1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,719 Speaker 1: Are you looking for brand new episodes of a short 2 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works podcast that explains the everyday world around us, 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:10,239 Speaker 1: Then check out brain Stuff with me Christian Sager. New 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: episodes hit every Monday and Wednesday on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, 5 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: or anywhere else you get your podcasts. Welcome to How 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: Stuff Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren vocal Baum, a 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: researcher and writer. Here it has stuff works. This week, 8 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: the shipwreck where the enter the Kara mechanism was found 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: over a hundred years ago, has given archaeologists a new 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: a new old skeleton to study and unrelated, it appears 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: that China may have lost control of their space station 12 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: and that it will de orbit unpredictably sometime in the 13 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: next few months. But first head video writer Ben Boland 14 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: has a segment from our International Desk which I guess 15 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: we have um Is it possible to ban sarcasm? North 16 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: Korea is about to find out. Since reaching an armistice 17 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: in July of nineteen fifty three, the Democratic People's Republic 18 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: of Korea street named North Korea, has existed in a 19 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: unique geopolitical sphere for more than half a century. The 20 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: population has been isolated impoverished, and subjected to levels of 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: surveillance and state sponsored terrorism beyond even the dystopian tons 22 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: of George Orwell people. This is four in real life. 23 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,320 Speaker 1: Many many crimes are punishable by having not just the offender, 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: but also his or her family to the third generation 25 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: carded off to a concentration camp. Most foreign media is banned. 26 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: Some haircuts are banned. Well, technically only twenty eight are approved, 27 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: but anyhow, here's the latest and strangest thing. According to 28 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: US owned Radio Free Asia, North Korea is attempting to 29 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: ban sarcasm. That's right, sarcasm, the one you're thinking of, 30 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: the use of irony to convey contempt or mock someone. 31 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: At the end of August, central government employees organized mass 32 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: meetings wherein they warned North Korean citizens that using sarcasm 33 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:10,359 Speaker 1: in reference to the government or its hereditary ruler, Kim 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:15,079 Speaker 1: Jong Oon, even in casual conversation, would be an unforgivable offense. 35 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,240 Speaker 1: It appears, you see that the Supreme Leader feels people 36 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: are only agreeing with him ironically sort of you know, yes, 37 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: manning them, but also making fun of him, poor guy. 38 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,360 Speaker 1: This leads us to several questions. The most immediate of 39 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: which is how do you actually ban sarcasm. It's such 40 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: a contextual mode of expression that it's often misread by 41 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: people who speak the same language fluently, Like you've had 42 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:46,959 Speaker 1: somebody be sincere and you think they're being sarcastic, or 43 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: vice versa. It just happens. The North Korean government aims 44 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: to do this by restricting what they call hostile speech. 45 00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: This includes specific phrases such as this is all America's fault. 46 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: At first, that might sound like an odd win to ban, right, 47 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: but again, it's a matter of context. The citizens of 48 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: North Korea are using it humorously. Think about it. So 49 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: someone might stubb or toe and say, oh, this is 50 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: all America's fault. Some guy might be late for work 51 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: and his boss might say, Wow, this is all America's fault. 52 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: This phrase specifically lampoons the government's tendency to blame internal 53 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: or unrelated issues on foreign powers, especially the resident boogeyman 54 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: of North Korean ideology, good old Uncle Sam. I think 55 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: of this is all America's fault as their version of 56 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: Thanks Obama. Using the phrase a fool who cannot see 57 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: the outside world is also forbidden. Banning a specific phrase 58 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: is much easier than banning a social mode of expression, 59 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: But at this stage the act seems more of a 60 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: desperate move to quell internal uprisings, which are occurring more 61 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: and more frequently. While this law might prevent civilians and 62 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: officials from saying it to Kim Jong lun himself, censoring 63 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: speech in this manner tends to give a word or 64 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: phrase more power than it had in the beginning. And 65 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: one last thing. Although it is very easy to make 66 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: a few equips about sarcasm and move on, the situation 67 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: in North Korea is by no means a joke. The 68 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: people are starving, the government is increasingly testing nuclear weapons 69 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: to provoke regional and global powers, and the regime stands 70 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: a very good chance of collapsing, especially as the government 71 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:32,359 Speaker 1: of China slowly withdraws its support. Next up, I'm bringing 72 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,640 Speaker 1: you a story from my fellow writer and researcher, and coincidentally, 73 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,840 Speaker 1: my literary arch nemesis, Christopher Hasiotis Thanks for this one. 74 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:42,960 Speaker 1: Christopher newly discovered human remains from the site of a 75 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: two millennia old shipwreck could give us insight into one 76 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: of history's most intriguing computational devices. Researchers have found a 77 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: set of human remains at the same archaeological site where 78 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: the Anti Cathera Mechanism, one of history is most compelling 79 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: and mysterious shipwreck track years was discovered that would be 80 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: in Mediterranean waters near the Greek island of Antikathera. The 81 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: Anticathera mechanism is an intricate, geared artifact from circus sixty 82 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: BC that served as a type of calendar and may 83 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: have been the world's first analog computer. Discovered and first 84 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: salvaged by Greek sponge divers a hundred and sixteen years ago. 85 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: The anticather shipwreck, a boat believed to be carrying grain 86 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: shipments when it sank around the year sixty five BC, 87 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: is the largest ancient shipwreck ever found. It's currently the 88 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: site of ongoing research from an international team of divers 89 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: and archaeologists led by Greece's Ministry of Culture and Sports 90 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: and the Woods Whole Oceanographic Institution. There's little information currently 91 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: available about the person whom this newly discovered skeleton once 92 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: belonged to. Sex Age and manner of death have yet 93 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: to be determined, though researchers say the remains, including leg 94 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 1: and arm bones and a near intact skull are remarkably 95 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: well preserved, given that it's been at the bottom of 96 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 1: the A, G and C for twenty one years. This 97 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: isn't the first scaleton found at the Anti cafair shipwrecks site. 98 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: Jacques Cousteau and his team aboard the ship Calypso found 99 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: human remains there in ninety six, for example, but it 100 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: is the first discovery of remains since the advent of 101 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: advanced DNA studies. Plans are to send DNA samples to 102 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: a lab in Copenhagen with the hopes of identifying the 103 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: ethnicity and geographic origin of the long dead shipwreck victim. 104 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: There's no link between the skeleton and the famous ancient device. 105 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: After all, there's no label saying this anti ca fair 106 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: mechanism belongs to Demetrius or anything along those lines. But 107 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: a greater understanding of who was aboard the ship and 108 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,239 Speaker 1: where they came from stands to illuminate our admittedly murky 109 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: view of the ancient world. Finally, this week, senior writer 110 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland explores what we know and don't know about 111 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: China's decommissioned space station, including where and when it'll crash 112 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: to Earth. The eight and a half tongues space station 113 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:04,159 Speaker 1: module is called chi Agong one, also known as the 114 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: Heavenly Palace. It's part of China's strategy to create a large, 115 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: modular space station made up of interlocking parts, and by 116 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: most reports, everything was going as planned until recently. Back 117 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: in June of two thousand sixteen, satellite tracker Thomas Dorman 118 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: alerted space dot Com that, based on his observations, China 119 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: had lost control of Shiongong one. He predicted that Chinese 120 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: authorities would hold off announcing a problem with the module 121 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: until the last minute. Flash forward to September fourteenth, two 122 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: thousand sixteen. That's when representatives from China's space program held 123 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: a press conference announcing that the module would re enter 124 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: Earth's atmosphere in the next few months. While no one 125 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: admitted that things weren't going as planned, there was a 126 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: lot of ambiguity in the announcement itself. Here's what we 127 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: do know. Shi Angong one was always meant to be 128 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: a short term experiment with an operation a life of 129 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: about two years. That means China completed the primary mission 130 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: objectives back in two thousand thirteen at that point, the 131 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: lab went into sleep mode. China continue to monitor the module. 132 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:16,119 Speaker 1: In March two thousand sixteen, China officially decommissioned the space Lab. 133 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: At the time, it sounded like China had a plan 134 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: to de orbit the module, but based on Dorman's observations 135 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: and other experts, it looks like something went wrong. The 136 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: module seems like it will de orbit, but in an 137 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: uncontrolled way. Most of the module will burn up on 138 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: re entry, but there are some elements, such as the 139 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: rocket engines, that are dense enough to survive the descent 140 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: through Earth's atmosphere. These pieces could become a localized threat. 141 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: They aren't big enough to cause massive damage, but one 142 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: could certainly rip through the roof of a building or 143 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: crush a vehicle. The odds are good that any surviving 144 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,319 Speaker 1: pieces would crash into the ocean or an uninhabited region. 145 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: There's an awful lot of surface area on Earth that 146 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: isn't populated, but that doesn't mean we're definitely in the clear. 147 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: There's no way to be sure. Even as the station 148 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: the orbits, we won't have enough data to predict when 149 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 1: and where pieces may land until it's actually happening. I 150 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:15,319 Speaker 1: guess the moral to this story is that science is hard, 151 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,719 Speaker 1: and sometimes it falls out of the sky. I think 152 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: it's only fair to mention that a d orbit in 153 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: two thousand sixteen or two thousand seventeen appeared to be 154 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: the plan all along. It just looks like a malfunction 155 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: has turned this more into a sky Lab situation and 156 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: less of a mere scenario. That's our show for this week. 157 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in. 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