WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.279 with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.320 gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for 4 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.239 unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.440 of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:23.800 slumber under the night sky. 7 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:30.079 For decades, we have been staring up into the infinite 8 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:35.560 dark of the cosmos just well, listening, waiting, right, waiting. 9 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:39.640 We've built these massive dishes, these sprawling arrays across deserts 10 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:42.799 and valleys, all tuned to the silence of space, and 11 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:47.119 we're listening for on one highly specific type of sound. 12 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.359 And it's an assumption the entire scientific community has held 13 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:52.679 onto with almost absolute certainty. 14 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.560 Yeah, the idea that if an advanced extraterrestrial civilization wanted 15 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.119 to reach out you say hello, they would broadcast the 16 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:05.239 signal so mathematically precise, so impossibly concentrated, that it couldn't 17 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:06.439 possibly be a mistake. 18 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.760 Exactly. We've been hunting for an artificial whisper in the dark. 19 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:11.920 The ultranaro frequency. 20 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:15.159 Spike right billions of dollars entire careers have been banked 21 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:17.640 on this one idea that an alien beacon would arrive 22 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:22.120 as this pristine razor thin line of pure electromagnetic energy. 23 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:24.879 But there is a massive problem with that assumption. 24 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:28.280 A huge problem. It basically treats the universe like it's 25 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:32.680 an empty, passive vacuum. We've treated interstellar space as if 26 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:35.760 it's a quiet concert hall where a single drop pin 27 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:38.159 would just echo perfectly for a million. 28 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.719 Light years, which it absolutely is. 29 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:42.359 No, not at all. The reality is that the cosmos 30 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:46.200 is a violently active, incredibly hostile environment for any kind 31 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:47.760 of electromagnetic communication. 32 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:52.439 So that exact pristine razor thin signal we've been banking 33 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:55.799 on it might actually be actively destroyed by the universe 34 00:01:55.959 --> 00:01:57.680 before it even has a chance to leave its home 35 00:01:57.719 --> 00:01:58.359 star system. 36 00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:00.799 That's the core of it. Back in twenty twenty six, 37 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.239 researchers doctor Vashal Gajar and Gray C. Brown introduced this 38 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:09.639 concept of exo interplanetary medium scattering or EXOIPM scattering. 39 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:11.919 For sure, XOIPM scattering, yes, and. 40 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:15.800 It fundamentally acts as the hidden gate keeper of alien signals. 41 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.520 Okay, I want you to imagine something. Imagine you are 42 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:21.639 the lead engineer on an alien world. You've spent centuries 43 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:26.120 of your civilization's GDP building the ultimate interstellar megaphone. 44 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:28.280 The pinnacle of your technology, exactly. 45 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:30.960 And you finally hit send on your masterpiece of a message. 46 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.680 It's a perfectly clear, ultra narrow broadcast aimed right at 47 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:39.039 the Milky Way. But before that pristine signal even clears 48 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:41.120 the orbit of your outer planets. 49 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:42.280 Your own son gets in the way. 50 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:45.719 Yes, the weather of your own son, This turbulent, churning 51 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:51.080 plasma of your star scrambles your perfect message into unrecognizable static. 52 00:02:51.319 --> 00:02:53.879 It's the ultimate galactic reply all disaster. 53 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:56.400 You're screaming into the void, but your own son is 54 00:02:56.439 --> 00:02:57.360 acting like a muffler. 55 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.000 It really forces a complete reckoning with how we understand 56 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:03.159 and the physics of stars, and also the hidden blind 57 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.319 spots of our own computational. 58 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:08.919 Technology, because we are faced with this haunting possibility that 59 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:11.319 the cosmos isn't actually quiet at all. 60 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.400 We might simply be listening in completely the wrong way. 61 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:17.000 So to really grasp the mechanics of this XOAPM scattering, 62 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:20.159 we first have to understand the basely difference between natural 63 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:25.719 astrophysical radio emissions and well engineered techno signatures. 64 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:28.240 The symphony of chaos versus the artificial whisper. 65 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:32.280 Right, because the universe is notoriously loud. It is screaming 66 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:36.159 in radio waves constantly. But the noise of star makes 67 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:40.680 and the noise a deliberate transmitter makes they are completely different. 68 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:46.240 Beasts, completely different natural celestial bodies and unguided astrophysical processes. 69 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:50.560 They simply do not emit perfectly narrow radio signals. 70 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:55.400 They broadcast across a massive, sweeping range of frequencies exactly. 71 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.439 The universe is filled with incredibly violent, chaotic physical processes. 72 00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:03.400 When you look at pulsars or quasars or the cosmic 73 00:04:03.479 --> 00:04:07.680 microwave background, you are observing physics at its absolute extreme. 74 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:09.919 Let's break that down a bit. Take a process like 75 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:12.000 synchrotron radiation for example. 76 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:14.319 Right, synchrotron radiation, so out in deep space you have 77 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:19.480 these powerful, twisting magnetic fields. When electrons interact with that environment. 78 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:21.639 They get caught and they begin spiraling. 79 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:25.439 Spiraling around those magnetic field lines at relativistic speeds, meaning 80 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:27.800 they are moving at a significant fraction of the speed 81 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:28.079 of light. 82 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.800 And as they spiral and accelerate, their shedding energy. 83 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:34.040 Right, yes, they shed it in the form of electromagnetic radiation. 84 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:37.680 But because the speeds, the magnetic field strengths, and the 85 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:42.279 angles of trajectory are just totally chaotic and constantly varying. 86 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:43.399 The resulting radiation is. 87 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:47.920 Smeared heavily, smeared across a vast spectrum of frequencies. It 88 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.560 is this massive, uncoordinated blast of radio noise. 89 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:53.600 And then you throw in plasma collisions. I mean, I 90 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.879 know there's another major source of broad spectrum noise when 91 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:59.439 particles start literally slamming into each other. 92 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:02.040 Ah, you're referring to Bremstralle. 93 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.439 Right breaking radiation exactly. 94 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:07.680 This happens when a charged particle like an electron is 95 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:11.879 violently deflected by another charged particle like an atomic nucleus. 96 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:13.519 It essentially slams on the brakes. 97 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.279 And in the quantum realm, when a charged particle is 98 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:20.439 violently decelerated or deflected like that, that lost kinetic energy 99 00:05:20.519 --> 00:05:24.079 has to go somewhere. It is emitted as electromagnetic energy. 100 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:27.439 So in a dense plasma cloud you have what billions 101 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:27.800 of these. 102 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:32.199 Collisions, billions of them happening randomly at varying speeds, varying angles. 103 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:35.879 The resulting radio waves are broadcast over a very broad, 104 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:37.319 very messy spectrum. 105 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:41.759 It's like a massive chaotic orchestra warming up before a performance. 106 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:45.920 You have hundreds of musicians. The violinists are plucking strings, 107 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.759 The brass section is blowing random blasts of air. The 108 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:50.240 percussionists are dropping things. 109 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:51.439 That's absolute noise. 110 00:05:51.879 --> 00:05:56.040 The sound is smeared across every possible audio frequency. There 111 00:05:56.120 --> 00:06:00.439 is no coherence. That broad spectrum noise is the cachaotic 112 00:06:00.519 --> 00:06:03.000 orchestra of natural celestial emissions. 113 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:06.680 And in that environment, an engineered techno signature, that ultra 114 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.120 narrow signal we've been searching for is mathematically modeled to 115 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:11.560 be just a few herts. 116 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:13.319 Wide, So it wouldn't be the chaotic warm up. 117 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:16.079 No, it would be a single, perfectly sustained note on 118 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:18.879 a tuning fork, piercing through all that chaotic noise. 119 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.759 Sounds so deliberate that your brain immediately registers, oh, someone 120 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.399 is doing that on purpose exactly. 121 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:29.639 A natural unguided celestial mechanism is basically completely incapable of 122 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:33.000 generating a signal that is perfectly compressed into a bandwidth 123 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:33.959 of just a few herts. 124 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:37.040 So if astronomer looks at a spectrographic signature, and it 125 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:40.800 presents this pristine vertical line on the data plod The 126 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:44.120 math just dictates it must be a delivered transmission, and. 127 00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:48.160 That specific mathematical logic has driven the entire architecture of 128 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:52.959 our search. Decades of telescope time, massive infrastructure projects, they've 129 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:56.399 all been built on the foundation of looking for that tuning. 130 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.199 Fork, which brings us to a massive structural vulnerability in 131 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:04.839 how we actually process astronomical data. We have an interstellar 132 00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:05.720 blind spot. 133 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:06.519 A huge one. 134 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.959 But wait, practically speaking, it's not like astronomers are ignoring 135 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.319 the fact that space is messy. I mean, our current 136 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.959 computational pipelines are incredibly sophisticated. 137 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:16.120 Oh, they are brilliant. 138 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.199 We know about the interstellar medium, right, that diffuse plasma 139 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:22.439 between the stars, and we have dedispersion algorithms to clean 140 00:07:22.519 --> 00:07:23.519 up the signal, don't we. 141 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:26.680 We do, and they are incredibly effective at what they're 142 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:30.639 designed to do. Existing detection algorithms strictly account for the 143 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.360 distortions that radio waves experience while traversing the vast distances 144 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:35.480 of interstellar space. 145 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:39.040 Because when radio waves travel through that low density, diffuse 146 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:43.360 plasma of the interstellar medium, they experience dispersion and scintillation. 147 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.879 Right, and the dispersion physics are fascinating because it's essentially 148 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:50.600 this massive cosmic race where the lower frequencies. 149 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:52.040 Lose the lower frequencies lose the race. 150 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.160 I love that it is fundamentally a problem of speed 151 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:59.519 and frequency interacting with plasma. Lower frequency radio waves interact 152 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:03.199 more heavily with the free electrons in the interstellar medium 153 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.000 than higher frequency. 154 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:05.959 Waves do, so there's more drag. 155 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:09.839 Exactly as a result, the lower frequency components of a 156 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:14.319 signal travel marginally slower through this diffuse plasma. 157 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:18.439 So if an alien civilization transmits a signal with multiple 158 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:21.720 frequency components simultaneously. 159 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:24.040 Those waves fan out over a journey of thousands of 160 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:25.000 light years. 161 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.399 And the higher frequencies arrive at Earth first, while the. 162 00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:30.399 Lower frequencies arrive with a measurable temporal delay. 163 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:34.759 Okay, so a sharp instantaneous burst arrives at Earth stretched out. 164 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.679 It ends up sounding more like a descending whistle because 165 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:39.840 the high notes at the telescope before the low notes. 166 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:44.639 Yes, and current search algorithms deploy highly complex dispersion techniques 167 00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:46.759 to counteract this exact effect. 168 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:48.080 They fix the whistle. 169 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.879 Right astronomers mathematically calculate the colon density of free electrons 170 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:56.559 in the interstellar space separating Earth from the target star. 171 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.840 They figure out how much stuff is in the. 172 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:04.320 Way exactly, and using that calculation, the algorithms realign the frequencies. 173 00:09:04.679 --> 00:09:08.080 They shift the delayed lower frequencies back in time to 174 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.720 perfectly reconstruct the original signal. 175 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:13.600 So we are absolute masters at cleaning up the dirt 176 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:14.679 from the interstellar highway. 177 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:15.080 We are. 178 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:19.279 But here's the fatal flaw in the entire operation. These 179 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:23.519 brilliant algorithms operate on one massive underlying assumption. 180 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:27.840 They assume that the signal entered interstellar space in perfect condition. 181 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:30.759 Right. They assume the structural integrity of the radio wave 182 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:34.759 is entirely undisturbed between the alien transmitter and the edge 183 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:36.080 of its host stars system. 184 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:40.240 The algorithms meticulously correct for the long highway between the stars, 185 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:44.080 completely ignoring the incredibly treacherous dirt road the signal has 186 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.600 to travel just to get out of its own planetary system. 187 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:48.440 They assume the starting line is clean. 188 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:51.879 And it isn't. Doctor Gajar and Grace C. Brown's twenty 189 00:09:51.879 --> 00:09:55.559 twenty six findings reveal that the astrosphere of a host 190 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:58.679 star is a violently disruptive environment. 191 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:02.159 We're shifting away from theater radical computer algorithms now and 192 00:10:02.240 --> 00:10:06.039 diving into the concrete, highly chaotic physics of a star's 193 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:09.279 environment because we tend to think of stars as these static, 194 00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:11.120 glowing backdrops. 195 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:13.519 But they are turbulent, magnetic oscillator. 196 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:15.519 Incredibly dynamic, violent engine. 197 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.200 Right. To understand how it actually destroys a signal, we 198 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:21.159 have to look at the specific agents of distortion within 199 00:10:21.320 --> 00:10:22.919 the host stars astrosphere. 200 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:24.279 Starting with stellar winds. 201 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:29.720 Yes, stellar winds create a highly structured, constantly shifting refractive environment. 202 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:33.399 These are streams of free electrons and protons blowing outward 203 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:35.480 from the star at tremendous speeds. 204 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:38.519 And it's a fluctuating, dense medium. But stellar winds are 205 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:42.080 just the baseline rather, right, You also have the severe storms. 206 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:46.720 The episodic eruptive events, yeah, coronal mass ejections or CMEs, 207 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:48.960 and powerful stellar flares. 208 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:50.480 Let's define a CME for a second. 209 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:54.200 A CME is a massive expulsion of plasma and magnetic 210 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:58.600 field from the star's corona. Billions of tons of superheated 211 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:02.000 plasma are literally hurled out into the planetary system. 212 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:05.799 They carry these incredibly complex, twisting magnetic fields. 213 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:09.720 With them exactly so our alien engineer fires up their machine. 214 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:16.279 The perfectly mathematically narrow tuning fork signal leaves the planet's atmosphere. 215 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:18.799 And immediately slams into this stellar space weather it. 216 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:21.799 Hits the fluctuating stellar winds, or it gets caught in 217 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:24.200 the turbulent wake of a coronal mass ejection. 218 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.480 And this is where we see the mechanics of EXOIPM smearing, 219 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:31.159 which is fundamentally rooted in optical multipath propagation. 220 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:35.039 Yes, when perfectly coherent radio waves hit a region of 221 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:40.240 fluctuating electron density, they experience varying indices of refraction. 222 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:44.799 Because the stellar plasma's density is violently fluctuating in milliseconds. 223 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:47.279 Right, So the radio wave experiences rapid phase variations. 224 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:49.960 So the electrons in the stellar plasma are swirling around 225 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.120 their pooling, they're thinning out instantly, and so the signal 226 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:56.080 is being bent and deflected a billion different ways simultaneously. 227 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:00.559 The rapid phase variations physically scatter the photons. The signal 228 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.639 does not just pass straight through, It takes multiple different 229 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:05.679 paths through the turbulent plasma. 230 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:08.919 Because the photons take slightly different paths, they arrive at 231 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:10.240 slightly different times. 232 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:14.960 And that physical redistribution of electromagnetic energy mutates the transmission. 233 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:19.320 A sharp, concentrated tone is morphed into a wide, faint, 234 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:20.679 dispersed footprint. 235 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:25.080 Imagine trying to shine a perfectly tight laser pointer through 236 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:26.960 a violently boiling pot of water. 237 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:28.799 That's a perfect way to visualize it. 238 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:32.799 The photons don't cease to exist, but the turbulent boiling 239 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:36.360 water bends and scatters the light so severely that on 240 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:38.600 the wall behind the pot, you don't see a sharp 241 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:39.279 laser dot. 242 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:42.600 You just see a faint, flickering, completely smeared wash of light. 243 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.240 That is exactly what a star's plasma does to an 244 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:46.480 alien radio signal. 245 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:50.039 The signal is shattered. This mathematical consequence is sometimes referred 246 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.039 to as the radio silence hypothesis. 247 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:53.600 The radio silence hypothesis. 248 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:58.200 Yes, the signal broadening physically renders technosignature is completely invisible 249 00:12:58.240 --> 00:12:59.639 to our current SETI searches. 250 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:03.519 But if the energy is still there, if the photons 251 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:07.480 didn't vanish in the boiling water, why can't our multi 252 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:09.320 billion dollar telescope see it. 253 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:12.399 It comes down to the rigorous physics of energy conservation 254 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.039 and how that dictates the failure of our algorithms. 255 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:16.039 Okay, walk me through that. 256 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.639 Well, the plasma surrounding the star is non absorptive. It 257 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.840 does not actually consume the radio waves energy. Right, The 258 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.279 total amount of electromagnetic energy that left the alien transmitter 259 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:30.720 remains exactly the same. The total energy is constant. However, 260 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.200 because the bandwidth of the signal increases drastically due to 261 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:38.320 the XOPM scattering, the peak amplitude, which is the intensity 262 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:42.840 of the signal at any one specific frequency, must drop proportionally. 263 00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:45.279 Think of a teaspoon of jam, a tea spoon and jam. 264 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.600 Stick with me here. The jam represents the total constant 265 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.440 energy of the alien radio signal. Okay, if you take 266 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:53.960 that jam and place it onto a tiny cracker, you 267 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.879 get a tall, highly visible, concentrated amount of jam. 268 00:13:58.039 --> 00:13:59.879 Right, that's your ultra narrowband signal. 269 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:03.519 But the stars plasma subjects the signal to XOPM scattering. 270 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:06.120 It forces you to take that exact same amount of 271 00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:10.000 jam and spread it out evenly over a giant, sixteen 272 00:14:10.039 --> 00:14:10.919 inch pizza crust. 273 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.879 The total energy hasn't changed. You still have one teaspoon 274 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:14.360 of jam. 275 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:17.240 But because it has been smeared across such a broad area, 276 00:14:17.759 --> 00:14:21.840 it becomes an imperceptibly thin, practically invisible. 277 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:26.320 Layer, and that thin layer causes modern automated algorithms to fail. 278 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:29.600 The pipelines deploy what are called matched filters, designed to 279 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:31.679 look at the cracker, not the pizza crust. 280 00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:35.600 They are optimized to look for power accumulating in extremely 281 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:37.000 narrow frequency bins. 282 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:40.200 They're checking millions of tiny channels looking for a massive 283 00:14:40.279 --> 00:14:41.519 spike of energy in just. 284 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.399 One of them, and if the stars plasma scatters the photons, 285 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:48.559 that power leaks out into thousands of adjacent bins exactly. 286 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:52.639 The algorithm checks that original narrow bin and sees only 287 00:14:52.679 --> 00:14:54.720 a tiny fraction of the original energy. 288 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.519 Because the energy is diluted across so many. 289 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:59.080 Channels, right, and so the algorithm fails to accumulate a 290 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:02.919 sufficient signal to noise ratio. The signal falls below rigid 291 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:04.000 detection thresholds. 292 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:06.559 The computer looks right at it, flags it as an 293 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:10.399 automated non detection and just classifies it as background noise. 294 00:15:10.440 --> 00:15:15.159 Which directly addresses the historical lack of detected signals. We've 295 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:17.639 wondered for decades why the sky is so quiet. 296 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:20.679 This hypothesis suggests the sky isn't quiet. 297 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.879 At all, not at all. Signals might physically be hitting 298 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.840 Earth's radio dishes right now, but because they have been 299 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:30.279 smeared out by their own sun's weather, they masquerade as 300 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:31.840 diffuse background noise. 301 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:34.679 We are filtering out the exact thing we are looking 302 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.559 for because it doesn't look the way we expected it to. 303 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:42.279 It's a profound paradigm shift. But theoretical physics isn't enough 304 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:45.279 to change an entire scientific field. You have to ground 305 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.840 the theory with empirical data. 306 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:48.519 You need proof exactly. 307 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:53.440 Researchers quantified and proved that XOIPM scattering actually happens by 308 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:54.720 using our own solar system. 309 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:57.440 Now that is fascinating. How do you prove that a 310 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.600 star ruins an alien signal when you don't actually have 311 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:02.080 an alien signal to test it on. 312 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:06.840 You establish boundary conditions and calibration metrics. Researchers needed a baseline. 313 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:11.879 They needed a perfectly continuous, narrow band signal passing through 314 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.559 a known measurable plasma environment. 315 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.480 So they used human engineering. 316 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:22.519 Yes, they used our own transmissions as artificial techno signatures. Specifically, 317 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.840 the telemetry transmissions from our deep space probes like. 318 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.360 The Voyager probes and planetary orbital exactly. 319 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:31.159 It's a brilliant experimental design really. 320 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:34.600 Because we built those spacecrafts so we have absolute knowledge 321 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.039 of their origin frequency. 322 00:16:36.519 --> 00:16:40.480 We know their transmission power and their uncorrupted spectral profile. 323 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:42.759 We know exactly what the signal looks like when it 324 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:44.039 leaves the antenna, and. 325 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.200 They operate within the localized plasma environment. We can observe 326 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:50.559 right here the solar wind of our own Sun. 327 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:55.279 Right so, observatories on Earth meticulously measured these known telemetry 328 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:58.480 signals as the lineup site between the spacecraft and Earth 329 00:16:58.600 --> 00:17:01.840 passed through varying density of our Sun's plasma winds. 330 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:06.640 Because during certain orbital alignments, a spacecraft's signal actually has 331 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.640 to pass very close to the edge of the Sun 332 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:09.759 to reach Earth. 333 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:12.920 Right it grazes the Sun's atmosphere during a solar conjunction. 334 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:13.960 And what did they find. 335 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:18.039 The researchers contrasted the data from these different alignments. When 336 00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:22.319 the transmission passed close to the dense, highly turbulent solar corona, 337 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.000 they observed extreme smearing. 338 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:27.920 The pristine telemetry signal. 339 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:31.480 Was shattered broadened, just as the theory predicted, but when 340 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:34.480 the alignment shifted and the radio waves only passed through 341 00:17:34.519 --> 00:17:37.279 the thinner quiescent solar wind far away. 342 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:39.759 From the Sun, the observed minimal smearing. 343 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:43.039 The signal remained relatively narrow and intact. 344 00:17:43.319 --> 00:17:46.400 So they literally watched our own sun destroy our own 345 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:49.559 signals and measured exactly how much it was happening based 346 00:17:49.559 --> 00:17:51.279 on the plasma density exactly. 347 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:56.119 The result was a precise mathematical correlation between measured plasma 348 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:59.960 column density and the resulting degree of frequency smearing observed 349 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:02.000 at Earth's receiving stations, and with. 350 00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:05.680 This localized data, they created a scalable framework to estimate 351 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:08.119 signal broadening across the cosmos. 352 00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:11.160 Which pivots this from a fascinating physics experiment into a 353 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:14.200 major crisis for traditional target selection because when. 354 00:18:14.039 --> 00:18:16.920 You take this math, which was calibrated on our relatively 355 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:19.680 calm Sun, and apply it to the rest of the galaxy, 356 00:18:20.039 --> 00:18:22.240 you slam right into the M dwarf dilemma. 357 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:25.759 The M dwarf dilemma, it fundamentally alters the search for 358 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:30.359 life because it concerns the dominant stellar demographic in the Milky. 359 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.880 Way M dwarfs or red dwarfs. 360 00:18:31.960 --> 00:18:34.640 Right, they make up approximately seventy five percent of the 361 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:35.759 stars in our galaxy. 362 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:41.039 Seventy five percent. That is a massive majority. Statistically, any 363 00:18:41.079 --> 00:18:44.759 comprehensive search for life just has to heavily prioritize them. 364 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:48.680 But applying the XOIPM scattering framework to a red dwarf 365 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:52.759 environment paints a chaotic picture of space weather. They aren't 366 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.000 just smaller, dimmer versions of our Sun. 367 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:58.079 Their internal physics are fundamentally different. 368 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:01.200 M dwells are fully convective, star fully convective. 369 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:02.720 Explain how that differs from our Sun. 370 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:05.519 In our Sun, energy is generated in the core, it 371 00:19:05.559 --> 00:19:08.720 travels through a radiative zone, and only the outer envelope 372 00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:12.000 is convective. But in an M dwarf, the convection zone 373 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.279 extends all the way down to the core. Superheated boiling 374 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:18.599 plasma circulates directly from the nuclear furnace at the core 375 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.480 all the way to the surface in massive chaotic loops. 376 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:25.880 That sounds intense that fully convective structure must generate incredibly powerful, 377 00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:29.000 wildly chaotic magnetic dynamos. 378 00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:33.799 It does, and correlating the EXOIPM framework to this environment 379 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:39.279 indicates extreme plasma turbulence. Their stellar winds are far denser 380 00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:42.960 than our suns, and their eruptive events are catastrophic by 381 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:43.880 our standards. 382 00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:46.799 So the coronal mass ejections and stellar flares from an 383 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:51.119 active M dwarf are exponentially more violent and frequent than 384 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:52.519 anything our sun produces. 385 00:19:52.680 --> 00:20:00.160 Yes, which highlights this massive paradox, the habitability versus detectability paradox. 386 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:03.400 Because as astronomers get incredibly excited finding rocky Earth sized 387 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.480 planets in the habitable zones of red. 388 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:09.119 Dwarfs, naturally, because the stars are dim, the zone where 389 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:11.839 liquid water can exist is tucked very close to the star. 390 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:14.759 They might have oceans, a perfect climate for biology the 391 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:16.000 whole nine yards. 392 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:18.119 But because that habitable planet is tucked in so close 393 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:21.359 to a highly active red dwarf, it is constantly blasted 394 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:23.319 by that exponentially violent space weather. 395 00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:26.319 The EXOIPM scattering model proves that while the planet might 396 00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:30.079 be perfectly habitable, the star's extreme plasma environment guarantees the 397 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:33.680 complete spectrographic destruction of any radio signal that an alien 398 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.240 civilization tries to send us. 399 00:20:35.559 --> 00:20:38.599 They have water, but they're stuck in a permanent radio 400 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:40.359 blackout of their own stars. 401 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:42.400