is considered the deadliest plague to be recorded in human history, causing the deaths 267 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,920 of somewhere between seventy five million and two hundred million people. The pestilence was 268 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:45,039 a bubonic plague pandemic which infected western Eurasia countries as well as northern Africa between 269 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:49,119 thirteen forty six and thirteen fifty three. The Black Death is estimated to have 270 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,160 killed between thirty and sixty percent of the European population, as well as a 271 00:25:53,319 --> 00:25:59,319 third of the population of the Middle East. It's caused by the bacterium Yeshinia 272 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,960 pests, which is spread by fleas, but it can also take a secondary 273 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,200 form, or it's spread through a person to person contact by aerosols, causing 274 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:14,359 neneumonic plagues. The plague created religious, social, and economic upheavals with profound 275 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,880 effects on the course of European history. The pandemics thought of originated either from 276 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:23,759 Central or Eastern Asia, but its first definitive appearance was in the Crimea in 277 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:29,759 thirteen forty seven. From Crimea, it was most likely carried by fleas living 278 00:26:29,759 --> 00:26:34,799 on black rats. These traveled on Genoese trading ships, spreading throughout the Mediterranean 279 00:26:34,839 --> 00:26:40,119 Basin and reaching North Africa, Western Asia, and the rest of Europe through 280 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:45,880 Constantinople, Sicily and the Italian Peninsula. There's evidence that once it came ashore, 281 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,720 black death quickly spread person to person as inneumonic plague, and of course 282 00:26:49,759 --> 00:26:53,759 it wasn't just a single event. There were further outbreaks throughout the later Middle 283 00:26:53,799 --> 00:27:00,400 Ages, even continuing right through to the early nineteenth century. Sist of the 284 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:06,400 black death include fever, headaches, painful aching joints, nausea with vomiting, 285 00:27:06,519 --> 00:27:10,880 a general feeling of malaise, and the appearance of buboes in the groin, 286 00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:15,680 neck, and armpits which use pass and blood when opened. Left untreated, 287 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:23,200 eighty percent of those who contracted bubonic plague would die within eight days. Siters 288 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:27,880 have found that baling whales around the coast of California are estimated to ingest up 289 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:33,200 to ten million pieces of microplastics every day. The findings were reported in the 290 00:27:33,279 --> 00:27:40,680 journal Nature Communications. Combine microplastic data from the California Current with high resolution foraging 291 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:45,119 behavior measurements from one hundred and ninety one TAGG baling whales, including blue fin 292 00:27:45,319 --> 00:27:51,599 and humpback whales. They found that baling whales mainly fit at depths of fifty 293 00:27:51,599 --> 00:27:55,839 to two hundred and fifty meters and that just happens to be where most microplastics 294 00:27:55,839 --> 00:28:00,359 are found now. Based on their measurements, the authors estimate that blue wales 295 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:06,039 could consume up to ten million microplastic pieces every day, while humpback whales will 296 00:28:06,039 --> 00:28:11,519 still be consuming around four million pieces daily. The findings suggests that baaliing whales 297 00:28:11,599 --> 00:28:15,880 may consume the most plastic of any organisms, and that microplastics could pose a 298 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:22,920 far greater risk to these whales than previously thought. There's growing concern in the 299 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:30,680 international community about the honesty and trustworthiness of the World Health Organization, the world's 300 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:36,680 most powerful health authority, recently celebrated at seventy fifth birthday. The WHO was 301 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:41,160 originally set up by the United Nations to fight global diseases and provide medical treatments 302 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:47,319 to underdeveloped in Third world countries, but according to the medical Fraternity, the 303 00:28:47,559 --> 00:28:52,559 WHO appears to have lost its way. In recent years. It's been pushing 304 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:59,079 dangerous pseudo scientific treatments, including alternative medicine practices such as nature apathy, traditional 305 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:04,200 Chinese medicine, homeopathy, and a uvetic treatments. The situation grew worse after 306 00:29:04,319 --> 00:29:10,359 t Dross, a former guerrilla in Ethiopius socialist Tigray People's Liberation Front, became 307 00:29:10,599 --> 00:29:15,519 WHO Director General with the backing of the Chinese government. Then, in twenty 308 00:29:15,599 --> 00:29:21,079 seventeen, t Dross appointed Zimbabwe's asked that socialist President Robert mcgabe to serve as 309 00:29:21,079 --> 00:29:26,119 a WHO goodwill Ambassador mcgabe, a self described Marxist Leninist, had by this 310 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,599 stage been accused by the European Union, the Innited Nations Security Council, the 311 00:29:30,759 --> 00:29:37,240 Human Rights Watch and the Zimbabwe Council of Churches of being a dictator and responsible 312 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,160 for economic mismanagement and widespread corruption, as well as human rights abuses, including 313 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:47,200 anti white racism and crimes against humanity. It was also on the ted Dross 314 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:52,720 in twenty twenty that the WHO ignored warnings from front line doctors about a fast 315 00:29:52,759 --> 00:29:57,319 spreading new pandemic in China, which later became known as COVID nineteen. This 316 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:03,039 failure to respond gave the deadly virus the time it needed to quickly spread globally, 317 00:30:03,279 --> 00:30:07,880 killing an estimated eighteen million people so far. To amend them from a 318 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:12,319 strange skeptics says, now, instead of focusing on the provision of medical care 319 00:30:12,319 --> 00:30:18,960 to those who need it, the WHO is again promoting dangerous pseudo scientific treatments. 320 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:22,480 In most cases, we's done a great job. It's been so instrumental 321 00:30:22,519 --> 00:30:26,440 in treating sort of diseases around the world, especially in the world countries of 322 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,680 vaccimation and that sort of thing. So it's a very important body, so 323 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:33,200 to see it going in certain directions is a worry. And over the last 324 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,359 decade or so there have been signs, and they've sort of started off with 325 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,839 the promotion of traditional Chinese medicine, saying that this is a valid part of 326 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,160 medicine and should be regarded as part of normal treatments, et cetera. So 327 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:48,359 it's given the intromater of the who there's so much in traditional Chinese medicine which 328 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:52,640 is frankly which doctor stuff here is it's just magical thinking pretending to be ancient 329 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,680 medicine or something. But most of it's just sort of something You take some 330 00:30:56,759 --> 00:30:59,240 of the stuff that's in there and you develop it and l like you do 331 00:30:59,319 --> 00:31:02,440 with any sort of actual product, and you find the actual working product. 332 00:31:02,480 --> 00:31:06,400 But most of traditional medicine is based on very ready uncientific theories. Okay, 333 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,720 that's one aspect. At the same time, it's been pushing naturopathy, which 334 00:31:08,759 --> 00:31:12,680 is definitely magical thinking about the spirit of the body helping you cure, et 335 00:31:12,759 --> 00:31:17,000 cetera, and that promotes the whole range of pseudo sciences as well, and 336 00:31:17,279 --> 00:31:22,720 homeopathy. Will think the homeopathy is jumps another way of saying it. It 337 00:31:22,759 --> 00:31:26,200 can't work, it doesn't work, it shouldn't work, and it doesn't work. 338 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:27,640 So I mean the WHO to be pushing that. Now, there's a 339 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:32,440 lot of conspiracy theories about it, the reasons why the person who was running 340 00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:36,599 WHO for a while he was pushing Chinese medicine, and other suggestions that China 341 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:38,640 is a big thunder of the WHO, so they're trying to plaque eate a 342 00:31:40,119 --> 00:31:45,920 Chinese approach to medicine. We've certainly seen Chinese involvement in administration of the WHO 343 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:52,079 of lateran the WH refused to acknowledge the problems of COVID nineteen until very late. 344 00:31:52,559 --> 00:31:56,440 It was one of its great feelings and that was brought about by pressure 345 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,720 by the Chinese government. Yeah so yeah, we can probably say there's the 346 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,599 pressure from the Chinese government on a whole range of areas of medicine. I've 347 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:07,119 spoken to a number of people in Australia who are concerned about influence on research 348 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,799 activities, funding and control and sort of pushing certain areas before you're in for 349 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,960 I had a Nobel Prize with her who said that to me, it's a 350 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,839 concern and the concern of where the WHO is heading by trying to be a 351 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:20,400 bit too inclusive. Now the reasons for that was up to everybody to figure 352 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,759 out, but certainly the very factor of actually endorsing and saying that these things 353 00:32:22,799 --> 00:32:27,920 are valid when they're not, and coming from such an august body is a 354 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:30,559 real worry and it's an ongoing worrying. We have been sort of mentioning it 355 00:32:30,599 --> 00:32:35,519 ourselves, but so is the world basically that is really concerned about this. 356 00:32:35,759 --> 00:32:57,079 That's temendum from Australian skeptics, and that's the show for now. Space Time 357 00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,200 is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, 358 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:07,799 Google podcast, pocket Casts, Spotify, Acast, Amazon Music, bytes 359 00:33:07,839 --> 00:33:12,759 dot Com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcasts, download Provider, and 360 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:17,599 from Spacetime with Stewart Gary dot com. 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