1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from House Stuff Works dot com 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: where smart happens. Hi Marshall Brandon, Welcome to this week's 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: Friday news round up. Let's start with a couple of 4 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: interesting vehicles that showed up on the web this week. 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: The first comes from SpaceX, which has a video up 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: that's teasing a big announcement on April five. SpaceX, as 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: you'll recall, is the company that NASA chose for replacing 8 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle for carrying people and stuff up to 9 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: the space station. They have the Falcon one rocket, the 10 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,840 Speaker 1: Falcon nine rocket, and the Dragon capsule, able to hold 11 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: either people or cargo. Given the way that the teaser 12 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: video ends, it appears that SpaceX is ready to announce 13 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: the new Falcon nine Heavy rocket for carrying bigger stuff 14 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: into space. This rocket is approximately a normal Falcon nine 15 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: rocket plus two additional booster rockets strapped on the sides 16 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: of it. The extra rockets give it the ability to 17 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:09,399 Speaker 1: lift more cargo weight than the Space Shuttle into low 18 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: Earth orbit and also the ability to lift a significant 19 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: payload into geosynchronous orbit. If this were to come to pass, 20 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,199 Speaker 1: it would be a big boost to getting cargo and 21 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: people and other kinds of stuff up into space. The 22 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: second vehicle is more down to Earth. It's a drug 23 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: submarine and the most sophisticated one that's ever been captured. 24 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: It's claim to fame is the fact that it's actually 25 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: a real submarine with the ability to go underwater using 26 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty lead acid batteries that can run 27 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: its electric motors for up to eighteen hours submerged, plus 28 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: a diesel engine to recharge those batteries and run the 29 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: ship on the surface. The goal of this submarine is 30 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,559 Speaker 1: to bring something like eighteen thousand pounds or two hundred 31 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: fifty million dollars worth of cocaine to the United States 32 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: without being detected. Now, since it was captured, that's not 33 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: gonna ever happen, but it gives you the impression that 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: these drug lords have the ability to build quite sophisticated 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: ships now, and if there's one, there's probably more than one. 36 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: You can google interesting reading number seven eighteen for more 37 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 1: information on both of these vehicles. Speaking of vehicles, the 38 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: Pioneer spacecraft Pioneer ten and eleven have been traveling to 39 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: the outer reaches of the Solar System for decades, but 40 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 1: there's been a small problem with their trajectory called the 41 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: Pioneer anomaly. These spacecraft have not traveled quite as far 42 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: as they should have according to orbital calculations, and the 43 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: discrepancy has been bugging sciencests for many years. Could it 44 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: be that gravity does not behave as we expect. Could 45 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: it be that dark matter plays a role. Could it 46 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: be some unknown planet having this gravitational effect on the probes, 47 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: or is it space aliens and some low level tractor 48 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: being Now they have solved the mystery, and the solution 49 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: is a little bit more mundane than any of those suggestions. 50 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: The Pioneer spacecraft give off heat in the form of 51 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,399 Speaker 1: infrared light, and this light affects the trajectory. The spacecraft 52 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: gives off the I R light directly and parts of 53 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,520 Speaker 1: the spacecraft also reflected, and the effect is a very 54 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: slight thrust that slows the spacecraft down. The anomaly is solved. 55 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: If you google Interesting reading number seven eighteen you can 56 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: get the details. Imagine a telescope with a collecting surface 57 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: as big as a square kilometer. It would be unbelievable 58 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: given that optical telescopes measure their mirrors in terms of 59 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: meters and Even the largest radio telescope in the world 60 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: is only three d and five meters in diameter. But 61 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: a new radio telescope will have a collecting surface that 62 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: really is that big, and it will get it by 63 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: combining thousands of small antennas together across a significant portion 64 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: of the planet. Each antenna will be about fifteen meters 65 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: in diameter. It will cost about one point five million 66 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: euros or more than two billion dollars to build the 67 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: whole thing. One possible site is in Australia, which has 68 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: large parts of the continent that are nearly uninhabited and 69 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,239 Speaker 1: therefore low on radio interference. Via Google interesting reading seven eighteen, 70 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: you can get the details. Speaking of googling, Google has 71 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: been in the news several times this week. First is 72 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,280 Speaker 1: Google's announcement that it will now let its users rate 73 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 1: search results. Many social media sites offer this kind of 74 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: rating capability, including Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. But the technique 75 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: Google uses to show results is interesting. It sniffs out 76 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: people who you may have a connection with, for example, 77 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,839 Speaker 1: from contact lists, so unlike Reddit, it does not show 78 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: an aggregated score from the world and bubble up the 79 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: highest rated results. It just adds a little plus one 80 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: indicator to let you know that somebody you know thought 81 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: this was a good link. The second thing is Google's 82 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: announcement that it's going to take more control of the 83 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: Android marketplace to make sure that phone manufacturers don't start 84 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: making phone specific apps. If Google didn't do this, then 85 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: the app marketplace for Android phones would fragment, and many 86 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: apps would work on only one phone, or one company's phones, 87 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: or on one carrier's phones. If Google allowed this to happen, 88 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: the Android app marketplace would become a lot less useful 89 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: for customers. Plus, there's already a lot of fragmentation because 90 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: there's so many versions of Android. As a result of 91 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: this change, Android, in theory will become much less open 92 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: for manufacturers and much more uniform for users. Maybe we'll 93 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: have to see how things shake out over the next 94 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: year or so to determine whether this is a good 95 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: move or a bad move on the part of Google. Probably, 96 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,919 Speaker 1: behind the scenes, Google is trying to figure out a 97 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: way to make the Android app market places powerful as 98 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: the Apple app marketplace. Then the third thing is Google's 99 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: announcement that Kansas City will get Google Fiber. You may 100 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: recall that Google was going to pick one city and 101 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: provide fiber optic internet access and one gigabit speeds for 102 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: that city. Kansas City is the chosen city, and it'll 103 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: be the prototype for possibly future implementation as well. Two 104 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: thousand twelve is the rollout date. If things do go 105 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: well in Kansas City, then other cities should get gigabit 106 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 1: service from Google. If you google interesting reading seven seventeen 107 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: and seven hundred eighteen you can get the details. It's 108 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: possible that air conditioning and refrigeration will get cheaper in 109 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: the near future. That's because the technology for turning heat 110 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: into cold is about to get smaller and less expensive. 111 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: Unlike typical air conditioners and refrigerators, which use lots of 112 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: electricity to run a compressor, absorption chillers use something like 113 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: silica gel to absorb water, which is then later released 114 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: using heat. The problem is that silica gel is really inefficient, 115 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: meaning that the chillers have to be big and they 116 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: have to use a lot of heat to get the 117 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: job done. A new nanotech material works a lot better, 118 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: meaning that everything gets smaller and more efficient. In theory, 119 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: solar heat could one day be used to run an 120 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,119 Speaker 1: air conditioner, essentially for free. You google interesting reading number 121 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: seven seventeen, you can get the details. Will you get 122 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: Alzheimer's disease, say twenty years from now, There may soon 123 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: be a test that will tell you that it all 124 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: has to do with the way your brain uses glucose. Apparently, 125 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: long before you get actual Alzheimer's disease, the mitochondria in 126 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: brain cells start producing less energy because of a toxic 127 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: chemical in the brain. In theory, scientists may be able 128 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: to discover a way to block or inhibit that chemical 129 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: to reduce Alzheimer's effects. If you google interesting reading them 130 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: or seven seventeen, you can get details. iTunes is getting 131 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 1: some competition from Amazon on the music front this week. 132 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:12,000 Speaker 1: Amazon's product is called the Cloud Drive, combined with a 133 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: product called the Cloud Player. Instead of storing music on 134 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 1: a device like a laptop or an iPod, you store 135 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: your songs on an Amazon server up in the cloud. 136 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: Then you play your songs using a little app that 137 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: runs on your Android phone or on your laptop. It's 138 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,640 Speaker 1: very likely that Apple and Google will soon release identical products, 139 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: but for now, it gives Amazon a unique way to 140 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: compete in the music arena. Should you use this service, 141 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: the advantages that you can access your music anywhere. The 142 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: disadvantages that you have to have a connection to the 143 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: Internet and it consumes bandwidth. If you look at interesting 144 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: Reading seven seventeen, you can get more information on the product. 145 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:57,679 Speaker 1: Can magazines and newspapers save themselves by using digital subscriptions. 146 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: Most of these digital magazine runs apps on things like 147 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: the iPad, and many media outlets are hoping that the 148 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,959 Speaker 1: idea of digital subscription apps takes off. Popular Science is 149 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: one magazine that's taken the plunge and has done so 150 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: very early. In five weeks, it's sold ten thousand digital 151 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: subscriptions through Apple's app store. The subscription price is fifteen 152 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: dollars per year, making it more expensive than a print subscription, 153 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: reportedly because Apple takes a thirty percent cut of the 154 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: subscription price. On the other hand, popsi has no printing 155 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: or mailing costs with these digital subscriptions, so it seems 156 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: amazing that they would charge this much. Is ten thousand 157 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: subscriptions good or bad? Popsi has about one point two 158 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,560 Speaker 1: million print subscribers, so they have a long way to 159 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: go to replace that base. If you google interesting Reading 160 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: numbers seven seventeen, you can get details what if you 161 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,839 Speaker 1: could put something in your coffee that would quickly cool 162 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: it down to the right temp. Picture, store that heat, 163 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: and then keep your coffee at that temperature for a 164 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: long time. That's the idea behind something called coffee julies. 165 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: Imagine a little stainless steel capsule that contains a special wax. 166 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: The wax melts at the perfect coffee temperature. It takes 167 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: heat to melt the wax, cooling the coffee down to 168 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: the right temperature, and then as the wax releases that heat, 169 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: it re solidifies. Lots of things already used this phase 170 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: change idea to store heat. This is simply a novel 171 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: application with a very specific temperature range that it's working in. 172 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: If you look at Interesting Reading number seven seventeen, you 173 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: can learn more about coffee Julies. There was a good 174 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: bit of buzz this week about artificial leaves. Solar cells 175 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: create electricity directly. The idea in an artificial leaf is 176 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: to use the sun's energy to power a photosynthesis kind 177 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: of reaction to create a fuel. Imagine an index card 178 00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: and you put this index card into water. Then you 179 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: put the water out in sunlight. The card catalyzes a 180 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,880 Speaker 1: reaction that breaks the water down into hydrogen and oxygen, 181 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:16,439 Speaker 1: which you then store, combining the hydrogen and oxygen back together, saying, 182 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,560 Speaker 1: a fuel cell lets you create electricity when you need it. 183 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,559 Speaker 1: This would be perfect for powering a home and could 184 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:25,959 Speaker 1: in theory power cards as well. It is essentially a 185 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 1: cheap way to store electric energy generated by the sun 186 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: for later use. See Interesting Reading number seven sixteen for details. 187 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: So that's it for this week. If you'd like to 188 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: catch up on any of these topics and more than 189 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: a hundred others, google Interesting Reading number seven fourteen, seven fifteen, 190 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:49,240 Speaker 1: seven sixteen, seven seventeen, and seven eighteen. Have a great 191 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: weekend for more illness and thousands of other topics. 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