WEBVTT - Listener Questions #4 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:09.720 How do some bees make meat honey? What are tapeworms 0:00:09.800 --> 0:00:10.959 up to in my tummy? 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.920 Can light escape from a black hole? What process produces coal? 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.479 Did Franklin hang that key from a kite? Why is 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:20.160 dark chocolate better than white? 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.040 How do moles smell underwater? Why is the planet getting hotter? 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.280 How can humans live on Mars? What's the hold up 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:28.360 with flying cars? 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.440 The current state of space law? The powerful mantis, shrimp claw? 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:38.279 Biology, physics, archaeology, forestry, really anything other than chemistry? 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.600 What diseases do you get from your cat? Well, we'll 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:43.120 find the answers to all of that. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:45.760 Whatever question keeps you up at night. 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.000 Daniel and Kelly's answer will make it right. 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:52.480 Welcome to another Listener Questions episode on Daniel and Kelly's 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:53.800 Extraordinary Universe. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:07.600 Hi. 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.479 I'm Daniel, I'm a particle physicist, and I've never read 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:12.240 a poem on the podcast before. 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:12.920 Hi. 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:15.959 I'm Kelly Wiener Smith. And my husband just assumed that 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:17.760 I'd be so bad at writing poems that when I 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:19.640 read it out loud to my daughter, he left the 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.600 room just so that he wouldn't be embarrassed. But you 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:24.640 know what, I had fun. 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.399 I hope he's blushing somewhere. Whenever he's listening to this, he. 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.200 Might skip all of our Listener Questions episodes from here 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.680 on out. But that's all right. I had a good time. 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:36.199 Well that's too bad, because those are my favorite episodes. 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.479 I love hearing what people are wondering about, helping them 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:43.120 unravel their confusion and getting to the topics that are 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.320 really in people's minds. It's my favorite way to interact 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:47.000 with our audience. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.720 I love it as well, and I'm particularly excited about 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.919 this Listener Questions episode. You know, one because my daughter's 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.480 questions included and that's pretty cute. But two because we 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.040 got a biology question for me that I was she 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.040 is completely unaware of this group of species and they're 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.760 so creepy and right up my alley and it was 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:06.440 so much fun. 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.520 All right, Well, let's not waste any more time. Let's 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.640 dig into it today. We have questions about seasons on 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:16.680 Binary Star systems, about meat, wasp honey, and about how 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:18.600 gravity actually works. 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:19.760 Let's do it. 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.600 So our first question is from Aida. She's ten years 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.080 old and she lives in Virginia, and I think she 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:26.440 knows Kelly pretty well. 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:28.880 Great place to live, I'll just throw that in there. 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:31.480 Here's Ada's question. 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.640 Hi. I'm Ada, I'm ten years old. I have a 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:39.160 question for you. What would seasons be like if you 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.679 were on a planet in a solar system that had 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:43.200 two sons? Thank you? 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:45.959 All right? I like how she gets right to the point. 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.600 Yes, she's very succinct. I like that too. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.840 Is she reading a book about life on a solar 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:53.600 system with two sons? Or where do you think this 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:54.560 question came from? 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.040 Gosh, you know, I'm sure it didn't come out of nowhere, 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.400 but I don't know where she heard about solarsis with 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.640 two suns. That sparkedness. Could have been science class at school. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.359 Maybe she's writing a science fiction novel and she needs 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:07.800 some science consultation. 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.600 That's right, Yes, and she reached out to the right person. 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.919 Yeh, she certainly did. So let's dig into it first. 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.440 Let's remind ourselves why we have seasons on Earth, and 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.239 then we can teleport ourselves mentally to a solar system 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.480 with two stars and think about that one. So, on Earth, 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:26.680 the reason we have seasons is because the Earth is 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.880 tilted right. The Earth goes around the Sun, and there's 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.040 a plane there where all the planets go around the 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.640 Sun in the same plane, and the Earth also spins, 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:39.000 but the axis that it spins on is not perfectly 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.960 perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, so it's tilted 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.800 a little bit. It like leans over. Now, the Earth 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.360 is a sphere, so you know what is really leaning. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.800 It's still a sphere when it's tilted. But what's leaning 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.840 is that axis of spin, that axis that controls the 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.520 day night cycle. So what's closer to the Sun is 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.360 the Northern hemisphere the spin lets you define a northern 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.520 and the southern hemisphere, Then the Northern hemisphere is closer 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.080 to the Sun during the summer, and the Southern hemisphere 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.600 is further from the Sun during the Northern hemisphere summer 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.800 and the Southern hemisphere's winter. It's not actually accurate to 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.200 say that the Northern hemisphere is any closer to the Sun. 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.240 Is just more exposed to the Sun because it's leaning 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:18.760 that direction, got it? 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:20.200 And you know, I've got to admit that every once 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:21.880 in a while, when I talk to like the few 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.920 friends I have in Australia, I still forget that they're 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.880 experiencing the opposite season that we are up here in 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.880 North America. And we regularly have a disconnect. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.039 Yeah, exactly. And so if we didn't have a tilt. 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:38.279 For example, if the Earth's axis of rotation was perfectly 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.760 perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, then you wouldn't 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:44.200 have any seasons. You just always have I guess spring 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.559 or fall. Right, the days would be the same length 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.320 all year round. Going around the Sun wouldn't change your 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:51.600 experience at all. 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.440 No seasons, totally boring, just like living in California. You 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.560 knew where that was going halfway through the sentence. 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.880 Exactly, we'd all be happy all year long, right, it'd 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:08.280 be amazing, so dull. And there are other tiny factors 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.680 that also affect the weather and the seasons, things like 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:14.640 the elliptical orbit, or the Earth doesn't orbit in a 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:17.400 perfect circle around the Sun. It's an ellipse, which means 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.960 sometimes it is closer to the Sun and sometimes it's 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.000 further from the Sun. But this is a smaller factor 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.360 than the tilt, which really dramatically changes how many hours 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.599 of sunlight you get every day. The Earth is closest 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.400 to the Sun in January and furthest from the Sun 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.800 in July, so actually that counters the effect. It makes 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.520 the summer slightly less severe and the winter's slightly less severe. 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:43.040 Is that why the year starts in January? Or did 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.040 that have nothing to do with the calend No. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:50.640 That's totally random. Yeah, Oka's totally right. And also the 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.520 Earth tilt processes a little bit. It's not always in 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.279 the same direction. It itself rotates a little bit, like 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.560 a wobbly top. These are small factors, and that's affected 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:01.960 by like the Jupiter and all sorts of other stuff. 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.960 So mostly the Earth has seasons because it's tilted, So 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.160 the northern hemisphere is getting more light and the southern 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.320 hemisphere is getting less light during the northern hemisphere summer. 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.200 All right, but that's a simple system, single planet going 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.680 around a single star. So what about a binary star 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:18.480 system in Ada's mind? 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.160 Can I back you up for a second? Are most 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.799 planets tilted so like the Moon has a very little 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.560 bit of a tilt. Is Earth weird having a twenty 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:27.039 three point four degree tilt? 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.480 It's not weird to have a tilt like Urinus is 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.440 tilted much more dramatically ninety seven degrees, basically totally on 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.520 its side. Other planets are tilted more or less. The 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:40.120 tilt we think comes from being hit. Like everything in 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.520 the Solar System formed together from a big swirl. That's 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.280 why everything is rotating in the same plane, and most 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:48.520 of the planets are spinning in the same direction they 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.359 move around the Sun, which is the same direction that 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.039 the Sun is spinning itself. The whole Solar system is 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.599 one big swirl, which then coalesces into a star and 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.479 planets which all have the same swirl. But then you 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.760 can get hit by something from outside the Solar system 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:04.840 and it can knock you off axis a little bit. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.520 So we think that's probably the source of the Earth's tilt, 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:09.440 and other planets tilt as well. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.400 With all the stuff that's colliding, Would it be reasonable 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.080 to expect that having no tilt would be rare because 0:07:15.120 --> 0:07:17.680 there's so many collisions that probably knock you off angle. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.120 Yeah, As the Solar system forms, it's a little chaotic 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.480 and things hit each other, so the average tilt is 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.240 going to be zero, but it's unlikely for everything to 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.240 have exactly zero tilt. Got it just the same with it, 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.200 Like all the solar systems in the galaxy on average 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.120 have zero tilt relative to the plane of the galaxy, 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.560 but most of them are tilted relative to the plane 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.440 of the galaxy. They're not all aligned with the actual 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:40.760 rotation of the galaxy. 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.480 All right, So let's move on to systems with two sons. 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.680 All right. So system with two sons sound exotic, right, 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.840 You're like, ooh wow, two sons, how cool, But the 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.680 truth is that they're not actually that rare. Binary star 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.240 systems are all over the galaxy. It's a significant fraction 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.480 of the stars in our galaxy have a partner star. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.240 And the reason is that that big cloud of gas 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.880 that collapses to give you a star usually it's part 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.960 of a much bigger cloud. So stars are born together. 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.040 Often you have two, three, four, five stars all born together, 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.840 which begin a complicated swirl as they're forming. So you 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:17.920 have these nurseries. We have a lot of star forming 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.440 happening at the same time, and so stars are born 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:23.320 with partners. And the reason we have a lot of 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.480 binary star systems is that it's basically the most number 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.200 of stars you can have in a system and have 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.280 it be stable. Like you can have two things orbiting 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.160 each other and have that be stable, like the Earth 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.040 and the Sun or a star and another star. But 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.600 you add a third object and it becomes chaotic, it 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.840 becomes really complicated and unstable. So if you have three stars, 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.400 for example, what's very likely to happen is one of 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:48.000 them is going to get ejected and you're going to 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:49.960 end up with a single star and then a pair 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:52.600 of stars. So you have a lot of binary star 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:57.080 systems out there, not very many trinary systems or quaternary systems, 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:00.000 or not even know the descriptions for five or more stars. 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.280 So why is it more likely to get ejected than 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.760 to get pulled into one of the other two stars 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.680 and then just make like, I don't know, a big star, 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:08.880 a big explosion. 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.200 Yeah, well that could happen also, but you know, stars 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.480 are small compared to the distances between them, and so 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.120 actual collisions are pretty unlikely, but they can spiral in 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.680 and combine. That certainly does happen as well, But there's 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.640 just many more outcomes where they get ejected, and just 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:27.720 like in our Solar system, there's been chaos. We think 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.079 probably there was another giant planet which got ejected from 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.240 the Solar System because of the interaction between all the planets. 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.520 So you have a lot of binary star systems out there, 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.080 and then you have to think about the planets around 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.720 those binary stars, and it becomes tricky already because now 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.160 the planet is sort of like that third object. So 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:47.320 you might wonder like, hey, isn't the planet just going 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.760 to get ejected the way like a third star would 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.480 get ejected, And the answer is yes, it's not easy 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.800 to have planets around binary stars in a stable way. 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.080 There's two ways to do it, and both of them 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.520 basically make it look more like a binary star system. 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.240 So one solution is you have the two stars near 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.040 each other and the planet is far away, so it's 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.280 sort of like, yeah, there are three objects there, but 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.240 really it's sort of a nested set of binary systems. 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.079 You have like the stars on one side and the 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.959 planet that are orbiting each other, and then inside the 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.960 sort of star system, you have two stars moving near 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:23.520 each other. That's one situation, basically, like replace the Sun 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.080 with two stars close to each other or closer to 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.400 each other than to the planet. The other possible configuration 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.400 is you have a star and a planet like the 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:33.280 Earth and the Sun, and then you have another star 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.480 that's much further away, so like put a star near 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.600 Pluto or something much further from the Earth than the 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.760 Sun and then it's far enough away that it's not unstable. 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.439 Then you have like again a nested set of binary systems. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.079 You have three objects, but really it's like two objects 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.960 acting as one and then in a binary system with 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:53.920 the third object. 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.320 Okay, so then let's talk about seasons. In the first 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.439 scen area, where you have two stars that are right 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.480 next to each other, do they act like one just 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:06.320 megastar when you sort of aggregate their effects. 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.360 Yeah, they act like one megastar. It's going to be 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.000 very similar to as if you had one bigger star. 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.679 It's going to be different and more dramatic in terms 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.720 of like sunrise and sunset. Sunrise will be longer and 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:19.920 sunset will be longer, and there'll be times when you 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.480 have like one star above the horizon and one below, 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:24.640 so you could have effects like you could have a 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.240 sunrise where there's already a star in the sky, and 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.840 then you have basically two sunsets, one more dramatic than 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.800 the next. So that would be really cool, but it 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:36.240 wouldn't really affect the seasons very much, right because the 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.559 planet's relationship to the star is basically the same. If 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:41.360 you have a tilt and you have an orbit that's 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.559 going to determine your seasons. So in that situation where 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.680 you have a planet around a binary star system where 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.439 the stars are close to each other and further from 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.480 the planet, the seasons are going to be very much 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:51.440 like here on Earth. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:53.720 I feel like it would be amazing to wake up 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.680 to a sunrise with two stars in the horizon. That 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.640 sounds really cool. But all right, So then our second scenario, 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.840 you say, there's one sun that's kind of close to 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.200 the planet and another sun that's super far out. Is 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:08.679 it far enough out that it doesn't really impact climates 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:10.560 and seasons anymore? 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:14.520 Unfortunately? Yeah, So the boring answer is for there to 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:16.800 be a planet in this situation, that star has to 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.080 be kind of far away. The closer you get it, 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:21.640 the more dramatic and the impact on seasons and day 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:25.480 night stuff, etc. But also the more unstable it is. Like, 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.520 if you have the planet be the same distance from 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.360 both stars, so it's like very dramatic, then that system 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.640 is totally unstable and it's not gonna last for very long. 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.360 So you got to push that second star kind of 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.240 far away, which means really it's gonna be in the 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.280 sky more like a bright star. Than a real sun 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.480 and not really gonna affect your seasons. You're gonna have 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:49.520 one totally dominant star and then a second star that's 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:52.280 gonna sometimes make the night a little brighter or even 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.200 the day a little brighter, but it's not gonna have 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.720 that much effect. But you know, in a science fiction 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.680 sort of inspiration, we can move that second star in 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.280 as as much as possible and pretend that it does 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.760 have some impact because there's some crazy dynamics that happen 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:06.720 in that scenario. 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.800 Okay, let's go for it. What is that like super winter? 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.760 Yeah, exactly. If you think about the periods when you 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.360 have sunlight, that really is what determines the seasons. Right 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:21.480 in a single star, single planet system, it's the number 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.360 of hours per day of sunlight you get that determine 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.520 the seasons. And in the summer you're getting more sun. 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.720 In the winter, you're getting less sun. Now put that 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.520 second star around, say we have the second star, you know, 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:35.000 in Mars orbit or something crazy, then you're going to 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:37.600 be getting sunlight all sorts of weird configurations, like there 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:41.000 can be parts of the year where each star is 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.320 illuminating a different side of the planet. Put the planet 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:46.960 between the two stars. Right, they're all in a line. 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.800 You have star, planet Star, then every part of the 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.720 surface is seeing a star. Right, It's like the whole 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:56.920 world has noon at the same time, right, which would 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.920 be crazy. So you have periods where the whole planet 0:13:59.960 --> 0:14:03.840 is seeing star, and then other scenarios where like in 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.839 a line it goes star star planet where half of 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:09.640 the planet is seeing both stars at the same time, 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.960 and if they're both pretty close, that's gonna be superday. 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.480 That's like super noon, right, and that's gonna be very intense, 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.440 super duper hot. And also you'll get a weird effect 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:23.240 there where potentially the stars eclipse each other. So like 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:25.640 you know, we have solar eclipses and lunar eclipses, this 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.600 would be like a stellar eclipse where one sun is 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:31.680 behind the other sun briefly. That would be awesome. 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:32.640 Don't look at either. 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.040 But I actually looked up a simulator to try to 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.640 figure out exactly what would happen through the year, and 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:44.480 it depends crucially on the orbit of that second star. 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.720 If that second star has a period of about a year, 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.880 like the same as the planet's orbit, then you're gonna 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:53.160 have a regular cycle. But you're gonna have times in 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.840 the year where even at the equator you have no darkness, 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:57.960 like you see one sun and the planet spins and 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.560 you see the other sun. And so that's going to 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.280 be very summary, right, because it's all about the hours 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.760 of sunlight you get and other parts of the year 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:07.960 where you're seeing both suns at the same time, so 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:11.120 you're getting fewer hours of daylight, but they're more intense, 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:15.080 they're brighter. So you're gonna have these really weird periods. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.200 I don't know how the plants would respond to that, 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:18.920 or how you would evolve in that kind of. 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.360 Configuration circadian rhythms, mm hmm. 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:23.720 It's gonna be a total mess, but it would be regular, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.520 you know. And if, for example, the second star has 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.400 a longer period, it takes longer to go around that 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:33.400 first star and the planet, then its affects can slide 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:35.920 through the year, right, It's not like every June we 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.760 have double sun, every January we have one sun. It 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.240 can slowly offset and that must really affect like the 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.240 development of a civilization, you know, because we use the 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.920 regular seasons, and the regular day night cycle really is 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.480 a way to tell time. So either you have to 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.120 have much more complex mathematics before you can even begin 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.600 to use a calendar and develop it. Or maybe you 0:15:57.640 --> 0:15:59.960 get some art or quicker because the calendar is more 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.920 complicated and it inspires more interesting mathematics. But the short 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:06.120 answer is that the seasons are going to be intense 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.320 and complicated, and it depends on a lot of the details, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.640 exactly how fast that second star goes around the first star. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.520 I wonder if it would hinder the establishment of civilizations, 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.800 because like being able to plan things like when you 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.680 plant your crops seems really important. I wonder if we'd 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.560 all be like wanderers because planning just isn't worth even trying, 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.200 but really fun to think about it. You know, there's 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:27.640 got to be a couple of sci fi novels in. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:31.320 There, Yeah, exactly. And you know there's the famous book 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.840 The three Body Problem, where they have essentially this question, 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.720 except it's actually the four body problem because they have 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.720 three stars and a planet. I don't know why they 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.160 like couldn't figure out how to count to three. It's 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.840 already complicated enough with two stars. You don't need a 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:46.440 third star. 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.800 Yeah. Well, when Ada's done with her math homework, will 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.720 have her listen to this explanation and hear what she 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:55.360 had to say. 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.120 Maybe we should have her on in real time for 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:03.680 a follow up. Let's do it, hi Ada, thanks very 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.760 much for your question. I was curious what you thought 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.040 about our answer and if you have any follow up questions. 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:17.399 I understood like what I heard when I listened to 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:24.000 the podcast, m H. And I do have one follow 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:24.920 up question. 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:26.560 Oh goodie, what is it? 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:27.000 So? 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:35.560 Was our sun in this our source system like part 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.560 of a different source system and then was it ejected 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:43.720 out or was it just not like that? 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:48.240 Yeah, that's a great question. Unfortunately we don't know the answer. 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.000 Most stars are born with other stars nearby. There's like 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.919 sibling stars sometimes two, three, five, seven, as part of 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.240 a big nursery, and then they're separated, as you know, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.760 gravity lings them around. But we don't know the history 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.639 of our star that far back, so probably it was 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.840 born with other stars, but we don't actually know. Maybe 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.440 one day we'll figure out some way to figure it out, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:13.720 but for now we don't know the answer. Thank you, 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:15.399 thanks so much for your question. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.200 All right, so now for something absolutely totally different, we 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.480 have a fantastic question from listener James Palmer, and it 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:44.440 is a question about meat bees otherwise known as vulture bees, 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.159 which I had not heard of, but is absolutely right 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:49.240 up my alley. So let's hear the question. 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.679 Hey, Kelly and Daniel, I have a burning desire to 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.959 know everything about meat wasps. I just heard about them, 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:57.800 and I feel like there's a lot to discuss here, 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.600 Like apparently they are carnivorous and the eat on like 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.840 flesh and like maybe it's rotting. Then they use that 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:09.679 to make their honey and stuff like meat honey. Please 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:11.320 tell me everything. 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.919 Meat honey, Daniel. You're dying to know about meat honey. 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:16.160 Right. 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.080 Well, you know, we have lots of different kinds of 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:20.800 honey here in California, and often it's sold to us 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.720 by promoting the kind of flowers that the bees visit, 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.960 like ooh, this is lavender honey or wildflower honey, and 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.920 you're supposed to imagine that you can taste the lavender 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.520 as you're eating the honey. And so I'm wondering, now, 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.600 meat bee honey, is it gonna taste like pepperoni or 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:36.119 what's going on? 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:39.200 Oh gosh, you know, to be honest, I would never 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.600 try it. But there's not a lot of honey that 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.159 is meat honey. So there's a lot of bees that 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:49.119