WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Looks at the LHC 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.080 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.960 I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.720 with How Stuff Works and I heart Radio and I 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.919 love all things tech. And in this classic episode, which 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:28.160 dates back to September five, two thousand twelve, Chris Billette 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:30.960 and I took a look at the large Hadron Collider, 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:36.280 which obviously had not really got going the way it 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:39.000 has over the last few years. And since then, I've 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.080 actually had Daniel of Daniel and Jorge Explained the Universe 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.400 over on our show to talk about the you know, 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.680 running data for the LHC and and analyzing information that 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.040 has gathered by the LHC. So I've talked about this 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:56.040 in subsequent episodes, but I think it's fun to go 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.240 back and listen to this early one where Chris and 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:03.160 I really suss out what it's all about and give 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:07.080 out the details of this amazing, amazing piece of technology. 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:11.520 So enjoy. So today we wanted to cover a pretty 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.960 big piece of technology. Actually, yes, we're going to get 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.559 deep into it, and it's a big piece of technology 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.960 that looks at teeny tiny stuff yeah. Yeah, We've had 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.480 quite a few people say that they wanted us to 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:29.480 talk about this, and we've kind of put it off because, well, 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:32.000 we wanted to talk about it. I know, it's it's strange. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.920 It's the large Hadron collider, folks, that's what we're gonna 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:36.959 talk about. And really we were going to do a 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:41.280 podcast about this about nine months ago, but then a 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.600 bird dropped a bag out on my head and it 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:49.240 just threw everything off for ages. What really frightens me 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.920 is that I thought about making that joke and hadn't yet. Yeah, well, 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:53.680 I was like, one of us is going to it's 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.800 just gonna be a race, all right. So um, and 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.440 if you don't know the story about the bird and 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.280 the bread, we will all become clear. Yes, we will 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.480 allude to it in in a moment. But let's talk 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.120 about the large Hadron collider, what it is, what it does, 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.480 and um and kind of get a grip on the 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:16.440 whole idea of adam smashers and particle accelerators. Yes, this 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.440 actually is the latest if you will entered in a 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.480 a a race that has gone on, a scientific race 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:25.679 that has gone on for many many years, a game 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:31.040 of one upsmanship. Um that that started so long ago. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.520 But basically, in in in scientific terms, we're talking about 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:40.960 the race to build, uh, the largest particle accelerator. And 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:44.480 it has gone back and forth between the United States 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:50.519 and Europe for many years and and basically it seems like, um, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.480 the United States is sort of seeded uh this to 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.679 a group of scientists or an organization called that calls 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:01.400 itself CERN, which is which stands for the European Organization 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.680 for Nuclear Research. Yes, and if it doesn't make sense, 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:10.320 why because Europeans there foreign that's why to our to 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.880 our listeners in Europe, I love you guys, teasing being silly, 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.000 but yes. The CERN of course also famous for a 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:23.640 few other minor contributions to technology, the Worldwide Web, like 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.600 the world Wide Web, Tim berners Lee of CERN being 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:31.600 the guy who who developed what would later become the 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:36.680 World Wide Web, so built on top of the Internet 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:43.360 network of networks. So anyway, yes, certain, definitely a pioneer 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:48.560 in science and technology. They were the ones who spearheaded 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.200 this whole development of the large Hadron collider, which was, 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.040 you know, such an enormous project. It involved more than 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:03.240 just certain it involved the cooperation of various organizations, search institutions, countries, UM. 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.480 And you know, it's a it's really a testament to 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:11.400 science and to exploration, but it's kind of an exploration 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:19.080 that involves recreating conditions that were prevalent immediately following the 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:23.320 creation of the universe, but on the tiniest scale we 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.679 can manage right now. Yes, yes, well, the scientists seem 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:30.919 to think now. And the reason I say seemed to 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:35.599 is because I have just a paltry layman's interpretation of 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:39.240 these things. UM. They believe that there are these these 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:44.080 particles that existed um in the creation of the universe 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:47.760 that simply aren't there today. And it's not because they 0:04:47.800 --> 0:04:51.440 couldn't be. It's because the conditions just aren't right now. 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.240 So they want to recreate the conditions that they believe 0:04:55.279 --> 0:05:01.200 existed right after that, UM by accelerating very tiny things 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:06.560 to smash together and basically make bits of particles that 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.560 they think would be those those things that they're trying 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:14.560 to identify. Basically, there's a roadmap. They think there's a 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:16.840 city there, and they want to see if they can 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:20.359 make it happen. Right. So, so let's this really boils 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.440 down to the whole Big Bang Theory, So our whole 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:29.279 universe was in a hot, dense state. Really what there? Yes, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.480 I did go there. Hey, some of the characters from 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.440 the Big Bang Theory were some of my earliest Twitter followers, 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.680 not the actors, the actual factional characters of the television 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:43.760 show Big Bang Theory were following me on Twitter for 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.640 a while, which I thought. I was thrilled anyway. Yes, 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.960 according to the Big Bang Theory, which is one of 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.840 the I would say the most prevalent theory of how 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:59.239 our universe was formed. Um, the Big Bang Theory states 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:04.760 that there was a moment when which did not last 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.760 very long relatively speaking compared to the life of the universe. 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.240 There was a moment when energy and matter were one. 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.120 They were not two different things. Energy and matter kind 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:23.560 of were coupled together, uh, and then split apart and 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:28.080 then developed into what we see today, into the matter 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.480 and energy that we are able to observe today, as 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.640 well as stuff that we may not ever be able 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:40.080 to observe. Yeah, and so there were these these fundamental 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:49.039 particles that eventually became matter. And by taking sub atomic 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:54.040 particles and accelerating them to near the speed of light, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.240 the speed of light and making them collide together, you 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.920 can smash them apart so that they become these even 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:11.520 more basic particles and energies that are what make up 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:16.320 the stuff around us. So it's it's like reducing matter 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:21.360 that we have today into the proto matter that existed 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.640 immediately following the Big Bang. UM, and they're well, we'll 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:27.360 get a little bit more into the Big Bang stuff. 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.679 It gets really really complex and complicated. It goes beyond 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.240 the scope of tech stuff, and it gets difficult to 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.000 to explain. I had a friend of mine asked me, well, 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:38.920 what was there before the Big Bang? As if that 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:42.440 question is meaningless? And so why is that question meaningless? 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:46.440 Is it because time did not exist until the universe 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.200 came into being during the Big Bang. If you, according 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.920 to the theory, as you get closer to the Big Bang, 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.600 you eventually get to a point where time didn't exist. 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:01.520 So before and after are meaningless because are concepts that 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.800 depend upon the existence of time. What's really funny to 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.160 me is, now, now that you've reached this point of 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.640 the discussion, I feel like philosophy and science have become one, 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.160 and really they have been. At that point. There's there 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.600 is a point where science and philosophy are one because 0:08:19.600 --> 0:08:23.200 you cannot or at least philosophy takes over because you 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:27.840 cannot test or observe. And you know, scientific theory, this 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.280 the whole scientific method is based upon the idea that 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:36.760 you make observations and then you project future guesses essentially 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.960 based on those observations, you test, and you continue to observe, 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.880 and based upon those results you build knowledge. Right, I mean, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.240 that's the basic when you boil it down, that's the 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.560 basic scientific method, and you want to do it in 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.480 a controlled way, so that way you can determine if 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:56.960 in fact what you observe is a result of whatever 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:00.240 the phenomena is you're observing. You know, like whatever whatever 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.960 state you're looking at now, is in fact a result 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.520 of a previous state, or if it was just a 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.600 something something else. You know, you can't say A causes 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:16.200 B immediately. You have to build that case. Well, that's 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:18.960 that's one of the reasons why this is so such 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.400 a weird topic in a way, because the particle that 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:27.640 they've been looking for most famously is the Higgs boson, 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.560 and this is a theoretical particle. Yeah, this is the 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.240 thing according to the theories. You know, they they're they're 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.160 the scientists are going by what we know of the universe, 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:43.040 and they're they're essentially saying this should be able to exist, 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.000 and we want to see if it actually can exist. 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:50.280 That is just such a weird concept. Yeah, it's essentially 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.320 what you do is you look at the math and 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:55.679 you say, well, based upon our understanding of the universe 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.640 and based upon some mathematical formulas that are far more 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:03.400 comp lex and I could ever hope to understand. So 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:05.920 I want to make that clear. I'm stating this from 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.200 the perspective of someone who is interested in the subject, 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.920 but it is not an expert. But based upon the 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:18.360 math and based upon our understanding of the universe, we 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.480 think that there is a particle that we're calling the 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:26.720 Higgs Boson particle that would explain why matter has mass, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:31.199 Because that's a it's a it's a question I would 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.120 never have thought to ask, like why does why does stuff? 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.280 Why does matter actually have mass? Why do we have 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.000 mass in the universe? That's actually a great question. There 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:41.920 are a couple of reasons why it's a great question. 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.679 One is that again, energy and mass at one point, 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.120 or energy and matter at one point, we're coupled together 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.040 and they split apart. So what was it that did that? 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.160 Also was messy. There was alimony. Also, there was the 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.760 element of the I shouldn't say element. There was the 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:01.320 factor of matter and anti manner. Okay. So when you 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:03.960 have a matter, a particle of matter encounter a particle 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:08.240 of antimatter, Uh, they annihilate one another, right, I mean 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:15.800 antimatter and matter cannot coexist? They do right, right, hypothetical 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.160 person who knows what I'm talking about in the room. 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.920 So yes, when matter and antimatter uh encounter one another, 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:27.040 they annihilate each other. So matter and antimatter both were 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.840 products of the Big Banks. So there must have been 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:37.120 a little more matter than there was antimatter, or else 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.080 we wouldn't have matter, but it would have all been 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:44.280 annihilated there there would be there'd be no us, right 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:48.840 because animatter and h and matter would have destroyed one another. 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:52.959 So by that logic, there must have been more matter 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.840 than antimatter. Well, why is that? It's a good question. 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.760 The LHC might be able to give us some answers. 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:01.360 And the reason why the LHC might give us some 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.920 answers is again because by smashing these sub atomic particles 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:11.839 together at incredible speeds, we can recreate in miniature by 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:17.360 several orders of magnitude, conditions that were around, or what 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.440 we believe were around shortly after the universe was formed. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.800 By observing that, we could start to draw conclusions of 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.560 what happened immediately after the universe was formed and why 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:33.559 stuff is the way it is. These are huge questions, 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.920 and I mean it blows my mind to think about 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.040 it for more than like to go beyond the surface level. 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.480 I started getting a bit dizzy. Yeah, you know, well 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:45.559 the uh I was going to get into how the 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.240 monitor and the anti monitor deal with all of this 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.400 and the green lantern core, but that will be a 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:55.400 discussion best used for another podcast, maybe pop stuff. So 0:12:55.440 --> 0:13:01.560 they created this thinget down. Yeah, that only took you know, 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.400 sixteen years and ten billion dollars to come up with. Technically, 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:10.040 it is one below ground feet as as Chris was saying, 0:13:10.520 --> 0:13:13.400 uh it is Uh, it's got a circumference of twenty 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:17.960 seven kilometers, which is just under seventeen miles sixteen point 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.880 eight miles or so. Uh. The entire thing, like if 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.160 you think of it as a giant circle, because that's 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.920 what the main part of the Large Hadron Collider is. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:31.280 It's an enormous circular ring. Um. It's got eight sectors, 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.480 all right. Each of those sectors has an end cap 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.200 that connects it to the next sector. Okay, that end 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:44.680 cap is called an insertion. Now, UH, within this circle protons, 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:49.559 beams of protons mainly, although other atomic particles can also 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.120 be accelerated through the Large Hadron Collider, but primarily it's 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:58.439 it's beams of protons reached this speed of the speed 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.240 of light. Now you might ask, why is it not 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.560 actually the speed of light? Well, there's two reasons. One 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.360 is that, according to what we know of the universe, 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:11.080 lights the fastest stuff there is, and you cannot equal 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.520 or exceed the speed of light unless you're light like, 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:16.840 unless you're a photon. You're not gonna do it. Well. 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.160 Put it this way, the traffic ticket would be enormous. Yeah, 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.960 so don't do it. Well. The other reason is because 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.600 this this UH the facility is so large it actually 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:34.000 spans the border between UH France and Switzerland, so which 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.000 is why the French it has to stop for customs 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:40.440 each time it goes through, which delays it a little nice. 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.920 So anytime it has any duty free stuff or you know, 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.720 it's got to declare that it's carrying a certain amount 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:50.840 of stuff from France to Switzerland, mainly cheese, then it 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.200 has to slow down. That's all a lie that that 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.200 customs part the rest of we've been saying, besides the 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.800 green lantern and other silly asides, totally true. Yes, but 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.920 it's um it's fascinating in a way to think about because, um, 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:10.880 you know, this very big, very expensive machine is necessary 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:16.680 to smash tiny, tiny, tiny particles into even tinier particles. 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:20.440 And and again remember we're looking for lots of different stuff. 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.240 Higgs boson is probably the most famous you know, and 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.280 and someone that's made the news recently as at the 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.720 time we're recording this, right, you are right. The recent 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:32.520 news states that we have discovered a particle that fits 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:36.160 very closely to what we would expect the Higgs boson 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.440 to be. So it's not that we found the Higgs 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:43.280 boson necessarily, but that we found something that's promising along 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.360 those lines. Yes, So again we cannot say we found 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.240 the Higgs boson with certainty. Actually will probably never be 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:53.480 able to say it with a hundred percent certainty. But 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.240 we you know, what we can say is that the 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:02.000 findings we've discovered our prom sing along those lines. It 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:06.400 appears to be, but there's no way to know for certain, right, 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.920 and we're gonna continue obviously, they're going to continue to 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.800 do experiments, make sure it's repeatable, make sure that the 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.720 things that they have observed are in fact actual observations 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.960 and not some form of error. Uh. This is all 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.000 part of science, you know. Science is all about You've 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.120 got to replicate whatever it is you did to make 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.000 sure that it is in fact a real effect. What 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:31.080 did you do? I don't know. But beyond the Higgs 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.600 bo song, we're looking at other stuff too, Like, for instance, 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:38.000 our universe is expanding, yes, all right, and uh, and 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.680 it expands at a particular rate, and that rate is 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.560 very difficult to explain based upon the observable amount of 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.560 matter in the universe. So the way the galaxies we're 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:53.280 talking massive massive systems, not you know, not solar systems, 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:57.480 we're talking entire galaxies, the way that they behave seems 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.040 to contradict our knowledge of what the universe, how the 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.960 universe should behave based upon the amount of matter we 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:10.520 believe exists within the universe, so we have to figure 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.159 out why is that? Why is that the case? And 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.560 one of the theories proposed, and a very popular one 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.840 since really the ninety nineties, is that there is the 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:26.800 stuff that we cannot observe, that is, it's it's undetectable 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:29.960 by humans. Right now, we don't have the ability to 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.840 figure out where and what it is. But that scientists, 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.119 for lack of a better term, call it dark matter. 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.119 So it's the stuff that we cannot detect, but that 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.320 at least in theory, must exist in order for the 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:46.080 universe to behave the way it behaves despite the way 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.520 we understand the universe. And by saying, okay, well, what 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.000 if there's this stuff that we cannot see but it 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.720 does exist and it otherwise behaves like matter, What if 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.000 it's out there, how much of it would it? We 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:03.040 need to balance out the way galaxies do behave and 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.320 the way we think they should behave and uh. And 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.960 once we kind of created that theory, there's also a 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.080 theory that kind of partners with this about dark energy, 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.639 which is, you know, again an energy component that we 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:23.199 cannot directly detect. We detect its uh, its effects, but 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:28.239 not the actual energy itself. This would account for the 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.880 way the universe is expanding and the way galaxies move 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:35.600 in relation to one another. Um And you know, again, 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.520 this is not a perfect explanation because it really just 0:18:38.560 --> 0:18:42.560 says we don't really know. These are sort of place 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:46.480 holders until we can figure out more. Well. Again, because 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:50.159 the Large Hadron Collider will recreate conditions similar to those 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.919 shortly after the Big Bang, there's hope that perhaps we 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.920 will find some sort of evidence that supports or perhaps 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.840 contradicts this theory of dark matter and dark energy. Beyond that, 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:09.200 there's also the wonderful world of string theory, which I'll 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.040 admit to you guys. I mean, like I said, I 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.399 am not an expert. So what I've been talking about 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:17.640 so far is stuff that I have a weak grasp 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.960 on right like I can, I can almost get my 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:26.040 head around it. But it's still pretty perplexing to me. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:31.080 String theory just kicks my brain out my ear and 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.680 says you do not belong here. Never show your face 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:39.600 here again. Because string theory is again a completely theoretical 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:45.959 model that is based primarily upon mathematics that would reconcile 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:52.120 what we call the standard theory with uh, something that 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:58.120 the centard theory could not explain before. Um. So standard 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:00.440 theory is kind of our our explanation about how the 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:08.320 universe works, right, um, and it has uh. It encompasses 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:12.560 three of the four fundamental forces we understand about the universe. 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.760 Those those three forces are the weak nuclear force, the 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:21.959 strong nuclear force, and electromagnetic force. But the fourth fundamental force, 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.679 the one that it does not explain, is gravity. String 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.440 theory is one attempt to reconcile everything we know about 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:32.320 the universe and sort of it's kind of like the 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.879 whole unified theory approach you might have you've heard the 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:40.800 unified theory, right, this idea that there is there's got 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.400 to be an explanation that brings together all of these 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.880 elements so that we have a working model of why 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.720 the universe behaves the way it does. Well. The string 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:52.720 theory is kind of an approach to that. It is 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:57.280 again theoretical, it's all based on mathematics. Uh. A lot 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.119 of the different string theories suggests that there are are 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.959 at least eleven dimensions to the universe. Uh. We of 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:09.560 course cannot directly observe all of these dimensions. We know, 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:15.760 you know, there's certain spatial dimensions that we are aware of, length, height, depth, 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.560 that kind of thing. There's also the dimension of time, 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:25.160 which we perceive as a linear progression, though again time 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:29.440 is relative. If you move, you know, depending upon the 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:32.280 speed that you are moving throughout the universe, time is 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:34.600 going to pass at a different rate, but between you 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:40.119 and as stationary observer, which is crazy as well. Also, 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.280 by the way, alternative theory of why the universe is 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:45.720 expanding the way it is at the speed at what 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:50.240 it is is that it's not accelerating or anything like that. 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:53.720 It's that time itself is slowing down. But we are 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:58.000 incapable of perceiving that ourselves. It's just time is slowing 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:01.120 down in the context of the universe. It's a hole. Again, 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:05.720 I can't even grasp that. So string theory boils down 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.240 to this idea that everything in the universe, when you 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:13.400 get really, really, really really down to it, is made 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:16.960 up of these strings. And the strings can either be open, 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:19.920 meaning that the ends are free, or they can be closed. 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:22.200 So it's like a it's like a rubber band, a loop, 0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:26.480 and they vibrate at different frequencies, and how they vibrate 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:31.240 determines what they are. So a string vibrating a certain 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:36.360 way would be an electron, or would really a collection 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:39.439 of strings vibrating that way would be an electron versus 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:43.760 a proton or a neutron or whatever. Uh. The problem 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.399 with string theory, among many other problems, one of the 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:50.399 big problems with string theory is that you can't make 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:55.000 an observation to prove or disproved string theory because it's 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:59.720 it's dealing with something that is so tiny and fundamental 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.199 that there's no way we can detect it, So you 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:04.640 can't observe it and you can't test it, which has 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:07.560 led some scientists to say string theory is more of 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:10.480 a philosophy that it is a science, because if you 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:13.480 cannot observe or test it, how can you call it science. 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:18.440 It's a mathematical theory that's more in the line of philosophy, 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:23.320 which I agree that's a fairly valid argument at this stage. Well, 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.920 there's some hope that the LHC could perhaps uncover some 0:23:28.080 --> 0:23:33.320 evidence that strength that would support string theory, mainly supersymmetry, 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:38.119 and supersymmetry is a step beyond the idea of matter 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:41.439 and anti matter. So we do know that there is 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:45.480 matter and anti matter. So for example, the anti matter 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:50.840 component or or uh partner to an electron is a positron, 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:56.199 which is a positively charged sub atomic particle. So positron 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.560 and electron are our counters to one another. They would 0:24:00.560 --> 0:24:07.240 annihilate each other with extreme prejudice. And then supersymmetry are 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:13.080 suggests that there are other counterparticles besides matter and anti matter. 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:16.320 They would say that each particle would have a superpartner 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:20.840 partner and an anti superpartner, which we would call a supervillain, 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:25.560 and that that those that perhaps the experiments in the 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:31.399 LHC might uncover evidence of supersymmetry, which in turn would 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:34.960 be support for string theory. So there are lots of 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.000 different things that the LHC is looking for, and how 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:41.160 it does it is pretty phenomenal. And as we said, 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:45.400 you know, it involves accelerating these these particles at near 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:49.159 the speed of light and using an enormous machine to 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:57.040 do it, and how that happens is insane. H Well, 0:24:57.080 --> 0:24:59.879 the collider itself is really one of of three main 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:06.280 your parts to to what the the entire scientific machine 0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.480 if you will, that they are using over there um. 0:25:09.520 --> 0:25:15.920 The colliders is one the detectors. Therefore huge areas where 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:20.119 the detectors sit and those you know, are there to 0:25:20.400 --> 0:25:23.960 identify the results of the collisions. You know there there 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:26.600 there are four major ones and two minor ones that 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:31.120 are kind of piggybacked onto the major ones. And then 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:35.160 there's the grid, which is the computers, the grid computer 0:25:35.640 --> 0:25:39.119 grid computers, so a series of network computers that handle 0:25:39.200 --> 0:25:42.080 all that data and crunch the numbers. So when you 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:44.280 when we get down, let's get down to the physical 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:48.200 way that this system works. And you can't just flip 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:51.280 a switch and have beams of sub atomic particles traveling 0:25:51.280 --> 0:25:53.679 at near the speed of light. It actually takes quite 0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:56.640 some time to ramp up that speed so that these 0:25:56.640 --> 0:25:59.720 particles are moving at the right velocity to make them 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:02.920 collide with one another. UM. Now you remember we've got 0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:05.760 the LHC. It's a big ring. So these different beams 0:26:05.760 --> 0:26:10.359 are both traveling in opposite directions, and then we'll ultimately 0:26:10.480 --> 0:26:15.600 converge on one of these detector sites around the ring, 0:26:16.920 --> 0:26:20.040 and at that detector site you will have your collisions. UH. 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:24.360 So one beam is traveling counterclockwise and the other one 0:26:24.440 --> 0:26:29.280 is traveling anti counter clockwise as uh directions I once 0:26:29.359 --> 0:26:33.960 received for a fan said I, I am surprised you 0:26:34.000 --> 0:26:36.240 didn't say whitterians. Yes, yes, okay, So that would be 0:26:36.240 --> 0:26:39.400 clockwise and whitter sians. One is traveling clockwise, the other 0:26:39.400 --> 0:26:41.480 one's traveling whitter sians. If you wonder what whitter sians 0:26:41.560 --> 0:26:47.800 is read McMath uh the so the it's counterclockwise. So 0:26:47.880 --> 0:26:50.000 these two beams are traveling in different directions. But before 0:26:50.040 --> 0:26:53.760 they can even do that, they have to be accelerated 0:26:53.800 --> 0:26:57.280 in separate accelerators. Separate in the sense that you know, 0:26:57.400 --> 0:27:00.000 it goes through them first and then gets injected into 0:27:00.000 --> 0:27:02.840 to the l h C. They are connected to the LHC, 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:05.240 but they are each their own thing. So it starts 0:27:05.240 --> 0:27:08.920 off in the linnak T l I n a C 0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:14.119 the number two, which is UH. It fires beams of 0:27:14.119 --> 0:27:18.159 protons generally protons, although it can be other things as well, 0:27:18.560 --> 0:27:22.960 into an accelerator that's called the PS booster. Now the 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:27.160 PS booster uses UH these chambers called radio frequency cavities 0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:34.159 to actually push the protons with radio frequencies through a pathway, 0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:39.280 and that pathway is secured by magnets because you know, 0:27:39.359 --> 0:27:43.720 protons are positively charged. So by using magnets in the 0:27:43.800 --> 0:27:48.760 appropriate kind of magnetic field, you can keep those those 0:27:48.800 --> 0:27:55.600 positively charged particles traveling in a very specific pathway. Um. 0:27:55.720 --> 0:27:58.840 Then once the protons reached the right velocity of where 0:27:58.880 --> 0:28:03.720 right energy level, like the PS two booster injects them 0:28:03.720 --> 0:28:09.280 into the super proton syncotron, which, to my disappointment, is 0:28:09.320 --> 0:28:15.280 not a decepticon. Uh. That's when the sincotron will actually 0:28:15.320 --> 0:28:19.320 divide these proton beams into bunches. That's a technical term, 0:28:19.520 --> 0:28:22.119 and that really is the term that cern uses. The 0:28:22.160 --> 0:28:26.280 protons get divided into bunches. Those bunches are about around 0:28:26.280 --> 0:28:29.240 a hundred billion protons per bunch, and there are about 0:28:29.240 --> 0:28:33.600 two thousand, eight hundred and eight bunches per beam. Yep. Now, 0:28:33.640 --> 0:28:36.480 these beams start traveling around the LHC. It takes about 0:28:36.520 --> 0:28:40.160 twenty minutes for them to uh to hit that speed 0:28:40.200 --> 0:28:46.040 of nine the speed of light. And at top speed, 0:28:47.000 --> 0:28:51.080 a proton will make eleven thousand, two hundred forty five 0:28:51.160 --> 0:28:56.240 trips around the entire large Hadron collider each second. And 0:28:56.480 --> 0:29:00.760 and and what was that distance again, it's uh twenty 0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:05.360 seven kilometers, so twenty seven kilometers. Uh, it takes it. 0:29:05.360 --> 0:29:09.240 There's a twenty seven kilometer trip and eleven eleven five 0:29:10.680 --> 0:29:13.880 kilometer trips every second. That's a lot of frequent flyer 0:29:13.920 --> 0:29:18.480 miles or kilometers as the case may be. Hey, it's 0:29:18.520 --> 0:29:21.640 Jonathan from two thousand nineteen. I just pop back here 0:29:21.680 --> 0:29:23.840 to two thousand twelve so I can drop a piece 0:29:23.840 --> 0:29:28.160 of bread down a ventilation shaft in order to sabotage 0:29:28.200 --> 0:29:30.520 the LHC. While I'm doing that, let's take a quick 0:29:30.560 --> 0:29:39.960 break the fun part of this. Of course, they have 0:29:40.040 --> 0:29:42.920 to be kept separate initially, because you want them to 0:29:42.920 --> 0:29:46.160 collide when they're at act speed, yeah, and at the 0:29:46.200 --> 0:29:48.920 detector sites, so they have to They have to collide 0:29:48.960 --> 0:29:51.480 at the right speed and at the right location. It 0:29:51.520 --> 0:29:55.080 also means that you have to make this this environment 0:29:55.280 --> 0:29:58.520 as close to a perfect vacuum as you possibly can, 0:29:59.080 --> 0:30:03.440 because even a single moat of dust floating in this 0:30:03.560 --> 0:30:08.600 device somewhere would cause billions of protons to collide prematurely, 0:30:09.120 --> 0:30:11.320 So you have to try and make it as close 0:30:11.360 --> 0:30:13.960 to a perfect vacuum as possible. It also means that 0:30:14.000 --> 0:30:16.400 in order to get the magnets to be as efficient 0:30:16.600 --> 0:30:20.120 and fast as possible, you have two super cool them. 0:30:21.160 --> 0:30:26.320 Now super cooling an electro magnet. The reason why you 0:30:26.320 --> 0:30:30.840 want to do that is to reduce resistance. Now, resistance 0:30:31.080 --> 0:30:33.640 is well, it kind of is what it sounds. It's 0:30:33.720 --> 0:30:38.760 it's a conductor's tendency to resist the flow of electrons. 0:30:39.600 --> 0:30:43.600 Typically we experience this in the form of heat. So 0:30:44.040 --> 0:30:48.080 as an electronic device heats up, as the electronic components 0:30:48.120 --> 0:30:51.440 are heating up, it's because they are resisting the flow 0:30:51.760 --> 0:30:56.400 of electrons through that that whatever component is. So in 0:30:56.480 --> 0:31:00.840 order to reduce this quality that all conductors as I mean, 0:31:00.960 --> 0:31:04.800 as you know, you can reduce it in different ways, 0:31:05.120 --> 0:31:08.240 but one of the ways is too super cool an electromagnet. 0:31:08.440 --> 0:31:14.240 You can reduce the resistance to almost nothing. Um, they 0:31:14.400 --> 0:31:20.719 use not liquid nitrogen. Uh, not liquid hydrogen, but liquid helium, 0:31:20.760 --> 0:31:24.720 which is incredibly cold, about one point eight degree kelvin. 0:31:25.040 --> 0:31:28.880 Technically we shouldn't say degree, but yes, one point eight kelvin. Sorry, no, 0:31:29.040 --> 0:31:30.720 that that's something else I need to have correct in 0:31:30.800 --> 0:31:32.720 my article. I do have an article about the large 0:31:32.720 --> 0:31:36.080 hadron collider at How Stuff Works, and it's an article 0:31:36.080 --> 0:31:38.480 I'm particularly proud of. But as I was reading, I said, huh, 0:31:38.680 --> 0:31:41.680 I said degree kelvin. I should have just said kelvin. 0:31:42.080 --> 0:31:46.520 So so that's my fault. Send all hate mail to me. 0:31:47.360 --> 0:31:52.320 The the the UM information I got from the scientists 0:31:52.320 --> 0:31:54.600 over you know, and doing the research from the certain 0:31:54.760 --> 0:31:57.560 website they said degree kelvin shows degree. Well, it's not 0:31:57.680 --> 0:32:01.960 this certain website, it's um UM, a different a different group, 0:32:02.080 --> 0:32:04.480 one of the groups from the UK that that works 0:32:04.640 --> 0:32:07.440 as part of the scientists that are doing that. I 0:32:07.520 --> 0:32:11.040 suddenly feel better than I had. Someone once chastise me 0:32:11.160 --> 0:32:13.560 for saying to Greek kelvin, that's why, that's why I 0:32:13.640 --> 0:32:16.440 jumped up. That is a good point, but I think 0:32:16.480 --> 0:32:20.280 I think it's a useful construct in our hands. So 0:32:20.320 --> 0:32:23.560 if you're wondering what zero kelvin is, so one point 0:32:23.560 --> 0:32:26.640 eight one point nine kelvin, depending on who you ask. 0:32:27.120 --> 0:32:31.760 Zero kelvin is zero molecular movement. Yeah, that would be 0:32:31.800 --> 0:32:35.280 in the deepest, zero deep absolute zero, deepest reaches of 0:32:35.320 --> 0:32:39.640 space where there is no molecular movement at all. That 0:32:39.960 --> 0:32:43.800 is zero kelen. It's the coldest you can possibly be 0:32:43.800 --> 0:32:49.200 because heat really boils down to molecular movement, and if 0:32:49.280 --> 0:32:51.600 you don't have any molecular movement, you can't get any 0:32:51.640 --> 0:32:56.479 colder than that. Um, you can't have negative molecular movement. 0:32:56.840 --> 0:33:00.600 So one point nine one kelvin, which what I had 0:33:00.600 --> 0:33:02.960 originally seen, but one point eight kelvin if you want 0:33:02.960 --> 0:33:07.000 to know what that translates to in in the terms 0:33:07.000 --> 0:33:09.000 that we tend to use on a day to day basis, 0:33:09.800 --> 0:33:13.960 that is colder than negative two hundred seventy one degrees 0:33:14.160 --> 0:33:18.320 celsius or for those fahrenheit fans among us, negative four 0:33:18.400 --> 0:33:22.920 hundred fifty six fahrenheits. So bundle up. Yeah. Yeah. By 0:33:22.920 --> 0:33:26.160 the way, the organization I was quoting from was the Science, 0:33:26.200 --> 0:33:29.680 Science and Technology Facilities Council, got you, well, you know 0:33:29.720 --> 0:33:31.360 what they know what they're talking about. I'm going to 0:33:31.440 --> 0:33:36.200 say degreek Helvin then, And anyway, the the at this temperature, 0:33:36.720 --> 0:33:40.200 you have reduced resistance to almost a non factor, which 0:33:40.240 --> 0:33:43.080 is important to get these electromagnets to operate at the 0:33:43.320 --> 0:33:46.480 proper speed and efficiency, to keep these beams on track, 0:33:47.240 --> 0:33:50.600 and to direct them properly so they're going faster and 0:33:50.640 --> 0:33:53.200 faster till they hit their top speed. At that point 0:33:53.240 --> 0:33:56.880 you want to direct them at whichever detector site is 0:33:57.040 --> 0:34:02.520 going to be measuring collisions at that moment, and uh, 0:34:02.600 --> 0:34:05.360 when the collisions happened. They happen at about six hundred 0:34:05.480 --> 0:34:10.360 million collisions per second. Now, remember we're talking about a 0:34:10.440 --> 0:34:17.040 hundred billion protons per bunch, so six million per second. 0:34:17.160 --> 0:34:20.120 That should lead you to the conclusion that not all 0:34:20.160 --> 0:34:24.120 these protons are colliding with other protons. And it's true 0:34:24.480 --> 0:34:28.000 because at that level, at that sub atomic size, it's 0:34:28.120 --> 0:34:31.400 really hard to be so precise that you're going to 0:34:31.440 --> 0:34:34.239 make sure that every proton is going to collide with 0:34:34.360 --> 0:34:36.680 a proton coming from the other direction. It's just not 0:34:36.719 --> 0:34:40.839 really possible. We don't have that level precision. So some 0:34:40.920 --> 0:34:44.600 of these protons actually a lot of protons will not 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:48.120 collide with anything, and they end up going through the 0:34:48.280 --> 0:34:53.279 Large Hadron Collider further until they hit UH essentially a 0:34:53.320 --> 0:34:57.239 wall that's designed to absorb protons, and it's it's their 0:34:57.280 --> 0:35:00.760 proton dump UH. And again it's not all it's just protons. 0:35:00.840 --> 0:35:08.000 There there's one particular UH set of of of measuring 0:35:08.040 --> 0:35:12.440 devices connected to the LHC that's all about iron ions, 0:35:13.200 --> 0:35:18.080 so it's not just protons. But that's again the the 0:35:18.080 --> 0:35:21.720 the typical use for the LHC. So six hundred million 0:35:21.760 --> 0:35:24.640 collisions per second. And then at these detector sites, they 0:35:24.640 --> 0:35:31.280 have these very very advanced pieces of equipment that observe 0:35:31.560 --> 0:35:37.640 what happens next, and they're observing trajectories and accelerations and well, 0:35:37.800 --> 0:35:43.000 really velocities I should say velocities trajectories of various um 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:49.480 sub atomic particles that result from this collision, and things 0:35:49.520 --> 0:35:54.960 like quarks, which are sounds made by dirks. Dirk makes 0:35:54.960 --> 0:36:00.000 a quirk. Uh, now quirks, which are they They're very unstable. 0:36:00.040 --> 0:36:03.360 They last less than a fraction of a second. Well, 0:36:03.480 --> 0:36:05.880 I guess technically they would last a fraction of a second. 0:36:05.880 --> 0:36:09.680 They last less than a second long. Yeah. Uh. And 0:36:10.000 --> 0:36:13.480 there's this stuff called gluon, which is a mitigating force. 0:36:14.360 --> 0:36:17.120 I thought that's what you used to stick together your muans. 0:36:17.680 --> 0:36:21.920 Uh No, I use glue on applied directly to forehead. Um, 0:36:23.160 --> 0:36:25.840 you were doing so well without the jokes. Muan muans, 0:36:25.840 --> 0:36:30.399 by the way, also interesting, very tiny little particles they are. 0:36:31.520 --> 0:36:34.239 They're negatively charged particles, so in that way, they're kind 0:36:34.239 --> 0:36:37.160 of like electrons, but they are two hundred times heavier 0:36:37.239 --> 0:36:41.120 than an electron is and also very unstable. One of 0:36:41.160 --> 0:36:45.680 the other things that could potentially result from these collisions 0:36:46.440 --> 0:36:51.719 is the tiniest version of a black hole I can imagine, uh, 0:36:52.360 --> 0:36:55.239 which caused some people to freak out right. They thought, oh, 0:36:55.320 --> 0:36:57.200 the AlgC is going to create a black hole and 0:36:57.200 --> 0:37:00.320 we're all going to die, which was a silly, silly 0:37:00.360 --> 0:37:03.160 thing to think, because a black hole, as we think 0:37:03.160 --> 0:37:07.320 of it, is a collapsed star. It's an incredibly dense 0:37:08.560 --> 0:37:12.840 uh point where or really point is the wrong term too, 0:37:12.840 --> 0:37:16.239 But it's incredibly dense and has an incredibly strong gravitational 0:37:16.520 --> 0:37:23.040 poll that light itself cannot escape. But you think about that, 0:37:23.040 --> 0:37:27.000 that's the result of a star collapsing in on itself, 0:37:27.040 --> 0:37:30.640 gravity pulling the contents of the star into a dense 0:37:31.440 --> 0:37:37.759 a more and more dense uh point. Really, we're talking 0:37:37.840 --> 0:37:42.919 about protons slapping into each other at that scale. It's 0:37:43.320 --> 0:37:47.520 entirely different. And a black hole generated by a proton 0:37:47.640 --> 0:37:50.560 collision would last less than a fraction of a second. 0:37:50.960 --> 0:37:55.320 So you're talking about something that is not at all 0:37:56.120 --> 0:38:01.160 a danger to human life on Earth. Um. I've seen 0:38:01.160 --> 0:38:05.080 the documentary The black Hole. Yeah, it looks pretty scary. 0:38:05.680 --> 0:38:11.239 Uh yeah, the it's just not something you need to 0:38:11.239 --> 0:38:14.719 worry about. There's also the the there's been a little 0:38:14.719 --> 0:38:16.600 bit of news about the fact that one of the 0:38:16.760 --> 0:38:21.360 many scientific Studies that's connected to the Large Hadron Collider 0:38:21.440 --> 0:38:25.560 is looking at um cosmic rays, and really it's looking 0:38:25.600 --> 0:38:30.080 to see how we could create better devices to study 0:38:30.160 --> 0:38:34.799 cosmic rays out in the universe, which it's really hard 0:38:34.840 --> 0:38:37.319 to do from Earth because the Earth's magnetic field and 0:38:37.360 --> 0:38:40.439 atmosphere protect us from cosmic rays, So you can't really 0:38:40.440 --> 0:38:42.719 build a device here on Earth that can study them 0:38:42.719 --> 0:38:45.680 because they can't get here UM. And there was so 0:38:45.719 --> 0:38:49.000 there was some worry about cosmic rays, which could be 0:38:49.120 --> 0:38:52.680 potentially incredibly dangerous to humans. It could cause lots of 0:38:52.719 --> 0:38:57.879 problems that that would be an issue. But again, uh, 0:38:58.040 --> 0:39:02.600 not not as as gary as it would first sound. 0:39:02.640 --> 0:39:06.000 That we're talking about stuff that is on a tiny 0:39:06.040 --> 0:39:10.000 scale and lasts, so it doesn't exist long enough for 0:39:10.040 --> 0:39:13.040 it to really do anything other than give us really 0:39:13.080 --> 0:39:18.640 cool information about how to study this stuff beyond a 0:39:18.760 --> 0:39:22.080 laboratory environment. And that's important too, because you know the 0:39:22.440 --> 0:39:27.280 implications for the study they fall. There's a domino effect. 0:39:27.280 --> 0:39:30.080 It affects other stuff, including things like if we ever 0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:36.640 wanted to look at space exploration, exploration or colonization beyond 0:39:36.920 --> 0:39:41.400 what we've already done, you know, manned exploration and colonization. 0:39:42.200 --> 0:39:46.040 We need to know more about cosmic radiation because this 0:39:46.160 --> 0:39:49.320 is stuff that we have to protect ourselves against. Otherwise 0:39:49.360 --> 0:39:52.200 we could end up having a tragedy on our hands, 0:39:52.480 --> 0:39:55.680 where you know, everything technologically works fine, we just didn't 0:39:55.719 --> 0:40:00.480 take into account other factors that would be and play 0:40:00.600 --> 0:40:04.640 in the far reaches of space. So there are definitely 0:40:05.000 --> 0:40:08.800 some some applications to this future application. So that's beyond 0:40:08.840 --> 0:40:11.040 just the fact that we have an understanding of our universe, 0:40:11.040 --> 0:40:14.279 which personally, I think is important enough on its own 0:40:14.320 --> 0:40:19.080 to justify the existence of something like this. Um, I'm 0:40:19.120 --> 0:40:21.160 sorry you're gonna say something. Well, no, I didn't know 0:40:21.160 --> 0:40:24.560 if you had another point to add about the actual No, No, 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:27.480 that's that's that. I think that's a That's pretty much 0:40:27.480 --> 0:40:29.719 all I have about the cans apart from I. Then 0:40:29.760 --> 0:40:32.840 we're gonna I can talk a little bit about the 0:40:32.840 --> 0:40:36.400 the various sites UH and and equipment that's connected to 0:40:36.440 --> 0:40:40.759 the LHC. All right, Um, well, yeah, the when it, 0:40:40.840 --> 0:40:44.279 when it's working at full strength, it should be able 0:40:44.360 --> 0:40:49.360 to uh smash particles up to seven times the amount 0:40:49.400 --> 0:40:54.120 of force that current um the current colliders around the 0:40:54.120 --> 0:40:58.760 world can um. The you know, the in the United States. 0:40:58.760 --> 0:41:03.040 The uh Fermi Lab has the most powerful collider that 0:41:03.040 --> 0:41:04.919 we have here in this country, and they actually were 0:41:04.920 --> 0:41:07.759 going to build another one to rival the LHC. Yes, 0:41:07.800 --> 0:41:12.200 actually was going to be larger than the LHC. Yes. However, um, 0:41:12.239 --> 0:41:16.640 those are expensive and the United States eventually donated money 0:41:16.760 --> 0:41:21.920 to the LHC project. Um so basically they said, okay, 0:41:21.960 --> 0:41:24.480 well we'll just go in with you guys for right now. Yeah, 0:41:24.520 --> 0:41:28.959 because you know, because after all, it is a friendly rivalry. Well, 0:41:29.120 --> 0:41:32.279 and I mean, ultimately, this is all about uncovering more 0:41:32.320 --> 0:41:35.040 information about the universe, not about you know, it's it's 0:41:35.080 --> 0:41:37.480 not like the space race. It's not a political thing, no, 0:41:38.640 --> 0:41:41.080 not not to that extent, Not to the extent there. Yeah, 0:41:41.160 --> 0:41:47.120 there's the there's the bragging rights issues. So um so yeah, 0:41:47.160 --> 0:41:50.239 they they've gone to a great deal of effort to 0:41:50.239 --> 0:41:53.600 to build this device. Hey it's Jonathan from two thousand nineteen. 0:41:53.960 --> 0:41:56.920 It looks like I really mess things up by dropping 0:41:56.960 --> 0:41:59.560 that piece of bread down that ventilation shaft, and so 0:41:59.719 --> 0:42:01.880 I've decided to go back to two thousand twelve to 0:42:02.000 --> 0:42:04.440 stop the other two thousand nineteen me from doing that. 0:42:05.000 --> 0:42:07.839 But we're just gonna do that while we take this 0:42:07.960 --> 0:42:18.160 quick break. So which projects did you want to Well, 0:42:18.400 --> 0:42:20.640 I was going to mention the major ones. So there's 0:42:20.719 --> 0:42:23.880 a like I said, there's the different collision points, the 0:42:23.920 --> 0:42:27.040 detector sites. Uh. The one of the major ones is 0:42:27.080 --> 0:42:35.600 called ATLASES, which stands for a Toroidal LHC Apparatus atlas uh, 0:42:35.680 --> 0:42:40.239 and that is it's a measuring device. It's about long, 0:42:40.320 --> 0:42:44.520 which is about hundred forty seven ft twenty five tall 0:42:44.520 --> 0:42:49.480 which is two ft, and it weighs about seven thousand tons, 0:42:50.160 --> 0:42:53.560 and it's an observation station. Uh. Just that's probably the 0:42:53.600 --> 0:42:55.640 biggest one. I would say it's the most well known 0:42:55.880 --> 0:43:01.560 out of the people who have studied the whole LHC development. 0:43:02.120 --> 0:43:05.800 There's also my favorite is ALICE. Yes, the a large 0:43:05.880 --> 0:43:09.479 Ion Collider Experiment or ALICE. That's the one that I said, 0:43:09.520 --> 0:43:12.480 you know, there were there was a device specifically designed 0:43:12.480 --> 0:43:17.480 to look at the collisions of iron ions. This is it, 0:43:18.280 --> 0:43:23.160 and that's specifically to look at conditions that would have 0:43:23.360 --> 0:43:27.960 been present right after the very early stages of the 0:43:27.960 --> 0:43:33.520 Big Bang. So um, yeah, that's ah, you know, that's 0:43:33.560 --> 0:43:37.120 that's the one that specifically is about that the all 0:43:37.160 --> 0:43:39.719 the stuff references I was making earlier in the episode. 0:43:40.040 --> 0:43:44.440 Then there's CMS, which is the compact muon solenoid experiment, right, 0:43:44.560 --> 0:43:47.359 and that one can actually generate a magnetic field that's 0:43:47.400 --> 0:43:50.600 one times almost one hundred times stronger than the Earth's 0:43:50.600 --> 0:43:55.239 magnetic field. Um. Powerful stuff. There's the so if your 0:43:55.280 --> 0:43:58.080 forks suddenly fly across the room and stick to the wall, 0:43:58.440 --> 0:44:01.480 they got it to work. That's a joke. The Large 0:44:01.480 --> 0:44:06.080 Hadron Collider Beauty Detector, which is looking for a beauty quirk, 0:44:06.160 --> 0:44:08.560 which is what you can find on Cindy Crawford's face. 0:44:09.360 --> 0:44:12.239 She's got a little beauty quirk right there, bubber lip. 0:44:12.360 --> 0:44:15.640 This is known as LHC B. It's a great Pepsi commercial. 0:44:17.719 --> 0:44:21.320 This is rapidly devolving. Yeah alright, no, so beauty quark 0:44:21.400 --> 0:44:25.919 is one of those um, those uh, those subatomic fundamental 0:44:25.960 --> 0:44:29.000 particles that only exists for a fraction of a second. 0:44:29.719 --> 0:44:34.200 Then there's the Total Elastic and Defractive cross Section Measurement 0:44:34.280 --> 0:44:38.759 Experiment or totem UM. That's one of the smaller detectors 0:44:38.760 --> 0:44:43.239 in the LHC, and it measures the size of protons 0:44:43.440 --> 0:44:47.920 and how effective the LHC actually is. So in other words, 0:44:47.920 --> 0:44:50.240 this this is really to make sure that the LHC 0:44:50.480 --> 0:44:55.480 is in fact performing at UH at the level that 0:44:55.520 --> 0:44:58.600 it needs to. So it's it's almost like it's more 0:44:58.680 --> 0:45:03.280 about the the measuring device than about what it's measuring, 0:45:04.239 --> 0:45:07.160 which is sort of funny because after all this time 0:45:07.160 --> 0:45:09.439 and all this money and effort that have been spent 0:45:09.520 --> 0:45:13.879 on it, the LHC is still not working at full capacity. Well, 0:45:13.880 --> 0:45:17.000 it's also had a few delays. One of those delays, 0:45:17.120 --> 0:45:19.920 there was one delay where I mean, you're talking about 0:45:20.480 --> 0:45:26.040 the most complex machine ever built, right, So it's it's 0:45:26.120 --> 0:45:29.480 incredibly complicated, which also means there are a lot of 0:45:29.480 --> 0:45:34.200 different points of failure, and there have been several fairly 0:45:34.200 --> 0:45:38.560 well publicized failures that the LHC suffered on its way 0:45:38.600 --> 0:45:43.320 to becoming operational, Like the Dusk Star. UH, there were ewoks. 0:45:44.239 --> 0:45:48.120 Ewoks definitely were a problem. No, no, there was one 0:45:48.160 --> 0:45:50.400 of them was there was a leak and the liquid 0:45:50.520 --> 0:45:53.960 helium UH system, which led a lot of people to 0:45:54.040 --> 0:45:57.280 make jokes about scientists speaking in high pitched, squeaky voices. 0:45:57.800 --> 0:46:01.520 But you know, liquid helium, I would not recommend in 0:46:01.600 --> 0:46:06.560 hailing it. It would kill you instantly. Uh, maybe not instantly, 0:46:06.800 --> 0:46:09.160 but it would definitely kill you. Because you're talking about 0:46:09.280 --> 0:46:11.760 something that's so cold that it would, you know, destroy 0:46:11.840 --> 0:46:14.960 any tissue it came into contact with. Not a pleasant 0:46:15.000 --> 0:46:17.759 way to go, I would imagine, But anyway, liquid helium leaks, 0:46:17.800 --> 0:46:20.400 so they had to repair that to get the magnets 0:46:20.440 --> 0:46:24.520 working properly. Um there was there are tens of thousands 0:46:24.800 --> 0:46:28.719 of magnets, lots and lots of magnets UM for the 0:46:28.840 --> 0:46:31.360 big ones. I think there's nine thousand, six hundred, and 0:46:31.440 --> 0:46:33.799 then there are a bunch of support magnets too, UM 0:46:34.239 --> 0:46:38.719 magnet schools as well around the whole area. The The 0:46:40.080 --> 0:46:44.200 the other big failure news story was what we alluded 0:46:44.239 --> 0:46:46.960 to early in the podcast about there was a story 0:46:47.239 --> 0:46:50.239 that something had fouled up some of the instruments for 0:46:50.280 --> 0:46:53.359 the LHC and and delayed its opening, and they had 0:46:53.400 --> 0:46:56.640 no idea what it was. They linked it, they they 0:46:57.680 --> 0:47:01.759 they flipped the switch. Yeah, they linked it to the possibility. 0:47:01.960 --> 0:47:08.799 Apparently a bird dropped some bread, specifically a piece of baguette. 0:47:09.400 --> 0:47:16.200 Because we're talking about France and door Switzerland, so strutle 0:47:16.480 --> 0:47:19.319 not to be Germany. Um, so I dropped a piece 0:47:19.360 --> 0:47:25.080 of baguette down a ventilation shaft which would eventually ended 0:47:25.160 --> 0:47:28.400 up gumming up some of the works and causing mechanical 0:47:28.480 --> 0:47:32.840 failure electrical failure, which set back the operational date of 0:47:32.920 --> 0:47:41.400 the LHC UH and created a wonderful um ground for 0:47:41.760 --> 0:47:47.000 some amazing jokes. Of course, also, I mean, since the 0:47:47.440 --> 0:47:51.480 LHC has come online, we've heard other funny jokes, like 0:47:51.560 --> 0:47:57.440 the possibility that neutrinos, which are particles that have no mass. 0:47:57.920 --> 0:47:59.720 So you remember I was talking about there's some particles 0:47:59.760 --> 0:48:02.439 that have mass and some that don't. Neutrinos don't have mass. 0:48:02.800 --> 0:48:05.440 So why do neutrinos have no mass while other particles 0:48:05.480 --> 0:48:07.400 do have mass. That's again one of the questions we 0:48:07.440 --> 0:48:10.960 want to ask um. Some experiments that are related discern 0:48:12.920 --> 0:48:17.160 seemed to indicate that neutrinos were traveling faster than they should, 0:48:18.000 --> 0:48:20.240 faster than the speed of light, that they were actually 0:48:20.320 --> 0:48:24.839 arriving at their destination fractions of a second before they 0:48:24.880 --> 0:48:28.000 should have, and that if this were in fact true, 0:48:28.760 --> 0:48:31.480 that it would mean that neutrinos could travel faster than 0:48:31.480 --> 0:48:33.680 the speed of light and would call into question lots 0:48:33.719 --> 0:48:39.120 of fundamental things we believe about the universe. Ah, while 0:48:39.200 --> 0:48:43.440 that's still kind of unfolding, it appears that all of 0:48:43.560 --> 0:48:48.800 that was really more down to some very simple errors, 0:48:49.560 --> 0:48:52.560 and that neutrinos in fact do not travel faster than 0:48:52.600 --> 0:48:55.359 the speed of light. This did not stop people from 0:48:55.480 --> 0:49:01.560 making jokes like neutrino knock, knock, who's there? Like that's 0:49:01.600 --> 0:49:05.359 where our idea. The neutrino arrives before the joke does. Um. 0:49:07.239 --> 0:49:13.160 So yeah. So there's a couple of interesting stories about 0:49:13.160 --> 0:49:15.040 the LHC. There are a lot more of them. I mean, 0:49:15.440 --> 0:49:18.720 there's also the whole story about the people who wanted 0:49:18.760 --> 0:49:22.319 to SUECERN to keep the LHC from going online because 0:49:22.360 --> 0:49:27.839 they firmly believe that the facility would destroy the Earth 0:49:27.920 --> 0:49:30.080 if it were turned on. Despite the fact that we 0:49:30.120 --> 0:49:32.920 should point out LHC is what what it's doing is 0:49:33.080 --> 0:49:36.799 simulating stuff in a laboratory that happens all the time 0:49:36.840 --> 0:49:40.640 in the universe, and the universe is still around. So like, 0:49:40.840 --> 0:49:45.440 like these particles smashing into things at incredible speeds that 0:49:45.600 --> 0:49:48.520 happens all the time in the universe. It doesn't happen 0:49:48.920 --> 0:49:50.840 on the surface of Earth so much because we have 0:49:50.920 --> 0:49:54.560 a magnetic field and atmosphere that that prevents it from happening, 0:49:55.000 --> 0:49:57.560 But it happens all the time out in space, and 0:49:57.680 --> 0:50:02.440 we don't see any evidence of that wreaking havoc. So 0:50:03.680 --> 0:50:05.799 there's no real difference between it happening out in space 0:50:05.840 --> 0:50:08.000 and having in a in a lab, apart from the 0:50:08.040 --> 0:50:10.560 fact that it's a controlled environment that we can actually observe. 0:50:11.280 --> 0:50:13.680 So a lot of the objections that people raised were 0:50:13.760 --> 0:50:17.000 really they had no merit, And if you thought about 0:50:17.040 --> 0:50:19.520 it for a few minutes, you realize, wait a minute, 0:50:19.960 --> 0:50:22.279 if this happens all the time anyway, and we're all 0:50:22.360 --> 0:50:26.920 still around, chances are it's not a big problem. So 0:50:27.520 --> 0:50:29.880 there was there were those stories too, which you know, 0:50:30.000 --> 0:50:32.400 ultimately we're still around. The LEGC has been working, so 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:34.520 it doesn't seem to be a problem. Plus we've also 0:50:34.560 --> 0:50:37.920 had other particle accelerators that been doing work very similar 0:50:37.920 --> 0:50:41.440 to the LHC for years, not at the level of 0:50:41.520 --> 0:50:47.680 the LHC, but but comparable work. So those held no water. 0:50:48.640 --> 0:50:52.360 And there are other LHC stories too that are interesting 0:50:52.440 --> 0:50:55.359 and I'm using um to varying degrees depending on how 0:50:55.440 --> 0:50:57.920 dorky you are. For me, there are a lot of them. 0:50:58.800 --> 0:51:01.560 That's how dorky I am. Well, I'm interested to see 0:51:01.560 --> 0:51:04.279 what happens when they finally get the machine running at 0:51:04.680 --> 0:51:07.959 full power, UM, they they think they may have found 0:51:08.000 --> 0:51:13.640 the Higgs boson um you know, running in approximately half power, 0:51:14.440 --> 0:51:17.200 and so just imagining what's going to happen when they 0:51:17.239 --> 0:51:20.040 can get it running at full strength, they may be 0:51:20.120 --> 0:51:23.600 able to to, uh do some confirmation of some of 0:51:23.719 --> 0:51:27.719 these these things, at least, you know, repeat the experiments 0:51:27.760 --> 0:51:30.840 and get them to uh to produce similar results. So 0:51:31.080 --> 0:51:33.440 it's it'll be interesting. And I think one of the 0:51:33.560 --> 0:51:37.040 nice things about it is too that UM with this 0:51:37.200 --> 0:51:40.080 device science has been able to capture a few headlines 0:51:40.920 --> 0:51:43.640 UM well, because it doesn't all that I think it's Yeah, 0:51:43.680 --> 0:51:47.240 I think it's definitely one of the many scientific endeavors 0:51:47.360 --> 0:51:50.719 that is UM that's prevalent in the news that has 0:51:50.800 --> 0:51:54.640 really helped kind of bring you know, it's a weird 0:51:54.680 --> 0:51:57.200 word to use, but sort of a renaissance and interest 0:51:57.400 --> 0:52:03.120 in science because that partnered with some of the space 0:52:03.239 --> 0:52:06.719 exploration stories we've talked about recently on the podcast and 0:52:06.840 --> 0:52:10.399 just stuff that's recently in the news, I think has 0:52:10.480 --> 0:52:14.520 really kind of inspired new generations of potential scientists and 0:52:14.600 --> 0:52:19.440 engineers to really push themselves and and and push forward 0:52:19.640 --> 0:52:24.279 our barriers of knowledge, which is fantastic. So that's also 0:52:24.280 --> 0:52:27.080 a huge contribution, you know. And I forgot the one 0:52:27.200 --> 0:52:29.279 story that we had talked about before the show that 0:52:29.400 --> 0:52:34.320 I wanted to mention that the one bizarre theory that 0:52:34.440 --> 0:52:38.360 the reason why the LHC was failing so many times 0:52:38.840 --> 0:52:41.000 or and or the reason why it was so hard 0:52:41.040 --> 0:52:43.960 to find the Higgs boson was that the Higgs boson 0:52:44.120 --> 0:52:49.840 itself was some form of sentience was traveling back in 0:52:50.080 --> 0:52:54.960 time from the future to sabotage the LHC so that 0:52:55.080 --> 0:52:57.720 we would not be able to discover the Higgs boson, 0:52:57.880 --> 0:53:00.680 because were we to discover the Higgs boson on, a 0:53:00.800 --> 0:53:04.040 series of events events would unfold that would be so 0:53:04.800 --> 0:53:09.719 incredibly catastrophic as to bring the entire universe's safety into 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:12.879 jeopardy or something along those lines. Essentially, it's the story 0:53:12.960 --> 0:53:17.160 of Terminator Too, but done with a Higgs Boson in 0:53:17.280 --> 0:53:22.719 place of Arnold Schwartzenegger. I'm I mean, sort of, which 0:53:22.800 --> 0:53:25.800 is and I was telling Chris, like, the more I 0:53:25.880 --> 0:53:29.080 read about this, the more I could not tell if 0:53:29.320 --> 0:53:33.320 this was just someone being incredibly tongue in cheeks silly 0:53:33.400 --> 0:53:36.480 about it and just you know, sort of well, you know, 0:53:37.200 --> 0:53:39.080 the reason the all age he has had so many problems, 0:53:39.080 --> 0:53:41.960 it's probably because blah blah blah blah blah, or if 0:53:42.000 --> 0:53:47.520 it was someone who genuinely believed this bizarre theory. I 0:53:47.600 --> 0:53:49.680 honestly don't know the answer to that. I'm hoping it's 0:53:49.719 --> 0:53:52.600 the first case, because that's awesome. It's almost like it's 0:53:52.600 --> 0:53:57.440 almost like if Andy Kaufman were a quantum physicist. You know, 0:53:57.640 --> 0:54:02.680 the problem is that this sub atomic theoretical particle has 0:54:02.719 --> 0:54:05.640 traveled from the future and is is mucking about with 0:54:05.719 --> 0:54:07.640 all of our works so that we can't find it. 0:54:08.800 --> 0:54:12.840 That sounds like an Andy Kaufman joke to me. So anyway, 0:54:14.239 --> 0:54:17.760 that's kind of the basis of how the LHC works 0:54:17.800 --> 0:54:20.520 and what it does and why it's important, and the 0:54:20.640 --> 0:54:23.040 work that's going on is amazing. I mean, the the 0:54:23.880 --> 0:54:26.960 reason why CERN has that grid of computers that we 0:54:27.080 --> 0:54:30.239 talked about is because the amount of data that the 0:54:30.400 --> 0:54:35.680 LHC gathers every second is huge, basically millions of snapshots 0:54:36.120 --> 0:54:38.640 what's going on. So there has to be this massive 0:54:38.719 --> 0:54:43.520 network of grid computers there to help decipher what all 0:54:43.600 --> 0:54:48.439 that data actually means and to make it meaningful to us. So, yeah, 0:54:48.560 --> 0:54:52.560 it's a phenomenal project that's continuing, and I hope that 0:54:52.760 --> 0:54:55.680 they continue doing great science. I can't wait to see 0:54:55.760 --> 0:54:58.440 what else comes out of it. And that wraps up 0:54:58.520 --> 0:55:02.879 this classic episode of text Stuff. It was a weird one. 0:55:03.360 --> 0:55:06.200 There was that one part where I was fighting myself 0:55:06.280 --> 0:55:09.239 from like twenty minutes before. You didn't get to hear 0:55:09.280 --> 0:55:11.320 any of that because it all happened during the commercial breaks. 0:55:11.880 --> 0:55:14.080 But um, you know, I think I learned a lot 0:55:14.120 --> 0:55:17.759 about myself. Tarry learned a lot about me too. Yeah. 0:55:18.480 --> 0:55:20.200 If you want to learn more about me, or you 0:55:20.239 --> 0:55:23.400 want to give suggestions for the show, you can contact 0:55:23.480 --> 0:55:26.080 me by email the addresses tech stuff at how stuff 0:55:26.120 --> 0:55:28.960 works dot com, or pop on over to our website 0:55:29.160 --> 0:55:32.560 that's tech stuff podcast dot com. You'll find links to 0:55:32.840 --> 0:55:36.279 our presence on social media. You'll find an archive of 0:55:36.400 --> 0:55:39.960 all of our past episodes. Ever, you will also find 0:55:40.000 --> 0:55:42.400 a link to our online store, where every purchasing make 0:55:42.560 --> 0:55:44.759 goes to help the show, and we greatly appreciate it, 0:55:45.239 --> 0:55:52.520 and we'll talk to you again really soon. Yeah. Tex 0:55:52.600 --> 0:55:55.200 Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 0:55:55.400 --> 0:55:58.200 For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i 0:55:58.360 --> 0:56:01.439 Heart Radio app. Apple Pie Casts or wherever you listen 0:56:01.480 --> 0:56:02.520 to your favorite shows.