1 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:10,880 Speaker 1: Hey, Jorge, do you worry much about things from space 2 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: coming to kill you? Not until right now? Why should I? Well, 3 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: it depends. It depends on what. Well, if there was 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: nothing you could do to prepare for or prevent it, 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: would you still want to know? Yeah? I think so. 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: It'd be nice to know. Um, so you can get 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: my things in order, and you know, get a couple 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: of finish that TV series I I've been watching. In 9 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: that case, I highly recommend you pay attention to this 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:38,279 Speaker 1: episode of our podcast because it's going to prepare you. 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: Why should I listen to the episode or finish my 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,959 Speaker 1: TV series? I'm confused? What should I do? Daniel? I imagine, Well, 13 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,639 Speaker 1: we're recording this episode. You do sound this tracked sometimes? Well, 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: I say, she'd multitask exactly. There's a you know, death 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: from space is coming, so you've got to get stuff done. 16 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: I feel like the universe is huge and there's there's 17 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: a million things out there that can kills instantly at 18 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: any time. Are you saying there's something in particular I 19 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 1: should be worried about. Stay tuned find out. Hi. I'm Borhand. 20 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,600 Speaker 1: I'm a cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip 21 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: piled Higher and Deeper or PhD comics. He's also a 22 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: shill for big banana corporations, but you'll hear more about 23 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: that later. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist and a 24 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: part time podcast host and amateur baker, and also a 25 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: shill for Marvel Comics and DC whatever. Man, I'm totally 26 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: a DC guy. That's why he sold out to Marvel, 27 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: because it's the most successful, more successful franchise. Well, I 28 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:53,400 Speaker 1: am still waiting for that check, by the way, for 29 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: selling out to Marvel. I think I think they're waiting 30 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: for um Tony Stark design it. Yeah. Well I was 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: fact checking their Pin Particle episodes and I sent them 32 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: a long list of corrections and never heard back. So 33 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: maybe I'm maybe they don't want to hear from me anymore. 34 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: I know the scientific advisor of the at My Movies. 35 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: He's a buddy, so I could we could just have 36 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: the whole podcast with him, really, because I got a 37 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: few things to say about the pin particle and the 38 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: quantum realm. Now he's a quantum physicist. Are you sure 39 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: you're you're off for the for the challenge? Well, he's 40 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: either right or he's wrong. There's no in between, right, No, 41 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: he is, he's both. No, he's right and wrong at 42 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: the same time. That's right. Yeah. Anyway, this is our podcast, 43 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, a production of I 44 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,640 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, where we talk about all the amazing and 45 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: mysterious things are that are out there in the universe 46 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: that may or may not kill you instantly. That's right. 47 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: That Sometimes we talked about the real universe. Sometimes we 48 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: talk about the Marvel universe, or the DC universe, or 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: the Banana universe, whatever is interesting today. Yeah, and so 50 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:00,920 Speaker 1: today on the podcast, we are going to talk about 51 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: a very interesting topic. That's right. Today's topic is gamma 52 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 1: ray bursts. A bunch of listeners wrote in and asked 53 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: us to explain gamma ray bursts. What are they? Can 54 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: they kill us? Can they really turned Bruce Banner into 55 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: the Hulk? What's going on? Please break it down? Wait, 56 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: gamma ray births. I thought we were talking about Billy 57 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: ray Cires. I thought, isn't that the weird thing from 58 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: space that we were No, Billy ray Cirus. His career 59 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: is based on getting irradiated by gamma ray bursts. That's 60 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: the connection. He used to be a mild mannered singer, 61 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: and then he got gamma rays and now he's like 62 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: crazy Billy ray Cirus, all right, and so gamma rays 63 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: are involved. I totally made that up. That is completely fabricated. 64 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: I apologize to Billy ray Cirius and all of his 65 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: fans for implying that the mere mortal could not have 66 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: written that music the hokey pokey. So he didn't write 67 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: the hokey pokey anyway. But but gamma rays do play 68 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: a big role in the Marvel universe, right, because back 69 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: when gamma rays were the crazy thing people were worried about. 70 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: It showed up in comic books all the time. And 71 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: that's how Bruce Banner got turned into the Hulk. That's right. 72 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: And I'm surprised you know this fact about the Marvel universe. 73 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: I thought you were a d C guy. Well, you know, 74 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: Marvel is not paying me, so I figured i'd do 75 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: some research. So yeah, so he he gets irradiated by 76 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,159 Speaker 1: gamma rays and some kind of accident and that's what 77 00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 1: turns him into the Hulk. And so these are like magic, 78 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: mysterious raise right, that's right. And you know, I gotta 79 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: wonder about this origin story the Hulk, Like, do you 80 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,240 Speaker 1: think they're trying to make it seem like it's his fault? 81 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: Like crazy scientists just wants to learn about the universe, 82 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: doesn't care about the risks to humanity gets irradiated, Like 83 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 1: is that like a moral punishment like tisk tisk, You 84 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: shouldn't be playing with these forces you don't understand. Yeah, 85 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,720 Speaker 1: for sure. Wait are you saying that comic books can 86 00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: have like literary you know, secret mess it is and 87 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,359 Speaker 1: thieves and they're definitely there's definitely literary. I don't know 88 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: if it's so secret though. I just wonder about like 89 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: how is interpreted at the time, you know, like our 90 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: scientists like the leading edge, they're bringing us into the 91 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: atomic age, look at all the wonderful things we're getting 92 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: out of science, or is it like I'm kind of 93 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: scared of science. Scientists don't seem trustworthy, look at all 94 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,560 Speaker 1: the crazy stuff they're doing. I think it was a 95 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: It's supposed to be kind of a take on you 96 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: know Dr jackl and Mr Hyde, you know, the scientists 97 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 1: who's trying to understand things and playing maybe with things 98 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,479 Speaker 1: he doesn't quite fully understand, and then he he gets 99 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: turned into a superhero and into a multiple near franchise 100 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: we kind of worked out for the scientists. Yeah, so 101 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,600 Speaker 1: the lesson is everybody should do crazy radiation experiments in 102 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:46,559 Speaker 1: their basement, right, you know what? Gamma rays do feature 103 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: a lot in comics from a long time ago, and 104 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: they are a real thing. Gamma rays really are a 105 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: real thing, and gamma ray bursts are a real thing, 106 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: and so we thought it'd be fun to do an 107 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: episode where we explain it. Um. It turns out that 108 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: they are quite a scientistic puzzle. Um. For a long time, 109 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 1: physicists have not understood where they came from and what's 110 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: generating them. And should we be worried about them? Yeah? 111 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: Should we worry about them exactly? And are we all 112 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: going to turn into the Hulk? And how do you 113 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: feel about that anyway? And should you watch your TV? 114 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: I don't, Well, you mean, what happens if you turn 115 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,039 Speaker 1: into the Hulk and you have all those TV shows recorded? 116 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: Do you think the Hulk likes to watch the same 117 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: TV show as you do? Do you need like separate 118 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: tvrs for when you're in Hulk mode when you're not 119 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 1: in Hulk mode? You know, I don't think the Hulk 120 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,039 Speaker 1: would get past, you know, the pilot episode of most 121 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: TV shows. You know, you'd probably smash the TV right away. 122 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: No stars from no unnecessary dialogue. That sounds like how 123 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: my son reviews in most television shows really pretty much 124 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: talking too much talking. Where is the action? Exactly exactly? 125 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: They sound pretty cool. Gamma rays, right, gamma rays. I 126 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 1: mean it sounds like some sort of new kind of 127 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: ray energy, Yeah, exactly. Does it have a positive connotation 128 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: to you, like, oh my god, look at this amazing 129 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: source of energy, all the good we can do for 130 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: the world, or does have a negative connotation like is 131 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: this a weapon that's gonna kill me? I think it 132 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: just sounds like something out of science fiction, you know, 133 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,160 Speaker 1: like if you called it, like, um, puppy dog rays, 134 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: I'd be like, Oh, that's cute, it's safe. What you 135 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:27,760 Speaker 1: called it? Like? You know whathero can I can't let 136 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: that go. I can't let it go. What if a 137 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: scientist is experimenting with puppy dog rays and gets irradiated, 138 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,520 Speaker 1: what kind of superhero does he turn into? The UK puppy, 139 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: The hush puppy goes around licking everybody, snuggling with them. 140 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: The husky, the husky. There you go, husky exactly, the 141 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: green husky, which sounds pretty adorable. But no, yeah, they 142 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: sound mysterious. They sound revery sci fi, right, like gamma 143 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: Like all you have to just pick a Greek letter 144 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: and marry it to like a scientific physics term and 145 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: you have something sci fi. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Now you're right. 146 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: It does stay fit. But the cool thing about it 147 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: is that it's actually also science e Like, there's are 148 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: a lot of really interesting science behind gamma ray bursts. Yeah, 149 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: and a big mystery, right, there was a big mystery 150 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: about them. Yeah. Yeah, So I was wondering what people 151 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: knew about gamma ray bursts. Were they worried about them? 152 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: Do they know what they mean? Do they know what 153 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: a gamma ray is at all? So, as usual, Daniel 154 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: went out there and asked people on the street, random strangers, 155 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: what they thought a gamma ray was. And these interviews 156 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: happened partially on the campus of you see, Irvine, and 157 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: also partially at the Irvine Spectrum. So you're gonna get 158 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:40,439 Speaker 1: a selection of students and random people. What's the Irvine Spectrum? 159 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: What's the Irvine Spectrum? Oh my god, how do you 160 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: not know about that people like you in in Orange County? 161 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: Is it like the range from Dark Based Dark Baby. 162 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: I never realized the dramatic irony of Irvine calling anything 163 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,599 Speaker 1: a spectrum because there is no spectrum. You're right, um, No, 164 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 1: it's a big mall here in Irvine. People actually like 165 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: fly here from Japan, stay in a hotel and just 166 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,320 Speaker 1: shop of the mall and then like fly back. It's crazy. Really, 167 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,559 Speaker 1: is it like a fancy or is it like a 168 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: mega Minnesota Malvey America's I'm not the right person to 169 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: evaluate malls. I spent as a little time in them 170 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: as possible. I was there because my kids were in 171 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: spring break and I took them to a movie, And 172 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: while they were in the movie, I interviewed people about 173 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: Gamma rays. You didn't go into the movie with them, No, No, 174 00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 1: I stood outside looking like a weirdo, asking people weird 175 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: science questions. All right, well, those of you at home, 176 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: think about it for a second. If you if a 177 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: random physicist approach you outside of a movie theater in 178 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: a fancy mall and ask you, what is the gammerie, 179 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: what would you say? Good? Step away, ster, You'd say, 180 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:52,719 Speaker 1: I didn't fly here from Japan, just to answer your 181 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:58,559 Speaker 1: questions security security. One fascinating thing is that on campus 182 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: a U s I nine nine of people will answer 183 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: my questions, whereas it the spectrum, only like one in 184 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: ten are willing to answer questions. Really huh yeah, I 185 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: wonder whether that why that is. I don't know. So 186 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: here's what people had to say. First question is have 187 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: you ever heard about gamma ray burst? Do you know 188 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: what that is? No? No, I don't know, but I've 189 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: heard of it because they definitely has to do something 190 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: with UV light. It's like a sun ray. I'm assuming 191 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,400 Speaker 1: it's just I know that it modifies like your DNA 192 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 1: or something. I could just blast your DNA and that 193 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: could cause some damage to you, like severely. Yeah. Yeah, 194 00:10:37,559 --> 00:10:40,680 Speaker 1: so that's about it, but not too into a Gamma 195 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: rebers a kind of game or I don't know. Yes, 196 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:52,079 Speaker 1: but the star explodes and it will admit a lot 197 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: of frequency of photons and the country a large exposure 198 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: identific because it will be high. I will make Gamma 199 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: explosion something okay, and it's a something to worry about. 200 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: I don't think it will be that powerful that makes 201 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: us worry. It depends on how close the stories Honestly, 202 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you, all right, because I have something 203 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:16,200 Speaker 1: with stars or m it's when the sun explodes or something, right, 204 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: something is it's something to worry about, I would seem 205 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:23,840 Speaker 1: so yeah, alright, so pretty binary response. Right. Most people 206 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: didn't know or they knew all about it, Yeah, exactly 207 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,199 Speaker 1: a lot of people have never heard about them, or 208 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: like it tickled something in their brain maybe, but they 209 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: were not able to say anything concrete about it. But 210 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: some folks clearly had done some reading. Yeah, but nobody 211 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,520 Speaker 1: mentioned the Hulk. No, nobody mentioned the Hulk. Um though 212 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:43,679 Speaker 1: you know, I've been bulking up recently, so I sort 213 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: of digging for compliments there. But no, I didn't get me. 214 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: Did you paid yourself green as well? Know that? And 215 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 1: you're not allowed to be green and irvine. It's only 216 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: beige allowed. Oh, the beige Hulk. That would be the 217 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: irvine version. So that's sound. They sound pretty mysterious. Gamma rays, um, 218 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: so what are they done? And let's break it down 219 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: for people? What are gamma rays? So in the end 220 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: of gamma ray is not as exotic as it sounds. 221 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,720 Speaker 1: It's just a kind of photon. So remember photons are 222 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:20,679 Speaker 1: the particle that carry electromagnetic radiation. So all light you know, 223 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: radio waves to visible light, to X rays and all 224 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:27,400 Speaker 1: the way up to gamma rays, they're all just photons 225 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: of different frequencies. They're just light wiggling at different wavelengths. 226 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,760 Speaker 1: And we called different parts of the spectrum different things 227 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: because they were discovered different times, and we treat them 228 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: differently or the qualitatively different. But in the end, they're 229 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,839 Speaker 1: all just parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. So wait, did 230 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: they think before that they were different, like a different 231 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 1: kind of ray or particle or was this before they 232 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: even knew about particles. Yeah, before we even knew about particles, 233 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: and we knew about rays, like we had cathode rays 234 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:56,840 Speaker 1: and stuff like that in X rays, and we didn't 235 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,839 Speaker 1: understand for a long time that rays were particles. And 236 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,439 Speaker 1: and later they unified a lot of these different things 237 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: um and understood them all just be parts of the 238 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: same thing. So they just thought it was like a 239 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: just like a different kind of ray, Yeah, like a 240 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: different kind of beam of something. Yeah, because particles at 241 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,720 Speaker 1: different energy, photons at different energy act really different. You know, 242 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 1: photons that are the visible wavelength, you can see them. 243 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: They look green. For example, photons that are high enough 244 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,319 Speaker 1: energy to penetrate through you and give you a picture 245 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,840 Speaker 1: of your bones. You know, we call those X rays. Uh, 246 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: they're just photons of a higher energy. But qualitatively they 247 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: seem different, right, And so before we understood a lot 248 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: more about how things worked, they we treated them like 249 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:40,679 Speaker 1: different things. But that's that's the whole goal of physics, right, 250 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: is to take a bunch of disparate phenomena, things that 251 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: don't seem related, and discover that they're actually connected. They're 252 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: all just different parts of the same thing, different sides 253 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: of the same die. I guess they thought there were 254 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: different things because they they're made differently, right, Like you 255 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:58,959 Speaker 1: make cather raise one way and you make visible light 256 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: another way, and you make gamma rays different way, and 257 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: so they thought, hey, these are just different things that 258 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: come out when you do these other things. Yeah, you 259 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,640 Speaker 1: make them differently, and they behave differently, Like one of 260 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 1: them can penetrate through the wall and the other one 261 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,320 Speaker 1: can't write. And so if you don't have a microscopic 262 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,480 Speaker 1: understanding of it, it makes sense to categorize them differently. Um, 263 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: so it's pretty cool later when you stitch it all 264 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: together and realize that these are all just different flavors 265 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: of the same thing, or different colors quite literally of 266 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: the same thing. And gamma rays specifically are the very 267 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: very high edge of that spectrum. So anything that's you know, 268 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: like a million times more energetic than a visible photon, 269 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: you call it a gamma ray. It's not like a 270 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: hard cut off and not like a little below and like, sorry, 271 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: you don't get to be a gamma ray. You know, 272 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: it's sort of a rough thing, um, but there's no 273 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:49,240 Speaker 1: upper limit. It's like a it's like a soft definition. Yeah, 274 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: that's what point does it? And the photon become trying 275 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: from a regular photon to ama. Well, you know, I 276 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: think photons would be insalted be called regular photons. You know, 277 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,680 Speaker 1: they're all special Okay, they all can do something that 278 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: no other photon can do. That's right. Sorry, they're all bright, 279 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: shining points of light. Yeah. I mean, is there's some 280 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: colors that you like more than others? Or hey are 281 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: you you know, are you a colorist? But I've worked 282 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,280 Speaker 1: with a lot of colorists. Yeah, that's true. You are 283 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: a cartoonists. You should be pro color man um. Yeah, 284 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: so you got radio waves the very very low edge, 285 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: and then you got um infrared right just below what 286 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: we can see. Then you've got the visible spectrum. The 287 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: radio waves are the bottom. Radio waves are the very 288 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: longest wavelengths are the lowest energy. Exactly the way you 289 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: said at the bottom makes it sound judgmental. You know, 290 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: radio ways are awesome, they're super powerful and fantastic and 291 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: the reasons we can see black holes and stuff like that. Um, 292 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: But yeah, radio waves are at the bottom in terms 293 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: of energy. Then you get infrared, then you get the 294 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: visible spectrum. Then you get X rays, right, and then 295 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: you get there just above the ultra violet, you get 296 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: X rays and then you get gamma rays. So emorys 297 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: are the hardest, fastest, most energetic kind of photon you 298 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: can have. But they're all photons, Like, they're all the 299 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: same particle through just kind of vibrating differently or the 300 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:15,080 Speaker 1: different wavelength or sizes. What's the difference. Yeah, they're all photons. 301 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: They all travel at the speed of light. But the 302 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: difference is the frequency, right, how often they are wiggling. Right. Remember, 303 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: photons are vibrations of the electromagnetic field, right, and they 304 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: oscillate and the speed at which they oscillate that gives 305 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: you the frequency. Right, how many times per second do 306 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: they go up and down? Does they let the magnetic 307 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: fields go up and down? And they're all moving at 308 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:40,560 Speaker 1: the speed of light? One radio photons moving at the 309 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,040 Speaker 1: same speed as a gamma ray photon. That's right. If 310 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: you had a race, and you had a source of 311 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,360 Speaker 1: radio waves and a source of gamma rays, and you 312 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: shot them at each other, they would have different energies 313 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: but move at the same speed. They all travel at 314 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: the speed of light, even if they have different energies. 315 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: That feels kind of weird, right, because you're used to 316 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: thinking of energy and speed is closely connected. But this 317 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: is something different. They have no mass and they travel 318 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: at the speed of light. Um, they all have the 319 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,159 Speaker 1: same speed, but they have different energies, which means they 320 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: have different frequencies and different wavelengths. Right. The wavelength and 321 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: the frequency are closely connected. Higher the frequency, the shorter 322 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: the wavelength. And uh yeah, let's talk about that a 323 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: little bit more. But first quick break. Okay, so gamma 324 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: rays are photons, but they have not just a little bit, 325 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: but a lot more energy than the regular photons that 326 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: we see every day. That's right, a million times, that's yeah, 327 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:45,879 Speaker 1: that's a lot. It's a lot. If I shot gamma 328 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: rays at you, they would deposit a lot more energy 329 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:51,120 Speaker 1: in you than normal light, right, And also they can 330 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: penetrate into you much further, like, well it would, they 331 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:56,239 Speaker 1: would deliver a million times more energy. Right, You need 332 00:17:56,280 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: a million photons to be equal to one gamma ray 333 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: photon exactly. And so gamma rays are dangerous. They can't 334 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: turn you into the Hulk probably, but they could give 335 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: you cancer, right, they can shatter your DNA and and 336 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: all sorts of crazy stuff inside your body. You don't 337 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,600 Speaker 1: want gamma rays, Okay, So they're just regular photons, but 338 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: they're they're just an upper spectrum of light, that's right, 339 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: they're the high ended spectrum. They are dangerous, much more 340 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,240 Speaker 1: dangerous than normal light because they can damage your DNA, right, 341 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,400 Speaker 1: they can. They can cause errors in DNA which get copied, 342 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,239 Speaker 1: and that's a big source of cancer. So what they 343 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:32,640 Speaker 1: are is not very mysterious, right, Like we can make 344 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: them here on Earth, that's right, Yeah, exactly, we can 345 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: make gamma rays here on Earth. Um and gamma rays 346 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: are produced by radioactive elements all the time, right, they're 347 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 1: just high energy photons from radioactive decays. So there are 348 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: gamma rays around one of them just hit you right now. Um. Yes, 349 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: So gamma rays themselves not mysterious. We know all about them. 350 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:55,359 Speaker 1: We can make them. Um. The question is what out 351 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:59,400 Speaker 1: there might be making gamma rays. And that's the fascinating 352 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: part of the story. That's um the interesting mystery, right 353 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: is that we know the gamma rays are produced when 354 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:07,639 Speaker 1: we do experience with with nuclear weapons. Right, you do, 355 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,000 Speaker 1: you blow up a nuclear bomb, You're gonna produce a 356 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 1: lot of gamma rays. So when in the Cold War, 357 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: when we had trees with with with the Russians saying 358 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: no testing or whatever, we sent up a bunch of 359 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: satellites to verify that they weren't testing trying to detect 360 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,159 Speaker 1: gamma rays from nuclear explosions. And um, I don't know 361 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: if they found that. They haven't released that. But what 362 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,520 Speaker 1: they did discover is a bunch of gamma rays not 363 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: coming from the Soviet Union, not coming from somewhere else 364 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:37,080 Speaker 1: on Earth, not coming from the mountain volcano layer of 365 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: some evil villain, but instead coming from deep in space. 366 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: So the mysteries that we're getting bombarded by gamma rays, 367 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 1: but we don't know, we didn't know really came from. Yeah. 368 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:51,399 Speaker 1: And the really fascinating thing about them is that it's 369 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: not like a continual source. It's not just like you know, 370 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: the solar wind where it's just like constantly coming. They 371 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 1: come in bursts. And that's really interesting because it you 372 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: think like something happened, something created this, like some big 373 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,640 Speaker 1: event occurred and must have produced this burst, right, And 374 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 1: that's a clue. It's like, what's going on out there 375 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: seems feels like a message or a clue about something 376 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: fascinating that's happening somewhere else in the universe. So what 377 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: do you mean by a burst? Like we we suddenly, um, 378 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: suddenly we're washed by a bunch of gamma rays and 379 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: then it stops. Yeah, and it's exactly like a huge 380 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: pile them come all at once, you know, it's like 381 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: a big flash in the sky, like quite literally a 382 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: big flash in the sky. And then the other fascinating 383 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,119 Speaker 1: thing is that there are two kinds is like short 384 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: gamma ray bursts. One that ones that last much less 385 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,560 Speaker 1: than a second, like less than half a second, and 386 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: then there's ones that last like twenty or thirty seconds, 387 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: um and it's not like a continuous range. It's not 388 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: like you know, every gamma ray burst is you know, um, 389 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: some somewhere less than thirty seconds, and there's a smooth distribution. 390 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: There's like two bumps if you made histogram, like a 391 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: lot of them. A lot of them peak at like 392 00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 1: zero point three seconds, and a lot of them peak 393 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 1: it like the earty seconds. So there's definitely two kinds 394 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:06,960 Speaker 1: of bursts happening. It kind of sounds like Morse quote exactly, 395 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: some very slow message. That's the exciting thing, Right, you 396 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:12,920 Speaker 1: don't know what's creating this. You don't know is out 397 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: there making it, and it could be anything. It could 398 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: be like some new kind of star you never saw before, 399 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: or it could be some bizarre galactic race sending you 400 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: messages over decades, right, who knows? Planet Hulk. Yeah, because 401 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,679 Speaker 1: it's they're not very common. It's not like they're happening 402 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: all the time, you know. Um, these days are estimated 403 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: that we about what about one per day hits the Earth. 404 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,879 Speaker 1: So we first to take these with cold warp satellites. Yeah, 405 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: exactly what do people think, Like, did they think was 406 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: a glitch or at first they had no idea they're like, 407 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: what you know. First, I'm sure they thought, are the 408 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: Soviets testing and outer space? Maybe they're already at the 409 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,719 Speaker 1: Moon or something. Right, Um, we could tell they were 410 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 1: coming from out of space. Yeah, we could tell they 411 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:56,440 Speaker 1: were coming from outer space. Absolutely, we could tell the 412 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,639 Speaker 1: direction of And you know, they didn't release a lot 413 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 1: of details because all this in nation comes from like 414 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:06,399 Speaker 1: classified satellites. Um, as scientists, we sometimes wonder, like we 415 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: spend all this money trying to get satellites up in 416 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: space to answer scientists scientific questions, but the budget for 417 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,439 Speaker 1: defense is much bigger, and there's a huge network of 418 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: defense satellites listening for stuff and telescopes and all sorts 419 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: of stuff, and we wonder sometimes like could we use 420 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,159 Speaker 1: that network for science, Like it's so much bigger and 421 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: more powerful. Of course it's not designed to do science, 422 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: but sometimes it can accidentally do signs, and that's what 423 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:33,360 Speaker 1: happened here. So we don't know a lot of details 424 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:37,439 Speaker 1: about the technical capabilities of these Department of Defense satellites. 425 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:40,760 Speaker 1: But after a few years, the d D realized, Okay, 426 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,359 Speaker 1: this is not Russian's this is something weird and interesting 427 00:22:43,359 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 1: from outer space, and so they declassified this data and 428 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,199 Speaker 1: shared it with the scientific community, and that's what they 429 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,280 Speaker 1: used to discover what they were. Yeah, that was the 430 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: first hint. And then the scientists were like, we have 431 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: no idea, what is this. Let's study it some more 432 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: and there's a lesson. They're also folks like if the 433 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: government did discover aliens, they would probably turn it over 434 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: to the scientific community to help them figure it out. Right, 435 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: that's basically what happened here, right. Weird enough Hollywood movies, Daniel, 436 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: and they always try to cover it up. Yeah, I 437 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:13,320 Speaker 1: should be a consultant in some of those Hollywood movies 438 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: because I have better ideas. So then the scientific community said, well, wow, 439 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,159 Speaker 1: we have no idea what could make this And it 440 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:24,880 Speaker 1: was really it was a puzzle for a long time. 441 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: So um, because it's it's uh, they knew it wasn't 442 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 1: coming from the sun, right, And these these weren't just 443 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: like a little small burst. These are really bright bursts, right, 444 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: that's right, They're really bright. And so the first thing 445 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: you do in astronomy when you see a signal you 446 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,119 Speaker 1: don't know what it is, you try to figure out 447 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,680 Speaker 1: where it's coming from. Right, you pointed in the sky, 448 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: if you can connect it with something in this in 449 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,119 Speaker 1: the sky, then you think, oh, it's came from there, right, 450 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,400 Speaker 1: pretty simple stuff. So they know it didn't come from 451 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,439 Speaker 1: the Sun. They also didn't seem to be coming from 452 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,080 Speaker 1: anything in our galaxy. Like we know where we are 453 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: relative to the galaxy, and so some signals being generated 454 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: by some like new kind of star or some activity 455 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: in our galaxy, it's going to be mostly coming from 456 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,159 Speaker 1: the direction of the center of the galaxy or the 457 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: plane of the galaxy. Right, But these things were coming 458 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: from every direction, like random directions. So suggest that's not 459 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: something happening in our galaxy, but something coming to us 460 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:24,200 Speaker 1: from other galaxies. Wow. So for something to be that 461 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: far away and for us to feel it and to 462 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: get so many of these photons, it's like at the source, 463 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: it must be huge, right, Like it must be like 464 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,800 Speaker 1: a huge bright explosion. Yeah. Absolutely, It's kind of scary 465 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 1: to think about because these gamma ray bursts they're like 466 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: as powerful as like a star, you know, when when 467 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,120 Speaker 1: they hit us, the light from the gamma ray burst 468 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: is about as much energy as the life from a 469 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 1: star in our galaxy. Right. But but if it but 470 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: if it came from really far away then, I mean 471 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: that must have and it probably sprayed that much in 472 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,280 Speaker 1: all directions. Right, Well, we actually don't know about that. 473 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,880 Speaker 1: We don't know um that much about how they're made, 474 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: So it could be like um like blaze oars and 475 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: pulsars that they're concentrated in in some directions, like along 476 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 1: the magnetic polls. But whatever it is, they're super bright 477 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,679 Speaker 1: at the source because remember, other galaxies are crazy far away, 478 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: Like other stars are far away inside our galaxy, but 479 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,119 Speaker 1: other galaxies are like an order of magnitude further away. 480 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 1: So to even see those galaxies as hard, you have 481 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: to add up all the hundreds of billions of stars 482 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: in those galaxies just to see them. So to see 483 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: one object from that galaxy being as bright as a 484 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 1: star in our galaxy, I mean you have to do 485 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 1: the math. That's crazy, Um no, you I think, yeah, 486 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: you were telling me earlier. You did the math, and 487 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: it's about one million trillion times brighter than the Sun exactly. 488 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: That's how far away these things are. In order for 489 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: us to see them as bright as a star in 490 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: our galaxy, they have to be a million trillion times 491 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: brighter than the sun. But that's a fun thing to say, 492 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: isn't it a million trillion? Like say axillion? You know, 493 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: I don't even bother. I don't even know how many zeros. 494 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: It is a lot like bony swoops of ice cream? 495 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: Would you like a million trillion? Just a whole bunch 496 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: more than more than a million. It's it's a million 497 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,880 Speaker 1: times a trillion. It's a million times a trillion times 498 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 1: the Sun, which is already really bright. You know. That 499 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,360 Speaker 1: means there's stuff going on in the universe out there 500 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: all the time. That's a million trillion times brighter than 501 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: the Sun. Yeah, exactly. And so we think they come 502 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: from other galaxies. But that's a bit of a puzzle, right, 503 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: Like why only from other galaxies and not from hours? Um, 504 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: how are they? What are these things that are making 505 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: these gamma ray bers? How can they be so crazy powerful? 506 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: You mean we should be if they were common in 507 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: our galaxy, we would be getting them a lot more 508 00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: from the sides of the galaxy, right, like we would notice. Yeah, well, 509 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,880 Speaker 1: either they don't happen very often, in which case it's 510 00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: more likely to see them from other galaxies than from ours, right, 511 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,120 Speaker 1: because there are more other galaxies than ours, right, um, 512 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: or our galaxy is different from other galaxies in some way, 513 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: which is why we don't see them from our galaxy. Well, well, 514 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,120 Speaker 1: I was You were telling me also that there's more 515 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: energy in one second of these gamma ray burs than 516 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: possibly all the energy that our Sun will give in 517 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,600 Speaker 1: its entire life. That's right, It's a huge amount of energy. 518 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,159 Speaker 1: This is one of the funnest things about space and 519 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:29,120 Speaker 1: about astronomy, right, it's just the crazy numbers, you know, like, 520 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,280 Speaker 1: can you wrap your mind around how much energy is 521 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 1: going to be put out by the Sun over billions 522 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 1: of years. I don't think it's possible for humans to 523 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: grasp this kind of stuff. I mean, even just the 524 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,679 Speaker 1: time scale billions of years. You know, it's hard for 525 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 1: humans that live for such a flicker to understand and 526 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 1: then integrate all the energy of this million earth ball 527 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: of fire and then focus that all into one second. 528 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: I mean, it's uh, it burns a hole in my mind. 529 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: It turns into the Hulk. Yeah, exactly. If you took 530 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,399 Speaker 1: the Earth right and you collided it with the anti Earth, 531 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,159 Speaker 1: like a antimatter version of the Earth, right, so you 532 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: converted all of the mass from the Earth into energy. 533 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's it's crazy powerful. Right. For example, 534 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: if you collided to raisins out of raisin and an 535 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,200 Speaker 1: anti raisin, it would have as much energy as a 536 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon. Right, So it's a huge amount of energy 537 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 1: is stored in a raisin. Now imagine doing that for 538 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: the Earth. Right, You'd have to do that for a 539 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: hundred copies of the Earth to get as much energy 540 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:30,439 Speaker 1: as is stored in these gamma ray bursts. What if 541 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 1: you collide a hulk in an anti hulk they both 542 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:38,600 Speaker 1: get piste off. Yeah, dude's mash it's each each other 543 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: and and anti smash they would you know up as well? 544 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: I don't know, but you are generating a huge list 545 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: of great ideas for the next Marvel movies. I hope 546 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: you're you're patenting these? Yeah yeah, Mark Ruffo will call me. 547 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: But yeah, So okay, let's so let's get into what 548 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: could be generating these game ray bers and are they dangerous? 549 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 1: But let's take a quick break. All right, So we're 550 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 1: talking about gamma ray berths, which are different than Billy 551 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: ray shires. We've established that and that they're also just 552 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: regular photons but super highly energetic, and we're getting these 553 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: crazy births from out of space. So, Daniel, what could 554 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: be causing these births? What could be out there making 555 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: these that we were feeling them so so um energetic 556 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:39,360 Speaker 1: here on Earth. Well, the short answer is we don't 557 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 1: really know very well. We have now recently some hypotheses 558 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: that might work, but the truth is we don't really 559 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: know um. And remember, there's two kinds of gamma ray bursus, 560 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:52,719 Speaker 1: the short and the long. Short last less than a second, 561 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: and the long last like thirty seconds. And the best 562 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: guesses these days are that the short ones are due 563 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 1: to neutron stars that are in a binary system, so 564 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: they're orbiting each other, and when they do this, they 565 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: lose energy slowly so that they rotate around each other 566 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,640 Speaker 1: and get closer and closer and closer and eventually collide. 567 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: And this is exciting stuff astronomically, because we recently saw 568 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: like gravitational waves coming from neutron star collisions and we 569 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: confirmed that like all of the gold in the universe 570 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 1: is probably made in neutron star collisions and all sorts 571 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,720 Speaker 1: of crazy stuff. But the we think it might also 572 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: produce these gamma ray bursts because it's a huge amount 573 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:30,920 Speaker 1: of energy and if you read the details about it, 574 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,520 Speaker 1: it's crazy. That means that there's a short birth. Right, 575 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,000 Speaker 1: there's their point three seconds long, and you're saying they generate, Like, 576 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,960 Speaker 1: that's how fast these neutron stars are crashing into each other, 577 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: the whole thing that's about point three seconds. No, it's um. 578 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: The bursts itself, they think comes from the crust of 579 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: the neutron stars um being crushed by the gravitational pressure 580 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,920 Speaker 1: from the other neutron stars. Remember, if you're close to 581 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: a really heavy object, you get these tidal forces because 582 00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,520 Speaker 1: gravity acts differently on things further away and closer up, 583 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: so you basically they get massaged. So two neutron stars 584 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,080 Speaker 1: are like massaging each other just before they collide, which 585 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 1: is making the crust of them um basically shake and crack. 586 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: So you're getting these like earthquakes on the surface of 587 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,240 Speaker 1: neutron stars just before they collide. That might be generating 588 00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:19,840 Speaker 1: these crazy fast bursts of gamma rays. I mean, it 589 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 1: sounds like science fiction, right. If I pitched that to Marvel, 590 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: they'd be like, that's sorry, that's too far out there, 591 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: But we think that's actually happening. It's really like you're 592 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: colliding to suns. Right, you're exactly. They get neutron star 593 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,160 Speaker 1: taking a neutron star and used to smash them together 594 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: and in that point three seconds it explodes, right. Yeah, 595 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: But I have to remind you that our previous episode 596 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: about neutron stars, you complain that neutron stars aren't really stars. 597 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: They should just be called neutron balls because they don't glow. Okay, 598 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: so when you smash the balls together, that's where you 599 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: get there. And I have to say a lot of 600 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: our listeners on Twitter agreed with you that they should 601 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 1: be called balls. Yeah, exactly, they should be demoted from 602 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 1: starts to balls. Yeah. You sound surprised that people on 603 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,720 Speaker 1: Twitter agree with me. I'm surprised that people it's on 604 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:08,360 Speaker 1: Twitter agree with anybody. Congratulations, you've unified social media with overalls. 605 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. We have located a few of them, like 606 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: neutron star collisions. We can see in other ways. Right, 607 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: we can see them from their gravitational wave emissions that 608 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 1: that's pretty rare, but we can see them from the 609 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 1: bright flashes of visible light that they produce. And so 610 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,840 Speaker 1: the Trick has been watching these things for years and 611 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:33,680 Speaker 1: basically constructing dedicated satellites that are looking for these things. 612 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: And the key is that they don't last very long. 613 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: So what you want to do is as soon as 614 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: you see one, you've got to point all your good 615 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,480 Speaker 1: telescopes at it. So the science community become much better 616 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,320 Speaker 1: at that building dedicated telescopes that look for these things, 617 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,880 Speaker 1: and then everybody swivels over to look at it at 618 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: the same time, which gives you a good review of it. 619 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: But you only have points three seconds, yeah, exactly. You 620 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,640 Speaker 1: gotta be fast, um for these really fast ones. And 621 00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: so some of these telescopes are all hooked up, like 622 00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: the firm me tell lescope that's orbiting the Earth has 623 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: a gamma ray burst detector and when it's when it 624 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: finds something and it immediately sends a message. And then 625 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,520 Speaker 1: telescopes on Earth point in that direction and try to capture, um, 626 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: you know, the last bits of the of the burst 627 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: before it disappears, and also to capture anything else coming 628 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 1: from that direction. And that's where we got these clues. 629 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,240 Speaker 1: We started watching the guy more carefully and seeing what 630 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: else was coming from the direction of the gamma ray bursts, 631 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,640 Speaker 1: and that gave people ideas about what could be happening 632 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 1: that could be causing them. So you get an idea like, oh, 633 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: maybe it's neutron stars, in which case we should see 634 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: this and that and the other thing also, And then 635 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,560 Speaker 1: they started to pick those things up. Okay, so that's 636 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 1: the short birds, that's where they we think they come from. 637 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 1: What about the long burst, the thirty second ones? Yeah, 638 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: the long bursts come from super duper supernova's right? Um? Yeah, 639 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: super duper supernovas. Is that the technical that like a 640 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: million trillion supernovas, that's a super duper ice cream sunday. 641 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: You know, the technical term is a hypernova hypernova? Yeah, 642 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: oh man, but I prefer superduper supernova because it sounds 643 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,000 Speaker 1: better than supernova. So they're not just a supernova. They're 644 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: like extra special, the extra special, extra big big implosions. 645 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: And this is still something that's not very well understood. Um, 646 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: you know, why do some supernovas produce gamma ray bursts 647 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 1: and some don't. But they did this modeling and they said, Okay, 648 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: if there is a big supernova, then we expect that 649 00:34:23,280 --> 00:34:25,759 Speaker 1: after the gamma ray bursts, we should see a bunch 650 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: of X rays because the gas nearby the supernova is 651 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: going to collide and then emit, and so they did 652 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,480 Speaker 1: some complicated modeling and made predictions, and in fact they 653 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: see this afterglow, after the after these long gamma ray bursts, 654 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,400 Speaker 1: they see X rays. So those are slightly lower energy 655 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: photons in the spectrum that they expect if it was 656 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: a supernova. So it partially answers the question because it 657 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,000 Speaker 1: tells us these long gamma ray bursts probably come from 658 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: these crazy hypernovas. But we have hypernovas in the Milky Way, 659 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:56,960 Speaker 1: and there's lots of hypernovas and not that many gamma 660 00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,360 Speaker 1: ray birsts. So is it like a special kind of 661 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: hypernova or only in some cases, or that's the kind 662 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:04,960 Speaker 1: of thing. They're still trying to figure out what you're saying, 663 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:10,839 Speaker 1: we need another term special super duper supernova, all hypernovas 664 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: are special or he I don't know why you have 665 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 1: to be so judgmental today. What's next? Or you can 666 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,160 Speaker 1: have to call go for like hyper special, extra cool, 667 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:25,719 Speaker 1: super califragilistic on top super dupernova. Yeah, so it's it's 668 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 1: still a puzzle. We don't understand it, right, we don't 669 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,879 Speaker 1: understand why they made Sometimes um, some people think that 670 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,560 Speaker 1: that if a supernova collapses like in a certain way, 671 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: then it creates this cloud of stuff around it which 672 00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,719 Speaker 1: absorbs the gamma rays and other times the gamma rays 673 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:42,440 Speaker 1: poked through and then shoot out everywhere else. But it 674 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: would make sense that a supernova or killernova or hypernova 675 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:48,319 Speaker 1: or whatever could generate this much energy because that's a 676 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: huge event, right, these massive stars imploding, So that that 677 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:53,719 Speaker 1: definitely could explain it. I feel like next time you 678 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:55,840 Speaker 1: should start a little bit more modestly so that you 679 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,759 Speaker 1: have room to grow. You known, you discover something big 680 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,360 Speaker 1: is called like a modest nova or like a just 681 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: a regular note, you have room to grow. No, I 682 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,680 Speaker 1: like going the way McDonald's went for their drink sizes. 683 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 1: You know, you start with medium, which is already huge, 684 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:17,800 Speaker 1: and then you escalate. Um. Yeah, exactly, And so that's 685 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,759 Speaker 1: a that's probably what's causing it, but we don't really 686 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: understand it in detail, and it's important that we understand 687 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:26,160 Speaker 1: it because we want to understand, like, is one of 688 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:28,279 Speaker 1: these things going to happen in the middleky way? How 689 00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,040 Speaker 1: often are these things going to be hitting us? Do 690 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 1: we have to worry? So it's important to understand this stuff. Yeah, 691 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,719 Speaker 1: it's weird that there would be things that were not 692 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: we can't quite explain out there. Yeah, exactly, especially things 693 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 1: that could kill us. Right, So it's like, I think 694 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 1: it's worth funding politicians out there with the purse strings, 695 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,080 Speaker 1: you know, maybe by one less fighter jet and to 696 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,759 Speaker 1: pay for another telescope to look at gamma rays. Wait, 697 00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: so could these things kill us? Or I think you're 698 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 1: telling me earlier that you know, if the right concentration 699 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 1: hits us at the right moment, it could really fried 700 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:04,919 Speaker 1: and turns into toast. Yeah, exactly. The key is how 701 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:08,680 Speaker 1: far away it happens, right, So, gamma ray bursts from 702 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:11,399 Speaker 1: other galaxies, we're far enough away that by the time 703 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,400 Speaker 1: it gets here, you know, those gamma rays are filling 704 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:19,040 Speaker 1: out a sphere that's the size of the distance between galaxies. 705 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: So it's a huge number of gamma rays, a lot 706 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,520 Speaker 1: of energy, but it's spread out over a huge sphere. 707 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: If a gamma ray burst happens nearby, yikes, you know, 708 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:31,320 Speaker 1: a gamma ray burst could basically sterilize an entire solar system. 709 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,399 Speaker 1: If it happened nearby, that would be pretty we would 710 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,919 Speaker 1: literally be toast. We would what what would the Earth 711 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: look like? Well, it would be like a flash sunburn, 712 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,480 Speaker 1: wouldn't it Like half the Earth would be okay, but 713 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,160 Speaker 1: the other half would be toast. Yeah, exactly half the 714 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,399 Speaker 1: Earth would be totally fried and the other half would 715 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,799 Speaker 1: be okay. Um, yeah, that that's exactly what happened. And 716 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:53,280 Speaker 1: it depends again on the intensity. If it's really really intense, 717 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:55,279 Speaker 1: you know, then it's going to get down to the 718 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,200 Speaker 1: atmosphere and we're all gonna either get fried or get 719 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:02,920 Speaker 1: cancer or die pretty quick. Um. If it's slightly less intense, right, 720 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 1: our atmosphere does protect us. The ozone and the atmosphere 721 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:07,799 Speaker 1: and stuff like that protects us from gamma rays. Like 722 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,440 Speaker 1: focus you out there wondering, we're getting hit once per 723 00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: day from these gamma rays from other galaxies. Why don't 724 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,440 Speaker 1: we all have cancer already? Well, some of us do 725 00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,799 Speaker 1: have cancer, and some of that is because of gamma rays, 726 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,520 Speaker 1: but mostly the atmosphere protects us. And so if it's 727 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 1: not too close, then our atmosphere will protect us. But 728 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,560 Speaker 1: the atmosphere has a limit, like the gamma rays they 729 00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: use up the ozone. So if you have a really 730 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,400 Speaker 1: big burst of gamma rays from pretty nearby, not not 731 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:35,719 Speaker 1: close enough, that it's going to fry you instantly, but 732 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:37,400 Speaker 1: it might use up a lot of the ozone and 733 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,040 Speaker 1: the atmosphere and they will be sort of left unprotected 734 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 1: for a while until the ozone builds back up. So, um, 735 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:45,360 Speaker 1: that could be a bad situation. Well, I think it was. 736 00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:47,920 Speaker 1: It's interesting to think that maybe you were saying that 737 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:51,400 Speaker 1: maybe these these could be the limiting factors in in 738 00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: how life how widespread life could be in the universe, right, 739 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,600 Speaker 1: Like these are basically kind of a like a check 740 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 1: on life in the universe. Like, if we didn't have 741 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:03,960 Speaker 1: gamma ray burst, maybe there would be more life out 742 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:06,799 Speaker 1: there in the universe. Yeah, it's actually interesting because it 743 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:09,239 Speaker 1: goes both ways, right, Like some galaxies, if they have 744 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,719 Speaker 1: a lot of these stars that are going supernova and 745 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:14,880 Speaker 1: making these gamma ray bursts, then it's pretty hard to 746 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,520 Speaker 1: get life started because it's just so much crazy radiation. 747 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:21,960 Speaker 1: On the other hand, you also need a bit of radiation, right, Remember, 748 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,920 Speaker 1: like having a particle fly through and change your DNA 749 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,920 Speaker 1: is a key element to evolution. It allows us to 750 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:31,799 Speaker 1: explore the evolutionary landscape by adding random mutations. So if 751 00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,800 Speaker 1: you had zero radiation, then you wouldn't then evolution wouldn't 752 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,719 Speaker 1: be as effective. Really, Yeah, you need some amount of 753 00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,239 Speaker 1: revolution depends on gamma ray bursts. Well, you know, how 754 00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:44,560 Speaker 1: does evolution work, right? You need your children to be 755 00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,400 Speaker 1: slightly different from you. Right, they're not just a combination 756 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: of units that happened randomly through biological processes like it. 757 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: Really you're saying really needs radiation from out of space. Well, 758 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,120 Speaker 1: you know there's two main sources there. This transcription errors, 759 00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 1: like when the DNA gets copied there there are mistakes 760 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 1: that are made. But also, yeah, radiation plays a role 761 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,759 Speaker 1: as well, and so, um, you have a slower rate 762 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,560 Speaker 1: of mutation if you didn't have gamma rays, if you 763 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:14,520 Speaker 1: didn't have radiation, and so you could explore different evolutionary paths. Um, 764 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:16,440 Speaker 1: not as quickly if you didn't have radiation. So you 765 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: want just the right amount of radiation, right. So I 766 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 1: think what you're saying is a physicist here is making 767 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:24,239 Speaker 1: a statement that basically we're we're all hulk. That kind 768 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:28,879 Speaker 1: of what you're exactly like every human being is kind 769 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:30,719 Speaker 1: of like the Hulk. It's not about being the Hulk, 770 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: it's about the radiation you absorbed along the way. Yeah. Um, 771 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:39,640 Speaker 1: but so far, the closest gamma ray burst we've ever 772 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,240 Speaker 1: seen is like a hundred and thirty million light years away, 773 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,319 Speaker 1: which is still really really far away, which is in 774 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: another galaxy. Right, Yeah, that's in another galaxy, and if 775 00:40:48,719 --> 00:40:51,839 Speaker 1: one happened in our galaxy, that would be tough. But 776 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,160 Speaker 1: we think, I mean, the current estimacies are all really 777 00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: really rough. But is that there's like one gamma ray 778 00:40:57,040 --> 00:41:00,799 Speaker 1: burst per galaxy per thousand years. I remember, there's a 779 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: lot of stars in the galaxy, right, hundreds of billions 780 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:06,239 Speaker 1: of stars, so for one of them to give a 781 00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 1: gama ray burst every thousand years means it's a pretty 782 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,680 Speaker 1: rare event. And that makes sense. So the reason we 783 00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:13,799 Speaker 1: haven't seen any from our Milky Way is probably just 784 00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,239 Speaker 1: that hasn't happened yet. So wait, if we get an 785 00:41:16,239 --> 00:41:20,960 Speaker 1: extra special super duper supernova in the Milky Way, that's it, right, 786 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 1: we're toast. Well, it depends. The Milky Way is a 787 00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 1: big place, so if it happens in the other side 788 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:28,319 Speaker 1: of the Milky Way, it's a big difference than if 789 00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 1: it happens like next door. Um. Also, we think that 790 00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 1: these gamma ray bursts are directional, that they happened, that 791 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,879 Speaker 1: they fly out in jets from the supernova, just like 792 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,799 Speaker 1: from the pulsars and quasars we talked about. So it 793 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:43,520 Speaker 1: might not even be aimed at us. It could happen 794 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,400 Speaker 1: next door and we could be fine, or it could 795 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: fry us. Like it it's abused these gamma rays in 796 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,960 Speaker 1: one direction and we might get lucky. Exactly. We're basically 797 00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:57,759 Speaker 1: playing cosmic Russian roulette all the time. So we brought 798 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:04,000 Speaker 1: it back to Russias crazy. We brought crazy Russian led exactly. So, Um, 799 00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,440 Speaker 1: so we don't really know the details of how gamma 800 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:08,200 Speaker 1: ray birsts are formed that we have a lot better 801 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:10,799 Speaker 1: understand than we did a few decades ago. Um, we 802 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:12,719 Speaker 1: don't know how often they happened. We just sort of 803 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,320 Speaker 1: hoping that one doesn't happen. But to me, the crazy 804 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,880 Speaker 1: thing is that gamma ray bursts travel at the speed 805 00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:23,279 Speaker 1: of light, and that is an important consequence. Yeah, because 806 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:26,600 Speaker 1: you wouldn't see it coming right Exactly. You can't possibly 807 00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:29,200 Speaker 1: have any warning, right unless you can predict that a 808 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:30,839 Speaker 1: star is going to go super new but and give 809 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:32,920 Speaker 1: off a gamma ray burst. You're not gonna watch every 810 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,960 Speaker 1: single star and try to predict which one. Um, there's 811 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,239 Speaker 1: no advanced notice right. The first thing you hear about 812 00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:41,319 Speaker 1: a gamer ray burst is when it's washing over you 813 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:44,360 Speaker 1: and frying your DNA, So there could be one on 814 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,800 Speaker 1: its way right now. How does that make you feel? 815 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:51,879 Speaker 1: Makes me feel a little crazy toasty? Well, I think 816 00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:55,120 Speaker 1: you know, it seems like, um, there are many surprises 817 00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:57,760 Speaker 1: out there in the universe, and we should be ready 818 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:01,080 Speaker 1: for them, and we should be excited for them, and 819 00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:04,200 Speaker 1: we should appreciate the being here in the life we 820 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 1: have because you know, it could really literally be snuffed 821 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,359 Speaker 1: out in a second at any time. That's true. And 822 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:12,880 Speaker 1: you know, most of these cosmic mysteries just help us 823 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,880 Speaker 1: understand what a beautiful and crazy place this universe is. 824 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 1: Very few of them are actually going to kill us, 825 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:21,600 Speaker 1: and so don't worry about it too much, folks. And 826 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,319 Speaker 1: there's nothing you can do anyway, So don't worry about it, 827 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:29,759 Speaker 1: that's right. Just relax, lower your heart rate, the sun 828 00:43:29,880 --> 00:43:32,759 Speaker 1: is coming down. Just be at peace, like Bruce Bank. 829 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:36,400 Speaker 1: There you go, exactly. We're all Bruce Banner, see you 830 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:47,280 Speaker 1: next time. If you still have a question after listening 831 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:50,400 Speaker 1: to all these explanations, please drop us a line. We'd 832 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:53,240 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can find us at Facebook, Twitter, 833 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: and Instagram at Daniel and Jorge That's one Word, or 834 00:43:57,120 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 1: email us at Feedback at Daniel and Jorge dot com. 835 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain 836 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:07,200 Speaker 1: the Universe is a production I Heart Radio. For more 837 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: podcast for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 838 00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:14,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.