1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to hous To Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here at hous To Works. Every week, 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: This week, new research demonstrates how climate change may specifically 6 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: affect weather in different areas in the near future. And unrelated, 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: is it time for the United States military to have 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: a dedicated space force? But first? Senior writer Jonathan Strickland 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: explores the increasingly impressive makeup of maple syrup. A compound 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: in the stuff could help humans treat a range of diseases, 11 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: from cancer to antibiotic resistant superbugs. Maple syrup is more 12 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,480 Speaker 1: than just a tasty breakfast condiment. A couple of years ago, 13 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: researchers discovered than extract in processed maple syrup has anti 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: inflammatory qualities, meaning it could reduce pain and swelling in 15 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 1: certain injuries. They named the extract Quebec call after Quebec, 16 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: the region in Canada that leads the way in maple 17 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:11,119 Speaker 1: syrup production. They also discovered that this extract didn't appear 18 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: to be present in maple sap itself. It was only 19 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: when they processed the sap into syrup that they could 20 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: find quebec call. And that's not all. In two thousand fifteen, 21 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: researchers in Japan published a paper explaining how a phenolic 22 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:30,240 Speaker 1: extract of maple syrup can inhibit cancer cell growth and division. 23 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: A phenomic compound is a crystalline substance, typically one with 24 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: aromatic properties. The researchers wanted to be sure it wasn't 25 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: just the high sugar content interfering with cancer cell division. 26 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: They discovered that the phenomic extract interfered with a kat 27 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: signaling pathways, which play a part in cellular growth and division. 28 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: But wait, there's more. Recently, scientists from McGill University presented 29 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: their sweet findings to the American Chemical Society. They discovered 30 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: that a phenomic extract from maple syrup has another medically 31 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: useful function. It boosts the effectiveness of antibiotics. We use 32 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: antibiotics to fight off bacterial infections, but there's a risk 33 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: populations of bacteria can over time develop a resistance to antibiotics, 34 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: giving rise to superbugs. Mixing this maple syrup extract with 35 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 1: a dose of antibiotics reduces the amount of medicine needed 36 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: to kill a bacterial infection in fruit flies. In fact, 37 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: the team found that with the extract they could reduce 38 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: the amount of antibiotics by as much as ninety percent 39 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: and still get the effect of a full dose. It 40 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: turns out the compound affects the permeability of the bacterial 41 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: cell walls, making it easier for antibiotics to pass through 42 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: and do their thing. And honestly, it's pretty hard to 43 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: blame the bacteria. Maple syrup is delicious. They're currently testing 44 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: the extract in mice and it could take years of 45 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: research and testing before the extract could be made available 46 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: for the average human. But nonetheless, than next time you 47 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: have band gigs, waffles, French toast, take a moment to 48 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: thank the maple syrup. It's not just tasty, it's a 49 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: potential life sape. Next up, I've got a story for 50 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 1: you from our freelance writer Jesselyn Shields about the global 51 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 1: state of the climate. One of the major influences on 52 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 1: the billions of factors that go into weather is jet streams, 53 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: high fast air currents that meander through Earth's atmosphere. They've 54 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: always been fairly predictable, but they're changing, and sussing out 55 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: the effects of those changes could help minimize disasters worldwide. 56 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: Our collective grasp on the extreme weather consequences of climate 57 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: change isn't great. Sure, our weather is changing, but if 58 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: you ask a random person on the street what that's 59 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: going to look like in their community in ten years 60 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: or fifty, most of us probably couldn't even hazard a guess. 61 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: Climate scientists, due to the nature of their work, no 62 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: more than the rest of us, but even they don't 63 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: always agree about the ways in which climate change will 64 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: affect weather in specific races. In a controversial study published 65 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: in the journal Geophysical Research, Letters challenged previously accepted ideas 66 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: about the mechanisms through which climate change will affect our weather. 67 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: Those accepted ideas including that warmer temperatures will result in 68 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,160 Speaker 1: more heat waves, that hotter summers will bring worse droughts, 69 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:20,600 Speaker 1: and that the warmer atmosphere will hold more water, resulting 70 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: in heavier precipitation and flooding. All of this might still 71 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: be true, but the studies suggested that something else might 72 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 1: be happening as well, That the relatively predictable flow of 73 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:35,480 Speaker 1: Earth's weather is changing. Due to alterations in the behavior 74 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: of the jet stream, especially in the middle latitudes, weather 75 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: patterns are getting stuck in places for longer periods, thus 76 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 1: intensifying on the ground effects, resulting in severe droughts, flooding, 77 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: and intense heat waves. This concept has been controversial. The 78 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: leading edge of research always has its supporters and detractors, 79 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,919 Speaker 1: but a study published in the March issue of Nature 80 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: Scientific Reports reinforces it. The da is that climate change 81 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: is altering the world's weather, making wind conveyor belts in 82 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: a way that favors extreme and long lasting weather anomalies. Okay, so, 83 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: jet streams are high atmospheric air currents that move from 84 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: west to east, driven by Earth's rotation. They also make 85 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: our weather happen. Although the winds of a jet stream 86 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: flow in a single direction, the difference in temperature between 87 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: the poles and the equator pulls those winds into meandering 88 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: north south wave patterns. But if temperatures at the polls 89 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,600 Speaker 1: change more rapidly than those at the equator, those dual 90 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: constraints on the jet streams become imbalanced. Michael Mann is 91 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: the lead author of the new study and a professor 92 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 1: of atmospheric science at Penn State, he told us via 93 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: email quote, just like a coaxial cable acts as a 94 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: wave guide to deliver electromagnetic waves to our televisions with 95 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,280 Speaker 1: minimal energy loss, the atmosphere tends to confine waves in 96 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: the jet stream in a way that allows them to 97 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,480 Speaker 1: always travel with minimal energy loss. When the temperature difference 98 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: between the all in the equator is large, the flow 99 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: of the jet stream becomes stronger and the waves shorter. 100 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: When the poles warm up at a faster rate than 101 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: the equatorial regions do, like what's happening right now, it's 102 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:14,359 Speaker 1: most efficient for the atmospheric waves to stretch out and 103 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: for the flow to thus become weaker, that is, slower. 104 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,440 Speaker 1: Man said. These very large north south meanders are associated 105 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: with both extreme weather and weather getting stuck in place, 106 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: leading to persistent regional droughts, flooding, heat waves, et cetera. 107 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: We show that climate change is making a temperature pattern 108 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: that supports those conditions more common, and you don't have 109 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: to look far to find evidence of extreme weather hammering 110 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:41,280 Speaker 1: particular spots on the globe. Recently, in an intense low 111 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: pressure system in Pakistan delivered unprecedented monsoon reigns resulting in flooding, 112 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: killing some two thousand people and destroying the homes, crops, 113 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: and livelihoods of eighteen million. More. There's also the two 114 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: thousand three European heat wave, which is estimated to have 115 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: caused thirty five thousand deaths, the Russian heat wave and wildfires, 116 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: the eleven heat wave and drought in Oklahoma and Texas, 117 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: and the California wildfires, to name just a few. But 118 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: now that we're hopefully getting a better handle on how 119 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: climate change might affect our lives here on the ground, 120 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: Man and his co authors are looking at how this 121 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 1: information can help us in the future. He leaves us 122 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: with this, We hope this paper can inform the larger 123 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: discourse over the very real risks that climate change poses 124 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: to us. Secondly, there might also be the opportunity to 125 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: use the information to try to predict when extreme weather 126 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: events are most likely to occur. We hope so too. Finally, 127 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 1: this week, our very own producer, Dylan Fagan and our 128 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: freelancer Patrick Jake Haiger delve into a debate that's less 129 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: like science fiction than it sounds. Some experts are saying 130 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: that it's high time for the U. S. Department of 131 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: Defense to develop a militarized branch in space. It's easy 132 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 1: to think that the United States Air Force operates in 133 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: the skies and NASA deals with space. Because of this, 134 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: it may come as a surprise to learn that the 135 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: Air Force has been launching the X thirty seven B, 136 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: a mysterious and robotic miniature version of the Space Shuttle 137 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: and the Space for years. On orbit, the X thirty 138 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: seven B spends hundreds of days at a time performing 139 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: classified experiments. According to the magazine The National Interest, that 140 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: research includes developing a new type of high efficiency propulsion 141 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:27,560 Speaker 1: system that could allow spacecraft to say an orbit longer 142 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: and to maneuver in between orbits with agility. In the 143 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: event of a future war in orbital space, US controlled 144 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: drones similar to the X thirty seven B might rapidly 145 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,679 Speaker 1: replace military satellites attacked by an enemy, or presumably to 146 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: counterattack the enemy's satellites. If that sounds like a scenario 147 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: out of a Tom Clancy novel, guess again. We're talking 148 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: about reality here, as the United States is preparing for 149 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: the future of combat. In a January speech, General John Heighten, 150 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: leader of the U. S. Strategic Command warned that Russia 151 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: possesses anti satellite weapons and that China has been hard 152 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: at work on developing them as well. He said, in 153 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: the not too distant future, they will be able to 154 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: use that capability to threaten every spacecraft we have in space. 155 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: We have to prevent that, and the best way to 156 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:15,199 Speaker 1: prevent war is to be prepared for war. For decades, 157 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: U S military efforts in space have been run by 158 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: the Air Forces Space Command, which heightened headed from twenty 159 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: fourteen to twenty sixteen, but some think the job of 160 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: protecting U. S interests in orbital space is so important 161 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:28,599 Speaker 1: that a special, separate branch of the military ought to 162 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,800 Speaker 1: be created to do it. In a recent essay, M. V. 163 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,679 Speaker 1: Coyote Smith, a retired Air Force colonel who is now 164 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,720 Speaker 1: a professor of Strategic Space studies at the Pentagons Air University, 165 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: argues for the creation of a U. S Space Corps, 166 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: especially when considering the needs of potential future space war. 167 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,080 Speaker 1: The former space weapons officer argues that operating an orbit 168 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:51,560 Speaker 1: requires a different mindset from the rest of what the 169 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: Air Force does, and that space activities will never receive 170 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: the funding or resources they need if they remain a 171 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: part of another service, a separate space where, he writes, 172 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: but have the freedom to develop the best thinking on 173 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: space operations. Smith believes it would also be better equipped 174 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: to provide advice to the President and combat commanders, and 175 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: to make an independent case to Congress for funding. Smith 176 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: didn't respond to request for comment, but he's not the 177 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: first to argue that a special space service is needed. 178 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: A few examples back in former U S Senator Bob Smith, 179 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: a Republican from New Hampshire, advocated for a separate space Corps, 180 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 1: and an Air War College paper published in two thousand 181 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 1: draws a parallel between the current need for space corps 182 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: to the post World War One efforts of General William 183 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: Billy Mitchell to get Congress to fund strategic air power development. 184 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,199 Speaker 1: A two thousand six article in The Space Review also 185 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: advocates for an independent space force, saying the officers whose 186 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: formative experiences came from flying planes in Earth's atmosphere cannot 187 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,439 Speaker 1: be expected to instinctively understand the nature of space warfare. 188 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,600 Speaker 1: Another argument for having a separate space Corps is that 189 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: the Air Force already is trying to do too many things. 190 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:01,680 Speaker 1: From operating satellites to wage electronic warfare, and then it 191 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: gives short thrift to anything that doesn't involve flying airplanes. 192 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,319 Speaker 1: Joan Johnson Freeze, a national security affairs professor at the U. S. 193 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: Naval War College who focuses on space security issues, said 194 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: this the Air Force went from being an air force 195 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: to an air in space force, to an aerospace force 196 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 1: to an airspace and cyber force, with jet jockeys still 197 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: getting the lion's share of top air Force positions. General 198 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: Heighten has gone a long way, but he's still not 199 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: Air Force Chief of Staff. Until there is a separate 200 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: Space force, air force culture won't change, and fire pilots 201 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: will still rule. The current Space Commands budget, of roughly 202 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: nine billion dollars in annual funding, is a small slice 203 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: of the Pentagon's overall five eighty billion dollar budget. The 204 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: idea of a US Space Corps conjures up a mental 205 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,680 Speaker 1: image of astronauts strapped into space fighters armed with laser beams, 206 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:54,559 Speaker 1: But as Smith's notes in his essay, the current Space 207 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: Command is different from the rest of the Air Force 208 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: because flying is in its mission. It's earthbound personnel law 209 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,240 Speaker 1: uch and supervise satellites even so he writes its units 210 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: are organized in the squadrons, units and wings that even 211 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: borrow patches and logos from famous aviation units. He thinks 212 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: that conveys the wrong message that the Air Force and 213 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,839 Speaker 1: his words, does not value space space power or its 214 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: space professionals. In Smith's vision, the Space Corps would not 215 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,720 Speaker 1: only support terrestrial military efforts, but in some situations would 216 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,680 Speaker 1: take the lead and the event of attack against US satellites. 217 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: For example, the Space Court commander might direct other services 218 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,560 Speaker 1: to attack targets on Earth in order to thwart the 219 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: space attackers. He also sees acting as sort of an 220 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: orbital police force, which would protect commercial US space industry 221 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:41,520 Speaker 1: and ensure that, as he says, all awful and non 222 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: hostile actors enjoy the full benefits of space faring, regardless 223 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: of national origin. He would be up to Congress to 224 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: create a separate military arm and it's unclear how much 225 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: support the concept would have, but President Trump is pushing 226 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: for a big boost in defense spending, including spending more 227 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: to develop both defensive and offensive space weapons, so creation 228 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: of an orbital force conceivably could become part of the debate. 229 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: That's our show for this week. Thank you so much 230 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,680 Speaker 1: for tuning in. Further thanks to our audio producers Dylan 231 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: Fagin and Noel Brown, and our editorial Liaison's Christopher Hasiotis 232 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: and Alison Loudermilk. Subscribed to now Now for more of 233 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: the latest science news and send us links to anything 234 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: you'd like to hear his cover. Plus, do you think 235 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: military should develop space presences? Let us know You can 236 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: send us an email. Now podcast at has stuff works 237 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: dot com, and of course, for lots more stories like these, 238 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: head on over to our home planet now dot ho 239 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:47,319 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com.