1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to How Stuff Works. Now. I'm your host Lauren Vogelbaum, 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:10,639 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works. Every week, 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: This week, a species of bat has broken animal air 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: speed records, and unrelated ocean researchers have identified a spot 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: in the Gulf of Mexico so deadly that they're calling 8 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: it the Jacuzzi of Despair. But First Senior writer and 9 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff host Jonathan Strickland princes the story of a 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: program in South Africa that's teaching teenage women to build 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: and program robotics. Their current project, no Big, just launching 12 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: Africa's first privately owned satellite. In two thousand and fifteen, 13 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: a company called the Meta Economic Development Organization or MEAD, 14 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: launched an academic program in South Africa. They designed after 15 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: school courses and boot camps to teach high school students 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: applied science and engineering. Their goal teach the students to 17 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: design experiments that will run on Africa's first privately owned 18 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,520 Speaker 1: satellite launched into low Earth orbit. Oh and all the 19 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:18,320 Speaker 1: students are young women. The program began with the students 20 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: taking a course to learn how to build robots. This 21 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: taught the students about electronics and how to work with them. 22 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: The next phase involved designing high altitude satellites called cricket SATs, 23 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: which the students attached to weather balloons before launching them 24 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: into the atmosphere. The third phase will be to launch 25 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: the low Earth orbit satellite. The students designed a series 26 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: of experiments the satellite will perform in space. They decided 27 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,119 Speaker 1: the satellites chief duty will be to monitor Africa as 28 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: part of an early warning system for disasters like wildfires, 29 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: but the students also hope to use the information to 30 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,720 Speaker 1: help plan where to farm and where to concentrate reforestation efforts. 31 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: METO plans to launch the satellite in May two thousand seventeen. 32 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: While the story is cool and inspirational, it also marks 33 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: an effort to overcome a daunting challenge. According to METO, 34 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: South African students perform poorly in Science, Technology, Engineering and 35 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: Math a k A STEM courses. The organization sites a 36 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: sobering set of statistics. The first is that only seven 37 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: point seven percent of all South African students exit math 38 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: courses with a passing grade, and only five point five 39 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: percent pass science. On top of that, like in many 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: other parts of the world, female students have traditionally faced 41 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 1: opposition when they express interest in STEM subjects. The icing 42 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: on the cake is that market analysts predict future jobs 43 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: will rely more heavily on STEM related work than ever before, 44 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: with eighty percent of all careers involving STEM in some 45 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: way by In other words, this isn't just a feel 46 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,839 Speaker 1: good story about high school students doing something cool. It's 47 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: a story about getting students enthusiastic and interested in these 48 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: subjects so that South Africa will have access to an 49 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: educated workforce. According to METO, several of the students in 50 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: the program have expressed interest in pursuing STEM related degrees 51 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: in college, and it is the hope of both the 52 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,639 Speaker 1: organization and the students that the program will inspire more 53 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: young people to explore the world of science and met 54 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: Next up, staff writer and editor Eve's Jeffcote explores Earth's 55 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: highest speed flyers. Previously, birds held basically all the animal 56 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: flight records, but new research shows that some bats can 57 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: fly upwards of one miles per hour, making us reconsider 58 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: how we think about aerodynamics. When it comes to animals 59 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: flight capabilities, birds get all the credit. The common swift 60 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: named appropriately goes up to seventy miles per hour when 61 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: flying horizontally. That's about a hundred and thirteen kilometers per hour. 62 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: It's widely recognized as the speediest alien species, but a 63 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: new study shows the Brazilian freetail bat is swooping in 64 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: on the swift's record, pushing speeds up to one hundred 65 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: miles or one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour. Why 66 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: have the flying talents of bats been so underappreciated, As 67 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: a study authors put it, basically, the bat is the 68 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,920 Speaker 1: overlooked younger sibling to the bird. Birds get more left 69 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,440 Speaker 1: when they fly, while bats comparatively unwieldy wings create more drag, 70 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: plus bast protruding faces disrupt the airflow over their bodies. Typically, 71 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: birds have higher flight speeds and more super long flight distances. 72 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: You get the point. Examples of birds apparent biological superiority abound, 73 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: but the recent study conducted by researchers from the U 74 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: S and Germany puts to rest notions of all bats 75 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: as slow, hapless flyers. The Brazilian freetail bat is known 76 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: to take quick long distance flights. It held the record 77 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,919 Speaker 1: for a bat's fastest horizontal flight speed at sixty miles 78 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: per hour, so it was a good subject and testing 79 00:04:56,279 --> 00:05:00,159 Speaker 1: flight performance. The researchers attached radio transmitters to seven of 80 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: these bats and follow one per night and assessment airplane, 81 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: documenting the bats flight trajectories, ground speeds, and wing beat frequency. 82 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: Tracking the bats in a tiny, single engine plane at 83 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: night was no easy feat. The pilot had to keep 84 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: up with the bat speed and direction to precisely located 85 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: every two to five minutes. The meticulous chases were worth it, though. 86 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: The researchers found that not only are Brazilian freetail bats 87 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: flight speeds comparable to birds, but they're sometimes even better. 88 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: The one horizontal speed is faster than previously recorded for 89 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: any bat and for the fastest flying birds. To add 90 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: insult to injury periods of these super high flight speeds 91 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: probably aren't unusual for these bats. The researchers called their 92 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: documented maximum speeds undoubtedly conservative because the measurements were taken 93 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: in short time intervals. Take that feathered flyers, the authors 94 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: say the data is limited and telling them why the 95 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,039 Speaker 1: bats can zip around so quickly. They do know. It 96 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:56,600 Speaker 1: isn't because of tail winds, but one gust in hilly 97 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: terrain and the experiment area may have helped. It's also 98 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: known bats and birds with long narrow wings like Brazilian 99 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: freetail beats usually fly faster than those with short, broad 100 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,359 Speaker 1: wings and flap gliding, which is alternating periods of flapping 101 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: wings and gliding likely gives the best a boost. But 102 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: no matter the reason, that's hspeed skills will no longer 103 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: fly under the radar. Finally, this week, I've got a 104 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: story that comes to us from our freelance writer jess 105 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: Lyn Shields and tipped to us by our listener Patrick 106 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: Psychic II. Fives guys. It's about undersea brine pools, which 107 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 1: sounds boring until you mentioned that they killed just about 108 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: anything that wanders into them. So let us journey now 109 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: to the jaccuzzy of despair. A few billion years ago, 110 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: much of my planet was totally uninhabitable by our current standards. 111 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: The hospitable Earth we know and love used to be 112 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: a patchwork of hot and cold spots, extreme environments with 113 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:59,679 Speaker 1: brutally high acidity, low oxygen, unlivable chemical compositions, or crushing pressure. 114 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: These days, thankfully, we have to seek out the places 115 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:06,479 Speaker 1: where only the toughest organisms survive. When we find one, 116 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,720 Speaker 1: we marvel at its hostility, a tuck with wonder into 117 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: research about how anything could possibly live in such a 118 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: hellscape as a volcano. Or Florida. Sorry, Florida, I'm from Florida. 119 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: I love you, Florida. But perhaps we should all check 120 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: our anthroposy and epoch privilege, because science keeps finding places 121 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: on this planet that don't give a fig about our needs. 122 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: The latest has been nicknamed by actual scientists the Jacuzzi 123 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: of despair. The deadly hot tub was discovered last year 124 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: by a team of researchers working with the National Oceanic 125 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: and Atmospheric Administration or NOAH. It's a warm brine pool 126 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,119 Speaker 1: on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico, beneath about 127 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: three thousand, three hundred feet of water or about a 128 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: thousand meters. The area acts like any body of water 129 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: on land, complete with a shore line and waves that 130 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: ripple over the top of it when its waters are disturbed. 131 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: The only differences are one. Most trest old bodies of 132 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:04,679 Speaker 1: water don't contain a tepid on holy cocktail of dissolved methane, 133 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: hydrogen sulfide, and extra salty water that instantly poisons any 134 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: animal that happens into it. I mean, we do have 135 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 1: a few of those up here on land, such as 136 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: some hot springs, but those don't seem quite as insidious. 137 00:08:16,840 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: Because number two terrestrial lakes have bottoms, this subaquatic Baschian 138 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: lake does not, or at least no one has found 139 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: it yet. And this cozy of Despair isn't the only 140 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: brine pool out there. In fact, they form in oceans 141 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: all over the world, the result of the migration of 142 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: geologic fluids through salt deposits under the ocean floor. The 143 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,079 Speaker 1: salt deposits represent places where ancient oceans evaporated millions of 144 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: years ago. The fluids dissolve the salt, and the resulting 145 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: brine is about four times saltier the normal seawater, so 146 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,400 Speaker 1: it's much denser. It pools on the seafloor in lakes 147 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: and even forms flowing rivers. A similar phenomenon observed in 148 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: Arctic waters has been called a brincle or an icy 149 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,599 Speaker 1: finger of death. Although deadly to any sea life that 150 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: might happen into it. The Jacuzzi of Despair has a 151 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: beautiful shoreline spangled with lacy, yellow and red mineral deposits 152 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 1: about one ft or thirty meters in diameter. Its edges 153 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: rise twelve feet or almost four meters off the bottom 154 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: of the ocean. The crater is reinforced by beds of 155 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: muscles that work with bacteria in their gills to convert 156 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:23,839 Speaker 1: the dissolved gases pouring over the rim of the pool 157 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: into energy. It's all very strange. The researchers point out 158 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: that our oceans are relatively unexplored. We know more about 159 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: the surface of the Moon than we know about our 160 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: own sea floors. This is just one of the sites 161 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,839 Speaker 1: they have to show us, and it's an excellent opportunity 162 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: to learn about how life finds away in even the 163 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: most extreme conditions. That's our show for this week. Thank 164 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: you so much for tuning in. Subscribe now for more 165 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: of the latest science news and sends links to anything 166 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: you'd like tears cover plus the name of tabletop game 167 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:00,120 Speaker 1: that you're really digging on right now. You can end 168 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: us an email at now podcast at how stuff works 169 00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: dot com, and of course for lots more stories like these, 170 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: head on over to our home planet Now dot how 171 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com