Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango, what's that? Will? Now you know how
Speaker 1: much I love new space missions. And you and I
Speaker 1: were talking a few weeks ago about this satellite that
Speaker 1: NASA's launching next year. It's called the Tests or the
Speaker 1: Transiting Exoplanets Surveys Satellite. Yeah, I mean that's the one
Speaker 1: that's headed to look at the planets outside our Solar system, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it's wild to read about just how far this
Speaker 1: satellite will be looking. This is a two year survey
Speaker 1: and Tests will be looking at two hundred thousand of
Speaker 1: the brightest stars near the Sun and all the planets
Speaker 1: around them. And in the survey, they're expecting to look
Speaker 1: at about three hundred Earth size planets. And I love
Speaker 1: it when these kinds of missions launch. I know it's exciting.
Speaker 1: So when is it launching exactly? Well, they say it's
Speaker 1: gonna be no later than June. And I really love
Speaker 1: this time of year because it's a chance to pause
Speaker 1: and hit refresh, you know in some ways, and and
Speaker 1: think about all the exciting things happening in the year ahead.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're gonna do today, And today's nine
Speaker 1: things were excited about for two thousand eighteen let's get started.
Speaker 1: Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm
Speaker 1: Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my good
Speaker 1: friend Man and the man on the other side of
Speaker 1: the soundproof class wearing a T shirt that says, actually,
Speaker 1: what does it say? It says new year knew you
Speaker 1: this year new shoe. What in the world does that mean?
Speaker 1: Is that like Dr SEUs or something? I have no idea,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure it's profound that Tristan is one deep guy?
Speaker 1: Who are not kidding? All right, Well, we've got another
Speaker 1: smart guy on the phone, and that's our lead researcher,
Speaker 1: Mr Gabe Louisier. Hey there, Gabe. All right, Well today
Speaker 1: we're talking about some of the things we're excited about
Speaker 1: for two thousand eighteen. So Mango, you want to kick
Speaker 1: us off with the first fact, Yeah, definitely. So obviously
Speaker 1: we're both excited about this search for exoplanns and everyone's
Speaker 1: been talking about whether we should go to Mars or not,
Speaker 1: but very few people talk about NASA's mission this year
Speaker 1: to the Sun. But that's exactly what's happening in two
Speaker 1: thou eighteen. It's called the Parker Solar probe, and the
Speaker 1: whole idea is to trace the flow of energy around
Speaker 1: the Sun and understand the solar winds and magnetic fields there.
Speaker 1: And while it won't actually get to the Sun, it'll
Speaker 1: actually get closer to Venus and then return in two
Speaker 1: thousand twenty five. The probe is covered in all this
Speaker 1: armor of carbon capositi solar shields, I guess, And that's
Speaker 1: to protect it from the heat. Wow. So we get
Speaker 1: the closest that will get you set is near Venus. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it'll get to Venus, it'll actually orbit Venus, I believe,
Speaker 1: so that to reduce on energy. Uh. And and then
Speaker 1: and then I'll head back. Venus, which my son likes
Speaker 1: to remind me, is actually the hottest planet despite being
Speaker 1: the second planet. All right, that's a good one. We're
Speaker 1: sticking with some space themes. Okay, well, Gay, what's your
Speaker 1: first fact? So I go to space one to actually
Speaker 1: and you know, the Sun is great and all, but
Speaker 1: I'm a little more excited about the fact that two
Speaker 1: space tourists are going to be headed to the Moon.
Speaker 1: And uh, this is part of a SpaceX project. Um.
Speaker 1: It's called the Falcon Heavy Rocket and it's gonna launch
Speaker 1: with a crew of the Dragon too. It's it's the
Speaker 1: most powerful rocket to blast off since uh NASA's Saturn
Speaker 1: missions in the nineteen seventies. The mission is supposed to
Speaker 1: last about a week and it will be mostly automated,
Speaker 1: so the space tourists will, you know, pretty much just
Speaker 1: sit there and hope that everything goes okay. And in
Speaker 1: case something, you know, does go wrong, they'll have a
Speaker 1: little bit of training and including how to pilot the
Speaker 1: craft manually. But the capsule is just going to orbit
Speaker 1: the Moon, not actually touched down. Um, and we don't
Speaker 1: know who's going yet, but to private individuals approached SpaceX
Speaker 1: and has to be a part of the Moon cruise,
Speaker 1: and they haven't announced who they are yet, but there
Speaker 1: you can be sure they're paying a pretty penny for
Speaker 1: the privilege. There's not there's not an exact date yet
Speaker 1: for the mission, just lateen but it's coming so so
Speaker 1: they do know who the two people are. We don't know,
Speaker 1: but those two people have been chosen. I mean. The
Speaker 1: other weird thing about it is they call it Dragon
Speaker 1: two instead of Double Dragon. That's the weirdest fact of all. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: I guess I will go next with a fact that
Speaker 1: I feel like we can't talk about two thousand eighteen
Speaker 1: without at least talking about the Winter Olympics and pyeong Chang,
Speaker 1: South Korea. And this is definitely going to be an
Speaker 1: interesting one. I mean, you know, it's only fifty or
Speaker 1: so miles from the North Korea border, and we all
Speaker 1: read about how the Russian team has been suspended by
Speaker 1: the IOC for systematic doping, so that's going to be
Speaker 1: a unwrinkle in this and it'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: how many of their athletes compete independently. But one of
Speaker 1: my favorite parts about the Olympics is hearing about the
Speaker 1: new events that they're adding each time. And this year,
Speaker 1: the the events that I saw listed were big air snowboarding,
Speaker 1: mixed doubles curling. That sounds exciting, and mass starts speed skating.
Speaker 1: I really don't understand what any of those mean, and
Speaker 1: I kind of don't want to look them up because
Speaker 1: I just want to be surprised by what mass start
Speaker 1: speed skating is chaos. But anyway, I'm excited for the
Speaker 1: Olympics as always. Okay, mango, what's your next fact? So
Speaker 1: one of the things everyone's kind of excited about in
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen is that women are finally being given
Speaker 1: the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. And obviously this
Speaker 1: is a big deal. So Stacy looked up the reasons
Speaker 1: women have been held back to this point and they
Speaker 1: are ridiculous or actually infuriating. So these are some of
Speaker 1: the reasons that Saudi Arabia is given in the past
Speaker 1: for why women shouldn't drive. Mail drivers wouldn't know how
Speaker 1: to handle women driving in cars next to them. Allowing
Speaker 1: women to drive will make women more promiscuous and also
Speaker 1: bring shame on the Saudi family. And also driving harms
Speaker 1: women's ovaries, is that it's so crazy in battling, and
Speaker 1: so all these, of course, are these stupid reasons. And
Speaker 1: I remember I had this friend in college. He lived
Speaker 1: in Saudi Arabia, and she said that her mom talked
Speaker 1: about how the year or two they had spent there,
Speaker 1: she felt like her wings have been clipped because she
Speaker 1: just couldn't be independent at all. So getting the right
Speaker 1: for these women to drive is really exciting, but it's
Speaker 1: going to be baby steps. So women still can't work
Speaker 1: as taxi drivers, and the reason the change isn't taking
Speaker 1: place until June is partially to train police on how
Speaker 1: to interact with women when they pulled them over, because
Speaker 1: men and women don't actually often interact unless they're related
Speaker 1: to one another. That's very interesting fact and hopefully as
Speaker 1: the first of many steps in that direction. Okay, Gabe,
Speaker 1: what's your next fact? So one thing we're celebrating in
Speaker 1: eighteen is the one hundred birthday of the John Deere tractor.
Speaker 1: Nineteen eighteen was actually just the beginning of the John
Speaker 1: Deere tractor line, which started thirty two years after the
Speaker 1: man himself passed away. And John Deer was originally a
Speaker 1: blacksmith by trade, which led him to inventing the first
Speaker 1: steel plow in eighteen thirty seven. Uh. The company then
Speaker 1: made all kinds of different farm implements for the next
Speaker 1: eighty years or so before actually finally venturing into the
Speaker 1: tractor game in eighteen. And the company already jumped the
Speaker 1: gun a little bit and marked this anniversary by bringing
Speaker 1: a family to their Waterloo, Iowa plant in October and
Speaker 1: the family got to watch the first tractor roll off
Speaker 1: the assembly line and they got to keep it too. Wow,
Speaker 1: it's pretty awesome. It's a good fact. Okay, well, my
Speaker 1: last fact of the day. Um, it's actually pretty wild
Speaker 1: to think about the fact that Phase one trials will
Speaker 1: begin late next year for an AIDS vaccine, and this
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like something we could be saying by this point,
Speaker 1: And of course it's still very early, but scientists from
Speaker 1: the n i H and the pharmaceutical company Sono Fie
Speaker 1: appear to have us closer than ever to having a vaccine.
Speaker 1: The vaccine combines three broadly neutralizing antibodies into a single compound,
Speaker 1: and the number of anybodies make it nearly impossible for
Speaker 1: HIV to mutate into AIDS, and so if it proves
Speaker 1: to be effective, the drug could be used as a
Speaker 1: vaccine to help treat people who already have the disease.
Speaker 1: And if the trial goes well, then the drug could
Speaker 1: be in the market in just a few years. So
Speaker 1: obviously fingers crossed on that one. Yeah, it's pretty awesome, alright, mango,
Speaker 1: what's your next fact? So? Uh? I love that they're
Speaker 1: all these exciting medical innovations on the horizon, right, Like
Speaker 1: the AIDS thing is so promising and awesome. But one
Speaker 1: of the things that warmed my hearts was that there's
Speaker 1: this new cooling cap for people going through chemo, and
Speaker 1: basically you wear the cap before, after, and during your
Speaker 1: session and it's significantly reduces hair loss, which you know,
Speaker 1: we've all had friends and relatives with cancer, and especially
Speaker 1: watching little kids with leukemia lose their hair and you
Speaker 1: realize how difficult it is. During that time, at least
Speaker 1: they can feel a little more confident from you know,
Speaker 1: looking like themselves, and then it's kind of wonderful. That
Speaker 1: is pretty neat. That's that's great. Alright, Gabe, you get
Speaker 1: to close this out today. What's your last fact of
Speaker 1: the day. All right, Well, this is significantly less important
Speaker 1: than new developments and cancer and AIDS research, but there
Speaker 1: is something I am excited about, um and that's that
Speaker 1: George R. R. Martin is releasing a new Western Roast
Speaker 1: based book this year. You know, before you know, we
Speaker 1: get too excited. Is it's not the long awaited sixth
Speaker 1: book and the Song of Ice and Fire series that's
Speaker 1: Blawn Game of Phones, but it is based in the
Speaker 1: same world. It's it's called Fire and Blood, so he's
Speaker 1: mixing it up a little bit. And it's said to
Speaker 1: be a two volume history about the tar Gerrian Kings.
Speaker 1: That appear in those books, and Martin says the first
Speaker 1: one will likely be released by the end of twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: and he said that at least one West Rose book
Speaker 1: will be released this year and who knows, maybe too
Speaker 1: a boy can dream. Wow, you really close that out
Speaker 1: with a profound statement there. You know, Mega, We've had
Speaker 1: a lot of good facts today, and I know we
Speaker 1: talked about some pretty important things, you know, these space
Speaker 1: missions and obviously what with women driving in Saudi Arabia,
Speaker 1: aids vaccine, these caps for those dealing with chemotherapy. But
Speaker 1: I feel like Gabe really hit us with some very
Speaker 1: very important facts like the John Dear anniversary of the
Speaker 1: George Are Martin novel coming out, So I feel like
Speaker 1: he probably deserves to take the trophy today. Here's to
Speaker 1: all your dreams coming true. Okay, that's right. I think
Speaker 1: you made the right plice. This is our last episode
Speaker 1: of Nine Things for the year. Look forward to getting
Speaker 1: back to it next year, and happy New Year everybody.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with a full length episode tomorrow. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. Kay