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Science Friday

Heart and Exercise, Consumer Electronics Show, Black Holes. Jan 11, 2019, Part 2

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Friday, Natural Sciences

4.46.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2019

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You’ve heard the news that smoking is bad for your health. But it turns out not exercising could be even worse for your chances of survival, according to a recent study in the journal JAMA Network Open. But is it possible to overdo it? While you’re trying to boost your overall health, could you instead be doing damage to your heart? In this segment, Wael Jaber of the Cleveland Clinic and Maia P. Smith of St. George’s University talk about how sports like weightlifting stack up to running and cycling in terms of health effects, and how the sport you choose could actually reshape your heart. Discovered only decades ago, black holes remain one of the universe’s most mysterious objects, with such a strong gravitational pull that  that light—and even data—can’t escape. Oftentimes researchers can only observe black holes indirectly, like from blasts of energy that come from when the massive bodies “feed” on nearby objects. But where is that energy generated, and how does that eating process actually progress through the geometry of the black hole? Erin Kara, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, describes new research published in Nature into how echoes of X-rays in small, stellar-mass black holes can point the way. At the other end of the spectrum, supermassive black holes billions of times the mass of our Sun are believed to dwell at the hearts of galaxies. Many are active, drawing in nearby gas and dust and emitting energy in response, but others are dormant, with nothing close to feed on. MIT postdoctoral fellow Dheeraj Pasham talks about what happens when these dormant black holes suddenly encounter and tear apart a star—and how the fallout can shed light on how these black holes spin. His research appeared in Science this week. The researchers also discuss how black holes could lead the way to understanding how galaxies evolve, and other black hole mysteries. Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, meets in Las Vegas to showcase the latest in consumer tech trends. This year was no different—but what should we expect in tech in 2019? WIRED news editor Brian Barrett was on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center all week and joins Ira to talk about what he saw, including a flying taxi and other concept cars, delivery drones, robot companions, and ‘5G’ products mean without a 5G network.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Imagine a place in the Nevada desert where you can see taxis fly straight up into the air, robots that are your best friend, and a TV that folds. No, we're not talking about the latest sci-fi novel. It's, of course, this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. My next guest

0:22.8

trying to take it all in, and I can tell you it's impossible. I've been there, tried to do that,

0:27.6

but he's here with some of the latest gadgets and trends crowding the exhibit halls.

0:31.7

Brian Barrett is News Editor for Wired. He's based out of Birmingham, Alabama. Welcome to Science

0:36.6

Friday.

0:42.6

Hi, thanks so much for having me. There were a few very interesting concept cars at the show this year.

0:46.2

Tell us about the taxi that flies and the walking car.

0:50.3

That's right. You know, for the last few years, CES has been as much a car show as anything.

0:52.7

That's where we're seeing a lot of really interesting innovation.

0:54.3

The two that sort of stood out the most this year are probably a few years off if they ever do get here.

0:58.8

But as you mentioned, there's the Bell Nexus, which is a, they called, I think, a flying taxi.

1:04.1

And the goal is, you know, sort of this big vertical lift-off, basically mini-helicopter

1:08.3

that, you know, Uber says by the mid-2020s, we're going to be riding around

1:13.6

instead of actual cars.

1:15.3

And it seems fanciful, and people have obviously promised flying cars for a long time.

1:19.9

But you do remember Bell is the same company that makes the OSPIA.

1:22.9

They're an actual helicopter company that says their specialty.

1:25.3

They know what they're doing.

1:26.1

So, you know, that might be a better chance than we're used to from actually seeing one of these come to fruition.

1:32.0

Do you know how much noise a helicopter makes?

1:35.1

I can't wait to find out in 2025.

1:37.5

If you have your drone, you know what a drone noise a drone makes? Think about that,

...

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