1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,159 Speaker 1: and How the Tech Are Young. We are about to 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: listen to a classic episode of tech Stuff. This episode 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: originally published in March. It is called ice core Drilling. 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: Pretty cool if you asked me, enjoy. I like to 8 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: think about ancient times, so when I come on other shows, 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:42,520 Speaker 1: I like to be able to look to the past sometimes. 10 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: So Jonathan, I want to talk to you about Lake Vostock. 11 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: All right, So what is Lake Vostock. You've never heard 12 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: of it. I know Lake Lanier. Is it near Lake Lanier? 13 00:00:54,360 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: It's pretty close. No, it's a lake in Antarctica. But 14 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 1: it's not just any kind of lake. It's a sub 15 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: glacial lake, the biggest one in the world actually. So 16 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: it is a lake that is under a glacier, a 17 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: giant sheet of ice, and that glacier is really thick. 18 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: I've seen estimates from about two miles thick to about 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: four thousand meters of glacial ice over the lake, which 20 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: would be like two and a half miles. I guess 21 00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: they're probably different segments where the ice is a different thickness, 22 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: and it's been buried in ice for millions of years, 23 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: al right, So in recent decades, scientists have been drilling 24 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: samples of the ice above this lake to study what's 25 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: down there. Um And whenever I picture this lake in 26 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: my mind, this lake buried under ancient ice, it makes 27 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: me think of Gollum's Lake under the mountain in the 28 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: Hobbit in the misty Mountains. Yeah, misty mountains. What did 29 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: the lake have a name or was it just where 30 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: the yummy fishes. I don't think it had a specific name. 31 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: If it did, it would have been a Goblin name, 32 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: so I would be, you know, unpronounceable for a mere 33 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: mortal that I am. Oh, I assume you speak Goblin. 34 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: I know grish Nacht is fire. That's the only thing 35 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: I can I can rattle off off the top of 36 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: my head. Well, anyway, when scientists drill down into this deep, 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: deep Antarctic golem lake below the ice, one of the 38 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: craziest things is that they've found d n A and 39 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: evidence of microbial life. And I remember there were stories 40 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: about how some ice samples indicated there might even be 41 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: more complex life like fish and arthropods in that water. Um. Now, 42 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: I know that was highly controversial at the time. I 43 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: just recently looked it up again to see if there 44 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: were there were any developments on that. I found a 45 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: piece of coverage from Nature News at the time throwing 46 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: some serious doubts on the on the live fish and 47 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: arthropods claim. So that's I'm sure not all that widely accepted, 48 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: but just the idea of it is so cool that 49 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: you have this completely sealed off ancient alien life in 50 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: this lake below a mountain of ice, and things like 51 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: that make me think about deep time, Like how ice 52 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: is a cross section of geological time on Earth right, 53 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: Like there is layer upon layer of evidence of what 54 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: has happened in the past. Yeah. And and just in 55 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: case people are curious, like how could a subglacial lake 56 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 1: remain Why would you call that a lake? Why would 57 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: that not just be another part of the glacier. Why 58 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't that just be ice? Geothermal heat actually counteracts the 59 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: freezing action of the ice above it, allowing the lake 60 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: to remain liquid. Oh, I actually didn't know why it 61 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: was liquid. Oh yeah, it's because of geothermal geothermal vents 62 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: that continue to keep the temperature of the lake above freezing. 63 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,839 Speaker 1: So yeah, that's why, uh there can be a lake, 64 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: a sub glacial lake, because otherwise you would say, like, well, 65 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: wait a minute, how could it still remain how could 66 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: it remain unfrozen unless there are some other chemicals in 67 00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: the lake that would uh lower its freezing point below 68 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: that of water. That's fascinating. Yeah, well, okay, you might 69 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: be wondering, wait a minute, what does this have to 70 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: do with technology. Well, we're getting get there in just 71 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: a second. So when you think about glaciers, I guess 72 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: at the polar regions. How do things like that form? 73 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: It's actually a pretty simple process. Every year it snows, 74 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: it'll it'll snow, and you get heavier snows in the 75 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: winter and lighter snows in the summer. Right, But in 76 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: some places in the world, unlike probably wherever you live, 77 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: if it snows around your house or your yard, eventually 78 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: that snow melts, right, right, you get to a point 79 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: where the season's warm, the snow starts to uh to 80 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: melt away, and then eventually you have no more snow. 81 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: But there's some regions where either the snow accumulation is 82 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 1: so great that it never completely melts or the temperature 83 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: never rises above freezing and therefore it just continues to accumulate. 84 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: So every season you get a new layer of snow. 85 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,359 Speaker 1: What happens when a new layer of snow goes on 86 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: top of the old layer of snow, Well, eventually it 87 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: gets kind of heavy. Yeah, it compresses in to the 88 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: point where the lower layers of snow are compressed into ice. 89 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: So then you get layers of ice. And if you 90 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: were able to look at these layers of ice collectively, 91 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: you could start to draw some conclusions about what had 92 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: happened the years when that snow first accumulated. And this 93 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: is what leads us to the practice of drilling down 94 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: into ice sheets and glaciers to retrieve samples to kind 95 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:44,479 Speaker 1: of get a look back into the geological past of 96 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: the Earth. Yeah, exactly, So ice core drilling is a 97 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: way of getting at this cross section of geological time 98 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: that we can see in the ice layers of glaciers, 99 00:05:57,920 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: and a lot of it's going to be you know 100 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: and play like Greenland or in Antarctica. Those are the 101 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: two chief sites for ice core drilling, where people have 102 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:12,359 Speaker 1: to come up with these huge vertical samples of ice 103 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: that might be miles thick, right, And what I wanted 104 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: to know was, how on earth do they do that? 105 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: It can't be all that easy, can it is? It's 106 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: well easy, It is not simple. It is similar than 107 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: I would have expected, actually it is. It is a 108 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: simple method in the sense that it doesn't require tons 109 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: of complex machinery or techniques. But it is not easy 110 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: to do because it is difficult to reach to access 111 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: the areas, and the methodology can often require people to 112 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,479 Speaker 1: essentially live on an ice sheet for a very you know, 113 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: like like a month at a time, depending on how 114 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,920 Speaker 1: deep they want to drill. Right. So, uh, Within each 115 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: of those layers of snow that have turned into ice, 116 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: there are records of things of the past, like the 117 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: you know, ice can trap chemicals, for example, precipitation can 118 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: trap chemicals, and as that precipitation, in this case, snow 119 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: hits the ground, then you have a record of what 120 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: the chemical composition was at that given time. And then 121 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: other layers will pack on top of it and they 122 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: will have their own kind of you know, unique chemical fingerprint, 123 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: if you will. The layers don't just show you a 124 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: cross section of time. Each layer has data from the 125 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: time it comes from. It might even have like ash 126 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: from volcanic eruption. You can see chemical data like you 127 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: were just talking about the concentrations of different gases in 128 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: the atmosphere that become dissolved in little bubbles in these layers, 129 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: or you can see exactly ash from volcanic eruptions. You 130 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 1: can even discern things about the local weather patterns where 131 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: the glacier was at certain times in the past. We'll 132 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: be back with more about ice core drilling in just 133 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: a moment, but first let's take a quick break. Another 134 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: thing that I think is kind of cool with the 135 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:16,160 Speaker 1: volcanic ash layers is that it lets you compare one 136 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: sample against another sample that was gathered somewhere else and 137 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: not necessarily justin ice. There are other core uh coreing 138 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: methods like that, going through peat bogs, for example, And 139 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: if you find a layer of ash that corresponds to 140 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: another layer of ash and a completely different sample, you 141 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 1: can say, oh, well, these both came from that same eruption. 142 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: That allows us to to corus correlate these two dates 143 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,960 Speaker 1: together by the chemical composition of the ash and the 144 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: two layers, because the chemical composition is going to be 145 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: unique each eruption, So that way you can actually start 146 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: to build a global view of what had happened during 147 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,960 Speaker 1: any given you know, uh year or span of years 148 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,439 Speaker 1: in Earth's past, which is really interesting. I think. Yeah, 149 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: it's way cooler and more full of creep be ancient 150 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: power than you would have imagined ice drilling to be. 151 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: But I want to hear about the drilling itself. How 152 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 1: do they get these cores out of the glacier? Okay, Well, 153 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: there are two basic categories of drills, and then there 154 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:18,199 Speaker 1: are are of you know, different examples of each category. 155 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: So the first big one are mechanical drills. Now, these 156 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: are drills that drilled down into the ice through mechanical action, 157 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,200 Speaker 1: essentially rotating. Right. But normally when you think of a 158 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: drill that's making a hole in something, you are not 159 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:38,480 Speaker 1: removing any section of that substrate intact. You're just making 160 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: a hole. I'm drilling in the wall. Well, it's going 161 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: to be this sort of like you know, cylindrical object 162 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: that's got screw thread kind of things on the outside 163 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: to move the shavings out of the hole as it 164 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: goes deeper in. It's just a solid knot. Yeah, it's 165 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: not going to give you a cross section of the wood. 166 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: So how do you get that? So in order to 167 00:09:57,559 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: do that, you have to have a drill bit that 168 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:04,199 Speaker 1: is is an actual hollow cylinder right the middle of this. 169 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: Instead of it being a solid shaft, it's a cylinder 170 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: that has cutting teeth on one end of it, so 171 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: that when it rotates, it creates this the the the 172 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 1: actual drill itself rotates around a column of ice, it 173 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: creates a column of ice cuts away so that you 174 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: know the center of the drill bit starts to accumulate 175 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: this ice. It goes straight down until you get to 176 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:32,160 Speaker 1: the length of the drill itself, and obviously then you 177 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,800 Speaker 1: can't go any further because you hit the cap, like 178 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: the top of the drill, and that's where you would 179 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: have to stop and try and retrieve the ice that 180 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,680 Speaker 1: you've just drilled. Right, So you might think about it 181 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,280 Speaker 1: kind of like this. Imagine like a tin can or 182 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,439 Speaker 1: like a pipe, and then the lip of that pipe 183 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: is sort of like a circular saw blade. It's got 184 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,319 Speaker 1: the blade is parallel to the length of the pipe obviously, 185 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: so it can screw down in right, and it's also 186 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: the teeth are usually adjustable, like you can either uh 187 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: extend them or attract them a little bit, depending upon 188 00:11:06,360 --> 00:11:09,719 Speaker 1: the nature of the ice that you're cutting into. So, 189 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:13,839 Speaker 1: for example, if they are if the if the teeth 190 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,719 Speaker 1: are retracted too far, it's gonna be really hard to 191 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 1: get purchase on the ice. It's gonna kind of skitter around. 192 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: Anyone who's had any experience with ice, nos, it's slippery, 193 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:24,559 Speaker 1: and so you'd have to have the teeth be a 194 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: little bit longer. If they're too long, then they're going 195 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: to get caught in the ice. So it'll make it 196 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,960 Speaker 1: more difficult to turn the drill and drill down into 197 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 1: the ice. So you have to find that that sweet spot. 198 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 1: And that's usually why the the teeth are adjustable, so 199 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: that you can make it the perfect length for whatever 200 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: conditions you encounter. You when you turn the drill the 201 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: proper way, it cuts into the ice and it and 202 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,040 Speaker 1: it pulls in that cylinder like we were talking about. Now, 203 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,560 Speaker 1: there's also gonna be some waste product from this drilling 204 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: in there. Yeah, chips of ice obviously are going to accumulate, 205 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: so uh often these drills have treads on the outside 206 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: of them, which will put push chips up to the surface. 207 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: Some of them have chambers that will hold chips to 208 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:14,079 Speaker 1: keep it away from the ice core sample, because obviously, 209 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: if you're looking at at creating a sample for you 210 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: to study in the lab, you don't want to end 211 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,319 Speaker 1: up mixing that material all up, because then you don't 212 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: have an accurate representation of what happened over any given 213 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: length of time. Right, You've you've corrupted your sample. So 214 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: most of these have a method of funneling chips up 215 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:39,840 Speaker 1: into a chamber. Uh. And you know, are the the 216 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:44,200 Speaker 1: simplest of these mechanical drills are the hand powered augers. 217 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: You actually move these by hand. It looks like a 218 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: kind of like a very long can, right, and the 219 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 1: top of it has like a t junction handle, and 220 00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: like in cartoons when people have a dynamite box and 221 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: they push it right or like a jackhammer, you know 222 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:04,439 Speaker 1: that kind of thing, And except of course, instead of 223 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: going up and down, you're twisting this in order to 224 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:11,520 Speaker 1: create the rotational force. This translated into lateral force because 225 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: the drill is kind of like a the inversion of 226 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: a screw, right, So you're you're drilling down that way. 227 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: And you might think, well, you were talking earlier about 228 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: how some of the UM the core samples. We look 229 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: at our our kilometers long. How could you possibly get 230 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: a sample that's that long using a handogger? Well, first 231 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 1: of all, you can't, but secondly, uh, when we talk 232 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 1: about these core samples, Yeah, the entire sample might be 233 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: several kilometers long, but that's made up of segments. So 234 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 1: depending upon the drill you're using, your segments maybe between 235 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: one and six meters long, right, so uh, that's between like, uh, 236 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,439 Speaker 1: you know, around three ft two around twenty ft long roughly, 237 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: um And in order for you to create a full 238 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: uh core sample, than what you would have to do 239 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:08,080 Speaker 1: is lower the drill back down into the borehole that 240 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: you've started until it reaches the bottom, and you have 241 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: to use extenders to come up out of the borehole 242 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:17,920 Speaker 1: so you can continue to drill downward. That sounds like 243 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: you pretty quickly reach a sort of maximum depth. For 244 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: these hand operated versions, you absolutely do, yeah, because eventually 245 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: you're not going to the the amount of rotational force 246 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: you'll have to create to rotate the entire thing, the 247 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: the drill and all the extenders will exceed the strength 248 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: and flexibility of that device, So you can't you can't 249 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: indefinitely use a handogger. It would also just seem to 250 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: be that that combined with whatever you have to hang 251 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: it on to get it deeper and deeper, would get 252 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,080 Speaker 1: really heavy. Yeah. Yeah, you know, you keep in mind 253 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: like you're talking about lifting up six meters of ice. Uh, 254 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: And of course the diameter of this depends upon the 255 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: drill to write the drill, the drills diameter will determine 256 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: the diameter of the core sample. But you're still talking 257 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: about lifting all that ice, which is heavy lifting the 258 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: drill itself, which is heavy lifting all the extenders, which 259 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: are heavy. So eventually you get to a point where 260 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: you know you're just not gonna have the integrity to 261 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: keep that all together, which is when you need to 262 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: look at possibly switching to something else. So your typical 263 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: handoggers can go pretty darn deep. I mean, we're talking 264 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 1: twenty to thirty meters, that's like sixty six ft. That's 265 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: deeper than I would have expected. Yeah, me too, And 266 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: according to some of the things I read, it's more 267 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: like fortys is the maximum. Twenty to thirty tends to 268 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: be what people limit themselves to. But I think the 269 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: record was somewhere around forty so it's even further than that. Um. 270 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: So what do you do when you reach that that 271 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: limit where you can't use the handoggers anymore? Well, that's 272 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: when you try try kind of. You're using the electro 273 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: mechanical drills. These are suspended on a cable, so instead 274 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: of it having like a physic cool um turning mechanism 275 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: that extends all the way up to the surface there, 276 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: they they are actually suspended by cable lowered into a 277 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: borehole and they consist typically of two barrels. You have 278 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: an external barrel that remains uh motionless, it is, it 279 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: does not turn all right, So the external barrel is 280 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: uh just a stationary holding device. Then the inner barrel 281 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: is the one that can rotate, all right. So the 282 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:36,720 Speaker 1: cable that suspends an electro mechanical drill, the cable doesn't 283 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: move at all either. It's just there to supply the 284 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: suspension mechanism and the power. So it's it's got the 285 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 1: power lines that go down to power the drill. The 286 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: inner barrel will rotate in the proper direction to continue 287 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: drilling down. And the inner barrel also has treads on 288 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: the external side of it, right, So those are going 289 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: to be like the threads on your drill little bit 290 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: that are getting the shavings out of the wall and 291 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: the expa they're transporting the ice chips up along the 292 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: length of the drill. That's right, and so you would 293 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 1: use this the same way you would use your handdogger, 294 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: except of course, in this case it's an electrical uh action, 295 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,879 Speaker 1: electro mechanical action that is causing it. So it's you know, 296 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,480 Speaker 1: it's a it's a little bit easier on the people 297 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:23,320 Speaker 1: who are operating it. They just have to make sure 298 00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:27,360 Speaker 1: that they're lowering it properly, and then it's at the 299 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,440 Speaker 1: correct depth all of that kind of stuff, and and 300 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:31,479 Speaker 1: that the teeth are at the right length. It's just 301 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: like the handdoggers. You've got to make sure that those 302 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 1: those teeth are are proper so that they can cut 303 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: into the material to ice properly. Uh So, usually you 304 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: also have another cool mechanism literally to hold the ice 305 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: in place. Once you've reached the point where you're ready 306 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: to lift up the next segment. They have spring loaded 307 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: lever arms inside that inner barrel that think of it 308 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: like little pincers that come in and hold that core 309 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: in place. Because you want it to be really steady. 310 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,440 Speaker 1: When you're lifting that drill up. You know, you're talking 311 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,879 Speaker 1: forty or more up a borehole. You don't want to 312 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: lose the grip on that ice core sample because that 313 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: would be bad. So the spring loaded lever arms hold 314 00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: them and they are called something that I love, core dogs. 315 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: It's like it's like going to the county fair. You 316 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: get yourself and a couple of core dogs. I like 317 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: to go to Pelucaville to get my core dogs. Local 318 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: establishment here in Atlanta. Now there is another type of 319 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: drill that I love. Yeah, I think this is excellent. 320 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: I love looking at the picture. I was looking at 321 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: a picture of this before I read about what it was, 322 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: and I was like, I don't understand how it cuts 323 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: because it just looked like a pipe with kind of 324 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 1: a strange lip. It didn't have any teeth, right, And 325 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: then I read about it and I was like, oh, 326 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: I see it doesn't thermal drill. Yeah, so it's using heat. Yeah, 327 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: So imagine sort of a pipe that on the end 328 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,199 Speaker 1: of the lip at the pie ape has a heating 329 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: element and it gets hot, melts straight through the ice 330 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: and just sinks on down there. Yeah. Yeah, until you 331 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: get to again to the end of the capacity of 332 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: the drill, and then you have to lift it back 333 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,719 Speaker 1: up again. So yeah, it's really I love that idea, 334 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: the idea of of of let's just use heat to 335 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:21,640 Speaker 1: work our way. I mean, come on, it's ice, let's 336 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: use heat to melt away down there. Yeah. That actually 337 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: does seem like you would have some limitations though, and 338 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: it does. In fact, you are you're more likely to 339 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:36,040 Speaker 1: use that when you're using ice that is above minus 340 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: ten degrees celsius for example, you don't know, which is 341 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: fourteen degrees fahrenheit. By the way, you wouldn't use that 342 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: in colder areas because the melt off the water that 343 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 1: you would be creating as the heating element melts, the 344 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 1: ice would likely start to refreeze and that would become 345 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: a problem. So you are more likely to use it 346 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: in uh in quote unquote warmer since you waitions it 347 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: will still be really cold. Um. And then if you 348 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: were to encounter those colder situations, you would use electro 349 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: mechanical drill. And in fact, there are plenty of ice 350 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 1: core drilling projects that that will switch out the drills 351 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: based upon whatever the current conditions happen to be as 352 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: they are drilling. You've got a little bit more show 353 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: to go before we get to that. We're gonna take 354 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:37,119 Speaker 1: one more quick break now. I would imagine that once 355 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: you get down to a certain depth, the whole enterprise 356 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: sort of changes. I mean, once you're getting two thousands 357 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,680 Speaker 1: of feet down, you're going to start dealing with the 358 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:52,840 Speaker 1: ways that ice behaves kind of like a plastic and yeah, 359 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 1: do you know what I mean. You gotta remember this 360 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: ice is under a lot of pressure. I mean, just 361 00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:00,480 Speaker 1: from wait alone, it's under a ton of pressure. But 362 00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: there's also there are other elements there too. There's glacial flow, right, 363 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: glaciers move, they don't move very quickly, but there is 364 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,159 Speaker 1: this pressure from glacial flow where the glacier is potentially 365 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 1: moving in a specific direction, which means that's putting pressure 366 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,480 Speaker 1: on the borehole too. And if the pressure is too great, 367 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,120 Speaker 1: that borehole can close, and by clothes, we've pretty much 368 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 1: mean collapse in on itself. Like closing sounds pretty gentle, 369 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,159 Speaker 1: it's not a gentle thing. Well, whether it's gentle or not, 370 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: it's a big problem for your research project exactly. So, Uh, 371 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,960 Speaker 1: there are times where you will have these these projects 372 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: where they will start pumping liquid down the whole, and 373 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:42,560 Speaker 1: there's a couple of different reasons for this. Some will 374 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,680 Speaker 1: pump anti freeze liquid down the whole in order to 375 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,679 Speaker 1: make sure that any melted runoff, for example, if you're 376 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,959 Speaker 1: using a thermal drill doesn't refreeze, but then you may 377 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: need to put down a different type of liquid, another 378 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,360 Speaker 1: one that would be less likely to freeze, in order 379 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,240 Speaker 1: to equalize the pressure from inside the hole to what 380 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,280 Speaker 1: what is outside the hole. Yeah, I read somewhere that 381 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 1: the drill fluid that they would normally use can be 382 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: something like kerosene, like a petroleum derived fluid. Uh, And 383 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: it just basically has to have the right freezing point. 384 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,479 Speaker 1: And they wanted to be of a certain thickness right 385 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,199 Speaker 1: right because they have to you know, if it's if 386 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: it's too thin, then it's not going to create the 387 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,880 Speaker 1: pressure that they need in order to keep the whole stable. 388 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: And if the freezing point is too is too high, 389 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: then it's going to just end up mucking everything up anyway. 390 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: So it is a delicate balance. There's one project in 391 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: particular I wanted to talk about the kind of give 392 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 1: an idea of what it's like to work on one 393 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: of these. Again, it all depends upon how deeply you 394 00:22:45,880 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 1: need to go when you're retrieving the ice core sample. 395 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,959 Speaker 1: You know, how far back are you going to be looking. Uh. 396 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 1: There's one called the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Project. 397 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: There's a recent effort by the United States and which 398 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:01,880 Speaker 1: an ice core that was three thousand, four hundred five 399 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: meters long, so three point four kilometers long, was retrieved 400 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: over the course of six field seasons. Now, they defined 401 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,639 Speaker 1: a field season as approximately forty days of drilling. The 402 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:19,160 Speaker 1: actual drilling took place six days a week, so obviously 403 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: more than um. Since you're not drilling seven days a week. 404 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: Forty days of drilling is you know, you've got to 405 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: divide that up properly. But twenty four hours a day, 406 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,719 Speaker 1: three shifts UH for drilling per day, with three UH 407 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 1: project workers per shift, so nine people working for six 408 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: days a week and drilling is going on twenty four 409 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: hours a day. I'm sure that's not an easy job, 410 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: but I would kind of like that job just to 411 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: be able to say I drilled course of ancient ice 412 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 1: at one of my past jobs. But you might you 413 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: might have some interesting stories to tell about the the 414 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: the quirks of the two shift workers you shared all 415 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: that time with and whether or not you ever want 416 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: to see that person ever again. To the two am 417 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: to ten am shift is kind of rough in Antarctica. 418 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:12,120 Speaker 1: You can also just be like, I will never not 419 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,800 Speaker 1: hear the sound of ice being drilled. It is just 420 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: gonna go through my head through the rest of my days. 421 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: But anyway, Yeah, it's it's a really serious endeavor and 422 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 1: it's very important scientific work. And so because it's important, 423 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: and because this is something that you know, once you 424 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: once you have retrieved the ice core sample, you've only 425 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: just started, you have to make sure that you can 426 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: store them properly so that you have the chance to 427 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,640 Speaker 1: actually examine them later. Right, So you've got these cylindrical 428 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:49,360 Speaker 1: segments of you know, essentially priceless scientific data that are 429 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: just in containers. And yeah, and it's perishable. It's perishable. 430 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: There's something that's beautiful about this to me, the fleeting 431 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: nous of it. How you know, this is something that 432 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: could be millions of years old, but it's frozen bran. 433 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: It could melt if the power goes off. You know, now, 434 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: to be fair, if you're getting them from Greenland. I 435 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 1: think the oldest we've looked at is a hundred thirty thousand, 436 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,120 Speaker 1: and Antarctica it's more like eight thousand, so not quite millions, 437 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: but still well before human history was ever recorded or 438 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: potentially even possible to record. You know, we're talking way back, 439 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,960 Speaker 1: we're talking back when Cathulu was running rampant. Probably not, 440 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:37,920 Speaker 1: but at any rate, they would that be detectable from 441 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,640 Speaker 1: the highest we see dissolved particulates of I don't know, yeah, 442 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,119 Speaker 1: just like there's there's one of the chemical constituents of 443 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:46,960 Speaker 1: the old ones, right, you could be like, well, there 444 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,920 Speaker 1: was a frozen sugar right that right around this level. 445 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: So we're pretty sure it was around this time at 446 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: any rate. So we have to we have to store 447 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,480 Speaker 1: these things obviously until they can be examined by various scientists, 448 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,679 Speaker 1: and a lot of the ice cores when they are stored, like, 449 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 1: there are a lot of different research facilities that want 450 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 1: to have a chance to to examine this stuff, so 451 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: they have to go to a special facility to do that. 452 00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: One of those is the National Ice Core Laboratory, which 453 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: stores more than seventeen thousand meters of ice that's incredible. 454 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 1: And its main archive freezer is fifty five thousand cubic 455 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: feet in size, that's one thofty seven cubic meters, And 456 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 1: so incoming ice has to first reach a thermal equilibrium 457 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,240 Speaker 1: with the temperature inside the freezer, which is minus thirty 458 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:40,200 Speaker 1: six degrees celsius or minus thirty two point eight fahrenheit. 459 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,920 Speaker 1: And the reason for that is obviously you don't want 460 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: to start handling the ice before it's reached thermal equal 461 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: equilibrium for fear of damaging the sample. Right, So once 462 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 1: it's reached that thermal equilibrium, that's that only then can 463 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,760 Speaker 1: you actually unpack it and then label it and and 464 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: racket categorize it. I've seen pictures of these two ridge facilities. 465 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,400 Speaker 1: It looks like kind of like a National Film Archive 466 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 1: or something that's got these silver cans and the shelves 467 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,520 Speaker 1: going to the ceiling. Though I do wonder that if 468 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: there's a temptation for people working in these places every 469 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:14,640 Speaker 1: now and then to get a little cheeky and make 470 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: themselves a highball, it's just just an ancient on the rocks, right, Yeah, 471 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 1: on the ancient rocks. I guess. Then again, you may 472 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:27,399 Speaker 1: be unleashing microbes into your into your body that you 473 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:29,960 Speaker 1: have no natural defenses. Again, Yeah that that. Yeah, I 474 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,439 Speaker 1: see that. We're kind of starting to mix up movie 475 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: genres too, because this is kind of a rolling emeric, 476 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: you know, kind of into the world derivative, right, and 477 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,159 Speaker 1: then and then Judd Apatel where you get like the 478 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: kind of stoner comedy. So you get like the stoner 479 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:45,959 Speaker 1: character who's just trying to make a drink. And then 480 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: unleash is the terrible super flu Hey this this this, 481 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: this particular bacteria or virus or whatever has been in 482 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 1: suspended animation for hundreds of thousands of years now has 483 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 1: been unleashed on the plant. There's money in this, Joe, 484 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:01,640 Speaker 1: I think we need to develop it. But before that 485 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: we have to finish this podcast. So wait a second. Okay, 486 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: So once they've got the ice, Yeah, you have this 487 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 1: priceless repository of ancient data. How do you analyze it 488 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,000 Speaker 1: and what can you learn? Well, the first thing you 489 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,720 Speaker 1: can do is look at it. I know that sounds silly. 490 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,879 Speaker 1: You are a man of many insights using your eyeballs, 491 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,479 Speaker 1: so uh. The interesting thing about an ice core sample 492 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 1: is you can actually see the passage of time just 493 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,480 Speaker 1: by looking closely at the ice core sample. Yeah, you 494 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,680 Speaker 1: should look up an image of this if you're listening 495 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 1: on a computer or device where you can have internet access. 496 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,960 Speaker 1: It's cool. It's got stripes, yeah, and those stripes represent 497 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: summers and winters, right. So winters are darker because you 498 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: usually have much greater snow accumulation during the winter. Summers 499 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: are lighter because you have less snow accumulation. So you 500 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: get these dark bands separated by light bands, and together 501 00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: those represents a year's passage of time. Right, You've got 502 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,440 Speaker 1: the summer and winter there, and so you just start 503 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,360 Speaker 1: counting backwards. It's like rings on a tree, except you'd 504 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: be counting vertical stripes rather than the concentric circle exactly. Yeah, 505 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: So you count that backward and you can actually say, oh, well, 506 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: this particular year is such and such because it's so 507 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,440 Speaker 1: many far back from the surface. And then you can 508 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: start or at least you can estimate, like within a 509 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: reasonable degree of certainty, what year that represents. And in fact, uh, 510 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: they have done tests, they being scientists, have done tests 511 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: to make sure that this is the case by looking 512 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: at various layers identifying what year that layers should represent 513 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: testing the chemical composition of that particular layer of the 514 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: ice and comparing it to data that we have from 515 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: others other means, like and we're talking like around the 516 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, like looking at the nineteen fifties, so counting 517 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: back until you hit to nineteen fifty on the ice 518 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: core sample and then testing it to see if it 519 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,040 Speaker 1: actually matches the other records we have, and they match, 520 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 1: so it shows that this actually does work. Now, however, 521 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: that being said, when you start going to deeper levels, 522 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: it starts getting more and more difficult to differentiate. Yeah, 523 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: I think I was seeing various concerns about how factors 524 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: in the physics of the glacier can change what happens 525 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 1: to these levels. I mean, number one, you just have 526 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: that more pressure, but I think the glacier flow can 527 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: also change how the levels are represented, right, Yeah, yeah, 528 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: I mean, if you if you think about like, these 529 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: glaciers don't necessarily all move. It's like one big solid unit. 530 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: Keep in mind that this is this is a a 531 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: solid form of a fluid, but it still has some 532 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: fluid mechanics to it, right, It's not not all of 533 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: the glacier is necessarily moving. As in concert with itself, right, 534 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: So you could have sections of the glacier that are 535 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,960 Speaker 1: moving that could end up changing a little bit of 536 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: what you would expect to find as you're counting back 537 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: to a certain depth. And so it's one of those 538 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: things where, uh, you know, you have to after at 539 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: some point you have to start looking at alternative means 540 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: of dating that particular part of the ice core sample, 541 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 1: and that could involve doing something like performing some geochemistry 542 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: on it. So you look to see what materials are 543 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: in that layer and how does that correspond with the 544 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: records we have about our geological history. So it's usually 545 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,240 Speaker 1: mass spectrometry that we use where we try and see 546 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,360 Speaker 1: what chemicals are represented within that layer and kind of 547 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 1: map that to what else we know about our history. Um, 548 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: there's also that layers of ash. So if we find 549 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: layers of ash, then we know that this is uh, 550 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: you know, a mark of a volcanic eruption and based 551 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: upon our records, we can kind of date it from 552 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: that point. Or it could be just another emergence of hexus. 553 00:31:51,600 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 1: Could be could be likely a volcanic eruption, but could 554 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: be electrical conductivity because again depending on what the what 555 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 1: materials are dissolved within that ice, it's going to be 556 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: either more or less conductive, and so by doing that 557 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: we can make determinations of what materials are in there 558 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:10,800 Speaker 1: and thus kind of get an idea of how where 559 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: in the the timeline that particular part of the ice 560 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 1: core sample falls. Numerical flow models which help us correlate 561 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: age to depth. This is what we were talking about 562 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: just a second ago, Joe, the idea of the glacial 563 00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,840 Speaker 1: flow and how that can can make things a little 564 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: more complicated. Uh, having those numerical flow models, which essentially 565 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: that's a simulation of what must have happened within a 566 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: particular body of ice over a given amount of time, 567 00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:38,720 Speaker 1: and by modeling it and trying to get that as 568 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,840 Speaker 1: accurate as possible, we can try and correlate, all, right, 569 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: at what depth would we consider, like, how how far 570 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: down would we go before we hit I don't know, 571 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: two thousand years for example. This is a kind of 572 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: I'm just throwing that out there as as a off 573 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: the top of my head example. And also radiometric dating dating, 574 00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: which is a not away for nuclear physicists to know, 575 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: hang out and find that special someone. They use tender 576 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: just like everybody else. It's more about actually looking at 577 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: um radioactive decay. Not every layer of ice has anything 578 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: in it like that, but some layers of ice do 579 00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 1: have trace amounts of uranium dust, and that would might 580 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: be a way that we could date certain types. This 581 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: is pretty deep in the Antarctic ice usually. Um As 582 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 1: for what we can learn, we can learn lots of stuff, right, 583 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: I mean, like it's really important information that tells us 584 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: about the way our world has changed over huge expanses 585 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: of time. Right. Well, I know one of the main 586 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: things that scientists are looking at ice cores for these 587 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:47,200 Speaker 1: days is to help understand what past climate systems look 588 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: like and to help predict what changes will be brought 589 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: about by the current climate change we're observing right right, 590 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: And of course you know, uh, you can't really make 591 00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,239 Speaker 1: predictions without necessarily understanding what has happened in the past, right. 592 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 1: You need to have that model there so that you 593 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: can have something to base your predictions upon. So one 594 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,080 Speaker 1: thing you can easily see, and by easily I mean 595 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:13,600 Speaker 1: I described looking at those layers and seeing the summer 596 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:17,280 Speaker 1: and winter. You can easily see the general precipitation trends 597 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:21,399 Speaker 1: year over year by the thickness of those layers. Right, 598 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: So if one summer winter layer is very thin compared 599 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 1: to the next one below it, you could say, well, 600 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 1: there was a year where there was a relatively heavy 601 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 1: amount of precipitation followed by a year where there was 602 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,279 Speaker 1: very light precipitation. Then you could go and start doing 603 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 1: more studies to see, like, while all, there are other 604 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 1: elements inside this ice core that could indicate why that 605 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: might have been the case. What what was going on 606 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere that would have made one year particularly 607 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,439 Speaker 1: heavy with precipitation and the following year light. Oh I see, 608 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:59,960 Speaker 1: So maybe you could just, for example, look at concentrate 609 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,600 Speaker 1: of different atmospheric chemicals in the layers preceding the layers 610 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 1: that have more precipitation, so like, oh, wow, it's strange 611 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:11,399 Speaker 1: there was more nitrogen in the atmosphere the past three 612 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,719 Speaker 1: seasons before we had these heavy precipitation seasons. Or it 613 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:18,880 Speaker 1: might be look here, that's not a real result. And 614 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 1: then you can also look and say, oh, look at 615 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 1: the concentration of carbon dioxide for example. Now you've gotta 616 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:25,600 Speaker 1: be a little careful with this, particularly with the green 617 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,680 Speaker 1: Land examples, because carbon diox i can get dissolved in water, 618 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: and sometimes they're they're also melting layers. Melting layers are 619 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,759 Speaker 1: where uh, you know, the temperaturey got high enough so 620 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:39,439 Speaker 1: that some snow had melted. The water can trickle down 621 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 1: into the snowpack and you get these kind of bubble 622 00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:46,799 Speaker 1: free areas of ice. That's a melt layer, which can 623 00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:48,759 Speaker 1: still have a lot of useful information in it. But 624 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,360 Speaker 1: it also means that sometimes water that has carbon dioxide 625 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: dissolved in it can set down into older layers and 626 00:35:56,480 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: thus change the composition of them, giving you a false 627 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,800 Speaker 1: positive that there was more common carbon dioxide in a 628 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:07,319 Speaker 1: layer than there really was. Fortunately, scientists are aware of this. 629 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 1: You know what to look for and uh and like 630 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:12,440 Speaker 1: I said, that's more prevalent in Greenland and Antarctica. You 631 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: don't tend to see that same issue. But uh, you know, 632 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 1: you can also look at things like, um, the chemical composition, 633 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: which will tell you more about the concentration of greenhouse 634 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:28,359 Speaker 1: gases uh in any given year, and you can look 635 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,799 Speaker 1: for trends. Right, you can actually look and see like 636 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: it may not be uh, this love layer was thick 637 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: and that layer was thin. It maybe we're seeing a 638 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:41,760 Speaker 1: gradual decrease in layers over a really long time, followed 639 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,480 Speaker 1: by a period where they were very very thin layers 640 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,640 Speaker 1: for a long time, and then very thick layers as 641 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 1: another ice age started coming on. You could actually see 642 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:53,879 Speaker 1: these big trends, because that's really what we're talking about 643 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,279 Speaker 1: with climate. Right, Climate isn't weather. We often, like the 644 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:02,960 Speaker 1: people often will conflay the two. Right, climate influences weather, right, 645 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: and and climate is like you know, a weather is 646 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 1: this is this localized, regional, temporal thing. Like it's happening 647 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:15,080 Speaker 1: in a very small time span. You're talking like, while 648 00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:19,840 Speaker 1: the weather is terrible today, climate is long reaching. It 649 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,600 Speaker 1: can it's a global thing. It's not or at least 650 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: a much larger regional thing. Um and it it is not. Uh, 651 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:30,840 Speaker 1: it's not as mercurial you could say, as weather would be, 652 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,440 Speaker 1: because weather can change dramatically day to day. Climate are 653 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:39,520 Speaker 1: these long trends. Describing climate would be like describing Jonathan's personality. 654 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,880 Speaker 1: Describing weather would be like can you believe what Jonathan 655 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:50,160 Speaker 1: said this morning? Yeah, we'll put so. Uh. By looking 656 00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:53,960 Speaker 1: at this, we can say, all right, during this period 657 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,000 Speaker 1: of time where we know there was a greater concentration 658 00:37:57,000 --> 00:37:59,880 Speaker 1: of greenhouse gasses because it was trapped in the ice. 659 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,880 Speaker 1: We have we have, uh, we've analyzed the ice. We 660 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,359 Speaker 1: know what the concentrations are. We can see from the 661 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:12,360 Speaker 1: following layers how that affected climate over a great span 662 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: of time. So because our records don't stretch back that far, heck, 663 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,200 Speaker 1: our our weather records don't stretch back far at all. 664 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,879 Speaker 1: We're talking like a century or so, and otherwise we're 665 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,920 Speaker 1: we're relying upon things like the recollections that people had 666 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,319 Speaker 1: written down and either letters or or you know, just 667 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,040 Speaker 1: the general language used by people who are writing at 668 00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: the time what the weather might have been. Like. This 669 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,319 Speaker 1: is an actual way for us to look back and say, 670 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,839 Speaker 1: here's what the climate was a hundred thousand years ago, 671 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 1: and here's what here's how the climate changed over a 672 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,640 Speaker 1: twenty thousand years span. I mean, it's a big picture 673 00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: look at something that otherwise we would just be making 674 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:57,879 Speaker 1: wild guesses about. And that's really interesting to me. Yeah, 675 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:01,799 Speaker 1: it's obviously incredibly useful. I have to say again, how much. 676 00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 1: Maybe it's just me, but anything that's that old gives 677 00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,520 Speaker 1: me this very cool, mysterious feeling. I get a little 678 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,000 Speaker 1: try about it. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's it's neat 679 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: to know that there there exists a record where by 680 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: applying careful scientific, careful scientific approach to analyzing that material, 681 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:30,640 Speaker 1: we can draw very very uh, very interesting conclusions about 682 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 1: what the Earth was like well before humans were walking 683 00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:38,120 Speaker 1: around and being human ish. I hope you enjoyed that 684 00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,919 Speaker 1: classic episode about ice core drilling. If you have suggestions 685 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: for topics I should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, 686 00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:48,040 Speaker 1: please reach out to me and let me know. The 687 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,080 Speaker 1: handle for the show on Twitter is text stuff hs 688 00:39:51,280 --> 00:40:00,239 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech 689 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,719 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 690 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 691 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:09,800 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.