WEBVTT - The Danger Episode: Solar Flares, Cosmic Rays, and App Terms of Service 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:03.920 Welcome to How Stuff Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:10.879 a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works. Every week, 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.119 I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:17.119 weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.880 This week, we're getting better numbers on how much radiation 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.560 air travelers are exposed to and unrelated researchers think that 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.760 they may know why Wales sometimes get stranded on the shore. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.720 But first, managing editor Alison Loudermilk and our freelance writer 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.400 Dave Rouse dive deep into the purposefully confusing world of 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:42.400 website and app terms of service. If you never read 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.040 the terms of service or privacy policies on websites or apps, 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:49.680 you're not alone. Earlier this year, researchers from Michigan State 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.960 and the University Connecticut wanted to see how many Internet 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:57.840 users did read these notoriously lengthy policies before clicking agree. 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.200 So they rounded up five forty three student participants who 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.240 thought they were beta testing a new social networking site 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.360 called name Drop. The researchers found that of the students 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.080 didn't read the fake websites privacy policy or terms of service. 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.120 Those who did skim the eight thousand word and four 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:20.240 thousand word documents in about a minute each yep a minute. 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.480 Only nine of those five D forty three students noticed 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.840 that the terms of service included the slightly controversial child 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.720 assignment clause We'll read you an excerpt. By agreeing to 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.600 these terms of service and in an exchange for services, 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:37.759 all users of this site agree to immediately assign their 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.440 firstborn child to name Drop Incorporated. If the user does 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.640 not yet have children. This agreement will be enforceable until 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.960 two thousand fifty. All individuals assigned to name drop automatically 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:53.720 become the property of name Drop Incorporated, no exceptions. Okay, 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:57.120 so popular websites and apps like Facebook, Amazon, and Instagram 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:00.720 aren't coming after firstborn, but they do in pensionally draft 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.280 privacy policies, terms of service, and end user license agreements 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.800 e u l a's that they know or hope no 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.640 one will ever read. Git Walsh, a staff attorney with 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.320 the Electronic Frontier Foundation at Digital Rights Advocacy Group, told 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:16.799 House to Works that there's a clear advantage to them 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.000 being unreadable. Welsh also mentioned that it would take all 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.000 of us two months to read all of the agreements 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.320 that we click through in a year. In fact, wal 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.960 said the PayPal terms of service agreement is longer than 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.200 Hamlet and a lot less interesting. The real function of 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.200 these dense, jargon filled policies and agreements, which most of 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.440 us ignore, isn't for companies to inform users of our rights, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.920 but to establish legal grounds for collecting and sharing our information. 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:45.640 Welsh also mentioned that fifty people surveyed by Pew in 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.200 two thousand fourteen thought that if a company has a 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.000 privacy policy that means they won't share your information. Not true. 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.280 Walsh also says the typical privacy policy is written to 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.079 give the company as much leeway as possible, so when 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.200 you click agree on most social networking sites, that gives 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.360 the company the right to mind and collect data not 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.120 only from your clicks and likes, but from your private 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.440 messages to other users too. Whilst as we're not just 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:15.400 talking about social media sites, your home automation system collects 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.000 and shares data with the company about when your home 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.640 and when you're not. Medical monitoring systems gather and save 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.600 extremely personal and sensitive information. I mean, when was the 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:27.920 last time you read the fine print on any of 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.800 these systems. Essentially, Walsh explains, we trust devices with all 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.520 of the intimate details of our private lives, but the 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.440 privacy policies are written to let the companies that run 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:41.360 those devices basically do whatever they want and commercialize your 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:45.520 private data. A British government task force just released a 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:49.680 report about how unreadable terms and conditions impact children online. 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.160 In the UK, fifty six percent of twelve to fifteen 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.960 year olds have an Instagram account. But when a group 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.680 of children were asked to read the apps five thousand 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.680 words terms of service agreement, none of them could decipher 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.440 the postgraduate level legalise. So the task force asked a 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:10.200 lawyer to translate the document into plain English. Here's how 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:14.000 that translated policy read. Although you're responsible for the information 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:16.479 you put on Instagram, we may keep, use, and share 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.440 your personal information with companies connected with Instagram. This information 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:24.200 includes your name, email, adjusts, school, where you live, pictures, 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.440 phone number, your likes and dislikes, where you go, who 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.920 your friends are, how often you use Instagram, and any 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.760 other personal information we find, such as your birthday or 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.560 who you were chatting with, including in private messages. The 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.520 report noted that when a thirteen year old named Amy 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.400 read the d jargon version. She said, they must know 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.480 that no one reads the terms and conditions, but if 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.320 they made it more easy and then people would actually 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.000 read it and think twice about the app. Another boy 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.520 named Alex put it more bluntly, I'm deleting Instagram because 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.800 it's weird. Does that mean you have to start reading 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:59.120 these insane in terms of service? No, it doesn't. The 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.120 Electronic front Here Foundation has published a handy cheat sheet 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:04.120 of companies that have your back when it comes to 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.159 government data requests, and a crowdsource initiative called terms of 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.400 Service Didn't Read reads and rates the privacy policies in 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.080 terms of service for a major website and ABS so 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:21.599 you don't have to next up our own. Audio producer 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.960 Dylan Fagan and freelance writer Laurie L. Dove explore new 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.640 research into a cause of whale beachings that sounds surprising 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:35.680 on the surface, solar flares. Each year, hundreds of otherwise 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.720 healthy whales wind up stranded on coastlines across the globe. 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:40.960 Most are still alive at the moment they get stuck, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.640 but within a matter of hours, the whales suffocate under 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.000 their own weight. Drown and high tide, or conversely die 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.159 of dehydration. Why is this happening. No one has a 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.400 clear answer, but researchers may be getting closer to deciphering 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:55.760 the mystery of these mass strandings by looking to the 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:00.479 Sun for clues. NASA Helia physicist Anti I. Polkinen, stationed 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.120 at the Goddard Space Flight Center, is working with the 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.520 Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the International Fund 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.400 for Animal Welfare. They're parsing years of data that may 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.640 provide a link between solar flares and beached whales. Research 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.440 from two thousand five suggested a link between the phenomena, 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.359 but this new undertaking will be the first time quantitative 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.599 research has been used to gather statistically significant data on 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.680 the possible relationship. Whales, like dolphins and porpoises, use magnetic 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.720 fields for navigation, and when solar flares interrupt Earth's magnetosphere, 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:33.680 cetaceans the collective name for whales, dolphins, and porpoises may 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.359 lose all sense of direction, leading to deadly mistakes. The 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.080 hope is that by pulling data from years of whale beachings, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.040 scientists will understand the relationship between solar flares and these strandings. 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:47.880 Katie Moore, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.760 Global Animal Rescue Program and project collaborator, says, if we 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.960 understand the relationship between the two, we may be able 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.159 to use observations of solar storms as an early warning 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.720 for potential strandings to occur. This would allow stranding responders 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.200 and global hotspots and really around the world to be 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.200 better prepared to respond, thus having the opportunity to save 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:12.160 more animals. Also interesting, researchers believe the moon's gravitational influences 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.000 also make it difficult for whales to navigate open seas. 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.320 When there's a full moon or a new moon. In 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.560 combination with a coastal storm, whales may swim into two 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:30.760 shallow waters. Finally, this week, Step editor Christopher Hasiotas and 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:33.560 our freelance writer Patrick Jake Tiger have a story for 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:37.000 us about how scientists are setting out exactly how much 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:42.600 danger air travel poses radiation wise, if you're listening to 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.480 this podcast while cruising through the stratosphere at thirty six 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.680 thousand feet, your jetline or seat probably seems like a 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.440 pretty serene place. After all, you're well above the clouds 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.040 and weather, and indeed above much of the Earth's atmosphere itself. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.440 What you probably don't realize, though, is that just above you, 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.480 a street of high energy particles from deep space is 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:05.880 crashing down into the atmosphere, causing all sorts of molecular 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.640 level carnage. Try not to flinch, you're getting bombarded with 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.320 cosmic rays. For those of us back on the Earth's surface, 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:15.800 the thickness of the atmosphere pretty much filters them out, 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.920 but in the thin air of the stratosphere where airplanes fly, 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:23.280 there's little cover. Fortunately, most research on the subject indicates 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.000 that occasional air travelers probably aren't getting that much of 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.240 a cosmic dose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.040 estimates that across country flight exposes an average traveler to 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.079 about three point five millirams of radiation, which is less 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.000 than the amount of radiation received during one chest X ray, 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.280 but it's more of a risk for pilots and airline 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.480 crew who spend a whole lot more time in the sky. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.520 Cosmic radiation can break down DNA and produce free radicals, 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.960 which can damage parts of cells. Free radicals, by the way, 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.200 aren't exclusive to cosmic rays. And can also be generated 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.880 by substances found in fried food, alcohol, tobacco, smoke, and 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.680 air pollution, among other sources. Hooray. The good news is 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.400 that the fine people at NASA are studying high altitude 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.600 radiation to get more precise numbers on exposure and to 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.760 improve real time monitoring for everyone who flies. In September 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.880 of two thousand sixteen, researchers in New Mexico launched a 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:20.439 giant helium balloon carrying NASA's Radiation D Symmetry experiment, also 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.680 known as rad X and apologies to anyone who uses 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.720 that name for online gaming avatars. This array of instruments 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.840 measures cosmic rays coming from the Sun and interstellar space. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.880 The scientists recently published an article on their work in 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.800 a special issue of Space Weather Journal. Chris Marten's, the 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.640 principal investigator of the rad X mission at NASA's Langley 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.640 Research Center, says that measurements were taken for the first 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.679 time at seven different altitudes where the physics of D 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.960 symmetry is very different. By having the measurements at these 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:52.079 seven altitudes, he says, we're really able to test how 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.480 well our models capture the physics of cosmic radiation now. 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.920 According to NASA, aircraft crews frequent flying leads them to 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:01.679 being exposed to us as much cosmic radiation as they 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.560 would receive on the ground. On the bright side, the 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.199 mission also tested two new radiation measuring instruments, the Rashard 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.240 detector and the TELEDI and t I D detector, that 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.640 may be installed in aircraft in the future. Such friendly, 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:21.480 friendly scouys. That's our show for this week. Thank you 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:23.959 so much for tuning in. Further thanks to our audio 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.640 producer Dylan Fagan and our editorial liaison, Eve's Jeff Cote. 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.200 Subscribe to now Now for more belated science news and 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.280 send us links to anything you'd like to hear us cover, 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.360 plus the name of your favorite podcast, Professional Curiosity. You 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:39.400 can send us an email at now podcast at how 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:42.480 stuff works dot com, and of course, for lots more 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.040 stories like these, head on over to our home planet 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:58.160 now dot how stuff works dot com.