Science Friday - JWST Detects An Atmosphere Around A Rocky Exoplanet | Boeing Plans To Fly Humans To The ISS Next Week

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Astronomers have confirmed they found an atmosphere around an Earth-like rocky exoplanet for the first time. Also, Boeing’s Starliner craft was scheduled to carry humans to the International Space Station in 2017. Its launch is now set for May 17, 2024.In A First, JWST Detects An Atmosphere Around A Rocky ExoplanetEarlier this week, astronomers announced they had discovered an atmosphere around a rocky Earth-like planet named 55 Cancri e, about 40 light-years away from Earth, thanks to instruments onboard the JWST telescope. Finding an atmosphere around a rocky planet is a big step for exoplanet exploration: Earth’s atmosphere is crucial to its ability to sustain life, and astronomers need to be able to identify rocky planets that have atmospheres to search for life outside the solar system.However, 55 Cancri e is likely far too hot to have any life: Researchers estimate the surface temperature to be about 3,100 F, thanks to its close proximity to its sun and a probable magma ocean that envelops the planet. But this could also give clues to Earth’s formation, as its own surface was also once covered by lava.Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about this and other top news in science this week, including tightening restrictions on risky virus research in the US, possible evidence for a sperm whale “alphabet,” and how environmental changes are leading to an increase in disease in humans, animals, and plants.Boeing Plans To Fly Humans To The ISS Next WeekWhen NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011, the agency had to find a new way to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Russia’s Soyuz program has met that need in the meantime, but NASA has wanted a more local solution. So they started awarding contracts to private US companies who could act as space taxis, including SpaceX, with its Dragon capsule, and Boeing with its Starliner capsule, through the United Launch Alliance (ULA).Unlike SpaceX, Boeing has yet to fly humans in its spacecraft. But it plans to do so no earlier than next Friday, carrying Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, NASA astronauts and former Navy pilots to the ISS. Starliner was originally supposed to launch this week, but due to issues with a pressure regulation valve on the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage, ULA had to delay the launch to replace the valve.Brendan Byrne, assistant news director at Central Florida Public Media, talks with guest host Sophie Bushwick about Boeing’s rocky road to the ISS and how NASA hopes to split the workload of ferrying astronauts between Boeing and SpaceX.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Boeing is finally almost ready to send humans to the space station in its new capsule. So what could that mean for NASA? If something were to happen to say SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, that could possibly ground the crew. So NASA really wants to have these redundant crews going back and forth. It's Friday, May 10th, and it's also Science Friday. I'm Cyfry producer, D. Petersmith. NASA's been mainly relying on Russia to get astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station since 2011. But eventually, it wants to rely on private companies.

to get there. SpaceX has helped out with that, and after years of delays, Boeing is set to launch its first crude mission next week. But why is it taken Boeing so long? But first, here's guest host Sophie Bushwick discussing the biggest news in science this week. Researchers this week announced a landmark discovery. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, they discovered an atmosphere around a rocky, earth-like planet, a first for astronomers. Here to explain what this means for the future of exoplanet exploration, and what a distant world could tell us about Earth's past is Jason Dinn, climate editor at Atmos. Welcome to Science Friday. Thanks for having me. So tell us about this exoplanet discovery. Why is this a big deal? Yeah, so this is thanks to new data from the James Webb

telescope, and they discovered that this planet named 55 Cancary E has an atmosphere. So this is a rocky exoplanet. And it's the first time that, that a rocky exoplanet has been found with an atmosphere. So it's a pretty huge milestone. The planet is about 41 light years away. And that planet itself is not a new discovery. It's actually one of the most well-studied exoplanets ever. But this new evidence suggesting that the planet has an atmosphere is pretty big news. Now, despite having this atmosphere, astronomers are pretty quick to say that they don't think that it's suitable to life, at least as we know it, because it's super hot. So it's probably covered by a magma ocean. And according to this latest study,

it's around 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Okay. So I could breathe if I was there, but only for a short while before I burned up. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You'd be lucky if you got a breath in. Despite being, you know, not a source of life, scientists are still pretty excited about the discovery because it could provide us, you know, clues about our own planet's history. So, for example, Earth probably went through a magma ocean phase early in its history, and maybe astronomers can study 55 Cancri E to figure out what those early years of our planet might have been like. And beyond that, you know, the fact that we can spot this super thin atmosphere that far away from our own solar system is a really good sign if we want to be able to search for life elsewhere. That's very exciting.

But back here on Earth, this week, the White House announced new rules on risky virus research. What's going on with that? Yeah. So on Monday night, the White House announced that they're basically tightening up the rules that exist now. They want to prevent a dangerous lab leak that could, for example, unleash the next pandemic. So the first big change is in who these rules are going to apply to. So they really broaden the types of pathogens that are subject to oversight. So before they had this kind of shortlist of pathogens of interest. And the new rules kind of overhaul that system.

And they replace them with these broad categories that pathogens might fall into. So those that have pandemic potential or pose national security threats or threaten agriculture. And then the second big change is in what the research projects that kind of fall under this umbrella are going to have to do. So they'll first have to consult with their university and gauge how risky this project is going to be. They'll send the potentially dangerous projects to be reviewed by federal funding agencies like the NIH or the NSF. And just to give you an example, you know, one project that might very clearly get a scrutinous review would be one that wanted to alter a pathogen and see how it evolves to become more transmissible between humans. And throughout this whole process, everyone's going to be kind of assess.

the risks and the benefits of doing this kind of research and laying out mitigation plans to avoid the worst-case scenarios. And how does scientists feel about these new rules? Do they think they should have gone farther? Do they think they're too strict? It's a little bit of a mixed bag. So some scientists say that this is a pretty big leap forward. Others say it's quite moderate. So it abstains from implementing some of the more aggressive proposals, like creating a whole new government agency to deal with these kinds of lab risks. But almost everyone seems to think that this is a, you know, reasonable step, at least, in the right direction. And over the past decade, we've seen an increase in opioid addiction and drug overdoses.

And there's a new study that's looking at how this is affecting kids, kids whose parents have overdosed. Tell us about it. Yeah, so this new study found that a really staggering 320,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent from drug overdose between 2011 and 2021. And that rate is actually climbing, it seems. So in 2021, about 27 out of every 100,000 children lost a parent. And by 2021, that more than doubled to around 63 out of 100,000. And one of the clear trends is that, you know, not everybody is affected equally.

So Native American children experienced the highest rates of loss. It was more than double what was seen in non-native white and black children. And is there anything that can be done to remove? reduce this rate and prevent this problem? Yeah. So the authors of the study really hope that these findings spur action to protect these kids. So for example, rather than removing them from their home, maybe authorities can keep them with their siblings and relatives and support network after their parents pass. And maybe it could even compel policymakers to prevent these overdoses in the first place. So you can imagine them reconsidering the policies that are in place now that

require health care providers to report parents to child welfare authorities if they find out those parents are substance abusers, which really, in a way, kind of punishes them for trying to seek help for their substance use. All right. Let's head over to the oceans. It seems like sperm whales might have a more complex communication system than we thought. Yeah, totally. So this new study came out and made the pretty controversial claim, I would say, that the sperm whale communication system might even have the foundations for what's considered language. So sperm whales produce these series of clicks that sound a lot like Morse code. And they do it in these characteristic patterns, which are called codos. So these researchers studied this clan of whales in the Caribbean that

perform about 21 types of those codas. So if you're thinking about making a language, 21 words isn't a lot to build on. Right. In this study, they used AI pattern detection on about 9,000 recordings of these whales. And they discovered that there's actually far richer variation and nuance in their vocal repertoire than we once appreciate it. So they found that these whales will vary Akota's tempo and rhythm in very predictable ways. And they'll even add extra notes to them. And they think these subtle tweaks actually might mean something in their communication. And that's because they don't seem to be random. It seems like whales actually sense and respond to this variation. So, for example, sometimes two whales are doing codas with each other.

One will gradually speed up, and the other one actually mirrors that tempo change, and it'll start speeding up as well. And in one of their most important and controversial findings, the researchers showed that these elements like extra notes and tempo changes can be combined into a pretty big inventory of unique combinations. They call these elements actually a a sperm whale phonetic alphabet. And in a way, it's kind of analogous to our language where we can combine a finite number of sounds, a million different ways, and really create an infinite array of meaning. And in principle, it seems like sperm whales might be able to do that too. So are we getting close to a translation for sperm whale communication?

So I wouldn't say we're getting close. I don't think the researchers would either. They do see this as a pretty big step towards one day deciphering those conversations and maybe even taking part in them, but other researchers say that, you know, maybe this isn't really like language, maybe it's actually more like a musical performance. That's very cool. And in the next story, there's yet another big problem with climate change. It looks like it's affecting how well plants and animals can combat disease. Yeah.

So this new study published in nature found that biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and invasive species, all things that we're doing to our planet, are all making infectious diseases more widespread and more dangerous. And of these things, biodiversity loss is the single greatest driver. So this paper synthesized the results from about a thousand published studies on the links between human change and disease. And of course, this includes human disease, but it also includes disease in other animals and in plants. And it spans every single continent except for Antarctica. So these links that they're finding between human change and disease are really robust. And they apply to basically all geographies across the tree of life.

And aren't some of these environmental changes linked? Like biodiversity loss is impacted by climate change and climate change is impacted by pollution. Right, exactly. Yeah. So the researchers actually say that the next step of all of this is to figure out how these different individual facets of change in the Anthropocene interacts to affect disease in tandem. Because we're not facing just climate change. We're facing kind of all of these risks at once. And finally, a story that I absolutely love, scientists found that some snakes can play dead.

Yeah, I love this study too. So this study was on a species of snake called dice snakes, which I now kind of think of as like the Thespians of the animal kingdom. So when dice snakes are attacked by predators, they play dead in one of the most melodramatic ways I've ever heard of. They ride around, they'll soil themselves with feces, they'll go limp. and then they open up their mouths and stick their tongues out. It's very silly. You should look up a picture if you haven't. It's great. In the most extreme cases, they actually start bleeding from their mouths to really commit to the bit. That's so intense. So intense. And a lot of animals play dead, but this whole blood and guts thing is a lot

less common. So the researchers in this new study wanted to figure out, you know, is this more effective at getting them away from predators? So they did this experiment where they went to find like 250 snakes and they pretended to be predators. They grabbed them and squeezed them and stretched them out on the ground while the snakes were doing this like really elaborate death act. And then they moved out of sight like a disgusted predator mite. And what they found was that these snakes that cover themselves in dung played dead for a shorter amount of time by about two seconds.

And so they think this means that this super gory strategy allows snakes to escape. a very vulnerable position where they're motionless pretending to be dead as soon as possible. And it doesn't sound like a lot, but for an animal in this position, two seconds could really mean life or death. So the power of acting could be saving their lives. Exactly, exactly. Was there a difference in the kinds of snakes that chose to play dead versus to just not? Yeah, so they found that the adult snakes were more likely to pay dead and were more successful

at it than the juvenile snakes. And they say it's because a juvenile snake is already, you know, at risk for being eaten more so than an adult snake is. And so subjecting itself to this really vulnerable position of trying to stay still or else being eaten is a risk that they're just, you know, not willing to take or is not smart to take. Or maybe they just haven't graduated from drama school yet. Yes, send them to school. These were great stories, Jason. Thank you for bringing them. Thank you for having me.

My pleasure. That was Jason Dyn, climate editor at Atmos. When NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011, the agency had to find a new way to deliver astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. Russia-Soya's program filled that need since then, but NASA's wanted a more local solution for a while. So they started awarding contracts to private U.S. companies who could act as space taxis, including SpaceX with its dragon capsule and Boeing with its Starliner capsule. The Starliner will fly on United Launch Alliance's Atlas Five rocket. But unlike SpaceX, Boeing has yet to fly humans in its spacecraft, which it plans to do no earlier the next Friday. Here to tell us about Boeing's rocky road to the space station is my guest, Brendan Byrne, Assistant News Director at Central Florida Public Media, where he covers space news.

Brendan, welcome to Science Friday. Hey, thanks for having me. And before we get to the recent updates, what is Starliner and how does it compare to something like SpaceX's Dragon? They're both very similar. Listeners may be very familiar with the interior of SpaceX's Dragon Capsule. They've flown eight or nine missions at this point. They're very sleek with some cool touch screens and all that. But Boeing Starliner is old school looking on the inside. It's got handles and switches and displays. But it is designed just like SpaceX's Crew Dragon Capsule to fly autonomously so it can take the crew all by itself to the International Space Station. And like you mentioned, SpaceX's Dragon Capsule has already flown. loans submissions, and Boeing's Starliner hasn't. So why is Boeing so far behind SpaceX? Yeah, that's right. The rocky path to the International Space Station began in 2019.

So it was flying an uncrewed test mission to prove to NASA that it could get to the International Space Station before it put its astronauts on it. And a software issue prevented that from happening. They worked out some of the coding issues and went to retry it again in 2020. I should add, this was on Boeing's dime. NASA didn't pay for this refly. It was considered a success. And leading up to this crude mission that's happening in a few days, last year engineers discovered a few other issues from that second test flight. They found that the lines to the parachutes weren't strong enough. And they also found the tape that was used to wrap the hundreds of feet of wire throughout the spacecraft were flammable. So that delayed

this launch even further than certified late last month, the capsule to fly this crude mission that we are expecting to happen very shortly. And who is going to be on this crude mission? Two seasoned NASA astronauts. You've got Butch Wilmore is the commander, and Sonny Williams is the pilot. They are both Navy test pilots before they became NASA astronauts. They have lived and worked on the International Space Station. I should add, they are very, very excited to get back.

Butch and Sunny were asked about what they missed the most about being in space, and Butch said it was the food. He can't wait to get back to the International Space Station. That's not what I expected to hear. He can't wait to get there. There's apparently a chocolate pudding up there that he cannot wait to dig his spoon into. And they were actually supposed to launch this week, but that's not happening. So why weren't they able to launch on Monday?

So what kept the mission grounded was actually found in the rocket that is taking them up, a separate company, a United Launch Alliance. Well, there was a valve on the upper stage that regulates the pressure of the liquid oxygen that is used as a few. fuel. Well, it was opening and closing very, very rapidly. And we learned later that this particular valve is rated for up to 200,000 of these oscillations. And they determined that it actually had exceeded that limit. So what they have to do now is to replace that valve. So there's a brand new valve in there. And when's the new launch date? So the new launch date is Friday, May 17th. At the earliest is what they're shooting for. I hope it happens May 17th. I've got a vacation plan in late May. So I'd like to see this go before I go on vacation. But certainly,

they consider astronaut safety more than they consider my vacation plans. Probably that's a good priority for them. A very good priority. And you mentioned that SpaceX has been doing a lot of the work of faring supplies back and forth and starting to deliver astronauts as well. So once this capsule gets into the groove, do we have any idea of what the split will be between space? SpaceX and Boeing ULA for trips to the ISS? Yeah, it'll be evenly split. Every six months, they'll alternate between a SpaceX Dragon capsule and a Boeing Starliner capsule. NASA really wants to have redundancy built into their rides to the International Space Station.

If something were to happen to say SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, that could possibly ground the crew. So NASA really wants to have these redundant crews going back and forth. Brendan, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. I really hope you enjoy the launch when it does happen. Thank you so much, Sophie. It was fun. That's Brendan Byrne, Assistant News Director at Central Florida Public Media. And that's all the time we have today. Lots of folks help make the show happen, including...

Beth Rami. Santiago Flores. Diana Plasker. Robin Kasmur. On our next episode, we'll talk to a curator at the Field Museum in Chicago about one of its newest acquisitions, a fossil of archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird. Until then, I'm SciFry producer Dee Peter Schmidt. See you next time.