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Planet Goldilocks, Hectic Heliosheath, Robot Hood, Dinosaurs Taller than Previously Thought, The Zebra Finch and the Ancient Virus Fossil, Atomic Bondage, Escaping the Event Horizon, And Much More…
Show Notes:
Planet Goldilocks
A new planet that could be just right for life has been discovered just 20 light years away. Orbiting the middle of a ‘habitable zone’ around the red dwarf star Gliese 581, means it could possibly have water on it’s surface. It has a mass of 3 or 4 times that of the Earth and is tidally locked to it’s sun, one half in a perpetual day the other a perpetual night.
Life in the Collision Zone
So what really goes on in the depths of space where the edge of the Heliosphere meets the beginning of infinity? Nasa’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft was launched on October 19th to map the interactions between the Solar Wind and the Energetic Neutral Atoms of Hydrogen ( ENAs ) and discovered that not all is what it seemed. Interstellar space is more dynamic than previously thought.
Robot Hits the Target
Scientists at the Italian Institute of Technology have created the iCub, a robot that teaches itself to fire a bow and arrow. The researchers created a complicated algorithm called ARCHER, using a camera to process the bull’s eye and trial and error to figure out the right angle, force, and trajectory to eventually hit the centre of the target.
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Dinosaurs Taller Than Previously Thought
For years paleontologists have calculated the height of dinosaurs by reconstructing the skeletons of these ancient beasts. However, new research indicates that they may have gotten it wrong. Scientists studying the closest living relatives of the dinosaur, the ostrich and the alligator, have discovered that by removing the cartilage from their limbs and measuring the skeletons, they were up to 10% shorter. So, by not factoring in the cartilage in the measurement of dinosaur skeletons, their heights have been underestimated.
The Zebra Finch and the Ancient Virus
The Hepatitis B family of viruses has been around for a long time, but new discoveries in Zebra Finch DNA have revealed that these viruses have been around for at least 19 million years. The studies have changed the understanding of the timescale of the evolution of the Hepadnavirus.
Slicing Proteins with Occams Razor
How does myoglobin have different functions in different animals? This oxygen binding protein functions differently in different animals. From the lightning reflex of the cheetah to the lumbering descent of the whale. Researchers are trying to figure out why myglobin releases oxygen at different rates for different mammals. Scientists have found a way to unlock the secrets of myoglobin at an atomic level.
Escaping the Event Horizon
Are Italian Scientists on the verge of proving Hawking’s Radiation hypothesis in the lab? Hawking theorised that some energy does indeed escape a black hole. Now, researchers in Italy are experimenting with lasers and glass, to replicate a mini black hole with surprising results.
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I'm the host of this little science show. 
Hi!
I really love the show, I’ve been watching live for a few months now, and you never fail to give my synapses a epic workout. Bravo. *claps*
Towards the end if this episode, Justin mentioned the thought that light isn’t affected by gravity.
Could you explain that idea more, please? It’s very intriguing.
Thanks! Love the show!
Justin is wrong. Light follows a strait line in spacetime. When spacetime is curved by a strong gravitational field, light passing through the region will appear to “bend”. On a cosmic scale, this is called gravitational lensing. Justin doesn’t believe it because he hasn’t read this yet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tests_of_general_relativity
Justin seems further confused by an incorrect recollection of The Black Hole War:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6411731-the-black-hole-war
In this book, Susskind speaks of his argument with Hawking about the black hole information paradox.
Neither of the two doubt the existence of black holes, or the argument would be meaningless!!!!
All (good) physicists accept that light “bends” in accordance with General Relativity.
(This is not to suggest they aren’t also looking for a more complete theory of the Universe! But, any such theory will have to contain this feature.)
Hi Bruce, Hi Gendou thanks for giving us a listen and for taking an interest in my ranting’s…
My opinions about gravity are “not even wrong”, meaning that while not provable, they are likewise not disprovable. This is not because I’ve couched some portion of an argument in the supernatural, it is because while physics has long understood properties of gravity… we still do not understand the mechanics of it… it is in this undiscovered region that I am speculating upon… and I may be right one day, but for now will settle for “not even wrong”
You actually make my point concisely Gendou when you write that “. Light follows a straight line in spacetime. When spacetime is curved by a strong gravitational field, light passing through the region will appear to “bend”.” –I agree completely… but why then do we still say that gravity bends light?
I do not accept that the appearance of bending equates to gravity interacting with light. I equate it with gravity interacting with space. This distinction is crucial and is largely a part of what has led me to be very skeptical towards theories of gravity waves, gravitons and the Higgs boson.
I do not believe there is a gravitational force, what so ever… (heh… ok, yes, gravity happens, I’m doubting it as a force not as a property of the universe)
The two largest and most expensive experiments in the history of science have been built to disprove me… LIGO (from the relativity camp) and LHC (Carlsberg crowd) and yet I remain “not even wrong”
So yes, I gleefully and arrogantly believe there is another possible explanation for gravity than a repeat of particle and wave theories that have served so well previously in other models.
I didn’t say I doubted that black holes exist or that Susskind and Hawking were debating this… but yes… I disagree with both of them entirely. If it requires a photon of light to be acted on by a gravitational force,
” All (good) physicists accept that light “bends” in accordance with General Relativity”
I would then add that
All (good) physicists accept that light moves in accordance with Quantum Mechanics as well.
And still, neither theory has been able explain something so common to our day to day lives…
something so native to our thinking that it has been left off the list of every natural force attributed to gods and spirits…
the first major obstacle to overcome in life as we lift our heads then learn to crawl…
thinking ourselves it master by walking, by leaping, by flying, by landing on the moon and yet…
to this day
we still do not know what it is…
-j-
“… why then do we still say that gravity bends light?”
Justin, you were the one who framed the curvature of space time as “gravity bending light” when you said “gravity doesn’t bend light”!
Phrase it however you like, you don’t accept the validity of General Relativity if you don’t accept the validity of it’s predictions regarding black holes.
Let’s recall the conversation on the air:
– Dr. Kiki reads a story about some possible evidence for Hawking Radiation.
– Justin offers that he doesn’t “buy the makeup of black holes”.
– Justin predicts that “light passes through every black hole”.
That doesn’t make sense as a solution to General Relativity.
It doesn’t even make sense taken naively in English!
If light passes through an object/region, it won’t be black at all!
I know you’re very well read on the subject, and I believe you DO accept the validity of General Relativity!
You argued against it on the air.
I accept your apology on behalf of Bruce, and other confused listeners. 😉
Thanks for the valuable rantings, and the reply, it gives me a lot to think about. More to think about, actually. Physics has bothered me for a long time now because some things that are supposed to work all the time don’t at certain times, things like gravity, light, and the Standard model, to name a few. But what really drives me nuts is the accelerated Universal expansion that is supposed to be happening. Grrrr! The theories are all too complex for them to be Nature’s explanation. Nature does things far simpler & more efficient rather than use mechanisms like undetectable Dark Energy and certain over-rated & highly reclusive bosons.
But what do I know? I’m a dewfuss. Thanks for the brain food. Keep the rantings coming.
Justin
An excellent response!
I just started listening to your (and Dr Kiki’s) podcast thanks to Phil Plait’s blog and its been great.
I am commenting in relation to your ‘light bending’ argument and your general ‘counter-norm’ stances. I heard one of your episodes recently (I think it was from ’07 since I am listening to your old ones as well) where you argued against renewable energy programs. That you are concerned that it will actually cause MORE and DIRTIER oil use! I think it’s a great help to open up people to the fact that there is ALWAYS an argument against what seems right or better. For example, I have a co-worker that badgered me for using a paper cup at lunch everyday instead of a glass cup. He said I am killing trees and filling landfills. I pointed out to him that a) I am simply putting a biodegradable product back into the ground where it came from, but b) I am saving the waste of water and energy it would take to clean the glass. And lets not forget that the soapy water will probably end up in a river!!
Now don’t take it as a well thought out argument, I was just trying to be an ass. But those are REAL considerations that most people probably don’t even think of! My point is that even when someone seems way off base or doesn’t come across as serious, it doesn’t mean they don’t know what they are talking about. Don’t they say science is about always questioning??
Keep up the great show!
regrading Gliese 581c i did a little math and it turns out the difference in gravity is only .06 so i thought that was that was interesting..
I have been accused before of splitting semantic hairs when it comes to gravity and light…
Semantecs are important! Though only if you are interested in formulating a question before finding an answer…
Otherwise you are indulging in dogma. Answers are dogmatic. That’s what dogma is… a series of answers first, and then the questions are formed to fit afterwards that depend on the perspective of the dogmatist to be formed…
For example… a dogmatic air conditioner makes cold air… most people would agree without question that their air conditioner produces cold air, so an answer is formed that the AC produces cold air… so the question that follows to precede that answer is, what does an air conditioner do…
It’s could then be argued that it is just semantics to say that an air conditioner removes heat from one side of a wall and projects that heat on the other… but the dogmatic view of the cooling is only true if you are on the answer side that is being cooled… if you are on the other side of the AC the answer would actually be that air conditioners produce heat…
So semantics becomes the language of deciphering, of clarification and of distinction between perspectives of truth through language… making semantics an important tool of critical thinking and scientific exploration, again through language which is ultimately our only connection between cognitive being and physical being in the world… language is what defines all reasoning and sentient thought, without it we are but nerve, bone and sinew…
When I ague semantic points about the bending of light… I am arguing against the dogmatic perspective, and in favor of the critical… I am representing a more questioning perspective of physics than I am a dogmatic answer driven one… (I am also being redundant in my explanations here, but this too is a property of semantic clarity)
So if I were to say… that the speed of light is perhaps not a property of a photon, but a property of space… nothing changes in the room that is “being cooled”… one perspective of the speed of light remains the same… it just dramatically changes the question as to why…
By semantic distinction i would challenge our perspective of light’s motion in that the speed of light is a property of the photon… from my “not even wrong” perspective it could just as easily be a property of space that determines the speed of light… and since relativity proposes that the properties of warped space determine the path a photon “appears” to travel… i would suggest that there is more precedent in relativity for my prospective of space being the influence, than there is evidence of, or argument within relativity against it…
Justin, you’re really good at saying a lot without saying anything. Black holes are a consequence of General Relativity. Get over it.