WEBVTT - Astronauts in Spaceships Getting Coffee 0:00:00.000 --> 0:00:03.120 Hey, everybody, this is future Robert uh speaking on this 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:06.080 past episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. I just 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:08.680 want to warn you in this episode, as at one 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:11.799 point I refer to the I S. S. Presso machine 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.000 as weighing four hundred pounds, I'm meant to say it 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.439 weighs forty pounds. Well, that totally undercuts my reaction to it, 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:21.720 so disregard all all considerations given thereafter. Alright, well that's 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:23.280 all we had to say. So we're gonna jump back 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.760 in the time machine and we'll chat to you again 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.600 in a future episode. But continue to enjoy this past 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:35.520 episode about coffee in space. Welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:44.120 your Mind from how Stuff Works dot com. Hey you, 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:45.880 welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My name is 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.920 Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And before we got 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.960 on Mike here, Robert and I were just talking about 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.800 our favorite coffee cliches. What do you call those sayings, 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.160 like sayings that people put on a T shirt or 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.520 in a little meme or on a pillow or a 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.200 key cha fob, Like you're talking about a little bumper 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.319 sticker wisdom, aren't you. Yeah, I don't know what the 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.640 word for that is it's not quotes, but the kinds 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:10.199 of text you put on things in order to be witty, 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.880 Like I like my coffee, like I like my men, 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.560 And then there's some joke, yeah, sort of like, uh, 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.120 I like my coffee, like I like my astronauts, bold 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:23.280 and highly susceptible to cosmic radiation. I like my coffee 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:27.360 like I like my men congested and with bone atrophy. 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.560 That doesn't make any sense to but but it we've failed, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.480 we wouldn't know. We haven't failed. But what we're trying 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.400 to do as noble, we're trying to bring coffee and 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:41.000 space together. And really that's been that's been a noble 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.280 mission in space exploration in general for a while. How 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.240 How are we going to enable our brave astronauts to 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:52.360 drink coffee in space? This is an important subject, and 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.640 I actually mean that it's not. This might be kind 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.400 of kind of a niche topic maybe, but but stick 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.080 around because coffee and space is more interesting than you 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.200 might think, and it's more important than you might think. Yeah, 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.000 I mean, certainly we're gonna get into some into some 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.120 cool physics here. Relate. Those are the fluid dynamics of 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:14.680 liquids and uh and and heated liquids in microgravity. But 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.600 I mean, bottom line, coffee in the experience of having 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:21.960 a cup of coffee is a very important terrestrial practice. 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:26.480 And as we go into space, uh it is it's 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:29.120 it's good to have something like that to bring with us. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.040 It grounds us, It gives us a sense of calm, 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:37.720 a sense of of normalcy in this highly dangerous environment. Robert, 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.680 what do you think would happen if you were, at 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:43.240 the same time asked to do something unusual, you had 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.919 to like undertake a dangerous mission, and you were also 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.799 deprived of coffee concurrent with that. Mmmm, well, I would 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.520 have to have this. This does happen sometimes, really, Yeah, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.040 like when it's when traveling. Sometimes, you know, some sort 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.680 of stress comes up on traveling. So what I try 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.360 and do is have some sort of like green tea 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.120 pills on hand, you know, something where I can I 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.200 can give myself some caffeine and and I'm not having 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.440 to just chase down a bad cup of coffee in 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.600 the middle of nowhere to get pills. I don't mean 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.760 to judge that sounds sterile and perverted. You know, there's 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:19.160 no pleasure in it, except it can help stave off, 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.720 you know, a caffeine headache. It can help keep me 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.560 awake if I'm driving, that sort of thing. And so 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:30.960 if I was an outer space conceivably, you know, I 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.800 imagine I could get by without the coffee. It provided 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.119 that I had access to the green tea pills or 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.480 you know, or whatever what other whatever kind of you know, 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.320 additional stimuli they had up there on hand to keep 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:47.320 me alert and focused. But coffee is more than just caffeine, right, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.920 I mean that caffeine is one of the main things 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.760 about it. We like, we like it's drug effects, but 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:56.720 coffee is an institution of human life in many cultures 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.320 around the world. It's not just a chemical, but it's 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.760 an important texture of life. Yeah, I mean, it's it's 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.400 the drinking of the coffee and the but it's also 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.800 the making of the coffee. Just the practice of making 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.280 a cup of coffee for many people, um, myself included, 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.600 like that is a part of the ritual you you 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:17.680 you just it's part of your morning or your your 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.280 afternoon whenever you you know, you have that at that 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:24.080 essential cup. It's quiet, it's meditative. It makes me start 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.720 to feel like I'm getting ready for the day. It's 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:29.240 one of those things that you know. I think often 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:35.799 we underestimate the power of simple physical rituals in preparing 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.120 our mind space for for activities. Like people think they 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.800 need coffee because they need caffeine in order to start 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.200 getting work done, and that that is somewhat true. The 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.960 caffeine does something, but you also need the process of 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:51.720 the brewing and the drinking that doing those familiar motions 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:55.080 gets you primed. Yeah, it's the you're engaging in the 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.800 story too, like this is the story of the thing 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.800 I must do to start working and uh And likewise, 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.040 that's a whole other avenue to for many coffee drinkers 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.040 like the story of the beans. And certainly, yes, they 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:10.560 are varying degrees of quality and varying flavors for different 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.000 different types of coffee beans and different preparation methods, etcetera. 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.960 But we also get just so into the story off 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.520 and it's like with with with the with with wine enthusiast, right, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:25.200 I mean, there's some scientific studies that that kind of 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:30.120 cast doubt onto what degree of wine enthusiasts can actually taste. 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.560 Various differences in the uh, you know, the vintage that 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.760 they're drinking. But I mean, if you put a label 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.360 on wine that's a taste like seashells and sweet and low, 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.600 people would be able to taste that, right. Yeah. But 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:44.720 but ultimately it's all about the story of that wine, 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.760 and you're engaging with that story and it's bringing you value. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.559 You know, it's a and I don't think there's anything 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:52.359 wrong with that. And so there's there's that going on 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.159 with coffee as well, And as we'll touch on later, 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.160 there's a little of that in the story of coffee 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:59.159 and space, you know, or Abert one of the things 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:03.719 that you made me realizes that the reason we actually 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.520 need coffee in space for real astronauts is the same 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.880 reason there's always a scene of astronauts drinking coffee in 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.320 sci fi movies about space. Oh yeah, yeah, we were 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.760 we were sort of brainstorming about this, like what what films? 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:20.320 What classic sci fi films, uh, you know have coffee 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:23.200 drinking scenes. And there's you see it in Alien from 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.320 seventy nine, you see it in a silent running from 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.000 seventy two two thousand and one of Space Odyssey. There's 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.720 stally forgotten. Yeah, now I now I'm not so, I 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:33.560 don't remember. It's been a little while since I've seen it. 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.000 I'm due for a reviewing. It's possible that they're they're 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.520 they're drinking tea. I'm not sure which characters are are 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.159 drinking in this particular scene, but maybe just scalding hot 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.839 orange juice. But but t is very similar, of course, 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:48.640 because the tea is also checking off the same boxes, 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:53.280 the ritual, the you know, the hot brew that invigorates you, etcetera. 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:55.680 Speaking of tea, we know that at least a certain 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.800 Starfleet captain loves his oh gray hot. But do they 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.560 drink coffee on the Inner Prize? Uh? They did, at 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.280 least I found a screenshot from from Star Trek Voyager, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.560 So there's at least one scene with coffee. But I'm 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:11.600 sure they're countless other examples of characters drinking some sort 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.360 of coffee based beverage. Did the long Ones drink coffee 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.920 in the expanse Um, Well, there is a lot of 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.480 coffee drinking the in the expanse there's a particular high 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.880 grade coffee machine on one of the main ships, and 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.280 it's it's referenced a lot, and at one point it's 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:32.080 broken and and and everybody is is rather upset about it. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.360 But this is a show that does at least value 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.120 the the the engineering challenges involved with creating a proper 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.920 coffee brewing device for a spaceship that's going to be 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.760 going in and out of micro gravity. And then of 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.280 course there's this scene from Event Horizon, Don't speak of 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.960 It features some really tasteless jokes. Yeah yeah, but but 0:07:55.120 --> 0:08:00.200 even still, we see this trend continuing where you have characters, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.880 you know, in outer space, in this just unrelatable environment 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:07.760 for the vast majority of the human population. You have 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:11.800 them engaging and even more elaborate scenarios encountering aliens or 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.960 demons from from the you know, the the other side 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.800 of a wormhole. But there's if there's anything that we 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.000 can relate to and what they're doing and what they 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.840 want out of life, it's that cup of coffee. Oh yeah. 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.320 This is a standard part of narrative theory that you have. 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.680 If you want to tell an extraordinary story, you need 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:33.240 to ground the extraordinary elements of the story and mundane things, 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.520 things that make you feel familiar and comfortable, in order 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.559 to accent the unfamiliarity of the strange parts of the story. Yeah. 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.320 I remember Berto Eco wrote an essay dealing with some 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.440 of this, talking about coffee consumption in I think James 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:51.000 Bond novels, as well as another spy series. What was 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.079 the one that they made films of it with the 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:57.080 Michael Caine. What was Michael Caine's spy character. I just 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.199 looked it up. It's Harry Palmer. Yeah, that's the one. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.280 That's the one, so Hip Crest file. Yeah, So the 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.000 ideas you have, you have this these these spy characters 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.560 and they're doing all this this crazy stuff. They're gonna 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.040 have Harry Palms for some reason. But no matter what 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.400 they're doing, you know, if they're wrestling giant squid or 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.760 what have you, they're still drinking that coffee and that 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.600 that serves as an anchoring point for the for our experience. 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.680 A lot of horror and sci fi movies do this 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:25.760 also with cigarettes. Coffee and cigarettes I think are especially 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.559 useful consumables for this narrative purpose, for grounding the narrative 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.559 and a kind of mundane familiarity and comfort, because coffee 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.960 and cigarettes are symbols of order. You ever think about 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.160 this like you can group food and drink and drugs 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.040 into categories of order symbology and chaos symbology. Like if 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:48.360 you had characters on a on a starship doing heroin 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.560 or something like that, that would that would like throw 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:52.600 you off even more, right, it would sort of like 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.120 make the narrative feel even more untethered and chaotic. But 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.560 if you give people these drugs that we typically think 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:05.400 of as associated with regularity, stability, routine comfort, compliance, they're 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:09.440 sort of signals of orderliness and predictability. And nicotine and 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:11.800 caffeine are definitely both drugs like that, And of course 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.679 that's not an endorsement of of actually doing them now. 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:16.480 But to your point, like, the order comes from far 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:19.280 more than just the substance itself. It's the I've talked 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.120 to people who who have been smokers and former smokers, 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.480 and I think in most cases and they talk about 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.800 how just having the cigarette like gives them a sense 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:34.160 of purpose in a particular environment. So like you're standing around, um, 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.440 you know, outside at a show or something and the like, 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.360 having the cigarette it like kind of gives you license 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:44.560 to be there doing something and then potentially engaging socially 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.480 with other people. Yeah, well, it's also a meditative ritual, 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:50.839 and you perform the same familiar actions in the same 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:53.320 order over and over again, when you brew a cup 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.200 of coffee, or when you have a cigarette. Again not 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:59.559 endorsing tobacco, but when you do these things, you light 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.880 up again that familiar pathway in your brain. Yeah. I've 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.760 been at like, you know, social situations where I don't 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.319 know anyone, uh, and if there's coffee, or sometimes it's 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:11.960 just some other beverage. But as long as I have 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.160 the beverage, it gives me an added sense of purpose. 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:16.160 I have this thing that I'm doing, and then when 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.720 the cup is empty, I still feel compelled to carry 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.880 the cup around because if I put the cup down, 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.000 then I'm just standing here with nothing in my hands. 0:11:23.000 --> 0:11:25.280 What am I doing here? What kind of a freak show? 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.000 Am I? You need a cup in each hand, and 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:30.120 then you feel even more secure duct taped into place, 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:36.000 right Edward, coffee hands. Yeah. So it's clear coffee plays 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:39.839 a role in in establishing these meditative rituals that make 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.920 us feel comfortable, in putting us in a calm mindset, 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.960 getting us ready to do things, making us productive. It 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:47.959 has all these benefits. I wanted to talk about a 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.520 couple of other benefits. I just found poking around, uh 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:53.400 in in studies on the effects of coffee that seemed 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.840 like they would be useful in space. One of them, 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.400 Robert I. Bett, you may have encountered, this is the 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:02.120 principle we've discovered in re cent years that warm drinks 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.800 make us feel social warmth. Oh yeah, we have touched 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:08.120 on that before. Yeah, so the standard study, I think 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.120 the original one of these was published in Science UM 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.199 years ago by Williams and Bargain. It's called Experiencing physical 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:19.320 warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth, and the basic setup is you've 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.439 got people who hold a cup of hot coffee as 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:25.840 opposed to a cup of iced coffee. And apparently what 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.120 the study found is that subjects who were holding the 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.840 hot coffee quote judged a target person as having a 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.400 warmer personality in terms of being more generous or caring. 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.480 And also people holding the hot coffee were more likely 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.120 to choose a gift for a friend instead of for themselves. 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.600 And I've read there are subsequent studies on this that 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:48.880 look into things like oral temperature and all that. It 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:54.680 seems generally that hot beverages encourage positive social connections. And 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.800 we can certainly see the value of that just on 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:00.480 an office environment or out on the street, but certainly 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.040 in space you have a team that's having to work 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.560 together to give everything running, to keep everybody alive, sometimes 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.680 an international team. Uh. This the coffee and or tea 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.400 can be a unifying force exactly. And so this effect 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.600 maybe there with other hot beverages. I mean, sure you 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.880 could also have people hold and drink hot water or 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.439 scalding hot orange juice. But people already like hot coffee. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.360 They already have hot coffee rituals, So why not try 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.360 to give them that. I got another one. Have you 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.520 read about how coffee apparently seems to give you some 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:38.040 kind of advantage in causing the brain to recognize emotionally 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:42.480 positive stimuli. Huh yeah. So there was a study in 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:47.440 PLS one by Lars co Chink and Vanessa Lucks called 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:52.600 caffeine improves left hemisphere processing of positive words. So basically 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:56.240 what they found is that caffeine consumption boosts the speed 0:13:56.440 --> 0:13:59.520 at which the left hemisphere of the brain recognizes and 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.800 process us as positive words, but doesn't have any effect 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.800 on the processing speed of neutral or negative words. And 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.720 they think this is probably because caffeine seems to boost 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.720 dopamine transmission in the brain. The Ohio State professor of psychology, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:16.800 Gary Wink, who has written a lot about the connection 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:21.920 between foods and neurochemistry, rights that basically, the dopamine activity 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.160 caused by caffeine is probably one of the main reasons 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.240 that caffeine is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.560 substances across the entire world. And so, to go back 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.640 to the plos one study, the authors think that the 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:40.400 dopaminergenic qualities of caffeine are what's leading to this increased 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:44.720 positivity boost in in the processing powers of the you know, 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.760 the the verbal processing centers of the left hemisphere. So 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:50.680 at a time when you need people to work together 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.360 as a team, get along, well, have everybody happy with 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.640 each other seems to me like boosting the recognition of 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.720 words and other types of cues that signal positive emotions 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.880 sound is like a good deal, right, yeah, yeah, Anything 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.760 you can do to boost the positive communication, right, anything 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.240 that would help assist the processing of at least some 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:11.760 cues of positivity in our environment seems worthwhile. In space, 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.600 and of course again you could just have people take 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:19.000 a caffeine pill probably right. Yeah, but people already like coffee, 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.520 they already have coffee rituals. It seems like you can 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.920 you can get all of these different effects concentrated into 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.520 one thing if you just get coffee in space. So 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.320 is there a problem with coffee in space? Why can't 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:33.960 we just take mr Coffee up there? Well, it's only 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.360 occurring to me now that there's the whole diuretic coffee. 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.080 But that's a that's that's a that's a whole another 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:43.840 episode right there. Um, well, you're thinking about that while 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:47.080 I'm going on about positivity, you're like pooping. Yeah, well 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:49.920 I didn't think of it till till till now, to 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.960 be honest. But but I mean, that's a whole side 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.960 of the human condition that is also problematic in um microgravity, 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.480 and a lot of engineering problems has been directed at 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.960 the problems related to just going to the bathroom in space. 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.880 Less effort has been put into the coffee problem. Coffee 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.480 problem is is not as as high level, but the 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:14.920 problem of making coffee in space is that pretty much 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:18.400 all of our methods of of brewing coffee are highly 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.040 dependent upon gas on gravity. Oh yeah, and so you 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.480 don't even think about how important it is. Yeah, yeah, 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:29.080 even like just roughly speaking, there there two methods of 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.800 making coffee, Like one that's using that's straight up using 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:36.240 gravity like water flowing down through grounds and then brewing 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.280 the coffee. And then you have methods that involve pressure, 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.840 like an espresso machine or or or an aero press, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.640 which is a device I really love for my coffee. Um, 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:48.520 I've never used that. How does that work? Well, it's 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:51.960 it's essentially like a cylinder has a filter on one end. 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.400 You put the grounds in, you pour hot water in, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:56.640 and then use the plunger. You can let it steep 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.080 a little bit too, so you know, it's so it's 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.240 similar to something Frenche press in that respect, but then 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.920 you can press you you press it and the pressure 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.280 pushes the coffee out into your cup. But even that, 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:10.600 even though pressure is involved, like that would be a 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.680 disaster if I tried to use that in microgravity. And likewise, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.679 even a very nice espresso machine which looks very compact 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.680 and uh and self contained, you would not be able 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.120 to run that in orbit because yes, it depends on pressure, 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.760 but it still depends on gravity. Maybe a little bit 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:29.280 poorous if if you don't actually have such a thing 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.399 as a down, right, and then if you have no 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.679 such thing as a as a proper kitchen sink to 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.760 clean any of these implements. Uh. I think most of 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:40.080 us can can can think two very recent examples of 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.439 huge messes they've made with coffee, you know, but that 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.560 by accident, maybe in the clean up foot phase. Uh, 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:48.680 and that's all with a down that's that Yeah, that's 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.520 with gravity in place and a proper sink to clean 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:53.920 it up. But in uh, in board the I S 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.240 S certainly aboard any other kind of uh you know, 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.840 conceivable um uh capsule rules or or shuttles that we've 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.760 used in in recent decades, you're just not gonna have 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.080 that kind of cleanup capability. Uh. The machine itself is 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.960 going to just become grotesque. And you can't just send 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.920 it back down necessarily either. I mean, if once you 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:16.720 get something up on I S S, it's uh, it 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.080 needs to stay up there for a while without having 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:20.600 to be You can't send it down every weekend to 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:22.840 get it cleaned. Now, what about the method where you 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:25.200 just put the grounds in your mouth and then squirt 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.920 the hot water in and kind of switch it around. Well, 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.000 I guess that would work, is that what is is 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.439 that cowboy coffee? No way, I'm I'm gonna rebrand it. 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.919 That's executive coffee. Executive coffee, So now it's a luxury. Well, 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.800 there's still a lot of room for human error in 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.600 that method. Um, I mean, basically, one of the big 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.280 things to keep in mind is that even if you 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.600 take the technology out of out of the scenario without 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.440 proper gravity in place, liquids moved differently, they absorbed differently, 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:53.119 and uh yeah, even something as seemingly no nonsense as 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:55.080 an aero press, which again just looks like a little 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:59.359 pump device, is just going to be disastrous in microgravity. Now, 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.360 the basic process that we depend on to make coffee, 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.080 just to to really boil it down. Uh, you have 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.560 hot water flowing through ground coffee beans picking up their 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.359 oil essence on the way down into the coffee pot. 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.520 This coffee oil released during the roasting process is what 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.879 we call cafe all now. And like I said, an 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.600 espresso machine that's going to force the water through the 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.560 fine grounds via pressure. But again even that depends on 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.400 gravity and would not work in space. So we're kind 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.840 of left with with quite a conundrum here, how to 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:34.800 how do you even bring coffee into space, much less 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:36.920 brew it? Well maybe we should take a quick break 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.119 and then come back and explore this further. Thank you. 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:44.160 All right, we're back. So how to get coffee into space? 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:47.760 How to brew coffee in space? Well, um, we're gonna 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:49.879 have to talk about the past first. How how it 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:54.720 was done previously as we as humanity uh clawed their 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.000 way up into orbits? Does does this involved the words 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.600 freeze dried? Yes, you better does? Oh boy? So first 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.000 of all, let's get one thing straight. Prior to Apollo eleven, 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:09.199 that's nine, the first Crewe jaunt to the surface of 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:12.280 the Moon. Prior to this, there was no hot coffee 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.119 in space. Bum you could have it cold, but this 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.960 was the first omission to actually feature hot water. So 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:23.119 so like the Giminy commanders were on, they were powered 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:26.080 by cold coffee. Yeah, that was that was the only option. 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.400 That's sick or at least room temperature or capsule temperature 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.040 got coffee. That was the only option. Well, here's the 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.320 science question. I don't know the answer to. Maybe you do. 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:40.840 Why is mid temperature coffee so disgusting like ice coffee 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.720 is Okay, I'm into that hot coffee is good, but 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:49.120 like slightly lower than than warm coffee is just gross. 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:53.560 Well I don't completely agree with that really, Yeah, I 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:57.960 mean I enjoy coffee at every level of every temperature. 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.159 But I think the problem is when coffee reaches room temperature, 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.840 because I I like cold coffee, but I have a 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:10.359 similar reaction if I am outside drinking coffee and I 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:12.720 have allowed it to become cold, as cold as the 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:15.240 natural environment. So I think that's the thing. Like with 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.320 hot coffee and cold coffee becomes clear that it's been 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.520 it's it's clear that it's been prepared, uh at a 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.199 different temperature. Well, I guess maybe it's the same as 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:26.280 true for a lot of foods and drinks, right, Like 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.560 hot meat and cold meat are good, but room temperature meat. 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:35.520 Bring me a room temperature hamburger patty. Yeah, nobody really 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:40.040 wants that. So hot coffee, cold coffee pre Apollo eleven, 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.320 post Apollo eleven, uh, it was still coffee making was 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:46.680