1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:22,440 Speaker 1: and Health at Tech Area. It's time for a text 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Stuff tidbits. And recently, my colleague Joe McCormick, who is 6 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: a co host on Stuff to Blow Your Mind, is 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: also a former writer for the Forward Thinking video series, 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: and he was also a co host on the Accompanying 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,919 Speaker 1: Podcast with Me back in the day. He reached out 10 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: to me and asked if I had ever done an 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: episode about the Terra Hurts Gap, and I had not, 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: and figured it would be a perfect candidate for a 13 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: tech Stuff Tidbits episode. So, what the heck is the 14 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: Terra Hurts Gap. What it has to do with the 15 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: electromagnetic spectrum. Now, this is the distribution of all the 16 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: different kinds of electro magnetic energy, from radio waves to 17 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: visible light to stuff like gamma radiation. All of that 18 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: is energy that falls along the electromagnetic spectrum. And we 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: describe energy on this spectrum in a couple of different ways, 20 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: really three ways. Uh. Namely, we describe it by the 21 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 1: energy's wavelength of the individual waves of that particular energy. Uh, 22 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:30,119 Speaker 1: it's frequency, which is related to the wavelength, and also 23 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: in terms of photonic energy, kind of like how much 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: oomph this radiation has, which is also related to wavelength 25 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: and frequency. So wavelength, as the name implies, describes how 26 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: long that specific kind of energies waves are. So we 27 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: can think of this energy as traveling in waves. If 28 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: we want to get quantum with it, we can also 29 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: think of it as traveling and like particles. But we're 30 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: not going to get into quantum mechanics quite yet. So 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: when we talk about wavelength, we are talking about a 32 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: measurable distance. So if we were to plot out a 33 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,280 Speaker 1: wavelength kind of like a sine wave on graph paper, 34 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,519 Speaker 1: we would measure the distance from the peak of one 35 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: wave to the peak of the next wave. Now, these 36 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: go into an incredible range of of wavelengths. If we 37 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: look at something like the extremely low frequency band of 38 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: radio waves, that includes wavelengths that are up to a 39 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: hundred thousand kilometers long, so a hundred thousand kilometers of wavelength. 40 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: Now on the flip side of the electromagnetic spectrum, we 41 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: have gamma radiation. The wavelength for a gamma wave is 42 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: unimaginably tiny, like a few tenths of an angstrom, and 43 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: an angstrom is one ten billionth of a meter, so 44 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 1: we're talking about a scale that's an order smaller than 45 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: a nanometer. A nanome there is one billions of a meter. 46 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: So gamma waves are really really really small. Frequency on 47 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: the electro magnetic spectrum, on the other hand, describes how 48 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:16,640 Speaker 1: many wave lengths of a particular type of energy passes 49 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,959 Speaker 1: a certain point in a given amount of time. Now, 50 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: the unit we use is the hurts, and one hurts 51 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: would be equivalent to a single wave length taking a 52 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 1: full second to pass a given point. Uh. Even if 53 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: we were to look at the extremely low frequency side 54 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: of the spectrum, where we have those super super long 55 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: wavelengths like a hundred thousand kilometer long waves, we're talking 56 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: about a frequency of three hurts at this point, which 57 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: would mean that three of those waves would pass any 58 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: given point in a single second. Now, all of these 59 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: energies are traveling at the same speed, so none of 60 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: them are going faster than another radio waves at the 61 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: same speed as a gamma wave. They're all moving at 62 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: the speed of light. I mean light is part of 63 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: the electro magnetic spectrum, so gamma rays do not move 64 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: faster than radio waves. But because gamma rays are so 65 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: incredibly small and radio waves are so incredibly long, a 66 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: whole lot more gamma radiation is going to pass a 67 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: given point in a second than radio radiation. Uh. The 68 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: analogy I like to use is imagined that you have 69 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: two lanes on a highway, and in the right lane 70 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 1: is a line of buses and they're essentially traveling bumper 71 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,919 Speaker 1: to bumper at fifty miles per hour. In the left lane, 72 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: you have a line of any any smart cars. They're 73 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:50,119 Speaker 1: also traveling bumper to bumper. They're also traveling at fifty 74 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: miles per hour. And we put you at a certain 75 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,599 Speaker 1: point on the highway. We give you a stop watch, 76 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: and we tell you to count how many buses pas 77 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: buy you in a span of let's say ten seconds. 78 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: So over ten seconds, you count the number of buses 79 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: that pass your point. Then we have you do the 80 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: same thing, but now you're counting the smart cars that 81 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,080 Speaker 1: pass you. Well, you're obviously going to count way more 82 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: smart cars than you will busses in those ten seconds, 83 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: because multiple smart cars can fit in the same physical 84 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: space as a single bus. So yeah, the vehicles are 85 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: all traveling at the same speed, but the size of 86 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: the vehicle, which relates to the length of a wave, 87 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 1: means that you're gonna get way more of the smaller 88 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: ones than the bigger ones in the same amount of time. 89 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: As for photonic energy, that also increases as wavelengths decrease 90 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 1: and frequencies increase. So gamma radiation packs way more of 91 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: an energetic punch than say, an extremely low frequency radio wave. Now, 92 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: over time, we've learned how to harness many of the 93 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: frequencies that are in the electromagna that ex spectrum in 94 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: order to do specific kinds of stuff, And there's some 95 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: messy overlaps and definitions largely depend upon the source. So 96 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: while I can give you ranges for different types of 97 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: electromagnetic energy and say like oh, it ranges from this 98 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 1: wavelength to this wavelength or this frequency to this frequency. Uh, 99 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: different definitions can actually have that have a different starting 100 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:30,080 Speaker 1: place in different ending place, so it gets a little difficult. 101 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: For example, you could argue that radio waves range and 102 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:38,720 Speaker 1: frequency from three hurts to thirty billion hurts or thirty 103 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,919 Speaker 1: giga hurts, but that actually overlaps with what is broadly 104 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: considered the microwave range of frequencies, which according to the 105 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: most common definitions, go from one giga hurts or one 106 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: billion hurts up to one hundred billion hurts or one 107 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: hundred giga hurts and frequency. So there you would see 108 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: there's some overlap right between one and thirty giga hurts. 109 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,680 Speaker 1: You would have overlap between the microwave range and the 110 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: radio range. Um. By the way, we could also say 111 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: that the microwave range corresponds with wavelengths that are between 112 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: three millimeters to three millimeters. Remember, as the wavelength goes down, 113 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 1: the frequency goes up, and vice versa. Now let's talk 114 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: about terra hurts and the tara hurts gap. So Tara 115 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: in this instance refers to trillion in the metric system. 116 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: So if we go by the different prefixes that we 117 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: typically use in this realm, kilo means a thousand so 118 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: akilo hurts is a thousand hurts. Mega refers to one million. 119 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: Mega hurts would be a million hurts. Giga is one billion, 120 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: we already mentioned that, and then tara is one trillion. 121 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: So an electro magnetic energy with a frequency of one 122 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: tera hurts would mean you would have one trillion wavelengths 123 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: of this energy pass a given spot in one second. Now, 124 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: there's a section of the electromagnetic spectrum that sits between 125 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:13,360 Speaker 1: the microwave range of spectrums and where infrared begins, and 126 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 1: it starts around point one terror hurts and frequency, or 127 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: around three millimeters if we're looking at wavelength, and it 128 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: goes up to around ten terror hurts or thirty micrometers 129 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: in wavelength. And even that is a little fuzzy, right, 130 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: Like it all depends on your point of view and 131 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: what you're talking about. How we're talking about harnessing terror 132 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: hurts frequencies, But it's in this little section of radiation 133 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: tucked between microwaves and infrared where we haven't quite really 134 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: harnessed the energy to its fullest potential. Uh So, we 135 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: can use microwaves to do stuff like set up communication 136 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: systems where I mean you can use them to heat 137 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: up food in a microwave oven, or potentially you can 138 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: use them as a means of transmitting energy to distant 139 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: receptors for stuff like say space elevators. You wouldn't be 140 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: generating energy this way. It would literally be you generate 141 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: energy in one spot or you know, you I guess 142 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: you're not technically generating, but you're harnessing energy in one spot, 143 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: transmitting it over distance with microwaves, and receiving it in 144 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: some distant spot. So it's basic like antenna kind of approach, 145 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: but you're talking about energy, not communications. You're not modulating 146 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: the signal for that purpose. We can leverage infrared to 147 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,800 Speaker 1: create systems that let us see and what would otherwise 148 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: be darkness. You know, thermal vision works in this way 149 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:43,600 Speaker 1: where we can uh see thermal energy, which is infrared energy. 150 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: Or we can use infrared to create all sorts of 151 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:50,319 Speaker 1: kinds of heating elements, and there's even like infrared lasers 152 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: and things of that nature. And then, of course, later 153 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: on we have the visible light spectrum, which a lot 154 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: of us rely upon every single day directly, and obviously 155 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: a ton of our technology is centered on generating or 156 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: exploiting visible light. And then at higher frequencies we have 157 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: stuff like X rays, which we've leveraged for medical imaging 158 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: and more. But this little band of about point one 159 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: terror hurts to ten terror hurts has proven to be 160 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: a little more tricky for us to lean on. I'll 161 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: explain more after we come back from this quick break. 162 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: All right, let's think of it this way. This range 163 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: of frequencies in the electro magnetic spectrum kind of represents 164 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 1: a zone that exists between the world of electronics and 165 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 1: the world of optics. Optics obviously being technology that deals 166 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: with light in some way, and in the realm of tech, 167 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:50,280 Speaker 1: you can almost think of it as kind of a 168 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: no man's land, at least for broad technology. It's like 169 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: a dead zone. Uh, this is the terror Hurts gap. 170 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: So we can rely on technology like high speed transistors 171 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: and oscillating circuits to create lower frequency electromagnetic radiation. So 172 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:10,240 Speaker 1: this would be like microwaves and radio waves and that 173 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. We can use electronics to do that. 174 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:18,199 Speaker 1: For the higher frequency stuff, we can use semiconductor lasers 175 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,439 Speaker 1: to produce that kind of radiation from you know, visible 176 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: light all the way up to X rays. But between 177 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: these two we have that dang Terra Hurts gap, and 178 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: the range in the Tarro Hurts gap is one where 179 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: we can't really produce those frequencies using either of those 180 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: primary methods. We have to go with other methods. And 181 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: I could rattle off those methods, but honestly, it would 182 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: start to sound like science fiction. You know, words like 183 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 1: quantum would be coming up, and the point being that 184 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: they aren't your run of the mill approaches to creating 185 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:59,080 Speaker 1: electro magnetic radiation. It's the type of stuff you find 186 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,679 Speaker 1: in super high tech laboratories. However, this doesn't mean that 187 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: no one has any idea regarding how we might exploit 188 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,600 Speaker 1: terror hurts radiation in the future. In fact, it's it's 189 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: a pretty rich area of research among physicists, and it's 190 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:19,320 Speaker 1: something that astronomers and cosmologists already use in order to 191 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: study the universe. So labs around the world have discovered 192 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: various methodologies for generating terror hurts frequencies or for you know, 193 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:32,319 Speaker 1: detecting terror hurts radiation. But these are exceptions and so 194 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,119 Speaker 1: far have not evolved to a point where we could say, 195 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: scale them up and mass produce them or make efficient 196 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: use of them, where it would make sense to start 197 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,960 Speaker 1: using that technology for um, you know, broader purposes. For 198 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: these very specific, narrow purposes where you're talking about laboratory research, 199 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: you know, like cutting edge research. It makes sense there 200 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: because you could be hitting some incredible breakthroughs that you 201 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: otherwise wouldn't without the techno apology, but for practical everyday use, 202 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:07,079 Speaker 1: it doesn't yet make sense. We haven't correcked that code yet. 203 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,800 Speaker 1: And that's not to say there's a lack of interest there, 204 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 1: but there are certain properties of terra Hurts frequency energies 205 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 1: that kind of limit their applicability. So, for example, the 206 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: heart's atmosphere is pretty darned good at absorbing electromagnetic radiation 207 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:26,439 Speaker 1: in that tara Hurts gap range of frequencies. So we're 208 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: talking about these these forms of radiation able to travel 209 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: maybe a couple dozen meters before they get absorbed by 210 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: the atmosphere. So that makes this band of electromagnetic energy 211 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: unsuitable for stuff like say terrestrial communication systems, because you 212 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 1: would have to put your transmitters and your receivers so 213 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,200 Speaker 1: close together you might as well just start shouting out 214 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: the window. Now, you could potentially create short distance networking 215 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: systems that used Tara Hurts radiation to transmit data, Like 216 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: if you wanted to make an indoor Wi Fi network, 217 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,439 Speaker 1: that's something that this technology could potentially do. Most of 218 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: the devices we rely on for wireless networks have a 219 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 1: fairly limited range already, so it's not like that would 220 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: be unusual to us, and you could potentially have a 221 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: terra hurts radiation based indoor Wi Fi system that was 222 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: super high throughput if we found a way to generate 223 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:26,480 Speaker 1: terror hurts frequencies that was cost effective and efficient. Now, 224 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: on top of that, liquid water will absorb tera hurts radiation, 225 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: so there's no real application where we could use it 226 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: for anything that would involve water. Uh, ditto for metals. 227 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,480 Speaker 1: It is highly reflected off of metals, So you could 228 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: say there's some limited use cases for terror hurts radiation 229 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: for things like communications. However, there are other properties that 230 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: this energy has that are potentially of huge benefit, and 231 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: in fact it's being used in that way in some 232 00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: limited cases. So, for example, these frequencies are capable of 233 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 1: penetrating some types of matter, including body tissue, to a 234 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: certain degree. That makes them kind of like X rays, 235 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: But unlike X rays, Terror hurts rain radiation is non ionizing, 236 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: so that means it doesn't have that photonic energy that 237 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: would be required to say, strip electrons from their atoms. 238 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: So X rays are an ionizing form of radiation. One 239 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: of the consequences of this is that exposure to X 240 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: rays can cause cellular damage. This ionizing radiation can damage 241 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:40,400 Speaker 1: cells and you can lead to serious things like like cancer. Uh. 242 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: The energy and the terror Hurts gap lacks that ionizing capability, 243 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: so it would be much more safe to use for 244 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: medical imaging. However, because the wavelengths in this frequency band 245 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: are longer the next rays. Remember, higher the frequency, the 246 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: shorter the wavelength. So this is a lower frequency, longer 247 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 1: wavelength energy and you know, it's actually even longer than 248 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: visible light. Visible light is is a higher frequency than 249 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: the terror Hurts gap. That means if we were to 250 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: use devices that generated electromagnetic waves in this gap band 251 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: for the purposes of imaging for medical purposes, we would 252 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: actually end up with lower resolution pictures than we would 253 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: if we were to use X rays. That the wavelengths 254 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,359 Speaker 1: are literally too large to give us the same resolution 255 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: we would get with an X ray, So we would 256 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: have to develop methods to enhance the image quality uh 257 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: that the we would get from these terror Hurts technologies 258 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 1: if in fact, we were to start using them for 259 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: medical imaging. Another potential use for terror Hurts radiation is 260 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: to examine non conducting materials because, like I said, it 261 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: can penetrate paper, plastic, wood, ceramics, and cardboard, So water 262 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: and metals are out, but this other stuff is totally in. 263 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: So theoretically we could build this technology that could be 264 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: used to scan for stuff like prohibited materials like weapons 265 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: or you know, biologically hazardous materials, and it could even 266 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 1: be a remote system. You could use Tara Hurts radiation 267 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:21,439 Speaker 1: to scan someone remotely. The radiation itself would be harmless, 268 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: and as long as you weren't too far away where 269 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,960 Speaker 1: the Tara Hurts radiation would be absorbed by the atmosphere, 270 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: you could scan folks safely and remotely. Astronomers have actually 271 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,120 Speaker 1: been using Tara Hurts frequency detection for a while now 272 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:41,040 Speaker 1: to measure stuff like the cosmic microwave background radiation that 273 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,360 Speaker 1: in turn is connected to the earliest moments of our universe, 274 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:49,480 Speaker 1: kind of like the moments after expansion or even during expansion. 275 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: So it's kind of like being able to peer back 276 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: into the earliest days of the universe, um like the 277 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: evolution of the universe in the in the early early 278 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: times after the first instant. And we might use Terror 279 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,439 Speaker 1: Hurts radiation in the future to do stuff like improve 280 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: manufacturing processes. You can build machines that use terra hurts 281 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 1: scanning to look for flaws and manufactured components, for example. 282 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:15,919 Speaker 1: But in order to do all that, we first have 283 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: to create technologies that can generate terror hurts radiation without 284 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,160 Speaker 1: relying on the super advanced tech that you'd only find 285 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: sophisticated physics labs. And we're just not there yet, though 286 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: there's been a lot of experimentation in the space. My 287 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,400 Speaker 1: guess is that the terror Hurts gap is a temporary thing. 288 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: It's really just a way for us to say there's 289 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 1: this one band of frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum that 290 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: will probably end up relying on heavily in the future 291 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,199 Speaker 1: for all sorts of applications. But first we have to 292 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: find scalable and economic ways to create the tech that 293 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: generates those frequencies. So it's really just a matter of time. 294 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:52,920 Speaker 1: But that's what the terror Hurts gap is and what 295 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: that means. So if you have suggestions for future tech Stuff, tidbits, topics, 296 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: really any other tech Bay topic, reach out to me 297 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:03,919 Speaker 1: on Twitter. The handle we use for the show is 298 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: text Stuff h s W and I'll talk to you 299 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: again really soon. Y. Text Stuff is an I Heart 300 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: radio production. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 301 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 302 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.