WEBVTT - Marshall Brain's News Roundup: April 1st, 2011 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.600 Welcome to brain Stuff from House Stuff Works dot com 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:15.120 where smart happens. Hi Marshall Brandon, Welcome to this week's 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.680 Friday news round up. Let's start with a couple of 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.400 interesting vehicles that showed up on the web this week. 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.360 The first comes from SpaceX, which has a video up 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:29.000 that's teasing a big announcement on April five. SpaceX, as 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.440 you'll recall, is the company that NASA chose for replacing 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.120 the Space Shuttle for carrying people and stuff up to 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.440 the space station. They have the Falcon one rocket, the 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.840 Falcon nine rocket, and the Dragon capsule, able to hold 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.600 either people or cargo. Given the way that the teaser 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.239 video ends, it appears that SpaceX is ready to announce 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:54.720 the new Falcon nine Heavy rocket for carrying bigger stuff 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.880 into space. This rocket is approximately a normal Falcon nine 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.840 rocket plus two additional booster rockets strapped on the sides 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.640 of it. The extra rockets give it the ability to 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.399 lift more cargo weight than the Space Shuttle into low 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.560 Earth orbit and also the ability to lift a significant 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.720 payload into geosynchronous orbit. If this were to come to pass, 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.199 it would be a big boost to getting cargo and 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.200 people and other kinds of stuff up into space. The 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.400 second vehicle is more down to Earth. It's a drug 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.520 submarine and the most sophisticated one that's ever been captured. 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.080 It's claim to fame is the fact that it's actually 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:38.600 a real submarine with the ability to go underwater using 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.040 two hundred and fifty lead acid batteries that can run 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.800 its electric motors for up to eighteen hours submerged, plus 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.720 a diesel engine to recharge those batteries and run the 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.000 ship on the surface. The goal of this submarine is 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.559 to bring something like eighteen thousand pounds or two hundred 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.720 fifty million dollars worth of cocaine to the United States 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.440 without being detected. Now, since it was captured, that's not 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.960 gonna ever happen, but it gives you the impression that 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.640 these drug lords have the ability to build quite sophisticated 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.880 ships now, and if there's one, there's probably more than one. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.639 You can google interesting reading number seven eighteen for more 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:22.120 information on both of these vehicles. Speaking of vehicles, the 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.600 Pioneer spacecraft Pioneer ten and eleven have been traveling to 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.000 the outer reaches of the Solar System for decades, but 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.120 there's been a small problem with their trajectory called the 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:38.160 Pioneer anomaly. These spacecraft have not traveled quite as far 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.640 as they should have according to orbital calculations, and the 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:45.880 discrepancy has been bugging sciencests for many years. Could it 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.120 be that gravity does not behave as we expect. Could 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.320 it be that dark matter plays a role. Could it 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:56.600 be some unknown planet having this gravitational effect on the probes, 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:59.640 or is it space aliens and some low level tractor 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.880 being Now they have solved the mystery, and the solution 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.920 is a little bit more mundane than any of those suggestions. 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:09.920 The Pioneer spacecraft give off heat in the form of 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:14.399 infrared light, and this light affects the trajectory. The spacecraft 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.680 gives off the I R light directly and parts of 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.520 the spacecraft also reflected, and the effect is a very 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:26.359 slight thrust that slows the spacecraft down. The anomaly is solved. 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.480 If you google Interesting reading number seven eighteen you can 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:34.240 get the details. Imagine a telescope with a collecting surface 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.560 as big as a square kilometer. It would be unbelievable 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.160 given that optical telescopes measure their mirrors in terms of 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:45.360 meters and Even the largest radio telescope in the world 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.440 is only three d and five meters in diameter. But 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.880 a new radio telescope will have a collecting surface that 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.400 really is that big, and it will get it by 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.120 combining thousands of small antennas together across a significant portion 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.760 of the planet. Each antenna will be about fifteen meters 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.400 in diameter. It will cost about one point five million 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.200 euros or more than two billion dollars to build the 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:13.240 whole thing. One possible site is in Australia, which has 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.520 large parts of the continent that are nearly uninhabited and 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:21.239 therefore low on radio interference. Via Google interesting reading seven eighteen, 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:25.640 you can get the details. Speaking of googling, Google has 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.600 been in the news several times this week. First is 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.280 Google's announcement that it will now let its users rate 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.960 search results. Many social media sites offer this kind of 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:40.720 rating capability, including Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. But the technique 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.640 Google uses to show results is interesting. It sniffs out 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.000 people who you may have a connection with, for example, 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.839 from contact lists, so unlike Reddit, it does not show 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.839 an aggregated score from the world and bubble up the 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.000 highest rated results. It just adds a little plus one 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.880 indicator to let you know that somebody you know thought 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.279 this was a good link. The second thing is Google's 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.080 announcement that it's going to take more control of the 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:11.159 Android marketplace to make sure that phone manufacturers don't start 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:15.920 making phone specific apps. If Google didn't do this, then 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:19.560 the app marketplace for Android phones would fragment, and many 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:24.000 apps would work on only one phone, or one company's phones, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.440 or on one carrier's phones. If Google allowed this to happen, 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:32.400 the Android app marketplace would become a lot less useful 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:36.120 for customers. Plus, there's already a lot of fragmentation because 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.279 there's so many versions of Android. As a result of 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.080 this change, Android, in theory will become much less open 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:47.960 for manufacturers and much more uniform for users. Maybe we'll 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.240 have to see how things shake out over the next 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:52.520 year or so to determine whether this is a good 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:55.400 move or a bad move on the part of Google. Probably, 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:57.919 behind the scenes, Google is trying to figure out a 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.320 way to make the Android app market places powerful as 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:05.400 the Apple app marketplace. Then the third thing is Google's 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.120 announcement that Kansas City will get Google Fiber. You may 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.719 recall that Google was going to pick one city and 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.800 provide fiber optic internet access and one gigabit speeds for 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:20.159 that city. Kansas City is the chosen city, and it'll 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.440 be the prototype for possibly future implementation as well. Two 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.520 thousand twelve is the rollout date. If things do go 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.680 well in Kansas City, then other cities should get gigabit 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.320 service from Google. If you google interesting reading seven seventeen 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.800 and seven hundred eighteen you can get the details. It's 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.400 possible that air conditioning and refrigeration will get cheaper in 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.480 the near future. That's because the technology for turning heat 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.880 into cold is about to get smaller and less expensive. 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:54.200 Unlike typical air conditioners and refrigerators, which use lots of 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:59.040 electricity to run a compressor, absorption chillers use something like 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:03.680 silica gel to absorb water, which is then later released 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:07.640 using heat. The problem is that silica gel is really inefficient, 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.480 meaning that the chillers have to be big and they 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:12.040 have to use a lot of heat to get the 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:16.360 job done. A new nanotech material works a lot better, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.840 meaning that everything gets smaller and more efficient. In theory, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.040 solar heat could one day be used to run an 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:27.119 air conditioner, essentially for free. You google interesting reading number 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.920 seven seventeen, you can get the details. Will you get 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:35.160 Alzheimer's disease, say twenty years from now, There may soon 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.680 be a test that will tell you that it all 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.280 has to do with the way your brain uses glucose. Apparently, 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.680 long before you get actual Alzheimer's disease, the mitochondria in 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.160 brain cells start producing less energy because of a toxic 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.640 chemical in the brain. In theory, scientists may be able 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.000 to discover a way to block or inhibit that chemical 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:59.960 to reduce Alzheimer's effects. If you google interesting reading them 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.120 or seven seventeen, you can get details. iTunes is getting 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.520 some competition from Amazon on the music front this week. 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.000 Amazon's product is called the Cloud Drive, combined with a 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.920 product called the Cloud Player. Instead of storing music on 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.400 a device like a laptop or an iPod, you store 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:22.480 your songs on an Amazon server up in the cloud. 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.440 Then you play your songs using a little app that 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.360 runs on your Android phone or on your laptop. It's 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:32.640 very likely that Apple and Google will soon release identical products, 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.880 but for now, it gives Amazon a unique way to 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.760 compete in the music arena. Should you use this service, 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.000 the advantages that you can access your music anywhere. The 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.560 disadvantages that you have to have a connection to the 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.360 Internet and it consumes bandwidth. If you look at interesting 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.880 Reading seven seventeen, you can get more information on the product. 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:57.679 Can magazines and newspapers save themselves by using digital subscriptions. 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.720 Most of these digital magazine runs apps on things like 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.120 the iPad, and many media outlets are hoping that the 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:09.959 idea of digital subscription apps takes off. Popular Science is 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.840 one magazine that's taken the plunge and has done so 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:17.280 very early. In five weeks, it's sold ten thousand digital 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:22.520 subscriptions through Apple's app store. The subscription price is fifteen 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:26.520 dollars per year, making it more expensive than a print subscription, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.920 reportedly because Apple takes a thirty percent cut of the 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:34.320 subscription price. On the other hand, popsi has no printing 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.640 or mailing costs with these digital subscriptions, so it seems 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.240 amazing that they would charge this much. Is ten thousand 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.560 subscriptions good or bad? Popsi has about one point two 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:48.560 million print subscribers, so they have a long way to 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:51.559 go to replace that base. If you google interesting Reading 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.400 numbers seven seventeen, you can get details what if you 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.839 could put something in your coffee that would quickly cool 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.960 it down to the right temp. Picture, store that heat, 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.120 and then keep your coffee at that temperature for a 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.760 long time. That's the idea behind something called coffee julies. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.440 Imagine a little stainless steel capsule that contains a special wax. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.800 The wax melts at the perfect coffee temperature. It takes 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.600 heat to melt the wax, cooling the coffee down to 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.240 the right temperature, and then as the wax releases that heat, 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.120 it re solidifies. Lots of things already used this phase 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.240 change idea to store heat. This is simply a novel 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:37.800 application with a very specific temperature range that it's working in. 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.360 If you look at Interesting Reading number seven seventeen, you 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:45.040 can learn more about coffee Julies. There was a good 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:49.200 bit of buzz this week about artificial leaves. Solar cells 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:53.680 create electricity directly. The idea in an artificial leaf is 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.560 to use the sun's energy to power a photosynthesis kind 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:01.880 of reaction to create a fuel. Imagine an index card 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:05.160 and you put this index card into water. Then you 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.480 put the water out in sunlight. The card catalyzes a 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:11.880 reaction that breaks the water down into hydrogen and oxygen, 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:16.439 which you then store, combining the hydrogen and oxygen back together, saying, 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.560 a fuel cell lets you create electricity when you need it. 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.559 This would be perfect for powering a home and could 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.959 in theory power cards as well. It is essentially a 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.720 cheap way to store electric energy generated by the sun 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:35.360 for later use. See Interesting Reading number seven sixteen for details. 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.280 So that's it for this week. If you'd like to 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:40.160 catch up on any of these topics and more than 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.840 a hundred others, google Interesting Reading number seven fourteen, seven fifteen, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:49.240 seven sixteen, seven seventeen, and seven eighteen. Have a great 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:54.560 weekend for more illness and thousands of other topics. Doesn't 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.880 house stuff works dot com and don't forget to check 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:58.840 out the brain stuff blog on the house stuff works 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.480 dot com home page. You can also follow brain stuff 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:04.520 on Facebook or Twitter at brain stuff h s W. 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.240 The house Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:10.600 today on iTunes.