Sun-Kissing Parker Probe, Recent Lunar Volcanism, and the Milky Way's New Map: S27E157

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[00:01:22] Das ist Spacetime, Serie 27, Episode 157, für Broadcast 30, December 2024.

[00:01:32] Coming up on Spacetime,

[00:01:34] NASA's Parker Solar Probe touches the Sun.

[00:01:37] New lunar samples show the Moon was still volcanically active just 2.8 billion years ago.

[00:01:44] And a new map unveiling the uncharted Milky Way galaxy.

[00:01:49] All that and more coming up on Spacetime.

[00:01:53] Welcome to Spacetime with Stuart Gary.

[00:02:13] NASA's Parker Solar Probe has made history, flying closer to the Sun and travelling faster than any other spacecraft ever.

[00:02:20] The 685 kilogram vehicle swooped down to within 6.1 million kilometres of the Sun,

[00:02:26] in the process reaching speeds of more than 692 kilometres per hour.

[00:02:31] And that's fast enough to fly from Washington DC to Tokyo in less than a minute.

[00:02:36] The probe flew more than seven times closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft.

[00:02:41] The extreme close perihelion flyby exposed Parker's heat shield to scorching temperatures exceeding 930 degrees Celsius.

[00:02:49] Yet the spacecraft's delicate science instrument package protected behind the shield remained at a comfortable 29 degrees C.

[00:02:57] Following its close encounter with our local star,

[00:03:00] mission managers at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in L'Rell, Maryland,

[00:03:04] and at the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland,

[00:03:07] received a beacon transmission from Parker through NASA's Deep Space Communications Centre in Canberra,

[00:03:13] indicating that it had survived the flyby and all spacecraft systems were operating normally.

[00:03:18] More detailed communications will have to wait until the spacecraft's further away from the Sun,

[00:03:24] allowing radio transmissions to be sent without being scrambled by the Sun's intense ionising radiation.

[00:03:30] Launched back in August 2018 aboard a Delta IV Heavy from Pad 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida,

[00:03:37] Parker's Solar Probe is on a seven-year mission, studying the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona,

[00:03:43] and the constant stream of charged particles flowing out from the Sun in the solar wind.

[00:03:48] This is the region where space, weather and geomagnetic storms generated by sunspots,

[00:03:54] solar flares and coronal mass ejections are flung out into space and occasionally towards the Earth.

[00:03:59] Parker is tracing the flow of the energy heating the solar corona and accelerating the solar wind,

[00:04:05] determining how energy from the lower solar atmosphere is transferred to and dissipated in the corona and solar wind.

[00:04:12] It will also observe the processes that shape the non-equilibrium velocity distributions observed throughout the heliosphere

[00:04:19] and how processes in the corona affect the properties of the solar wind in the heliosphere.

[00:04:24] The mission is also studying the structure and dynamics of the plasma and magnetic fields at the sources of the solar wind,

[00:04:30] how the magnetic field and the solar wind source regions connect to the photosphere below and the heliosphere above,

[00:04:37] determine if the sources of the solar wind are steady or intermittent,

[00:04:40] how structures in the corona evolve into the solar wind,

[00:04:43] explore mechanisms that accelerate and transport energetic particles,

[00:04:47] and determine the roles of shocks, magnetic reconnection, waves and turbulence in the acceleration of energetic particles.

[00:04:54] You see, understanding how these processes work will help scientists better forecast geomagnetic storms

[00:05:01] and also determine their severity earlier.

[00:05:04] The observations will also help astronomers trying to determine one of the Sun's biggest mysteries,

[00:05:09] why the corona reaches searingly hot temperatures of well over a million degrees Celsius

[00:05:14] when the Sun's surface or photosphere has a temperature of just 6,000 degrees Celsius.

[00:05:19] To achieve its perihelion close encounter of the Sun,

[00:05:23] Parker undertook a series of seven gravity-assist flybys of the planet Venus,

[00:05:27] the last on November 6.

[00:05:29] This slowed the spacecraft's speed enough to allow it to set course on an intercept with the Sun.

[00:05:36] The Christmas Eve flyby of the Sun was the first of three record-setting close approaches.

[00:05:41] The next will be on March 22, followed by a third on June 19.

[00:05:47] This report from NASA TV.

[00:05:50] Lift-off of the mighty Delta IV heavy rocket.

[00:05:53] In August 2018 in Cape Canaveral, Florida,

[00:05:56] NASA launched Parker Solar Probe to touch the Sun.

[00:05:59] After spending a few years spiraling closer to our star,

[00:06:03] the spacecraft has finally arrived.

[00:06:08] It's amazing.

[00:06:09] Parker Solar Probe is touching the Sun.

[00:06:11] This is Noor Rawafi, the project scientist of the mission.

[00:06:14] He has been waiting for this moment since the beginning of his career.

[00:06:18] This is a dream come true.

[00:06:20] One of the major goals for the Parker Solar Probe mission is to fly through the solar corona.

[00:06:24] And we are doing that now.

[00:06:26] So what does it mean to touch the Sun?

[00:06:28] To answer that, we need to look at the Sun's structure.

[00:06:32] Unlike Earth, the Sun doesn't have a solid surface.

[00:06:35] It's a giant ball of hot plasma that's held together by its own gravity.

[00:06:40] Solar material flows out from the surface.

[00:06:43] But around the Sun, it's bound by the Sun's gravity and magnetic field.

[00:06:48] This material forms the Sun's atmosphere, the corona.

[00:06:51] Eventually, some of this hot and fast solar material escapes the pull of the Sun

[00:06:56] and gushes out into space as solar wind.

[00:06:59] The boundary that marks the edge of the Sun's atmosphere

[00:07:02] is known as the Alfvén critical surface.

[00:07:05] We didn't know exactly where this boundary was.

[00:07:08] But for the first time in history, a spacecraft has crossed it.

[00:07:13] Parker Solar Probe ventured into the corona, touching solar material still bound to the Sun.

[00:07:19] The wispy corona is too faint to see most of the time.

[00:07:22] But it's revealed during total solar eclipses.

[00:07:24] For centuries, we've been studying the Sun's atmosphere during eclipses

[00:07:29] because it's important for understanding how a star influences life in the solar system.

[00:07:34] But much about the corona remains a mystery.

[00:07:37] Two of the most challenging scientific mysteries in astrophysics

[00:07:41] occur in a region that we call solar corona.

[00:07:44] The first mystery is about the temperature.

[00:07:46] The corona is about 300 times hotter than the photosphere,

[00:07:50] the visible surface of the Sun below.

[00:07:52] Secondly, there's a constant stream of particles flowing from the Sun known as the solar wind.

[00:07:58] It accelerates up to millions of miles per hour out of the corona, and we don't know how.

[00:08:03] Solar wind can disrupt our satellites and technology.

[00:08:07] To better protect them, we need to go where the solar wind starts, in the corona.

[00:08:12] So heading there has been a key goal of NASA's for a while.

[00:08:15] We first proposed the idea of sending a spacecraft to the Sun in 1958.

[00:08:21] We didn't have the technology to withstand the journey until the 2000s.

[00:08:26] Since its launch in 2018, Parker has been heading towards our star.

[00:08:30] Then, in April 2021, during Parker's eighth orbit around the Sun,

[00:08:35] the spacecraft was around 20 solar radii, or 8 million miles from the Sun's surface,

[00:08:40] when it crossed into the corona.

[00:08:42] This is a huge milestone.

[00:08:45] It took us over six decades to come to this point.

[00:08:48] As Parker entered the corona, its whisper instrument took images.

[00:08:52] In the past years, streams of plasma surrounded the spacecraft,

[00:08:56] and Parker's other instruments detected that the magnetic conditions had changed.

[00:09:01] Outside the corona, solar wind gushes out, pushing solar material away at high speeds

[00:09:07] so that it can't return back to the Sun's surface.

[00:09:10] Inside the corona, the Sun's magnetic field becomes much stronger.

[00:09:14] Solar material is slower and tethered to the Sun.

[00:09:18] Instead of a smooth divide, Parker found that the boundary between these two sides is wrinkly.

[00:09:25] These bumpy ridges are created from huge flows of plasma travelling out of the corona.

[00:09:30] Scientists are not sure why this happens, but as Parker gets closer, we're finding more clues.

[00:09:36] Before entering the corona, Parker had seen kinks in the solar wind

[00:09:40] where it would momentarily double back on itself.

[00:09:43] Scientists called these features in the solar wind switchbacks.

[00:09:46] But no one knew how or where they formed.

[00:09:49] In 2021, the spacecraft finally tracked switchbacks to one of their origins.

[00:09:55] As Parker got even closer to the Sun, it detected bursts of switchbacks.

[00:10:00] Scientists traced these bursts all the way to the visible surface of the Sun.

[00:10:06] Here we see distinct cells.

[00:10:08] As heat rises beneath, these convection cells churn

[00:10:11] and create funnels of magnetic energy above the surface.

[00:10:16] Scientists found that switchbacks form inside these funnels before rising into the corona and beyond.

[00:10:23] This is only one piece of the switchbacks puzzle though.

[00:10:27] Exactly how they form is still unknown.

[00:10:30] Parker will keep looking for clues as it explores our Sun, the only star we can study up close.

[00:10:36] The Sun is also the only star known to support life.

[00:10:40] So understanding it is critical as we search for life beyond our solar system.

[00:10:45] That will link directly into the question, are we alone in this universe?

[00:10:49] And that is one of the biggest questions for humanity to answer.

[00:10:55] This is Space Time.

[00:10:58] Still to come.

[00:10:59] New lunar samples show that the Moon was still volcanically active 2.8 billion years ago.

[00:11:04] And scientists have used computer simulations to provide an accurate map of the uncharted Milky Way galaxy.

[00:11:11] All that and more still to come on Space Time.

[00:11:35] A super positive way.

[00:11:39] The first time.

[00:11:44] The first time.

[00:11:46] The next time.

[00:11:48] The next time.

[00:11:50] The next time.

[00:11:51] The next time.

[00:11:52] In the future.

[00:11:53] Social Media und Online Marketplace-Integration

[00:11:56] kannst du über Instagram, eBay und Co. werben und verkaufen.

[00:12:00] Neue Zielgruppen zu erreichen war noch nie so einfach.

[00:12:04] Shopify bietet auf einer einzigen sicheren Plattform

[00:12:07] alle Tools, um dein Online-Business aufzubauen.

[00:12:10] Kostenlos testen und dein Business der Welt präsentieren.

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[00:12:17] Einfach Shopify.de-try eingeben und loslegen.

[00:12:21] Made for Germany.

[00:12:22] Powered by Shopify.

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[00:13:42] New data from China's Chang'e 6 sample return mission to the far side of the moon

[00:13:47] suggests that its landing site was still volcanically active just 2.8 billion years ago,

[00:13:52] which is far more recently than previously thought.

[00:13:56] The findings reported in the journal Nature claim there was volcanic activity

[00:14:00] on the basaltic mare in this region over a period of at least 1.4 billion years.

[00:14:05] Lunar samples returned to Earth by the Apollo, Luna and Chang'e 5 missions

[00:14:10] have established that volcanism took place on the near side of the moon between 4 and 2 billion years ago.

[00:14:16] However, the lack of samples from the moon's far side

[00:14:19] means that it's not been possible until now to confirm the timing of volcanic activity for this region.

[00:14:25] Earlier this year, the Chang'e 6 mission retrieved samples from the Apollo basin

[00:14:29] located in the northeastern region of the South Pole Attacan Basin,

[00:14:33] an area believed to have the thinnest crust on the moon,

[00:14:36] thereby providing scientists with an opportunity to study far side volcanism.

[00:14:41] Researchers analysed fragments of basalt contained in two samples of soil or regolith collected by Chang'e 6.

[00:14:48] Using a process called lead-lead dating,

[00:14:50] which measures two different lead isotopes that determine the age of samples,

[00:14:54] the authors analysed a total of 108 basaltic fragments.

[00:14:58] And they found that around 99% of these fragments were around 2.8 billion years old.

[00:15:04] They also found one fragment containing high alumina basalt,

[00:15:08] which was around 4.2 billion years in age,

[00:15:10] implying that volcanism was active on the far side of the moon for at least 1.4 billion years.

[00:15:16] However, the majority of the studied basalt fragments

[00:15:19] did have consistent formation ages of around 2.8 billion years.

[00:15:23] The authors suggest that this represents the age of the main volcanic episode,

[00:15:27] at least at the Chang'e 6 landing site,

[00:15:30] making it a surprisingly young eruption zone,

[00:15:32] and not recognised from observations taken from samples from the lunar nearside.

[00:15:38] Chang'e 6 was Beijing's sixth robotic lunar exploration mission

[00:15:41] and China's second lunar sample return mission.

[00:15:44] The flight was launched back in May from the Weng Chang Satellite Launch Centre on Henan Island.

[00:15:50] The lander and rover touched down on the lunar far side on June 1st.

[00:15:55] The lander's robotic scoop and drill then took samples of the lunar regolith

[00:16:00] with a total mass of 1,935.3 grams.

[00:16:04] This was placed in an ascender module mounted on top of the lander.

[00:16:08] That was then launched back up into lunar orbit,

[00:16:11] where it docked with the orbiter module and transferred the samples

[00:16:14] to an atmospheric re-entry module which returned them to Earth,

[00:16:17] parachuting down in the Inner Mongolian Desert on June 25th.

[00:16:21] This is space time.

[00:16:24] Still to come, astronomers have developed a new stellar chart

[00:16:27] providing a more complete map of our Milky Way galaxy.

[00:16:31] And later in the science report,

[00:16:33] a new study finds that at least 1 in 127 people are on the autism spectrum.

[00:16:38] All that and more still to come on Space Time.

[00:16:57] Astronomers have developed a new stellar chart

[00:17:00] providing a more complete map of our Milky Way galaxy.

[00:17:03] The findings reported on the pre-press physics website archive.org

[00:17:07] suggest that the galaxy was formed in two very distinct phases

[00:17:11] manifested by different age chemical abundance relations.

[00:17:15] The inner disk, located well within the radius of the Sun,

[00:17:18] formed relatively quickly during the early stages of the galaxy's evolution,

[00:17:22] probably around 12 billion years ago.

[00:17:25] Then around 6 to 7 billion years ago,

[00:17:28] the thinner outer disk began to assemble,

[00:17:30] rapidly expanding the radial extent of the galaxy

[00:17:33] and shaping its present structure.

[00:17:35] Until now, astronomers have sort of roughly determined

[00:17:38] the size and shape of our Milky Way galaxy

[00:17:40] by measuring distances to the stars inside it that they can see.

[00:17:45] The trouble is, that's a bit like trying to see the entire forest

[00:17:48] when you're stuck in the middle of the trees.

[00:17:50] And so you're really not getting a full, complete picture.

[00:17:53] And this discrepancy is due to a fundamental limitation in our observations,

[00:17:58] originating from our position in the central plane of the Milky Way's disk.

[00:18:02] See, our location limits the volume of potentially observed stars,

[00:18:06] depending on how bright they appear.

[00:18:08] Also, a large proportion of the Milky Way is completely obscured from our view

[00:18:12] by the gas, dust and stars of the galactic bulge.

[00:18:16] It means that we cannot see or know what's on the other side of the galaxy,

[00:18:21] beyond the galactic centre.

[00:18:22] But by peering into the cosmic dance of stars,

[00:18:25] the study's lead author, Sergei Kapovsky,

[00:18:28] from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam,

[00:18:31] together with colleagues,

[00:18:32] have unravelled the complex structure of our galaxy.

[00:18:35] It works like this.

[00:18:37] Assuming that each of the observed stars that we can see

[00:18:40] represents a larger population of stars

[00:18:42] representing the same rough orbit around the galactic centre.

[00:18:46] The authors have used this to reconstruct the properties of the hidden stars,

[00:18:49] filling in the gaps, if you will, in the galactic disk,

[00:18:52] in the process,

[00:18:53] finding some of the secrets of our galaxy's past, present and future.

[00:18:58] The authors have shown that instead of relying solely on observations of individual stars,

[00:19:02] the entire orbits of real stars can be used

[00:19:05] to represent the structure and dynamics of the galaxy as a whole.

[00:19:09] See, as stars move around the galactic centre,

[00:19:12] they serve as a tool for mapping regions of the galaxy

[00:19:14] that are beyond the direct line of sight of telescopes,

[00:19:18] including areas on the other side of the galaxy.

[00:19:20] Using a model for the Milky Way's mass distribution

[00:19:23] and the observed positions and velocities of stars,

[00:19:26] the authors not only calculated the orbits of stars

[00:19:29] on the far side of the galaxy,

[00:19:30] but more importantly,

[00:19:31] they measured how much mass should be associated with each orbit.

[00:19:35] Using a novel technique applied to a large sample of stars

[00:19:38] with spectroscopic parameters from the Apogee Survey,

[00:19:41] which is part of the Sloan Digital All-Sky Survey,

[00:19:44] the authors map stellar kinematics across the Milky Way.

[00:19:47] And this includes the intricate motion of stars in the galactic bar region.

[00:19:52] And by reconstructing stellar orbits using real Milky Way stars

[00:19:56] with accurately determined parameters,

[00:19:58] the authors quantify the galaxy's mass-weighted chemical abundances

[00:20:01] and age structure.

[00:20:02] And this approach bypasses the challenges posed

[00:20:05] by the dense inner regions and interstellar medium extinction,

[00:20:08] delivering a comprehensive view of stellar populations,

[00:20:11] including previously unobservable areas

[00:20:14] on the far side of the galaxy.

[00:20:16] I mean, it's still only a guess,

[00:20:18] but it's the most accurate we have so far,

[00:20:20] and it's based on known physics.

[00:20:23] This is Space Time.

[00:20:39] Wünschst du dir jemanden,

[00:20:40] der dich versteht wie kein anderer?

[00:20:42] Jemand, der deine Wünsche wahr werden lässt

[00:20:45] und mit dir das schönste Abenteuer

[00:20:47] deines Lebens erleben möchte?

[00:20:49] Die Commerce-Plattform Shopify

[00:20:51] revolutioniert Millionen von Unternehmen weltweit.

[00:20:54] Mit Shopify richtest du im Nu deinen Online-Shop ein.

[00:20:58] Ganz ohne Programmier- oder Designkenntnisse.

[00:21:01] Dank der effizienten Einrichtung

[00:21:02] und intuitiven Social-Media-

[00:21:04] und Online-Marketplace-Integration

[00:21:06] you can go over Instagram, eBay and Co.

[00:21:09] and sell and sell.

[00:21:10] To achieve new goals,

[00:21:11] it was never easy to achieve.

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[00:21:17] to build your online business.

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[00:21:30] Make for Germany

[00:21:32] Powered by Shopify

[00:21:35] And time now to take a brief look at some of the other stories

[00:21:38] making use in science this week

[00:21:40] with a science report.

[00:21:41] A new study claims that drinking tea or coffee

[00:21:44] has a direct association

[00:21:46] with a lower risk of developing

[00:21:48] head and neck cancers.

[00:21:50] The findings reported in the journal Cancer

[00:21:52] are based on detailed analyses of 14

[00:21:54] previous studies that included around

[00:21:56] 9,500 people with cancer

[00:21:58] and close to 15,800

[00:22:00] people without.

[00:22:01] The authors found that people who drank

[00:22:04] more than four cups of caffeinated coffee

[00:22:06] daily

[00:22:06] had 17% lower odds

[00:22:08] of having neck and head cancers

[00:22:10] overall,

[00:22:11] 30% lower odds

[00:22:12] of having a mouth cancer

[00:22:13] and 22% lower odds

[00:22:15] of having throat cancer

[00:22:16] compared to people

[00:22:17] who didn't drink coffee.

[00:22:18] And drinking decaf or tea

[00:22:20] was also linked to lower odds

[00:22:22] of having these cancers

[00:22:23] but in lower percentages

[00:22:25] compared to those

[00:22:26] who drank caffeine-filled coffee.

[00:22:28] A new study has found

[00:22:30] that an estimated

[00:22:31] 61.8 million people

[00:22:33] around the world,

[00:22:34] that's roughly one

[00:22:35] in every 127 people,

[00:22:37] are on the autism spectrum.

[00:22:39] The findings,

[00:22:40] reported in the Lancet Medical Journal,

[00:22:42] are based on Australian-led research

[00:22:43] using 2021 data,

[00:22:45] the most recent for which

[00:22:46] accurate information is available.

[00:22:49] The new figures

[00:22:50] are substantially higher

[00:22:51] than previous estimates

[00:22:52] of around 1 in 271 people

[00:22:54] that was based on 2019 data.

[00:22:56] But the authors say

[00:22:57] this was mainly due

[00:22:58] to them changing

[00:22:59] their approach

[00:23:00] to exclude studies

[00:23:01] that probably underestimated

[00:23:03] the rates of autism.

[00:23:04] The new study also found

[00:23:06] that autism spectrum disorder

[00:23:07] was most common

[00:23:08] in people under 20

[00:23:09] who were ranked

[00:23:10] within the top 10 causes

[00:23:11] of non-fatal health burden,

[00:23:13] emphasising the need

[00:23:14] for early detection

[00:23:15] and developmental support

[00:23:16] for people on the spectrum.

[00:23:19] Scientists at Melbourne's

[00:23:20] Monash University

[00:23:22] have made a huge breakthrough

[00:23:23] in energy storage technology

[00:23:25] which could significantly advance

[00:23:27] the global shift away

[00:23:28] from fossil fuels.

[00:23:30] The new discovery,

[00:23:31] reported in the journal Nature,

[00:23:33] centres around new

[00:23:33] thermal energy storage materials

[00:23:35] which could provide

[00:23:36] a more sustainable solution

[00:23:37] to one of the major challenges

[00:23:39] in renewable energy storage,

[00:23:41] how to store large amounts

[00:23:42] of energy inexpensively

[00:23:44] and sustainably.

[00:23:45] After all,

[00:23:46] if you rely on renewable

[00:23:47] energy sources

[00:23:48] and the wind doesn't blow

[00:23:49] and the sun doesn't shine,

[00:23:51] you need to rely

[00:23:52] on stored energy.

[00:23:53] And no matter what

[00:23:54] the pro-renewables people

[00:23:56] tell you,

[00:23:56] there is simply not enough

[00:23:58] stored energy capacity

[00:23:59] now or any time

[00:24:00] in the next hundred years

[00:24:01] to fill the gap.

[00:24:02] The newly discovered material

[00:24:04] integrates three modes

[00:24:05] of energy storage,

[00:24:06] creating a trimodal system

[00:24:08] that stores thermal energy

[00:24:09] with unprecedented efficiency.

[00:24:11] The material,

[00:24:12] a mixture of boric

[00:24:13] and syscinic acids,

[00:24:15] undergoes a transition

[00:24:16] at around 150 degrees Celsius

[00:24:18] and can store a record-breaking

[00:24:19] 600 megajoules per cubic metre

[00:24:21] of energy,

[00:24:22] which is almost two times higher

[00:24:24] than many existing materials.

[00:24:26] This novel trimodal system

[00:24:27] opens up new possibilities

[00:24:29] for the Carnot battery,

[00:24:30] cutting-edge energy storage technology.

[00:24:33] The Carnot battery

[00:24:34] converts electrical energy

[00:24:35] into thermal energy for storage

[00:24:37] and then back to electrical energy

[00:24:39] when it's needed.

[00:24:40] In this design,

[00:24:41] the new material acts

[00:24:42] as the key component

[00:24:44] for storing the thermal energy

[00:24:45] and it can withstand

[00:24:46] over a thousand heating

[00:24:48] and cooling cycles.

[00:24:49] The key to the material's performance

[00:24:51] is its ability

[00:24:52] to store energy

[00:24:53] through three mechanisms

[00:24:54] simultaneously.

[00:24:55] First,

[00:24:56] it stores sensible heat

[00:24:57] as it warms up.

[00:24:58] Then,

[00:24:59] during melting of the mixture,

[00:25:01] the boric acid

[00:25:01] undergoes a chemical reaction

[00:25:03] that further stores energy.

[00:25:05] And the chemical reaction

[00:25:06] is highly reversible,

[00:25:07] allowing this material

[00:25:08] to be used over and over again

[00:25:10] without degradation.

[00:25:11] That's a major breakthrough

[00:25:13] in thermochemical TS materials.

[00:25:16] Importantly,

[00:25:17] the material's both low-cost

[00:25:18] and environmentally friendly.

[00:25:20] Boric acid's a flame-retardant substance

[00:25:22] derived from boron ores,

[00:25:24] and syscinic acid,

[00:25:25] a biobased chemical,

[00:25:26] is inexpensive

[00:25:27] and sustainably resourced.

[00:25:30] The popular consumer magazine

[00:25:32] Choice has announced

[00:25:33] its much-anticipated

[00:25:34] Shonky Award winners

[00:25:35] or should there be losers

[00:25:36] for 2024?

[00:25:38] The Shonkies recognise

[00:25:39] the worst of the world's

[00:25:41] products and services

[00:25:41] from the past year.

[00:25:43] Tim Mendham

[00:25:44] from Australian Skeptic

[00:25:45] says one of the 2024 winners

[00:25:47] are so-called grounding socks.

[00:25:49] Yeah,

[00:25:49] that's the nice Australianism.

[00:25:50] I think it's Shonky

[00:25:51] means sort of dodgy.

[00:25:52] Another Australianism.

[00:25:54] Yeah,

[00:25:54] I mean,

[00:25:55] it's not very good.

[00:25:56] I mean,

[00:25:56] it's less than that is promised.

[00:25:57] It does not work.

[00:25:59] And normally,

[00:25:59] they deal with a lot of technologies

[00:26:00] and products

[00:26:01] that are put forward,

[00:26:02] even some services at times.

[00:26:03] But this latest one,

[00:26:04] one of the Shonky winners

[00:26:05] was grounding socks.

[00:26:06] Oh,

[00:26:07] I've heard of these,

[00:26:08] yes.

[00:26:08] They're supposed to relieve

[00:26:09] your electric charge.

[00:26:10] The idea comes from this

[00:26:11] earthing or grounding movement

[00:26:13] which has been around,

[00:26:13] what is it,

[00:26:14] 30 years or so.

[00:26:15] Barefoot everywhere.

[00:26:15] Well,

[00:26:16] barefoot on the ground especially,

[00:26:17] right?

[00:26:18] You go out on the grass

[00:26:19] and you rub your sort of bare feet

[00:26:20] and that will extract

[00:26:21] all the surplus electrons

[00:26:22] out of your body

[00:26:23] or whatever,

[00:26:24] all the magnetic impulses

[00:26:25] and take it away.

[00:26:26] You'll ground yourself

[00:26:26] and so static will disappear.

[00:26:28] One of the problems

[00:26:29] is as soon as you stop doing it,

[00:26:30] your static will increase,

[00:26:31] whatever.

[00:26:32] Anyway,

[00:26:32] these are socks

[00:26:32] which you plug in.

[00:26:33] I don't think you can walk very far.

[00:26:35] You plug into a power socket

[00:26:36] and it will drain

[00:26:37] the electrical charge

[00:26:39] via your feet

[00:26:40] in a sort of longish socks,

[00:26:41] Bermuda style socks

[00:26:43] and the choice people

[00:26:44] which are very much size based.

[00:26:46] They have a huge laboratory

[00:26:47] which I've been to

[00:26:47] which is fascinating.

[00:26:48] A lot of people

[00:26:49] they're working there

[00:26:49] to actually assess products

[00:26:50] everything from soap powders

[00:26:52] to grounding socks

[00:26:53] and what they say

[00:26:54] is that these things

[00:26:54] are supposed to offer you

[00:26:55] faster healing,

[00:26:57] pain alleviation,

[00:26:58] anti-aging

[00:26:59] and mood elevation

[00:27:00] and the evidence

[00:27:01] that these people

[00:27:02] have put forward

[00:27:02] is purely anecdotal.

[00:27:04] Oh,

[00:27:04] I feel better.

[00:27:05] Whatever.

[00:27:06] It's purely qualitative

[00:27:07] and unreliable.

[00:27:08] Therefore,

[00:27:08] they're saying

[00:27:09] there's no evidence

[00:27:10] for this sort of thing at all

[00:27:11] that it's not going to have

[00:27:12] any lasting effect

[00:27:12] if it has any effect at all

[00:27:14] and one of the problems

[00:27:15] they also point out

[00:27:16] is that the cord

[00:27:17] that attaches the sock

[00:27:18] to the power socket

[00:27:19] keeps breaking.

[00:27:20] So you wear it twice

[00:27:21] and it's broken off

[00:27:22] which is nice

[00:27:23] to have a bare wire

[00:27:24] attached to a power socket

[00:27:25] hanging around

[00:27:25] and so apart from the fact

[00:27:26] that it doesn't work

[00:27:27] it also might be dangerous.

[00:27:29] So they definitely

[00:27:30] gave this an award

[00:27:30] the grounding socks

[00:27:32] and saying they're really

[00:27:32] not worth it.

[00:27:33] That's Tim Mindum

[00:27:34] from Australian Skeptics.

[00:27:36] And that's the show

[00:27:52] for now.

[00:27:53] Space Time

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