1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from how Stuff Works dot Com, where 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: smart happens him Marshall Brain and welcome to this week's 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: Friday news roundup. And what a week it's been. Kind 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: of a sobering week is we've watched events unfold in Japan. 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: As you'll recall last Friday, we were just learning about 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:29,159 Speaker 1: the massive earthquake in tsunami in Japan. This week, the 7 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: news cycle has been dominated by the Japan's story, particularly 8 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: because of all of the problems with the nuclear power plants. 9 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: We've all gotten a crash course in boiling water reactors, 10 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: reactor cooling systems, radioactive iodine and caesium, and the problems 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: with cooling pools that run out of water. Depending on 12 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: how events unfold and how the wind is blowing at 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: the time, this could evolve into a crisis that's potentially 14 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: bigger than Chernobyl. According to some experts, some of the 15 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,279 Speaker 1: scenarios are not very pleasant at all for the citizens 16 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: of Japan. A number of scientists have warned that the 17 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: same kind of thing could easily happen in the United States. 18 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: Over in California, most people have heard of the San 19 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: Andreas fault, but the more worrying thing is the Cascadia 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: fault in the Pacific Ocean. It would cause a tsunami 21 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: just like the one in Japan, and it would be 22 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: hitting huge cities, most notably Los Angeles. And while some 23 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: buildings are earthquake proof, the United States is not nearly 24 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: as well prepared and well engineered as Japan is. Having 25 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: seen how badly things have unfolded in well prepared Japan, 26 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: it might be prudent for the United States to take 27 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: some steps toward better emergency preparedness. Or alternatively, you personally 28 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: could avoid the West coast of the United States for 29 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: the foreseeable future. If you google interesting reading numbers seven away, 30 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: you can get details on the California outlook, as well 31 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: as many of the Japan's stories. Hollywood is in Los Angeles, 32 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: and in theory, Hollywood could disappear from the face of 33 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: the earth if the tsunami is big enough. But we 34 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: will always have the movies from the past in the 35 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: form of Hollywood's DVDs. And there's a new company taking 36 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: advantage of those DVDs in a very interesting way. The 37 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: company is called zedva z E d I v A, 38 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: and I might be pronouncing it wrong, but it's a 39 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: streaming movie company that's delivering movies over the internet. In fact, 40 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: it's streaming movies that you can't get via a stream 41 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: from places like Netflix. Z Diva does this by putting 42 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: physical DVDs into physical DVD players and then streaming the 43 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: content from that pair from the DVD DVD player pair 44 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: to you. Your computer is a remote control for the 45 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: DVD player. By doing this, Zadeva apparently can get around 46 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: all the copyright laws and Hollywood restrictions that hamper the 47 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: ability of places like Netflix to stream movies, especially right 48 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: after a DVD is released, and the prices right at 49 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: the Diva. It's only two dollars to watch a movie. 50 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: You can google interesting reading number seven oh eight for details. 51 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: There's a really interesting article this week on the price 52 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,919 Speaker 1: of solar cells and solar panels. Prices have been coming 53 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,920 Speaker 1: down for years, but by two thousand and fifteen, prices 54 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: in sunny places are going to break below coal fired 55 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: electricity prices for the first time. Those are prices for 56 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: installed solar panels, so you can order them, get the panels, 57 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: get them installed on your house, and actually have electricity 58 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: being produced by those solar panels. That cost the same 59 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: as electricity from the power company, by installed solar panels 60 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: will cost less than coal across much of the United 61 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: States by twenty thirty if trends continue. The article predicts 62 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 1: that installed solar panels could cost half as much as 63 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: power from a power plant, which would be fantastic news. 64 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: Google Interesting Reading numbers seven oh eight for details on this. 65 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: But according to another article, this great development on the 66 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: solar energy front may come too late. The article is 67 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: called quote the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere 68 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: is accelerating super exponentially end quote, and it contains this 69 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: ominous prediction. Quote. Notwithstanding a lot of discussions, international meetings, 70 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: prevalence in the media, atmospheric CEO two content growth continues unabated, 71 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: with a clear faster than exponential behavior. On the face 72 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:53,919 Speaker 1: of this evidence, using data until two thousand nine, stabilizing 73 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions at levels reached in for instance, 74 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: seems very ambitious, if not utterly unrealistic end quote. The 75 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: notion is that humans emit so much c O two 76 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: and the environment has soaked up a lot of it, 77 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: but is now full of c O two, and parts 78 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 1: of nature are now starting to create positive feedback loops 79 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,039 Speaker 1: as temperatures rise and so on, that things could get 80 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: very bad on the c O two front. If you 81 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: google Interesting Reading seven oh eight, you can find out 82 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: more about this phenomenon. There are several articles on space 83 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: junk this week. In one which you can find by 84 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: googling Interesting Reading number seven oh eight, there's a video 85 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: showing the incredible amount of damage that small pieces of 86 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,120 Speaker 1: space junk can do when they run into spacecraft. What 87 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: they have is this huge hunk of aluminum that's several 88 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: inches thick, and it's struck by this tiny little sphere 89 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: of space junk that's traveling at six kilometers per second, 90 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: and it makes this huge crater in the aluminum. But 91 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: that same video also shows how and why lightweight shields 92 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: can protect against that kind of damage. One layer of 93 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: the shield breaks up the incoming particle, and then the 94 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: second layer absorbs the debris from that first collision. It 95 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: makes for a much much lighter package for shielding. But 96 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,360 Speaker 1: space junk is still a big concern, so in Interesting 97 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,359 Speaker 1: Reading number seven oh five, there's an article about a 98 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:28,840 Speaker 1: ground based laser from NASA that may be able to 99 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,359 Speaker 1: zap space junk out of the sky. The idea is 100 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: to use a five kilowatt laser that beams photons onto 101 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: a piece of space junk for a couple of hours. 102 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: The photons slow the object down, and once it slows 103 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 1: down enough, it falls out of orbit. If you google 104 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: interesting Reading number seven oh five, you can learn more 105 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 1: about this laser that could clean out low Earth orbits. 106 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: Do sperm whales call to each other by announcing their names? Maybe? 107 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: Scientists have noticed that there are changes in the vocal 108 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: patterns of sperm whales that might indicate that the names 109 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,719 Speaker 1: of different individuals are being used. What's interesting about the 110 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: article is the idea of these animals having a level 111 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: of intelligence that would allow names to occur, as well 112 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: as the idea of underwater whale societies that are basically 113 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: invisible to human beings. Everything about whales is amazing if 114 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: you think about it. So if you google interesting Reading 115 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: number seven oh five, you can learn more about this. 116 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: We would call the whale names a scientific conjecture. Scientists 117 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: have noticed something in the behavior of whales that's interesting 118 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: to them, and they have offered one possible explanation. They 119 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: could be names, but obviously could be something else. So 120 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: now what the scientists will do is more research to 121 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: see if that conjecture is true or not. Here's another 122 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: scientific conjecture that came to light this week. The Large 123 00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:00,040 Speaker 1: Hadron Collider might be able to implement some form of 124 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: time travel. The first part of this conjecture is that 125 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: the Higgs boson actually exists. The Higgs boson is the 126 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: particle that the LHC was created to find. The second 127 00:08:12,680 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: part of the conjecture is that the LHC can create 128 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: a Higgs boson. And if both of those become true, 129 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: then there's a theoretical possibility that a Higgs singlet might 130 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: get created along with the Higgs boson, And if so, 131 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 1: the Higgs singlet might be able to go backward or 132 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: forward in time by escaping from the four dimensions of 133 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: our universe and re entering at some different point in time. 134 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:44,199 Speaker 1: If this can happen, then it might allow for messages 135 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,319 Speaker 1: to travel through time. But it'll be a while until 136 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:49,959 Speaker 1: we find out. We have to actually discover the Higgs 137 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,079 Speaker 1: boson first, and the Higgs singlet and figure out how 138 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 1: to make it transfer out of our four dimensions. So 139 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: if you google interesting reading number seven oh seven, you 140 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:03,199 Speaker 1: can get details on this scientific conjecture. At the top 141 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: of Interesting Reading number seven oh six, there is a 142 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: really interesting piece of space video. What they've done is 143 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: they've taken high resolution photographs from the Cassini space probe 144 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: to Saturn and they've woven them together to make movies. 145 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: Because the photographs are high resolution, were able to fly 146 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: past the rings of Saturn, past different moons and so on, 147 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: and see things with incredible detail. If you play the 148 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: video at full screen, you get the full effect, and 149 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: it's pretty spectacular. The filmmakers hope to use this technique 150 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: to make an IMAX movie. Google Interesting Reading number seven 151 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: oh six to see this video. Also in number seven 152 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: oh six, there's an article about the drive to make 153 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 1: the world's strongest magnet that doesn't use neodymium. Neodymium is 154 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: a rare Earth element that is, as you might suspect, rare, 155 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: and China is really the only country you with significant 156 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,199 Speaker 1: deposits and they aren't very inclined to share. So the 157 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,199 Speaker 1: thing about neodymium magnets is that they are so powerful 158 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,599 Speaker 1: compared to what came before them. They've made things like 159 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 1: Walkman headphones and then earbuds, possible. Before neodymium magnets, there 160 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: was no way to make a good speaker that's small. 161 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: The magnets have also made small hard discs and small 162 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: electric motors possible, as well as big things like electric 163 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: motors for cars and generators on giant wind turbines. So 164 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: if scientists can invent a better magnet that doesn't need 165 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: rare earth metals, it would be great. If you google 166 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,200 Speaker 1: Interesting Reading number seven oh six, you can learn more. 167 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:45,959 Speaker 1: Google announced a new feature this week that lets you 168 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: block certain sites from your search results. So you don't 169 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: like results from a particular website, you can add that 170 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: website to a list and it won't show up in 171 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,679 Speaker 1: your Google listings anymore. It gives you more control over 172 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 1: what you see from Google and lets you reduce the 173 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: noise and Google's results based on your taste. You might 174 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: also notice that Google is also rolling out its best 175 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:12,199 Speaker 1: Guess feature, where the Google search engine gives you a 176 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: Watson like best guests to the answer of certain queries. 177 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: For example, type in the CEO of General Electric into 178 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: Google and the first result is Google's best guess at 179 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: the name of the actual person. Google Interesting Reading number 180 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 1: seven oh four for details. Also in interesting Reading seven 181 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: oh four, there's an article looking at the iPad two 182 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: graphics performance, a new memory technology that could let cell 183 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,320 Speaker 1: phones last much longer on a battery charge, a story 184 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: suggesting that the airport X ray scanners that look at 185 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: us through our clothing and may emit ten times more 186 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: radiation than they should, a new nanotech material that may 187 00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:59,679 Speaker 1: make it easy to store a lot of hydrogen in 188 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: a all space. And then a cryptic little article about 189 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: the lost City of Atlantis. Now we've all heard about 190 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: this city. Plato talked about it in his writings about 191 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:15,199 Speaker 1: six hundred b CE, so twenty hundred years ago. Plato 192 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: was writing about the lost city of Atlantis, and people 193 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: have been hypothesizing and conjecturing about it ever since. Supposedly 194 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: it was an island nation that sank into the sea, 195 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,839 Speaker 1: presumably because of a giant tsunami. It's been considered something 196 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: of a myth until this week. They'll have a lot 197 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: of digging and artifact finding to do to prove that 198 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: this is a real city and not something that they're 199 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: just speculating about. But it does raise the possibility that 200 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: Atlantis really exists. That's it for this week. If you'd 201 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: like to read more, you can google interesting reading number 202 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: seven oh four, seven oh five, seven oh six, seven 203 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: oh seven, or seven oh eight for details. Until next time, 204 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: let's hope that the news is just a little bit 205 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 1: better in the coming days. This has been a tough 206 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:09,120 Speaker 1: week for the world. For more on this and thousands 207 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: of other topics, does that how stuff works dot com 208 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:13,640 Speaker 1: and don't forget to check out the brain stuff blog 209 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: on the house stuff works dot com home page. You 210 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:18,839 Speaker 1: can also follow brain stuff on Facebook or Twitter at 211 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: brain stuff hs W. The House Stuff Works iPhone app 212 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: has arrived. Download it today on iTunes.