1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tex Stuff from Either 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: and Welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm 3 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,800 Speaker 1: joined in the studio once again by my buddy Joe McCormick, 4 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,639 Speaker 1: UH co worker, a colleague, co host of Forward Thinking, Uh, 5 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: Poopy Food. How you doing, Joe? I'm great, Hi everybody. 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: So Joe you you know I always like to ask 7 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: my potential co hosts what they would like to cover 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: in any given episode. And Joe, you had a really 9 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: interesting idea that that honestly had not occurred to me 10 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: to cover before. Well, I didn't know if we would 11 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: make a good episode, and I guess at this moment 12 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: I still don't know, but I guess we will. In 13 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: exactly we'll figure it out. But it was an idea 14 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: that came to me because I like to think about 15 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: ancient time times. So when I come on other shows, 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: I like to be able to look to the past sometimes. 17 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: So Jonathan, I want to talk to you about Lake Vostock. 18 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: All right, So what is Lake Vostock. You've never heard 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: of it. I know Lake Lanier. Is it near Lake Lanier? 20 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: It's pretty close. No, it's a lake in Antarctica. But 21 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: it's not just any kind of lake. It's a sub 22 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: glacial lake, the biggest one in the world actually. So 23 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: it is a lake that is under a glacier, a 24 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: giant sheet of ice, and that glacier is really thick. 25 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:40,279 Speaker 1: I've seen estimates from about two miles thick to about 26 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: four thousand meters of glacial ice over the lake, which 27 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,040 Speaker 1: would be like two and a half miles. I guess 28 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: they're probably different segments where the ice is a different thickness. 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: And it's been buried in ice for millions of years, 30 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: all right. So in recent decades, scientists have been drilling 31 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: samples of the ice above this lake to study what's 32 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: down there. Um. And whenever I picture this lake in 33 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: my mind, this lake buried under ancient ice, it makes 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: me think of Gollum's Lake under the mountain in the 35 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: Hobbit in the mountains, Yeah, misty mountains. That What did 36 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: the lake have a name or was it just where 37 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: the yummy fishes. I don't think it had a specific name. 38 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:20,119 Speaker 1: If it did, it would have been a Goblin name. 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: So I would be, you know, unpronounceable for the mere 40 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: mortal that I am. Oh, I assume you speak Goblin. 41 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: I know grish Nacht is fire. That's the only thing 42 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,240 Speaker 1: I can I can rattle off off the top of 43 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: my head. Well, anyway, when scientists drill down into this deep, 44 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: deep Antarctic Golem lake below the ice, one of the 45 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: craziest things is that they've found d n A and 46 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: evidence of microbial life. And I remember there were stories 47 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: about how some ice samples indicated there might even be 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: more complex life like fish and arthropods in that water. Um. Now, 49 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: I know that was highly controversial at the time. I 50 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: just recently looked it up again to see if there 51 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: were there were any developments on that. I found a 52 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: piece of coverage from Nature News at the time throwing 53 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: some serious doubts on the on the live fish and 54 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: arthropods claim. So that's I'm sure not all that widely accepted, 55 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: but just the idea of it is so cool that 56 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: you have this completely sealed off ancient alien life in 57 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: this lake below a mountain of ice, and things like 58 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,959 Speaker 1: that make me think about deep time, like how ice 59 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: is a cross section of geological time on Earth right, 60 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: like that there is layer upon layer of evidence of 61 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: what has happened in the past. Yeah, and and just 62 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: in case people are curious, like, how could a subglacial 63 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: lake remain Why would you call that a lake? Why 64 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: would that not just be another part of the glacier. 65 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: Why wouldn't that just be ice. Geothermal heat actually counteracts 66 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: the freezing action of the ice above it all in 67 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 1: the lake to remain liquid. Oh I actually didn't know 68 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: why it was liquid. Oh yeah, it's because of geothermal 69 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: geothermal vents that continue to keep the temperature of the 70 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: lake above freezing. So yeah, that's why, uh, there can 71 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,320 Speaker 1: be a lake, a sub glacial lake, because otherwise you 72 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,040 Speaker 1: would say, like, well, wait a minute, how could it 73 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: still remain How could it remain unfrozen unless there were 74 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: some other chemicals in the lake that would uh lower 75 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: its freezing point below that of water. That's fascinating. Yeah, well, okay, 76 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: you might be wondering, wait a minute, what does this 77 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: have to do with technology. Well, we're getting get there 78 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,840 Speaker 1: in just a second. So when you think about glaciers, 79 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: I guess at the polar regions, how do things like 80 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: that form. It's actually a pretty simple process. Every year 81 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 1: it snows, it'll it'll snow, and you get heavier snows 82 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: in the winter and lighter snows in the summer, right, 83 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: But in some places in the world, unlike probably wherever 84 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: you live, if it snows around your house or your yard, 85 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,680 Speaker 1: eventually that snow melts, right, right, you get to a 86 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: point where the season's warm, the snow starts to uh 87 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: to to melt away, and then eventually you have no 88 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: more snow. But there's some regions where either the snow 89 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: accumulation is so great that it never completely melts, or 90 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: the temperature never rises above freezing and therefore it just 91 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 1: continues to accumulate. So every season you get a new 92 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: layer of snow. Right. What happens when a new layer 93 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,160 Speaker 1: of snow goes on top of the old layer of snow, Well, 94 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: eventually it gets kind of heavy. Yeah, it compresses into 95 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 1: the point where the lower layers of snow are compressed 96 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: into ice. So then you get layers of ice. And 97 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: if you were able to look at these layers of 98 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: ice collectively, you can start to draw some conclusions about 99 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: what had happened the years when that snow first accumulated. 100 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: And this is what leads us to the practice of 101 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: drilling down into ice sheets and glaciers to retrieve samples, 102 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: to kind of get a look back into the geological 103 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: past of the Earth. Yeah, exactly. So, ice core drilling 104 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: is a way of getting at this cross section of 105 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:19,239 Speaker 1: geological time that we can see in the ice layers 106 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: of glaciers, right, and a lot of it's going to 107 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: be you know, in places like Greenland or in Antarctica. 108 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,239 Speaker 1: Those are the two chief sites for ice core drilling, 109 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: where people have to come up with these huge vertical 110 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:38,680 Speaker 1: samples of ice that might be miles thick, right, And 111 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: what I wanted to know was, how on Earth do 112 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: they do that? It can't be all that easy, can 113 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: it is? It's well easy, It is not simple. It 114 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,479 Speaker 1: is similar than I would have expected. Actually it is. 115 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,039 Speaker 1: It is a simple method in the sense that it 116 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: doesn't require tons of complex machinery or techniques. But it 117 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: is not easy to do because it is difficult to 118 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: reach to access the areas, and the methodology can often 119 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: require people to essentially live on an ice sheet for 120 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: a very for you know, like like a month at 121 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: a time, depending on how deep they want to drill. Right. So, uh, 122 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: within each of those layers of snow that have turned 123 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: into ice, there are records of things of the past, 124 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: like the you know, ice can trap chemicals. For example, 125 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: precipitation can trap chemicals, and as that precipitation in this case, 126 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: snow hits the ground, then you have a record of 127 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: what the chemical composition was at that given time, and 128 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: then other layers will pack on top of it and 129 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: they will have their own kind of, you know, unique 130 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: chemical fingerprint if you will. The layers don't just show 131 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: you a cross section of time. Each layer has data 132 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: from the time it comes from. It might even have 133 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: like ash from a volcanic eruption. You can see kim 134 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: iCal data like you were just talking about the concentrations 135 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: of different gases in the atmosphere that become dissolved in 136 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:10,560 Speaker 1: little bubbles in these layers, or you can see exactly 137 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: ash from volcanic eruptions. You can even discern things about 138 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: the local weather patterns where the glacier was at certain 139 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: times in the past, and you can see like there 140 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: was heavy snowfall this year and light snowfall the next year, 141 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: and we'll talk more about that, get more into detail 142 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,200 Speaker 1: and a little bit. Another thing that I think is 143 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: kind of cool with the volcanic ash layers is that 144 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,360 Speaker 1: it lets you compare one sample against another sample that 145 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: was gathered somewhere else and not necessarily justin ice. There 146 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: are other core uh coreing methods like that, going through 147 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: peat bogs, for example, And if you find a layer 148 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: of ash that corresponds to another layer of ash and 149 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: a completely different sample, you can say, oh, well, these 150 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: both came from that same eruption. That allows us to 151 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: to corus correlate these two dates together by the chemical 152 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: composition of the ash and the two layers, because the 153 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 1: chemical composition is going to be unique each eruption. So 154 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,199 Speaker 1: that way you can actually start to build a global 155 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: view of what had happened during any given you know, 156 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: uh year or span of years in Earth's past, which 157 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: is really interesting. I think, Yeah, it's way cooler and 158 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: more full of creepy ancient power than you would have 159 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: imagined ice drilling to be. But I want to hear 160 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: about the drilling itself. How do they get these cores 161 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: out of the glacier? Okay, well, there are two basic 162 00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: categories of drills, and then there are are of you know, 163 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: different examples of each category. So the first big one 164 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:41,319 Speaker 1: are mechanical drills. Now, these are drills that drilled down 165 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: into the ice through mechanical action essentially rotating. Right, But normally, 166 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: when you think of a drill that's making a hole 167 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: in something, you are not removing any section of that 168 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 1: substrate intact. You're just making a hole. I'm drilling in 169 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: the wall. Well, it's gonna be this sort of like 170 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: you know, cylindrical object that's got screw thread kind of 171 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: things on the outside to move the shavings out of 172 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 1: the hole as it goes deeper in. It's just a 173 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:11,560 Speaker 1: solid shaft. Yeah, it's not gonna give you a cross 174 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: section of the wood. So how do you get that? 175 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: So in order to do that, you have to have 176 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: a drill bit that is an actual hollow cylinder right 177 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: the middle of this. Instead of it being a solid shaft, 178 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,360 Speaker 1: it's a cylinder that has cutting teeth on one end 179 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: of it, so that when it rotates, it creates this 180 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: the the the actual drill itself rotates around a column 181 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,599 Speaker 1: of ice, It creates a column of ice cuts away 182 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: so that you know the center of the drill bit 183 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: starts to accumulate this ice. It goes straight down until 184 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: you get to the length of the drill itself, and 185 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: obviously then you can't go any further because you hit 186 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:53,800 Speaker 1: the cap like the top of the drill, and that's 187 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:55,800 Speaker 1: where you would have to stop and try and retrieve 188 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: the ice that you've just drilled. Right, So you might 189 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: think about it kind of like this. Imagine like a 190 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,839 Speaker 1: tin can or like a pipe, and then the lip 191 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: of that pipe is sort of like a circular saw blade. 192 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,719 Speaker 1: It's got the blade is parallel to the length of 193 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 1: the pipe obviously, so it can screw down in right. 194 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: And it's also the teeth are usually adjustable, like you 195 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: can either uh extend them or attract them a little 196 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: bit depending upon the nature of the ice that you're 197 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:30,599 Speaker 1: cutting into. So, for example, if they are if the 198 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: if the teeth are retracted too far, it's gonna be 199 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 1: really hard to get purchase on the ice. It's gonna 200 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 1: kind of skitter around. Anyone who's had any experience with 201 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: ice nos it's slippery, and so you'd have to have 202 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: the teeth be a little bit longer. If they're too long, 203 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: then they're going to get caught in the ice, so 204 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: it'll make it more difficult to turn the drill and 205 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: drill down into the ice. So you have to find 206 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: that that sweet spot, and that's usually why the the 207 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,079 Speaker 1: teeth are adjustable so that you can make it the 208 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: perfect length for whatever conditions you encounter. You when you 209 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:06,320 Speaker 1: turn the drill the proper way, it cuts into the 210 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: ice and it and it pulls in that cylinder like 211 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 1: we were talking about. Now, there's also gonna be some 212 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,200 Speaker 1: waste product from this drilling in there. Yeah, chips of 213 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,720 Speaker 1: ice obviously are going to accumulate. So often these drills 214 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: have treads on the outside of them which will put 215 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: push chips up to the surface. Some of them have 216 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: chambers that will hold chips to keep it away from 217 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: the ice core sample because obviously, if you're looking at 218 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:36,679 Speaker 1: at creating a sample for you to study in the lab, 219 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,719 Speaker 1: you don't want to end up mixing that material all up, 220 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: because then you don't have an accurate representation of what 221 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,719 Speaker 1: happened over any given length of time. Right, You've you've 222 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: corrupted your sample. So most of these have a method 223 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:56,160 Speaker 1: of funneling chips up into a chamber. Uh, and you 224 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: are the The simplest of these mechanical drills are the 225 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 1: hand powered augers. You actually move these by hand. It 226 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,080 Speaker 1: it looks like a kind of like a very long can, 227 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,280 Speaker 1: right and the top of it has like a t 228 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: junction handle and like in cartoons when people have a 229 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,199 Speaker 1: dynamite box and they push it in the right handle 230 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,360 Speaker 1: like that or like a jackhammer, you know that kind 231 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: of thing. And except of course, instead of going up 232 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: and down, you're twisting this in order to create the 233 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: rotational force. This translated into lateral force because the drill 234 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,200 Speaker 1: is kind of like a the inversion of a screw, right, 235 00:13:32,480 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: so you're you're drilling down that way. And you might think, well, 236 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,439 Speaker 1: you were talking earlier about how some of the UM 237 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,240 Speaker 1: the core samples. We look at our our kilometers long. 238 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:47,920 Speaker 1: How could you possibly get a sample that's that long 239 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: using a handogger? Well, first of all, you can't, but secondly, uh, 240 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: when we talk about these core samples, Yeah, the entire 241 00:13:55,320 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: sample might be several kilometers long, but that made up 242 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: of segments. So depending upon the drill you're using, your 243 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,079 Speaker 1: segments maybe between one and six ms long, right, So 244 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: that's between like, uh, you know, around three ft two 245 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: around twenty ft long roughly, um And in order for 246 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: you to create a full uh core sample, than what 247 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: you would have to do is lower the drill back 248 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: down into the borehole that you've started until it reaches 249 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: the bottom and you have to use extenders to come 250 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,320 Speaker 1: up out of the borehole so you can continue to 251 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: drill downward. That sounds like you pretty quickly reach a 252 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: sort of maximum depth for these hand operated versions. You 253 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: absolutely do, yeah, because eventually you're not going to the 254 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: the amount of rotational force you'll have to create to 255 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: rotate the entire thing, the the drill and all the 256 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: extenders will exceed the strength and flexibility of that device, 257 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: So you can't you can't indefinitely use a hand dogger. 258 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: It would also just seem to be that that combined 259 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: with whatever you have to hang it on to get 260 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: it deeper and deeper, would get really heavy. Yeah. Yeah, 261 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,200 Speaker 1: you know, you keep in mind like you're talking about 262 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: lifting up six meters of ice. Uh, And of course 263 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: the diameter of this depends upon the drill to write 264 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: the drill. The drills diameter will determine the diameter of 265 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: the core sample. But you're still talking about lifting all 266 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: that ice, which is heavy lifting the drill itself, which 267 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: is heavy lifting all the extenders which are heavy. So 268 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: eventually you get to a point where you know you're 269 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: just not gonna have the integrity to keep that all together, 270 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: which is when you need to look at possibly switching 271 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 1: to something else. So your typical handoggers can go pretty 272 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: darn deep. I mean we're talking twenty to thirty meters, 273 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: that's like sixty six to ft. That's deeper than I 274 00:15:47,600 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: would have expected. Yeah, me too, And according to some 275 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 1: of the things I read, it's more like fortys is 276 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: the maximum. Twenty to thirty tends to be what people 277 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,760 Speaker 1: limit themselves to, but I think the record was somewhere 278 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: around forty, so it's even further other than that. Um 279 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 1: So what do you do when you reach that that 280 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 1: limit where you can't use the handoggers anymore? Well, that's 281 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 1: when you try try kind of. You're using the electro 282 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: mechanical drills. These are suspended on a cable, so instead 283 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: of it having like a physical um turning mechanism that 284 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: extends all the way up to the surface there, they 285 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: they are actually suspended by cable lowered into a borehole 286 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: and they consist typically of two barrels. You have an 287 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: external barrel that remains uh motionless, it is, it does 288 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: not turn all right, So the external barrel is uh, 289 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,640 Speaker 1: just a stationary holding device. Then the inner barrel is 290 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: the one that can rotate, all right, So the cable 291 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: that suspends an electro mechanical drill, the cable doesn't move 292 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:57,840 Speaker 1: at all either. It's just there to supply the suspension 293 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: mechanism and the power. So it's it's got the power 294 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: lines that go down to power the drill. The inner 295 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: barrel will rotate in the proper direction to continue drilling down. 296 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: And the inner barrel also has treads on the external 297 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,479 Speaker 1: side of it, right, so those are going to be 298 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:18,119 Speaker 1: like the threads on your your drill bit that are 299 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 1: getting the shavings out of the wall, and the excase, 300 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: they're transporting the ice chips up along the length of 301 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,480 Speaker 1: the drill. That's right. And so you would use this 302 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: the same way you would use your handogger, except of course, 303 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,879 Speaker 1: in this case it's an electrical uh action, electro mechanical 304 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,120 Speaker 1: action that is causing it. So it's you know, it's 305 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: a it's a little bit easier on the people who 306 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:41,399 Speaker 1: are operating it. They just have to make sure that 307 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: they're lowering it properly and then it's at the correct depth. 308 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 1: All of that kind of stuff and and that the 309 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,359 Speaker 1: teeth are at the right length. It's just like the handdoggers. 310 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:53,160 Speaker 1: You've got to make sure that those those teeth are 311 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: are proper so that they can cut into the material 312 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: to ice properly. Uh So, Usually you also have another 313 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,400 Speaker 1: cool mechanism literally to hold the ice in place. Once 314 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,959 Speaker 1: you've reached the point where you're ready to lift up 315 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 1: the next segment. They have spring loaded lever arms inside 316 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: that inner barrel that think of it like little pincers 317 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,439 Speaker 1: that come in and hold that core in place because 318 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,560 Speaker 1: you want it to be really steady when you're lifting 319 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: that drill up. You know you're talking forty or more 320 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,240 Speaker 1: up a borehole. You don't want to lose the grip 321 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:29,880 Speaker 1: on that ice core sample because that would be bad. 322 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,760 Speaker 1: So the spring loaded lever arms hold them and they 323 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: are called something that I love, core dogs. It's like 324 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: it's like going to the county fair and get yourself 325 00:18:43,560 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: and a couple of core dogs. I like to go 326 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,359 Speaker 1: to Polucaville to get my core dogs local establishment here 327 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:51,919 Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Now there is another type of drill that 328 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: I love. Yeah, I think this is excellent. I love 329 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: looking at the picture. I was looking at a picture 330 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: of this before I read about what it was, and 331 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 1: I was like, I don't understand how it cuts because 332 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: it just looked like a pipe with kind of a 333 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,480 Speaker 1: strange lip. It didn't have any teeth, right, And then 334 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,159 Speaker 1: I read about it and I was like, oh, I 335 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: see it doesn't thermal drill. Yeah, so it's using heat. Yeah, 336 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: So imagine sort of a pipe that on the end 337 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: of the lip of the pipe has a heating element 338 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,480 Speaker 1: and it gets hot, melts straight through the ice and 339 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,280 Speaker 1: just sinks on down there. Yeah. Yeah, until you get 340 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: to again to the end of the capacity of the drill, 341 00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,440 Speaker 1: and then you have to lift it back up again. 342 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: So yeah, it's really I love that idea, the idea 343 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 1: of of of let's just use heat to work our way. 344 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:39,639 Speaker 1: I mean, come on, it's ice, let's use heat to 345 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: melt away down there. Yeah. That actually does seem like 346 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 1: it would have some limitations though, and it does. In fact, 347 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: you are you're more likely to use that when you're 348 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: using ice that is above minus ten degrees celsius, for example, 349 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: you don't know, which is fourteen degrees fahrenheit. By the way, 350 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 1: you wouldn't use that in older areas because the melt 351 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,359 Speaker 1: off the water that you would be creating. As the 352 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 1: heating element melts, the ice would likely start to refreeze 353 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,360 Speaker 1: and that would become a problem. So you are more 354 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: likely to use it in uh in quote unquote warmer situations, 355 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: it will still be really cold. Um And then if 356 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: you were to encounter those colder situations, you would use 357 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:27,919 Speaker 1: electro mechanical drill. And in fact, there are plenty of 358 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: ice core drilling projects that that will switch out the 359 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: drills based upon whatever the current conditions happen to be 360 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: as they are drilling. So it's not like some only 361 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: used one and some only use the other. Most will 362 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: rely on whichever one is the best fit for that 363 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: particular set of conditions. Now, I would imagine that once 364 00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: you get down to a certain depth, the whole enterprise 365 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: sort of changes. I mean, once you're getting two thousands 366 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: of feet down, you're going to start dealing with the 367 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,880 Speaker 1: ways that ice behaves kind of like a plastic and yeah, 368 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: do you know what I mean. Yeah, you got to 369 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: remember this ice is under a lot of pressure. I mean, 370 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: just from Waight alone, it's under a ton of pressure. 371 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: But there's also there are other elements there too, there's 372 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 1: glacial flow, right, Glaciers move, they don't move very quickly, 373 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: but there is this pressure from glacial flow where the 374 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: glacier is potentially moving in a specific direction, which means 375 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,199 Speaker 1: that's putting pressure on the borehole too. And if the 376 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,439 Speaker 1: pressure is too great, that borehole can close, and by close, 377 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: we've pretty much bean collapse in on itself. Like closing 378 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,359 Speaker 1: sounds pretty gentle, it's not a gentle thing. Well, whether 379 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: it's gentle or not, it's a big problem for your 380 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: research project exactly. So, Uh, there are times where you 381 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: will have these these projects where they will start pumping 382 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,160 Speaker 1: liquid down the hole, and there's a couple of different 383 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: reasons for this. Some will pump anti freeze liquid down 384 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 1: the whole in order to make sure that any melted runoff, 385 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 1: for example, if you're using a thermal drill doesn't refreeze, 386 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: but then you may need to put down a different 387 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,240 Speaker 1: type of liquid, another one that would be less likely 388 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,960 Speaker 1: to freeze, in order to equalize the pressure from inside 389 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: the hole to what is outside the hole. Yeah, I 390 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,440 Speaker 1: read somewhere that the drill fluid that they would normally 391 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,719 Speaker 1: use can be something like kerosene, like a petroleum derived fluid. Uh, 392 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 1: and it just basically has to have the right freezing point. 393 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: And they wanted to be of a certain thickness right 394 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,239 Speaker 1: right because they have to you know, if it's if 395 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,320 Speaker 1: it's too thin, then it's not going to create the 396 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 1: pressure that they need in order to keep the whole stable. 397 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: And if the freezing point is too is too high, 398 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,120 Speaker 1: then it's going to just end up mucking everything up anyway. 399 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,399 Speaker 1: So it is a delicate balance. There's one project in 400 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: particular I wanted to talk about the kind of give 401 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,200 Speaker 1: an idea of what it's like to work on one 402 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: of these. Again, it all depends upon how deeply you 403 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: need to go when you're retrieving the ice core sample. 404 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,120 Speaker 1: You know, how far back are you going to be looking. Uh. 405 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: There's one called the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Project, 406 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 1: which is a recent effort by the United States in 407 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: which an ice core that was three thousand, four d 408 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: five meters long, so three point four kilometers long, was 409 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 1: retrieved over the course of six field seasons. Now, they 410 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: defined a field season as approximately forty days of drilling. 411 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 1: The actual drilling took place six days a week, so 412 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,840 Speaker 1: obviously more than um uh since you're not drilling seven 413 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 1: days a week, forty days of drilling is you know, 414 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,600 Speaker 1: you've got to divide that up properly. But twenty four 415 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: hours a day, three shifts UH for drilling per day 416 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:55,360 Speaker 1: with three project workers per shift, so nine people working 417 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: for six days a week and drilling is going on 418 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: twenty four hours a day. I'm sure that's not an 419 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: easy job, but I would kind of like that job 420 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: just to be able to say I drilled cores of 421 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: ancient ice at one of my past jobs. But you might, 422 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:13,960 Speaker 1: you might have some interesting stories to tell about the 423 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: the the quirks of the two shift workers you shared 424 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,560 Speaker 1: all that time with, and whether or not you ever 425 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: want to see that person ever again. Right to the 426 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,440 Speaker 1: two am to ten am shift is kind of rough 427 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:28,480 Speaker 1: in Antarctica. You can also just be like, I will 428 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: never not hear the sound of ice being drilled. That 429 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: is just gonna go through my head through the rest 430 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,720 Speaker 1: of my days. But anyway, Yeah, it's it's a really 431 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: serious endeavor and it's very important scientific work. And so 432 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:45,000 Speaker 1: because it's important, and because this is something that you know, 433 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: once you once you have retrieved the ice core sample, 434 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: you've only just started you have to make sure that 435 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: you can store them properly so that you have the 436 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 1: chance to actually examine them later. Right, So you've got 437 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:05,919 Speaker 1: these cylindrical segments of you know, essentially priceless scientific data, right, 438 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: that are just in containers. And yeah, and it's perishable. 439 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 1: It's perishable. There's something that's beautiful about this to me, 440 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,639 Speaker 1: the fleeting nous of it. How you know, this is 441 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: something that could be millions of years old, but it's 442 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,880 Speaker 1: frozen bran. It could melt if the power goes off, 443 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: you know. Now, to be fair, if you're getting them 444 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,879 Speaker 1: from Greenland, I think the oldest we've looked at it 445 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,600 Speaker 1: is a hundred thirty and Antarctica it's more like eight thousand, 446 00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: so not quite millions, but still well before human history 447 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: was ever recorded or potentially even possible to record. You know, 448 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: we're talking way back. We're talking back when Cathulu was 449 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: running rampant. Probably not, but at any rate, they would 450 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:58,199 Speaker 1: that be detectable from the ice we see dissolved particulates 451 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: of I don't know. Yeah, just like there's there's one 452 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: of the chemical constituents of the old one, right, you 453 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: can be like, well, there was a frozen sugar right 454 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: that right around this level, so we're pretty sure it 455 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: was around this time at any rate. So we have 456 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: we have to store these things obviously until they can 457 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,199 Speaker 1: be examined by various scientists, and a lot of the 458 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: ice cores when they are stored like there are a 459 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:23,879 Speaker 1: lot of different research facilities that want to have a 460 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: chance to to examine this stuff, so they have to 461 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: go to a special facility to do that. One of 462 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 1: those is the National Ice Core Laboratory, which stores more 463 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: than seventeen thousand meters of ice, that's incredible, and its 464 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: main archive freezer is fifty five thousand cubic feet in size, 465 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: that's one thousand, five fifty seven cubic meters, And so 466 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,680 Speaker 1: incoming ice has to first reach a thermal equilibrium with 467 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 1: the temperature inside the freezer, which is minus thirty six 468 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:57,560 Speaker 1: degrees celsius or minus thirty two point eight fahrenheit. And 469 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,119 Speaker 1: the reason for that is obviously you don't want to 470 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:03,880 Speaker 1: start handling the ice before it's reached thermal equal equilibrium 471 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 1: for fear of damaging the sample. Right, So once it's 472 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:09,959 Speaker 1: reached that thermal equilibrium, that's that only then can you 473 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: actually unpack it and then label it and and racket 474 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,919 Speaker 1: categorize it. I've seen pictures of these storage facilities. It 475 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,679 Speaker 1: looks like kind of like a National Film Archive or 476 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: something that's got these silver cans and the shelves going 477 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 1: to the ceiling. Though, I do wonder that if there's 478 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,119 Speaker 1: a temptation for people working in these places every now 479 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,120 Speaker 1: and then to get a little cheeky and make themselves 480 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: a highball, just just an ancient on the rocks, right, yeah, 481 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,400 Speaker 1: on the ancient rocks. I guess then again, you may 482 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,479 Speaker 1: be unleashing microbes into your into your body that you 483 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: have no natural defenses. Again that that, Yeah, I see that. 484 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,120 Speaker 1: We're kind of starting to mix up movie genres too, 485 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 1: because this is kind of a rolling emeric, you know, 486 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: kind of into the world derivative, right, and then and 487 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: then Judd Apatel where you get like the kind of 488 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: stoner comedy of so you get like the stoner character 489 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,439 Speaker 1: who's just trying to make a drink, and then unleash 490 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,680 Speaker 1: is the terrible super flu Hey this this this this 491 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,280 Speaker 1: particular bacteria or virus or whatever has been in suspended 492 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: animation for hundreds of thousands of years now, has been 493 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: unleashed on the planet. There's money in this, Joe, I 494 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: think we need to develop it. But before that we 495 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: have to finish this podcast. So wait a second. Okay, 496 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: So once they've got the ice, Yeah, you have this 497 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: priceless repository of ancient data. How do you analyze it 498 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: and what can you learn? Well, the first thing you 499 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:36,120 Speaker 1: can do is look at it. I know that sounds silly. 500 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: You are a man of many insights using your eyeballs, so, uh. 501 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: The interesting thing about an ice core sample is you 502 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: can actually see the passage of time just by looking 503 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: closely at the ice core sample. Yeah, you should look 504 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,960 Speaker 1: up an image of this if you're listening on a 505 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: computer or device where you can have internet access. It's cool. 506 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: It's got stripes, yeah, and those stripes represent summers and winters, right. 507 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: So winters are darker because you usually have much greater 508 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,640 Speaker 1: snow accumulation during the winter. Summers are lighter because you 509 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: have less snow accumulation. So you get these dark bands 510 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 1: separated by light bands, and together those represent a year's 511 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: passage of time. Right, You've got the summer and winter there, 512 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: and so you just start counting backwards. It's like rings 513 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: on a tree, except you'd be counting vertical stripes rather 514 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:31,000 Speaker 1: than the concentric circle exactly. Yeah, so you count that 515 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: backwards and you can actually say, oh, well, this particular 516 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: year is such and such because it's so many far 517 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 1: back from the surface, and then you can start or 518 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 1: at least you can estimate, like within a reasonable degree 519 00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: of certainty, what year that represents. And in fact, uh, 520 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,200 Speaker 1: they have done tests, they being scientists, have done tests 521 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: to make sure that this is the case by looking 522 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: at various layers, identifying what year that lay or should represent, 523 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 1: testing the chemical composition of that particular layer of the ice, 524 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: and comparing it to data that we have from other means, 525 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: other means like and we're talking like around the nineteen fifties, 526 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: like looking at the nineteen fifties, so counting back until 527 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: you hit to nineteen fifty on the ice core sample 528 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: and then testing it to see if it actually matches 529 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: the other records we have, and they match, so it 530 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: shows that this actually does work. Now, however, that being said, 531 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: when you start going to deeper levels, it starts getting 532 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: more and more difficult to differentiate. Yeah, I think I 533 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: was seeing various concerns about how factors in the physics 534 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:42,080 Speaker 1: of the glacier can change what happens to these levels. 535 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,240 Speaker 1: I mean, number one, you just have that more pressure, 536 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: but I think the glacier flow can also change how 537 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: the levels are represented, right, yeah, yeah, I mean if 538 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,719 Speaker 1: you if you think about like, these glaciers don't necessarily 539 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: all move. It's like one big solid unit. Keep in 540 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: mind that this is this is a solid form of 541 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,320 Speaker 1: a fluid, but it still has some fluid mechanics to it, right, 542 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 1: It's not not not all of the glacier is necessarily 543 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,400 Speaker 1: moving as in concert with itself, right, So you could 544 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: have sections of the glacier that are moving that could 545 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: end up changing a little bit of what you would 546 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: expect to find as you're counting back to a certain depth. 547 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,400 Speaker 1: And so it's one of those things where, uh, you know, 548 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,320 Speaker 1: you have to after at some point you have to 549 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: start looking at alternative means of dating that particular part 550 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: of the ice core sample, and that could involve doing 551 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: something like performing some geochemistry on it. So you look 552 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: to see what materials are in that layer and how 553 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 1: does that correspond with the records we have about our 554 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: geological history. So it's usually mass spectrometry that we use 555 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: where we try and see what chemicals are represented within 556 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: that layer and kind of map that to what else 557 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 1: we know about our history. Um, there's also that layers 558 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:56,680 Speaker 1: of ash. So if we find layers of ash, then 559 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: we know that this is, uh, you know, a mark 560 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,720 Speaker 1: of a volcanic eruption, and based upon our records we 561 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: can kind of date it from that point. Or it 562 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: could be just another emergence of hexus, could be could 563 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 1: be likely a volcanic eruption, but could be electrical conductivity 564 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: because again, depending on what the what materials are dissolved 565 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: within that ice, it's going to be either more or 566 00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: less conductive. And so by doing that we can make 567 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: determinations of what materials are in there and thus kind 568 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: of get an idea of how where in the the 569 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:31,560 Speaker 1: timeline that particular part of the ice core sample falls. 570 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: Numerical flow models which help us correlate age to depth. 571 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 1: This is what we were talking about just a second ago, Joe, 572 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,800 Speaker 1: the idea of the glacial flow and how that can 573 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: can make things a little more complicated. Uh, having those 574 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: numerical flow models, which essimpially that's a simulation of what 575 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: must have happened within a particular body of ice over 576 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,040 Speaker 1: a given amount of time, and by modeling it and 577 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: trying to get that as accurate as possible, we can 578 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: try and correlate, all right, at what would we consider 579 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: like how how far down would we go before we 580 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: hit I don't know, two years for example. This is 581 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: the kind of I'm just throwing that out there as 582 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: a off the top of my head example. And also 583 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: radiometric dating dating, which is a not away for nuclear 584 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:19,120 Speaker 1: physicists to know, hang out and find that special someone. 585 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: They use tender just like everybody else. It's more about 586 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: actually looking at um radioactive decay. Not every layer of 587 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:30,840 Speaker 1: ice has anything in it like that, but some layers 588 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,560 Speaker 1: of ice do have trace amounts of uranium dust, and 589 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: that would might be a way that we could date 590 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: certain types. This is pretty deep in the Antarctic ice usually. 591 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,280 Speaker 1: Um As for what we can learn, we can learn 592 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: lots of stuff, right, I mean, like it's really important 593 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: information that tells us about the way our world has 594 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,800 Speaker 1: changed over huge expanses of time. Right, Well, I know 595 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: one of the main things that scientists are looking at 596 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: ice cores for these days is to help understand what 597 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: past climate systems look like and to help predict what 598 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: changes will be brought about by the current climate change 599 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:12,320 Speaker 1: we're observing, right right, And of course you know, uh, 600 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: you can't really make predictions without necessarily understanding what has 601 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:18,359 Speaker 1: happened in the past, right, You need to have that 602 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 1: model there so that you can have something to base 603 00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: your predictions upon. So one thing you can easily see, 604 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 1: and by easily I mean I described looking at those 605 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: layers and seeing the summer and winter. You can easily 606 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:36,000 Speaker 1: see the general precipitation trends year over year by the 607 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: thickness of those layers. Right, So if one summer winter 608 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:45,400 Speaker 1: layer is very thin compared to the next one below it, 609 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 1: you could say, well, there was a year where there 610 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: was a relatively heavy amount of precipitation followed by a 611 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: year where there was very light precipitation. Then you could 612 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: go and start doing more studies to see, like, while 613 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: there are other elements inside this ice core could indicate 614 00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: why that might have been the case, What what was 615 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,680 Speaker 1: going on in the atmosphere that would have made one 616 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:12,040 Speaker 1: year particularly heavy with precipitation and the following year light. Oh, 617 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,359 Speaker 1: I see, So maybe you could just for example, look 618 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: at concentrations of different atmospheric chemicals in the layers preceding 619 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:24,400 Speaker 1: the layers that have more precipitation, So like, oh, wow, 620 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 1: it's strange there was more nitrogen in the atmosphere the 621 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,280 Speaker 1: past three seasons before we had these heavy precipitation seasons. 622 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: Or it might be look here, that up, that's not 623 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 1: a real result. And then you can also look and say, oh, 624 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: look at the concentration of carbon dioxide for example. Now 625 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 1: you've gotta be a little careful with this, particularly with 626 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,879 Speaker 1: the green Land examples, because carbon doox i can get 627 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: dissolved in water and sometimes they're they're also melting layers. 628 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: Melting layers are where, uh, you know, the temperature got 629 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 1: high enough so that some snow had melted. The water 630 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 1: can trickle down into the snowpack and you get these 631 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,600 Speaker 1: kind of bubble free areas of ice. That's a melt layer, 632 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:05,480 Speaker 1: which can still be have a lot of useful information 633 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,239 Speaker 1: in it, but it also means that sometimes water that 634 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 1: has carbon dioxide dissolved in it can set down into 635 00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:17,359 Speaker 1: older layers and thus change the composition of them, giving 636 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: you a false positive that there was more common carbon 637 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: dioxide in a layer than there really was. Fortunately scientists 638 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,040 Speaker 1: are aware of this. And uh and like I said, 639 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:30,120 Speaker 1: that's more prevalent in Greenland and Antarctica, you don't tend 640 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: to see that same issue. But uh, you know, you 641 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: can also look at things like, um, the chemical composition, 642 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: which will tell you more about the concentration of greenhouse 643 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,399 Speaker 1: gases uh in any given year, and you can look 644 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,880 Speaker 1: for trends. Right, you can actually look and see like 645 00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:51,000 Speaker 1: it may not be uh, this love layer was thick 646 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:54,600 Speaker 1: and that layer was thin. It maybe we're seeing a 647 00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: gradual decrease in layers over a really long time, followed 648 00:36:58,840 --> 00:37:02,000 Speaker 1: by uh, a period where they were very very thin 649 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: layers for a long time, and then very thick layers 650 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,160 Speaker 1: as another ice age started coming on. You could actually 651 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,640 Speaker 1: see these big trends, because that's really what we're talking 652 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:14,960 Speaker 1: about with climate. Right. Climate isn't weather. We often, like 653 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: the people often will conflate the two. Right, climate influences weather, right, 654 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,480 Speaker 1: and and climate is like you know, a weather is 655 00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: this is this localized, regional, temporal thing, like it's happening 656 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: in a very small time span. You're talking like, while 657 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,880 Speaker 1: the weather is terrible today, climate is long reaching. It 658 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,720 Speaker 1: can it's a global thing. It's not or at least 659 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,600 Speaker 1: a much larger regional thing. Um and it it is not. Uh, 660 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,920 Speaker 1: it's not as mercurial you could say, as weather would be, 661 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:50,480 Speaker 1: because weather can change dramatically day to day. Climate are 662 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:56,600 Speaker 1: these long trends. Describing climate would be like describing Jonathan's personality. 663 00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: Describing weather would be like, can you believe what Jonathan's 664 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:07,240 Speaker 1: said this morning? Yeah? Well, put so. Uh. By looking 665 00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 1: at this, we can say, all right, during this period 666 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,040 Speaker 1: of time where we know there was a greater concentration 667 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,960 Speaker 1: of greenhouse gasses because it was trapped in the ice, 668 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,960 Speaker 1: we have we have uh, we've analyzed the ice. We 669 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,400 Speaker 1: know what the concentrations are. We can see from the 670 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 1: following layers how that affected climate over a great span 671 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: of time. So, because our records don't stretch back that far. Heck, 672 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 1: our our weather records don't stretch back far at all, 673 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,920 Speaker 1: we're talking like a century or so, and otherwise we're 674 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 1: we're relying upon things like the recollections that people had 675 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,359 Speaker 1: written down and either letters or or you know, just 676 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:51,080 Speaker 1: the general language used by people who are writing at 677 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:54,120 Speaker 1: the time what the weather might have been like. This 678 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,400 Speaker 1: is an actual way for us to look back and say, 679 00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,879 Speaker 1: here's what the climate was a hundred thousand years ago, 680 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:03,840 Speaker 1: and here's what here's how the climate changed over a 681 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,680 Speaker 1: twenty thousand years span. I mean, it's a big picture 682 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:10,880 Speaker 1: look at something that otherwise we would just be making 683 00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:15,000 Speaker 1: wild guesses about. And that's really interesting to me. Yeah, 684 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,879 Speaker 1: it's obviously incredibly useful. I have to say again how much. 685 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: Maybe it's just me, but anything that's that old gives 686 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:26,600 Speaker 1: me this very cool, mysterious feeling. I get a little 687 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:30,080 Speaker 1: teary about it. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's it's neat 688 00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 1: to know that there there exists a record where by 689 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:40,080 Speaker 1: applying careful scientific, careful scientific approach to analyzing that material, 690 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:47,720 Speaker 1: we can draw very very uh, very interesting conclusions about 691 00:39:47,719 --> 00:39:51,160 Speaker 1: what the Earth was like well before humans were walking 692 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:55,400 Speaker 1: around and being human ish. You know, it's really kind 693 00:39:55,440 --> 00:40:01,040 Speaker 1: of interesting. And again, shuck ups. So well, Jonathan, thanks 694 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 1: for helping me look into this totally random question. This 695 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:09,000 Speaker 1: was this was interesting. I'm curious too because we have 696 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:11,240 Speaker 1: love listeners who have done a lot of different things 697 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,759 Speaker 1: and including people who have worked on really interesting scientific projects. 698 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,080 Speaker 1: So if any of you out there have ever worked 699 00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:19,400 Speaker 1: on something like this. If you've ever used like an 700 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,480 Speaker 1: ice drill an auger in that sense, I would love 701 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,240 Speaker 1: to hear about your experience and what it was like. Um. 702 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:27,640 Speaker 1: I mean, I know a lot of you guys out 703 00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,640 Speaker 1: there and probably used augers in one way or another. 704 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,520 Speaker 1: Buzz specifically talking about ice drills in this case. Uh. 705 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:34,319 Speaker 1: If so, you should let me know, send me an 706 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: email message, and if you want to hear a podcast 707 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:42,040 Speaker 1: about a specific topic something else about technology, whether it's 708 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,520 Speaker 1: how something works or a bigger picture on a particular 709 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:49,120 Speaker 1: company or personality, let me know. That email address is 710 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or you 711 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:56,240 Speaker 1: can drop me a line on Facebook, Tumbler, or Twitter. 712 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: The handle at all three is tech Stuff H s W. 713 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:08,920 Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again really soon for more on 714 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics because at how stuff 715 00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: works dot com