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Speaker 1: Imagine a world plunged into darkness. I mean really imagine it,

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not just you know, a local blackout, but a deep

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silence falling everywhere. The familiar hum of electricity just stops.

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The Internet goes completely dark. Every screen you look at

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is just blank, lifeless.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, stark picture.

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Speaker 1: And what if the sort of protective bubble around our planet,

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the thing that's kept us safe for billions of years,

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starts to fray. What if it leaves as totally exposed

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to these well cosmic forces that could genuinely reshape life

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as we know it.

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Speaker 3: It sounds like something straight out of science fiction, absolutely,

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but the core ideas, the seeds of this possibility, they're

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actually rooted in some very real, measurable changes that are

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happening right now.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so today we're doing a deep dive into this

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fascinating and honestly sometimes pretty unsettling idea of a plasma apocalypse.

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Speaker 3: Right and when we say plasma here, we should probably

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clarify we're talking about the superheated, highly energized gas, you know,

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where electrons have been stripped from their atoms. It's often

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called the fourth state of matter, and it behaves in

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these really dynamic, electrically charged ways.

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Speaker 1: Got it. And we've got a fair bit of material

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to look at today, haven't we.

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Speaker 3: We do, Yeah, a pretty big stack actually, everything from

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proper scientific journals talking about deep space radiation, the real

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measurable stuff, how it affects the human body. Then there

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are these detailed historical accounts of massive solar events that well,

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they've already caused chaos with our early tech, right. And yes,

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we're also going to dig into a let's say, particularly

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provocative podcast that gets into some really mind bending claims

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about what could happen if Earth's defenses really truly fail.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So our mission today is basically to unpack all

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of this, help you the listener, sort through the verifiable

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science the more speculative stuff, and figure out what it

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all genuinely means for us here on Earth. We'll look

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at how our planet's magnetic field, which is essential, right,

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how it's changing subtly but significantly. We'll cover the very

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immediate dangers from solar storms, especially for our super connected

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modern world. And then yeah, like you said, we'll step

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into some really extraordinary theories about what might happen if

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that shield gets seriously compromised. So just laying that out,

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what part of this whole topic grabs you the most?

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What do you think might really surprise people listening?

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Speaker 3: You know? I think it's that exact intersection, the place

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where established scientific understanding meets these almost fringe, kind of

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mythical concepts.

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Speaker 2: That's what makes this whole thing so captivating.

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Speaker 3: I think the science community they've known for ages how

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crucial the magnetic field is, how it sustains life, and

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the threats from the sun. They're not just theoretical, they're

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well documented and honestly increasingly worrying in our tech age.

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But what's really fascinating is how some of these scientific

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realities can almost become a foundation or maybe even inspire

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these much more extreme, almost apocalyptic theories. It's this constant dance,

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isn't it, between what we actually know and what we

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deeply fear.

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Speaker 1: That intersection is exactly why we need to dive into this. Okay,

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let's start at the beginning. Earth's main protector, this invisible shield,

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the magnetic field. It's fundamental. Can you maybe break down

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what this shield actually is and why it's just so

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critically important?

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Speaker 3: Okay, So, at its very heart, the Earth's magnetic field

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is this huge dynamic force field, and it's generated deep

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deep inside the planet. Specifically, it comes from the swirling

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currents of molten iron and nickel in Earth's outer core.

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Speaker 2: It's all electrically conductive down there, a giant engine or

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something exactly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, think of it like a massive self sustaining dynamo

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constantly churning away, generating these incredibly powerful electrical currents, and

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those currents in turn produce the magnetic field. It stretches

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way out into space, creating what we usually call the magnetosphere.

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Right the magnetosphere, and that acts as our planet's main defense.

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It deflects most of the harmful charge particles that the

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Sun throws at us, you know, from the solar solar flares,

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and it also shields us from the more distant, more

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powerful cosmic radiation coming from deep space. Honestly, without it,

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our atmosphere would probably be stripped away over time, lifelike

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hours impossible due to the constant radiation bombardment.

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Speaker 1: And it's been doing this for well an incredibly long time,

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hasn't it. It's not a recent.

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Speaker 3: Development, astonishingly long. Its stability is remarkable. This field has

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effectively protected life on Earth for nearly what three point

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eight billion years. That really tells you how fundamental it

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is for Earth being habitable. And now it does very naturally.

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You know, it fluctuates in strength, it's direction changes over

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geological time, sure, but its long term consistency is genuinely amazing,

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especially when you think about the well, the turbulent, almost

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chaotic processes deep inside the planet that generate it.

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Speaker 2: It's been this.

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Speaker 3: Constant, enduring guardian just silently deflecting all this nasty radiation,

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allowing complex life to evolve and you know, thrive, and.

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Speaker 1: It's not just us complex life forms relying on it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You often hear about animals, even really creatures having some

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kind of connection to this field. How does that actually

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work in the animal kingdom?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one of the most amazing links I think

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between Earth's geophysics and biology. So many creatures from you know,

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big migratory birds crossing continents down to microscopics, single celled

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organisms just floating in upon they possessed this sophisticated magnetic

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sense it's called magneta.

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Speaker 1: Reception bi meter reception.

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Speaker 3: Essentially, they have an internal compass. It lets them detect

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and use the Earth's magnetic field lines for like orientation

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and navigation. It's basically a natural, built in GPS system.

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Speaker 1: How do they physically do that? They have little compass

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needles inside them Earth.

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Speaker 2: It's incredibly ingenious.

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Speaker 3: Actually, back in the nineteen seventies, there was this graduate student,

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Richard Blakemore. He's looking at muddy pond water right, and

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he noticed these single cell bacteria consistently swimming in the

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same direction. So through some really careful experiments he showed

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they were definitely responding to a magnetic field. And later

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research found that these organisms and lots of others actually

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contain these tiny structures inside them, bound by membranes, and

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inside those structures are magnetic crystals, usually like biogenic magnetic

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iron oxide or iron sulfide, so tiny biological magnet pretty much, yeah,

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microscopic biological magnets. They physically align themselves with the Earth's

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magnetic field lines, giving the organism this direct sensory input.

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And just recently twenty twenty one, I think Japanese scientists

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made some real progress and understanding the sort of complex

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biochemical pathways that translate that physical alignment into an actual

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navigational sense in animals. It just really highlights this deep, fundamental,

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ancient connection between the field and life itself, right down

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to the cellular level.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so this incredibly stable, ancient, biologically crucial shield, this

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guardian that's been around for billions of years, it's showing

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signs of well vulnerability now. And this isn't just theory, right,

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we have actual data showing changes are happening.

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Speaker 2: We do.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, this is where the observations really become relevant to

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our deep dive. Today. We have scientific data from magnetometers

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on the ground and satellites up in orbit showing that

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Earth's magnetic field is definitely going through a weakening phase

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right now. It's measurably dropped in strength by about ten

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percent just since the eighteen hundreds.

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Speaker 1: Ten percent that sounds like quite a lot.

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Speaker 3: It is significant, and it's not speculation, you know. It's

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a well documented, quantifiable change that scientists are actively keeping

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a close eye on.

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Speaker 1: And it's not just getting weaker. The north magnetic pole

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is actually like physically moving and pretty quickly too.

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Speaker 3: Precisely, the north magnetic pole isn't just shifting, It's really

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picked up the pace for centuries it moved relatively slowly,

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but in the last few decades its speed has dramatically increased.

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Right now, it's racing towards Siberia something like thirty four miles.

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Speaker 2: It's about fifty five kilometers every year.

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Speaker 1: Wow, thirty four miles a year.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's quite astonishing.

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Speaker 3: It's moving so fast that the people who manage global

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navigation systems have had to up their models more frequently

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because the predictions for its location just get outdated so quickly.

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It's a really clear sign of just how fluid and

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dynamic things are inside the Earth's core.

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Speaker 1: I've also heard about this specific spot, the South Atlantic Anomaly,

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where the weakening is like specially bad. What's going on there?

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What are the effects we can actually see?

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Speaker 3: Ah? Yes, the South Atlantic Anomaly or SSAA. It's this

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huge weird region mainly over the South Atlantic Ocean, but

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it also covers parts of South America, and the magnetic

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field there is just significantly weaker than anywhere else on

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the planet. It's not theoretical you can measure this dip

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in the field's strength.

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Speaker 1: And does that cause problems?

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Speaker 3: It absolutely does. It has immediate tangible consequences. Satellites flying

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through that specific zone get hit with much higher levels

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of energetic charged particles from space because there's just less

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magnetic protection.

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Speaker 2: Oh so we've seen.

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Speaker 3: Satellites experience glitches, malfunctions, sometimes they even get temporarily disabled

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because of this increased radiation. Ex It's a real world,

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ongoing example of what happens when our planet shield thins out.

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It directly impacts our modern tech. Everything from the GPS

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in your phone or car, to global weather forecasting communication networks,

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they all rely on these satellites. It really highlights a

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very concrete vulnerability in our super connected lives.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we've got a weakening field overall, the pole

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is moving faster and we have this weak spot the

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SAA already causing trouble for satellites. But then there's the

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really big one, the idea of a complete magnetic field flick,

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a pole reversal. These have happened before, right, This isn't

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just speculation.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, absolutely, magnetic field flips or geomagnetic pole reversals,

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they're a totally established, scientifically proven thing. They've happened hundreds

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of times throughout Earth history. We can see it clearly

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in paleomagnetic studies basically looking at the magnetic signatures frozen

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into ancient rocks. They show without doubt that the magnetic

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poles have swapped places over and over again. What's particularly

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interesting and maybe a bit unsettling for some is the

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more recent research suggesting these flips might actually happen much

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faster than we used to think.

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Speaker 1: Right, that's the stalagmite evidence you hear about from that

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cave in China that seemed to really shake things up.

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Speaker 2: A bit exactly.

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Speaker 3: There was this really groundbreaking study published I think in

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twenty eighteen. It was based on magnetic records preserved inside

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an ancient stalagmite from cave in China, and the salagmite

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had captured this incredibly detailed record of something called a

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geomagnetic excursion, which is like a rapid, short lived change

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in the field that happened around one hundred and seven

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thousand years ago. Okay, an excursion, not a full flip, right,

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an excursion, but the data suggested that during this event,

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the Earth's magnetic field went through really significant, really rapid changes.

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It might have shifted its direction by as much as

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ninety degrees, potentially within just one hundred to two hundred years, well, one.

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Speaker 1: Hundred years for a ninety degree.

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Speaker 3: Shift, Yeah, which really challenged the older models that usually

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estimated full reversals took thousands of years. So it kind

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of injected this new sense of maybe urgency into the

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scientific discussion.

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Speaker 1: One hundred years feels incredibly fast compared to thousands, and

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I've seen sources saying we're actually overdue for a major reversal.

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Speaker 3: It does feel fast, and yeah, the overdue thing comes

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up a lot. The last full stable flip, the one

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called the brinhas Matuyama reversal, happened about seven hundred and

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eighty thousand years ago. Now, if you look at the

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average time between major reversals throughout Earth's history, it's roughly,

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you know, two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand years,

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So purely from a geological perspective, yeah, you could say

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we're technically overdue for the next big one.

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Speaker 1: And during these reversals, the field gets much weaker.

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Speaker 3: That's the key point. During the reversal process, the field's

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strength typically drops significantly, sometimes down to maybe only five

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or ten percent of its normal intensity, and becomes really unstable.

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You might even get multiple magnetic poles popping up temporarily

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around the planet. That's the critical vulnerable period.

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Speaker 1: And if that happens, if our shield weakends down to

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just ten percent strength during reversal, what are the direct

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consequences for us on the surface.

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Speaker 3: Well, when the field is transitioning or just in that

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severely weakened state, our planet's defenses are seriously compromised. It

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means a much higher amount of harmful solar radiation those

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energetic cosmic rays they'd hit Earth's upper atmosphere directly. Plasma

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from the Sun, which normally gets deflected, would flood into

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our atmosphere much more easily, especially at lower latitudes.

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Speaker 1: Not just near the poles, so more radiation exposure down.

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Speaker 3: Here potentially, Yes, increased radiation exposure on the surface could

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impact everything from human health to all the technological systems

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that currently rely on having a strong magnetosphere protecting them.

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And visually the auroras, the northern and Southern lights, which

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are normally stuck up near the poles, they'd likely be

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seen much more widely, maybe even near the equator. That

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would be a clear sign of just how widespread the

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interaction between the atmosphere and these charged particles had become.

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Speaker 1: That is a pretty stark picture. But I've also seen

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significant pushback, especially online, about how fast these flips actually happen.

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One hundred years sounds really alarming, but what's the counter

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argument from scientists.

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Speaker 3: That's a really crucial point, and it shows how science

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is always debating and refining things, while that stalagmite research

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is compelling, and it's just these rapid excursions, these temporary

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partial shifts can happen. The broader scientific consensus, especially among

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geophysicists who study palaeomagnetic records from all over the world,

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still suggests that full pole reversals usually unfold over much

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longer time scales, often centuries, maybe even several millennia.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so centuries are millennia not.

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Speaker 2: Decades generally yes.

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Speaker 3: For example, if you look at discussions in academic forums

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or even places like that Reddit thread discussing this topic,

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they emphasize that, yeah, pull shift is proven, we see

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it in the record, but the process usually involves this

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long period of instability. The field weakens and then it

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slowly reorients itself over hundreds, maybe thousands of years. So

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the idea of a complete catastrophic flip happening like in

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our lifetimes or even in just one hundred years. Most

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mainstream scientists consider that extremely unlikely.

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Speaker 1: So they're saying, don't confuse a rapid temporary wobble with

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a full, long term reversal exactly.

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Speaker 3: They caution against taking the timeline for a rapid excursion

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and applying it directly to a full reversal. They stress

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just how complex these deep geological processes are and the

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long time scales involved. It's not really a question of

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if the poles will flip again eventually, but more about

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how fast and when, And the current consensus still leans

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towards a much slower process than some of the more

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sensational claims suggest.

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Speaker 1: That's a really important distinction. Okay, So leaving aside a

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full pole flip for a moment, we still have these

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very real immediate threats from just regular solar activity. Let's

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talk about solar storms, because these aren't speculative at all.

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They happen and they pose huge challenges for us.

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Speaker 3: Now, absolutely the Sun, I mean, it gives us life,

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all our energy, but it can also be this incredibly

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powerful and predictable fours. These solar storms we call them

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geomagnetic storms. When they actually hit Earth, and interact with

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our magnetic field. They happen when the Sun basically blasts

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out these enormous bubbles of superheated gas and tangled magnetic field.

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Speaker 1: Lines CMEs right coronal mass.

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Speaker 3: Ejections exactly CMEs coronal mass ejections. They're made up of

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electrically charged particles, mostly protons and electrons, and they travel

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at these immense speeds, sometimes millions of miles per hour.

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They're essentially massive eruptions of plasma shooting out from the

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Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona.

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Speaker 1: And when these supercharged blobs of plasma hit Earth, that's

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when our magnetic field has to deal with them, even

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if it's not flipping precisely.

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Speaker 3: When those charged particles slam into our magnetosphere, they interact

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really intensely. It causes our magnetic field to get compressed, distorted,

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temporarily weakened, and this energetic collision generates huge electrical currents,

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both up in the Earth's upper atmosphere and actually within

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the ground itself.

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Speaker 2: Okay, the most.

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Speaker 3: Beautiful result of this, of course, are the auroras, the

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northern and Southern lights. That's just atmospheric gases glowing because

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they're being excited by these incoming solar particles. But sometimes

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the interaction is a lot more disruptive and a lot

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less pretty.

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Speaker 1: Let's look back then, our early tech, simple as it was,

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got a real taste of what a massive solar storm

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could do. The eighteen fifty nine Carrington event is always

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the one people mention. The stories sound almost unbelievable.

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Speaker 3: Oh, the Carrington event. Yeah, September first and second, eighteen

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fifty nine. It's still the biggest documented geomagnetic storm we

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have on record, and its impact was truly extraordinary for

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the time. Telegraph systems that was the cutting edge communication

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tech back then, right yuy, the Victorian Internet kind of yeah,

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they failed catastrophically. All across North America and Europe. Telegraph

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operators reported getting painful electric shocks right through their equipment.

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Some even said they saw sparks, arcs of light jumping

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from their machines, and maybe most amazing, telegraph paper actually

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caught fire spontaneously.

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Speaker 1: Some offices hot fire just from the storm.

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Speaker 3: Apparently so, and in many cases, these geomagnetically induced currents

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flowing through the wires were so strong that operators could

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actually disconnect their batteries and the telegraphs kept working power

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just by the electricity surging through the lines from the

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Earth itself.

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Speaker 1: Wow. Imagine that your communication system running on raw, uncontrolled

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solar power exactly.

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Speaker 3: And the visual effects were just as dramatic and widespread.

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The Aurora borealis, which you normally only see way up

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north in Canada or Scandinavia, was seen as far south

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as Columbia, Cuba, even Hawaii. People apparently woke up in

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the middle of the night thinking it was dawn because

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the sky was lit up so brightly that far south. Yeah,

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it shows just how massive and global the magnetic disturbance was.

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It was a real wake up call about the Sun's power,

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even though people back then couldn't really grasp what it

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would mean for a future world totally dependent on electricity.

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Speaker 1: It was another one too, Wasn't there something in nineteen

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twenty one affecting reial roads.

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Speaker 2: Yes.

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Speaker 3: Teteen twenty one New York Railroad incident, sometimes called the

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Great geomagnetic Storm of May nineteen twenty one. It wasn't

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as big as Carrington, but it still caused serious disruptions

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to railroad telegraphs and signal systems, especially in the Northeastern

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US train dispatchers reported major communication outages, signal failures. It

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just showed again how vulnerable even simple electrical infrastructure was.

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Speaker 1: Okay, but for something more reason that really hit our

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modern grid. We should probably talk about the nineteen eighty

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nine Quebec storm.

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Speaker 3: Ah, Yes, the Quebec event March nineteen eighty nine, that one,

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even though scientists estimated it was maybe three times smaller

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than the Carrington event. Smaller, yeah, significantly smaller in intensity,

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but it still caused massive disruption. A powerful geomagnetic storm

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induced this huge surge that basically caused the entire hydro

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Quebec electrical grid in Canada to collapse completely in just

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ninety seconds. Ninety seconds ninety seconds. Six million people suddenly

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lost power for nine hours on a cold Canadian night.

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What happened was these high geomagnetically induced currents GICs they

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flowed into the grid, overloaded the high vulcage transformers, tripped

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all the circuit breakers, caused widespread damage. It even fried

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a transformer way down south of New Jersey. It was

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the stark, undeniable warning about how much we rely on

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stable electricity now and just how fragile. Our interconnected power

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grids really are when the sun gets angry.

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Speaker 1: And that brings us right up to today. If a

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Carrington level storm or maybe even something smaller hit us now,

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with our global dependence on electricity, on the internet, on everything,

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the impact would just be catastrophic.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely catastrophic. There's no other word for it.

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Speaker 3: Our role today is fundamentally different from eighteen fifty nine.

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We live in this age of just unprecedented electrical and

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technological dependence. The financial costs alone from a modern Carrington

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event easily trillions of dollars globally. You'd have lost productivity,

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the immense cost of replacing damaged equipment brillions, and that's

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just the money. More critically, the risk to human life

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would be immense. We depend on these systems for everything

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clean water, food distribution, medical care, communication, heating, cooling, you

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name it. A huge number of the systems people rely

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on every single day, the things that underpin modern society,

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they'd all be affected, potentially knocked offline.

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Speaker 1: So how exactly does it happen? How do these solar

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storms actually knock out our power grids? What's the mechanism?

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Speaker 3: Okay, so it comes back to those GICs the geomagnetically

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induced currents we mentioned. When a CME hits Earth's magnetic

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field and disturbs it, it basically induces powerful electric currents

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directly into long conductors on the Earth's surface. I think

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power transmission lines, pipelines, even railway tracks. Right, these GICs

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can surge through the electrical grantit over one hundred ampers. Now,

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that might not sound huge compared to lightning, but think

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about a massive high Holtage transformer. They're designed very precisely

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to handle alternating current AC, but a GIC is more

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like a fluctuating direct current DC. When you force this

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large DC like current into a transformer designed for.

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Speaker 1: AC, it can't handle it.

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Speaker 3: It basically causes the transformer's magnetic core to saturate. It

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just gets overwhelmed. The saturation generates successive heat really quickly.

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It can lead to internal damage, insulation breakdown, melting windings,

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basically the catastrophic failure of these absolutely critical grid components.

402
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It's like trying to force way too much water through

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a pipe not designed for it. The pressure just blows

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the system apart. And because the grid is so interconnected,

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the failure of a few key transformers can cascade, leading

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to widespread, long lasting blackouts.

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Speaker 1: And it's not just the power grid that's vulnerable. Our

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global communication systems, the Internet, everything we rely on to

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talk to each other and run things that.

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Speaker 3: We go down to Almost certainly, yes, think about the

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Internet backbone. It relies on this incredible network of submarine

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fiber optic cables under the oceans and terrestrial cables crossing land,

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all connecting these huge data centers that store everything. A

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Carrington's scale storm could induce those GICs directly into these

415
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incredibly long cables that could interfere with the optical signals

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carrying the data, maybe even damage the electronic repeaters that

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boost the signal along the way, and the data centers themselves.

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Speaker 2: They use enormous.

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Speaker 3: Amounts of electricity and are full of sensitive electronics. Widespread

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power outages and voltage surges would hit them hard.

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Speaker 1: So no emails, no texts, no cloud storage, no scientific data,

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no AI.

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Speaker 3: Pretty much everything could be affected. It could potentially disrupt

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the entire global network, stopping servers from talking to each other.

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It would effectively take humanity offline globally.

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Speaker 1: What about other communication like radio?

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Speaker 3: Do we still rely on that we do, especially for

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certain things high frequency systems think ground to air communication

429
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for planes, shortwave radio shipped to shotcoms that particularly vulnerable.

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They rely on bouncing signals off the ionosphere, a layer

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in our upper atmosphere. During a geomagnetic storm, the ionosphere

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gets severely disturbed by all those incoming solar particles.

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Speaker 2: It basically is up.

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Speaker 3: The reflection signals can fade out, get totally garbled, or

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just disappear completely. So long distance radio communication could be

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cut off.

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Speaker 1: And satellites we mentioned the Sou's Atlantic anomaly affecting them

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a big strong would be much.

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Speaker 2: Worse, much much worse.

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Speaker 3: Satellites up there are incredibly exposed. The induced currents from

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a storm could literally burn out their circuit boards. The

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direct radiation hits could damage sensitive sensors. It could disrupt

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their positioning, which is crucial for things like GPS. So yeah,

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you'd expect widespread disruptions to satellite phone, satellite internet, radio, TV,

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plus all the critical stuff like GPS's navigation, weather forecasting

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from space, military communications. The impact would be profoundly disorienting

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for pretty much everyone.

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Speaker 1: It really sounds less like a possibility and more like

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something that's bound to happen eventually. The sources we looked

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at seem to suggest it's only a matter of time.

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Speaker 2: That really is the scientific consensus.

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Speaker 3: Unfortunately, solar activity goes in cycles, but big flares and

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CMEs are just a natural part of how the Sun behaves.

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They're unpredictable in the short term, but statistically they will happen.

455
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It really is only a matter of time before Earth

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gets hit by another major geomagnetic storm. Scientists have actually

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00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,240
tried to estimate the probability.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: Some studies suggest there's roughly a twelve percent chance of

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a Carrington level event happening within any given decade.

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Speaker 1: Twelve percent per decade. That's not insignificant, not at all.

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Speaker 3: And if a storm like that hit us today, the

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power outages could easily last weeks, maybe even months in

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the hardest hit areas while they try to replace those massive,

465
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custom built transformers. And then there are the even bigger possibilities,

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these Miyaki events.

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Speaker 1: Yaki events, what are those?

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Speaker 3: These are even larger superflares, much bigger than Carrington. We

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know about them mainly from studying ancient tree rings. They

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leave a distinct radioactive signature like carbon fourteen spikes. There

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are big ones around seven seventy four eighty and nine

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ninety three eighty. If something on that scale hit us, now,

473
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,920
the word catastrophic barely covers it. We could be looking

474
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:10,119
at outages lasting many months, maybe even longer. The societal disruption,

475
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,880
the economic collapse, it's almost unthinkable.

476
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: And the warning time. How much notice would we actually

477
00:25:15,519 --> 00:25:18,200
get if one of these massive CMEs was hitting our way.

478
00:25:18,519 --> 00:25:21,519
Speaker 3: That's probably the most critical and frankly concerning part. We

479
00:25:21,599 --> 00:25:25,440
have organizations like Noa's Space Weather Prediction Center, and they

480
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,759
do a fantastic job monitoring the Sun two core seven.

481
00:25:27,799 --> 00:25:30,440
They issue warnings, but the lead time for a severe

482
00:25:30,519 --> 00:25:31,960
storm is incredibly short.

483
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,359
Speaker 1: How short days, weeks, minutes, two hours. If a really

484
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,039
fast moving CM erupts and it's aimed directly at Earth,

485
00:25:38,279 --> 00:25:41,720
we'd likely only have somewhere between say, fifteen twenty minutes

486
00:25:41,759 --> 00:25:44,279
up to maybe eighteen twenty hours notice before the main

487
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,079
wave of charged particles hits us. Usually it's on the

488
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,599
order of hours, but it can be very fast minutes

489
00:25:50,039 --> 00:25:52,599
or just hours. That's barely any time to prepare anything

490
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:53,559
significant exactly.

491
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,039
Speaker 3: It's nowhere near enough time to say, physically protect the

492
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,400
entire grit. It presents this huge challenge for minus litigation

493
00:26:00,519 --> 00:26:05,200
and preparedness. It really underscores why making our infrastructure inherently

494
00:26:05,279 --> 00:26:07,759
more resilient is just so incredibly important.

495
00:26:07,799 --> 00:26:10,880
Speaker 1: Okay, this feels like the natural point to pivot. We've

496
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,400
laid out the established science, the real risks of solar storms,

497
00:26:14,559 --> 00:26:17,559
the magnetic field changes. Now we need to step into

498
00:26:17,559 --> 00:26:21,960
some of the more extreme, honestly mind bending theories. We

499
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,400
need to get clear we approach these with critical thinking,

500
00:26:24,759 --> 00:26:26,720
but for a deep dive, if we have to unpack

501
00:26:26,759 --> 00:26:29,400
the full range of what people are discussing. Let's talk

502
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,640
about the Wi Files podcast. So their claims, they seem

503
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,119
to take these scientific realities and push them well somewhere

504
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:36,799
else entirely.

505
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 3: Yes, the Wi Files definitely presents a narrative that goes

506
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,960
quite a bit beyond just technological disruption. They put forward

507
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,160
this idea that an approaching plasma event tied to the

508
00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,799
weakening earth shield isn't just going to knock out our tech.

509
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,640
They actually claim it will transform reality in ways our

510
00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:56,559
ancestors deeply feared transform reality. That's a big claim, It's

511
00:26:56,599 --> 00:26:59,119
a very big claim. It implies a threat that's much

512
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,880
more profound, maybe even existential, than just power outages and

513
00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:03,839
broken satellites.

514
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:05,799
Speaker 1: And they try to back this up right, right, They

515
00:27:05,839 --> 00:27:09,759
mentioned things like military documents that supposedly hint at secret

516
00:27:09,759 --> 00:27:11,759
government preparations for something unusual.

517
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:12,359
Speaker 2: They do.

518
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:16,559
Speaker 3: They specifically bring up Conplan eight eight eighty eight. That's

519
00:27:16,599 --> 00:27:21,480
the infamous zombie apocalypse contingency plan from the US Strategic Command.

520
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,519
Now that document is real, it's publicly available. It was

521
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:30,279
genuinely used as a sort of imaginative training tool for

522
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:31,920
complex disaster.

523
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 1: Response planning, right, using zombies as a stand in for

524
00:27:34,759 --> 00:27:36,880
any kind of large scale catastrophe exactly.

525
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:38,599
Speaker 3: It was meant to be a creative way to think

526
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:43,799
through logistics, command structures, resource allocation without political sensitivities. But

527
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:47,640
the WI Files interprets its existence very differently. They suggest

528
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,319
it's proof that governments are secretly prepping for something far

529
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,799
stranger and more terrifying than just a grid collapse, implying

530
00:27:53,839 --> 00:27:56,960
they know about a plasma apocalypse threat that involves more

531
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:57,839
than just physics.

532
00:27:58,079 --> 00:28:00,480
Speaker 1: Okay, And then there's that story from the former marine

533
00:28:00,599 --> 00:28:04,440
Jim Spark about an exercise called Broken Mirror that one

534
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:05,960
sounds particularly wild.

535
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, Spark's account, as presented in the podcast is pretty extraordinary.

536
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,240
He claims he was part of this classified military exercise

537
00:28:13,319 --> 00:28:16,400
back in two thousand and nine called Broken Mirror. The

538
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,200
supposed scenario was a massive solar flare hitting Earth, triggering

539
00:28:20,279 --> 00:28:22,599
electromagnetic anomalies all over the world.

540
00:28:22,759 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: Okay, that part sounds plausible as an exercise scenario.

541
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 3: Right, But here's the chilling part. According to Spark's claim,

542
00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,799
he asserts that during this simulation, his unit was specifically

543
00:28:32,839 --> 00:28:38,960
trained to contain biological entities of unknown origin. Biological entities

544
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,640
that's the claim, Biological entities of unknown origin that supposedly

545
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,599
appeared or manifested during the simulated solar flare event. The

546
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,480
podcast strongly implies these weren't just part of the simulation,

547
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,039
but represented a real potential consequence that the plasma itself

548
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,000
could somehow trigger the appearance of unknown life forms.

549
00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:01,519
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, biological entities appearing during a solar flare simulation.

550
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,920
That's a huge leap from blown transformers. How do they

551
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,680
even attempt to connect those dots well?

552
00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:10,359
Speaker 3: The podcast tries to bridge that gap by focusing on

553
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,839
the weird, sometimes poorly understood properties of plasma itself. They

554
00:29:14,839 --> 00:29:17,960
bring up a declassified CIA document from nineteen seventy six

555
00:29:18,039 --> 00:29:21,000
titled Electromagnetic Effects on Human Tissue.

556
00:29:21,039 --> 00:29:21,359
Speaker 1: Okay.

557
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:22,359
Speaker 2: They claim this.

558
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:27,240
Speaker 3: Document discusses some strange properties of plasma, including apparently reports

559
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,799
suggesting that under certain conditions, plasma can exhibit behavior that

560
00:29:30,839 --> 00:29:35,079
seems almost intelligent and even get this, appear to respond

561
00:29:35,079 --> 00:29:36,039
to consciousness.

562
00:29:36,079 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: Plasma responding to consciousness.

563
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:38,839
Speaker 2: That's out there, it is.

564
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:40,799
Speaker 3: And the podcast makes a point of noting that three

565
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,640
pages of this particular CIA document are still classified, hinting

566
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,720
of course, that the really sensitive stuff about plasma's true

567
00:29:47,759 --> 00:29:50,839
nature is being kept secret. It all serves to build

568
00:29:50,839 --> 00:29:53,480
this picture of plasma not just as superheated gas, but

569
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,200
as something potentially much more active, maybe even aware.

570
00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: And it's not just American documents. They claim the Russians

571
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,920
were onto something similar decades ago, with specific entities.

572
00:30:04,599 --> 00:30:07,480
Speaker 3: According to the WI Files, Yes, they talk about Russian

573
00:30:07,519 --> 00:30:11,559
scientists supposedly starting back in the nineteen fifties studying phenomena

574
00:30:11,599 --> 00:30:14,440
they called phazoids or sometimes plasma ghosts.

575
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 1: Phizoids plasma ghosts.

576
00:30:16,279 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, And the belief, as the podcast presents it, was

577
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:24,279
that these entities are actually always present in our environment,

578
00:30:24,359 --> 00:30:26,799
but they only become visible or maybe only interact with

579
00:30:26,839 --> 00:30:30,720
our reality during periods of intense geomagnetic activity like big

580
00:30:30,759 --> 00:30:34,400
solar storms, or maybe during a magnetic field shift. It

581
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,599
all ties back into this larger theory that energized plasma

582
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,559
hitting a planet with a weakened shield could manifest in

583
00:30:40,599 --> 00:30:44,279
ways that really blow the lines between physics biology, maybe

584
00:30:44,279 --> 00:30:45,160
even the paranormal.

585
00:30:45,319 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: This all seems to be building towards what is I guess,

586
00:30:47,559 --> 00:30:50,839
the most sensational and honestly pretty terrifying claim in their

587
00:30:50,839 --> 00:30:52,720
whole plasma apocalypse scenario.

588
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:55,119
Speaker 2: This is really the climax of their narrative.

589
00:30:55,200 --> 00:31:00,200
Speaker 3: Yes, they flat out assert that many governments, including our own,

590
00:31:00,519 --> 00:31:03,279
secretly harbor this profound fear. And the fear is this,

591
00:31:04,359 --> 00:31:08,119
if plasma during a time when Earth's shield is extremely weak,

592
00:31:08,279 --> 00:31:11,319
actually makes it down to the surface, it will actively

593
00:31:11,799 --> 00:31:15,079
look for organic vessels look fasals.

594
00:31:15,079 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 1: What kind of vessels?

595
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 3: Specifically, they claim the millions of human corpses all across

596
00:31:20,279 --> 00:31:24,880
the world, because these bodies are quote capable of using electricity.

597
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,960
The implication is pretty clear that dead bodies could somehow

598
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,640
become conduits or maybe even hosts for this intelligent plasma.

599
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,359
Speaker 1: Wait, so let me just be absolutely crystal clear here.

600
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,880
The claim being made is that plasma coming from the

601
00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:42,079
solar storm hitting a vulnerable Earth could reanimate dead bodies.

602
00:31:42,119 --> 00:31:45,039
That's an absolute extraordinary thing to suggest.

603
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,319
Speaker 2: It is an extraordinary claim. Without doubt.

604
00:31:46,359 --> 00:31:49,079
Speaker 3: It taps into some of the oldest, deepest fears of humanity,

605
00:31:49,119 --> 00:31:51,599
doesn't it. And to try and give this, let's say,

606
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,920
some shred of credibility, the WI Files turns to ancient

607
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,039
history and archaeology. They claim that the ancient Egyptians seem

608
00:31:58,119 --> 00:32:02,200
to have this advanced they be esoteric understanding of this

609
00:32:02,359 --> 00:32:05,400
kind of energy and how it might interact with organic matter.

610
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,200
They cite what they describe as research from Chiro University,

611
00:32:09,519 --> 00:32:13,920
though finding independent verification of this specific research is tricky.

612
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,680
Claiming that Egyptian mummies contain unusually high levels of conductive

613
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,839
metals things like copper, gold, and also specific types of

614
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:25,720
salts supposedly integrated right into the mummification process.

615
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 1: Conductive metals in mummies.

616
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 3: Why, The interpretation presented by the WI Files is that

617
00:32:31,319 --> 00:32:35,440
these materials deliberately formed pathways through the bodies. They argue

618
00:32:35,599 --> 00:32:38,720
this wasn't just symbolism, This was circuitry. The implication is

619
00:32:38,759 --> 00:32:41,039
that it was a deliberate design, maybe to make the

620
00:32:41,079 --> 00:32:44,519
mummified body susceptible to, or perhaps even receptive to, some

621
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:47,440
kind of external electrical or plasma charge.

622
00:32:47,519 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 1: So the mummification wasn't just about preserving the body for

623
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,839
an afterlife journey or honoring pharaohs, but maybe preparing them

624
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:58,519
to be reawakened by cosmic plasma. That completely reframes everything

625
00:32:58,559 --> 00:32:59,960
we think we know about Egyptian prince.

626
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 2: That is precisely the implication drawn in their narrative. Yes,

627
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,200
and it leads to their ultimate.

628
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,039
Speaker 3: Dramatic conclusion that the deep hidden fear in governments isn't

629
00:33:10,079 --> 00:33:12,119
just about the lights going out during the next big

630
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,920
solar storm. It's that the storm could turn on the dead,

631
00:33:16,359 --> 00:33:20,880
unleashing this absolute nightmare scenario that's presented as the ultimate

632
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,039
suppressed truth behind all the concern about solar activity.

633
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: Wow. Okay, that definitely sounds more like a horror movie

634
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,000
plot than geophysics. But they also try to connect this

635
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:36,279
apocalyptic vision to ancient wisdom, right saying our ancestors knew

636
00:33:36,319 --> 00:33:39,359
about this and left warnings, warnings in stone that we're ignoring.

637
00:33:39,759 --> 00:33:43,519
Speaker 3: Yes, the podcast weaves this kind of conspiratorial historical thread.

638
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,440
The idea is that our distant ancestors didn't just have myths.

639
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,559
They had terrifying legends based on direct experience of the

640
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,160
last magnetic flip, and they knew about the danger from

641
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,839
the sun. They supposedly understood it was a cycle, a

642
00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:58,079
cosmic rhythm, and they left warnings for us carved in stone,

643
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,799
encoded in their massive structures, warnings that the podcast argues,

644
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,440
modern society is either deliberately ignoring or just failing to understand.

645
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,360
Speaker 1: And these warnings weren't just like stories or pictures. They're

646
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,480
saying the giant stone structures themselves all over the world

647
00:34:12,519 --> 00:34:13,079
were part of this.

648
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:13,800
Speaker 2: Exactly.

649
00:34:14,039 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 3: The theory they present posits that these huge megalithic structures,

650
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,400
you know Stonehenge, the Pyramids in Egypt, lots of sites

651
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:24,880
in South America, they weren't primarily built for worship or

652
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:28,599
as tombs, or even just as calendars. Their main purpose,

653
00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:31,920
according to this theory, was to function as highly sophisticated

654
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:33,239
energy channeling systems.

655
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:35,000
Speaker 1: Energy channeling systems.

656
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:39,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, designed specifically to manage or maybe mitigate or possibly

657
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:43,679
even harness the energies unleashed during these cosmic upheavals, especially

658
00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:46,880
when the Earth's shield was weak during geomagnetic events.

659
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:51,039
Speaker 1: Okay, like the Nosca lines in Peru, those giant drawings

660
00:34:51,039 --> 00:34:52,639
you can only see from the air, How do they

661
00:34:52,639 --> 00:34:53,840
fit into that idea?

662
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 3: Exactly like the Nosca lines, Those huge geoglyphs etched into

663
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,599
the desert floor. The why, referencing some fringe scientific theories

664
00:35:02,639 --> 00:35:05,719
suggest they weren't just art or astronomy. They interpret them

665
00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:09,559
as potential landing strips to attract plasma energy, designed to

666
00:35:09,639 --> 00:35:11,599
channel it during geomagnetic storms.

667
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:13,800
Speaker 1: Landing strips for plasma, that's.

668
00:35:13,639 --> 00:35:16,400
Speaker 3: The theory they present. They point out that the desert

669
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,199
floor in Osca actually has pretty good electrical conductivity, which,

670
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,840
in this speculative idea, would make it suitable for interacting

671
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,800
with maybe attracting or directing plasma energy coming down from

672
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:31,719
the atmosphere. The massive scale, the precision, the fact you

673
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,599
can only really see them from way up high, it

674
00:35:34,639 --> 00:35:38,840
all kind of lends itself to these more well fantastical interpretations.

675
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,199
Speaker 1: And other big sites too, Stonehinge, the Pyramids, those South

676
00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:46,800
American places. They're saying they all share specific electrical properties

677
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:49,039
like they form some kind of ancient global network.

678
00:35:49,159 --> 00:35:51,199
Speaker 2: That's the core of this particular hypothesis.

679
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:55,320
Speaker 3: Yes, the claim is that these giant stone structures Stonehenge,

680
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,480
the Great Pyramids, sites like Puma Punku or Machupicchu in

681
00:35:58,519 --> 00:36:02,639
South America share key electrical properties that supposedly made them

682
00:36:02,679 --> 00:36:05,920
ideal for this energy channeling. Many of them are apparently

683
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:09,880
built directly on limestone bedrock, which is known to conduct electricity,

684
00:36:10,159 --> 00:36:12,840
and furthermore, a lot of these sites incorporate large amounts

685
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,840
of quarts. Quartz has piezoelectric properties, right, meaning it generates

686
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,119
an electrical charge when we put.

687
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:18,639
Speaker 2: It under pressure.

688
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 3: So the theory puts all this together, that conductive bedrock,

689
00:36:21,559 --> 00:36:25,960
the piezoelectric quarts, the specific global placement often aligned with

690
00:36:26,519 --> 00:36:29,800
supposed energy lines or telluric currents of the Earth, and

691
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,280
suggests it formed this vast network, a network design, not

692
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,719
just a channel, but maybe even to manipulate or control

693
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:40,000
these cosmic energies during times of magnetic instability or plasma storms.

694
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,800
Speaker 1: Okay, right, we have definitely presented some truly out there

695
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:47,559
claims now explored them as they're presented in that source.

696
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,079
It is absolutely essential we pivot back hard now ground

697
00:36:51,119 --> 00:36:53,599
ourselves in some critical thinking. We have to differentiate the

698
00:36:53,639 --> 00:36:57,119
documented facts from the wild fiction. What does that debunk

699
00:36:57,199 --> 00:37:00,800
this perspective, for example, say about these ex stream theories

700
00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:03,239
like the plasma ghosts and reanimated corpses.

701
00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:06,320
Speaker 3: This is where scientific skepticism and the demand for actual

702
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:10,599
evidence become absolutely paramount. That Reddit thread we mentioned, the

703
00:37:10,639 --> 00:37:15,360
one specifically reviewing the plasma apocalypse video, offers a really sharp,

704
00:37:15,519 --> 00:37:20,360
unfrankly necessary critique. Overwhelmingly the users there dismiss ideas like

705
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:24,639
a purple vortex opening up from space or plasma reanimating

706
00:37:24,679 --> 00:37:26,559
the dead, as well as pure fantasy.

707
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:28,039
Speaker 2: One called it.

708
00:37:28,199 --> 00:37:32,039
Speaker 3: A bad sci fi writer's wet dream filled with scientific buzzwords.

709
00:37:32,159 --> 00:37:34,280
Speaker 1: Okay, so pretty blunt, then very blunt.

710
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,039
Speaker 3: The consensus among those critical voices is that while the

711
00:37:37,119 --> 00:37:41,000
video might sprinkle in some legitimate scientific terms plasma, magnetic

712
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,599
field CMEs, it twists them completely out of context. It

713
00:37:44,679 --> 00:37:49,400
stretches their meaning to support these entirely unsubstantiated, purely sensationalist narratives.

714
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,159
Speaker 1: So the basic argument is, if someone makes a really

715
00:37:52,199 --> 00:37:56,840
extraordinary claim but provides zero sensible, verifiable evidence, you just

716
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:57,679
shouldn't accept it.

717
00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,840
Speaker 3: That's precisely the core of the debunk this argument, and honestly,

718
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,280
it's a fundamental principle of science itself. If a source

719
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:08,960
fails to provide any sensible, repeatable, independently verifiable evidence for

720
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:12,480
something as outlandish as biological entities appearing during a solar

721
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:17,119
flare or plasma turning corpses into zombies, well there's simply

722
00:38:17,159 --> 00:38:20,920
no rational basis to accept it as true. In those cases,

723
00:38:21,039 --> 00:38:24,159
the claim effectively debunks itself through its sheer lack of

724
00:38:24,199 --> 00:38:27,320
credible support. And just to hammer the point home again,

725
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,239
that same discussion explicitly reinforces the mainstream scientific.

726
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:31,760
Speaker 2: View on pull shifts.

727
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:34,280
Speaker 3: Yes, pole shift is a proven theory, we see it

728
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,480
in the rocks, but it typically takes centuries more likely

729
00:38:37,519 --> 00:38:41,559
millennia to fully happen, which directly contradicts that alarming one

730
00:38:41,639 --> 00:38:42,800
hundred years claim.

731
00:38:42,639 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 2: For a full reversal.

732
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,559
Speaker 3: It just underscores the scientific communities much more measured, nuanced

733
00:38:47,639 --> 00:38:52,400
understanding of these incredibly slow, deep geological processes. They stress

734
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,119
that a rapid, catastrophic flip like the one described in

735
00:38:55,159 --> 00:38:58,199
some theories is just extremely unlikely in our lifetimes.

736
00:38:58,280 --> 00:39:01,760
Speaker 1: Thank you for that. That dose of scientific sobriety is

737
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:05,719
definitely needed here because while the plasma apocalypse with zombies

738
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:09,880
and purple vortexes might be sensational fiction, the actual tangible

739
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,559
dangers of space radiation and solar events are absolutely real

740
00:39:14,119 --> 00:39:17,079
and they have serious documented effects on human health, both

741
00:39:17,079 --> 00:39:20,199
for astronauts in space and theoretically for us down here

742
00:39:20,519 --> 00:39:23,079
if Earth's shield were ever severely compromised.

743
00:39:23,199 --> 00:39:27,239
Speaker 3: Indeed, astronauts, especially on missions beyond the protection of Earth's

744
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:31,360
main magnetic field, face significant well documented health risks from

745
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,480
ionizing radiation. It's something NASA and other space agency study

746
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,159
and try to mitigate constantly.

747
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:39,400
Speaker 2: There are three main sources they worry about.

748
00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:40,280
Speaker 1: Okay, what are they?

749
00:39:40,519 --> 00:39:42,760
Speaker 3: First, and maybe the trickiest one to deal with is

750
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:47,079
galactic cosmic radiation GCR. These are incredibly high energy particles,

751
00:39:47,199 --> 00:39:50,760
mostly protons, helium nuclei, and the nuclei of heavier elements

752
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:53,320
like island. They come from way outside our Solar system,

753
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,599
from supernovae other big galactic.

754
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:57,599
Speaker 1: Events, so cosmic rays from deep space.

755
00:39:57,639 --> 00:40:01,159
Speaker 3: Exactly, and they pose an enormous threat mainly because they

756
00:40:01,159 --> 00:40:05,039
have very high linear energy transfer or LED That means

757
00:40:05,039 --> 00:40:07,159
they dump a lot of energy into a very small

758
00:40:07,199 --> 00:40:10,559
area as they zip through biological tissue, causing these dense

759
00:40:10,639 --> 00:40:14,760
tracks of ionization damage. Plus they're incredibly penetrating. They can

760
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:19,159
go straight through several centimeters of typical spacecraft shielding like aluminum.

761
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:23,039
It's estimated that, on average, a hydrogen ion from GCR

762
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:27,400
will pass through every single cell nucleus in an astronaut's

763
00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,000
body about once a day.

764
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 1: Every cell every day. Yeah, it's an incredible amount of

765
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:33,880
constant bombardment.

766
00:40:33,519 --> 00:40:33,880
Speaker 2: It is.

767
00:40:34,119 --> 00:40:36,480
Speaker 3: And while those hydrogen ions are the most common, it's

768
00:40:36,519 --> 00:40:39,800
the heavier ones, the hvae nuclei, things like iron or

769
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:42,559
silicon nuclei stripped a bear, that are less frequent but

770
00:40:42,639 --> 00:40:45,360
much more damaging. An astronaut might only get hit by

771
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,239
one of those every few months, but each hit is

772
00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:51,400
particularly destructive. They can cause really complex DNA damage that

773
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:53,360
cells find very hard to repair properly.

774
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: Okay, so GCR from deep space, what's the second source?

775
00:40:56,239 --> 00:41:00,559
Speaker 3: The second source is solar particle events or SPEs. These

776
00:41:00,559 --> 00:41:04,960
are the sudden, intense bursts of energetic particles, mostly protons,

777
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,760
but also some heavy ions that come directly from the

778
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:09,400
Sun during big solar flares.

779
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:10,360
Speaker 2: Of those CMEs we.

780
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,760
Speaker 1: Talked about right. The solar storms.

781
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:15,559
Speaker 3: Exactly their intensity and how often they happen very a

782
00:41:15,599 --> 00:41:18,239
lot with the Sun's eleven year activity cycle. These are

783
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:21,639
the particles that cause those geomagnetic storms on Earth, and

784
00:41:21,679 --> 00:41:24,840
they pose a more acute short term radiation threat to

785
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,840
astronauts because they can deliver a very high dose very

786
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,119
quickly if astronauts aren't properly shielded.

787
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,719
Speaker 1: Okay, gr SPEs, and you said there were three, what's

788
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:34,079
the third.

789
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,400
Speaker 2: The third one is kind of counterintuitive.

790
00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:40,280
Speaker 3: It's intravehicular radiation, sometimes called secondary radiation. This isn't radiation

791
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:44,320
coming directly from outside. It's actually generated inside the spacecraft itself.

792
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:48,320
Inside it happens when those high energy GCR and SPE

793
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:52,480
particles smash into the atoms of the spacecraft's shielding material.

794
00:41:53,159 --> 00:41:56,800
These collisions cause nuclear fragmentation. They break apart the incoming

795
00:41:56,840 --> 00:41:59,760
particles and the atoms of the shield, creating a shower

796
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:04,079
of secondary particles, things like beta particles, X rays, gamma rays, neutrons,

797
00:42:04,079 --> 00:42:07,119
more protons, alpha particles, other heavy charged particles.

798
00:42:07,599 --> 00:42:08,679
Speaker 2: So even behind the.

799
00:42:08,599 --> 00:42:12,039
Speaker 3: Shield, astronauts are still being exposed to this complex mix

800
00:42:12,119 --> 00:42:15,880
of secondary radiation generated by the primary radiation interacting with

801
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:16,639
their habitat.

802
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:19,119
Speaker 2: It's a continuous, multi layered challenge.

803
00:42:19,159 --> 00:42:25,159
Speaker 1: Wow. So, thinking hypothetically again, if Earth's shield weakened dramatically

804
00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,199
and we on the surface started getting exposed to similar

805
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,599
levels of this stuff, what would the long term health

806
00:42:30,599 --> 00:42:32,239
effects look like for us? What do we know from

807
00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:33,159
steady astronauts?

808
00:42:33,199 --> 00:42:35,679
Speaker 3: Well, the long term health effects from chronic exposure, based

809
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:38,960
on astronaut data and ground based research, are definitely concerning.

810
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,760
The biggest worry is a significantly increased lifetime risk of

811
00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,000
developing various types of cancer. We also see a higher

812
00:42:46,119 --> 00:42:49,519
risk of cataracts forming in the eyes. More broadly, radiation

813
00:42:49,679 --> 00:42:52,840
exposure can lead to genetic alterations and cells, It can

814
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:56,079
delay and impair the body's ability to heal wounds, and

815
00:42:56,119 --> 00:42:59,280
it's linked to a range of degenerative tissue disorders, especially

816
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:03,599
cardiovascua disease. There's even evidence suggesting it can accelerate the

817
00:43:03,639 --> 00:43:07,760
overall aging process at a cellular level, potentially reducing lifespan.

818
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,079
Speaker 1: What about our brains, our ability to think? Clearly? That

819
00:43:11,119 --> 00:43:14,960
seems pretty central to everything. Would radiation affect that absolutely?

820
00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:18,760
Speaker 3: Radiation poses a very real threat to the central nervous system,

821
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:22,800
The CNS studies, particularly those done at places like NASAs

822
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:27,440
Space Radiation Laboratory using particle accelerators to simulate GCR, have

823
00:43:27,559 --> 00:43:31,440
clearly shown cognitive health risks, especially for missions beyond low

824
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:33,840
Earth orbit where the natural shielding is much less.

825
00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:35,920
Speaker 1: What kind of cognitive effects.

826
00:43:35,559 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 3: Even relatively low doses of GCR like radiation seem to

827
00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:43,639
interfere with complex cognitive functions things like learning new information,

828
00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,440
forming memories, making decisions under pressure. They can all be

829
00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:51,440
negatively impacted. In more severe cases, high doses can actually

830
00:43:51,559 --> 00:43:55,920
kill nerve cells neurons. This means in astronauts executive functions,

831
00:43:56,519 --> 00:44:00,559
their ability to plan ahead, solve problems, manage multiple tasks,

832
00:44:00,679 --> 00:44:03,559
stay focused could potentially deteriorate over the course of a

833
00:44:03,599 --> 00:44:06,679
long mission. That's obviously a huge risk for mission success,

834
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,199
let alone their long term health. Makes you think twice

835
00:44:09,199 --> 00:44:11,800
about complaining about bad Wi fi. Doesn't it imagine your

836
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,280
brain's signals getting scrambled by cosmic rays?

837
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,199
Speaker 1: Yeah, really puts things in perspective. And our immune systems.

838
00:44:17,239 --> 00:44:20,320
We rely on those so much, especially in new or stressful.

839
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 3: Environments, another major concern. There's well documented evidence showing a

840
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,639
decline in immune system performance in astronauts. This leads to

841
00:44:27,679 --> 00:44:32,039
an increased susceptibility to infections, including opportunistic ones caused by

842
00:44:32,079 --> 00:44:34,559
microbes that are normally harmless but take advantage of a

843
00:44:34,599 --> 00:44:37,880
weakened defense system, even microbes living inside their own.

844
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:39,559
Speaker 1: Spacecraft so easier to get sick.

845
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:42,880
Speaker 3: Yes, and beyond that, chronic radiation exposure has also been

846
00:44:42,920 --> 00:44:46,239
linked to an increase in immune system over activity disorders,

847
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:51,079
things like allergies, asthma, ezema, possibly even autoimmune conditions where

848
00:44:51,079 --> 00:44:54,800
the body attacks itself. Basically, radiation seems to throw the

849
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:57,920
immune system out of balance, weakening its ability to fight

850
00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:01,480
infection while potentially making it over react in other ways.

851
00:45:01,199 --> 00:45:04,360
Speaker 1: And in a really bad acute situation like getting caught

852
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,400
in a massive solar particle event without enough shielding.

853
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:10,440
Speaker 3: Right, if the dose from a big spe is high enough,

854
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:13,800
it can cause acute radiation sickness. The symptoms can range

855
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,760
from severe fatigue, nausea, vomiting and wretching all the way

856
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:20,920
up to serious organ damage and in extreme cases it

857
00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:21,960
could be fatal.

858
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 1: This also connects to things we know happen to astronauts

859
00:45:25,039 --> 00:45:27,320
just from being in microgravity. Right Like there are mune

860
00:45:27,320 --> 00:45:31,159
systems weaken wounds don't heal as well. That's not just radiation,

861
00:45:31,199 --> 00:45:32,559
it's the whole space or environment.

862
00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:36,239
Speaker 3: You're absolutely right to link those. Microgravity itself, separate from radiation,

863
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,840
is known to weaken the immune system. It also significantly

864
00:45:39,840 --> 00:45:43,199
slows down wound healing, partly because things like collagen production

865
00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,559
and cellular repair mechanisms don't work quite the same way

866
00:45:46,559 --> 00:45:47,320
without gravity.

867
00:45:47,599 --> 00:45:50,840
Speaker 2: So when you combine the effects of microgravity.

868
00:45:50,119 --> 00:45:53,400
Speaker 3: With the constant stress of radiation exposure, the overall health

869
00:45:53,480 --> 00:45:57,760
risks definitely compound. It really drives home just how uniquely

870
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:01,199
adapted our biology is to specific conditions here on Earth,

871
00:46:01,199 --> 00:46:04,599
including our gravity and our protective magnetic field change. Those

872
00:46:04,639 --> 00:46:07,559
fundamental conditions and our bodies are put under enormous strain.

873
00:46:08,159 --> 00:46:12,800
Speaker 1: Okay, So, given these incredibly serious, very real dangers for astronauts,

874
00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:15,280
what are we actually doing about it? What kind of

875
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:18,800
mitigation strategies are being developed to protect people heading into

876
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:23,440
deep space? And maybe thinking, hypothetically, are there lessons here

877
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:27,079
for Earth if our shield continues this concerning trend.

878
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, a huge amount of scientific and engineering brain power

879
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:34,159
is focused on exactly this. When it comes to radiation

880
00:46:34,199 --> 00:46:37,360
protection technologies, there are several main approaches being worked on.

881
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:39,920
Speaker 2: The most straightforward is passive shielding.

882
00:46:40,599 --> 00:46:43,079
Speaker 1: Passive shielding like just putting stuff in the way.

883
00:46:43,199 --> 00:46:47,280
Speaker 3: Essentially, yes, using materials, dense materials placed between the radiation

884
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:51,079
source and the astronauts. Things like aluminum have traditionally been

885
00:46:51,199 --> 00:46:55,360
used for spacecraft structures. Water is actually a pretty good shield,

886
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:59,559
especially against certain types of radiation. Polyethylene, a type of

887
00:46:59,599 --> 00:47:04,159
plastic rich in hydrogen, is also very effective, particularly against GCR.

888
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:07,119
Speaker 2: Okay, and looking ahead for missions.

889
00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 3: To Mars, people are seriously considering using the Martian soil itself,

890
00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:13,960
the regolith as building material. You could pilot up over

891
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:17,239
habitats or even build underground using the planet itself as

892
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:21,800
a massive shield. But passive shielding has its limits. It's heavy,

893
00:47:21,880 --> 00:47:24,280
which is a big problem for launching things into space,

894
00:47:24,679 --> 00:47:27,519
and it's not perfectly effective against those really high energy

895
00:47:27,639 --> 00:47:30,320
GCR particles that ah, the ions we talked about, They

896
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,440
can still punch through quite a bit of material.

897
00:47:32,119 --> 00:47:35,079
Speaker 1: Right, the heavy stuff. So if just putting material in

898
00:47:35,119 --> 00:47:38,960
the way isn't enough, what about more active approaches.

899
00:47:38,880 --> 00:47:41,559
Speaker 2: Like force fields exactly, that's active shielding.

900
00:47:41,639 --> 00:47:44,239
Speaker 3: It's definitely the more cutting edge, maybe sci fi sounding,

901
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:48,119
but very actively researched area. The idea is to use

902
00:47:48,199 --> 00:47:52,119
powerful fields to actually deflect the charged particles away.

903
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:52,840
Speaker 2: From the spacecraft.

904
00:47:52,880 --> 00:47:53,679
Speaker 1: How would that work?

905
00:47:54,199 --> 00:47:58,199
Speaker 3: There are a few concepts. Electrostatic shielding would use highly

906
00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:01,679
charged plates to create an electric field that repels incoming

907
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:07,199
charged particles. Superconducting magnetic shielding would use incredibly powerful magnets

908
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:11,039
much stronger than Earth's field locally to bend the trajectories

909
00:48:11,039 --> 00:48:14,559
of the particles, steering them away. There's even theoretical work

910
00:48:14,599 --> 00:48:19,039
on plasma radiation shielding, using a confined cloud of superheated

911
00:48:19,039 --> 00:48:21,079
plasma around the ship to act as a kind of

912
00:48:21,119 --> 00:48:22,039
deflector shield.

913
00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 1: Wow, are these actually feasible?

914
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:27,039
Speaker 3: They're still largely in the research and development phase. They

915
00:48:27,039 --> 00:48:31,000
face huge challenges in terms of complexity, the massive power

916
00:48:31,079 --> 00:48:34,519
required to generate these fields continuously, and the sheer mass

917
00:48:34,519 --> 00:48:38,360
of the systems themselves, but they hold enormous promise, especially

918
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:41,440
for enabling those long duration missions to Mars and beyond.

919
00:48:42,079 --> 00:48:45,480
People are also looking at hybrid methods, combining passive and

920
00:48:45,559 --> 00:48:49,159
active shielding for the best effect, and another sophisticated idea

921
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:50,920
is called nuclear fragmentation.

922
00:48:51,199 --> 00:48:52,960
Speaker 1: Nuclear fragmentation, Yeah, the.

923
00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,880
Speaker 3: Goal here isn't just to block the radiation, but to

924
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,639
actively change it. You try to design the shielding so

925
00:48:58,679 --> 00:49:02,360
that when the most dangerous, high energy heavy ions hit it,

926
00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:06,559
they break apart. They fragment into lower charge, less damaging particles.

927
00:49:07,039 --> 00:49:09,280
But you have to be really careful doing this to

928
00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:12,719
make sure the fragmentation process doesn't accidentally create a worse

929
00:49:12,760 --> 00:49:16,079
shower of secondary particles inside the ship. It's a complex

930
00:49:16,119 --> 00:49:16,800
balancing act.

931
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:20,280
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's the hardware, the engineering shields. What about biology?

932
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:23,280
Are there ways to make the astronauts themselves more resistant

933
00:49:24,119 --> 00:49:26,360
or help them repair damage after they've been exposed.

934
00:49:26,639 --> 00:49:27,199
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

935
00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:27,639
Speaker 1: Yeah.

936
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:30,920
Speaker 3: This is a huge area of biomedical research right now.

937
00:49:31,039 --> 00:49:35,400
Scientists are working hard on developing biological and pharmaceutical countermeasures.

938
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:40,239
These fall into a couple of categories. There are radio protectors.

939
00:49:40,679 --> 00:49:43,599
These are drugs or compounds you'd take before a potential

940
00:49:43,679 --> 00:49:47,559
high exposure period proactively to try and minimize the damage

941
00:49:47,639 --> 00:49:49,599
radiation causes at the cellular level.

942
00:49:50,119 --> 00:49:51,480
Speaker 2: Then there are radio mitigators.

943
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:55,039
Speaker 3: These are treatments you'd administer after an exposure has already

944
00:49:55,039 --> 00:49:58,239
happened reactively to help the body repair the damage or

945
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:00,760
reduce the severity of the long term consequences.

946
00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:04,000
Speaker 1: Are there more futuristic ideas being explored?

947
00:50:04,119 --> 00:50:04,800
Speaker 2: Oh, definitely.

948
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:09,360
Speaker 3: Gene therapy is a really fascinating they're still highly speculative area.

949
00:50:09,639 --> 00:50:12,960
For example, scientists are looking at proteins found in extremotolerant

950
00:50:13,039 --> 00:50:16,519
organisms like Tartar grades. You know those microscopic.

951
00:50:16,039 --> 00:50:18,840
Speaker 1: Water barkings, the ones that can survive anything exactly.

952
00:50:19,079 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 3: They can survive incredible extremes, including the vacuum and radiation

953
00:50:23,039 --> 00:50:26,400
of space. So researchers are studying the proteins that protect

954
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,679
their DNA, wondering if we could potentially use gene therapy

955
00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:32,840
to give human cells some of that enhanced radio resistance.

956
00:50:33,320 --> 00:50:35,559
Speaker 1: Wow, Tartar grade genes in humans.

957
00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:39,920
Speaker 3: Well maybe not the genes themselves, but harnessing the protective mechanisms.

958
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:44,119
And another really revolutionary idea, but one being actively researched,

959
00:50:44,719 --> 00:50:49,320
is inducing therapeutic hibernation or torporin astronauts for the long

960
00:50:49,360 --> 00:50:51,599
transit phases like the Journey.

961
00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:53,800
Speaker 1: To Mars Hibernation like in the movie.

962
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:57,840
Speaker 3: Pretty much the idea is to significantly lower their metabolic rate,

963
00:50:58,079 --> 00:51:01,079
put them in a state of suspended animation. This would

964
00:51:01,159 --> 00:51:05,400
theoretically reduce their cellular activity, making their cells less vulnerable

965
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:09,280
to radiation damage and just generally reduce their resource consumption

966
00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:11,920
during the trip. It sounds like pure sci fi, but

967
00:51:12,079 --> 00:51:15,440
labs are genuinely working on making it feasible. It's less

968
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:18,199
about cutting edge science now and more about engineering the

969
00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:19,760
systems to support it safely.

970
00:51:20,119 --> 00:51:22,559
Speaker 1: That is absolutely incredible. What about just the day to

971
00:51:22,639 --> 00:51:26,719
day monitoring keeping track of astronaut healths during these hazardous missions.

972
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 3: Oh, the monitoring is incredibly rigorous and comprehensive. Astronauts go

973
00:51:32,559 --> 00:51:37,000
through intense medical exams throughout their entire careers, annual checkups,

974
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:39,960
really thorough pre flight assessments to make sure they're in

975
00:51:40,039 --> 00:51:44,039
peak physical and mental condition, and then extensive post flight

976
00:51:44,119 --> 00:51:47,400
medical testing. What kind of tests everything you can imagine,

977
00:51:47,559 --> 00:51:52,480
detailed blood work, looking at biochemical markers, assessing their musculoskeletal

978
00:51:52,559 --> 00:51:57,400
health after time, and microgravity checking their cardiopulmonary function. And

979
00:51:57,480 --> 00:52:00,079
it doesn't just stop when they get back. There are

980
00:52:00,159 --> 00:52:03,719
long term health follow up programs designed specifically to watch

981
00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:07,840
for any occupation related injuries or diseases like those radiation

982
00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:11,079
induced cancers that might only show up years or even

983
00:52:11,159 --> 00:52:12,519
decades after the missions.

984
00:52:12,679 --> 00:52:15,519
Speaker 1: And can they actually measure the radiation damage inside the

985
00:52:15,559 --> 00:52:18,760
astronaut's body like get a personalized.

986
00:52:18,159 --> 00:52:22,639
Speaker 3: Reading, Yes, they can through a sophisticated technique called biodos symmetry.

987
00:52:23,039 --> 00:52:26,960
This typically involves taking biological samples off in lymphocyte samples,

988
00:52:27,119 --> 00:52:28,840
which are a type of white blood cell, from the

989
00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:31,960
astronauts both before and after their flight. By looking for

990
00:52:32,039 --> 00:52:35,880
specific changes in these cells like chromosomal aberrations or other

991
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:39,440
biomarkers of radiation damage, scientists can get a direct in

992
00:52:39,639 --> 00:52:44,000
vivo estimate of the cumulative biological dose the astronaut actually received.

993
00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,320
It's highly personalized because it reflects not just the external

994
00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:51,599
radiation field, but how that individual's body responded, considering their

995
00:52:51,679 --> 00:52:56,039
unique radio sensitivity, the exact shielding they had, other mission stresses.

996
00:52:56,559 --> 00:52:59,320
It allows for a much more targeted medical follow up

997
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:01,760
and helps refine and risk assessments for future missions.

998
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:05,159
Speaker 1: And they're also monitoring the environment inside the ship constantly.

999
00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:09,760
Speaker 3: Absolutely continuous monitoring of the spacecraft's environment is crucial things

1000
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:13,880
like air quality, water purity, checking for any build up

1001
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:17,840
of potentially toxic chemicals. It's all part of ensuring a

1002
00:53:17,840 --> 00:53:22,239
healthy living and working space, minimizing any additional stressors on

1003
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:24,639
top of the radiation and microgravity and there.

1004
00:53:24,559 --> 00:53:27,280
Speaker 1: Must be strict limits on how much radiation they're allowed

1005
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:28,760
to be exposed to over their career.

1006
00:53:29,039 --> 00:53:33,559
Speaker 3: Definitely, International bodies like the International Commission for Radiological Protection

1007
00:53:33,920 --> 00:53:39,000
ICRP set guidelines for occupational radiation exposure. For workers on Earth,

1008
00:53:39,039 --> 00:53:42,480
the limit is usually around twenty milliseivers or mSv per

1009
00:53:42,599 --> 00:53:47,320
year averaged over five years, but astronauts, especially beyond low

1010
00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:49,199
Earth orbit, face way.

1011
00:53:49,039 --> 00:53:50,039
Speaker 2: Higher doses than that.

1012
00:53:50,239 --> 00:53:52,679
Speaker 3: How much higher well on the International Space Station, which

1013
00:53:52,719 --> 00:53:56,360
still gets significant protection from Earth's magnetic field, the average

1014
00:53:56,400 --> 00:53:58,960
dose might be somewhere between point five to one millisv

1015
00:53:59,039 --> 00:54:02,000
per day trip to Mars. Estimates are maybe around one

1016
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:04,599
point eight four mulas fee per day during the transit

1017
00:54:04,599 --> 00:54:07,159
feesas so, those standard Earth based limits just.

1018
00:54:07,119 --> 00:54:08,159
Speaker 2: Don't apply directly.

1019
00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:08,840
Speaker 1: So what they do.

1020
00:54:09,119 --> 00:54:13,360
Speaker 3: Astronaut doses are monitored constantly in real time using docimiters

1021
00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:16,880
worn by the astronauts and placed around the spacecraft. Mission

1022
00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:20,280
planners work very hard to keep exposures as low as

1023
00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:24,920
reasonably achievable. That's the Elerara principle. They'll adjust mission plans,

1024
00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:28,639
maybe rotate crew assignments, even limit career flight time, all

1025
00:54:28,719 --> 00:54:32,880
to manage each individual astronaut's cumulative lifetime radiation exposure and

1026
00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:36,159
stay within agency specific limits, which are generally higher than

1027
00:54:36,239 --> 00:54:39,719
terrestrial occupational limits, but still aim to keep long term

1028
00:54:39,719 --> 00:54:40,920
health risks acceptable.

1029
00:54:41,039 --> 00:54:44,440
Speaker 1: Okay, wow, we have really covered a massive amount of

1030
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:46,559
ground today. We've gone on quite a journey, haven't we,

1031
00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:49,519
Spanning from like the deep physics inside the Earth way

1032
00:54:49,519 --> 00:54:52,800
out to cosmic radiation from distant stars, and even gipped

1033
00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:56,360
into some seriously speculative, almost paranormal sounding theories.

1034
00:54:56,440 --> 00:54:57,199
Speaker 2: We really have.

1035
00:54:57,559 --> 00:55:00,920
Speaker 1: We started with the very real stuff, right, the scientifically

1036
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,039
documented threats from our weakening magnetic field, the power of

1037
00:55:04,079 --> 00:55:07,440
solar storms. We looked at how these things could genuinely

1038
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:11,800
cripple our global infrastructure, plunge us into this silent, disconnected world,

1039
00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:15,760
and this serious health impacts both for astronauts out there

1040
00:55:15,760 --> 00:55:18,960
and you know, hypothetically for us down here if that

1041
00:55:19,039 --> 00:55:20,320
shield wasn't doing its job.

1042
00:55:20,920 --> 00:55:24,800
Speaker 3: And then yeah, we definitely ventured into the more speculative

1043
00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:27,880
side of things, those theories presented in sources like the

1044
00:55:27,920 --> 00:55:31,519
WI files, the plasma ghosts, the really extraordinary claim about

1045
00:55:31,519 --> 00:55:34,079
the Dead rising powered by plasma, the whole idea of

1046
00:55:34,079 --> 00:55:36,840
Egyptian mummies being wired like circuits.

1047
00:55:36,519 --> 00:55:39,639
Speaker 1: Right, and the idea of ancient stone structures all over

1048
00:55:39,639 --> 00:55:43,320
the world being these sophisticated energy channeling systems built as

1049
00:55:43,400 --> 00:55:44,639
warnings by our ancestors.

1050
00:55:44,719 --> 00:55:46,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, we covered that whole range.

1051
00:55:46,079 --> 00:55:49,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it seems pretty clear stepping back now. While

1052
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,159
some of the really sensational stuff, you know, the Purple vortex,

1053
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:57,480
is the solar power zombies, that stuff clearly lacks scientific evidence.

1054
00:55:57,519 --> 00:55:59,880
It gets rightly dismissed as fantasy by the wider s

1055
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:04,599
scientific community. But the core concerns, the worries about Earth's

1056
00:56:04,679 --> 00:56:08,039
magnetic field changing, the very real dangers of solar storms

1057
00:56:08,119 --> 00:56:13,360
hitting our fragile infrastructure. That stuff is grounded in solid, ongoing.

1058
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:17,800
Speaker 3: Research, absolutely, and that research isn't just academic. It's driving

1059
00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:21,719
serious efforts to protect astronauts for sure, but increasingly it's

1060
00:56:21,719 --> 00:56:24,719
becoming really critical for thinking about how we safeguard our

1061
00:56:24,719 --> 00:56:26,360
civilization right here on Earth.

1062
00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:28,760
Speaker 2: It's this fascinating mix, isn't it.

1063
00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 3: You've got what some people interpret as these ancient warnings

1064
00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:34,599
or deep seated myths bumping right up against the most

1065
00:56:34,679 --> 00:56:38,039
cutting edge space, whether science and geophysics being done today.

1066
00:56:38,119 --> 00:56:41,760
Speaker 1: It really is the warnings, whether people think they're metaphorically

1067
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:45,519
etched in stone by ancient peoples or literally beamed down

1068
00:56:45,559 --> 00:56:48,199
from satellites by our own instruments, they seem to be

1069
00:56:48,239 --> 00:56:49,079
calling for our attention.

1070
00:56:49,199 --> 00:56:52,199
Speaker 3: Either way, Understanding these cosmic forces it's not just an

1071
00:56:52,239 --> 00:56:56,119
intellectual exercise. It's about grasping the fundamental dynamics that shape

1072
00:56:56,119 --> 00:57:00,280
our planet's environment, our technological vulnerability, and really are in

1073
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:00,840
the universe.

1074
00:57:01,079 --> 00:57:05,079
Speaker 1: So as our planet's invisible shield keeps doing it subtle

1075
00:57:05,119 --> 00:57:08,440
but really profound dance with the Sun, and as we

1076
00:57:08,559 --> 00:57:11,960
become evermore tangled up in these delicate technologies, it does

1077
00:57:12,039 --> 00:57:14,400
raise a pretty big question for all of us, doesn't it.

1078
00:57:14,599 --> 00:57:18,159
What responsibility do we have, as this supposedly advanced species

1079
00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:21,559
to really get our heads around these cosmic forces, not

1080
00:57:21,679 --> 00:57:24,239
just for the incredibly brave people who will eventually travel

1081
00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:27,559
far beyond Earth, but for the future the resilience of

1082
00:57:27,639 --> 00:57:31,159
our super interconnected world right here. Are we truly paying

1083
00:57:31,199 --> 00:57:34,000
attention to the warnings, both the ancient ones that some

1084
00:57:34,079 --> 00:57:37,039
believer are literally written into the landscape and the modern

1085
00:57:37,079 --> 00:57:39,960
ones being pain seekingly gathered by science from deep space.

1086
00:57:40,480 --> 00:57:43,199
It's definitely something to think about as we continue navigating

1087
00:57:43,199 --> 00:57:47,159
our wealth our precarious but pretty amazing existence in the cosmos,