1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. I 4 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: find it interesting, Julie, that that we can as humans 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: can take solace and find some sort of spiritual almost 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: spiritual comfort in the idea of a supernova, which is 7 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: something that's worth discussing this podcast that is, on one level, 8 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: is so far removed from us. I mean, it's a 9 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:38,040 Speaker 1: it's a it's a Titanic event, one of the most 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: powerful events that that regularly occurs in the universe, and 11 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: it takes place vast distances of both time and space, 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,879 Speaker 1: and yet we can find something in there to connect 13 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: with and to to to take solace in and and 14 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 1: leave it feeling better about our place in this vast 15 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,279 Speaker 1: sea of cosmos. What's the life stile goal in Macro Right, 16 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: it's a dying star and it's absolutely brilliant. Right, it's 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: visual fireworks. It's a star that suddenly increases greatly in 18 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of 19 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: its mass. So it's a dramatic storyline. So because you 20 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: know how could you not be caught by this, this 21 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: thing that is imploding and ejecting most of its mass. Yeah, 22 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: I mean it's the death of a star. It's kind 23 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: of like the death of a guy. Like we're totally 24 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: into that idea as well. Yeah yeah, um. And it's 25 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: really powerful and the core of a massive star runs 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: out of nuclear fuel, right, this is this is the 27 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: sad part. I guess you could sit sad. It's not 28 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: so much sad and collapses under its own gravity to 29 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 1: form an ultra dense object known as a neutron star. 30 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: But only so much material can compress into the neutron stars, 31 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: so some of the original stars collapsing gaseous outer layers 32 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,480 Speaker 1: can't fit, so instead they sort of bounce off the 33 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 1: neutron star, and then this triggers a shock wave that 34 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: bulldozes back were the outer layers and blows the star 35 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: to smithereens. Yeah. The way, the way I really like 36 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,079 Speaker 1: to think about it is basically, you have a situation 37 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:11,679 Speaker 1: where a working star, a functional living star, is having 38 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: to burn massive amounts of energy to expand against the 39 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: force of its own crushing gravity. So I like to 40 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,399 Speaker 1: think of it like a poorly run but well financed business, 41 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: you know, where there's a lot of moneys, a lot 42 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:24,959 Speaker 1: of money is being spent to keep keep up these offices. 43 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: It's like, uh, the company that Tom have havever heard 44 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: a season sorry his character in Parks and Rector. It's 45 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: just spen in all this just mad money and they're 46 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: not actually bringing money in, but all this money is 47 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: being spent to keep it out. And then what happens 48 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: was it Tommy Fresh Industries or something like it was 49 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: something along those lines, and they were hiring NBA stars 50 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: just hang out at the off the hands from cocktails 51 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: to people, um and uh. And then of course they 52 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: run out of money and it just collapses. And that's 53 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: kind of what happens with with the Star. Um. It 54 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: reaches the point where there's nothing else to burn to 55 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: sustain it, to to to keep it fight against its 56 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: own massive gravity. And when that happens, it collapses. In 57 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: some cases you end up with a singularity, you end 58 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: up with a black hole. But in other cases you 59 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: end up with this enormous explosion that Jettison's uh, you know, 60 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: all the shrimp cocktail and NBA stars elsewhere it happened 61 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: to the universe. Yeah, and it's really helpful to use 62 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: these supernova nova plural to actually study the universe, right, 63 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: because it's something that we can see, something that we 64 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: know about. UM. It used to be that we thought 65 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,519 Speaker 1: this was terribly uncommon, but it turns out that it is. Uh, 66 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: these stars exploding, this very violent catastrophic events are more 67 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: common than we thought. UM. And again just so you 68 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: guys understand, um, how immense this is. They emit in 69 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: a few seconds and energy equivalent to what they've emitted 70 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: for their entire lifetime. UM. Our galaxy is about twelve 71 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,320 Speaker 1: billion years old, so we have seen well not you 72 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: and I when you guys out there personally, but two 73 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: hundred million stars exploded during its lifetime. Right. Yeah, I 74 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: was looking at a at a study where from April 75 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: two thousand three to August two thousand and six, the Canada, France, 76 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: Hawaii telescope watch four parts of the sky. Each section 77 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: that it looked at was about sixteen times the area 78 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,039 Speaker 1: of a full moon, and which is roughly one of 79 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: the entire sky. And during that time period they observed 80 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: two hundred forty one Type one A supernova. So just 81 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: to give you an idea of like how often these 82 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: things are happening. Um. And actually I did a blog post. 83 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: The guy did a neat thing where he he set 84 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: this to music, like he sped it up. And then 85 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:38,719 Speaker 1: every time there's a supernova and one of these quadrants 86 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: that lights up and there's a note and it's really cool. Yeah, 87 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: and it's it's a great event. I believe in nineteen 88 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: eighty seven they were actually able to uh witnessed an 89 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: explosion of the nineteen seven nine seven a supernova which 90 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: they had had their telescopes trained on. Uh. But you know, 91 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: I'm vniched down. They actually blew up and they were 92 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 1: able to study it quite carefully. Um. But again it 93 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,799 Speaker 1: brings back to this this whole idea that you put forth, 94 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: which is, you know, we can't help but look up 95 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: in the night sky and feel connected. And now that 96 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: we know a lot more about a supernova, we can 97 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,760 Speaker 1: better understand that these raw materials hurling out in the 98 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,160 Speaker 1: universe are actually very deeply connected to our existence. Yeah, 99 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: which is I mean you look back at like just 100 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: sort of religious and spiritual ideas. I mean everybody, it's 101 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: probably not everybody, but but you see a lot of 102 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: people into the idea of being, say, a child of 103 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: God or being or having some sort of a connection 104 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 1: to a spiritual or heavenly realm. So strip away religious 105 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: and spirituality and uh and just look at science. And 106 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 1: that's what what we're looking at here, the idea that 107 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: there is a connection between these titanic and timeless events, 108 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,080 Speaker 1: uh playing out in the cosmos and our own small, 109 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: uh little lives. Yeah, and let's talk just a little 110 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: bit about sort of the nuts and bolts of the 111 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: supernervo so that we can all sort of get a 112 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: firm understanding of what's happening at the center of a supernova. 113 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 1: So a star can go supernova in one of two waves. 114 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: There's type one supernova, in which a star accumulates matter 115 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: from a nearby neighbor until runaway nuclear reaction nick nites. 116 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: And then there's the type two supernova. And this is 117 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: sort of the more spectacular version, in which a star 118 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: runs out of nuclear fuel and collapses under its own gravity, right, 119 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,799 Speaker 1: which is the kind of the the collapsing business analogy 120 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 1: I used earlier. Yes, Yes, what happens is that as 121 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: it begins to die, it eventually runs out of hydrogen 122 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,039 Speaker 1: and then helium fuel at its core. So gradually heavier 123 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: elements build up at the center, and then it becomes 124 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: layered like an onion, with elements becoming lighter towards the 125 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,440 Speaker 1: outside of the star. And this is where we start 126 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: to see the spiraling effect of those materials um throwing 127 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: off of the star. Basically, so that shock wave that 128 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, that actually shoots out the whole 129 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:58,360 Speaker 1: outer part of the star, and the shock waves compressed 130 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 1: the gas and space, which triggers new star formations. Okay, 131 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: which is really key to us into the universe. Right, 132 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: you have situations, um where just imagine just some empty 133 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: space in the universe where you just have a bunch 134 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: of dust molecules just floating out there doing nothing. Uh. 135 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: You know, it's like a quiet town. I can think 136 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: of it as like a quiet Midwestern town. Everything's just 137 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: going about its business, tumbleweeds. But then what happens, right, 138 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: the hot young rebel on its bike rolls through town, 139 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: right and stirs everybody up. Well, that's kind of what 140 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: happens when a shock wave from a supernova moves through 141 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: these particles. It's it mixes things up a little. Suddenly 142 00:07:33,400 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: you have pieces colliding into one another you have in 143 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: these little bits of dust begin a process called acretion, 144 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: where the gravity of minute little pieces of matter begin 145 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: drawing in other many pieces of matter until and in 146 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: this snowball effect takes off where it gets grows bigger 147 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: and bigger, eventually becoming uh, planets, stars, new systems, new galaxies. 148 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: And this you know this, this gun slinger, this rebel 149 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: riding into town. This is happening super fast because the 150 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: core of a supernova supernova is larger than the Earth, 151 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,400 Speaker 1: containing about a million times the mass of the Earth. 152 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: So when a star like say the supernova seven A, dies, 153 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,480 Speaker 1: it collapses to the size of the Earth, which then 154 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: collapses to the size of London and approximately one second, 155 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: I mean, this is that's amazing, right, So this, this 156 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: h gunslinger shows up and you know this, this ball 157 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: of fire. And you know, if that's not dramatic enough, 158 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: consider that the materials that spiral off the supernova into 159 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: the universe during its final seconds have been billions of 160 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: the years in the making, right millions. For instance, we 161 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: know that all the hydrogen burns to helium in ten 162 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: million years. So this is what's happening when a star dies, right, 163 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: it starts to take its own material and burn off. 164 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: So all that hydrogen burns to helium in ten million 165 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: years um, and then gravity starts to contract the star, 166 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:58,440 Speaker 1: making it hotter and hotter, and then helium burns to 167 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: carbon in one million years, and then all the carbon 168 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: burns to form nitrogen in one hundred thousand years. Oxygen 169 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: burns to silicon in ten thousand years, and then during 170 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:11,560 Speaker 1: the last day, this is the coolest part, the last 171 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: day in the life of the star, all the silicon 172 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 1: burns to form iron in one day, and this really 173 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: is the death now, since iron is tightly bound um 174 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: in terms of its nucleus and it has nothing to 175 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,080 Speaker 1: give in the form of fuel to the star. The 176 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,520 Speaker 1: really cool thing about this is that these are all 177 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: the elements that the universe is made of, that the 178 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: Earth is made of, and pretty much what we are 179 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: made of. Right, So every atom in your body, according 180 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: according to Lawrence Cross, and he's a theoretical physicist, was 181 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: once in a star that exploded. Two hundred million stars 182 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: have created the elements to make up your body. Hydrogen, carbon, 183 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:50,560 Speaker 1: and lithium were part of the Big Bang. So this 184 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 1: is where the beautiful quasi spiritual idea enters the picture. 185 00:09:55,320 --> 00:10:00,679 Speaker 1: The idea that are humble, little fragile body that are 186 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: in the process of growing old and dying. Uh contain uh, 187 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: the elements that were once a part of the of 188 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: one of the most colossal, powerful events that regularly happens 189 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: in the universe, And they were once the part part 190 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: of stars. We're we're made out of these stars were 191 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: made out of the celestial gods. We are kind of 192 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: like the trickle down from that. Yeah. So if you 193 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 1: look at in the night sky and you fill an 194 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: affinity with it, then it's because we you know, it's 195 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: the building blocks of us. Right, And Lawrence Cross says, 196 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,240 Speaker 1: you know, the atoms in your left hand probably came 197 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: from a different star than your right hand. He says, 198 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:39,439 Speaker 1: I mean, this is a great quote. It really is 199 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:42,000 Speaker 1: the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are 200 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: all stardust. You couldn't be here if stars hadn't exploded, 201 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: because the elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things 202 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,439 Speaker 1: that matter for evolution and for life weren't created at 203 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 1: the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear 204 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: furnaces of stars. And the only way for them to 205 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: get in your body is if those stars were kind 206 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: enough to explode. He says, so forget Jesus, the stars 207 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: died so that you could be here today. Well, we'll see. 208 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: That's nice. And now I've also read estimates that of 209 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,079 Speaker 1: the mass in our bodies has actually started us. So 210 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: it's a good chunk. It's a good chunk. And it 211 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: just sounds better to say all of it though, because 212 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: no one wants to be like, like we are divine. 213 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: You know, that's that's a weird percentage. Why I just 214 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: go for a hundreds, right, yeah, exactly, why not? Uh, 215 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,640 Speaker 1: let's not split hairs. But um, you know, it's an 216 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:36,680 Speaker 1: interesting perspective when you think about that your existence in 217 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: a in a the universe. And we actually just did 218 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: a podcast concerning black swans. Black swans being these events 219 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: that out liars that seem like, you know, you couldn't 220 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: predict them. Um, and this idea that black swans are 221 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: everywhere all the time, and in fact our existence is 222 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: a black swan, right um. And Lawrence Cross would actually 223 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 1: say that there's there's many black swans in this universe. 224 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: We just have to look for them. And we have 225 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: a lot many more connections to the universe than just 226 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: being you know, part of Stardust. Ruminate on that for 227 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: just a moment, and we will be back with more 228 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: on the cosmic origins of your atoms. All right, we're back, 229 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,079 Speaker 1: and we're actually going to discuss a few other um 230 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: kind of trippy cosmic connections that you can make to 231 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: the outer dark without having to really as much on 232 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: the whole star dust supernova situation. Okay, here's here's one. 233 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 1: Are we possibly the extraterrestrials that we've been talking about? Ah, 234 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,959 Speaker 1: you are, of course talking about exogenesis. I am talking 235 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: about the idea that life immer originates not on Earth 236 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: but somewhere else, the raw materials for it at least, right, 237 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: that the raw materials at least or you know, you 238 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: could go crazy and say, get into some ancient alien stuff, 239 00:12:56,679 --> 00:12:59,600 Speaker 1: but that's uh, that's for another podcast for this though. 240 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: You're talking about, um, the idea that the raw materials 241 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: end up arriving here um via asteroids meteor rides. So yeah, yeah, 242 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 1: And it turns out of Antarctica is really helpful in 243 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: trying to study this because it's just this vast white 244 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: landscape right, really easy to spot meteorites, particularly Martian meteorites. 245 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: And since we have looked at the soil composition on Mars, 246 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: we already know that when we find a meteorite that 247 00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: it could have come from Mars when we slice it 248 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: and dish it and look at the composition. So what 249 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 1: has become apparent is that we are polluted regularly from 250 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: material from Mars and vice versa. So materialist from Earth 251 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: getting knocked out from the surface, and they also make 252 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:44,320 Speaker 1: their way to Mars. Um. Now sometimes we send things 253 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: to Mars too. It's true we did have little care 254 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:51,520 Speaker 1: packages um cookies, but we also known Again, this was 255 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: Laurence Cruss talking about that microbes in this Siberian desert 256 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: can exist without water under harsh conditions for months or 257 00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: even years uh and in door mis state, and he 258 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: says no doubt that if microbes existed in a rock 259 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:06,680 Speaker 1: on Mars, it could make a six month trip to 260 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,079 Speaker 1: Earth once they were knocked out from this service with 261 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: no problem. So the big question is did life on 262 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,960 Speaker 1: Earth arise here or somewhere else? Maybe we are all 263 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: the extraterrestrials right, And the process of life traveling from 264 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: one planet to another is called pan spermium. And we 265 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: have an article on how stuff Works about space collisions. 266 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: If you look, if you just go to a house 267 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,320 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com, type in space collisions and you'll 268 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: find a cool little article talking about various cosmic heavy 269 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: hitters smacking together. And also um the idea of pants spermia, 270 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: the idea of life spreading from one world to another. Yeah, 271 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: and he also uh mourns across us people to think 272 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: about taking a breath, think about oxygen for just one moment. Okay, 273 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: now I can say this. Consider that life evolved on 274 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: Earth for two billion years before it began to produce 275 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: and use oxygen. Organisms use photosynthesis, which use carbon carbon dioxide, 276 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: and all those little dudes produce little puffs of oxygen, 277 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,880 Speaker 1: and over millions of years, created more and more oxygen 278 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: in our atmosphere until boom here we are taking it 279 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: for granted. Um, he says. Lawrence Croft says that in 280 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 1: every breath you take, they're an average of at least 281 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: ten oxygen atoms from the dying breath of Caesar. When 282 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:24,080 Speaker 1: he said at brute wow, he's waxing poetic hardcore on this. 283 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: He totally he's pulling out all the stops because he's like, 284 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:28,400 Speaker 1: you know, it's not just as as I think he 285 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: referred to it before, just a bunch of dead people's 286 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: breath that we're taking in. Yeah, because because I mean, 287 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: we're also you could also say, oh, I'm also drawing 288 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: in the breath of every inane thing that has ever 289 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: been said by a politician, Hollywood starlets, the dark side 290 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: of that. But it's true. Every time you breathe, you're 291 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: breathing in atoms of everyone who has ever lived. So 292 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: you know, if there's someone sitting next to you that 293 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: you just might be annoyed with, you just feel like, 294 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: oh man, I can't I can't muster any sort of 295 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: empathy for this person. Uh. You know, you just have 296 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: to realize that we actually are all eat out of 297 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,080 Speaker 1: the same material um, and we're all breathing the same 298 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: funky breath of the earth. But it reminds me of 299 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: the I did a block pist a while back about 300 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: the the idea that all drinking water was poo at 301 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 1: one point, which again Lawrence Cross will say he has 302 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: some interesting things to say about that. Um. He says 303 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: that it's just really interesting. He says, every time you 304 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: drink in water, you're drinking in the sweat from your parents, 305 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: coupling that created you. I know, I know, even this, 306 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: this fancy lacroix in my hand, it seems so pure, 307 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: so wide spread our materials. We just and and he 308 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: says also, like any sort of exprement from any sort 309 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: of sludge that ever existed on this earth, you're also 310 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: taking it. But this is really cool too. If you 311 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: prick your finger and drop a drop of your blood 312 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: in the Thames, for instance, Um, a year later, you 313 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: could take a tablespoon of water from the ocean and 314 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: there would be some of the atoms of your blood 315 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: in that water. According to Lawrence Cross, Yeah, it does 316 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 1: drive home the interconnectedness of it all, and that there 317 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: is um. I mean, we don't stand outside the cycle 318 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: of mass and matter and energy. That we are a 319 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,639 Speaker 1: part of this. Uh, we are part of cosmos. Really, 320 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,920 Speaker 1: you know that's true. So often we think of science 321 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,240 Speaker 1: is something separate from us rather than within us. Yeah, 322 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: I mean, that's just that's just the where our minds work, 323 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: and it's one of the reasons we end up, you know, 324 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,959 Speaker 1: having all these blinders to figuring out how consciousness works 325 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 1: and how can we end up creating all these uh 326 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: uh these ideas of spirituality and religion. She sort of 327 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: peep beyond those blinders that you're forced to recognize that 328 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: we are a part of the universe. It's it's the 329 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 1: hippie dippi as that may sound, you know, it's we are. 330 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,719 Speaker 1: I mean, there you go. Okay, so now you've all 331 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:41,479 Speaker 1: put us in a mood for a little Carl. Second, 332 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: why don't you hit us with a little well, yeah, 333 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: that imagine A number of people were like, how are 334 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:47,520 Speaker 1: they going to mention that Carl Sagan quote or not? 335 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:49,160 Speaker 1: What's a matter with these people there? In fact, they're 336 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:51,480 Speaker 1: already writing the emails. How could you leave out the 337 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,200 Speaker 1: Carl Sagon quote? Well, I have the Car sagend quote 338 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,639 Speaker 1: here for you. And interesting fact, we considered, um, trying 339 00:17:57,680 --> 00:17:59,639 Speaker 1: to get somebody to do a Car Sagan voice for 340 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: us for this, but there was a lot of discussion about, well, 341 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: he doesn't really do a Carl Sagan voice. He does 342 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: a Kermit the Frog voice that kind of sounds like, 343 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: kind of sounds like Carl Sagan. Do do we do 344 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: we get him to do this in his current voice? 345 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:15,360 Speaker 1: Do we ask him to tweak it into a Sagan? 346 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: Is that cool? Is that because we love Sagan, we 347 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,199 Speaker 1: don't want to and we love Kermit, you know, right, 348 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: And then there's an other dude in the office that 349 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,440 Speaker 1: always wears a turtleneck. But then that doesn't quite come across. Yeah, 350 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 1: that only works if you're in the studio with us. 351 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna read it in my serious voice. 352 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: I guess matter is much older than life. Billions of 353 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: years before the Sun and Earth even formed, Adams were 354 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,880 Speaker 1: being synthesized in the insides of hot stars and then 355 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,480 Speaker 1: returned to space when the stars blew themselves up. Newly 356 00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,479 Speaker 1: formed planets were made out of the stellar debris, and 357 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: Earth and every living thing are made of star stuff 358 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:54,639 Speaker 1: like that, like yeah, yeah, yeah, this the star stuff 359 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:58,160 Speaker 1: is is um Yeah, that's it's just a great quote 360 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: and it really and he drives some some much of 361 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,439 Speaker 1: what Sagan did so well that he was able to 362 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:07,400 Speaker 1: convey this uh, this passion for uh, for for cosmos, 363 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,080 Speaker 1: for for the universe, for for space, for sciences, for 364 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: you know, neuroscience, and another related to areas as well, 365 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:15,640 Speaker 1: was able to relay that passion for it and make 366 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:17,960 Speaker 1: it feel like a part of us and not something 367 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,600 Speaker 1: that we stood apart from indeed, incidentally, there is also 368 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 1: around the same time about the late sixties of when 369 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: when Sagan was thinking about this stuff and formulating these, 370 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,639 Speaker 1: uh these ideas, you also had a young Joni Mitchell 371 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 1: wrote wrote a song called Woodstock, which features the lyrics 372 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: were start us we're golden, We're billion year old carbon 373 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: And as we close out the podcast, you were actually 374 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,800 Speaker 1: gonna play a portion of a cover by the by 375 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: the band Austra all of that song wood Stock that 376 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:52,439 Speaker 1: I find particularly snazzy. So but before we get to 377 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: that real quick, if you need to contact us and 378 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 1: you want to reach out to us about anything we've 379 00:19:56,840 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: talked about in this podcast or other podcasts, you can 380 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: find us on Facebook as stuff to Blow the Mind, 381 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: and you can find us on Twitter as blow the Mind. 382 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 1: And you can always drop us a line at blow 383 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 1: the Mind. At how stuff Works dot com, we are 384 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 1: start we are, we are. We be sure to check 385 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: out our new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join 386 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: how Stuff Work staff as we explore the most promising 387 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: and perplexing possibilities of tomorrow.