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In this episode of SpaceTime, we uncover remarkable revelations about Jupiter, lightning-induced gamma rays, and groundbreaking achievements in spaceflight.
Jupiter's Magnificent Past
A new study reveals that Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, was once twice its current size and possessed a magnetic field 50 times stronger than today. Researchers, led by Konstantin Batygin, used the orbits of Jupiter's small moons, Amalthea and Thebe, to deduce these findings, providing critical insights into the early stages of planetary formation. The implications of this research could reshape our understanding of gas giants and their formation processes across the universe.
Gamma Rays and Lightning
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have detected intense flashes of gamma rays produced by lightning strikes. This phenomenon, known as terrestrial gamma ray flashes, occurs when lightning accelerates electrons to near light speeds, resulting in bursts of radiation. The study, published in Science Advances, sheds light on the high-energy processes occurring in Earth's atmosphere, enhancing our understanding of lightning's power and its effects on our planet.
Precision Formation Flying in Space
History has been made in Earth orbit as two spacecraft from the European Space Agency's Proba 3 mission successfully flew in millimeter-perfect formation for the first time. This precision alignment is crucial for studying the Sun's corona, allowing the two satellites to simulate a single large spacecraft. We discuss the technology behind this mission and its potential to revolutionize solar observations.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Nature Astronomy
https://www.nature.com/natureastronomy/
Science Advances
https://www.science.org/journal/sciadv
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00:00 This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 64 for broadcast on 28 May 2025
01:00 Jupiter's original size and magnetic field
12:15 Gamma ray flashes unleashed by lightning
22:30 Precision formation flying in space
30:00 Science report: New contact lens technology for night vision
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Stuart Gary: This is space Time Series 28, episode
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 64 for broadcast on 28 May
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 2025. Coming up on Space Time,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 a new study shows that Jupiter was once twice as
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 big as it is now. How gamma ray flashes
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 are, unleashed by lightning and spaceflight
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 history made as two spacecraft orbiting the Earth
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 fly in millimeter perfect formation.
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 All that and more coming up on Space Time.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 Voice Over Guy: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary
00:00:31 --> 00:00:31 Gary.
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 Stuart Gary: A new study has found that the solar system's largest
00:00:50 --> 00:00:53 planet, Jupiter, was once twice as big as it is now
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 and had a far stronger magnetic field.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun, and the
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 gas giant has more than 2.5 times the combined mass
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 of all the other bodies in the solar system, excluding
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 the sun. Its diameter of 140
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 km is some 11 times larger
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 than that of Earth, and It's a full 1/10 the size of
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 the Sun's diameter. Jupiter is huge.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 That's why it's often referred to as the King of Planets.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 It circles the sun at an average distance some
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 5.2 times further out than the Earth, taking
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 11.86 Earth years to complete each orbit.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 The new findings, reported in the journal Nature Astronomy,
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 suggest that around 3.8 million years after
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 the solar system's formation, 4.6 billion years
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 ago, at a time when the first solids condensed out of
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 the Sun's protoplanetary disk, Jupiter, was
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 significantly larger and had an even more powerful
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 magnetic field. One of the study's authors,
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 Konstantin Batygin, says the ultimate goal of the research
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 has been to pin down the early phase of planetary
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 formation. Batygin and colleagues reached their findings
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 by studying Jupiter's tiny moons, Amalthea and
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 Thebe. They orbit even closer to Jupiter than
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 IO, the smallest and nearest of the planet's four large
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 Galilean moons. because Amalthea and
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 Thebe have slightly tilted orbits, the authors were able to
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 analyze these small orbital discrepancies in order to calculate
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 Jupiter's original size, finding it to be about
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 twice that of its current radius, with a predicted volume that
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 was equivalent to over 2000 times that of
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 Earth. They also calculated that the planet's
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 magnetic field was some 50 times stronger than
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 what it is today. This new analysis is
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 establishing a clear snapshot of Jupiter at the moment
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 its surrounding solar nebula evaporated. And
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 that's a pivotal transition point where the building materials of
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 planet formation disappear and the primordial
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 architecture of our solar system was finally locked in.
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 The results add crucial details to existing
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 planet formation theories, suggesting that Jupiter, as
00:02:51 --> 00:02:54 well as other Gas giants around other stars were all
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 formed through a process of core accretion in which
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 rocky and icy cores are first established and
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 then rapidly gather surrounding gas.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 This space time still to come.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 A new study describes how gamma ray flashes in
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 Earth's atmosphere are unleashed by lightning
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 and spaceflight. History has been made in Earth orbit with
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 two spacecraft successfully flying in millimeter perfect
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 formation for several hours for the first time. All
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 that and more still to come. on space time
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 scientists have detected intense flashes of high energy gamma
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 rays associated with the collision of two bolts of
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 lightning. Lightning is a phenomenon that's
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 fascinated humanity since time immemorial,
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 providing a stark example of the power and
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 unpredictability of the natural world world.
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 Although the study of lightning can be challenging, scientists
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 have in recent years made great strides in developing
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 their understanding of this extreme spectacle.
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 Now a report in the journal Science Advances has
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 described for the first time observations of an
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 intense burst of radiation known as terrestrial gamma ray
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 flash synchronized with a lightning discharge.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 The study's lead author Yuki Wada from the University of
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 Osaka says the ability to study extreme
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 processes such as terrestrial gamma ray flashes originating
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 from lightning allows scientists better better understand
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 the high energy processes occurring in Earth's atmosphere.
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 It has been hypothesized that terrestrial gamma ray
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 flashes arise from lightning discharges as a result of
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 the acceleration of electrons to very high speeds.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 However, the transient nature of this phenomenon, which only
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 lasts for microseconds, has always made it difficult to
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 study the hypothesis. So Weider and
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 colleagues developed a multi sensor setup designed
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 specifically to detect optical radio frequency and
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 high energy radiation events. They were able
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 to observe two discharge paths of lightning, one
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 descending from the thundercloud to the ground based transmission
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 tower and one ascending up in the opposite direction.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 Weider and colleagues found that terrestrial gamma ray flashes
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 occurred just before the two discharge paths met, creating
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 a highly concentrated electric field that accelerated
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 electrons in the air to near the speed of light.
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 The first terrestrial gamma ray flash photon was observed
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 31 microseconds before the collision of the
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 discharge paths and the full burst lasted for
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 20 microseconds after they emit to form the lightning
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 strike. The study contributes crucial data
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 to the long standing mystery of how lightning
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 generates enough energy to produce gamma rays, a
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 phenomenon normally associated with outer space events
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 like supernovae or black holes.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 The study also supports emerging theories about
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 lightning leader dynamics and ah, the potential role of
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 thermal runaway or relativistic feedback in these
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 extreme bursts. This is space
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 time still to come. Spaceflight history
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 made in Earth orbit with two spacecraft successfully flying in
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 millimeter perfect formation for several hours for the first
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 time. And later in the science report,
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 researchers develop a new type of contact lens. One that
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 will help you see in the dark. All that and more still
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 to come on, Space Time.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 Today's episode of Space Time is brought to you by
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00:08:18 --> 00:08:19 And now it's back to our show.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 Spaceflight history has been made in Earth. orbit. With two
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 spacecraft successfully flying in millimeter perfect formation
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 for several hours. For the first time and without
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 any control from the ground, the European Space
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 agency's Probe 3 mission achieved a precision alignment
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 which is needed in order to carry out its mission to study the
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona. You see, the
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 two Proba 3 spacecraft, which include a Coronagraph
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 orbiter and an Occulta orbiter, need to fly
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 exactly 150 meters apart in perfect
00:08:54 --> 00:08:57 formation in order to simulate a single giant
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 spacecraft. Earlier this year, the first step of
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 the mission was successfully completed. Using a
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 set of positioning instruments, flight operations managers were able
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 to align the two spacecraft in formation and then
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 monitor them as they maintain their relative position
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 autonomously. Now, following more fine tuning
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 and testing, the team have achieved the desired level of
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 precision they need, making Prober3 the world's
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 first ever precision formation flying mission.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 ESA Probe III systems engineer Rafael Rogo
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 says the task was carried out at an orbital altitude of
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 50 km. Here, Earth's
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 gravitational pull is small enough so that very little propellant
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 is needed to maintain flight formation. But then
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 the formation is broken and needs to be acquired again over
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 the next orbit in a repeating cycle. Now the
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 ultimate goal is for the two spacecraft to align with the sun
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 so that the 1.4 meter disk carried on the occulta
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 spacecraft casts a 5 cm shadow onto the
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 optical instrument aboard the Coronagraph spacecraft, thereby
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 allowing it to study the faint solar corona, the
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 Sun's outer atmosphere. The spacecraft are able to
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 measure and control their relative position using a visually based
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 system which includes a wide angle camera on the Occulta
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 tracking a set of flashing LED lights on the Chronograph
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 spacecraft. Once the satellites get close enough
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 to each other, a narrow angle camera locks onto the same
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 set of lights, enabling more accurate positioning.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 Then a fine degree lateral and longitudinal sensor
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 laser is used to achieve the millimetre accuracy needed
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 for the mission. That laser is fired from the
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 Occulta spacecraft and reflected by the chronograph's
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 retroreflector back to the Occulta where it's detected.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 Finally, a shadow position sensor, measures light intensity
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 around the coronagraph aperture to ensure the spacecraft stays
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 in the shadow cast by the Occulta spacecraft.
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 This report from ESAtv
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 ProBA, from the.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 Unidentified (Commentator): Latin for let's try, is
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 ESA's family of experimental small
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 satellites. Over the last two
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 decades, ProBA missions have pushed forward
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 spaceflight technology while gathering valuable
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 science data. The next in the series,
00:11:01 --> 00:11:04 Proba 3, is the most ambitious
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 yet. Two satellites fly together
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 as one of the with millimeter level control of
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 their positions within a precise formation.
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 In the process, one will
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 eclipse or block the sun for the other.
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 To reveal our star's faint surrounding coronal
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 atmosphere for scientific observation,
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 Probe III requires a unique orbit.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 The Occulta Spacecraft, with its 1.4
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 meter diameter occulting disk, could observe the sun
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 and eclipse.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 The satellite's orbit is highly elliptical,
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 taking them to a maximum of 60
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 km from Earth.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 Gravitational, magnetic and atmospheric
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 perturbations are much lower this far out.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 This will make possible the precise positioning needed for
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 formation flying and observing the Sun's
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 corona. At this stage, it is important that the
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 Probe III satellites perform a series of maneuvers to
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 position themselves in relatively safe orbits with
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 respective to each other.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 Achieving this nullifies any risk of the pair
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 either drifting away from each other or colliding.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 The separation between spacecraft will be as short
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 as 25 meters and as long as
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 250 meters with a nominal
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 separation of around 150 meters.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:30 The pair determine their relative positions
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 using a suite of metrologies and including
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 radio links, satellite navigation and the
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 visual based system with optical tracking of
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 blinking lights. Once
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 sufficient accuracy has been achieved, the final
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 step deploy the most precise measuring system of
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 all, the laser metrology system,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 known as the fine lateral and longitudinal
00:12:53 --> 00:12:53 sensor.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 Unidentified (Commentator): With this laser link, the total three dimensional
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 formation can attain millimetre level control.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 At this point, the Occulta lined up with the
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 sun will cast a perfect shadow for sustained
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 observation of the Sun's otherwise invisible
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 corona. Once the
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 Occulta's shadow is maintained in just the right
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 spot on the face of the other satellite,
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 it will be safe for the coronagraph to open its
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 protective door and start scientific observations
00:13:24 --> 00:13:25 of the Sun's corona.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 Solar Scientists travel the world to glimpse brief
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 solar eclipses, but Prober 3
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 will create eclipses on demand.
00:13:40 --> 00:13:41 Stuart Gary: This is space, time
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 and time. Now to take another brief look at some of the other stories making
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 news in Science this week with a Science report.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 Scientists have developed a new type of contact lens, one
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 that will help you see in the dark. A report in the
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 journal Cell claims the lenses work by converting
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 infrared light, otherwise imperceptible to the human eye,
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 into visible light. And unlike night vision
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 goggles, these lenses don't need an external power source.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 The technology behind the lenses rely on
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 nanoparticles that absorb infrared, which the
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 authors bonded with non toxic polymers used in standard contact
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 lenses. When tested on people, participants
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 could detect the location of flashing infrared lights, which they
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 wouldn't be able to see without the contacts.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 Additionally, the authors say they could alter the nanoparticles to convert
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 different wavelengths of light into different colors,
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 thereby allowing colorblind people to see colour.
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 currently the lenses can only detect infrared light projected from
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 an LED light source, but researchers are now working on a
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 version that could detect lower levels of infrared light
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 out in the wild. It
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 turns out the humpback whale's epic migrations to
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 tropical waters from the Great Southern Ocean are ah, not as
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 essential as previously thought for giving birth.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 A report in the journal Frontiers and Marine Science
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 documented newborn calves around Australia and New
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 Zealand, with the southernmost found at Port Arthur in
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 Tasmania. That's 1500km further south
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 than what it was previously thought humpback whales could calve.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 And the highest latitude births recorded by humpback whales were
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 recorded even a little bit further north of Kaikoura in
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 New Zealand. The authors say it's very likely that
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 this pattern of births along the so called humpback highways
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 always existed, but it was obscured when the population
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 crashed due to whaling. A
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 Microsoft artificial intelligence called Aurora has
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 been shown to outperform existing Earth system forecasts
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 predicting extreme events including weather, air quality,
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 ocean currents, sea ice and hurricanes.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 Existing methods need to analyze decades worth of
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 data that require huge amounts of computing power.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 A report in the journal Nature claims all that data was
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 fed into aurora and the AI successfully
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 outperformed seven forecasting centers in predicting the route
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 of cyclones five days in advance with
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 100% accuracy and 92%
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 accuracy for 10 day forecasts. Even
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14 better, training Aurora only took two months, whereas
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 existing methods can take years. Of course it was
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 only possible to train the AI so quickly because all that
00:16:20 --> 00:16:23 data used to train the AI had already been collected
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 by existing Earth, forecasting centers.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 Google have held their major artificial intelligence
00:16:29 --> 00:16:32 showcase IO 2025 with
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 the details. We're joined by technology editor Alex Zaharov-Reutt
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 Vroit from TechAdvice start live.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 Alex Zaharov-Reutt: Yes, well they've had their major Google IO
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 2025 event and this is where they announced
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 a lot of new things about AI. So one of
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 the first changes that people in the US on the
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 Google homepage instead of seeing the I'm feeling lucky
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 button it will be AI search. And this is where you're
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 effectively talking to Gemini and getting a full
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 AI agent similar to what you get with ChatGPT
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 or by going to gemini.google.com and it
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 will expand what you get with the AI
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 overviews and be a full on assistant right there on
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 the most famous homepage in the world. You'll also be able
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 to use that with Google Chrome. It will be able
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 to navigate multiple tabs for you, be
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 able to tell you what's on a web page, how you can question
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 that and talk to it. They were showing a demo where your
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 assistant could ring up a store and get
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 information about items in stock and come back to you
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 and actually take actions for you. Now these are
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 still coming later this year. I mean, the
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 Google homepage update is available now for those in the US
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 The Gemini Live app itself, that gives you the ability
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 to not just speak to the chatbot like you could
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 with ChatGPT or Grok, but also now you can see. So
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 we've spoken about this before, but this previously was made
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 exclusive to the S25 range and we
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 Google Pixel phones. Now it's expanded to more Android phones and now
00:17:54 --> 00:17:57 it's available to all effectively modern Androids going, back
00:17:57 --> 00:18:00 several years and also iOS. Now I have tested
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 it on my phone with iOS and I don't have the
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 camera icon there yet. It's probably something that is waiting for an
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 update to come. But you'll be able to hold your phone
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 up to anything and ask questions about it, identify
00:18:11 --> 00:18:14 plants, animals, looking at instructions on how
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 to put together some Ikea furniture, whatever it might
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 be. This is like talking to a robot,
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 except you're holding the phone in your hand. But there's plenty more.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 I mean, Google Beam is an update for Project
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 Starlight, which was the ability to talk to people
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 in what appeared to be like a 3D way,
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 even though you were sitting in front of a 2D television
00:18:34 --> 00:18:37 screen. Now HP is going to launch these big TV screens,
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 slash monitors with six cameras that will take images from
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 various viewpoints around you and simulate
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 a 3D image. So you will feel as though you are actually
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 talking to that person in a way that is more engaging
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 and more real than just the way we are do
00:18:51 --> 00:18:54 with Zoom and Google Meet and facetime and
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 Skype. Another example of Google's
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 prowess was with the Google Meet Zoom equivalent
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 where somebody was speaking in Spanish, somebody was speaking in
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 English, and a couple of seconds after you start speaking in
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 your language, it's being converted into
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 Spanish. If you're speaking English and it's being done in
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 your tone of voice. In the demo it was
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 very quick and lifelike, is effectively pretty much in
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 real time. Updates to Imagen 4,
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 the image editor, VO3, the video editor,
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 were now delivering much more realistic images.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 And with the video it could pair that with audio
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 that would match the physics of what was on screen. So they had a
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 gentleman in a boat, the waves were crashing, or just
00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 moving and you could hear them. It was very realistic.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 And they've actually now got a thing called Flow, which takes all
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 of their tools together and can make movies for you just
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46 by describing each scene. And you can extend a scene
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 and export the clips. Really quite incredible.
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 Also an Android XR headset that's
00:19:51 --> 00:19:54 extended reality being made with Samsung and
00:19:54 --> 00:19:57 Qualcomm, looks very much like the Apple Vision
00:19:57 --> 00:19:59 Pro, except of course it's running Android. And then also
00:19:59 --> 00:20:02 these glasses looking like a pair of black rimmed ray
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 bands for example. And there was a camera and you could talk
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 to Gemini and you could see images
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 that popped up and were translucent so you could see through them, but they were
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 in your field of view. You could pick up a map, for example, and
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 see the directions. If you look down, you would actually see a little
00:20:17 --> 00:20:20 map displayed there, could speak and see subtitles of
00:20:20 --> 00:20:23 what somebody else was saying and have that translated into
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 another language. Lyria 2 was audio. It was part
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 of the suite that creates the videos and that was able to make this
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 orchestral beautiful sounding rich music.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:34 Pretty amazing stuff. It's effectively all available
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 now. How long it will take until it comes to Australia is yet to
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 be seen. The Flow video creation tool is
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 part of Google Gemini Ultra.
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 Now this is in US dollars,
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 $249.99 a month. First
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 three months are at half price. There was a pro
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 version for about 20 bucks and that's
00:20:53 --> 00:20:56 clearly it's free as well. But if you want more rate
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 limits as it were, and the ability to do more with
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 the latest tools as they come out, I mean this is next level stuff.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 Stuart Gary: That's Alex Zaharov-Reutt Vroid from TechAdvice
00:21:04 --> 00:21:05 Live
00:21:15 --> 00:21:16 Foreign.
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