Episodios

  • 888-Investigating the Mystery of How Life Formed

    888-Investigating the Mystery of How Life Formed
    Feb 27 2026
    On Earth living things are everywhere from the deepest ocean depths to the highest mountain tops. On our home planet RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) is a complex essential molecule involved in the process of translating genetic information into the working components of living cells. In a recent paper in the peer reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Dr. Yuta Hirakawa and his team of two coauthors report on their experiments to produce RNA under conditions similar to those which may have occurred in the early history of Earth and Mars.
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 377E-413-Fission Rocket

    377E-413-Fission Rocket
    Feb 24 2026
    To get an idea of the energy involved in a rocket launch, the NASA Saturn V, moon rocket, fully fueled on the launch pad contained the chemical energy of 2,000 pounds of TNT. This old technology could carry us to Mars and back on missions that would last years. To cut the mission time, the risks, and the mass of supplies required for such a prolonged space mission NASA is looking at alternative means of rocket propulsion. Back in the 1950s NASA's project Orion was a study to investigate propelling a rocket by a series of atomic bomb explosions behind the vehicle. Now a safer and more gentle way of propelling a space craft with nuclear fission is being studied as the result of a NASA grant to BWX Technologies. The concept is to heat liquid hydrogen using a high temperature fission reactor furnace which would expel the gas at a high velocity producing the rocket's thrust. The process would be about twice as efficient in terms of thrust per pound of fuel when compared to burning a hydrogen and oxygen mixture. Since it is unacceptable to release trace amounts of radioactivity in the rocket's exhaust, engineers are investigating a technique developed by NASA in which the hydrogen exhaust is burned with oxygen to produce water which can be caught and decontaminated. Don't expect to buy a round trip ticket on a high speed fission powered rocket any time soon. However, in the long run nuclear technology could revolutionize the exploration and colonization of our solar system.
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 887-Apophis Bound

    887-Apophis Bound
    Feb 20 2026
    In April 2029 on one of the luckiest Friday the 13th in human history the 1500 ft by 500 ft asteroid Apophis will pass within 23,600 miles of the Earth’s surface traveling at some 4.6 mi/s. This is extremely fortunate since an Apophis impact would release the energy of scores of nuclear weapons and cause wide spread devastation. NASA's OSIRIS-APEX will become the companion of the potentially hazardous asteroid Apophis on 5 June 2029,
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 376E-412-Tiny Space Rock

    376E-412-Tiny Space Rock
    Feb 17 2026
    Eighteen hours before my Catalina Sky Survey teammate Rose Matheny first spotted a small space rock with our Schmidt telescope on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona it had passed less than the Earth's diameter from the surface of our planet. Rose was able to discover this Smart Car sized space rock after it moved out of the Sun's glare. At this point it was about the Moon's distance from her and was traveling away at 3.4 mi/s. After Rose posted her discovery observations on the Minor Planet Center's Near Earth Object Confirmation page, for the next 24 hours it was tracked by telescopes in Spain, Illinois, and Arizona. Scientists at the Minor Planet Center used these data to calculate it's orbit around the Sun, estimate it's size and give it the name 2017 UJ2. This small asteroid had come near the Earth in 1978 but was invisible to the technology which astronomers had available at the time. 2017 UJ2 will not come close enough for us to detect in the foreseeable future, however, there are likely to be tens of millions of others like it which can come close to Earth. A small asteroid the size of Rose's discovery is likely to enter our atmosphere at least once a year and explodes at about 4 times higher than airliners fly. If such an event happened at night and you were lucky enough to see it you would be treated to a fantastic light show. If you are as lucky as a power ball winner you might even be able to find a piece of it on the ground.
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 886-Aviation&Space Weather

    886-Aviation&Space Weather
    Feb 13 2026
    The Earth’s atmosphere does a good job of protecting humanity from space weather, however, occasionally a major event does break through our shield and gets our attention. Tree rings and ice cores have recorded past space weather events thousands of time larger than which have occurred in the modern age. investing in research seems wise.
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 375E-410-Extraterrestrial Whales

    375E-410-Extraterrestrial Whales
    Feb 10 2026
    In an area which is about 1/400th of the entire sky, the NASA Kepler spacecraft has discovered 30 Earth like planets which are likely to have liquid water on their surfaces orbiting distant stars. These planets are likely to represent a tiny sample of the habitable planets which exist in the Milky Way. In spite of our efforts to find them, the question remains where are the alien civilizations? In a recent talk given at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting Dr. Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute suggests that perhaps the majority of worlds with biology and intelligent civilizations exist on interior water ocean worlds where their existence is hidden by the thick layers of rock and ice which separate them from the hostile vacuum of space. We know that in our solar system alone the moon of Jupiter Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, and perhaps several other small worlds are likely to have oceans of nutrient rich liquid water covered by a thick layer of rock and ice. We also know that Whales and Dolphins have larger brains than humans, communicate with each other, and exhibit other forms of intelligence. Advanced civilizations existing in ice covered seas may know little of the greater Universe, may find it difficult to consider transporting enough water to travel beyond their worlds, and may not think that it is possible to communicate with others of their kind who are similarly hidden under miles and miles of radiation absorbing ice and rock.
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 885-Dark Sky Network

    885-Dark Sky Network
    Feb 6 2026
    Around the world those who value the natural night sky are evaluating the effects of light pollution. In addition to impairing astronomy and star gazing the past 100 years of increasing light pollution is proving to be harmful to human health and the natural world upon which we all depend. The purpose of the Dark Sky Network is monitor and facilitate the mitigation of the harmful effects of light pollution.
    Más Menos
    2 m
  • 374E-408-Earth's Pet Rock

    374E-408-Earth's Pet Rock
    Feb 3 2026
    On it's gravitational leash, Earth's pet space rock, 2016 HO3, accompanies us at a distance of between 38 and 100 times the Moon's distance from Earth as we both travel about the Sun. As this tiny asteroid orbits the Sun it spends about half of it's time inside the Earth's orbit where it moves faster and passes ahead of us and the other half of it's yearly path outside of our orbit which causes it to lag behind our home planet. Since it's discovery little has been known about Earth's pet space rock leaving some to speculate that perhaps it is an old rocket booster or other piece of space junk. To answer this question, Dr. Vishnu Reddy of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory headed up a team of astronomers who used the University of Arizona's Large Binocular Telescope and the Discovery Channel's Telescope to determine some of it's properties. This team of researchers found that 2016 HO3 is indeed a natural object about 100 to 300 feet in diameter, rotates about once every 28 minutes, and is made of material similar to meteorites which have landed on Earth. Our pet space rock, 2016 HO3, has apparently been in it's present relationship to Earth for a hundred years and is likely to remain so for hundreds of years to come. Even though 2016 HO3 is not gravitationally bound to the Earth, the combination of the Sun's and Earth's gravitational pulls keeps it relatively near making it easy to reach and thus is an ideal candidate for visits by human or robotic spacecraft.
    Más Menos
    2 m