Full Transcript for Earth's Spin Shift: Human Impact, New Worlds Beyond Pluto, and Mars Moon Missions

00:02:12,892 --> 00:02:15,814 means the geographic poles then pass through different spots on 36 00:02:15,815 --> 00:02:18,892 the surface than what they did before. That's a process known 37 00:02:18,907 --> 00:02:20,204 as true polar wonder. 38 00:02:20,861 --> 00:02:23,945 The study's lead author Natasha Valensik says that as humans 39 00:02:24,025 --> 00:02:27,210 trap water behind dams, not only does it remove water from the 40 00:02:27,268 --> 00:02:30,530 oceans, thus leading to a global sea level fall, it also 41 00:02:30,631 --> 00:02:33,413 redistributes the planet's mass in a different way around the 42 00:02:33,452 --> 00:02:37,475 world. Valencic and colleagues used a global database of dams 43 00:02:37,522 --> 00:02:40,881 to map the locations of each dam and the amount of water each 44 00:02:40,928 --> 00:02:41,663 impounds. 45 00:02:42,303 --> 00:02:46,225 They analysed how the water empowerment from 6,862 dams 46 00:02:46,428 --> 00:02:51,177 shifted Earth's poles between 1835 and 2011. The results 47 00:02:51,257 --> 00:02:54,279 showed that global dam building has caused Earth's poles to 48 00:02:54,339 --> 00:02:59,986 shift in two distinct phases. Between 1835 and 1954, many dams 49 00:03:00,009 --> 00:03:02,665 were built in North America and Europe, shifting these areas 50 00:03:02,704 --> 00:03:03,665 towards the equator. 51 00:03:04,369 --> 00:03:08,353 That caused the North Pole to move 20.5 cm towards the 103Rd 52 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,697 Meridian East, which passes through Russia, Mongolia, China 53 00:03:11,884 --> 00:03:16,665 and the Indochina Peninsula. But then, between 1954 and 2011, 54 00:03:16,900 --> 00:03:19,431 dams were mostly built in East Africa and Asia. 55 00:03:19,708 --> 00:03:23,270 And the pole shifted 57 centimetres towards the 117th 56 00:03:23,331 --> 00:03:26,153 meridian west, which passes through western North America 57 00:03:26,333 --> 00:03:31,138 and the South Pacific. So over the entire period between 1835 58 00:03:31,139 --> 00:03:35,520 and 2011, the poles moved about 113 centimetres, with about 104 59 00:03:35,661 --> 00:03:38,067 centimetres of movement happening in the 20th century 60 00:03:38,145 --> 00:03:41,567 alone. The results show that scientists need to take water 61 00:03:41,614 --> 00:03:44,755 impoundment into consideration when calculating future sea 62 00:03:44,817 --> 00:03:45,692 level rise. 63 00:03:46,302 --> 00:03:50,349 In the 20th century, global sea levels rose by 1.2 millimetres 64 00:03:50,429 --> 00:03:53,449 per year on average, but humans trapped a quarter of that amount 65 00:03:53,590 --> 00:03:57,371 behind dams. Lynchit says that depending on where you place the 66 00:03:57,386 --> 00:04:00,332 dams and reservoirs, the geometry of the sea level rise 67 00:04:00,347 --> 00:04:04,097 will change, and these changes can be large and significant. 68 00:04:04,816 --> 00:04:08,675 This is space-time. Still to come, the discovery of a world 69 00:04:08,707

--> 00:04:12,113 beyond Pluto, which may put an end to hopes of ever finding a 70 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,800 Planet 9. And Japan's new mission to collect samples from 71 00:04:15,801 --> 00:04:19,355 the Martian Moon Phobos to launch next year. All that and 72 00:04:19,374 --> 00:04:21,939 more still to come on Space Time. 73 00:04:25,579 --> 00:04:27,962 Okay, let's take a break from our show for a word from our 74 00:04:27,985 --> 00:04:30,782 sponsor Incogni. If you're anything like me, you're 75 00:04:30,806 --> 00:04:34,290 probably concerned about your privacy online. And for good 76 00:04:34,368 --> 00:04:37,118 reason. 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You know, 99 00:05:43,817 --> 00:05:46,653 protecting your privacy really shouldn't be optional in this 100 00:05:46,739 --> 00:05:47,638 digital age. 101 00:05:47,950 --> 00:05:50,560 So let Incogni help you by keeping your personal 102 00:05:50,575 --> 00:05:54,435 information where it belongs, with you. That's Incogni.com 103 00:05:54,622 --> 00:05:58,013 slash Stuart Gary to access this exclusive discount offer and 104 00:05:58,075 --> 00:06:03,376 learn more. Stay safe, stay private. With Incogni. And now 105 00:06:03,536 --> 00:06:04,557 it's back to our show. 106 00:06:12,747 --> 00:06:15,270 Astronomers have discovered a small celestial body in the 107 00:06:15,286 --> 00:06:18,489 outer solar system beyond Pluto which may put an end to any 108 00:06:18,583 --> 00:06:22,426 hopes of ever finding a Planet Nine. The findings reported in 109 00:06:22,427 --> 00:06:24,770 the journal Nature Astronomy could have significant 110 00:06:24,817 --> 00:06:28,083 implications for the formation, evolution and current structure 111 00:06:28,176 --> 00:06:30,630 of this dark and distant region of space. 112 00:06:31,222 --> 00:06:35,244 The newly discovered object, which has been designated 2023 113 00:06:35,385 --> 00:06:38,190 KQ14, was found as part of the formation of the outer solar 114 00:06:38,209 --> 00:06:42,073 system and IC Legacy Fossil Survey Project using the Subaru 115 00:06:42,190 --> 00:06:45,940 telescope in Hawaii. The object was initially detected back in 116 00:06:45,979 --> 00:06:48,432 March, May and August of 2023. 117 00:06:49,213 --> 00:06:51,760 Then follow-up observations in July last year with the 118 00:06:51,776 --> 00:06:55,229 Canada-France-Hawaii telescope confirmed the earlier discovery. 119 00:06:55,901 --> 00:06:58,151 Astronomers then examined archival data from other 120 00:06:58,213 --> 00:07:01,437 observatories and that allowed them to track the object's orbit 121 00:07:01,655 --> 00:07:02,917 over 19 years. 122 00:07:03,597 --> 00:07:07,745 Now due to its peculiar distant orbit, 2023 KQ14 has been 123 00:07:07,784 --> 00:07:11,503 classified as a sedenoid, making it only the fourth known example 124 00:07:11,504 --> 00:07:15,128 of this rare type of object. Sedenoids are named after the 125 00:07:15,206 --> 00:07:17,933 first of these objects to be found, dwarf planet Sedna. 126 00:07:18,667 --> 00:07:23,151 Numerical simulations indicate that 2023 KQ14 has maintained a 127 00:07:23,198 --> 00:07:26,620 stable orbit for at least the last 4.5 billion years. 128 00:07:27,262 --> 00:07:29,303 Although its current orbit differs from those of other 129 00:07:29,405 --> 00:07:31,948 sedenoids, the simulations suggest that their orbits were 130 00:07:31,967 --> 00:07:36,034 all remarkably similar around 4.2 billion years ago. The fact 131 00:07:36,049 --> 00:07:40,096 that 2023 KQ14 now follows an orbit different from that of the 132 00:07:40,112 --> 00:07:43,057 other sedenoids suggests the outer solar system is far more 133 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,495 diverse and complex than previously thought. 134 00:07:46,135 --> 00:07:49,651 The discovery also places new constraints on the hypothetical 135 00:07:49,745 --> 00:07:54,291 and long sought after Planet 9. See, if Planet 9 does exist, 136 00:07:54,385 --> 00:07:56,948 then its orbit must lie much further out And what's... 137 00:07:57,134

--> 00:07:58,235 Typically been predicted. 138 00:07:58,816 --> 00:08:01,519 The study's lead author, Yukon Huyang from the National 139 00:08:01,578 --> 00:08:03,640 Astronomical Observatory Of Japan, who conducted the 140 00:08:03,660 --> 00:08:07,465 simulations of the orbit, says the fact that 2023 KQ14's 141 00:08:07,504 --> 00:08:09,926 current orbit does not align with those of the other three 142 00:08:09,965 --> 00:08:12,988 known sedenoids lowers the likelihood of the Planet 9 143 00:08:13,027 --> 00:08:18,058 hypothesis. You see, 2023 KQ14 was found in a region of space 144 00:08:18,121 --> 00:08:21,136 far away where Neptune's gravity has little influence. 145 00:08:21,777 --> 00:08:24,465 The presence of objects with elongated orbits and large 146 00:08:24,527 --> 00:08:27,494 perihelion distances in this area. Implies that something 147 00:08:27,514 --> 00:08:31,776 extraordinary must have happened during the ancient era when 2023 148 00:08:31,777 --> 00:08:34,873 KQ14 first formed. So understanding the orbital 149 00:08:34,959 --> 00:08:37,256 evolution and physical properties of these unique 150 00:08:37,319 --> 00:08:40,795 distant worlds is crucial for comprehending the full history 151 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:42,037 of our solar system. 152 00:08:42,780 --> 00:08:46,936 This is Space Time. Still to come, Japan preparing for next 153 00:08:46,983 --> 00:08:50,077 year's launch of its Martian Moon Phobos sample return 154 00:08:50,139 --> 00:08:53,561 mission. And later in the science report, a new study 155 00:08:53,686 --> 00:08:57,744 warns that most crops will be affected by climate change. All 156 00:08:57,783 --> 00:09:00,649 that and more still to come on Space Time. 157 00:09:16,203 --> 00:09:19,422 Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, will launch its 158 00:09:19,500 --> 00:09:22,813 sample return mission to the Martian Moon Phobos next year. 159 00:09:23,454 --> 00:09:27,077 The Martian Moons Exploration, or MMX, mission is a robotic 160 00:09:27,157 --> 00:09:30,401 spacecraft designed to land and collect samples from the largest 161 00:09:30,421 --> 00:09:32,140 of the Red Planet's two moons. 162 00:09:32,765 --> 00:09:35,765 The probe will also undertake a close flyby of the other Martian 163 00:09:35,788 --> 00:09:38,491 Moon, Deimos, and it will monitor the planet's climate. 164 00:09:39,069 --> 00:09:41,733 The mission aims to provide key information designed to 165 00:09:41,749 --> 00:09:45,358 determine whether the Martian moons are captured asteroids or 166 00:09:45,390 --> 00:09:48,483 the result of a larger body slamming into the Red Planet. 167 00:09:49,093 --> 00:09:52,265 After launching aboard Japan's H-3 rocket from the Tanegashima 168 00:09:52,358 --> 00:09:55,734 Space Center, the spacecraft will enter orbit around Mars and 169 00:09:55,735 --> 00:09:59,100 then transfer to Phobos and land once or twice, gathering 170 00:09:59,201 --> 00:10:02,248 sound-like regolith particles using a simple pneumatic system. 171 00:10:02,881 --> 00:10:05,761 The lander mission aims to retrieve at least 10 grams of 172 00:10:05,762 --> 00:10:09,622 material. The spacecraft will then take off from Phobos and 173 00:10:09,623 --> 00:10:12,786 make several flybys of the smaller moon Deimos before 174 00:10:12,904 --> 00:10:16,544 sending its sample return module back to Earth, arriving here in 175 00:10:16,545 --> 00:10:20,872 2031. The total launch mass of the spacecraft will be 4,000 176 00:10:20,904 --> 00:10:21,591 kilograms. 177 00:10:21,841 --> 00:10:25,247 That includes 1,900 kilograms of propellant. The mission 178 00:10:25,341 --> 00:10:28,529 architecture will use three modules. There's an 1,800 179 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,294 kilogram propulsion module, a 150 kilogram exploration module, 180 00:10:32,469 --> 00:10:34,972 and a 1,020 kilogram return module. 181 00:10:35,613 --> 00:10:38,195 With the mass of the moons Deimos and Phobos being too 182 00:10:38,316 --> 00:10:41,140 small to capture a satellite, it 's not possible to orbit the 183 00:10:41,179 --> 00:10:44,781 Martian moons in the usual way. However, orbits of a special 184 00:10:44,921 --> 00:10:47,741 kind, referred to as quasi-satellite orbits, can be 185 00:10:47,804 --> 00:10:50,804 sufficiently stable to allow many months of operations in the 186 00:10:50,820 --> 00:10:51,913 vicinity of the moons. 187 00:10:52,773 --> 00:10:56,538 MMX will carry seven primary scientific instruments. There's 188 00:10:56,554 --> 00:10:59,893 a narrow-field camera for a detailed terrain survey. An 189 00:10:59,913 --> 00:11:02,495 optical radiometer using wide-field visible light 190 00:11:02,536 --> 00:11:06,540 chromatic images, a LiDAR light detection and ranging laser to 191 00:11:06,579 --> 00:11:09,642 reflect light from the moon's surface in order to study the 192 00:11:09,704 --> 00:11:11,321 surface altitude and albedo. 193 00:11:11,423 --> 00:11:14,306 There's a near-infrared spectrometer which will 194 00:11:14,329 --> 00:11:17,048 characterize the minerals and composition which make up the 195 00:11:17,064 --> 00:11:19,595 moon's surface, as well as a gamma-ray and neutron 196 00:11:19,626 --> 00:11:23,439 spectrometer, a circum-Martian dust monitor to characterize the 197 00:11:23,454 --> 00:11:26,345 environments around the two Martian moons, and a mass 198 00:11:26,376 --> 00:11:29,367 spectrometer analyzer that studied the ion environment 199 00:11:29,407 --> 00:11:30,188 around Mars. 200 00:11:30,948 --> 00:11:33,692 Science writer Jonathan Nally says there are many mysteries 201 00:11:33,750 --> 00:11:36,813 surrounding the Red Planet's two moons and their origins, which 202 00:11:36,891 --> 00:11:38,993 this mission will seek to resolve. 203 00:11:39,133 --> 00:11:42,297 Scientists are still trying to figure out how Mars came to 204 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,789 acquire its two small potato-shaped moons called 205 00:11:45,899 --> 00:11:48,961 Phobos and Deimos. And these

are tiny moons. They're nothing like 206 00:11:49,008 --> 00:11:51,961 our moon. They're just really, really small. Phobos has a 207 00:11:52,993 --> 00:11:55,366 potato shape, so it doesn't have a... One particular dimension 208 00:11:55,426 --> 00:11:58,129 but it's an average width is about 11 kilometers which is 209 00:11:58,148 --> 00:11:59,310 about seven miles. 210 00:11:59,572 --> 00:12:02,990 Deimos is even smaller it's only about six millimeters wide so it 211 00:12:02,990 --> 00:12:05,994 's about three miles across with that. So they are really really 212 00:12:06,057 --> 00:12:08,736 tiny and they're the only moons that Mars has and they just they 213 00:12:08,783 --> 00:12:10,924 just trundle around the planet minding their own business. 214 00:12:11,174 --> 00:12:14,221 Phobos is interesting because it 's actually losing altitude as 215 00:12:14,283 --> 00:12:18,009 each day goes by. It's about two centimeters per year. Drifting 216 00:12:18,109 --> 00:12:21,012 closer and closer to Mars. So they reckon in about 20, 30, 40 217 00:12:21,072 --> 00:12:23,293 million years or so, yeah, it's either going to crash into the 218 00:12:23,312 --> 00:12:27,016 planet or be torn apart by tidal forces when it gets too close. 219 00:12:27,141 --> 00:12:29,297 No one's really sure yet what's going to happen. 220 00:12:29,578 --> 00:12:30,781 One ring to rule them all. 221 00:12:30,782 --> 00:12:33,648 One ring to rule them all, yeah. Well, we'll come to that because 222 00:12:33,742 --> 00:12:37,289 no one is sure yet how they came to be orbiting Mars. All sorts 223 00:12:37,290 --> 00:12:39,883 of hypotheses have been proposed over the years, but there are a 224 00:12:39,884 --> 00:12:43,148 couple that are currently in vogue with scientists. One has 225 00:12:43,180 --> 00:12:46,695 it that a large, rocky body of some kind crashed into Mars a 226 00:12:46,696 --> 00:12:47,195 long time ago. 227 00:12:47,393 --> 00:12:51,293 And that spewed rocky debris out into orbit where these two moons 228 00:12:51,572 --> 00:12:53,834 finally coalesced. And there was probably lots of other debris 229 00:12:53,975 --> 00:12:56,193 floating around as well, but that eventually fell back down 230 00:12:56,232 --> 00:13:00,818 onto Mars and the orbital space above Mars became cleared apart 231 00:13:00,834 --> 00:13:01,873 from just these two moons. 232 00:13:02,154 --> 00:13:04,342 Nothing really controversial about that. That sort of idea 233 00:13:04,343 --> 00:13:06,170 has been around for a long time. The other idea that's 234 00:13:06,217 --> 00:13:08,701 interesting, and it starts with the same sort of collision with 235 00:13:08,732 --> 00:13:11,717 some big rocky body crashing into Mars, and that's then 236 00:13:11,842 --> 00:13:14,264 followed by the formation of lots and lots of moons. 237 00:13:14,621 --> 00:13:17,084 Orbiting around the planet that have formed from the debris that 238 00:13:17,085 --> 00:13:19,848 got thrown into orbit. Some of these moons will then eventually 239 00:13:19,945 --> 00:13:23,274 break up again due to tidal forces and then you get a 240 00:13:23,430 --> 00:13:27,336 smaller number of moons forming out of the debris of them and 241 00:13:27,531 --> 00:13:29,734 you sort of rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and 242 00:13:29,735 --> 00:13:31,774 repeat and you end up in the end with just two of them. 243 00:13:32,086 --> 00:13:35,336 So that's been taken seriously by a lot of people so that could 244 00:13:35,367 --> 00:13:39,383 explain certain characteristics of why Deimos is further out and 245 00:13:39,399 --> 00:13:42,367 Phobos is closer in and how they ended up in their particular 246 00:13:42,492 --> 00:13:50,110 orbits and why Phobos is losing altitude slowly and yadda, 247 00:13:50,111 --> 00:13:51,134 yadda, yadda. So no one really knows the score yet. 248 00:13:51,135 --> 00:13:52,575 But those are the two main ideas. It's a huge ongoing 249 00:13:52,614 --> 00:13:56,020 debate, isn't it? We've got all sorts of hypotheses out there. I 250 00:13:56,021 --> 00:14:00,044 was reporting just the other week on another two options, one 251 00:14:00,075 --> 00:14:04,169 involving Phobos and Deimos being formed by a collision 252 00:14:04,403 --> 00:14:07,606 between two objects in orbit around Mars, and then the other 253 00:14:07,669 --> 00:14:10,169 option is they were simply captured asteroids, but their 254 00:14:10,247 --> 00:14:12,898 orbits don't... Justify the captured asteroid story. 255 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,303 No, a long time ago that used to be the main idea. They look like 256 00:14:16,342 --> 00:14:18,404 asteroids. They're about the size of asteroids. So they were 257 00:14:18,405 --> 00:14:21,307 probably captured asteroids. That was a very common thought. 258 00:14:21,385 --> 00:14:23,025 That seems pretty straightforward. An asteroid 259 00:14:23,049 --> 00:14:24,768 gets too close, gets captured into orbit. 260 00:14:24,869 --> 00:14:27,596 But they're pretty certain now that's just not the case for all 261 00:14:27,597 --> 00:14:30,721 sorts of reasons. Some of these mysteries though might be solved 262 00:14:31,018 --> 00:14:35,143 or at least not solved. A few more bits of information to plug 263 00:14:35,174 --> 00:14:37,580 into them later this decade because Japan's going to be 264 00:14:37,596 --> 00:14:39,971 sending a mission there called the Mars and Moon Exploration 265 00:14:39,997 --> 00:14:40,818 Exploration Missions. 266 00:14:40,819 --> 00:14:43,841 That's an imaginative title. It 's the Mars And Moon Exploration 267 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,505 Missions. That's going to head to Phobos. It's going to land 268 00:14:46,583 --> 00:14:49,185 there and it's going to take some samples and blast off and 269 00:14:49,186 --> 00:14:50,966 bring them back. So that's going to be pretty specky. The 270 00:14:51,005 --> 00:14:52,770 Russians have tried this a long, long time ago. 271 00:14:53,567 --> 00:14:53,833

Phobos. 272 00:14:54,513 --> 00:14:58,341 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it didn't work. There were a whole string 273 00:14:58,342 --> 00:15:00,935 of Mars mission failures back then. I still remember there was 274 00:15:00,936 --> 00:15:04,700 another mission called Mars 96 that was sent off. And it got 275 00:15:04,763 --> 00:15:07,216 launched and it didn't get out of Earth orbit, really. It 276 00:15:07,247 --> 00:15:09,725 didn't even make it into Earth orbit much. And I remember this 277 00:15:09,765 --> 00:15:11,567 because I woke up early one morning, that morning. 278 00:15:11,626 --> 00:15:14,208 This was a proton rocket failure, wasn't it? 279 00:15:14,209 --> 00:15:16,353 Yeah, I think it was. And the word was that this thing was 280 00:15:16,372 --> 00:15:19,255 going to come back down to Earth within the next orbit or two, 281 00:15:19,333 --> 00:15:20,552 and it might crash into Australia. 282 00:15:20,833 --> 00:15:21,435 Yeah, yeah. 283 00:15:22,138 --> 00:15:26,341 And I remember I was doing lots of radio stuff at the time. You 284 00:15:26,435 --> 00:15:29,528 used to do a lot of work with ABC Radio in Sydney, and I rang 285 00:15:29,544 --> 00:15:32,231 up the studio and said, hey, there's this big story, this 286 00:15:32,310 --> 00:15:35,980 Russian thing might be going to crash into Australia. And it's 287 00:15:35,981 --> 00:15:37,923 got a bit of plutonium on board and all that sort of thing, so 288 00:15:37,962 --> 00:15:38,903 it could be a problem. 289 00:15:38,964 --> 00:15:40,684 They said, oh, don't bother us with that. We've got really big, 290 00:15:40,723 --> 00:15:43,009 important political things going on this morning and blah, blah, 291 00:15:43,048 --> 00:15:45,106 blah. Well, they phoned me back 20 minutes later and said, the 292 00:15:45,107 --> 00:15:46,934 Prime Minister's about to have a press conference about this. 293 00:15:47,114 --> 00:15:51,114 That's just something coming down. Can you talk to us about 294 00:15:51,638 --> 00:15:53,294 it? He and John Howard, the Prime Minister at the time, had 295 00:15:53,295 --> 00:15:55,747 a press conference about the possibility of this thing 296 00:15:55,778 --> 00:15:58,763 cracking in Australia, Mars 96. The good old days when missions 297 00:15:58,764 --> 00:16:00,044 to Mars failed all the time. 298 00:16:00,106 --> 00:16:03,153 Sometimes because they simply confused imperial and metric 299 00:16:03,184 --> 00:16:03,622 measurements. 300 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,640 Yes, all sorts of reasons. Mars was the first planet that I 301 00:16:06,921 --> 00:16:09,079 identified in the night sky when I was a teenager. It was the 302 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:11,243 first one I learned how to pick out. It was pretty easy because 303 00:16:11,244 --> 00:16:13,986 it was red. So I've got a bit of a soft spot for Mars, and that 304 00:16:13,987 --> 00:16:15,579 was about 1980. 305 00:16:15,783 --> 00:16:19,564 Well, at the time, the Viking missions were still on Mars, and 306 00:16:19,565 --> 00:16:22,126 it was the year after that, it was 1981, I think it was, that 307 00:16:22,127 --> 00:16:24,970 they switched off one of the Vikings, and a few years after 308 00:16:24,971 --> 00:16:26,861 that, 1986, I think it was, they switched off the other one. 309 00:16:26,908 --> 00:16:30,173 And then there was just a long period of a decade or more where 310 00:16:30,501 --> 00:16:32,720 other Mars missions were attempted, but they all failed. 311 00:16:32,845 --> 00:16:36,530 Coming at that. It was 1997 when the Mars Pathfinder mission 312 00:16:36,531 --> 00:16:38,995 eventually got there with a little Sojourner rover. That's 313 00:16:39,175 --> 00:16:41,635 the next successful mission after the Vikings. 314 00:16:42,018 --> 00:16:44,260 There was a long period there where everything was just going 315 00:16:44,261 --> 00:16:47,503 wrong with the Mars missions and a few after Pathfinder as well. 316 00:16:47,659 --> 00:16:50,417 But they obviously have learned their lessons because the 317 00:16:50,526 --> 00:16:52,682 missions look at perseverance. They're doing it really well 318 00:16:52,745 --> 00:16:54,182 these days. They know what they're doing. 319 00:16:54,385 --> 00:16:58,167 I remember staring at an image in the school library taken by 320 00:16:58,276 --> 00:17:01,276 one of the Viking landers from the surface of Mars and just 321 00:17:01,698 --> 00:17:05,392 looking at that. Then red landscape with this green sky. 322 00:17:05,812 --> 00:17:08,876 That's the way it looked in the newspaper image anyway. And I 323 00:17:08,896 --> 00:17:10,314 was just fascinated with it. 324 00:17:10,337 --> 00:17:13,681 I thought you were going to put Cydonia in the famous space on 325 00:17:13,696 --> 00:17:13,962 Mars. 326 00:17:13,963 --> 00:17:14,821 Oh, that came later. 327 00:17:15,618 --> 00:17:16,759 Anyway, that was... 328 00:17:16,798 --> 00:17:17,501 It's real, you know. 329 00:17:18,845 --> 00:17:21,548 Aliens, yeah. People made a lot of money out of it. Anyway. 330 00:17:21,626 --> 00:17:25,017 That's senior science writer Jonathan Alley, and this is 331 00:17:25,048 --> 00:17:25,829 Space Time. 332 00:17:41,364 --> 00:17:43,507 And time now to take another brief look at some of the other 333 00:17:43,546 --> 00:17:46,649 stories making use in science this week with a science report. 334 00:17:47,532 --> 00:17:50,931 A new study warns that most of the crops we grow are going to 335 00:17:50,970 --> 00:17:53,579 experience substantial production losses due to climate 336 00:17:53,618 --> 00:17:56,720 change. This will likely still happen even with current 337 00:17:56,735 --> 00:17:58,313 mitigation measures in place. 338 00:17:58,954 --> 00:18:01,548 The findings reported in the journal Nature looked into the 339 00:18:01,626 --> 00:18:06,282 future of maize, soybeans, rice, wheat, cassava and sorghum and 340 00:18:06,283 --> 00:18:09,470 have found that only rice might avoid substantial losses. 341 00:18:10,044

--> 00:18:13,168 The authors estimate that for every 1 degree Celsius increase 342 00:18:13,169 --> 00:18:14,988 in temperatures above pre-industrial levels, 343 00:18:15,270 --> 00:18:19,395 production will decline by 120 calories per person per day, the 344 00:18:19,410 --> 00:18:23,777 equivalent of about 4.4% of current daily consumption. By 345 00:18:23,778 --> 00:18:26,582 the way, in 2024, it was confirmed that global 346 00:18:26,660 --> 00:18:30,426 temperatures have already increased by 1.5 degrees above 347 00:18:30,441 --> 00:18:31,629 pre-industrial levels. 348 00:18:32,223 --> 00:18:34,863 The authors say that under a high-emissions scenario, the 349 00:18:34,910 --> 00:18:38,035 United States, eastern China, central Asia, southern Africa 350 00:18:38,098 --> 00:18:40,205 and the Middle East will lose almost half their maize 351 00:18:40,246 --> 00:18:43,650 production by the end of the century. Europe, Africa and 352 00:18:43,748 --> 00:18:45,849 South America will lose a quarter of their wheat 353 00:18:45,892 --> 00:18:49,576 production and a third will be lost from China, Russia, the 354 00:18:49,615 --> 00:18:50,935 United States and Canada. 355 00:18:52,474 --> 00:18:54,560 A new study has shown that adults who have stayed 356 00:18:54,599 --> 00:18:57,482 consistently active throughout their lives can lower their risk 357 00:18:57,529 --> 00:18:59,091 of early death by up to 40%. 358 00:19:00,326 --> 00:19:02,670 The findings, reported in the British Journal Of Sports 359 00:19:02,748 --> 00:19:06,357 Medicine, examined data from 85 studies covering more than 8 360 00:19:06,451 --> 00:19:09,590 million people. The authors found that lifelong physical 361 00:19:09,670 --> 00:19:12,894 activity reduced the risk of premature death, while inactive 362 00:19:12,933 --> 00:19:15,734 people who became active later in their life could still lower 363 00:19:15,777 --> 00:19:19,281 their risk of premature death by between 20 and 25 percent. 364 00:19:20,937 --> 00:19:23,937 A new study has found that American teens with high and 365 00:19:23,969 --> 00:19:27,109 increasingly addictive use of social media appear to have a 366 00:19:27,172 --> 00:19:30,937 two to three times greater risk of suicidal behavior compared to 367 00:19:30,969 --> 00:19:33,219 kids with lower addictive use patterns. 368 00:19:33,812 --> 00:19:36,140 The findings reported in the Journal Of The American Medical 369 00:19:36,172 --> 00:19:40,011 Association are based on surveys of more than 4,000 children and 370 00:19:40,071 --> 00:19:43,032 teenagers over four years looking at how addictively they 371 00:19:43,134 --> 00:19:47,196 use social media, cell phones and video games. They found 372 00:19:47,298 --> 00:19:51,181 addictive use was common. For example, 50% of all teenagers 373 00:19:51,298 --> 00:19:53,345 were highly addicted to their cell phones. 374 00:19:54,017 --> 00:19:57,142 Until now, research into screen use and mental health had always 375 00:19:57,251 --> 00:20:01,189 focused on screen time. But the authors say these new findings 376 00:20:01,392 --> 00:20:04,236 suggest that focusing research and interventions on addictive 377 00:20:04,267 --> 00:20:07,201 behavior rather than total screen time may hold more 378 00:20:07,282 --> 00:20:07,808 promise. 379 00:20:09,490 --> 00:20:12,613 Well, your smartwatch is getting even smarter with approval by 380 00:20:12,652 --> 00:20:15,797 Australia's health regulator, the TGA, of new software which 381 00:20:15,816 --> 00:20:19,019 will enable sleep apnea notifications on Apple Watches. 382 00:20:19,699 --> 00:20:22,223 Sleep apnea is a huge health problem which can cause high 383 00:20:22,246 --> 00:20:26,269 blood pressure, fatigue, type 2 diabetes, strokes, heart attacks 384 00:20:26,426 --> 00:20:29,785 and shortened lifespan. With the details, we're joined by 385 00:20:29,816 --> 00:20:32,019 technology editor Alex Saharov-Reut from 386 00:20:32,098 --> 00:20:33,488 TechAdvice.life. 387 00:20:33,660 --> 00:20:36,160 Yeah, well, I first want to start by noting that Samsung, 388 00:20:36,176 --> 00:20:38,863 when they launched their Watch 8, and we spoke about this last 389 00:20:38,941 --> 00:20:42,697 week. It not only does the heart blood pressure, but they're also 390 00:20:42,778 --> 00:20:45,100 launching sleep apnea detection. And of course, as we spoke about 391 00:20:45,420 --> 00:20:48,627 last time, they're able to detect your antioxidant levels 392 00:20:48,885 --> 00:20:50,783 of your body by you putting your thumb on the back. 393 00:20:50,807 --> 00:20:54,205 So interestingly, a week later, Apple has come out noting that 394 00:20:54,291 --> 00:20:56,924 thanks to a big sleep study they've done with a million 395 00:20:56,955 --> 00:21:00,471 participants and using advanced machine learning, they now can 396 00:21:00,518 --> 00:21:03,611 detect sleep apnea. So you get these notifications from today 397 00:21:03,815 --> 00:21:05,065 on your Apple Watch. 398 00:21:05,158 --> 00:21:07,346 And, you know, it's potentially a serious condition when 399 00:21:07,455 --> 00:21:10,882 breathing. Stops repeatedly during sleep. In Australia, it 400 00:21:10,883 --> 00:21:13,382 impacts about a million, more than a million people, and it 401 00:21:13,542 --> 00:21:17,124 often goes undiagnosed in many cases. And it can have obviously 402 00:21:17,210 --> 00:21:19,030 important health consequences. 403 00:21:19,046 --> 00:21:21,413 I mean, so you've already been able to do this sort of thing 404 00:21:21,468 --> 00:21:23,952 with other apps and other devices, but the wearable 405 00:21:23,991 --> 00:21:27,319 device, which is increasingly all about health, not just 406 00:21:27,351 --> 00:21:30,163 telling the time or being a portable radio or able to make 407 00:21:30,179 --> 00:21:33,116 phone calls, but actually able to help you measure your health 408 00:21:33,226 --> 00:21:35,929 metrics is something that's becoming a standard thing and 409 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:37,585 people are going to be taking it for granted. 410 00:21:37,782 --> 00:21:41,065 Very soon. So this is Paul's breathing disturbances. You get 411 00:21:41,066 --> 00:21:43,729 a notification after 30 days, but it really tracks your sleep 412 00:21:43,730 --> 00:21:46,327 for a long period of time. And then of course, you have the 413 00:21:46,374 --> 00:21:49,514 information that you can show your doctor on your phone, and 414 00:21:49,515 --> 00:21:51,038 it's been tracked and measured. 415 00:21:51,311 --> 00:21:54,702 That's Alex Saharov-Royd from TechAdvice.life. 416 00:22:10,350 --> 00:22:13,894 And that's the show for now. 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