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Cosmic Dust in a Jar, Volcanic Eruptions on Io & Following the Coal to Find Extraterrestrial... · Space News Today

0:00
Hi there. Thanks for joining us. This is
0:02
Space Nuts. My name is Andrew Dunley and
0:04
it's always good to have your company. I
0:06
hope you're well. Coming up on this
0:08
episode, uh we will be discussing these
0:11
things. A Sydney PhD student has created
0:15
cosmic dust in a jar. Probably not quite
0:19
a jar, but pretty close to a jar. So,
0:22
how did they do it? And what does this
0:24
mean? Does it mean we'll never have to
0:26
go out into space again? Possibly. Uh
0:28
anyway, that's a really good story. This
0:30
one, because I'm a bit of a volcano
0:33
junkie, uh simultaneous volcanic
0:36
eruptions have been recorded on Io, one
0:38
of Jupiter's moons. And it um it's it's
0:42
a very rare event. In fact, I think it's
0:44
the first time it's been recorded as far
0:46
as I'm aware. So, we'll look at that.
0:49
And here is a a line for the ages. Find
0:52
the coal and we find the people. Mhm.
0:56
That's all coming up in this episode of
0:58
Space Nuts.
0:59
>> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
1:04
Ignition sequence start.
1:06
>> Space Nuts.
1:07
>> 5 4 3 2
1:09
>> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
1:12
>> Space Nuts.
1:13
>> Astronauts report. It feels good.
1:15
>> And here to unravel the revelment that
1:18
is all of those stories is Professor
1:20
Fred Watson, astronomer at large. Hello,
1:22
Fred.
1:23
>> Hi, Andrew. I can easily ravel them all
1:26
up again. I can tell you. Make them even
1:29
more revealed than they were to start
1:30
with.
1:31
>> Yes. Well, you know, we don't strive for
1:33
excellence here. We never have. It's all
1:35
about adequacy.
1:37
>> Yeah. Haven't touched a while.
1:39
>> Sometimes we don't even make adequacy.
1:42
>> No, probably not.
1:44
>> No. But um yeah, the there's some quirky
1:47
stories today. And I I'm very excited
1:49
about this first one. Uh because uh this
1:54
I I mean I joked about us not having to
1:56
go back into space uh and and you know
1:58
intercept asteroids and and collect junk
2:01
from them because this kind of does it
2:03
for us and you don't have to leave the
2:04
planet. Uh the Sydney PhD student
2:07
creating cosmic dust. This is this is
2:10
quite extraordinary. It it is it's
2:13
actually a great story. Uh, and it's
2:15
nice that it's got um, you know, it's
2:17
got a a local um, flavor to it because
2:20
of the Sydney University connection. Um,
2:23
I used to have an uh, an honorary
2:25
professorship at Sydney University, but
2:27
I think it's lapsed now. I think they've
2:28
got rid of me. So, never mind. I'm still
2:32
>> like dishonoring a chick.
2:34
>> Yeah. Still happy to sing their praises.
2:36
Sydney University is pretty good,
2:38
particularly physician. My My dad went
2:40
there.
2:41
>> Yeah, that's good. Anyway, uh what's it
2:44
all about? Um it's about a bit of a
2:47
mystery because we now know uh that you
2:53
know a lot of the the complex organic
2:56
molecules that we often talk about as
2:59
the building blocks of life, the amino
3:00
acids and all of those sorts of things.
3:03
Um we know that they are found in space.
3:07
Uh but what's not been clear is well two
3:12
things not clear. One is did they find
3:15
their way to earth and maybe you know
3:17
when we find these chemicals in uh for
3:20
example in in meteors and in comets
3:23
maybe yes there have been collisions
3:24
that have brought them to earth. So
3:26
that's that's a fairly logical step. But
3:29
the big question has been how do they
3:31
form in the depths of space uh in enough
3:35
quantities that they're quite
3:36
commonplace. And we know they are
3:38
because we can see a lot of these um
3:43
um basically these chemicals uh deep in
3:46
the the dust and gas clouds that we
3:49
often analyze. Um things like the nebula
3:52
which have got not just gas in them
3:54
glowing gas but often clouds of dust as
3:56
well. And dust is very well studied by
4:00
astronomers using infrared and radio
4:02
telescopes. In fact, one of my close
4:04
friends who was uh one of my fellow
4:06
students hundreds of years ago at St.
4:08
Andrews made his career uh in studying
4:11
cosmic dust and the contents of that and
4:13
looking at the way these chemicals come
4:15
together uh or or have have been brought
4:18
together. Uh the question is how do they
4:21
come together and that's the question
4:23
that's been asked by a team at uh Sydney
4:27
University uh including the PhD
4:30
candidate who's uh I think she might be
4:33
the lead author on this paper Linda uh
4:36
Lassudo. uh she has essentially um
4:42
created this synthetic version of the
4:46
cosmic dust that our uh infrared and
4:49
radioastronomy colleagues measure in
4:52
clouds of gas and dust. Uh she's created
4:55
it, she synthesized
4:57
it in the laboratory, probably as you
4:59
said in a jar
5:01
>> um with other things as well. Uh and um
5:05
the extraordinary thing is that what
5:07
she's created seems to match what these
5:10
carbonacious
5:12
uh dust particles tell us in space. Um
5:16
in other words uh you know it seems like
5:18
a very um accurate synthesis. So what
5:22
she did was t took uh a set of gases
5:27
quite simple uh uh nitrogen, carbon
5:31
dioxide and acetylene which uh also
5:33
contains hydrogen oxygen um these gases
5:38
in a tube and then basically irradiated
5:42
them with very intense electrical
5:45
energy. They put 10,000 volts into the
5:47
tube uh which was almost in a vacuum. So
5:51
the pressures are very low
5:52
>> um and you actually if you do that you
5:54
get these glow discharge phenomena you
5:57
get colors appearing from the exciting
5:59
um exitation of the atoms. But what she
6:02
also found was uh that uh on silicon
6:08
basically uh uh uh sorry not silicon
6:12
silicate uh silicate fingers within the
6:16
within the tube. They found these tiny
6:18
particles of dust forming and when they
6:22
analyze them uh they've got exactly the
6:25
same chemical signature as these dust
6:28
clouds in space.
6:30
And so what they're saying is that these
6:34
um basically these chemicals do form in
6:39
the kind of high energy environment that
6:42
you find around for example a white
6:44
dwarf star that's beaming out
6:46
ultraviolet radiation or in the
6:48
aftermath of a supernova um where you've
6:51
got a sort of neutron star which is also
6:54
uh got high energy processes because the
6:57
you know the the supernova explosion
6:58
itself creates shock waves and things of
7:00
that sort. So, she's basically mimicking
7:03
those conditions and finding that what
7:05
she gets in the jar is what you get in
7:07
space when you see those conditions. So,
7:09
it's a really nice piece of work. Uh,
7:11
and congratulations to them.
7:12
>> Yes. Yes, indeed. And, uh, I mean, I was
7:16
probably being a bit
7:19
silly uh, suggesting that uh, this is
7:21
going to replace the need to go out and
7:24
catch asteroids and have a scratch
7:26
around on the surface. We still need to
7:27
do that because they're not all
7:29
identical. There's going to be things to
7:31
learn from from various missions in the
7:34
future, which we've already seen uh come
7:37
to fruition in a couple of cases. But I
7:40
suppose what she's done is she's she's
7:43
opened a door to learning how things
7:46
happen way out in space where we can't
7:50
even get and and and maybe coming up
7:54
with uh ways of looking at these
7:56
mysteries at a local level and and
8:00
kind of um you putting a bit more light
8:03
on them, I suppose.
8:04
>> Yeah. Um that's right. to study them
8:07
better. And you know, I'm sure this is
8:10
just the beginning of a series of
8:12
experiments that will produce some
8:14
really interesting results, might maybe
8:16
even give us um molecules that are
8:18
actually closer to life molecules uh
8:21
than they've already found. So, I think
8:22
uh I think it's a very promising avenue
8:24
of research. Yeah, it uh sort of
8:27
coincides with a story I read uh last
8:29
week that had nothing to do with
8:31
astronomy or space dust, but um it was a
8:34
it was a science story about a um a
8:36
bloke who went to a river and took a
8:39
handful of mud, shoved it in a jar, and
8:43
then sealed it off from the rest of the
8:46
world. and he just he filled it with
8:48
water and just put it uh to one side and
8:51
he left it and he covered it up and he
8:54
didn't go back for um I don't know a
8:57
couple of months I think it was and when
8:59
he came back it had created its own
9:02
balanced ecosystem
9:04
completely separate from the rest of the
9:06
world new life had come and gone um and
9:12
a a species had become dominant some
9:14
kind of slug
9:16
You know, it really does make you wonder
9:20
how life hasn't been found anywhere else
9:22
yet if that can be done with a blob of
9:26
mud from a river in a sealed jar. I
9:29
mean, if you opened it, it all dies
9:30
because they've created their own world.
9:33
>> But it's it was an amazing story. I was
9:36
captivated by it that that I I didn't
9:38
think it was possible. I thought if you
9:39
cut off the outside world, um that would
9:43
be the end of it. But no, they created
9:45
their own ecosystem and their own
9:46
environment and their own atmosphere and
9:50
um yeah, it worked. It's I I didn't
9:53
think it was possible. Now kids are
9:55
going to be going out um you know
9:57
filling jars with mud and sealing them
10:00
up.
10:02
>> Fascinating experiment.
10:04
>> Yeah. If you wait a few million years,
10:05
your jar might you know evolve a a
10:08
dinosaur or something like that.
10:09
>> Well, it could a miniature one. You
10:11
never know. That's a fascinating story.
10:14
And this one is too. And you can read
10:16
about it at f.org. Uh, and I think the
10:19
paper was published in the
10:23
uh I've lost it. There you go. I saw it
10:26
there a minute ago, but was there was a
10:28
paper published the Astrophysical
10:29
Journal. There you are. Um, so look out
10:32
for that one. This is Space Nuts with
10:34
Andrew Dunley and Professor Fred Watson.
10:39
Let's take a break from the show to tell
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12:09
>> Tangi base here. The angle has landed.
12:12
>> Space nets.
12:14
>> Now this uh next story is just as
12:16
fascinating. Uh I guess most people will
12:18
have heard of the moon EO which orbits
12:22
Jupiter. Uh it's a very very interesting
12:26
and somewhat foroding place. It's um
12:30
just absolutely covered in volcanoes and
12:33
they erupt quite a lot. But what's
12:36
happened in this case is they have had
12:38
five
12:39
volcanoes erupt simultaneously which is
12:42
kind of got them wondering what's going
12:44
on inside.
12:47
>> Exactly. Um that's right. In fact,
12:49
that's the story in a nutshell. Um, so
12:52
yes, Io, uh, the innermost of the large
12:55
moons of Jupiter, the ones that were
12:57
discovered by Galileo back in 1610.
13:01
Um, it's the nearest one to the planet.
13:04
And that means it feels the strongest
13:08
and most uh disruptive, if I can put it
13:12
that way, gravitational pull from
13:13
Jupiter. Um, so it's constantly being
13:17
squashed and squeezed by the gravitation
13:21
of Jupiter and that's what we think is
13:24
the reason behind its very active and
13:26
dynamic uh volcanism. It's the it is the
13:29
most volcanically active body in the
13:31
solar system. It's not the one covered
13:34
with the most volcanoes. That's actually
13:36
Venus. Uh but um Venus may be um may be
13:41
inactive now. We we don't actually know
13:43
whether Venus's volcanoes are still
13:45
active. You and I have talked about that
13:47
before, but we definitely know that the
13:49
ones on Io are uh because we've seen
13:52
them on many occasions. And the results
13:55
that um have brought this story to uh to
13:59
uh uh you know to the the science media
14:04
um uh have come from our old friend
14:07
Juno. uh the spacecraft the orbiting
14:10
spacecraft uh a NASA spacecraft which is
14:13
in orbit around around Jupiter and it's
14:17
uh captured uh basically infrared images
14:21
of the southern polar region of Io and
14:26
has realized that there are five
14:29
volcanoes
14:31
going off at the same time. Uh it's uh
14:34
so it is really uh quite um an
14:37
extraordinary thing. Quite a
14:38
coincidence. These uh these volcanoes,
14:41
they're all in the southern south pole
14:44
region of Io. Um EO is about the same
14:48
size as our moon. It's not a small
14:49
world. Uh so uh what they've what
14:52
they've um done is tried to work out
14:57
what that means. uh if you've got um
15:01
first of all a very violent uh eruption
15:04
that was what draw drew their attention
15:08
uh to this event um but the fact that
15:11
nearby there were others in in sync with
15:15
the with the main volcano. Uh so what I
15:20
think is coming out of this is the
15:22
suggestion of a porous or spongy
15:25
interior for Io rather than uh a solid
15:29
body as as was thought before. Uh and
15:32
that might mean that there's some sort
15:34
of like almost like a liquid magma
15:36
reservoir that's actually big enough
15:38
that it pokes through the crust in a
15:42
number of different places. And so
15:43
you've got several volcanoes all
15:45
erupting simultaneously, what they call
15:48
interconnected magma chambers uh which
15:51
would allow uh for these highly lava
15:55
richch eruptions to take place
15:57
simultaneously. Um and so it it sort of
16:00
calls into question the the old idea
16:03
about the um interior of IO which was
16:07
thought to be fairly solid. Uh but if
16:10
it's kind of porous and spongy, then
16:13
that might explain why we're seeing
16:15
these phenomena of such volcanic
16:17
activity.
16:19
>> Yeah. And
16:21
the it's not the same kind of activity
16:23
as we see on Earth with our volcanic
16:25
eruptions. Um you know, which is uh well
16:30
to go to well EO. It's being really
16:34
squashed by the gravitational pull of
16:37
Jupiter, isn't it? Is that what's ma
16:38
mainly like you squeeze the sponge and
16:41
all the stuff comes out? That is that
16:42
what's happening?
16:43
>> Well, yes. It's almost like that. That's
16:45
right. Um you're right that as I said
16:47
it's the uh the gravitational squashing
16:49
and squeezing that that being so close
16:52
to Jupiter provides um what we call
16:54
tidal forces, the the tidal effect. Um
16:58
so yes and you know it it's as as though
17:01
uh um all the volcanoes in the
17:05
Mediterranean for example suddenly
17:07
started uh erupting at once. Um Vuvius
17:12
and and um you know the the other ones
17:14
that are in that region
17:16
>> Stromboli.
17:18
Yes. Yeah. Etna. That's right. That's
17:19
the one I was thinking of. uh all of
17:21
those um if they all suddenly started
17:24
spewing out stuff at once uh that would
17:27
suggest something going on as we've got
17:30
uh apparently on Io. But AO is a very
17:33
different world from the Earth. It's and
17:34
you know and part part of the reason for
17:37
that is this external gravitational
17:39
stress that comes from Jupiter.
17:41
>> Yeah, it's a it's a very toxic world,
17:44
isn't it? It's um not it's not a nice
17:48
place. You wouldn't want to wander
17:49
around on on it.
17:50
>> Well, it's mostly sulfur sulfur deposits
17:53
that have come from these volcanoes.
17:55
Yeah.
17:56
>> Yeah. It's um Yeah, it it actually is a
17:59
that's a nice thought experiment just to
18:01
imagine what it would be like wandering
18:02
around on EO. I think it might be quite
18:05
um
18:06
>> quite an interesting experience.
18:08
>> Wouldn't smell very nice.
18:12
>> No, neither would you probably after
18:13
you.
18:13
>> No, no, not jumped over the volcanoes
18:15
and the lava lakes. It's got lava lakes,
18:18
um big puddles of lava that we we know
18:21
about, too. So, yes, an extraordinary
18:23
world.
18:24
>> Yeah, it's got uh over 400 active
18:27
volcanoes apparently.
18:29
>> Yeah, that's right.
18:30
>> That's amazing. Now, you said it was
18:32
about the same size as the moon. Here's
18:34
another thought experiment. If you were
18:35
to swap the moon and Eo, if you could
18:39
just somehow, you know,
18:42
put one way or the other is and vice
18:44
versa, what would happen to Eio orbiting
18:46
Earth and what would happen to the moon
18:47
orbiting Jupiter?
18:50
Uh I think the moon would turn into Eio
18:52
and Eo would turn into the moon because
18:55
yeah because the you know that yes there
18:57
might be compositional differences and
18:59
things of that sort but um it really is
19:01
the it's the environment that dictates
19:06
why Eio is so volcanically active and
19:08
the moon of course in a much much more
19:11
benign environment uh it's in fact the
19:14
main we do see evidence of large scale
19:17
volcanism on the moon that's where the
19:19
Maria here came from the this the what
19:21
so-called seas on the near side of the
19:23
of the moon these dark darker areas um
19:27
they are the result of bassalt flows of
19:29
lava flows but um uh that is from a
19:33
period a long long time ago and the heat
19:35
was probably driven more by impacts by
19:39
bombardment this is during the late
19:40
heavy bombardment when a lot of stuff
19:42
was was hitting the moon uh and the
19:45
earth too but earth of course has plate
19:47
tectonic so the evidence of all That's
19:49
gone whereas it's still around on the
19:51
moon. Uh so but but since that period 3
19:54
and a half four billion years ago things
19:56
have been pretty quiet on the moon but
19:58
if you put it where EO is now I'm sure
20:00
it would turn into another EO. I yeah
20:03
well I I wondered and yeah um that is
20:06
interesting cuz we're pretty glad it
20:08
won't happen but um then again if you
20:10
did if you did swap them it would make
20:12
Artemus 2 a really interesting mission.
20:14
>> It certainly would.
20:16
>> Yeah. Yeah. It would. Imagine having to
20:19
pick your way between the volcanoes
20:21
before you land your SpaceX Starship on
20:23
the moon.
20:24
>> Absolutely. Um and I I I also read that
20:28
part of that gravitational tug of war
20:30
that causes the volcanism on Io is also
20:34
attributable to Europa and Ganymede.
20:36
Apparently they um have a part to play
20:38
in it as well. So poor old EO is getting
20:41
you know bounced around like a ping pong
20:43
ball
20:46
which is messy. It's as it turns out.
20:50
>> Yeah.
20:50
>> Yeah. You wouldn't want to play ping
20:52
pong with it, though.
20:53
>> No. No. Definitely not. It would
20:55
definitely pong
20:58
>> for certain.
20:59
>> I wish I could say I fed you that line,
21:00
but I'm afraid I didn't.
21:02
>> Yes. Oh, that's how it goes. Uh, if you
21:05
would like to read up on that story,
21:06
it's on the Daily Galaxy website, and
21:10
I'm sure you'll be able to find a paper
21:11
about it somewhere as well because I
21:13
forgot to look. I usually look these
21:14
things up and and some people do like to
21:17
read the papers, but uh I I didn't do it
21:20
in this case. And I'm doing what's
21:23
called padding right now so that I can
21:24
actually find where the paper's been
21:26
published and then tell you because
21:27
you'll think I'm amazing, but no, I've
21:29
got no idea. Yes, I have. It's been
21:31
published in JR Planet.
21:35
>> Try to get that in.
21:37
>> That's an old radio trick. that is
21:38
whether you need where there's something
21:40
you need to say and you you haven't got
21:43
quite got your finger on the button that
21:45
um you just away until you find it.
21:48
>> Um it's the you patter
21:52
you're doing that then on autopilot and
21:55
you're never quite sure what's going to
21:58
come out.
21:58
>> No, that's true.
22:01
>> Yeah, that's very true.
22:03
But where it is, it is available the
22:06
paper at JGR Planets. This is Space
22:09
Nuts. Andrew Dunley here with Professor
22:12
Fred Watson.
22:15
>> Hey, that's one of the better sims,
22:17
believe me.
22:18
>> We've had a couple of cardiac arrests
22:19
down here too, peeps.
22:21
>> Many times were that up here.
22:23
>> Space nuts.
22:25
>> Our final story, Fred, uh, is a really
22:29
good one as well. And I I love the way
22:31
they've um sort of spun this one. Uh
22:34
we've talked before about the search for
22:36
uh extraterrestrial life and whether or
22:40
not there are intelligent uh
22:42
communication capable uh beings
22:46
somewhere else in the universe. This new
22:49
study or theory or whatever you want to
22:52
call it that's been published in the
22:54
International Journal of Astrobiology by
22:56
the way uh is basically saying that if
23:00
we can find the coal
23:02
we will find the people there. They've
23:05
got a really interesting theory and it I
23:07
I think it probably
23:09
does have some street cred.
23:12
>> Um yeah, that's right. the the normal
23:14
mantra we talk about is follow the water
23:16
but in this case it's follow the coal uh
23:18
and the difference is that um following
23:21
the water we hope will lead you lead us
23:23
to living organisms um whereas following
23:26
the coal might lead you to ET uh and it
23:30
all all this um all this article is
23:33
saying uh really is that we as an
23:38
intelligent species and with a fairly
23:41
high degree of technology which you and
23:44
I are using right now. Um that uh has
23:48
only come about because of the coal
23:52
reserves that we find on the planet and
23:56
what that um and the reason for that is
23:58
that it you know the coal basically
24:01
fueled the industrial revolution in
24:04
North America, the UK and uh and Europe.
24:07
Uh that was in fact the world I grew up
24:09
in, Andrew, was still fueled by coal. Uh
24:12
it was a very coal dependent um uh um
24:18
environment that I that I lived in. Uh
24:21
you've got to have coal in order to gain
24:23
enough heat to be able to forge steel.
24:26
uh then your steel needs to be um honed
24:30
and treated in such a way that you can
24:33
actually keep going and finding more
24:35
fossil fuel like oil for example with
24:38
drill bits. Uh so all of that stuff uh
24:42
they say comes actually from the fact
24:44
that there were coal deposits not too
24:47
far from the surface of the planet at
24:49
just the time that we were we as a
24:52
species were emerging uh and recognizing
24:55
the possibilities of the of the um
24:58
industrial revolution although it wasn't
25:00
called that then. Um and and in fact um
25:04
here's the a quote and I'm quoting here
25:06
again from f.org
25:09
Uh without access to coal, our own
25:11
civilization would never have been able
25:13
to harness deep deposits of oil and gas
25:15
and in turn generate enough heat and
25:17
electricity to melt steel. Uh this
25:20
enabled the development of radio
25:21
telescopes that today dot our own planet
25:24
which can send and receive messages
25:25
across interstellar space. So what
25:28
they're saying is they're linking our
25:30
technological prowess uh to this sort of
25:34
accident almost that we had these um
25:39
coal beds laid down 70 or so million
25:42
years ago. uh that are kind of just at
25:46
the right time for us to or were at the
25:49
right time for them to have turned into
25:51
coal and for that coal to be available
25:54
near the surface so that we as a species
25:56
could actually mine it um and basically
26:01
uh make use of it. M
26:04
>> uh what what the authors of this article
26:07
say is that
26:10
if humans or something like humans had
26:16
evolved earlier than we did then coal
26:21
might not have existed. it it might not
26:24
have, you know, got from the basically
26:27
the peak that that formed coal uh into
26:30
the material that we can now mine. And
26:33
so that suggests that once again there
26:38
is uh you know it's almost like good
26:41
bits of good luck that uh lead to our
26:44
int our evolution as an intelligent
26:47
species. And what in turn that suggests
26:50
is that once again uh other intelligent
26:54
species out there who are technically
26:56
technologically able um may actually be
27:00
very rare in they're there at all if if
27:03
the circumstances that they're pointing
27:05
to are required for uh an intelligent
27:08
species to be able to communicate which
27:11
is one of the Drake equation
27:13
>> that's parameters
27:15
>> uh that that could mean that the number
27:18
of intelligent species
27:21
is probably even less than we would
27:24
consider or hope.
27:26
>> Um, and that that's a bit sobering, a
27:29
bit sad in many.
27:31
>> Well, that's right. You know, there's so
27:32
many um aspects of the Drake equation.
27:35
We
27:37
excuse me. We only the only um you know,
27:41
firm part of the Drake equation that we
27:43
know about is that stars do form
27:45
planets. planets are very common which
27:48
was not known excuse me when Frank
27:49
>> Drake
27:51
>> uh put that equation together but yes um
27:54
the number of civilizations that do go
27:56
on to develop the technology to
27:58
communicate that is one of the one of
28:01
the terms in the equation and if you
28:02
don't have coal you might never get
28:04
there.
28:05
>> Yeah. Does that mean though that there
28:07
may be intelligent species roaming
28:12
planets somewhere else in the universe,
28:13
but because they haven't been able to do
28:16
what we've done because they don't have
28:17
access to say coal,
28:21
they reach a point where they they can't
28:23
go any further. So, they're wandering
28:25
around in their jockeyies, you know,
28:27
knocking
28:29
dinosaurs on the head or whatever they
28:30
do. Um, and that's as good as it gets.
28:33
Is that perfect?
28:34
>> Absolutely.
28:35
permanently in the stone age. Yes, I
28:37
think I think that is. Yeah.
28:38
>> Wow. And until a coal comet lands on the
28:42
planet where
28:44
>> the coal
28:45
>> or or a Coke a Coke um asteroid bottle
28:49
>> cuz just Yeah. Or that. Yeah. Wasn't
28:52
there a movie about that once?
28:54
>> Surprised.
28:55
>> An African native who got hit on the
28:56
head by a Coke bottle and decided to
28:59
return it to the gods. That's a very
29:01
funny film. Um yes. Uh but yes, find the
29:04
coal and we might find the people. It
29:07
does seem to have a bit of credibility
29:10
that particular theory and you can read
29:12
all about it at fizz.org.
29:15
Uh it's also been published in the
29:18
International Journal of Astrobiology.
29:20
It's a fascinating story and uh yeah, it
29:24
does suggest that um there might be
29:26
intelligent species out there that um
29:29
can't communicate ever because they
29:30
don't have the tools because they can't
29:32
make them. So um that that does um that
29:36
is fascinating indeed. Uh we're just
29:38
about uh done. Fred, thank you very
29:40
much. A nice quick one today.
29:43
>> Uh it was certainly nice and uh and also
29:46
quick. Yes, you're right. I've just
29:48
looked at the time. Uh, we'll chat again
29:49
soon, I hope. Um, what's your name
29:51
again? Andrew. That's right.
29:53
>> It's definitely not Fred.
29:54
>> No, it's you were gonna be James there
29:56
for a minute and still quite know what
29:58
was going on there.
30:00
>> I know Fred's already taken, so I can't
30:02
have that one. All right, we'll catch
30:04
you next time. Thanks, Fred.
30:05
>> Yeah, see you later, Dave.
30:09
>> I get that one a lot. Professor
30:12
Professor Fred Watson, astronomer at
30:13
large, joining us here on Space Nuts. Uh
30:16
don't forget to visit us online as well
30:18
at our website spacenutspodcast.com or
30:21
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30:52
we really do appreciate your support.
30:54
And thanks to Hugh in the studio who
30:56
couldn't be with us today because he's
30:58
gone looking for coal. He thinks it's
31:00
going to help him have uh better
31:02
communications with his wife. Oh. Uh,
31:05
and from me, Andrew Dunley, thanks for
31:07
your company. We'll see you on the next
31:08
episode of Space Nuts. Bye-bye.
31:10
>> Space Nuts.
31:11
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31:16
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