WEBVTT - A U.S. Space Force, Why the Weather's Getting Stuck, and Maple Syrup Medicine 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:04.000 Welcome to hous To Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:11.000 a researcher and writer. Here at hous To Works. Every week, 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.119 I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.840 weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:20.840 This week, new research demonstrates how climate change may specifically 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:25.400 affect weather in different areas in the near future. And unrelated, 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:27.880 is it time for the United States military to have 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.800 a dedicated space force? But first? Senior writer Jonathan Strickland 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.080 explores the increasingly impressive makeup of maple syrup. A compound 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.440 in the stuff could help humans treat a range of diseases, 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:48.240 from cancer to antibiotic resistant superbugs. Maple syrup is more 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:51.480 than just a tasty breakfast condiment. A couple of years ago, 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.080 researchers discovered than extract in processed maple syrup has anti 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.760 inflammatory qualities, meaning it could reduce pain and swelling in 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.319 certain injuries. They named the extract Quebec call after Quebec, 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.119 the region in Canada that leads the way in maple 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.119 syrup production. They also discovered that this extract didn't appear 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.320 to be present in maple sap itself. It was only 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.720 when they processed the sap into syrup that they could 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.600 find quebec call. And that's not all. In two thousand fifteen, 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.440 researchers in Japan published a paper explaining how a phenolic 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:30.240 extract of maple syrup can inhibit cancer cell growth and division. 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.240 A phenomic compound is a crystalline substance, typically one with 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.360 aromatic properties. The researchers wanted to be sure it wasn't 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.280 just the high sugar content interfering with cancer cell division. 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:46.319 They discovered that the phenomic extract interfered with a kat 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:50.520 signaling pathways, which play a part in cellular growth and division. 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:56.560 But wait, there's more. Recently, scientists from McGill University presented 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.840 their sweet findings to the American Chemical Society. They discovered 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.080 that a phenomic extract from maple syrup has another medically 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:08.799 useful function. It boosts the effectiveness of antibiotics. We use 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.200 antibiotics to fight off bacterial infections, but there's a risk 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:17.280 populations of bacteria can over time develop a resistance to antibiotics, 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:22.000 giving rise to superbugs. Mixing this maple syrup extract with 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.760 a dose of antibiotics reduces the amount of medicine needed 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:29.360 to kill a bacterial infection in fruit flies. In fact, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.840 the team found that with the extract they could reduce 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.840 the amount of antibiotics by as much as ninety percent 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.880 and still get the effect of a full dose. It 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.400 turns out the compound affects the permeability of the bacterial 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.760 cell walls, making it easier for antibiotics to pass through 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.880 and do their thing. And honestly, it's pretty hard to 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:52.239 blame the bacteria. Maple syrup is delicious. They're currently testing 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.840 the extract in mice and it could take years of 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.600 research and testing before the extract could be made available 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.520 for the average human. But nonetheless, than next time you 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.799 have band gigs, waffles, French toast, take a moment to 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.760 thank the maple syrup. It's not just tasty, it's a 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:12.960 potential life sape. Next up, I've got a story for 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.920 you from our freelance writer Jesselyn Shields about the global 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.960 state of the climate. One of the major influences on 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.920 the billions of factors that go into weather is jet streams, 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.720 high fast air currents that meander through Earth's atmosphere. They've 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:29.000 always been fairly predictable, but they're changing, and sussing out 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:35.480 the effects of those changes could help minimize disasters worldwide. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:40.280 Our collective grasp on the extreme weather consequences of climate 0:03:40.360 --> 0:03:43.880 change isn't great. Sure, our weather is changing, but if 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:45.920 you ask a random person on the street what that's 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:47.960 going to look like in their community in ten years 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.840 or fifty, most of us probably couldn't even hazard a guess. 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.120 Climate scientists, due to the nature of their work, no 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:56.160 more than the rest of us, but even they don't 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.560 always agree about the ways in which climate change will 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:03.360 affect weather in specific races. In a controversial study published 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.560 in the journal Geophysical Research, Letters challenged previously accepted ideas 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.600 about the mechanisms through which climate change will affect our weather. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.960 Those accepted ideas including that warmer temperatures will result in 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.160 more heat waves, that hotter summers will bring worse droughts, 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.600 and that the warmer atmosphere will hold more water, resulting 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.600 in heavier precipitation and flooding. All of this might still 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.080 be true, but the studies suggested that something else might 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:31.840 be happening as well, That the relatively predictable flow of 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.480 Earth's weather is changing. Due to alterations in the behavior 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.480 of the jet stream, especially in the middle latitudes, weather 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:42.400 patterns are getting stuck in places for longer periods, thus 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:46.279 intensifying on the ground effects, resulting in severe droughts, flooding, 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:50.240 and intense heat waves. This concept has been controversial. The 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.360 leading edge of research always has its supporters and detractors, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.919 but a study published in the March issue of Nature 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:01.279 Scientific Reports reinforces it. The da is that climate change 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.520 is altering the world's weather, making wind conveyor belts in 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:09.800 a way that favors extreme and long lasting weather anomalies. Okay, so, 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.960 jet streams are high atmospheric air currents that move from 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:16.400 west to east, driven by Earth's rotation. They also make 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.240 our weather happen. Although the winds of a jet stream 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.520 flow in a single direction, the difference in temperature between 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:26.640 the poles and the equator pulls those winds into meandering 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.320 north south wave patterns. But if temperatures at the polls 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.600 change more rapidly than those at the equator, those dual 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.880 constraints on the jet streams become imbalanced. Michael Mann is 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.080 the lead author of the new study and a professor 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.920 of atmospheric science at Penn State, he told us via 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.560 email quote, just like a coaxial cable acts as a 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.760 wave guide to deliver electromagnetic waves to our televisions with 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.280 minimal energy loss, the atmosphere tends to confine waves in 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:55.400 the jet stream in a way that allows them to 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:59.480 always travel with minimal energy loss. When the temperature difference 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:01.960 between the all in the equator is large, the flow 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.920 of the jet stream becomes stronger and the waves shorter. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.640 When the poles warm up at a faster rate than 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:11.240 the equatorial regions do, like what's happening right now, it's 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.359 most efficient for the atmospheric waves to stretch out and 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.320 for the flow to thus become weaker, that is, slower. 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.440 Man said. These very large north south meanders are associated 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.240 with both extreme weather and weather getting stuck in place, 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.440 leading to persistent regional droughts, flooding, heat waves, et cetera. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.520 We show that climate change is making a temperature pattern 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.479 that supports those conditions more common, and you don't have 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.159 to look far to find evidence of extreme weather hammering 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:41.280 particular spots on the globe. Recently, in an intense low 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:45.560 pressure system in Pakistan delivered unprecedented monsoon reigns resulting in flooding, 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.080 killing some two thousand people and destroying the homes, crops, 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.840 and livelihoods of eighteen million. More. There's also the two 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.400 thousand three European heat wave, which is estimated to have 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.800 caused thirty five thousand deaths, the Russian heat wave and wildfires, 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:03.320 the eleven heat wave and drought in Oklahoma and Texas, 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:08.320 and the California wildfires, to name just a few. But 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:10.880 now that we're hopefully getting a better handle on how 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:13.160 climate change might affect our lives here on the ground, 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.520 Man and his co authors are looking at how this 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.560 information can help us in the future. He leaves us 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.280 with this, We hope this paper can inform the larger 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.560 discourse over the very real risks that climate change poses 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:28.000 to us. Secondly, there might also be the opportunity to 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.920 use the information to try to predict when extreme weather 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:38.480 events are most likely to occur. We hope so too. Finally, 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.200 this week, our very own producer, Dylan Fagan and our 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.480 freelancer Patrick Jake Haiger delve into a debate that's less 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.720 like science fiction than it sounds. Some experts are saying 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:49.800 that it's high time for the U. S. Department of 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:58.520 Defense to develop a militarized branch in space. It's easy 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:00.960 to think that the United States Air Force operates in 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.760 the skies and NASA deals with space. Because of this, 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:05.560 it may come as a surprise to learn that the 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.800 Air Force has been launching the X thirty seven B, 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.080 a mysterious and robotic miniature version of the Space Shuttle 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.160 and the Space for years. On orbit, the X thirty 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.880 seven B spends hundreds of days at a time performing 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.280 classified experiments. According to the magazine The National Interest, that 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.800 research includes developing a new type of high efficiency propulsion 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.560 system that could allow spacecraft to say an orbit longer 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.200 and to maneuver in between orbits with agility. In the 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.400 event of a future war in orbital space, US controlled 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.120 drones similar to the X thirty seven B might rapidly 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:40.679 replace military satellites attacked by an enemy, or presumably to 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.720 counterattack the enemy's satellites. If that sounds like a scenario 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.760 out of a Tom Clancy novel, guess again. We're talking 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.880 about reality here, as the United States is preparing for 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:55.400 the future of combat. In a January speech, General John Heighten, 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:58.080 leader of the U. S. Strategic Command warned that Russia 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.320 possesses anti satellite weapons and that China has been hard 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.080 at work on developing them as well. He said, in 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.520 the not too distant future, they will be able to 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.880 use that capability to threaten every spacecraft we have in space. 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.120 We have to prevent that, and the best way to 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.199 prevent war is to be prepared for war. For decades, 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.440 U S military efforts in space have been run by 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:20.440 the Air Forces Space Command, which heightened headed from twenty 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:23.240 fourteen to twenty sixteen, but some think the job of 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.120 protecting U. S interests in orbital space is so important 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.599 that a special, separate branch of the military ought to 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.800 be created to do it. In a recent essay, M. V. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:34.679 Coyote Smith, a retired Air Force colonel who is now 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.720 a professor of Strategic Space studies at the Pentagons Air University, 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.720 argues for the creation of a U. S Space Corps, 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.080 especially when considering the needs of potential future space war. 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.080 The former space weapons officer argues that operating an orbit 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:51.560 requires a different mindset from the rest of what the 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.800 Air Force does, and that space activities will never receive 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.160 the funding or resources they need if they remain a 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.560 part of another service, a separate space where, he writes, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:02.920 but have the freedom to develop the best thinking on 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.360 space operations. Smith believes it would also be better equipped 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:09.040 to provide advice to the President and combat commanders, and 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:12.240 to make an independent case to Congress for funding. Smith 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.760 didn't respond to request for comment, but he's not the 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:17.320 first to argue that a special space service is needed. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:22.200 A few examples back in former U S Senator Bob Smith, 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:26.000 a Republican from New Hampshire, advocated for a separate space Corps, 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.640 and an Air War College paper published in two thousand 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:31.560 draws a parallel between the current need for space corps 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.280 to the post World War One efforts of General William 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:38.040 Billy Mitchell to get Congress to fund strategic air power development. 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.199 A two thousand six article in The Space Review also 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:45.000 advocates for an independent space force, saying the officers whose 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:48.840 formative experiences came from flying planes in Earth's atmosphere cannot 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.439 be expected to instinctively understand the nature of space warfare. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.600 Another argument for having a separate space Corps is that 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.080 the Air Force already is trying to do too many things. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.680 From operating satellites to wage electronic warfare, and then it 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.760 gives short thrift to anything that doesn't involve flying airplanes. 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:09.319 Joan Johnson Freeze, a national security affairs professor at the U. S. 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.880 Naval War College who focuses on space security issues, said 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.800 this the Air Force went from being an air force 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.880 to an air in space force, to an aerospace force 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:22.000 to an airspace and cyber force, with jet jockeys still 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.520 getting the lion's share of top air Force positions. General 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:27.960 Heighten has gone a long way, but he's still not 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.920 Air Force Chief of Staff. Until there is a separate 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:34.600 Space force, air force culture won't change, and fire pilots 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.200 will still rule. The current Space Commands budget, of roughly 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.040 nine billion dollars in annual funding, is a small slice 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:45.720 of the Pentagon's overall five eighty billion dollar budget. The 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.120 idea of a US Space Corps conjures up a mental 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.680 image of astronauts strapped into space fighters armed with laser beams, 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:54.559 But as Smith's notes in his essay, the current Space 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.520 Command is different from the rest of the Air Force 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.920 because flying is in its mission. It's earthbound personnel law 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.240 uch and supervise satellites even so he writes its units 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.240 are organized in the squadrons, units and wings that even 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.040 borrow patches and logos from famous aviation units. He thinks 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:12.440 that conveys the wrong message that the Air Force and 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:15.839 his words, does not value space space power or its 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.600 space professionals. In Smith's vision, the Space Corps would not 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.720 only support terrestrial military efforts, but in some situations would 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:26.680 take the lead and the event of attack against US satellites. 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.080 For example, the Space Court commander might direct other services 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.560 to attack targets on Earth in order to thwart the 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.400 space attackers. He also sees acting as sort of an 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:39.080 orbital police force, which would protect commercial US space industry 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.520 and ensure that, as he says, all awful and non 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.160 hostile actors enjoy the full benefits of space faring, regardless 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.480 of national origin. He would be up to Congress to 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.200 create a separate military arm and it's unclear how much 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.240 support the concept would have, but President Trump is pushing 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.360 for a big boost in defense spending, including spending more 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.800 to develop both defensive and offensive space weapons, so creation 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.920 of an orbital force conceivably could become part of the debate. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.079 That's our show for this week. Thank you so much 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.680 for tuning in. Further thanks to our audio producers Dylan 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:16.520 Fagin and Noel Brown, and our editorial Liaison's Christopher Hasiotis 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.640 and Alison Loudermilk. Subscribed to now Now for more of 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.600 the latest science news and send us links to anything 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:24.240 you'd like to hear his cover. Plus, do you think 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:27.520 military should develop space presences? Let us know You can 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.920 send us an email. Now podcast at has stuff works 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:32.960 dot com, and of course, for lots more stories like these, 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.800 head on over to our home planet now dot ho 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:47.319 stuff works dot com.