Lessons from a solar storm chaser | Miho Janvier
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 12.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2017
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
Space physicist Miho Janvier studies solar storms: giant clouds of particles that escape from the Sun and can disrupt life on Earth (while also producing amazing auroras). How do you study the atmosphere on the Sun, which burns at temperatures of up to around 10 million degrees Kelvin? With math! Join the TED Fellow as she shares her work trying to better understand how the Sun affects us here on Earth.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This TED Talk features solar storm scientist Miho Jean-Vier, recorded live at TED Global 2017. |
| 0:09.9 | It is almost the end of the winter, and you've woken up to a cool house, which is weird, |
| 0:16.8 | because you left the heater on all night. You turn on the light, it's not working. |
| 0:23.8 | Actually, the coffee maker, the TV, |
| 0:27.0 | none of them are working. |
| 0:29.7 | Life outside also seems to have stops. |
| 0:33.1 | There are no schools, |
| 0:35.2 | most of the businesses are shot, |
| 0:37.1 | and there are no working trains. |
| 0:40.3 | This is not the opening scene of a zombie apocalypse movie. |
| 0:44.8 | This is what happened in March 1989 |
| 0:48.4 | in the Canadian province of Quebec |
| 0:50.7 | when the power grades lost power. |
| 0:54.0 | The culprit? |
| 0:55.0 | A solar storm. |
| 0:57.0 | Solar storms are giant clouds of particles escaping from the sun from time to time, |
| 1:03.0 | and a constant reminder that will live in the neighborhood of an active star. |
| 1:09.0 | And I, as a solar physicist, I have a tremendous chance to study these solostoms. |
| 1:15.9 | But you see, solar storm chaser is not just a cool title. |
| 1:21.4 | My research helps to understand where they come from, how they behave, and in the long run |
| 1:27.2 | aims to mitigate their effects on human societies, which I behave, and in the long run, |
| 1:30.3 | aims to mitigate their effects on human societies, |
... |
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