WEBVTT - TechStuff Tidbits: The Terahertz Gap 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.200 --> 0:00:15.360 Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:18.800 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.440 and Health at Tech Area. It's time for a text 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:27.240 Stuff tidbits. And recently, my colleague Joe McCormick, who is 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:29.880 a co host on Stuff to Blow Your Mind, is 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.159 also a former writer for the Forward Thinking video series, 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:35.760 and he was also a co host on the Accompanying 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.919 Podcast with Me back in the day. He reached out 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:40.720 to me and asked if I had ever done an 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:44.440 episode about the Terra Hurts Gap, and I had not, 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.080 and figured it would be a perfect candidate for a 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:51.080 tech Stuff Tidbits episode. So, what the heck is the 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.080 Terra Hurts Gap. What it has to do with the 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:58.280 electromagnetic spectrum. Now, this is the distribution of all the 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:03.280 different kinds of electro magnetic energy, from radio waves to 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.120 visible light to stuff like gamma radiation. All of that 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.600 is energy that falls along the electromagnetic spectrum. And we 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.480 describe energy on this spectrum in a couple of different ways, 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:19.000 really three ways. Uh. Namely, we describe it by the 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:24.920 energy's wavelength of the individual waves of that particular energy. Uh, 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:30.119 it's frequency, which is related to the wavelength, and also 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.560 in terms of photonic energy, kind of like how much 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:38.800 oomph this radiation has, which is also related to wavelength 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:44.000 and frequency. So wavelength, as the name implies, describes how 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:49.320 long that specific kind of energies waves are. So we 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.920 can think of this energy as traveling in waves. If 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:54.520 we want to get quantum with it, we can also 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.000 think of it as traveling and like particles. But we're 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.200 not going to get into quantum mechanics quite yet. So 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:03.600 when we talk about wavelength, we are talking about a 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.080 measurable distance. So if we were to plot out a 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.280 wavelength kind of like a sine wave on graph paper, 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.519 we would measure the distance from the peak of one 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.800 wave to the peak of the next wave. Now, these 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:22.800 go into an incredible range of of wavelengths. If we 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.240 look at something like the extremely low frequency band of 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.480 radio waves, that includes wavelengths that are up to a 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:35.959 hundred thousand kilometers long, so a hundred thousand kilometers of wavelength. 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.440 Now on the flip side of the electromagnetic spectrum, we 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.720 have gamma radiation. The wavelength for a gamma wave is 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:49.200 unimaginably tiny, like a few tenths of an angstrom, and 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.280 an angstrom is one ten billionth of a meter, so 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.799 we're talking about a scale that's an order smaller than 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.960 a nanometer. A nanome there is one billions of a meter. 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:09.080 So gamma waves are really really really small. Frequency on 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:12.320 the electro magnetic spectrum, on the other hand, describes how 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.640 many wave lengths of a particular type of energy passes 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:20.959 a certain point in a given amount of time. Now, 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.560 the unit we use is the hurts, and one hurts 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:29.400 would be equivalent to a single wave length taking a 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.520 full second to pass a given point. Uh. Even if 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.400 we were to look at the extremely low frequency side 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.720 of the spectrum, where we have those super super long 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:43.480 wavelengths like a hundred thousand kilometer long waves, we're talking 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.000 about a frequency of three hurts at this point, which 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:49.840 would mean that three of those waves would pass any 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:54.040 given point in a single second. Now, all of these 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.480 energies are traveling at the same speed, so none of 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.440 them are going faster than another radio waves at the 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.800 same speed as a gamma wave. They're all moving at 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.400 the speed of light. I mean light is part of 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:11.560 the electro magnetic spectrum, so gamma rays do not move 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.840 faster than radio waves. But because gamma rays are so 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:19.760 incredibly small and radio waves are so incredibly long, a 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.880 whole lot more gamma radiation is going to pass a 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:28.479 given point in a second than radio radiation. Uh. The 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.680 analogy I like to use is imagined that you have 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.719 two lanes on a highway, and in the right lane 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.480 is a line of buses and they're essentially traveling bumper 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.919 to bumper at fifty miles per hour. In the left lane, 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.039 you have a line of any any smart cars. They're 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.119 also traveling bumper to bumper. They're also traveling at fifty 0:04:50.200 --> 0:04:53.360 miles per hour. And we put you at a certain 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.599 point on the highway. We give you a stop watch, 0:04:56.200 --> 0:05:00.520 and we tell you to count how many buses pas 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.719 buy you in a span of let's say ten seconds. 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.560 So over ten seconds, you count the number of buses 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.640 that pass your point. Then we have you do the 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:12.400 same thing, but now you're counting the smart cars that 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.080 pass you. Well, you're obviously going to count way more 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.400 smart cars than you will busses in those ten seconds, 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.960 because multiple smart cars can fit in the same physical 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.680 space as a single bus. So yeah, the vehicles are 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.360 all traveling at the same speed, but the size of 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.760 the vehicle, which relates to the length of a wave, 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:34.919 means that you're gonna get way more of the smaller 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.039 ones than the bigger ones in the same amount of time. 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.680 As for photonic energy, that also increases as wavelengths decrease 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.360 and frequencies increase. So gamma radiation packs way more of 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:53.560 an energetic punch than say, an extremely low frequency radio wave. Now, 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.719 over time, we've learned how to harness many of the 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.159 frequencies that are in the electromagna that ex spectrum in 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.880 order to do specific kinds of stuff, And there's some 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:09.679 messy overlaps and definitions largely depend upon the source. So 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.840 while I can give you ranges for different types of 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:17.760 electromagnetic energy and say like oh, it ranges from this 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:22.479 wavelength to this wavelength or this frequency to this frequency. Uh, 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.640 different definitions can actually have that have a different starting 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:30.080 place in different ending place, so it gets a little difficult. 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.760 For example, you could argue that radio waves range and 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:38.720 frequency from three hurts to thirty billion hurts or thirty 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.919 giga hurts, but that actually overlaps with what is broadly 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.919 considered the microwave range of frequencies, which according to the 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.760 most common definitions, go from one giga hurts or one 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.760 billion hurts up to one hundred billion hurts or one 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.400 hundred giga hurts and frequency. So there you would see 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.200 there's some overlap right between one and thirty giga hurts. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.680 You would have overlap between the microwave range and the 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:09.480 radio range. Um. By the way, we could also say 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.600 that the microwave range corresponds with wavelengths that are between 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:18.960 three millimeters to three millimeters. Remember, as the wavelength goes down, 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:25.000 the frequency goes up, and vice versa. Now let's talk 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:29.280 about terra hurts and the tara hurts gap. So Tara 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.320 in this instance refers to trillion in the metric system. 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.080 So if we go by the different prefixes that we 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.680 typically use in this realm, kilo means a thousand so 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:43.840 akilo hurts is a thousand hurts. Mega refers to one million. 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:47.160 Mega hurts would be a million hurts. Giga is one billion, 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.560 we already mentioned that, and then tara is one trillion. 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.360 So an electro magnetic energy with a frequency of one 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:58.760 tera hurts would mean you would have one trillion wavelengths 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:03.000 of this energy pass a given spot in one second. Now, 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.680 there's a section of the electromagnetic spectrum that sits between 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:13.360 the microwave range of spectrums and where infrared begins, and 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.000 it starts around point one terror hurts and frequency, or 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.280 around three millimeters if we're looking at wavelength, and it 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.720 goes up to around ten terror hurts or thirty micrometers 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:29.160 in wavelength. And even that is a little fuzzy, right, 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:31.800 Like it all depends on your point of view and 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.320 what you're talking about. How we're talking about harnessing terror 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:39.120 hurts frequencies, But it's in this little section of radiation 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:45.200 tucked between microwaves and infrared where we haven't quite really 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:51.280 harnessed the energy to its fullest potential. Uh So, we 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.320 can use microwaves to do stuff like set up communication 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:56.920 systems where I mean you can use them to heat 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.880 up food in a microwave oven, or potentially you can 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.600 use them as a means of transmitting energy to distant 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.440 receptors for stuff like say space elevators. You wouldn't be 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.680 generating energy this way. It would literally be you generate 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.600 energy in one spot or you know, you I guess 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.960 you're not technically generating, but you're harnessing energy in one spot, 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.600 transmitting it over distance with microwaves, and receiving it in 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.680 some distant spot. So it's basic like antenna kind of approach, 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.800 but you're talking about energy, not communications. You're not modulating 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:32.760 the signal for that purpose. We can leverage infrared to 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.800 create systems that let us see and what would otherwise 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.520 be darkness. You know, thermal vision works in this way 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:43.600 where we can uh see thermal energy, which is infrared energy. 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.560 Or we can use infrared to create all sorts of 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.319 kinds of heating elements, and there's even like infrared lasers 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.360 and things of that nature. And then, of course, later 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.600 on we have the visible light spectrum, which a lot 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.880 of us rely upon every single day directly, and obviously 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.560 a ton of our technology is centered on generating or 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.000 exploiting visible light. And then at higher frequencies we have 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.800 stuff like X rays, which we've leveraged for medical imaging 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.920 and more. But this little band of about point one 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.600 terror hurts to ten terror hurts has proven to be 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.040 a little more tricky for us to lean on. I'll 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.480 explain more after we come back from this quick break. 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.360 All right, let's think of it this way. This range 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.160 of frequencies in the electro magnetic spectrum kind of represents 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:39.080 a zone that exists between the world of electronics and 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:43.960 the world of optics. Optics obviously being technology that deals 0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:48.600 with light in some way, and in the realm of tech, 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.280 you can almost think of it as kind of a 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.880 no man's land, at least for broad technology. It's like 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:57.480 a dead zone. Uh, this is the terror Hurts gap. 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:02.120 So we can rely on technology like high speed transistors 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:07.320 and oscillating circuits to create lower frequency electromagnetic radiation. So 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.240 this would be like microwaves and radio waves and that 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.000 kind of stuff. We can use electronics to do that. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:18.199 For the higher frequency stuff, we can use semiconductor lasers 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:22.439 to produce that kind of radiation from you know, visible 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.480 light all the way up to X rays. But between 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.360 these two we have that dang Terra Hurts gap, and 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.960 the range in the Tarro Hurts gap is one where 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:38.200 we can't really produce those frequencies using either of those 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.400 primary methods. We have to go with other methods. And 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.520 I could rattle off those methods, but honestly, it would 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.720 start to sound like science fiction. You know, words like 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.880 quantum would be coming up, and the point being that 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:55.400 they aren't your run of the mill approaches to creating 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.080 electro magnetic radiation. It's the type of stuff you find 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:03.679 in super high tech laboratories. However, this doesn't mean that 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.200 no one has any idea regarding how we might exploit 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.600 terror hurts radiation in the future. In fact, it's it's 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:14.400 a pretty rich area of research among physicists, and it's 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:19.320 something that astronomers and cosmologists already use in order to 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:23.520 study the universe. So labs around the world have discovered 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:28.000 various methodologies for generating terror hurts frequencies or for you know, 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:32.319 detecting terror hurts radiation. But these are exceptions and so 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.119 far have not evolved to a point where we could say, 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.880 scale them up and mass produce them or make efficient 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:42.640 use of them, where it would make sense to start 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.960 using that technology for um, you know, broader purposes. For 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.760 these very specific, narrow purposes where you're talking about laboratory research, 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:54.960 you know, like cutting edge research. It makes sense there 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.840 because you could be hitting some incredible breakthroughs that you 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:03.000 otherwise wouldn't without the techno apology, but for practical everyday use, 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:07.079 it doesn't yet make sense. We haven't correcked that code yet. 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:09.800 And that's not to say there's a lack of interest there, 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.040 but there are certain properties of terra Hurts frequency energies 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:17.280 that kind of limit their applicability. So, for example, the 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.000 heart's atmosphere is pretty darned good at absorbing electromagnetic radiation 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:26.439 in that tara Hurts gap range of frequencies. So we're 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.520 talking about these these forms of radiation able to travel 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:35.280 maybe a couple dozen meters before they get absorbed by 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:39.200 the atmosphere. So that makes this band of electromagnetic energy 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.760 unsuitable for stuff like say terrestrial communication systems, because you 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:46.320 would have to put your transmitters and your receivers so 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.200 close together you might as well just start shouting out 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:54.640 the window. Now, you could potentially create short distance networking 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.640 systems that used Tara Hurts radiation to transmit data, Like 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.560 if you wanted to make an indoor Wi Fi network, 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:05.439 that's something that this technology could potentially do. Most of 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.320 the devices we rely on for wireless networks have a 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.440 fairly limited range already, so it's not like that would 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:14.480 be unusual to us, and you could potentially have a 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:18.240 terra hurts radiation based indoor Wi Fi system that was 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:22.280 super high throughput if we found a way to generate 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:26.480 terror hurts frequencies that was cost effective and efficient. Now, 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.840 on top of that, liquid water will absorb tera hurts radiation, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.560 so there's no real application where we could use it 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:38.280 for anything that would involve water. Uh, ditto for metals. 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:42.480 It is highly reflected off of metals, So you could 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.960 say there's some limited use cases for terror hurts radiation 0:14:46.440 --> 0:14:50.200 for things like communications. However, there are other properties that 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:54.160 this energy has that are potentially of huge benefit, and 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:56.960 in fact it's being used in that way in some 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:00.960 limited cases. So, for example, these frequencies are capable of 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:05.360 penetrating some types of matter, including body tissue, to a 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.240 certain degree. That makes them kind of like X rays, 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:13.720 But unlike X rays, Terror hurts rain radiation is non ionizing, 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.120 so that means it doesn't have that photonic energy that 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:22.600 would be required to say, strip electrons from their atoms. 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.800 So X rays are an ionizing form of radiation. One 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.680 of the consequences of this is that exposure to X 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:35.720 rays can cause cellular damage. This ionizing radiation can damage 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:40.400 cells and you can lead to serious things like like cancer. Uh. 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:45.000 The energy and the terror Hurts gap lacks that ionizing capability, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.760 so it would be much more safe to use for 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:53.520 medical imaging. However, because the wavelengths in this frequency band 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.800 are longer the next rays. Remember, higher the frequency, the 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:02.800 shorter the wavelength. So this is a lower frequency, longer 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.360 wavelength energy and you know, it's actually even longer than 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.680 visible light. Visible light is is a higher frequency than 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.720 the terror Hurts gap. That means if we were to 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:18.000 use devices that generated electromagnetic waves in this gap band 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:22.160 for the purposes of imaging for medical purposes, we would 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:24.920 actually end up with lower resolution pictures than we would 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.920 if we were to use X rays. That the wavelengths 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:31.359 are literally too large to give us the same resolution 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.120 we would get with an X ray, So we would 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.640 have to develop methods to enhance the image quality uh 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:42.440 that the we would get from these terror Hurts technologies 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:44.520 if in fact, we were to start using them for 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:49.560 medical imaging. Another potential use for terror Hurts radiation is 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:54.080 to examine non conducting materials because, like I said, it 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:59.160 can penetrate paper, plastic, wood, ceramics, and cardboard, So water 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.040 and metals are out, but this other stuff is totally in. 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.879 So theoretically we could build this technology that could be 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:09.040 used to scan for stuff like prohibited materials like weapons 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:13.720 or you know, biologically hazardous materials, and it could even 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.680 be a remote system. You could use Tara Hurts radiation 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:21.439 to scan someone remotely. The radiation itself would be harmless, 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.320 and as long as you weren't too far away where 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.960 the Tara Hurts radiation would be absorbed by the atmosphere, 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:33.800 you could scan folks safely and remotely. Astronomers have actually 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.120 been using Tara Hurts frequency detection for a while now 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:41.040 to measure stuff like the cosmic microwave background radiation that 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.360 in turn is connected to the earliest moments of our universe, 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.480 kind of like the moments after expansion or even during expansion. 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.960 So it's kind of like being able to peer back 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.960 into the earliest days of the universe, um like the 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:58.560 evolution of the universe in the in the early early 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.760 times after the first instant. And we might use Terror 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.439 Hurts radiation in the future to do stuff like improve 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:09.800 manufacturing processes. You can build machines that use terra hurts 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.400 scanning to look for flaws and manufactured components, for example. 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:15.919 But in order to do all that, we first have 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.240 to create technologies that can generate terror hurts radiation without 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.160 relying on the super advanced tech that you'd only find 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:26.000 sophisticated physics labs. And we're just not there yet, though 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.760 there's been a lot of experimentation in the space. My 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.400 guess is that the terror Hurts gap is a temporary thing. 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.000 It's really just a way for us to say there's 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.399 this one band of frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum that 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.520 will probably end up relying on heavily in the future 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.199 for all sorts of applications. But first we have to 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.960 find scalable and economic ways to create the tech that 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.760 generates those frequencies. So it's really just a matter of time. 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:52.920 But that's what the terror Hurts gap is and what 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:57.960 that means. So if you have suggestions for future tech Stuff, tidbits, topics, 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:01.520 really any other tech Bay topic, reach out to me 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.919 on Twitter. The handle we use for the show is 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.280 text Stuff h s W and I'll talk to you 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:16.200 again really soon. Y. Text Stuff is an I Heart 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:20.040 radio production. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:23.119 the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:24.560 listen to your favorite shows.