Season 2, Ep. 4 - What is God Excited About in His Body - with Carston Woodhouse

Hello, explorer. My name's Dan. I'm a bit bored with life down here on Planet Earth. So what say we search out the solar system for some really exciting science? Let's uncover all the secrets in a brand new science quest. My name is Dan. Around here we uncover strange things lurking around the galaxy. We chat to geniuses and get your questions answered. And well I'm sure that you've wondered this. Why rainbow's curve across the sky in the spread of stretching out in a straight line? Today we'll discover it all. They are, in fact, they're part of a circle. If you could actually see the whole thing, you'd see a circle. But of course the ground gets in the way. So you end up typically seeing part of a circle. Also you can hear about a mouse that's immune to venom and we'll take a look at space rocks and find out what they reveal about worlds beyond Earth. Mineral strategists study how rocks make planets and that's where the planets come in because the Earth is just one planet. There are other rocky plants, Mercury, Venus and Mars. It's all on the way in a brand new science quest. Let's kick things off with your science in the news. An iceberg that's been floating on its own around the icy Antarctic oceans has just a few weeks left. A23A was once the largest iceberg on Earth. We've spoken about it before. It broke off from Antarctica in 1986 so 40 years ago. It's been just bobbing around but it's spectacularly disintegrated over the past year. As the oceans have warmed up, parts of it have melted and broken off further. Now this iceberg was once bigger than all of London. It floated for hundreds of miles. So much of it has melted and erbed away. It's gone from almost 4,000 square kilometres to just 180 square kilometres in just two years. That's a huge drop off. Soon it won't be big enough for scientists to keep tracking it just another block of ice. And that'll happen in just a few weeks time. Again it makes you think about the climate crisis with our oceans warming. This iceberg is the other side of the world but it's almost completely gone. Now it's just an iceberg but it's a sign that what we do today affects things all around the world. Also this is awesome. A mouth-sized robot has been made to inspect parts of the Large Hadron Collider. Now this collider is a 17 mile long circular tube. It looks like a big metal donor. It's been designed to throw particles together at very high speed to watch what happens when they crash, when they collide. It's on the border between Switzerland and France at CERN which is the European organisation for nuclear research. Some experts have made tiny little robots just a few centimetres wide which scurry like mice. They travel on their own through the tube, checking for areas where it's too hot or cold. How amazing is that? Scientists have come up with an ingenious solution to a problem for when they can reach areas where it's unsafe for humans to travel. And our final story this week we're hearing about Ewan Bondnum who studies ancient creatures. He's been part of a team that's working on a stunning new discovery and he was inspired to work in science by his old teacher. So inspired he's named the creature after the old professor. Now let's talk to Ewan. Thank you so much for being there. Tell us how did you get involved with studying more about this brilliant creature. Yes, so my PhD research is on fossil crocodiles and as part of my research I got presented with this fossil which has been sat in the Natural History Museum in London since the 1960s and was tasked with figuring out what it was and finding out more about this animal. So that's how I came to work on it. So when you are given this fossil and you're wondering what it might be, what are you doing to discover more about this strange ancient creature? It involves staring at a lump of rock for a very very long time but beyond that it is looking at the shape of the bones and comparing it to things that we know already and seeing what it's similar to to give us an idea of what it might be. And then looking for differences to decide if it's something new and new species. I've read all about this this creature and it's very old but it's not quite a dinosaur is it so tell us more about what it is. No, exactly there is like this perception that all the old reptilian looking things that we find fossils of are dinosaurs but that's not right dinosaurs are a distinct group but this belongs to a group that's closer to modern crocodiles and modern crocodiles and the group including dinosaurs split from each other around 250 million years ago. So this is one of the earliest members of the group that leads to modern crocodiles. Describe it for us what do we know about what it might have looked like this particular one is a juvenile so it was a young one so it's not reached its full size but it's about a meter long kind of built like a greyhound like a reptilian greyhound like very leaky fast running would have lived all of its life on land unlike modern crocodiles and it probably would have prayed on other small reptiles. Small reptiles amphibians and the ancestor of mammals that were around at the time and you've named it the galahado such as Jones eyes that right. Yeah galahado suka's Jones I Jones I named after my former physics teacher from a skull other TV and Wales to me as Mr Jones. So just tell us about your physics teacher from back in the day David Reese Jones why was he so inspirational and it's kind of led you to a career in science. Right yeah I think he was just really obviously interested in his subject as much as he was his pupils and that like really like connected for me yeah so it was always happy to talk about scientific topics beyond the curriculum and really like debate stuff. He also just always pushed me to be the best I was and with other students and sort of did this all with a really good sense of humour so just a really genuinely nice and funny man. It must have been amazing to phone him up and say hey remember me but I really like you teaching me about science and his a dinosaur. Right it was a very surreal experience I'd actually planned I'm going in later this week to the school to give an assembly and I plan to do it then the article got published soon as I was expecting and we had to sort of accelerate things. I got in touch with the school and said can you just give me his email I'll send him an email and they were like no absolutely not we're going get him on the phone now so they marched him up to the office didn't tell him what was going on. Put him in front of a webcam and then I told him that way and yeah it was a really nice experience for the both of us I think. We're just describe some of his reaction because it's quite a mind blowing thing to find out an ancient crocodile is named after you. I think he was just very honored and happy with it a few funny moments in it I was describing saying you were such a big inspiration and he goes hang on hang on I'm still around I'm still teaching so you know I was I think he was for someone who's not often lost forwards though he was a bit lost words it took a few days to sink in. Yes the reaction from people in the school and the community has been really nice since then as well. It's amazing many many students get their teachers maybe cards and boxes of chocolates and David re-stones has got his very own ancient crocodile it's been a real joy to talk to you all about it you and and thank you for being there. How amazing is that a teacher getting an actual ancient crocodile named after him because of his inspiring work I wonder are there any teachers in your life that do such a brilliant job you'd like to name a creature after them. Wow such a fantastic story thank you so much to you and for coming on the show let's get your questions answered shall we if there is ever anything signs either you want sorted on this show it's really easy a couple of chances for you a week now to do it we squash all the episodes full of your questions so make sure you send it as a voice note for me on the free fun kids app and at funkidslive.com I will do the digging I'll find a proper genius expert to sort it for you first up this week from Zara this is a message over to me if you get ready to go. If you get really deep down into the ocean does the temperature of the water get warmer because you're closer to the Earth's core well that would make sense you're traveling down towards something that's bubbling that's burning hot but the answers are is no there are a few reasons why the water in the ocean is still quite far away from the core down beneath the very bottom of the sea floor there's still loads more rock loads more gas loads of things they're getting in the way of the core also ocean water is mainly heated by sunlight which really only heats up the top of the sea the water down at the bottom has been there for absolutely ages there's not a lot of tide there's not a lot of currents down there it kind of stays as it is so it's really cold it hasn't changed also remember one of the most important things in science warm things rise they are less dense they are lighter than the cold stuff so they go up the heavy thicker cold water water drops down it sinks to the bottom. So actually it's the opposite of what you're asking Zara. The deeper in the ocean you get the colder it is. Also the blacker it is. It's almost pitch dark. That's why only very special creatures can survive down there and quite often they glow in the dark to light their own way. Zara thank you so much for your question. Let's get on another one shall we brilliant it's a voice note from Amara. Why are rainbow's curves? Amara thank you so much for your question. Why are rainbow's curved? And we can only see them in very certain situations Amara. Shall we find out a little more? Let's welcome in. Emeritus professor Michael Merrifield from the University of Nottingham Michael. So just how does a rainbow magically form in the sky? Most people know you need two ingredients to see a rainbow you need rain and you need some sunshine. And so it's the combination of those two things is what come together to give you a rainbow. So why does that happen though? We're standing in a space it's raining somewhere near. How on earth is the sunlight breaking through and coming back to us with these incredible lights in the sky? So it's actually it's the interaction of the two it's the interaction of the sunlight with the raindrops. So the raindrops are basically little spheres of water and when a bit of sunlight hits a little sphere of water like that it kind of bounces off the back of the raindrop and comes back more or less the same direction that it went in in. So if you're standing with the sun behind you you can think about the sun kind of coming over your head hitting a raindrop and kind of being reflected back towards you. It's the interaction of the sunlight with the raindrops in that way is what causes the rainbow to appear. And where do the colors come from? Oh my god. Why on earth can sunlight coming back to us and make all of those colors? So I kind of skated over a little bit which is that the sunlight comes into the raindrop and bounces back towards us but the exact angle that it bounces back at depends on what color of light it is. So some light is bent a little bit more, some light is bent a little bit left less and it's that kind of a differential effect. The fact that some light is bent a bit more, some light is bent a bit less means that when we look up into the sky the light we see coming back to us is bent at exactly the right angle for red light in a slightly different place from where it's bent back to us for blue light or purple light or all the different colors of the rainbow. So it's that effect of the light being bounced back to us but the angle that it's bounced back at being slightly different dictating exactly where we see things in the sky which is why the colors get nicely spread out like that. And we see all the colors that are there and it's such a magical phenomenon but what am I or asks is right, almost no matter where you are on land, they're always curved aren't they Michael, why is that? They are in fact they're part of a circle. If you could actually see the whole thing you'd see a circle but of course the ground gets in the way so you end up typically seeing part of a circle. Sometimes if you're like in a very high flying aircraft sometimes you get to see the whole circle and the reason why you see a circular shape is again to do with this the kind of the geometry, the arrangement of things. So if you think about it again you've got the sun behind you, the center of the rainbow is kind of in exactly the opposite direction to where the sun is. So if the sun's directly behind you the center of the rainbow is directly in front of you and then the light's kind of spreading that sort of radio lock around that center. So it's really because the way the geometry works the where the rainbow appears is kind of centered on exactly the opposite direction to where the sun is which is why you see it as a kind of a circle around that point. And that means that's a very handy tip if you actually want to know if you want to see a rainbow, if you go out and you see all of the sun shining and it's raining the thing to do is always looking to the opposite direction to where the sun is because that's where the rainbow will appear. So some behind you rainbow will be in front of you. So if it's just a trick of the light really so it's a actual magic does that mean we can never actually reach a rainbow does it ever actually exist in a form that we can find? Isn't that sad? No, you never can. And in fact, although the rainbow all appears when you look at one it all appears to be at the same distance away from you, the raindrops are causing it. So each raindrop is reflecting a little bit of light back to you. And all those raindrops are actually all at different distances away. So there isn't even a distance of the rainbow. You can't say the rainbow is this far away from you because one part of it is maybe quite close to you one part of it may be a very long way away from you. Well there you go, Amara. That's why rainbows are curved because they're actually a complete circle but our land, our horizon is getting in the way. Thank you so much, Emeritus Professor Michael Merrifield for helping us out with that. Happy to help. Amara, thank you so much for that question and awesome. Thank you to Michael Merrifield for coming on the show helping us figure out all about rainbows and why you will never, ever find the gold at the end of one. If you have a question that you want answered something you want sorted, anything science you make sure you send it over as a voice note to the free fun kids app and at funkidslive.com. It's time for our dangerous Dan where we search out the most weird, unique and devastatingly deadly things in the universe. This time we're headed to the hot deserts around the Americas to find one very strange super powered mouse. The scorpion mouse isn't the classic cheeky, scurrying house guest. It doesn't remind you of Mickey or Mini really. It's like a tiny werewolf packed into four inches of fur. It's small, it's got gray fur with a tail so it doesn't look like a mouse. Now most rodents forage for seeds, this one is a predator. It stands on its back legs, it throws its head back and it draws a high pitched cry to market territory. It's a tenacious spider closing in quickly on its prey, aiming for the head and then shaking it like a hunting dog until it's there to devour. Now they hunt for insects, spiders and also scorpions. Get this, it's one of the few creatures resistant to the venom of loads of scorpions around America. It's not just resistant to that venom, it uses it like a superpower, it uses it as a pain killer so it stops feeling the bites of creatures. So imagine it's being attacked by a scorpion. That beast thinks it's going in for the venomous death sting that this food will be all theirs. Not quite true, it's the reverse. Because the mouse attacked back. It doesn't feel the sting, it's using that venom to calm itself down as a pain killer. So it keeps eating and smashing through the food even when it's being stunned. That scorpion doesn't know what to do. Also the scorpion mouse has got a voracious appetite. They're hunting constantly with strong muscular jaws that bite with brutal power and that's why this scorpion mouse. Also called the southern grasshopper mouse goes straight onto our dangerous stand list. It's time for this week's battle of the sciences where for once and for all we will try to discover the greatest science in the history of the world. Well this week's science might take a peek inside the world and perhaps a bit further away too. We're talking about planetary mineralogy with Dr. Suzanne Schvenzer who joins us. Suzanne, thank you for being there. You have one minute to tell us why your science is the greatest of them all that minute starts in three, two, one, go. Thank you, Dana. Thank you for listening. Mineralogy, that is the science that studies the pieces that make up rocks. If you look at rock very closely, say you take a hand lens and then you see the glittering, shiny, tiny things, they can be black, they can be pink. Mineralogy is study how those form and how they make the rock and how rocks make planets. And that's where the planets come in because the earth is just one planet. I study Mars a lot. And so as planetary mineralogist I study how the small little crystals that make up all the rocky planets, how they form and how they make life possible and how they are the basis for all and everything. Wow, Suzanne, thank you very much. A little under time but you crammed so much in there and you finished with where I want to start. You mentioned looking at rocks on Mars and looking for signposts of life in there. What is it about a rock? What we can find in chunky slabs of earth that might point towards life having once existed across the universe? Well, that's a question for a whole lecture but what the minerals actually do is they provide the nutrients that we need. If a plant grows, it needs calcium. If our teeth grow, they need phosphorus and calcium and all of this is provided to us by those rocks. And what we can then study also in astrobiology is how these rocks get changed if life interacts with them and needs to eat what it needs takes it away and the environment is left basically where the rest of the left of us. But for the mineralogy, we mostly look at what do these rocks provide that would enable life if it ever was there? What do rocks provide to make the soils we grow our crops in? If you have watched the movie, they grew crops, he grew potatoes in the soil of Mars in the movie. We haven't done it in reality yet but it would be possible because of these minerals and what they actually have there. Now, if I could take you in anywhere around our planet there, Suzanne. Where would you take me to see a rock almost like any other, something so brilliant that shows the diversity of minerals that we have here on Earth? Well, there are actually two options. The one is I would just take you to your nearest beach, to your nearest, what we call a rock outcrop, which is a hillside where the rock is exposed and not much soil is on because the rocks are everywhere and they provide that nutrient and that base everywhere. And so going right out in front of your door and turning around what's there will teach you a lot about where you are right now. But of course, I would also want to take you to the exciting places of the life volcanoes, be that in Italy or on Hawaii or on Iceland to see how rocks are actually made from molten magma and how hot it is. We can't approach very closely. That would be too dangerous, but to experience how rocks are born. And now a little further afield across the different planets, we think that we know what makes up most things across the universe. We have discovered our elements, how open our scientists to the idea that there might be completely new minerals found in rocks on other planets. Well, very open because we find new minerals even here on earth all the time. And that's because there are even here on earth inaccessible places. If you think about drilling down below your feet, not just a few meters, but kilometers deep, the pressure gets so high that we can't replicate them easily here on earth. And as our technology, like on the surface of our earth, and as the technology develops, we get better and better at exploring that. And we discover new minerals that we could find well, well, well beneath our own feet. But then if you go to other planets, many of the processes are the same, but some are then different. And it is those differences in pressure, in temperature, in all these features of the environment that would make new minerals. And it would be super exciting to find them. Let me throw you forward, Suzanne, towards the end of your career working in mineralogy. What's the one thing that you would like to discover? What question do you really want answered? And I would like to answer is whether we are alone in the universe or not. We do not know yet whether any life exists beyond our planet. Although we know that the ingredients are there on Mars, which is the main field of my study. And but also on places such as the icy moons around the big gas planets like Jupiter and Saturn. And so what I really would like to find out if we are alone in our universe, if there ever had been life on Mars, it would probably have been little tiny microbes. But it would be very exciting nevertheless. Well, there we go, making the case for why mineralogy rocks, Dr. Suzanne Schvenzer from the Open University. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Pretty mind boggling to hear all about the different rocks and minerals that make up our planet and and ones across the universe with Suzanne. We can learn more about that now actually. We're diving into our geology rocks series, one of the brilliant podcasts that you can hear wherever you get your shows. We're joining Finley as he's travelling around the world, heading back in time to explore everything from fossils to volcanoes and even how rocks helped form our planet. Let's find out how and when our universe was created. Dr. Suzanne Schvenzer. Dr. Suzanne Schvenzer. Dr. Suzanne Schvenzer. Dr. Suzanne Schvenzer. Hi, Ed. The bombs got on me good in the grass. The law looks very neat now. It's a minute of nothing to say so myself. Oh, time for a rest I think. We don't think much about the ground beneath our feet. It's just something that we stand on. All what we're knowing is pretty weird to think that the ground is the surface of an enormous planet called Earth. Want to see how it all started? Come on, I'll show you. It starts with a bang. The Big Bang. Woo! The Big Bang was the start of the universe as we know it and that happened 13 billion years ago. Back then, the universe was very hot and squashed into a tiny space until it started to expand very quickly. Most scientists agree this is how our universe started, but no one was there. So how could they know? It's mainly because they can see that the universe is still expanding outwards and they can measure the speed at which things are travelling. So basically they can track these measurements back to one point in time. After the Big Bang, it would take several billion years before anything that looked like a planet would start to appear. This was because all that matter that was flying around had to join up and that took a very long time. Let's leap forward a few billion years. In that hole, 4.6 billion years ago. While this is our solar system, there's no planets as we know them to see. No Saturn with its wings and no red Mars. They're just a swirling mass of dust and gas. It looked more like a gigantic whirlpool. But at the centre of this whirlpool, a small star is beginning to fall. That's our sun. Wow, that was close. We're on the edge of the solar system. The sun has used up more than 99% of all the material, leaving a few scraps for the planets to form using a process called accretion. This is where bits of stuff flying about stick together and make things bigger like when you make a snowball. I think I need to get out the way. What's really amazing is that most of the building blocks of these planets have come from supernovas. That's what happens when a star dies. It gets so hot and heavy, it explodes. A supernova is what we call a star explosion. It sends new elements out into the universe which are slurped into the forming planets. Without supernovas, we wouldn't have gold or silver or iron or copper or two thirds of the elements that make a power world. And here's a really cool thing. That means our bodies are made of the same supernova stuff too. So if you're having a bad day, just think, you really are a superstar. Let's see what Earth is looking like. Well, I don't think I'd like to live on Earth yet, but we'll find out more about that another time. Curiosity pigs! We humans think we're pretty cool, but we're really just the new kids on the block. If you imagine the Earth's history as a 12 hour clock face, we don't even appear until a few minutes before 12. Incredible! Time to go! See you again soon. In the meantime, find out more on the fun kids website. Geology rocks! Geological society! I'm out of it for this week's Science Quest. You can hear more from Geology Rocks and loads more brilliant podcasts that we make for you on Google Apple Spotify, wherever you get your shows. It's on the free fun kids app. FunkidsLive.com too. If you have a question that you're desperate bursting to get answered, make sure you leave it as a boost note for me on our app and on the website. And remember, fun kids, we are a children's radio station. You can listen to us all over the UK on the app at funkidslive.com and the easiest way is if you've got a smart speaker. Just wake it up and ask it to play fun kids. (upbeat music)