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Science Quickly

Chaotic Orbits Could Cause Catastrophic Collision

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2017

⏱️ 3 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Researchers used ancient climate cycles to confirm the solar system’s chaotic planetary orbits. An Earth–Mars collision is one distant outcome. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:19.6

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.jp. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult.

0:33.5

This is Scientific American 60-second science. I'm Julia Rosen. Got a minute?

0:39.3

Isaac Newton said, I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.

0:44.8

He meant that while people can be unpredictable, the planets are just the opposite.

0:48.9

They glide through space in orbits defined by the laws of physics.

0:52.6

But that view's been changing over time,

0:54.9

and a new study bolsters a more complex outlook.

0:57.6

The big finding of this paper was the discovery

1:01.0

of the first real, firm, unambiguous,

1:05.3

geologic evidence to confirm this idea

1:07.5

that the solar system is chaotic.

1:09.4

Stephen Myers, a geoscientist at the University

1:11.6

of Wisconsin-Madison. By chaotic, Myers doesn't mean that the planet zoom around wildly on

1:16.8

random paths. Rather, he's referring to the mathematical meaning of the word, in which the future state

1:22.5

of a complex system depends strongly on its initial conditions. In this case, it means that seemingly random changes

1:29.4

in planet's orbits can occur because of subtle gravitational interactions between objects in the

1:34.5

solar system. It's also known as the butterfly effect, right? So this is the exact same phenomena.

1:40.8

The idea that a butterfly flapping over the Indian Ocean could influence weather

...

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