meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Science Friday

Ballot Measures Passed To Protect Abortion Rights | New Largest Prime Number

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.55.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Abortion was on the ballot in 10 states, and seven of them passed constitutional amendments defending abortion rights. Also, this ginormous number has a whopping 41,024,320 digits, which isn’t very helpful for mathematicians but is certainly exciting for math nerds.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Listener supported WNYC Studios.

0:11.2

We've got big news for all you math nerds out there because someone has just discovered the largest prime number so far, which is maybe not so helpful for mathematicians,

0:23.7

but thrilling for math geeks. If you want to understand numbers, then you need to understand

0:29.4

primes. This is more a feather in the cap for the folks who care about this kind of thing.

0:34.2

It's Friday, November 8th, happy Science Friday. I'm SciFri producer Rasha

0:41.8

Auretti. Discovering a new giant prime number is hard work. I mean, we're talking about

0:47.8

souped up computers and fancy processing chips and software running day and night, all to find the most ginormous prime

0:56.4

number. So go ahead, take your guesses on what that number is, and here's a tip. Maybe multiply

1:03.0

it by a few trillion over and over and over again. That reveal is coming up soon, but first,

1:09.7

let's check in on this week in science.

1:12.2

Here's Ira Flato.

1:13.8

This week, science was on the ballot in many states.

1:17.7

Voters weighed in on issues like drug legalization, money to fund climate programs, and of course, abortion rights.

1:25.1

Ten states voted on the issue, and in seven of them, voters chose to protect or expand abortion rights.

1:32.6

Here with more of the news of this week is Tim Revel, executive editor at New Scientist.

1:38.0

He's based in Merry Old London, England. Welcome back, Tim.

1:41.6

Hi, Ira. Thanks for having me, and happy 33rd birthday. Thank you very much.

1:45.8

All right, let's start with these seven states that voted to protect abortion rights. What are they?

1:51.5

Yeah, so those states are Arizona, Missouri, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New York, and Colorado.

1:58.0

And there you had a combination of voters formerly voting to enshrine existing abortion

2:04.1

rights and also in the case of Arizona and Missouri actually expanding them too.

2:09.1

And what about the states that rejected those measures? Yeah, so Florida, Nebraska and South

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Science Friday and WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Science Friday and WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.